On the Written Records of Ekiken KAIBARA'S Travels and Their Effect on Tourism in the Edo Period

Abstract

KAIBARA Ekiken (1630-1714) had made many travels for pleasure and had recorded them in many accounts and they had effected on the tourism in the Edo period. So they are analyzed from the point of tourist gaze to clarify the characteristics of the descrived Ekiken's ways of sightseeing that attracted the readers. It is revealed that Ekiken was interested in the regions on the way of his travel in addition to the famous tourist sights and described a series of the places on the way of his travel to express the pleasure of the whole travel, and that he showed the new points of viewing on the famous tourist sights and the unique regional landscapes, and enjoying hearing the history and the tales from the people of the visited place.