Title 江戸のリサイクル（２） Recycling in the Edo Era (2)
Unit/Lesson No. Recycle/Lesson 8
Topic Practice of reuse during the Edo Era
Function Reading comprehension, description
Focus Get a vivid image of how people practiced "reuse" during the Edo Era.
I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS

Purpose of This Lesson

Students will read a real travel journal entry written by a German doctor who lived in Japan during the Edo Era. The reading will teach them about how people of that era were reusing things.

Teacher Instructions

  1. Before class, prepare the handout and transparency.

  2. Introduce Kaempfer and his journal using Script 1 and Transparency 1.

  3. Explain the activity using Transparency 2. Distribute Handout 1. Have students complete activity 1 individually or in pairs. Check their answers using the transparency.

Teacher Presentation Sample Scripts

Script 1

この人はケンペルというドイツ人の医者です。江戸時代の１６９０年に日本に来て、長崎のオランダ商館で二年間働きました。ケンペルは、日本にいる間に、二度長崎から江戸に行きました。その時、京都から東京までは東海道を旅しました。ケンペルはこの旅の途中に見たり聞いたりしたことを書き残しました。ケンペルの見た１７世紀の日本のリサイクルとは、どんな様子だったんでしょう。

Answer Key to Student Activities

a)    Farmers picked up leaves, pinecones, travelers' worn-out straw sandals, and horses' excrement.

b)    Farmers burned leaves and pinecones as a substitute for wood. They also made fertilizer (manure) from horses' excrement.

c)    Because they were poor.

d)    bad smell

e)    リユース

f)    Answer will vary.

Notes

Resource:

Kaempfer, Engelbert, Kaempfer's Japan : Tokugawa culture observed edited, translated, and annotated by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey: Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, 1999

II. STUDENT ACTIVITY HANDOUTS

Handout 1

Read the following paragraph from Kaempfer's travel journal in Japan and answer the questions below.

 東海道1には、ごみがない。近くに住んでいる農民2がなんでも拾って3しまうからだ。たとえば、農民は道に落ちているはっぱやまつぼっくり4を集めて、木の代わりに5燃やす。旅人6が使い古した7わらじ8も拾う。馬の落としたふん9を拾って集める。わらじを燃やして、その灰10をふんといっしょにして、こやし11にするのだ。でも、ひどい臭い12で、せっかくの美しい景色13もだいなしになってしまう。

 

<Useful Vocabulary>

1. とうかいどう 2. のうみん = farmer 3. ひろう = to pick up
4. pine cones 5. ~の代わりに = instead of ~ 6. たびびと
7. つかいふるす = to use up 8. straw sandals 9. excrement
10. はい = ash 11. manure 12. におい = smell
13. けしき = scenery 14. だいなしになる = to become spoiled

a)  What were the things farmers picked up from the road?

b)  What did the farmers do with the items above?

c)  Why do you think the farmers needed to gather the items from the street?

d)  What did Kaempfer complain about?

e)  What type of recycling were the farmers doing? Circle one of the “3Rs”.

              リデュース           リユース                 リサイクル

f)  Did people in the U.S. live in similar manner in the past?

III. VISUAL AIDS FOR TEACHERS

Transparency

ケンペル（Kaempfer）

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kwanten/kaempfer.htm

Transparency 2

same as Handout 1

IV. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

Research what the towns and streets in your countries (areas) were like during the 17th and 18th centuries. Were they clean or dirty? Did people have a system to keep towns and streets clean?  Write a paragraph about it and share your findings with the rest of the class.