Swiss Diary, Volume 1

A train emerges from fog into a valley of snow. High above the villages, an icy ridge leads toward Jungfrau; farther south, the evening silhouette of Monte Rosa rises beyond a lake. For Tsujimura Isuke, travel is shaped by the mountains he sees, climbs, remembers, and longs to return to.

The first volume of Swiss Diary follows journeys through Geneva, Chamonix, the Bernese Oberland, Lucerne, Lugano, and the lakes of northern Italy. Winter ascents of Jungfrau and Mönch stand beside quieter scenes: smoking on a pier, watching birds, studying garden trees, or resting in the sun beside thawing water.

Tsujimura’s prose moves freely from precise observation to wistful reflection and lively satire. Railway compartments, hotel dining rooms, guides, fellow travelers, and unexpected conversations all become part of his portrait of Europe. A Japanese mountaineer and naturalist writing in the early twentieth century, he finds both beauty and loneliness far from home.