The Discovery of Japan

Abstract

FROM a review in NATURE of November 13, 1902 (vol. lxvii. p. 28), I gather Herr Hans Haas, like many other writers on Japan, considers Ser Marco Polo the first who brought any news of Japan to the west. In this connection, it will be interesting to note that in his “Six Voyages,” Paris, 1676, Tavernier tries to identify a local name of the classic geographers, Jabadi, if I remember correctly, with the ancient vernacular designation of the empire, Yamato, or rather with its Chinese rendering, Yamadai or Jabatai.