In 1897 a Japanese Buddhist monk set out in search of scriptures in a country closed to foreigners. Kawaguchi learned Tibetan in Darjeeling, slipped through Nepal and over the Himalaya posing as a Chinese pilgrim, and lived in Lhasa among monks, officials and ordinary households, recording their food, festivals, marriages and burials in sharp, often unflattering detail.
One of the great travel narratives of Tibet, an insider-outsider’s portrait before the British expedition of 1904. Download the free EPUB.