Nakahama Manjiro
Encyclopedia
, also known as John Manjirō (or John Mung), was one of the first Japan
ese people to visit the United States
and an important translator during the Opening of Japan.
During his early life, he lived as a simple fisherman
in the village of Naka-no-hama, Tosa Province
(now Tosashimizu
, Kōchi Prefecture
). In 1841, 14-year-old Nakahama Manjirō and four friends (all brothers, named Goemon, Denzo, Toraemon, and Jusuke) were fishing when their boat was wrecked on the island of Torishima
. The American whaler ship John Howland
(with Captain William H. Whitfield in command) rescued them and, at the end of the voyage, dropped four of them in Honolulu; however Manjirō (nicknamed "John Mung") wanted to stay on the ship. Captain Whitfield took him back to the United States and entrusted him to James Akin, who enrolled Manjirō in the Oxford School in the town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts
. The boy studied English and navigation for a year, apprenticed to a cooper
, and then, with Whitfield's help, signed on to the whaler Franklin (Captain Ira Davis). After whaling in the South Seas, the Franklin put into Honolulu in October 1847, where Manjirō again met his four friends. None were able to return to Japan, for this was during Japan's period of isolation
when leaving the country was an offense punishable by death.
When Captain Davis became mentally ill and was left in Manila, the crew elected a new captain, and Manjirō was made Harpooner. The Franklin returned to New Bedford, Massachusetts
in September 1849 and paid-off its crew; Manjirō was self-sufficient; he had $350 in his pocket.
Manjirō promptly set out by sea for the California Gold Rush
by ship. Arriving in San Francisco in May 1850, he took a steamboat up the Sacramento River
, then a train into the mountains. In a few months, he made about $600 and decided to find a way back to Japan.
In September 1853, Manjirō was summoned to Edo
(now known as Tokyo
), questioned by the shogunate government, and made a hatamoto
(a samurai
in direct service to the shogun
). He would now give interviews only in service to the government. In token of his new status, he would wear two swords, and needed a surname; he chose Nakahama, after his home village.
. In July 8,1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry
's Black Ships
arrived to force the opening of Japan, Manjirō became an interpreter and translator for the Shogunate and was instrumental in negotiating the Convention of Kanagawa
.
However, it appears that he did not contact the Americans directly at that time.
In 1860, Nakahama Manjirō participated in the Japanese Embassy to the United States (1860)
. He was appointed translator on board Kanrin Maru
, Japan's first screw-driven steam warship, purchased from the Dutch. Due to Japan's former policy of isolation, the crew had little experience on the open ocean, and during a storm, her Captain Katsu Kaishu
, Admiral Kimura and much of the crew fell ill. Manjirō was put in charge and brought the ship to port safely.
In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War
, Manjirō studied military science in Europe. He returned to Japan by way of the United States. He was formally received at Washington D.C., and he took advantage of this opportunity by traveling overland to Fairhaven, Massachusetts
to visit his "foster father", Captain Whitfield. Eventually, Manjirō became a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University.
into Japanese, and taught English, naval tactics and whaling techniques. He allegedly contributed to the construction of the Shohei Maru
, Japan's first post-seclusion foreign-style warship.
Manjirō was married three times and had seven children. In 1918, his eldest son, Dr. Nakahama Toichirō, donated a valuable sword to Fairhaven in token of his father's rescue and the kindness of the town. It continued to be displayed in the town library even during World War Two.
Among his accomplishments, Manjirō was probably the first Japanese to ride a railroad, in a steamship, to officer an American vessel, and to command a trans-Pacific voyage.
There is a great statue of Nakahama Manjirō at Cape Ashizuri, on Shikoku
. However, his grave, formerly at the Zōshigaya Cemetery
in Tokyo, was destroyed by American air raids
in World War II
. In Fairhaven, the Manjirō Historic Friendship Society is renovating William Whitfield's home to include a museum dealing with the Manjirō legacy.
Minor planet 4841 Manjiro
is named after him.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese people to visit the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and an important translator during the Opening of Japan.
Voyage to America
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
in the village of Naka-no-hama, Tosa Province
Tosa Province
is the name of a former province of Japan in the area that is today Kōchi Prefecture on Shikoku. Tosa was bordered by Iyo and Awa Provinces. It was sometimes called .-History:The ancient capital was near modern Nankoku...
(now Tosashimizu
Tosashimizu, Kochi
is a city located in Kōchi, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 17,232 and a density of 64.7 persons per km². The total area is 266.54 km².The city was founded on August 1, 1954....
, Kōchi Prefecture
Kochi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the south coast of Shikoku. The capital is the city of Kōchi.- History :Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Kōchi was known as Tosa Province and was controlled by the Chosokabe clan in the Sengoku period and the Yamauchi family during the Edo period.- Geography...
). In 1841, 14-year-old Nakahama Manjirō and four friends (all brothers, named Goemon, Denzo, Toraemon, and Jusuke) were fishing when their boat was wrecked on the island of Torishima
Torishima (Izu Islands)
, literally meaning "Bird Island", is an uninhabited volcanic island at the south end of the Izu Islands in the Pacific Ocean, administered by Japan.-Geography:...
. The American whaler ship John Howland
John Howland
John Howland was a passenger on the Mayflower. He was an indentured servant who accompanied the separatists, also called the Pilgrims, when they left England to settle in Plymouth, Massachusetts...
(with Captain William H. Whitfield in command) rescued them and, at the end of the voyage, dropped four of them in Honolulu; however Manjirō (nicknamed "John Mung") wanted to stay on the ship. Captain Whitfield took him back to the United States and entrusted him to James Akin, who enrolled Manjirō in the Oxford School in the town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
. The boy studied English and navigation for a year, apprenticed to a cooper
Cooper (profession)
Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...
, and then, with Whitfield's help, signed on to the whaler Franklin (Captain Ira Davis). After whaling in the South Seas, the Franklin put into Honolulu in October 1847, where Manjirō again met his four friends. None were able to return to Japan, for this was during Japan's period of isolation
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
when leaving the country was an offense punishable by death.
When Captain Davis became mentally ill and was left in Manila, the crew elected a new captain, and Manjirō was made Harpooner. The Franklin returned to New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
in September 1849 and paid-off its crew; Manjirō was self-sufficient; he had $350 in his pocket.
Manjirō promptly set out by sea for the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
by ship. Arriving in San Francisco in May 1850, he took a steamboat up the Sacramento River
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...
, then a train into the mountains. In a few months, he made about $600 and decided to find a way back to Japan.
Return to Japan
Manjirō arrived in Honolulu and found two of his companions were willing to go with him. (Toraemon, who thought it would be too risky, and Jusuke, who died of a heart ailment, did not voyage back to Japan.) He purchased a whaleboat, the Adventure, which was loaded aboard the bark Sarah Boyd (Captain Whitmore) along with gifts from the people of Honolulu. They sailed on December 17, 1850 and reached Okinawa on February 2, 1851. The three were promptly taken into custody, although treated with courtesy. After months of questioning, they were released in Nagasaki and eventually returned home to Tosa where Lord Yamauchi Toyoshige awarded them pensions. Manjirō was appointed a minor official and became a valuable source of information.In September 1853, Manjirō was summoned to Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
(now known as Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
), questioned by the shogunate government, and made a hatamoto
Hatamoto
A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...
(a samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
in direct service to the shogun
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
). He would now give interviews only in service to the government. In token of his new status, he would wear two swords, and needed a surname; he chose Nakahama, after his home village.
Service as hatamoto
Manjirō detailed his travels in a report to the Tokugawa Shogunate, which is kept today at the Tokyo National MuseumTokyo National Museum
Established 1872, the , or TNM, is the oldest and largest museum in Japan. The museum collects, houses, and preserves a comprehensive collection of art works and archaeological objects of Asia, focusing on Japan. The museum holds over 110,000 objects, which includes 87 Japanese National Treasure...
. In July 8,1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry (naval officer)
Matthew Calbraith Perry was the Commodore of the U.S. Navy and served commanding a number of US naval ships. He served several wars, most notably in the Mexican-American War and the War of 1812. He played a leading role in the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854...
's Black Ships
Black Ships
The Black Ships was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki...
arrived to force the opening of Japan, Manjirō became an interpreter and translator for the Shogunate and was instrumental in negotiating the Convention of Kanagawa
Convention of Kanagawa
On March 31, 1854, the or was concluded between Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy and the Tokugawa shogunate.-Treaty of Peace and Amity :...
.
However, it appears that he did not contact the Americans directly at that time.
Japanese Embassy to the United States (1860)
The was dispatched in 1860 by the Tokugawa shogunate . Its objective was to ratify the new Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States and Japan, in addition to being Japan’s first diplomatic mission to the United States since the 1854 opening of Japan by Commodore...
. He was appointed translator on board Kanrin Maru
Japanese warship Kanrin Maru
Kanrin Maru was Japan's first sail and screw-driven steam corvette . She was ordered in 1853 from the Netherlands, the only Western country with which Japan had diplomatic relations throughout its period of sakoku , by the Shogun's government, the Bakufu...
, Japan's first screw-driven steam warship, purchased from the Dutch. Due to Japan's former policy of isolation, the crew had little experience on the open ocean, and during a storm, her Captain Katsu Kaishu
Katsu Kaishu
was a Japanese statesman, naval engineer during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy by Sakuma Shōzan. He went through a series of given names throughout his life; his childhood name was and his real name was...
, Admiral Kimura and much of the crew fell ill. Manjirō was put in charge and brought the ship to port safely.
In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, Manjirō studied military science in Europe. He returned to Japan by way of the United States. He was formally received at Washington D.C., and he took advantage of this opportunity by traveling overland to Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
to visit his "foster father", Captain Whitfield. Eventually, Manjirō became a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University.
Legacy
Manjirō apparently used his know-how of western shipbuilding to contribute to the effort of the Shogunate to build a modern navy. He translated Bowditch's American Practical NavigatorBowditch's American Practical Navigator
The American Practical Navigator , originally written by Nathaniel Bowditch, is an encyclopedia of navigation. It serves as a valuable handbook on oceanography and meteorology, and contains useful tables and a maritime glossary...
into Japanese, and taught English, naval tactics and whaling techniques. He allegedly contributed to the construction of the Shohei Maru
Japanese warship Shohei Maru
Shōhei Maru was Japan's first Western-style warship following the country's period of seclusion. She was ordered in 1852 by the government of the Shogun to the southern fief of Satsuma in the island of Kyūshū, in anticipation of the announced mission of Commodore Perry in 1853.The ship was...
, Japan's first post-seclusion foreign-style warship.
Manjirō was married three times and had seven children. In 1918, his eldest son, Dr. Nakahama Toichirō, donated a valuable sword to Fairhaven in token of his father's rescue and the kindness of the town. It continued to be displayed in the town library even during World War Two.
Among his accomplishments, Manjirō was probably the first Japanese to ride a railroad, in a steamship, to officer an American vessel, and to command a trans-Pacific voyage.
There is a great statue of Nakahama Manjirō at Cape Ashizuri, on Shikoku
Shikoku
is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshū and east of the island of Kyūshū. Its ancient names include Iyo-no-futana-shima , Iyo-shima , and Futana-shima...
. However, his grave, formerly at the Zōshigaya Cemetery
Zoshigaya cemetery
is a public cemetery in Minami-Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo, founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan government.The cemetery welcomes people from any religion and contains the graves of many famous people in its 10 ha area...
in Tokyo, was destroyed by American air raids
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In Fairhaven, the Manjirō Historic Friendship Society is renovating William Whitfield's home to include a museum dealing with the Manjirō legacy.
Minor planet 4841 Manjiro
4841 Manjiro
4841 Manjiro is a main-belt asteroid discovered on October 28, 1989 by T. Seki at Geisei.- External links :*...
is named after him.
See also
- Hasekura TsunenagaHasekura TsunenagaHasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga or was a Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyo of Sendai....
, the first recorded Japanese to reach the American continent, in 1614 - OtokichiOtokichiwas a Japanese castaway originally from the area of Onoura near Mihama, on the west coast of the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture.- Biography :...
, a famous Japanese castaway to the United States, ten years before Nakahama Manjirō - Moriyama EinosukeMoriyama Einosukewas a samurai during the Tokugawa Shogunate, and an interpreter of Dutch and English. He studied English under Ranald MacDonald, and as “Chief Dutch Interpreter” was one of the chief men involved in the negotiations with Commodore Perry in regard to the opening of Japan to the outside world.Samuel...
, another translator in the negotiation with Perry - Ranald MacDonaldRanald MacDonaldRanald MacDonald was the first man to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Commodore Perry and the Tokugawa Shogunate.-Early life:MacDonald was born at Fort Astoria, in the Pacific Northwest of...
, the first teacher of English in Japan (Moriyama Einosuke was one of MacDonald's students in Nagasaki in 1848) - Shimazu NariakiraShimazu Nariakirawas a Japanese feudal lord of the Edo period, the 28th in the line of Shimazu clan lords of Satsuma Domain. He was renowned as an intelligent and wise lord, and was greatly interested in Western learning and technology...
- Pacific OverturesPacific OverturesPacific Overtures is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is set in 1853 Japan and follows the difficult Westernization of Japan, through the lives of two friends caught in the change...
, Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
and John WeidmanJohn WeidmanJohn Weidman is an American librettist. He is the son of librettist and novelist Jerome Weidman.He has written the books for a wide variety of stage musicals, three in collaboration with Stephen Sondheim: Pacific Overtures, Assassins, and Road Show...
's unconventional musical about the arrival of the black shipsBlack ShipsThe Black Ships was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki...
in Japan. Manjiro is a major character in it, although his story is highly dramatized.