Otokichi
Encyclopedia
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 castaway
Castaway
A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade their captors or the world in general. Alternatively, a person or item can be cast away, meaning rejected or discarded...
originally from the area of Onoura near Mihama
Mihama, Aichi
is a town located in Chita District, Aichi, Japan.-People:Mihama was the hometown of 19th-century Japanese castaway Otokichi. Mihama was also the hometown of Hana Haruna, an AV idol.-Places:...
, on the west coast of the Chita Peninsula
Chita Peninsula
Chita Peninsula is a peninsula to the south of Aichi Prefecture, central Honshū, Japan. It runs approximately north-south. To the west is Ise Bay, while to the east it encloses Mikawa Bay. It faces the Atsumi Peninsula southeast across Mikawa Bay.-External links:...
in Aichi Prefecture
Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region. The region of Aichi is also known as the Tōkai region. The capital is Nagoya. It is the focus of the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area.- History :...
.
Biography
Otokichi was a 14-year-old crew member on a rice transport ship bound for EdoEdo
, 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...
, the Hojunmaru (宝順丸), 15 meters in length with a cargo of 150 tons and a crew of 14. The ship left on November 3, 1832, but was caught in a storm and blown off-course far out in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
Drift to America
The ship, without a mast or a rudder, was carried across the northern Pacific OceanPacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
by currents. It drifted for 14 months, during which the crew lived on desalinated
Desalination
Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water...
seawater and on the rice of their cargo. Several crew members died of scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
; only three survived by the time they made landfall at Cape Alava
Cape Alava
Cape Alava, in Clallam County, Washington, U.S.A., is the westernmost point in the contiguous 48 states, with a longitude of . The westernmost point is located in Olympic National Park and the Ozette Indian Reservation...
, the westernmost point of Washington's Olympic Peninsula
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state of the USA, that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous...
, in 1834. The three survivors were Iwakichi, 29; Kyukichi, 16; and Otokichi, then 15.
The three castaways were looked after and briefly enslaved by the Makah Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
. They were later handed over to John McLoughlin
John McLoughlin
Dr. John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, was the Chief Factor of the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest...
, the Chief Factor for the Columbia District at the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
. While there, they met Ranald MacDonald
Ranald MacDonald
Ranald 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...
, at that time a child, who was inspired by the memory to travel as an adult to then isolated Japan in 1848. MacDonald became the first Westerner to teach English there, and, like Otokichi, was instrumental in bringing Japan into increasing contact with the Western world.
Travel to Europe
McLoughlinJohn McLoughlin
Dr. John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, was the Chief Factor of the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest...
, envisioning an opportunity to use the castaways to open trade with Japan, sent the trio to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on the Eagle to try to convince the Crown of his plan. They reached London in 1835, probably the first Japanese to do so since Christopher and Cosmas
Christopher and Cosmas
Christopher and Cosmas were two Japanese men, only known by their Christian names, who are recorded to have travelled across the Pacific on a Spanish galleon in 1587, and later accompanied the English navigator Thomas Cavendish to England, Brazil and the Southern Atlantic, where they disappeared...
in the 16th century.
The British Government ultimately denied interest in the enterprise, and the castaways were instead dispatched to Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
on board the General Palmer, so that they could be returned to their home country.
Macau and attempt to return to Japan
Karl Gützlaff
Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff , anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand and for his books about China. He was one of the first Protestant missionaries in China to dress like a Chinese...
, a German missionary and Chinese translator for the British Government. Gutzlaff, who had views on evangelizing Japan, enthusiastically learned the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
from the trio, and with their help managed to make a translation of the Gospel According to John into Japanese. The trio was joined in Macau by four more castaways from Kumamoto Prefecture
Kumamoto Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on Kyushu Island. The capital is the city of Kumamoto.- History :Historically the area was called Higo Province; and the province was renamed Kumamoto during the Meiji Restoration. The creation of prefectures was part of the abolition of the feudal system...
in Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, who had been shipwrecked on the island of Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
An opportunity to return them to Japan appeared when the American trader Charles W. King
Charles W. King
Charles W. King was an American merchant in Canton, China, who is famous for having tried to open trade with Japan on the pretext of repatriating seven Japanese castaways, among them Otokichi, to their homeland in 1837 in the Morrison Incident....
offered to take them back to Japan, again with the hope of establishing trade relations with the country. In July 1837, the seven castaways left with Charles W. King on board the Morrison to Uraga
Uraga Channel
The is a waterway connecting Tokyo Bay to the Sagami Gulf. It is an important channel for ships headed from Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba to the Pacific Ocean and beyond.-Geography:...
at the entrance of 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...
Bay. There the ship was fired on repeatedly, and King was not able to accomplish his objective to establish diplomatic contact. He then went to Kagoshima, but again met with cannon fire, and finally decided to abandon his efforts and go back to Canton. The castaways resigned themselves to a life in exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
.
Otokichi's new life abroad
Unable to return to Japan, the castaways started a new life in Macau. They seem to have worked as translators for the British trade legation and British missionaries.Otokichi is next recorded to have been working for the British trading company Dent & Co. in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in 1843. He apparently also worked as a crewman on American ships, and worked at helping Japanese castaways to return to Japan on board Chinese or Dutch ships, the only ones allowed to visit the country.
Otokichi married an Englishwoman who later died of illness. Otokichi then married a Malay
Malay people
Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
woman, with whom he had a son and three daughters. He became a naturalized British subject, taking the name John Matthew Ottoson. "Ottoson" is said to have been a transliteration of "Oto-san" (literally "Mr. Oto"), a respectful nickname used by his Japanese friends.
Rehabilitation
Otokichi is known to have returned to Japan twice, first as a translator on board HMS MarinerHMS Mariner
Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Mariner:* The first , launched in 1801, was a 12-gun brig, sold in 1814.* The second , launched in 1846, was a 16-gun brig, sold in 1865....
, which entered Uraga Port in 1849 to conduct a topographical survey. To avoid problems with Japanese authorities, he disguised himself as Chinese, and said that he had learned Japanese from his father, allegedly a businessman who had worked in relation with Nagasaki.
The second time, Otokichi went to Japan under his British name "Ottoson", in September 1854. He was a member of the British fleet under Admiral James Stirling
James Stirling (Australian governor)
Admiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia...
. The fleet docked at Nagasaki and negotiated and signed the Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty
Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty
The between Britain and Japan was signed October 14, 1854 in Nagasaki. The United Kingdom was represented by Admiral Sir James Stirling, with the governors of Nagasaki representing the Tokugawa shogunate ....
on October 14. On that occasion, Otokichi met with many Japanese, including Fukuzawa Yukichi
Fukuzawa Yukichi
was a Japanese author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and political theorist who founded Keio University. His ideas about government and social institutions made a lasting impression on a rapidly changing Japan during the Meiji Era...
. He was apparently offered permission to live in Japan, but he chose to return to his family in Shanghai.
Toward the end of his life, Otokichi moved from Shanghai to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, his wife's native island. The British had compensated him generously for his contribution to the treaty with Japan, and he apparently rented a luxurious colonial house on Orchard Road
Orchard Road
Orchard Road is a road in Singapore that is the retail and entertainment hub of the city-state. It is regularly frequented by the local population as well as being a major tourist attraction...
.
He died there at the age of 49, in 1867. Otokichi was buried at the Japanese Cemetery of Singapore
Japanese Cemetery Park
The Japanese Cemetery Park is a cemetery and park in Hougang, Singapore. It is the largest Japanese cemetery in South East Asia at 29,359 square metres, consisting of 910 tombstones that contain the remains of members of the Japanese community in Singapore, including young Japanese prostitutes,...
. Half of his remains were returned to his hometown of Mihama
Mihama, Aichi
is a town located in Chita District, Aichi, Japan.-People:Mihama was the hometown of 19th-century Japanese castaway Otokichi. Mihama was also the hometown of Hana Haruna, an AV idol.-Places:...
in Japan on February 20, 2005.
See also
- Nakahama ManjirōNakahama Manjiro, also known as John Manjirō , was one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States and an important translator during the Opening of Japan.-Voyage to America:...
, another castaway, who went to America 10 years later. - Hasekura TsunenagaHasekura TsunenagaHasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga or was a Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyo of Sendai....
, who went to The Americas on a diplomatic mission in 1614, on the Japanese galleonGalleonA galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...
San Juan BautistaJapanese warship San Juan BautistaSan Juan Bautista was one of Japan's first Japanese-built Western-style sail warships. She crossed the Pacific in 1614. She was of the Spanish galleon type, known in Japan as Nanban-Sen San Juan Bautista (“St. John the Baptist”) (originally called Date Maru, 伊達丸 in Japanese) was one of Japan's...
. - Tanaka ShōsukeTanaka ShosukeTanaka Shōsuke was an important Japanese technician and trader in metals from Kyoto during the beginning of the 17th century.According to Japanese archives he was a representative of the great Osaka merchant Gotō Shōsaburō...
visited the Americas 1610 - William Adams (sailor)William Adams (sailor)William Adams , also known in Japanese as Anjin-sama and Miura Anjin , was an English navigator who travelled to Japan and is believed to be the first Englishman ever to reach that country...
, English pilot of Dutch fleet who settled in Japan 1600. - Christopher and CosmasChristopher and CosmasChristopher and Cosmas were two Japanese men, only known by their Christian names, who are recorded to have travelled across the Pacific on a Spanish galleon in 1587, and later accompanied the English navigator Thomas Cavendish to England, Brazil and the Southern Atlantic, where they disappeared...
, first Japanese to visit England in 1591