was a Japanese army officer who led the Japanese Antarctic Expedition

Japanese Antarctic Expedition

The Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910–12 was the first exploration of Antarctic territory by an expedition from Japan. Led by army lieutenant Nobu Shirase, its ship Kainan Maru left Tokyo on December 1910, reaching the ice on 26 February 1911 and sailing on into the Ross Sea...

, 1910–12. This expedition explored the coastal area of King Edward VII Land

Edward VII Peninsula

King Edward VII Land or King Edward VII Peninsula is a large, ice-covered peninsula which forms the northwestern extremity of Marie Byrd Land. The peninsula projects into the Ross Sea between Sulzberger Bay and the northeast corner of the Ross Ice Shelf, and forms part of the Ross Dependency...

 and the eastern part of the Ross Ice Shelf

Ross Ice Shelf

The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica . It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than 600 km long, and between 15 and 50 metres high above the water surface...

, reaching a latitude of 80°05'S. At one point, Shirase's men achieved an unexpected rendezvous with a party from the South Pole

South Pole

The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...

 expedition led by Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....

.

Shirase and his men were the first humans to make a landfall on the Edward VII Peninsula. The Shirase party were feted as heroes on their return to Japan.

External links

• Sword of Friendship - an article by the Australian Museum
  Australian Museum
  The Australian Museum is the oldest museum in Australia, with an international reputation in the fields of natural history and anthropology. It features collections of vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, as well as mineralogy, palaeontology, and anthropology...
  
  , describing Shirase's gift of a 17th-century sword to Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David
  Edgeworth David
  Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth David KBE, DSO, FRS, was a Welsh Australian geologist and Antarctic explorer. A household name in his lifetime, David's most significant achievements were discovering the major Hunter Valley coalfield in New South Wales and leading the first expedition to reach the...
  
  in gratitude for his assistance during the expedition's stay in Sydney. The sword remains on display at the museum.