In 1841, eight years before Perry's ships entered Uraga Bay near Edo, a fourteen year-old boy and four companions were picked up after a shipwreck on a small island south of Japan. The rescue ship was the John Howland, an American whaling schooner under the command of Captain William H. Whitfield. The boy's name was Manjiro, and he was given the English name John Mung by the ships' crew. While his four companions stayed in Hawai'i when the ship entered port there, Manjiro opted to work on the whaling schooner, and after its return to New Bedford, Massachusetts, Manjiro was taken to live in the home of Captain Whitfield near Fairhaven. Manjiro lived in the United States for approximately ten years, spending part of the time in school, and part of the time at sea.
In 1851, Manjiro returned to Japan, where he was detained and examined by the authorities for over a year and a half to be sure that he would not introduce dangerous foreign ideas to the still "closed" country. He was then freed and reunited with his family in Tosa (present-day Kochi Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku) in late 1852. At that time, Manjiro came under the patronage of Kawada Shoryu, the artist, scholar and samurai in the service of the Lord of Tosa Province. Kawada had been one of the officials who examined Manjiro, and wrote down all of Manjiro's experiences abroad (Manjiro himself could not yet read or write Japanese).
The four volumes, entitled Hyoson Kiryaku (Drifting to the Southeast), were provided with over fifty watercolor illustrations based on Manjiro's descriptions. The original manuscript by Kawada was presented to the lord of Tosa. Several copies of the manuscript were made, including one for Manjiro himself. This latter endition of the manuscript is believed to be the one now in the collection of the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia. It is beautifully illustrated with fifty-four watercolor portraits, maps, and other subjects ships and whales; American "curiosities" such as naval uniforms, trains, and coins; and views of places as diverse as New Bedford, Oahu, and Japan. Most of the illustrations are by Kawada Shoryu, but ten are signed "John Mung," that is, by Manjiro himself, in English. Other additions to this manuscript by Manjiro testify to his efforts to master the English alphabet and vocabulary. The Hyoson Kiryaku manuscript became widely known among the feudal lords, many of whom were eager to learn about foreign lands and their technology.
Because of his direct knowledge of these subjects, Manjiro was employed by the Lord of Tosa as a teacher and advisor to the young samurai of the province. Then, in July 1853, the arrival of four black ships of the American navy, led by Commodore Matthew Perry, again changed Manjiro's life dramatically. He was summoned to Edo to the service of the shogunal government, and was sent to the United States again in 1960 as an interpreter aboard a Dutch-built ship, the Kanrin Maru, which was sebt across the Pacific Ocean from Japan under the command of an American captain to train the Japanese seamen for long-distance voyages. He was sent to the United States and Europe again in 1870.
Manjiro lived a full and distinguished life. After the Meiji Restoration in 1869, he received an appointment as professor at the forerunner of the Tokyo Imperial University. He played an important role in improving early communications between Japan and America. It is indeed fortuitous that the record of his first encounters with America has ended up in a distinguished Philadelphia collection.
Interested in learning more about the Hyoson Kiryaku manuscript and Philadelphia's unique relationship with Japan? Phila-Nipponica: An Historic Guide to Philadelphia & Japan, a bi-lingual collection of articles on the Japan-Philly connection published by the JASGP, is available for purchase in our online store!
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