There may not be many people today who recognize the name Tatsui Baba (1850 - 1888). Even fewer would know that in the summer of 1886 he fled Japan and came to the United States, where he toured the country from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast lecturing about Japan with his bundle of antique Japanese swords under his arm. Why did Tatsui Baba find himself in these circumstances, so far away from home over 100 years ago?
Tatsui Baba was born on the fifth day of the fifth month of Kaei 3 (1850) to a family in Tosa (present day Kochi Prefecture), and was sent by the local government to Edo as a student to attend Yukichi Fuzukawa's private school (later Keio University). In 1870 he was chosen to continue his studies in England, and recieved a law degree at Temple Law School. Upon his return to Japan in 1878, Baba embarked on various activities in the political arena, becoming a supporter of the Popular Rights Movement to establish a popularly elected Diet, and participating in political and social organizations. In particular, he became a leader in founding Japan's first national political party, the Jiyuto (Liberal Party), with Taisuke Itagaki. But he had differences of opinion with the party head about foreign travel, and left the Jiyuto to found a new independent political party. The force of his eloquent arguments, aimed at the Satsuma-Choshu government clique in its bitter opposition to the Popular Rights Movement, only grew increasingly more heated.
In 1885, Baba was unexpectedly arrested in Yokohama on suspicion of a bombing attempt and spent several months in detention. He decided the best solution was to leave the country and try to continue his work for the Popular Rights Movement abroad.
He sailed from Yokohama for the United States on June 12, 1886. He took with him a collection of Japanese arms and armor, and after landing in San Francisco in July, he prepared a manuscript entitled "The Weapons and Armor of Ancient Japan," which would be the subject of his future lectures to introduce Japan to Americans. He delivered his first talk on November 5th, showing the armor, swords, bows, and arrows to his audience. However, his lecture debut was a complete failure. Baba decided to leave San Francisco and headed East, to New York, where he was able to draw large audiences with his lectures at the American Institute. Finally, he moved to Philadelphia in March of 1887, feeling a particular attraction to Philadelphia as the birthplace of the American Constitution. There were no doubt many events taking place in Philadelphia at the time in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the Constitution.
Tatsui Baba resided in Philadelphia from then on, delivering his lecture on Japanese arms and armor at the Franklin Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, and traveling to give his talk in Boston and Washington, DC as well. His lectures were not limited to introducing the audience to Japanese culture, but invariably included the subject of Japan's liberal democratic movement. Besides his lectures, Baba wrote numerous newspaper articles and essays during his stay in America, and from abroad continued his pressure on the Japanese government leaders who suppressed free speech at home.
Tatsui Baba was hospitalized with consumption that he contracted years earlier in England, and died in Philadelphia on November 1, 1888, at the age of thirty-eight. His collections of over forty pieces of Japanese arms and armor were sold to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The museum collection still includes thirteen of these, as well as a manuscript and correspondence. Baba Tatsui's grave is at the Woodlands Cemetery in West Philadelphia.
Interested in learning more about Tatsui Baba's place in 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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