by Margi Preus
hakama, haori traditional Japanese-style long, wide legged pants (hakama) and short jacket (haori).
Hiroshige (Ando Hiroshige, 1797–1858) painter and printmaker, known especially for his landscape prints.
Hitotsume-kozo a one-eyed boy or small creature found in Japanese folklore.
Itadakimasu “I humbly receive.” Said before a meal to thank all those who had a part in it; also to acknowledge that living things have given their lives for the sustenance of human beings.
Izanami and Izanagi male and female deities and creators of Japan and its gods in Japanese mythology.
kago a method of transportation; a small platform on poles that rest on the shoulders of one or more bearers, used to carry members of the higher class.
kami divinities, natural forces, essence or life force in the Shinto religion.
kare-sansui dry landscape gardens in which raked sand and specially placed stones are used to suggest water, mountains, and other natural features.
katana a curved, single-edged blade traditionally worn by samurai, renowned for its sharpness and cutting ability. When it was worn with the wakizashi (“small sword”), the pair of swords together were called daisho, translating as “large and small.”
kimono a traditional Japanese garment made of silk, tied around the waist with a sash (obi). It is usually ankle-length, with long, wide sleeves.
Kochi the capital city of Kochi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. During the Meiji Restoration (shortly after Manjiro spent time there), the city became a center for promoting democratic and human rights movements.
Nagasaki the capital city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu.
naginata a curved blade on the end of a long pole.
Namu Amida Butsu “Buddha of Infinite Light,” phrase used by Buddhists as a chant or prayer.
nodachi a large, two-handed sword.
ojiisan “grandfather.”
okachan “mother,” or, more informal, “mama.”
seppuku “belly slicing,” when a samurai kills himself by cutting his belly open; a samurai would rather kill himself than bring shame and disgrace to his family name and lord.
shogun one of a line of military commanders who exercised absolute rule under the nominal leadership of the emperor until 1867; literally, “barbarian-expelling generalissimo.”
sutra a Buddhist text or prayer.
tanto a knife or dagger.
tatami woven rice-straw matting used as a floor covering in traditional Japanese homes.
tenugui cotton cloth used as a headband or towel.
Urashima Taro a legendary character who is taken to an undersea kingdom by a grateful turtle.
wakizashi a sword of twelve to twenty-four inches, traditionally worn with the katana by samurai as a sidearm.
yukata a light-cotton summer kimono.
WHALING TERMS/PARTS OF A SHIP
ambergris a waxy brown or gray substance produced in the large intestine of a sperm whale and used as a fixative in perfumes.
baleen a plate inside the mouth of a toothless (baleen) whale, made of the same material as human fingernails or hair. Baleen was valued for its plasticity and was used like plastic is now: for buggy whips, umbrella ribs, carriage springs, skirt hoops, brushes, combs, fishing rods, and so on.
binnacle the stand on which the ship’s compass is mounted.
blasted whale dead whale.
bulwark the sides of the ship that extend above the upper deck.
chanteys work songs.
chart the nautical counterpart of a map, showing land configurations, water depths, and other aids to navigation.
clumsy cleat a plank at the bow of a whaleboat, notched to take the whaleman’s left thigh and steady him when throwing a harpoon.
deadeye a round or pear-shaped wooden disc with one or more holes through it used in the standing rigging to create tension in the shrouds.
dog watch the watches between 4 and 6 P.M. and 6 and 8 P.M.
doldrums an area of low pressure where the prevailing winds are calm, alternating with squalls and storms.
fathom a unit of length used for measuring the depth of water—there are six feet in a fathom.
footropes ropes stretched under the yards for crew members to stand on while loosing or furling the sails.
forecastle (fo’c’sle) sailors’ living quarters at the head of the ship. A windowless space, it was typically dark, dank, and smelly.
futtock shrouds short lengths of rope supporting the top of a lower mast.
galley the ship’s kitchen.
gam a social meeting of two or more whaling ships at sea.
green hand an untested, inexperienced sailor.
grog a drink of some parts rum and equal parts water.
gunnel (gunwale) the widened edge at the top of the side of a boat.
halyards ropes or lines used to hoist sails.
headsman the crewmember who steered the whaleboat when approaching the whale.
lobscouse a stew made of salted meat, vegetables (if available), and hardtack.
loggerhead a post in the stern of a whaleboat used to secure the harpoon rope.
luff to flap or flutter; said of a sail when losing wind (for instance, if sailing too close to the wind).
main yard the lowest yard on the mainmast, from which the mainsail is set.
marlin spike a polished tool tapered to a rounded or flattened point, six to twelve inches long or longer, used to separate the strands of a rope when splicing.
Mocha Dick an enormous albino sperm whale named for the island of Mocha, off the coast of Chile. Whalers tried and failed to kill him on numerous occasions. Some say he killed more than thirty men, attacked and damaged whaling ships and whaleboats, and served as the inspiration for Herman Melville’s fictional giant white whale, Moby-Dick.
mutiny an open rebellion against a ship’s captain.
Nantucket sleigh ride what a whaleboat is taken on when a harpooned whale attempts to flee, dragging the boat along with it, at speeds of over 20 mph.
plum duff a shipboard dessert of flour, lard, water, molasses, and raisins (“plums”).
ratlines ropes or wooden steps made out of rope or wood attached to the shrouds to allow the sailors to climb into the rigging.
reef tackle tackle used to reef, or shorten, the sail area.
rigging ropes and chains that support and control the masts, spars, and sails of a vessel.
scrimshaw ornamental and pictorial items made from the teeth and bone of the whale.
sheet home to haul on the sheets (ropes or chains attached to the sails).
shorten sail to reduce the sail area.
shrouds sets of ropes or cables stretched from the masthead to the sides of a vessel to support the mast.
spar a long wooden timber or pole used as a yard or mast.
spermaceti a wax found inside the heads of sperm whales, used to make high-quality candles, soap, cosmetics, lubricants, lamp oil, and so on.
taffrail the rail around the stern of a ship.
thwart a plank across a boat upon which a rower might sit.
topgallant the mast above the topmast.
topgallant crosstrees timbers secured at the top of the topgallant mast upon which a sailor stood to watch for whales.
topsails sails set on a ship’s topmast.
tow line a rope used in towing.
trice up to haul lines, blocks, or tackle out of the way and secure them while performing another task with sails or yards.
trim and make sail to adjust yards and sails and set further sail.
trypots/tryworks two cast iron pots, set into a furnace of brick, iron, and wood, in which oil was rendered from whale blubber.
yard a horizontal wooden boom (or spar) to which sail is firmly attached.
wigwag a whale pointer, used by lookouts on whale ships to indicate the direction of whale or whales.
SAILORS’ LINGO
bleed the monkey to secretl
y remove liquor from a cask by making a small hole and sucking through a straw.
cross your bows to annoy you.
devil to pay and no pitch hot a predicament; derives from the job of sealing the outermost deck seam (the devil), which a sailor had to seal (pay) with pitch, a difficult and unpleasant task.
dickey run a short leave ashore.
half seas over half-drunk.
Jack Nastyface a derogatory nickname for a sailor who is disliked by his mates.
know the ropes to be experienced.
know which way the wind blows to see how things are going.
lay the whaling man’s pay, which was delivered at the end of the journey and amounted to some predetermined fraction of the profits, minus the ship’s and the crewman’s expenses.
oppos pals, companions.
scuppered frustrated, defeated, killed. Scuppers are also a means to drain water off the deck.
shonkey of dubious quality; a shipmate who will drink but avoid paying his round.
slip his cable to die.
stow it shut up.
swallow the anchor to leave the sea or to retire.
three sheets to the wind drunk.
vast heaving stop or stop pulling my leg.
whistling psalms to the taffrail providing advice that will be ignored.
whistling up a wind to indulge in vain hopes of something.
MISCELLANEOUS
butter stinkers (bata-kusai) people who stink of butter, still used as a derogatory term in Japan for things obnoxiously Western.
calligraphy artistic handwriting.
mele a chant or song of the Hawaiian Islanders, often accompanied by a dance called the hula.
Sandwich Islands the historic name for the Hawaiian Islands.
taro a tropical plant grown as a vegetable.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SUGGESTED READING
Starred books are for younger readers
MANJIRO
Benfey, Christopher. The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan. New York: Random House, 2003.
Bernard, Donald. The Life and Times of John Manjiro. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.
*Blumberg, Rhoda. Shipwrecked! The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
Crofford, Emily. Born in the Year of Courage. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 1991.
Ibuse, Masuji. Castaways: Two Short Novels. Tokyo: Kodansha Int’l, 1987.
Kaneko, Hisakazu. Manjiro, The Man Who Discovered America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1956.
Manjiro, John and Kawada Shoryo. Drifting Toward the Southeast. Translated by Junya Nagakuni and Junji Kitadai. New Bedford, Mass.: Spinner Publications, Inc., 2003.
Warriner, Emily V. Voyager to Destiny. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1956. (out of print)
WHALING
Ellis, Richard. Men and Whales. New York: Knopf, 1991.
*McKissack, Patricia C. and Fredrick L. Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African-American Whalers. New York: Scholastic Press, 1999.
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. (originally published in 1851)
*Murphy, Jim. Gone A-Whaling. New York: Clarion Books, 1998.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.
*Philbrick, Nathaniel. Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2002.
*Sandler, Martin W. Trapped in Ice! An Amazing True Whaling Adventure. New York: Scholastic Nonfiction, 2006.
*Stanley, Diane. The True Adventure of Daniel Hall. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1995.
The Story of Yankee Whaling. New York: American Heritage, 1959.
The Visual Encyclopedia of Nautical Terms Under Sail. New York: Crown Publishers Inc., 1978.
GOLD RUSH
The California Gold Rush, by the editors of American Heritage. New York: American Heritage, 1961.
*Blumberg, Rhoda. The Great American Gold Rush. New York: Bradbury Press, 1989.
*Stein, R. Conrad. The California Gold Rush. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1995.
SAMURAI
*Gaskin, Carol. Secrets of the Samurai. New York: Avon Books, 1991.
*Lewis, Brenda Ralph. Growing Up in Samurai Japan. London: Batsford Academic and Educational, 1981.
*Macdonald, Fiona. How to Be a Samurai Warrior. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2005.
*Schomp, Virginia. Japan in the Days of the Samurai. New York: Benchmark Books, 2002.
Tsuentomo, Yamamoto. Hagakure: The Art of the Samurai. Translated by Bruce Steben. London: Duncan Baird, 2008.
Tsunetomo, Yamamoto. Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai. Translated by William Scott Wilson. Tokyo: Kodansha, Int’l., 1979.
JAPAN
*Blumberg, Rhoda. Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books, 1985.
Dunn, Charles James. Everyday Life in Traditional Japan. London: Putnam, 1969.
Hanley, Susan B. Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
Matsunosuke, Nishiyama. Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600–1868. Translated and edited by Gerald Groemer. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1997.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to extend grateful acknowledgments to: Eri Fujieda, friend and translator, and the hospitable Fujieda family; Hiromi Tanaka, Arthur Davis, and friends of the Welcome John Mung Society in Tosashimizu; Jean Walsh, who introduced me to the story; Carolyn Longworth of the Millicent Library in Fairhaven; kind librarians at the New Bedford Whaling Museum research library; tall ship expert and exceptionally tall Bob Bruce; my erudite writing group; my patient husband and inspirational children; my remarkable agent, Stephen Fraser, who is a great-great-great-grandson of Nathaniel Bowditch (author of The New American Practical Navigator); and everyone at Abrams who worked on this book, especially Howard Reeves, the oracle.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR