In 1952, the Ono cemetery, the earliest foreign cemetery in Kobe, was removed to a new site deep in the glorious Kobe hills behind Futatabi Mountain. The mortal remains of those who now rest behind Futatabi were first buried three-quarters of a century and more ago, as has already been mentioned, among the pines of Ono-hama, on the sandy waste near the mouth of the old Ikuta River. In the course of time the river was moved further east to make room for the expanding city of Kobe. Harbour reclamation schemes followed which transformed the old cemetery from a wind-swept site near the river mouth to an inland position. In course of time the sea breezes were blocked by ugly red godowns. The noise of the city penetrated its quietness and between rain showers the old pine trees and tombstones were thickly covered with dust stirred up by traffic on the roads just beyond its walls.
The remains of that early band of foreigners are now laid amid more peaceful and beautiful surroundings in the new foreign cemetery behind Futatabi, but the pattern of their lives, and those of the foreign community in the early days, can be traced in broad outline from the brief inscriptions on the original gravestones.
Not many seem to have lived to old age. There are the young mothers who failed to survive the risks then of childbirth; the children who all too frequently fell victims of diphtheria and enteric fever that raged in those hazardous days; the men of high hopes who came East but died young at their own hands, or as a result of their own excesses; the tragic and untimely deaths; the seafarers who died lonely in a foreign port; and finally that little band of men whose fate is written in the pages of history of eighty-five years ago.
An American admiral, a lieutenant and ten sailors of the U.S. Navy were accidentally drowned when crossing the bar at Osaka. But more tragic still the eleven French sailors who were massacred at Sakai, near Osaka, as has been related elsewhere in this book.
It was to avoid incidents such as this that were taking place all over Japan where foreigners happened to be gathered, that a trail, which came to be known as the Tokugawa Road, was cut through the hills behind Futatabi.
Daimyo processions on their way to and from Osaka were thus able to by-pass Hyogo, and so avoid the possibility of a fracas with the foreigners, who had been allotted as a place of residence and business a sandy waste, which was eventually developed into the picturesque foreign settlement of Kobe—a little municipality complete with its own foreign police force, fire brigade, foreign tradesmen and shops. A model settlement with red bricked pavements and streets lined with willow trees.
Actually with the Imperial edict banning the wearing of swords by the samurai, the dangers of disorders and violence that the Tokugawa Road behind Futatabi had sought to avoid quickly disappeared. The road therefore was not much used.
The forest encroached upon it, but nevertheless as late as thirty years ago it was still possible, although with considerable difficulty, to trace it out through most of its length.
I recently endeavored once again to follow out the road, but found that development and the passing of time had completely obliterated most of it. Being weary from following many false trails, I rested upon a log, reflecting on the curious circumstance that whereas the Tokugawa Road had been built so that the daimyo processions would not pass near to the abode of foreigners, yet the final resting place of the foreigners of those early days is now in the new cemetery adjacent to that old Tokugawa Road.
While thinking of the past and perhaps drowsing lightly, a very old charcoal-burner came along and broke upon my reveries. It was near sunset. He bowed and sat down on the log beside me. I remarked on the solitude of the place.
"Yes. But after dark the foxes and badgers are about. And on moonlight nights there are others also moving along this path," he replied.
"What others," I asked.
"There are daimyo processions, palanquins with drawn blinds, standard bearers, two-sworded samurai and porters carrying large black lacquered chests containing the clothes of the lords and ladies. They can often be seen resting among the shadows in the clearings."
"Have you seen them?" I inquired.
"No. But it is common knowledge. It is also said that they sometimes meet the French sailors, the ones who were killed long ago across the bay near Sakai. But there is no violence now. When they meet, they greet each other respectfully, then gravely pass on their way. All this is well known. But when I come along here at sunrise" concluded the charcoal-burner "there is nothing to be seen!"
.... now I believe there is such a place as Japan which has been confirmed to me several hundred ways.
Bernard Mandeville—Fable of the Bees (1705)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. S. Williams was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1898. He was headed for a scientific career; at first as a junior analyst in the Commonwealth Laboratory of Australia, then as a medical student at the Melbourne University. He was already seriously interested in the Japanese language and history as a hobby, and at the end of his third year in medicine he came to Japan on a holiday.
On arrival in Japan, an advertisement in the former Japan Advertiser caught his attention, and by replying to it he hoped to have the opportunity of seeing inside one of the hongs in Japan of which he had read so much. He later went for an interview, confident in the belief that he would not be engaged. To his great dismay he found that he was hired as an assistant in the old Scottish hong of Findlay Richardson & Co. Ltd. He thereupon temporarily postponed his return to Australia, but eventually decided to give up his career and make his future in Japan.
Later Williams became managing director of the silk firm of Cooper Findlay & Co. Ltd.
In 1941 he left Japan and enlisted in the Australian Army. He attained the rank of major and saw service in Africa, the Pacific, and Burma. He arrived back in Japan a few weeks after the surrender as a member of the Occupation Forces, and remained in the Australian Army in Japan until 1949 when he resumed his business career.
H. S. Williams is now Managing Director of A. Cameron & Co. Ltd. and sole Trustee of the famous James Estate at Shioya, near Kobe.
In 1953 he commenced writing historical articles for various publications abroad, and for the Mainichi in a series entitled "Shades of the Past," out of which writings this book was born.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
INCIDENTAL TO ARTICLES
IN THIS BOOK
About 550 Buddhism trickled into Japan from India via Korea.
" 747 Daibutsu at Nara was cast.
1271 Marco Polo travelled to Asia.
1542 Portuguese arrived in Japan.
1600 Will Adams arrived in Japan as pilot on Dutch ship "de Liefde."
1604 Englishmen fought with Japanese off Malaya.
1609 Dutch commenced to trade with Japan.
1613 Capt. John Saris arrived in Japan on "Clove" and opened English East India Trading post at Hirado.
1614 Proclamation issued suppressing Christianity.
1622 Great martyrdom of Christians at Nagasaki.
1623 Richard Cocks closed the English trading post and left Japan.
1636 Japanese forbidden to go abroad.
1637 Shogun Iyemitsu decided to close Japan to the Western World.
1638 Shimabara rebellion and massacre of Christians.
1638 Seclusion policy proclaimed in Japan.
1641 Dutch trading post confined to Deshima.
1690 Dr. Kaempfer arrived at Deshima.
1825 Expulsion decree re-issued, forbidding foreign ships to enter Japanese waters.
1830 Brig "Cyprus" fired on by Japanese shore batteries.
July 1853 Commodore Perry's ships arrived in Yedo Bay
Feb/Mar 1854 Commodore Perry returned and signed a treaty of peace and amity with Japan.
Oct. 1854 British signed similar treaties.
Aug. 1856 Townsend Harris, first U. S. Consul-General, landed at Shimoda.
Nov. 1857 Townsend Harris arrived in Yedo and had audience with Shogun.
July 1858 Townsend Harris signed treat
y of amity and commerce with Japan.
July 1858 Lord Elgin arrived in Japan.
Aug. 1858 Anglo-Japanese treaty of commerce and friendship signed.
June 1859 Rutherford Alcock arrived as Britain's first Minister to Japan.
1 July 1859 Yokohama, Nagasaki and Hakodate opened to foreign trade.
1860 First recorded ascent of Fuji by a foreigner.
1860 Japanese Mission to U. S. A.
1861 British Legation in Yedo attacked.
1862 The Richardson murder.
1864 Major Baldwin and Lieut. Bird murdered.
25 Dec. 1867 First burials in Ono Foreign Cemetery, Kobe.
1 Jan. 1868 Hyogo and Osaka opened.
Jan. 1868 Admiral Bell and 11 men drowned at Osaka.
Jan. 1868 Osaka Castle burnt.
4 Feb. 1868 Bizen soldiers fired on Kobe Foreign Settlement.
3 Mar. 1868 Taki Zenzaburo committed harakiri.
8 Mar. 1868 Eleven French naval men massacred at Sakai.
16 Mar. 1868 Eleven Japanese executed at Sakai.
Nov. 1868 The Emperor left Kyoto and entered Yedo which thereafter became known as Tokyo -the eastern capital.
1868 Restoration of the Emperor and overthrow of Shogunate.
1 Jan. 1869 Tokio opened to foreign trade.
24 Jan. 1870 U. S. S. "Oneida" in collision and lost.
24 Aug. 1872 5. S. "America" on fire in Yokohama harbour.
1881 The Kimigayo—National Anthem -played for first time.
1885 Pierre Loti came to Nagasaki.
1890 Attempted assassination of the Czarevitch at Otsu.
1896 The Carew Poisoning Case at Yokohama.
1899 Extra-territoriality ceased.
1906 The Garter Mission arrived in Japan.
1931 Osaka Castle reconstructed in reinforced concrete.
Dec. 1941 Japanese naval landing party occupies Nauru Island.
Aug. 1945 Occupation troops entered Japan.
1952 Transfer of earliest foreign cemetery in Kobe, from Ono to Shuhogahara behind Futatabi.
1955 Italian-Japanese film of Madame Butterfly released in Japan.
GLOSSARY
AND
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
A
Adams, Will English navigator. Arrived in Japan in 1600. Was later known as Anjin Santa (pilot). Married a Japanese lady. Died in Japan in 1620 at age of about 56 years.
Alcock, Sir Rutherford (1809-1897) Arrived in Japan as first British Consul-General. Appointed Minister in 1859. In 1865 was transferred to Pekin and succeeded by Sir Harry Parkes.
Amida An important Buddhist diety.
B
Banzai Literally " ten thousand years." An expression of great emotion by the Japanese, equivalent to "Hurrah," or in "Dai Nippon Banzai" to "Long Live Great Japan."
Bento A lunch. When sold is packed in a light chip-wood box.
Bizen Name of a province and clan in Okayama prefecture.
Bluff That section of Yokohama, overlooking the town and harbour, where most foreigners built their homes, when they ceased residing within the Concession.
Bon See O-bon.
Boy-san An office boy, a bartender, or a waiter in a restaurant. Stewards on board Japanese vessels resent being called boy-san.
Brinkley, Capt. F. Came to Japan as an instructor in gunnery to Japanese Naval Department. Later became editor of The Japan Mail. Author of various books on Japanese subjects. Died in 1912.
Bu A silver coin in circulation when Japan was opened to foreign trade in 1859, later equivalent to about yen. Called by foreigners boo.
Bund The road along the water front in an Oriental port.
Bunsei The era of Bunsei (1818-1830).
C
Chamberlain, Basil Hall (1850-1935) Arrived in Japan in 1873 and became a teacher at the Imperial Naval School. Later became professor of Japanese philology at Tokyo Imperial University. Wrote many important books on Japanese subjects, the best known of which is Things Japanese. Left Japan in 1905 owing to ill health and retired to Geneva.
Cocks, Richard Chief of factory of English East India Company at Hirado from 1613 until it closed in 1621.
Concession See Settlement.
D
Daibutsu Large statue of Buddha or Amida.
Daimyo Literally "great name." A term applied to territorial nobles, the annual income from whose lands was assessed at not less than ten thousand koku of rice (about 50,000 bushels.)
E
Engawa Verandah of a Japanese house.
F
Foreigner The meaning of the word in Japan is a non-Japanese, but it is often used in English conversation in the sense of a Westerner.
Fryke, Christopher An Englishman who published a book in London in 1700, describing a voyage which he made to Japan in 1683.
G
Geisha Literally a "person of talents." A professional Japanese female entertainer called upon at parties and banquets to entertain the guests. They undergo rigorous training and are accomplished dancers and singers. Most of them have patrons. Lower class geisha are often little different from prostitutes.
Godown A warehouse.
H
Hachiman Shinto deity of war.
Hara-kiri Suicide by disembowelment. There were two forms, one voluntary, the other compulsory, the latter being imposed as a penalty for certain offences. The Japanese rarely use this word, preferring the more genteel Chinese form of the word--seppuku.
Harris, Townsend (1804-1875) Arrived at Shimoda 21 Aug., 1856, as first U. S. Consul-General in Japan. Appointed minister in 1859. Resigned in 1861.
Hatch, Rev. Arthur A chaplain in the service of the English East India Company, who visited Japan in 1621 and then wrote a description of the country.
Hatoba Wharf or quay.
Hearn, Lafcadio (1850-1904) Arrived in Japan in 1890. Had various teaching appointments. Married a Japanese lady in 1891 and became a Japanese subject—Koizumi Yakumo—in 1895.
Hepburn, Dr. J. C. American physician and missionary in Japan 1859-92. Compiler of English-Japanese Dictionary, Dictionary of Bible (in Japanese) etc.
Hiogo Previously the commonly accepted Romanised form of spelling for Hyogo.
Hirado An island near the northwest coast of Kyushu where the Dutch and English trading posts were established in the 17th century.
Hizakurige A well-known Japanese guide-book written about 1814 in comic and narrative form by Ikku Jippensha.
Hizen Name of a province and clan in Kyushu, near Nagasaki.
Hong Foreign trading firm, a word rarely used nowadays in Japan.
I
Ichibu Silver coin in circulation before the introduction of the Yen. The value varied from 10d to about 1s8d according to the exchange.
Ippuku Literally ''one puff." Travellers on the highways in Japan are greeted and invited to enter the roadside tea-houses for a rest and to smoke a pipe.
Iyemitsu (1603-1651) The third Tokugawa Shogun. He closed the country, forbade the building of ships for oversea voyages and attempted to stamp out Christianity. He was buried at Nikko.
Iyeyasu (1542-1616) Founder of the line of Tokugawa rulers. He became Shogun in 1603. He was buried at Nikko.
J
Jinrikisha Literally man-power-vehicle, contracted to rikisha, and later Anglicised to ricksha, rikishaw or rickshaw.
K
Kabuki Japanese drama, generally classical or historical, where the female parts are taken by male actors.
Kaempfer, Engelbert (1651-1716) German traveller and physician. Arrived in Japan Sept., 1690. Left in 1693. His History of Japan was published after his death.
Kago A basket slung on a pole and carried by two men, in which the commonalty travelled; in the early days, foreigners preferred kago to palanquins, because they were more airy. They went out of fashion, except on mountain paths, when rikisha were introduced.
Kami A Shinto deity.
Kansai (or Kwansai) Literally "west of the barrier." Gene
ral term applied before Restoration in 1868 to country west of the guard-house or barrier on the Hakone pass.
Kanto (or Kwanto) Literally "east of the barrier." General term applied before Restoration in 1868 to country east of the guard-house or barrier on the Hakone pass.
Kencho Prefectural office.
Kitano-cho That high section of Kobe which became the residential quarter for the elite of the taipans, when they ceased residing within the Concession.
Koban Large flat oval-shaped gold coins issued by various daimyo and other authorities in feudal days.
Kobo Daishi See Kukai.
Koku A measure of rice equal to about 5 bushels.
Kukai (774-835) Buddhist priest and scholar. In 816 he retired to Mt. Koya where he founded the famous monastery. So much in the way of paintings, carvings, writings, etc., are attributed to him, that it is doubtful he could have accomplished them all, even had he lived a thousand years.
Kwannon Buddhist deity of mercy.
L
Loti, Pierre (1850-1923) Pen name of L. M. Julien Viaud. French author. Wrote Madame Chrysantheme and others.
M
Shades of the Past Page 25