was a village headman in Hiro,

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

(current

Hirogawa, Wakayama 270px, Inamura no hi no yakata is a town in Arida District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 6,778 in 2833 households and a population density of 100 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geogr ...

) noted for his role in saving villagers from a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

during the

1854 Ansei-Nankai earthquake The 1854 Nankai earthquake occurred at about 16:00 local time on 24 December. It had a magnitude of 8.4 and caused a damaging tsunami. More than 30,000 buildings were destroyed and there were at least 3,000 casualties. It was the second of the th ...

. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, he became an entrepreneur, the seventh owner of

Yamasa Yamasa Corporation (ヤマサ醤油株式会社 ''Yamasa Shōyu Kabushikigaisha'') is a Japanese corporation founded in 1645 whose primary field of business is the manufacturing of soy sauce and various seasonings. It was incorporated in November ...

, the noted

soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and '' Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''Asp ...

brewer, philanthropist and politician.

Biography

Early history

Hamaguchi Goryō was born to a cadet branch of the Hamaguchi family in what is now

Yuasa, Wakayama is a town located in Arida District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 11,413 in 5338 households and a population density of 550 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Yuasa claims to be the birthpla ...

. The Hamaguchi family were soy sauce brewers and merchants, and had operations in both Shimosa and Kii Province. At the age of 12, he was adopted by the main family, which was based at what is now Chōshi, Chiba, where he relocated. In October 1839, he married a daughter of Ikenaga Umetaro in Yuasa at the age of 20. After staying in Hiro-mura for another six months, he returned to Chōshi via Edo in the following spring. By the time, he already mastered techniques of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

, especially ''

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

''. In addition, he was very good at composing and writing poems. As a youth, he was interested in western medicine and natural history and during the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji govern ...

, he volunteered to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

to be sent abroad for training, but was not accepted. At the age of 30, he returned to his native Kii Province and in 1852, opened a private academy for the training of commoner youths in trades. This academy was the forerunner of the current Wakayama Prefectural Taikyu High School. In 1854, he inherited the position of family head as the 7th generation Hamaguchi Goryō.

The Ansei-Nankai earthquake and aftermath

In the hours after the 1854 Ansei-Nankai earthquake, Hamaguchi Goryō recognized the danger to the village posed by a tsunami, and urged the villagers to evacuate to a nearby hill containing the

Hiro Hachiman Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in the town of Hirogawa), Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is dedicated to the ''kami'' Hachiman. It contains a number of structures which are designated as National Important Cultural Properties. The shrine is al ...

. Since it was night, he ordered that stacked sheaves of rice, which were drying after the recent harvest, to be set on fire to guide the villagers to safety. As a result, more than 90 percent of the villagers escaped the tsunami. The story was quickly popularized by ''Inamura no Hi: The Burning Rice Fields'' by Tsunezo Nakai (translated and published in English by

Sara Cone Bryant Sara Cone Bryant (1873May 28, 1956) was an American lecturer, teacher, and writer. She wrote children's books in the early 20th century. She also supported and took a leadership role in Women's suffrage in the United States, women's suffrage. Ear ...

) and

Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish language, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish people, Irish-Greeks, Greek-Japanese people, Japanese writer, t ...

's ''Gleanings in Buddha-Fields'' (1897), with some elaborations, and the account of his heroism became required reading in Japanese textbooks. After the disaster, Hamaguchi Goryō worked to restore the damaged bridge and built a huge seawall, the Hirokawa Embankment over a four-year period. This large-scale civil engineering work was intended not only for disaster prevention, but was also to provide employment for the villagers who had lost everything due to the tsunami. The cost of the 600 meters long, 20 meters wide and 5 meters high embankment was the equivalent of 4667 ''

ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the ''yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Japan ...

'' and was paid for by Hamaguchi and earned him the sobriquet of "a living god". Some 88 years later, this embankment protected Hirogawa from a tsunami from the

1946 Nankai earthquake The 1946 Nankai earthquake (昭和南海地震 Shōwa period, Shōwa Nankai jishin) was a great earthquake in Nankaidō, Occupation of Japan, Japan. It occurred on December 21, 1946, at 04:19 Japan Standard Time, JST (December 20, 19:19 UTC). The ...

Political career

In 1868, despite his commoner status, Hamaguchi was appointed a magistrate (''

bugyō was a title assigned to ''samurai'' officials during the feudal period of Japan. ''Bugyō'' is often translated as commissioner, magistrate, or governor, and other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given official' ...

'') of

Kishū Domain , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Prov ...

and a professor at the domain academy. He was asked to lead efforts to reform and modernize the domain's economy. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, in 1871 he was asked by

Okubo Toshimichi , also Okubo, Ohkubo and Ookubo, is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ōkubo clan **Ōkubo Tadayo (1532–1594), Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period **Ōkubo Tadasuke (1537–1613), Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku an ...

to head the , a department set up by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

to manage post stations, but as the department overlapped that of the Bureau of Posts, the position was abolished after only a few weeks. In 1880, he became the first chairman of the

Wakayama Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Pref ...

. In preparation for the opening of the Imperial Diet, he formed the ''Kikuni Doyukai'' a local proto-political party. In 1885, he went on a world trip, which had been his dream since his youth. He died in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, in the United States. His funeral was held on June 15, 1885, in Hirogawa and more than 4,000 people gathered to pay their final respects.

Timeline

References

* Hearn, Lafcadio ''Gleanings in Buddha-Fields: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East (1897)'' * Ladd, George Trumbull ''Rare Days in Japan (1910)'' * Ladd, George Trumbull ''In Korea with Marquis Ito (1908)'' * Bryant, Sara Cone ''The Burning Rice Fields (1963)'' * Hodges, Margaret Moore ''The Wave (1964)''

External links

Yamasa Corporation

Yamasa Corporation USA

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamaguchi, Goryo 1820 births 1885 deaths Tsunami Meiji Restoration Japanese businesspeople Japanese philanthropists People from Wakayama Prefecture