Edward Schnell (June 3, 1830 - August 22, 1911) and Henry Schnell (August 4, 1834 - October 15, 1917) were brothers of Dutch extraction and German
arms dealer
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servi ...
s active in Japan. After the enforced opening of
Yokohama to foreign trade, Edward, who in the 1850s had served in the Prussian Army and spoke Malay, must have arrived in Japan no later than 1862, as he had a 7-year-old boy from his Japanese wife ''Kawai Tsugonusuke'' in 1869. He is also listed as owner of plot "No. 44" in Yokohama. He teamed up with the Swiss watch dealer
François Perregaux presumably until 1867.
[ (In German)]
Henry served as secretary and translator to the
Prussian consul
Max von Brandt. While travelling in an open coach through
Edo
Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
(modern Tokyo) in September 1867 the brothers were attacked by a samurai from
Numata
is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 46,908 in 20,589 households, and a population density of 110 persons per km². The total area of the city is , making it the largest city in terms of area w ...
, who, by drawing his sword, in a private vendetta was trying to enforce the ''
Sonnō jōi
was a ''yojijukugo'' (four-character compound) phrase used as the rallying cry and slogan of a political movement in Japan in the 1850s and 1860s during the Bakumatsu period. Based on Neo-Confucianism and Japanese nativism, the movement sought ...
'' policy. The attacker was shot in the chest but managed to escape. While wildly shooting around the Schnells injured an innocent passer-by. The Japanese bodyguards provided by the
Bakufu remained inactive. Von Brandt demanded that the attacker be executed, something the ''gaikoku-bugyō'' would not consent to. After much diplomatic wrangling the Prussian consul, realising that he had not the necessary military means, backed up and left it to the appropriate authorities of the samurai's
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
to decide an appropriate punishment.
[Stahncke, Holmer; ''Die diplomatischen Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Japan, 1854–1868;'' Wiesbaden 1987; ]
Document reliability
There are very few documents regarding the two brothers. Even the dates and places of their birth and death are unknown. They were from the
Kingdom of Prussia, and raised in the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
(present day
Indonesia). There is inconsistency also in Henry's name, varying from Henry Schnell, John Henry Schnell, I. Henry Schnell, and C. H. Schnell. Sometimes the two brothers are mistaken as the same person.
Boshin War
During the
Boshin War
The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...
in 1868–1869 Henry is known to have counselled the ''
daimyō'' of
Nagaoka, in
Niigata, to whom he sold two
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon.
The Gatling gun's operation centered on a cyc ...
s (only one other existed in Japan at the time), 2,000 French rifles, and various other armaments. Troops seized Edward's storehouse in
Niigata in 1869, and in a compromise brokered by the Dutch consul he received $ compensation in 1873. Apparently he lost most of his invested money in Germany during the economic crises of the late 1870s.
Aizu-Han
Edward and Henry Schnell also served the
Aizu
is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...
domain as a military instructor and procurer of weapons. Henry was granted the Japanese name , which inverted the characters of the ''daimyō''s name . Hiramatsu (I. H. Schnell) was given the right to wear swords, as well as a residence in the castle town of
Wakamatsu, a Japanese wife (the daughter of a
Shōnai-han retainer), and retainers. In many contemporary references, he is portrayed as wearing a Japanese kimono, overcoat, and swords, with Western riding trousers and boots.
California
After Aizu's defeat, Henry, his Japanese wife and about two dozen disgruntled samurai established a 600-acre settlement in
California.
The ''
Wakamatsu Silk and Tea Farm'' in what is nowadays
El Dorado County
El Dorado County (), officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The County is part of the Sacramento- Roseville-A ...
was not economically viable, mainly because the samurai lacked the necessary skills (also social) to work the land. After two years Henry Schnell with his wife and daughter disappeared without further trace. Since 1969 this first Japanese settlement in the US has been marked by a commemorative plaque. In November 2010 the site was purchased by a land preservation society who plan to construct a museum.
Kawashima Chūnosuke Kawashima (written: 川島, 川嶋) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*, musician
*, Japanese volleyball player
*, Japanese comedian, television personality and actor
*, voice actress
*, association football goalkeeper ...
reported having met Edward in
Geneva in 1885.
Depictions in media
The Boshin War and some of Henry's activities in Japan were dramatized in a 2015 TV movie, ''Samurai Warrior Queens''.
[(TV Movie 2015) - IMDb]
See also
*
List of foreign-born samurai in Japan
This is a list of foreign-born people who became samurai in Japan.
Definition
In this list, Japan means the Japanese archipelago. The word ''samurai'' has had a variety of meanings historically; here it is taken to mean 'those who serve in cl ...
Further reading
*Adachi Yoshio . ''Kaishō Suneru to Boshin Niigata kōbōsen'' . Niigata: Toyano Shuppan , 1985. (in Japanese)
* Weber, A.; ''Kontorrock und Konsulatsmütze''; Hamburg 1886, Tokyo 1939 (novel, Edward as "General Schnurr")
* Saotome, Mitsugu; ''Hekigan no Aizu-Bushi''; in: Rekishi e no Shōtai, Nr. 2 (1979), p. 125–164 (in Japanese)
* Stahncke, Holmer; ''Die Brüder Schnell und der Bürgerkrieg in Nordjapan''; Tokyo
Dt. Ges. für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens 1986, 48 p. (in German)
* Takashi, Yoshio; ''Kaishō Schnell''; Tokyo 1983 (in Japanese)
References
External links
Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony at Gold Hill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnell, Edward and Henry
German expatriates in Japan
German expatriates in Indonesia
German businesspeople
German people of Dutch descent
Meiji Restoration
People of the Boshin War
1830s births
Year of death unknown