, also known as Yamamoto Otokichi
and later known as John Matthew Ottoson (1818 – January 1867), was a Japanese
castaway
A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left a ...
originally from the area of Onoura near modern-day
Mihama, on the west coast of the
Chita Peninsula
Chita Peninsula (知多半島 ''Chita Hantō'') is a peninsula to the south of Aichi Prefecture, central Honshū, Japan. It runs approximately north-south. To the west is Ise Bay, while to the east it encloses Mikawa Bay. It faces the Atsumi ...
in
Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...
.
Biography
Otokichi was from
Mihama,
Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...
. In 1832, at age 14, he served as a crew member on a rice transport ship bound for
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 ...
, the ''Hojunmaru'' (宝順丸), in length with a cargo of 150 tons and a crew of 14. The ship left on October 11, 1832, but was caught in a storm and blown off-course far out in the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.
Drift to America
The ship, without a mast or a rudder, was carried across the northern
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
by currents. It drifted for 14 months, during which the crew lived on
desalinated seawater and on the rice of their cargo.
Several crew members died of
scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...
; only three survived by the time they arrived at
Cape Alava
Cape Alava is a cape in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Located in Clallam County, Washington. The cape is situated within Olympic National Park and the Makah Indian Reservation, and is accessible via a 3-mile boardwalk hike ...
, the westernmost point of
Washington's Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...
, in 1834. The three survivors were Iwakichi, 29; Kyukichi, 16; and Otokichi, then 15.
[
The three castaways were looked after and briefly enslaved by the ]Makah
The Makah (; Klallam: ''màq̓áʔa'')Renker, Ann M., and Gunther, Erna (1990). "Makah". In "Northwest Coast", ed. Wayne Suttles. Vol. 7 of ''Handbook of North American Indians'', ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institut ...
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
.[ They were later handed over to ]John McLoughlin
John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, (October 19, 1784 – September 3, 1857) was a French-Canadian, later American, Chief Factor and Superintendent of the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver fro ...
, the Chief Factor (agent) for the Columbia District
The Columbia District was a fur trading
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold ...
at the Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
.[
]
Travel to Europe
McLoughlin
McLoughlin is one of nearly two dozen Anglicisms for three Gaelic-Irish surnames: Mac/Nic Lochlainn (most commonly Anglicised ''McLaughlin''), Ó/Ní Maoilsheachlainn (usually ''McLoughlin'' or ''M'Loughlin''), and Mac/Nic Lochnaigh (usually ren ...
, envisioning an opportunity to use the castaways to open trade with Japan, sent the trio to London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
on the ''Eagle'' to try to convince the Crown of his plan. They reached London in 1835, probably the first Japanese to do so since Christopher and Cosmas Christopher and Cosmas were two Japanese men, only known by their Christian names, who are recorded to have travelled across the Pacific on a Spanish galleon in 1587, and were later forced to accompany the English navigator Thomas Cavendish to Engla ...
in the 16th century.
The British Government ultimately declined interest in the enterprise, and the castaways were instead dispatched to Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
on board the ''General Palmer'', so that they could be returned to their home country.
Macau and attempt to return to Japan
Once in Macau, Otokichi, Kyukichi and Iwakichi were welcomed by Karl Gutzlaff Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austria ...
, a German missionary and Chinese translator for the British Government. Gutzlaff, who had views on evangelizing Japan, enthusiastically learned the Japanese language
is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...
from the trio, and with their help managed to make a translation of the Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
into Japanese. The trio was joined in Macau by four more castaways from Kumamoto Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...
in Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
, who had been shipwrecked on the island of Luzon
Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
in the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
.
An opportunity to return them to Japan appeared, when the American trader Charles W. King
The of 1837 occurred when the American merchant ship, ''Morrison'' headed by Charles W. King, was driven away from "sakoku" (isolationist) Japan by cannon fire. This was carried out in accordance with the Japanese Edict to Repel Foreign Vessels ...
offered to take them back to Japan, again with the hope of establishing trade relations with the country. In July 1837, the seven castaways left with Charles W. King on board the ''Morrison'' to Uraga at the entrance of 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 ...
Bay. There the ship was fired on repeatedly, and King was not able to accomplish his objective to establish diplomatic contact.[ He then went to ]Kagoshima
, abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...
, but again met with cannon fire, and finally decided to abandon his efforts and go back to Canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ent ...
. The castaways resigned themselves to a life in exile
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
.[ Returning to Japan was problematic, for this was during Japan's period of isolation where leaving the country was an offense that was punishable by death.
]
New life abroad
Unable to return to Japan, the castaways started a new life in Macau. They seem to have worked as translators for the British trade legation and British missionaries.
Otokichi is next recorded to have been working for the British trading company Dent & Co. in Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
in 1843. He apparently also worked as a crewman on American ships, and worked at helping Japanese castaways to return to Japan on board Chinese or Dutch ships, the only ones allowed to visit the country. He also engaged in business on his own behalf.
Otokichi married a Scotswoman in Macao who later died of illness. His second wife, Louisa Belder, was half-German and half-Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
, living in Singapore, with whom he had a son and three daughters. He became a naturalized British subject, taking the name John Matthew Ottoson. "Ottoson" is said to have been a transliteration of "Oto-san" (literally "Mr. Oto"), a respectful nickname used by his Japanese friends.[
]
Return to Japan
Otokichi is known to have returned to Japan twice, first as a translator on board HMS ''Mariner'', which entered Uraga Port in 1849 to conduct a topographical
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
survey. To avoid problems with Japanese authorities, he disguised himself as Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, and said that he had learned Japanese from his father, allegedly a businessman who had worked in relation with Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
.
The second time, Otokichi went to Japan under his British name "Ottoson", in September 1854. He was a member of the British fleet under Admiral James Stirling.[ The fleet docked at Nagasaki and negotiated and signed the ]Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty
The was the first treaty between Great Britain and the Empire of Japan, then under the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate. Signed on October 14, 1854, it paralleled the Convention of Kanagawa, a similar agreement between Japan and the United ...
on October 14. On that occasion, Otokichi met with many Japanese, including Fukuzawa Yukichi
was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio University, the newspaper '' Jiji-Shinpō'', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases.
Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ...
. He was apparently offered permission to live in Japan, but he chose to return to his family in Shanghai.
Toward the end of his life, Otokichi moved from Shanghai to Singapore, his wife's native island, where he became the first known Japanese resident of Singapore. The British had compensated him generously for his contribution to the treaty with Japan, and he had done well in business deals in Shanghai. He apparently rented a luxurious colonial house on Orchard Road
Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major –long road in the Central Area of Singapore. Known as a famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area of Singapore, with numerous internationally renowned depa ...
, which is where he died of tuberculosis at the age of 49, in 1867.[ Otokichi was buried at the Japanese Cemetery of Singapore. Half of his remains were returned to his hometown of Mihama in Japan on February 20, 2005.
]
In popular culture
The story of the ''Hojunmaru'' castaways was adapted as the feature film ''Kairei'' in 1983. Despite starring country singer Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
as John McLoughlin, and having a reported budget of US$4,000,000, the film was not a commercial success.
See also
* Nakahama Manjirō
, also known as John Manjirō (or John Mung), was one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States and an important translator during the Opening of Japan.*
Voyage to America
During his early life, he lived as a simple fisherman in ...
, another castaway, who went to America 10 years later.
* Oguri Jukichi
was one of the first Japanese citizens known to have reached present day California. He and his fourteen-man crew, bound for Edo, were sailing off the Japanese coast in 1813 when their ship, the ''Tokujomaru'', was disabled in a storm. The ship ...
, another castaway, whose damaged vessel ''Tokujomaru'' drifted to vicinity of Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...
in 1815.
* Hasekura Tsunenaga
was a kirishitan Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyō of Sendai. He was of Japanese imperial descent with ancestral ties to Emperor Kanmu. Other names include Philip Francis Faxicura, Felipe Francisco Faxicura, and Phi ...
, who went to Europe through Mexico on a diplomatic mission in 1614, on the Japanese galleon
Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch War ...
San Juan Bautista.
* Tanaka Shōsuke
Tanaka Shōsuke (田中 勝助, also 田中 勝介) was an important Japanese technician and trader in metals from Kyoto during the beginning of the 17th century.
According to Japanese archives (駿府記) he was a representative of the great Osa ...
visited the Americas in 1610
* William Adams (sailor), English pilot of Dutch fleet who settled in Japan 1600.
* Christopher and Cosmas Christopher and Cosmas were two Japanese men, only known by their Christian names, who are recorded to have travelled across the Pacific on a Spanish galleon in 1587, and were later forced to accompany the English navigator Thomas Cavendish to Engla ...
, first Japanese to visit England in 1591
* Bernardo the Japanese
was an early Japanese Christian convert of the 16th century, born in Kagoshima, and the first Japanese person to set foot in Europe. Bernardo was one of the first converts of Saint Francis Xavier, and one of his two disciples. Bernardo was baptiz ...
, first Japanese person to set foot in Europe
* Ranald MacDonald
Ranald MacDonald (February 3, 1824 – August 24, 1894) was the first native English-speaker to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Co ...
, first native-English speaker to teach English in Japan
* , castaway on Unalaska, Alaska
Unalaska ( ale, Iluulux̂; russian: Уналашка) is the chief center of population in the Aleutian Islands. The city is in the Aleutians West Census Area, a regional component of the Unorganized Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska ...
, first Japanese to complete a circumnavigation
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first recorded circ ...
of the world with Nikolai Rezanov
Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov (russian: Николай Петрович Резанов) ( – ), a Russian nobleman and statesman, promoted the project of Russian colonization of Alaska and California to three successive Emperors of All Russia ...
in 1806
* Wakamiya-maru The Wakamiya-maru was a Japanese cargo ship whose crew members became the first Japanese to circumnavigate the globe after their ship went off course after getting caught in a storm ''en route'' from Ishinomaki in the Tōhoku region of northern Japa ...
, a 1794 Japanese shipwreck in Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, some of the survivors becoming the first Japanese to circumnavigate the world, as passengers with the first Russian circumnavigation
The first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth took place from August 1803 to August 1806 and was carried out on two ships, the '' Nadezhda'' and the ''Neva'', under the commands of Adam Johann von Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky, respectively. Th ...
.
References
External links
Life of Otokichi
Friends of MacDonald official website
{{Authority control
1818 births
1867 deaths
Castaways
Japanese emigrants to Macau
British people of Japanese descent
Japanese slaves
People of pre-statehood Washington (state)
People from Aichi Prefecture