The , also known as the Friendship, Philanthropy, Humanity, or Hakuai Monument, is a
stele
A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
in the Harimizu area of
Miyakojima, Okinawa
is a city in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, located on the Miyako Islands. As of 2025, it had a population of 53,035.
History
The modern city of Miyakojima was established on October 1, 2005, from the merger of the old city of Hirara, the to ...
.
History
In 1873, the German
schooner
A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
''R. J. Robertson'' was wrecked off the coast of
Ueno Village of
Miyako Island
is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Miyako Island is administered as part of the City of Miyako Island, which includes not only Miyako Island, but also five other islands.
Geogra ...
in the
Ryukyu Kingdom
The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...
.
[Kerr, George. ''Okinawa: History of an Island People''. Tokyo, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1958. Page 410.] The crew was saved by the local islanders, who took care of them. As a gift for the islanders' kindness, and as an excuse for German warships to enter Ryukyuan waters,
Kaiser Wilhelm I
Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany ...
erected the monument in
Hirara City in 1876.
The inscription on the monument reads:
Im Juli 1873 ist das Deutsche Schiff R. J. Robertson geführt vom Capitän Hernsheim aus Hamburg an den Felsen vor der Küste von Typinsan gestrandet. Die Besatzung ward mit Hilfe der Uferbewohner gerettet, in Sicherheit gebracht und während 31 Tage gastlich aufgenommen, bis sich am 17. August 1873 die Heimreise bewirken liess. In dankbarer Anerkennung dieses rühmlichen Benehmens haben WIR WILHELM VON GOTTES GNADEN Deutscher Kaiser, König von Preussen die Aufstellung dieses Denkmals in bleibender Erinnerung angeordnet.
After
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom, Japan used the monument as evidence of a history of friendship between Japan and Germany, and erected a second monument near the site of the wreck in 1936 that read .
In 1987,
Ueno German Culture Village was built around the Japanese monument.
沖縄宮古島の「うえのドイツ文化村」ホームページ
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References
{{coord, 24.8063, N, 125.2797, E, display=title, type:landmark_region:JP_scale:10000
Ryukyuan history
Politics of the German Empire