The Kawaguchi foreign settlement, or known as the Old Kawaguchi settlement (Japanese: 旧川口居留地), was a foreign settlement located in north Kawaguchi, straddling in western present-day

Nishi-ku, Osaka is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. It is in the west of central Osaka ("Nishi" means "west"), and is generally flat. 80% of the area was destroyed by bombing in World War II, and was not regenerated until the mid-1960s.(川口基督教会), displays the Settlement's vibrant history.

History

The

Ansei Treaties The Ansei Treaties (Japanese:安政条約) or the Ansei Five-Power Treaties (Japanese:安政五カ国条約) are a series of treaties signed in 1858, during the Japanese Ansei era, between Japan on the one side, and the United States, Great Br ...

of 1858 decided that

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

would be opened (allowed foreigners to do business) along with

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Niigata, Kobe, and

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

. 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 ...

wanted to delay the opening of the concessions, but following the shogunate's collapse, and the new

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 ...

opened Osaka in January 1868 along with Tokyo, Niigata, and Kobe. The location of the to-be Osaka-Kawaguchi foreign settlement, located at the junction of the Aji and Kizu rivers, had several ''kumiyashiki'' (residence for samurai enrolled in police forces) and a ''funebansho'' (ship guard station) handled by the local Osaka dock workers. At the suggestion of ''

gunkan-bugyō , also known as ''kaigun-bugō,'' were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually ''fudai daimyō''.Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853– ...

'' (naval commissioner)

Katsu Kaishū Count , best known by his nickname , was a Japanese statesman and naval engineer during the late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy (Kaishū Shooku ) by Sakuma Shōzan. He ...

, these were to torn down in 1864. The dock workers were thus relocated to the

Kobe Naval Training Center The was a naval training institute in Bakumatsu period Japan, established by the Military Commissioner of the Tokugawa shogunate, Katsu Kaishū in May 1864. Institutional History Following the closure of the Nagasaki Naval Training Center by ...

, also headed by Katsu Kaishu. On July 15, 1868, Osaka officially opened the now empty lots to Westerners, 26 plots total. Even though it was the smallest of all the foreign settlements at the time (only about 25600 square meters), these lots were immediately auctioned off to eager Western buyers; in the end, out of the 26 wards, 13 went to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, 4 went to the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

and

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

, 2 for the French and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

, and 1 for the

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. However, the initial excitement died down as the buyers realized there was poor port development. The land itself was far from the

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...

and much more inland, meaning large cargo ships cannot maneuver to the settlement. In addition, Osaka's struggling economy at the time paled in comparison to the other cities who opened up lots for settlement. Although many of the buyers eventually moved on to Kobe, many (especially missionaries) settled down in the lots and began constructing a Western-style settlement. According to literature at the time,

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...

and

rubber trees ''Hevea brasiliensis'', the Pará rubber tree, ''sharinga'' tree, seringueira, or most commonly, rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family Euphorbiaceae originally native to the Amazon basin, but is now pan ...

were planted on the sides of the wide paved streets, English-style cottage homes and Spanish-style stone and brick buildings were built. In the night, the settlement was bright as gas lamps were turned on. In the multi-tenant areas, there was a butcherhouse, milk, bread, and

ramune () is a Japanese carbonated soft drink. It was introduced in 1884 in Kobe by the British pharmacist Alexander Cameron Sim. Like Banta, an Indian lemon drink, is available in a Codd-neck bottle, a heavy glass bottle whose mouth is sealed by ...

stores to meet the foreigners' demands. Clothes stores, dry cleaners and barbershops were also constructed. It was in the foreign settlement that Osaka's first telecommunications station, Western restaurant, Chinese restaurant, and café was built as well. The bordering neighborhoods of Tomijima 富島町, Furukawa 古川町, Umemoto 梅本町, and some others were subsumed into the settlement. As the settlement slowly regrew in popularity, an additional 10 lots were added in 1886. On Enokojima Island, facing east of the settlement, the Osaka Prefectural Government Building and Osaka City Hall (both built in Western styles) were complete in 1974 and 1899, respectively. Even after the abolishment of the foreign settlement in 1899, the settlement had become close in proximity to the bustling commercial center of Osaka, causing its economy to boom. The_Kawaguchi_Foreign_Concession_in_Osaka,_1893

The_Kawaguchi_Foreign_Concession_in_Osaka,_1893

Kawaguchi missionaries

Due to many of the foreign businessmen and traders moving on to other settlements like the

Kobe foreign settlement The , also known as the Kobe foreign concession, was a foreign settlement located about 3.5 kilometers east of the Port of Kobe, in the future Chūō-ku of Kobe, Japan. Established based on the Ansei Treaties, it existed from January 1, 1868, t ...

, missionaries from various Christian denominations came to fill the vacuum, and as a result, the settlement became a nucleus of Christian evangelism. The Meiji government explained that even though the ban on Christianity is not abolished, the freedom of evangelical activities were permitted in the foreign settlement. These missionaries, initially denied settlement during the auctions of 1868, rebuilt empty lots left behind with

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

es, hospitals,

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

s, and more. In 1884, out of the 26 original plots, 20 became Christian facilities and residences for missionaries. Notable buildings founded by Christian missionaries were the St. Agnes School, Poole Girl's School, Osaka Jogakuin Jr. and Sr. High School, St. Andrew's University, Rikkyo School, Osaka Shinai General School, and St. Barnabas Hospital. It was under the pressure of these missionaries that the Meiji government acquiesced to open up ten additional plots.

Kawaguchi businesses & trading companies

Due to the relative inaccessibility of the foreign settlement from shipments from Western countries, when compared to the residential and educational parts of the settlements, the commercial portions were minimal. Most businesses in the Kawaguchi foreign settlement had other branches based in Japanese cities like Kobe and Nagasaki, and many of them closed down their branches in Kawaguchi, where schools and residential areas took their place instead. The only company office that remained until the dissolution of the settlement in 1899 was the C&J Favre-Brandt, which specialized in pocket watches and industrial machinery; it is said to have sold weapons to the Meiji government during the

Satsuma Rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and b ...

. In the beginning of the settlement, other businesses included

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...

, O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., the Karol Company (specialized in icemaking), etc.

Legacy

Following the abolishment of the settlement in 1899, the 36 plots of land were transferred to Osaka and became the Kawaguchi district. At this time, many Chinese immigrants (most from the Shandong province) began moving into the tenant areas of the former settlement, and the area became a Chinatown. In the early Showa period, the number exceeded 3,000, and they were engaged in businesses such as clothing stores, hairdressers, trading, and more. However, due to the intensification of the Sino-Japanese War and the

bombing of Osaka The bombing of Osaka during World War II first took place from the middle of the night on March 13, 1945, to the early morning of the next day. There were also bomb raids on June 1, 6, 7, 15, 26, July 10, 24, and August 14, the last day of the war ...

, many Chinese businessmen dispersed throughout Japan or left to return to China. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, as the Chinese left the settlement, Kawaguchi became a

warehouse district This is a list of notable warehouse districts. A warehouse district or warehouse row is an area found in many urban setting known for being the current or former location of numerous warehouses. Logistically, warehouses are often located in indust ...

, where companies like Mitsui-Soko Holdings Co. and Sumitomo Co. built concrete buildings. Most of the buildings from the settlement area were dismantled. A stone monument commemorating the Kawaguchi Settlement stands in the corner of an elementary school.

References

{{Reflist Osaka History of Osaka Prefecture History of Osaka History of the foreign relations of Japan 19th century in Japan