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Englishman or Samurai: The Story of Will Adams
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
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On the 7th of July, 1853, the inhabitants of Japan's capital beheld an amazing sight: four huge and strange ships were steaming up the Bay of Yedo. It was Commodore Perry's fleet arriving on its mission to open Japan. The appearance of these ships was to a considerable part responsible for Perry's success. They made even the most valiant samurai realize the inferiority of his medieval equipment to these huge and fast men-o'-war.
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References
1 Sansom, G. B., Japan, A short cultural history. New York, 1931, p. 426.Google Scholar
2 “I am called in the Japanese tongue Angiu Sama. By that name am I known all the coast along.” Adams' letter Nr. 111. Thomas, Rundall, Memorials of the Empire of Japan, London, Hakluyt Society, 1850. Angiu or Anjin Sama, represents a personal name given to the Pilot in Japan.Google Scholar
3 Richard, Hildreth, Japan as it was and is. Boston, 1855, p. 174.Google Scholar
4 Asakawa, K., The Documents of Iriki. Illustrative of the Development of the Feudal Institutions of Japan. New Haven, 1929, p. 75 ff., p. 374 ff.Google Scholar
5 Sansom, Japan, p. 408. See also R. Hildreth, op. cil., p. 174.
6 Sansom, Japan, p. 413.
7 Frequently conversion was fostered by the regional lords to attract the traders who followed the wake of missionaries, or were identical with them. See Sansom, Japan, p. 408 ff.
8 Asakawa, Iriki, p. 335.
9 The story of his youth and of his journey to Japan are taken from Adams' letter to the English East India Company written in 1611. It was published in various slightly differing editions. The paper is based upon Rundall's version, founded upon manuscript copies preserved among the records of the East India Company, and published in his Memorials. Later citations are quoted simply as Adams' Letter I, which is the number Rundall has given it.
10 Bungo, now called Oita on the Beppu Bay.
11 The Lord of Bungo like all daimyos or rulers of provinces were invariably described as kings by the foreigners in Japan, while the shogun was referred to as emperor. Even Hildreth uses this terminology.
12 Adams' letter I, p. 24. Truchman-Dragoman-Interpreter.
13 Ibid., p. 25. Crucifixion was the customary punishment for common criminals in Japan, see Hildrcth, Japan, pp. 255, 554.
14 Ibid.
15 For Iyeyasu's attitude toward the Catholics, see Sansom, Japan, p. 415 ff.
16 Adams' letter I, p. 25.
17 Adams' letter I, p. 28.
18 The word cape merchant, frequently used in that period, denotes chief merchant.
19 Engelbert Kaempfer gives a detailed description of the different types and flimsy construction of the Japanese boats which he saw in 1692. The ships seen by Kaempfer were the same as those which were used in Japan before Adams began to build his ships and set a new pattern. Kaempfer, The history of Japan, 169–92 (New York, 1906), vol. II, p. 299 ff.
20 Adams' letter I, p. 30. For an account of the governor's stay in Japan, see Rundall, Memorials, p. 173; also Hildreth, Japan, pp. 144–152.
21 Adams' letter I, p. 30.
22 Sansom, Japan, p. 414.
22a Adams' letter I, p. 30.
23 The voyage of Captain John Saris to Japan, 1613, ed. by sirSatow, Ernest (London, Hakluyt Society, 1900), p. xlix.Google Scholar
24 Firando, now known as Hirado, a small island at the north-west corner of Kiushiu island.
25 Adams' letter 1, p. 31.
26 Spex' story of his arrival in Japan and the journey to the court can be found in: A. F. Prevost, Histoire generate des voyages, Paris, 1748–1779, vol. VIII, p. 89 ff.
27 A translation and facsimile of the original trading privileges in Japanese can be found in Kaempfer's History of Japan, vol. II, p. 259 ff.
28 Saris' memorials on Japanese trade as quoted by Satow in The voyages of Captain John Saris, p. 227.
29 Saris' commission as quoted by Satow, pp. x-xv. Adams' whereabouts may have been known to the Company through the letter which he sent to his wife in 1605.
30 Adams' letter III, Rundall, Memorials, p. 41.
31 Adams' letter III, Rundall, Memorials, p. 42–43.
32 See footnote 2.
33 Satow, John Saris, p. 108.
34 Satow, John Saris, p. 109.
35 Ibid., p. 110.
36 Saris' instruction “to Mr. Richard Cocks, cape merchant.” Satow, p. 117.
37 Satow, Saris, p. 121 and p. 124.
38 This interview is described in “A very large letter … wrot by William Adams and sent home in the Clove … Decem. 1613.” It is called Letter IV in RundaW s Memorials, and printed on pp. 57–58 and pp. 65–72.
39 In 1603, Iyeyasu, as Ogosho Sama, had installed his third son, Hitetada, as Shogun, in Yedo. With this act he followed an old practice which, in theory, granted the possibility of retirement at an early age. But in practice it allowed Iyeyasu to be more active than before, having put the burden of representation and ceremony upon his son. It furthermore insured a peaceful succession.
40 Satow, Saris, p. 135.
41 The English version of the original petition is preserved in the British Museum among the Cotton Charters. It is printed by Ludwig, Riess, “History of the English Factory at Hirado,” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. XXVI (Yokohama, 1898), p. 211; also in Rundall's Memorials, p. 76; also in Satow, John Saris, p. 138.Google Scholar
42 Satow, John Saris, p. 137.
43 Rundall, Memorials, p. 73; also Satow, Saris, p. 183.
44 Cocks mentions the receipt of this money in his letter to the Company on Nov. 25, 1614. Diary of Richard Cocks, Cape merchant in the English Factory in Japan 1615–1622, ed. byThompson, E. M., London, Hakluyt Society, 1883, vol. II, p. 269Google Scholar. For a detailed description of Adams' wages, see Rundall, Memorials, Letter IV, pp. 68–72, also “Contract made with Capt. Win. Adams, at Firando in Japan, the 27th of November, 1613.” Rundall, Memorials, pp. 73–75.
45 Rundall, Memorials, pp. 77–78.
46 Cocks to the Company, Nov. 1613. Cocks' Diary, II, p. 259.
47 The account of the journey is taken from Adams' letter to Sir Thomas Smythe, printed as letter VI in Rundalfs Memorials.
48 “Richard Cocks to Richard Wickham.” Cocks' Diary, II, p. 265.
49 Satow, Saris, p. 93.
50 Cocks' Diary, I, pp. 20, 24, 25, 28, 29, 32, etc.
51 Ibid., p. 31.
52 Ibid., p. 49.
53 Cocks' Diary, I, p. 81, II, p. 273.
54 Ibid., I, p. 85; II, p. 275.
55 Ibid., II, p. 276.
56 ibid.
57 Adams' letter of Jan. 14, 1617. Rundall, Memorials, p. 81. Also Cocks' Diary of July 22, 1616.
58 Cocks' Diary, I, p. 157.
59 Ibid., I, p. 168. Iyeyasu bestowed upon Adams a residence which stood in the present Anjincho (Pilot Street) of Nihombashi Ward. See: Marquis Inouye Kaoru in William Adams, the Pilot-Major of Gillingham, Gillingham, Malcays, Ltd., 1934, p. 24.
60 Cocks' Diary, I, p. 181. Adams' estate at Hemmi in the county of Miura Segami had the size of 250 kohl, see: Inouye Kaoru in Pilot-Major of Gillingham, p. 24.
61 Cocks' Diary, I, p. 192. For a copy of the reduced privileges see Cocks' Diary, II, pp. 289.
62 Ibid., I, pp. 223, 237, 234.
63 Ibid., p. 244.
64 Ibid., p. 260; II, p. 287.
65 Cocks' Diary, II, p. 299.
66 Ibid., I, p. 313.
67 Cocks' Diary, II, p 56.
68 Ibid., p. 59.
69 Ibid., pp. 61–62.
70 Ibid., p. 303.
71 Ibid., pp. 109–10.
72 Ibid., p. 304.
72a Cocks' Diary, II, p. 314.
73 Ibid., p. 315.
74 lbid., pp. 312–13.
75 Ibid., p. 321.
76 Peter Pratt, History of Japan compiled from the records of the English East India Company … 1822. Edited by M. Paske-Smith (Kobe, Japan, 1931). Appendix II, pp. 283–285.
77 RundalPs Memorials, p. 88.
78 Cocks' Diary, II, p. 233.
79 Peter Pratt, History of Japan compiled from the records of the English East India Company. 1822. Edited by M. Paske-Smith (Kobe, Japan, 1931). Appendix II, pp. 283–85.
80 Pratt, Japan, I, p. 342 and p. 330 ff.
81 Cocks' Diary, II, pp. 331–36.
82 Jaccatra = Batavia.
83 Cocks' Diary, II, p. 332.
84 Ibid., pp. 340–45.
85 Cocks' Diary, II, p. 345.
86 Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. XXVI, pp. 111–12.
87 Cocks' letter to the Company, Dec. 14, 1620. Cocks' Diary, II, p. 322.
88 Marquis Inouye Kaoru's description of the “Anjinzuka” Monument in Sagiyama Park, Hemimura, Yokusuka. William Adams, the Pilot-Major of Gillingham, p. 24. Also: Griffis, William Elliot, The Mikado's Empire (New York, 1876), p. 262.Google Scholar
89 Asakawa enumerates the bestowal or use of Buddhist names among the privileges accorded to samurai. Asakawa, Iriki, p. 51.
90 The Mikado' Empire, p. 262.
91 Adams of Gillingham, p. 25.
92 Pratt, Japan. App. II, p. 283.
93 Sansom, Japan, pp. 421–22.
94 Pacific Affairs, vol. XVI, no. 1. Herbert Norman, “Soldier and peasant in Japan: The origins of conscription,” pp. 49–50. Also: Asakawa, hiki, p. 74.
95 Adams of Gillingham, p. 25.