| Samurai Movies (25) |
March 24, 2022
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| [Choshu 5 ~No.2] At first they studied together at the University of London, then they separated and worked in different business places, for example, one in a train factory, one in a minting factory, one in a bank. Wikipedia read that in 1993 a stone monument was built in their honor at the University of London, and the five samurai were called the 'Choshu Five'. In 2003, a stone monument in their honor was built in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The monument showed their names: Kaoru Inoue as 'Father of Diplomacy', Hirofumi Ito as 'Father of Cabinet', Kinsuke Endo as 'Father of Minting', Yozo Yamao as 'Father of Engineering', Masaru Inoue as 'Father of Railway'. Actually, after the Meiji Revolution, Hirofumi Ito became the first prime minister, Kaoru Inoue became the head minister of various ministries, Masaru Inoue became the first president of the National Railway. In the movie, they were helped by a lot of Englishmen, including the captain of the ship and their host family. And, around the time of the Meiji Revolution, this country got various support from abroad. Wikipedia read that after the Meiji Revolution, for 20 years from 1868 to 1889, there were 2,690 foreigners who were invited by the new government and various private entities to teach engineering, military, science, medicine,  education, geology, laws, languages, even philosophy and music. They were 1,127 Englishmen, 414 Americans, 333 French, 250 Chinese, 215 Germans, 99 Dutch, and the other 1,213 people were from other countries. Thanks to those experts from abroad, this country's industry and infrastructure started to develop. In 1869 the telegraph started, in 1871 the postal system started. In 1872 trains started to run between Tokyo and Yokohama, some banks and newspapers started their businesses, and a national public school system started. But it was not only because of foreign countries' cooperation for this growth. He had read that the first Matchlock gun was introduced by Portuguese merchants in the middle of the 16th century. Soon afterwards Oda Nobunaga had ordered his artisans to copy them. When the Portuguese merchants returned again to do more gun business, Oda Nobunaga showed them an identical gun that he had made. After a while, multiple productions of Matchlock guns started in certain areas. Another story about this country's ability to replicate others is when Admiral Perry came. He had brought the latest cannons, which were recently developed. During their meeting, a samurai of the Tokugawa Shogunate asked Admiral Perry to give one to them. Surprisingly, Mr. Perry gave them one. Maybe he wanted to show gratitude after his successful negotiation. Maybe he didn't think the cannon was a military secret, but also he did not think highly of the level of this country's industry and technology. But, surprisingly to everyone, the next year, the Tokugawa Shogunate succeeded in making an identical cannon. At that time, in this country, the main mode of transportation was riding in a palanquin, which was carried by either two or four people. As for ships, there were only one-sail ships which were unstable and couldn't go out in the open seas. But there were reasons for this. The Tokugawa Shogunate prohibited carts and coaches. Riding on a horse was a privilege and status of samurai. The Tokugawa Shogunate prohibited making big ships which had three sails because they could go abroad and trade. Because of these types of restrictions, development of various technologies was obstructed. In 1862 the Tokugawa Shogunate allowed each han to buy ships from abroad. As of 1868, there were 61 steamships, 43 three-sail ships, and 18 frigates which were imported and owned by the Tokugawa Shogunate and other hans. They also started to study how to make them by themselves. In the movie, the five samurai managed to study various things in London. Some experts who taught in this country around the Meiji Revolution testified that the level of the students they taught was as good as average college students in their own countries, and their motivation was very high. (To be continued ...) |
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No. 471
*minting :造幣
*entity :実体、組織
*Matchlock gun :火縄銃
*artisan :職人
*identical :同一の
*multiple :多数の
*replicate :複製する
*palanquin :駕籠
*obstruct :妨げる
*testify :証言する