|
The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony was a group of 22 samurai and their families led by Prussian John Henry Schnell during the Boshin Civil War (1868–69) in Japan preceding the Meiji Restoration. The group purchased land from Charles Graner family in the Gold Hill region after coming to San Francisco in 1869. Though the group was able to successfully show their produce during the 1869 California State Agricultural Fair in Sacramento and the 1870 Horticultural Fair in San Francisco, the farm as a Japanese colony only existed between 1869 and 1871. Okei Ito, the first known Japanese woman to be buried on American soil, has her grave on the land. The Veerkamp family purchased the farm following the withdrawal of financial support from financier Matsudaira Katamori (1835–93). In 1969, the same year as the Japanese American centennial, Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, proclaimed the colony to be California Historical Landmark No. 815. The family preserved the heritage of the farm and Okei's grave for 137 years until the American River Conservancy purchased the land on November 1, 2010, and the National Park Service has placed the Wakamatsu Colony site on the National Register of Historic Places at a level of "national significance". It is now a public park where visitors are able to view the farm and gravesite of Okei. ==History== From the early 17th century, Japan was under Shogunate rule and considered an isolated country. The only trade partners were primarily the Dutch. After 260 years, Commodore Matthew Perry forced trade ports to open for the United States (1853–54). By 1860, the previous cultural isolation and government was starting to disintegrate, separating the country into two groups: those who opposed the isolation and sought change and those who supported the isolation and shogunate rule. Matsudaira Katamori, related by marriage to the ruling Tokugawa family, was a Daimyo of the Aizu Wakamatsu province (today's Fukushima Prefecture) and disagreed with the Tokugawa policy of isolation. Matsudaira subscribed to the political notion of "Eastern ethics and Western Science". Eventually tensions boiled over and the Boshin Civil War began. Being a Daimyo under the Tokugawa clan, 24-year-old Matsudaira was pushed by the Tokugawa shogunate to lead a campaign against the Satsuma (today's Kagoshima).The Satsuma, along with the forces of Choshu and Tosa, made up the Imperial Army who wanted to overthrow the current Shogunate and daimyo rule as they felt it was too weak to deal with foreign forces like the United States, who wanted to force trade. At the Battle of Aizu (1868), Matsudai's force of samurai was defeated by the larger number sent by the Emperor.〔 〕 John Henry Schnell was an early member of the Prussian embassy.〔 After coming to Japan, he was employed by Lord Matsudaira as an arms dealer for cannons and Gatling guns.〔 During this time, Japan did not have any diplomatic treaties with Germany. Because of this, Schnell dealt with the Japanese by masquerading as a Dutch trader. John Schnell trained Matsudaira's samurai in the use of the firearms and samurai status as genre along with a Japanese name. This allowed him to marry a Japanese samurai class woman (Jou) which strengthened his ties to Japanese society.〔 Due to Matsudaira's loss at Aizu, the daimyo was condemned to death. His surrender placed Schnell and his family's life in danger. Because of this, Schnell asked for funding from Matsudaira and commissioned the SS China to transport his family and 22 other samurai families to the United States. They took with them 50,000 three-year-old kuwa (mulberry trees) used for the cultivation of silk worms and six million tea seeds. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|