A friend shared this elsewhere along with a long series of similar memes riffing on the "Samurai sends a fax to Lincoln" thing. And it's funny, because this meme is closer to the truth than you might imagine.
THREAD TIME KIDS.
"What if a samurai was on a French 1860s submarine?"
WELL.
Say hello to the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867, in which a Japanese delegation, headed by Tokugawa Yoshinobu's brother Akitake, ALSO attended! bie-paris.org/site/en/1867-p…
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"Magni et universalis sanctissimique totius orbis Patris Domini Papa Pauli V, pedes cum profunda summiss et reverentia osculando Idate Masamune in imperio Japonico Rex voxu suppliciter dicimus..."
A full #thread (my translation) of the Treaty by which the Northern Alliance of 1868 was formed.
"The domains of Mutsu and Dewa, presently gathered at council in Sendai domain,
communicate the following to the government-general for pacification..."
"Having cultivated this covenant, we desire to follow the path of fairness and justice, to engage in unanimous cooperation, to revere the imperial court above and comfort the people below, and by preserving the imperial land, to set His Majesty's heart at ease..."
"Therefore our rules are as follows.
ITEM: Extending great justice to all the country as our goal, we shall
avoid trivialities.
ITEM: As though traveling across the sea in the same boat, we will be
with trust and move with justice..."
Mentioned yesterday: this is Hayashi Tadataka, The Last Daimyo, in his younger years at the outset of the #BoshinWar. Note the western-style shell jacket under his Japanese overcoat, and the crested riding cap resting at his knee. The crest is a mitsudomoe surmounting a "1"
Now, why is there a "1"? That has to do with his ancestors' act of service to the ancestors of the Tokugawa shogun-- they fed the starving Tokugawa ancestor who was on the run during the Nanbokucho era.
In return, when the Hayashi became Tokugawa vassals, they received the right-- at the New Year's festivities-- to receive the first cup of sake from their lord. First cup, ergo, "1," ergo this very unique twist on the ubiquitous mitsudomoe.
Now up as public post with photos. Thanks again to @C_Stroop for inspiring me to start finding the words to talk about these things in earnest, and to my friends Cora and Vera for listening last night as I finished writing this.
SALUTATIONS you fantastic denizens of the internet! The first #FridayNightHistory of 2021 is here! This week, a new mystery: the true name of "John Williams," Japanese Veteran of the American Civil War.
Yeah, you heard right. And he's not the only one, either.
Now-- I know, I know. Ordinarily you see me talking about the Japanese aftermath of the US Civil War, in the form of people and surplus equipment from the US that ended up there during the Boshin War.
I find myself in pursuit of the opposite, today. @DuPertweet brought a tweet by @KyleMizokami to my attention, with photos of an article talking about Asian-American/Pacific Islander veterans of the US Civil War in general and 2 Japanese vets in particular.