More background on Yokosuka's "Blue Eyed Samurai"

LINK:  Blue-eyed samurai | FCCJ

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SNIPPET:

In search of the real William Adams, intrepid adventurer and subject of endless fascination

It may be hard to believe, but in 1980, if someone mailed you a Betamax or VHS videocassette tape from abroad, the International Post Office in Otemachi would notify you by postcard of its arrival. The postcard enabled you to claim it in person, but only after customs inspectors had ascertained its contents were not pornographic.

In September 1980, the miniseries Shogun, based on James Clavell's eponymous bestselling novel, was broadcast in the U.S. over five consecutive nights on America's NBC TV. I was able to watch it soon afterwards through a somewhat convoluted process. Peter, a professor friend teaching at a local university, was married to Yasuko, a flight attendant for a European airline. Once or twice a week Yasuko's flights from Europe via the polar route stopped over in Anchorage, Alaska, where Peter had a recruited a friend to record the episodes of Shogun off the local TV. The friend dropped off the recordings at the airport, where they were picked up by Yasuko, who carried them back to Japan. All perfectly legal, of course. 

For several consecutive weekends that autumn, a small group of friends congregated at Peter's house in Nakano-ku and, while swilling beer and snacking on packets of sembei rice crackers, enjoyed watching the videotaped miniseries on a 19-inch Hitachi color TV. 

Four decades later, television viewing has certainly come a long way. Last year the 10 episodes of the remade Shogun miniseries were broadcast on FX, Hulu and the Disney Channel, including to subscribers in Japan. 

Starring Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano and Cosmo Jarvis, Shogun 2.0 received wide acclaim, setting a new record as the most awarded single season of television in Emmy history. It additionally received four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Television Series, Drama. 

Jarvis starred in the role of pilot major John Blackthorne, who was based on an actual historical personage, William Adams (1564–1620), the first Englishman to arrive in Japan. 

Adams, who came to be known as Miura Anjin, was 35 years old at the time his Dutch ship out of Rotterdam, De Liefde, dropped anchor off the coast of Bungo in present-day Usuki City in Oita Prefecture, Kyushu, on April 19, 1600. The journey through the Straits of Magellan and across the Pacific had been extremely arduous, with only 24 of De Liefde's original crew of 110 surviving, of whom perhaps only half a dozen were still ambulatory.

In October of the year Adams arrived in Kyushu, the struggle for control of Japan climaxed with Tokugawa Ieyasu's victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, in Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture). According to historical accounts, 19 bronze cannons removed from Adams’s ship contributed to Ieyasu's victory. 

Three years later Ieyasu was officially appointed shogun and Adams, accorded the title of hatamoto (retainer), went on to serve as a trade and diplomatic advisor. He also supervised the building of Japan's first western-style sailing ship. He died in 1620 at age 55 and was buried in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture. 

As a hatamoto, Adams received an annual stipend of 250 koku of rice (one koku = 4.96 bushels or 278.3 liters of rice). His domain was located at Hemi, a seaside village in present-day Yokosuka City. 

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One local train stop from Hemi station on the Keikyu railway line is Anjinzuka (Anjin burial mound) station. The mound itself, designated a National Historic Site in 1923, is located at a high point in Tsukayama Park. If you want to visit, be prepared for a strenuous uphill climb. A Japanese signboard showing the route to the park is posted outside the station but the route is not well marked, so GPS guidance is advisable. Once you get to the top, which will take about half an hour, you'll enjoy clean air and a panoramic view. Two stone memorials behind a metal gate mark the graves of Adams, on the right, and his wife O-Yuki. The park maintains a rest house and vending machine dispensing chilled beverages.