Kaigai Shinwa/ New Stories from Overseas New Stories from Overseas Fūkō Mineta Translator’s Note When working on this English translation, I drew from two source texts: the original text from 1849 and Okuda Hisashi’s rendering into modern Japanese, published in 2009. I produced the first draft based on the modern Japanese version, and then went back over the original to make sure that the details and the feel were consistent. My overall guiding principle was to reproduce the tone of Japanese medieval epic war narratives like Taiheiki and Gempei jōsuiki that Mineta cites as his stylistic models in the preface. Kaigai Shinwa is a semi-historical text, based on actual events but leavened with embellishments and fabrications that Mineta hoped would appeal to a broad audience. Some of these flourishes must have been original, included for narrative effect, while others may have been reproductions of details from his Chinese source texts. Given that the historical interest of Kaigai Shinwa derives from it being an outsider’s view of a far-off war, of course I followed Mineta where he deviates from other accounts. There were, however, some cases where I felt it necessary to render mistaken names correctly or obscure names in a more familiar form (Mineta himself makes a similar editorial note, regarding incorrect dates in his sources that he adjusted; whether or not the dates he provides are in fact correct is a different matter). These instances are annotated at the end of the translation. It is also worth mentioning Mineta’s distinction between “Qing” and “China.” He tends to use Qing in reference to political and military entities, while China is used in a more essential way, designating race, culture, values, and a certain constant spirit of the commoners that is differentiated from the impermanent dynasties of the ruling class. I have attempted to preserve these differences in my translation. With regards to the geographical region, Mineta uses both China and Qing; in these cases, I opted for China. 1 Kaigai Shinwa/ New Stories from Overseas I have used pinyin romanization for proper nouns, except in the names of certain locations where the English equivalent is most prevalent in Western historical discourse (i.e., Canton, Amoy, the Bogue). Though Mineta’s text refers to time in terms of Chinese dates, I have rendered dates according the Western calendar, so that readers unfamiliar with the Chinese calendar system would have a chronological frame of reference. Coming from a background in modern Japanese literary studies, I encountered some potholes as I worked through this translation. For their advice in matters Chinese and pre-modern, I would like to thank Peter Perdue, Edward Kamens, Guojun Wang, Robert Goree, and Ashton Lazarus. Thanks are also due to Haruko Nakamura and Tang Li for guiding me to helpful online resources. Sam Malissa March 2011 Preface Great guns shook the heavens and smashed the formidable city walls; barbarian ships entered the harbor and the Chinese forces fled. Key territories were abandoned and left undefended. If the winds disturb the crane, cannonballs from ships upset it all the more. It was Minister Lin who invited this calamity. His new laws prohibiting opium in the coastal lands came like the tumult of thunder. The measures he took were out of balance, and all his efforts led only to an excess of pent-up rage. First this gave rise to local insurgencies, and matters worsened as a ravenous beast came from the sea, tail thrashing about. The fog of war brought wretched days with no light, as black and white demons came crashing into the houses of the people. A bitter wind made the sturdy pines and oaks tremble, while corpses lined the roads and the chilling calls of 2 Kaigai Shinwa/ New Stories from Overseas carrion birds rang out. The local generals lamented in vain at their insurmountable task. All must now feel regret at the opening of trade with foreigners. The Emperor in his court wept, and handed down a petition for peace, for though the people in the north were untroubled, those in the south suffered greatly. Alas, peace cost millions in gold—and this payment purchased the rapid flourishing of the barbarians’ authority. Now they loom over the sea to the east, even as far as our Land of Gods, surrounded though it is on all sides by cleansing blue waves. Not needless were the lessons granted us by the heavens with the example of China. Will it be said that we were solicitous of the foreigners, or that we followed our own best interests? Oh, let us realize the urgency of this matter for our island nation! I pray that we will prepare ourselves to the utmost, that we may be ready even if the divine winds do not sink the numberless enemy ships. Rather, let us send them struggling back, with only a paltry few survivors. —Written in the third month of the second year of the reign of Ka’ei (1849) at my temporary residence up the Sumida River, where the sounds of strings and flutes well up at whiles, and the dust of play billows into the sky; living in peace is truly a delight. Fūkō Mineta Explanatory Note This account is based on the Chinese text, The Record of the Barbarian Invasion (Yifei fanjing lu). More precisely, the material is gleaned from the particular section that relates strategic deliberations, reports to the emperor by his generals from across the realm, and eyewitness accounts of the battles. Accordingly, the timeline of events is drawn from A Brief Account of the Invasion (Shinpan jiryaku). In the cases where dates in my sources were unclear or incorrect, I have adjusted them based on 3 Kaigai Shinwa/ New Stories from Overseas other texts. For example, Chen Huacheng’s fall in battle is dated mistakenly as June 20, 1842, but I have corrected it to June 17.i The Record of the Barbarian Invasion begins when the English invaded Dinghai on June 30, 1840,ii and does not tell of the initial spread of opium in China or the severe measures Lin Zexu took in Canton to outlaw the drug, measures which then provoked the barbarian invasion. So that readers could learn about the events that led to the disturbance, I included material from Chinese texts like Collected Essays on Statecraft (Jingshi wenbian); Records of Hidden Sorrow (Yinyou lu); Collected Poems of Zhapu (Zhapu jiyong); and The Record of Sacred Military Campaigns (Shengwuji). I rely on the well-informed to correct the many errors or omissions I may have made. My tale follows the familiar style and language of the old warrior epics of our land, such as The Record of the Rise and Fall of the Minamoto and Taira (Gempei jōsuiki) and The Chronicle of the Great Peace (Taiheiki), so that even uneducated children will be able to absorb it easily. As for the names and ranks of the English, I have rendered these phonetically in Chinese characters. When referring to armaments we are familiar with in Japan, like canon emplacements or bayoneted rifles, I have used the Japanese terminology. In the case of things like grenades, I have preserved the Chinese terms. For words of foreign origin or whose meaning is unclear, I have provided glosses alongside the text where they occur. In all other cases, I have followed current accepted usage. Regarding the illustrations of the English, their weaponry, and their ships, these things originate in a distant land, separated from us by the wide seas. As such, there are but few who know exactly how these people look or how their weapons are constructed. The illustrations in this volume therefore use Dutch goods as a model so that the reader may have an idea of how such things appear. 4 Kaigai Shinwa/ New Stories from Overseas New Stories from Overseas, Part 1 A Brief Overview of EnglanD England is a powerful island nation in seas off the west of Europe. The Chinese have several different ways to write the word “England,” and have lately taken to calling its people “English barbarians.” To the north of England is a land called Scotland, which had long been an independent country with its own ruler. But in 1707, during the reign of the Queen Anne, England absorbed Scotland, as well as the island to the west called Ireland, to form Great Britain. This kingdom was divided up into fifty- two counties and entrusted to the care of sixty-two royal vassals. To the south, the channel at Calais separates England from France and Holland. It is only twelve or thirteen li across, and a round trip can be made in one day, if the winds are fair. Towering cliffs and hidden reefs ring the coasts of England, and the rushing tidal currents are treacherous; it truly is a forbidding land. Because of this, neighboring enemy countries have given up watching for an opening to invade. Even as formidable a character as Napoleon Bonaparte, the rogue Emperor of France, who sought to conquer the whole world, never made a naval assault on the British Isles for fear of the perilous seas around them. Since olden times, England has been ruled by both kings and queens. The current monarch is Queen Victoria. iii After her ascension to the throne, she took two princes from her tributary states as husbands. The queen presides over her court where she conducts affairs of state, while her two husbands sit to her right and left in attendance. When her vassals pay tribute to her, they approach the queen and prostrate themselves at her feet.