THE FIRST ENGLISH TEACHER: RANALD MACDONALD Erich A. Berendt The first bono fide teacher of English in Japan is not well known although he was in Japan teaching English at a critical time of Japan’s history. Some may think that it was “Will Adams” also known in Japanese as “Miura Anjin”. It’s true that he was the first Englishman to come to Japan, having arrived in 1600 but there is no evidence that he ever taught his language, except probably informally. We do know that Will Adams became fluent in Japanese. He became a favorite advisor of Tokugawa Ieyasu and often served as an interpreter for Japanese and foreigners such as the Dutch in Nagasaki. Will Adams came to Japan with a Dutch fleet of ships, after surviving many mishaps crossing the Pacific he landed in Kyushu. As he was the Pilot of the Fleet, he was very highly qualified in various kinds of engineering, such as building ships, navigation and casting of cannon. He stayed on in Japan, marrying a Japanese and was made a samurai by Tokugawa Ieyasu with some land in the Miura Peninsula now Yokosuka, Kanagawa. During his life in Japan he built the first two western types of ships (in Itoh City in Izu) and made cannon near Nirayama in Izu as well as doing commercial trade in Nagasaki and southeast Asia. The first person who actually formally taught English in Japan also had a very interesting life. His name is Ranald MacDonald and he entered Japan illegally at the time of Japan’s seclusion in 1848, just a few years before the arrival of the famous American ships of Commodore Perry in 1854. The negotiations that followed between Japan and America officially depended on translating between Japanese and Dutch, so the Americans had even brought a Dutch interpreter with them, Henry Heusken, as Dutch was then known to be the diplomatic language for Japanese. For several hundred years Japan had depended on the study of the Dutch language to get information about the world. But to the Americans’ surprise there were among the Japanese interpreters some who knew English quite well. The most important one was Moriyama Einosuke. Who then was this Ranald MacDonald? He (1824-94) was born in the British territory of Oregon in North America. (Later this area was taken over by the United States.) His father was an elite officer in the Canadian Hudson’s Bay Company and his mother a princess from the powerful Chinook Indian nation on the west coast of North America. The Hudson’s Bay Company had been founded in London in 1670 and is even now the oldest, chartered company in the world. It had been set up to develop trade with the Indian nations in British North America but was also a colonial arm of the British government. Even today the company has many industries and commercial activities in Canada. For example, department stores, oil and gas, real estate, and so on. MacDonald was well-educated for his time, having been sent to study in a college in Winnipeg, Canada, where the Hudson’s Bay Company’s headquarters were. He spent his early years after graduation working in Ontario, Canada, but his sense of identity was deeply rooted in the native Indian background of his mother. While he was growing up in the Pacific West Coast of the Columbia River area, he had heard stories about the Japanese who had been set adrift across the Pacific Ocean. The most famous is the case of Nakahama Manjiro. At the time of Ranald’s youth three Japanese had been shipwrecked on the West Coast: the three “kichis” (Otokichi, Iwakichi, Kyukichi) were a great sensation in the press at that time. They were seen rather as if they were someone from outer space who had landed on earth. Japan was a mystical place to the West, a place where no one could enter nor Japanese leave. That was known but little else. MacDonald seems to have been keenly interested in the Japanese shipwrecked survivors. It also seems that he identified his native Indian roots with the mystical, closed Empire of Japan. When he was in his twenties working in Ontario, Canada, he was determined to go there. Despite the fact that entry into Japan at that time was forbidden on pain of death, he joined a New England whaling ship out of Sag Harbor with a private agreement with the captain to © 2020 Erich Berendt. All rights reserved. 1 be set adrift to make his own entry into Japan. He did so off the coast of Hokkaido on the island of Yagishiri. At that time hundreds of ships were coming to the North Pacific to hunt whales but were not allowed to land by the Japanese Bakufu government. MacDonald was imprisoned at first in Hokkaido and then sent to Nagasaki to teach English there to the Rangaku (Dutch) scholars, as he was recognized for his gentlemanly behavior. This was in contrast to the shipwrecked foreign sailors which the government had to deal with. Thus, he became the first formal teacher of English in Japan, staying there almost a year before being repatriated out of Japan. His arrival in Japan in 1848 was very timely for Japan as the government could use him to teach the interpreters and translators some English. The Japanese government was already aware that languages other than Dutch, such as Russian, French and English, were vital to its survival against the threat of European intrusion. MacDonald in his autobiography wrote that his purpose for going to Japan was to become an interpreter, taking for that purpose some books with him to teach English. Among MacDonald’s students in Nagasaki was Moriyama Einosuke who was to play such an important role later in the negotiations in Shimoda with the American Townsend Harris (1854-56). During the two years that followed of laborious negotiations which set the stage for the revolutionary social and political changes in Japan, Moriyama used his English behind the scenes to great effect. MacDonald wrote that Moriyama was “By far, the most intelligent person I met in Japan. When with me he had a large library; and also, that he was studying Latin and French. His countenance when in repose was a mild dignity observable in our clergymen, when in deep thought he had the peculiar habit of nibbling his finger nails. He appeared to derive inspiration after mature reflection. Suddenly his countenance would beam with animation. He showed a great desire to learn English, and much aptitude in doing so. His greatest difficulty was in pronouncing words with ‘th’. It was always amusing after many attempts and knowing his failure (that) he would again and again renew it, until he thought he had mastered it.” (quoted in Schodt 2003:285-6) After nearly a year of teaching English in Nagasaki, MacDonald left Japan for Hong Kong from where he made a long journey to India, Singapore, Australia and through Europe before returning to Canada in 1853. The remainder of his life was spent in British Columbia, Canada as an adventurer and businessman. Even though he is not well- known in Japan today, there have been some books, plays and even a museum on Rishiri Island about him. Japan at the juncture of MacDonald’s stay was at a critical turning point. American ships as well as from Russia, Britain and France were beating at the door. The Shogunate had commanded the Rangaku interpreters to study English and French. But there were no native speakers except for the occasional washed up sailor. The interpreters were therefore compelled to learn written English from dictionaries complied with the help of the Dutch on Deshima or the uncouth, rough language of castaway sailors. MacDonald’s arrival was at an opportune moment in Japanese history and through the Japanese interpreters played a significant role in helping them develop their relationships with the Americans behind the scenes. References 1. Ishiharu Chisato (1990) Ranarudo Makudonarudo no seito-tachi, Nippon Eigakushi Kenkyu No. 23 2. Nagai Mamoru (1995) Ranarudo Makudonarudo no kouken to wa?—Nagasaki de no rantsuji e no hajime no eigo kyoujuu. Eigo Kyoiku Kenkyu, No. 37 & 38. 3. Roe, Jo Ann (1997) Ranald MacDonald: Pacific Rim Adventurer. Washington State University Press, Pullman 4. Schodt, Frederik L. (2003) Native American in the Land of the Shogun. Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, Ca. 5. Tomita Torao (ed.) (1979) Makudonarudo—Nippon kaisouki. Tousui Shobo, Tokyo 6. Yoshimura Akira (1989) Umi no sairei. Bungei Shunju, Tokyo. © 2020 Erich Berendt. All rights reserved. 2.