cari info: Hirado

Monday, December 13, 2010

Matsuura Historical Museum

松浦史料博物館

The Matsuura Historical Museum (Tel: 0950 22 2236) in Hirado is located in the former residence of the Matsuura clan, who controlled the strategic island from the 11th-19th century.

This interesting museum displays artefacts and family treasures from the Matsuura clan including samurai arms and armor, calligraphy, documents, globes, Dutch ships' figureheads and a palanquin.

The museum also includes a lovely garden with many fine wooden buildings and a Japanese teahouse. Inside the main building of the museum is a cafe decorated with 17th century western furnishing and ceramics and a shop. The Matsuura Historical Museum is located up the hill behind the harbor in Hirado town and is a short walk from the grave of William Adams.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

William Adams Grave Hirado

三浦按針

Those of us who are old enough to remember the classic, 1980 TV mini-series Shogun starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune will always have a soft spot for William Adams (1564-1620), the first Englishman to find himself in Japan.

Adams' life was an unbelievable adventure story - shipwrecked off the coast of Japan on a Dutch ship the De Liefde, the Kent-born sailor, known in Japan as Miura Anjin ('Pilot'), was spared death and became a confidant of Ieyasu Tokugawa, advising the shogun on matters of navigation and ship-building.

Eventually Adams was granted the title of hatamoto - a samurai in direct service of the shogun - and granted lands and servants near present-day Yokosuka.

Adams moved to Hirado and was instrumental in setting up an English trading post on the island, though he quarreled with the English representative in Japan, John Saris, who disliked Adams for his adoption of a Japanese lifestyle and habits. Adams had taken a Japanese wife, with whom he had two children.

Adams passed away aged 55 on Hirado, a small island off the western coast of Kyushu, south of Fukuoka.

His grave, erected in 1954, is a short walk above the harbor and is a peaceful and evocative spot. A stone from the grave of his English wife was brought over from the UK to lie on Adams' tomb so the two could be reunited.

Another memorial stone at the site records the Englishmen who died in Japan during the 10 years of the English "factory" on Hirado.

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