SHOGUN - William Adams
Did you ever watch the TV series in the mid 80's titled Shogun - starring Richard Chamberlain? Until recently, I did not realise it was based on a true story about an English sailor who was shipwrecked by a typhoon in the Pacific and blown ashore on the coast of Japan near Nagasaki in the year 1600, with eight other survivors.
It was one of my favorite TV series and used to eagerly wait for it with the whole family every Saturday evening.
After reaching Japan, he was brought before the Shogun, Japan's military ruler, at Osaka castle for a bit of questioning! And having impressed the Shogun (Tokugawa Ieyasu) with his skills as a Navigator, Engineer and ship captain, he was quickly accepted into the Japanese aristocracy and soon became a Samurai.
He went on to oversee the building of Japan's first 2 western style ships and played a leading role in establishing Japan's trade links with England and Holland. He remained in Japan for the remaining 20 years of his life married to a Japanese wife. Eventually died and was buried here.
He is celebrated in Japan as the first Western Samurai. There is an area in the centre of Tokyo called Anjin-Cho which was named after him; Anjin Miura being his Japanese name which means 'the Navigator'. There is even an annual festival dedicated to him on the 10th of August, in the city of Ito in Shizuoka Prefecture, not far from Tokyo.
For a guy as celebrated as he is, there is surprisingly very little tourist guides available in English on the exact whereabouts of his memorial and where he was buried! I had to do some extensive research to find out where his memorials were, but eventually located his final resting place in Tsukayama park in Yokohama, in the outskirts of Tokyo.
It's near the town of Yokosuka and has a beautiful landscape garden with a stunning view of Tokyo bay and Tokyo's skyline. There is also a train stop nearby named after him - Anjin Zuka, which I believe means Anjin Hill/Mound.
The autumn colours of the leaves in the park - red, brown and yellow were mesmerisingly beautiful and typical of a Japanese landscape garden. The memorial is old, low keyed and not touristy but kept in a tidy state.
It was a very pleasant ending to my quest to find this memorial as it was about one of my favorite stories from a very long time ago, and was on my list of places to visit when I came to Japan.
Shogun the tv series is available on YouTube and is still a great series to watch!
After reaching Japan, he was brought before the Shogun, Japan's military ruler, at Osaka castle for a bit of questioning! And having impressed the Shogun (Tokugawa Ieyasu) with his skills as a Navigator, Engineer and ship captain, he was quickly accepted into the Japanese aristocracy and soon became a Samurai.
He went on to oversee the building of Japan's first 2 western style ships and played a leading role in establishing Japan's trade links with England and Holland. He remained in Japan for the remaining 20 years of his life married to a Japanese wife. Eventually died and was buried here.
He is celebrated in Japan as the first Western Samurai. There is an area in the centre of Tokyo called Anjin-Cho which was named after him; Anjin Miura being his Japanese name which means 'the Navigator'. There is even an annual festival dedicated to him on the 10th of August, in the city of Ito in Shizuoka Prefecture, not far from Tokyo.
For a guy as celebrated as he is, there is surprisingly very little tourist guides available in English on the exact whereabouts of his memorial and where he was buried! I had to do some extensive research to find out where his memorials were, but eventually located his final resting place in Tsukayama park in Yokohama, in the outskirts of Tokyo.
It's near the town of Yokosuka and has a beautiful landscape garden with a stunning view of Tokyo bay and Tokyo's skyline. There is also a train stop nearby named after him - Anjin Zuka, which I believe means Anjin Hill/Mound.
The autumn colours of the leaves in the park - red, brown and yellow were mesmerisingly beautiful and typical of a Japanese landscape garden. The memorial is old, low keyed and not touristy but kept in a tidy state.
It was a very pleasant ending to my quest to find this memorial as it was about one of my favorite stories from a very long time ago, and was on my list of places to visit when I came to Japan.
Shogun the tv series is available on YouTube and is still a great series to watch!
