LJ Idol Topic 5
Oct. 24th, 2008 01:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zaichikarkyMore than Facts and Dates
I'm don't think I'm a very good history fan. It's always been one of those subjects I've done well at but I don't quite think I deserve it. I think I inherited the "good at remembering lots of bits of useless information" genes from my father. However, I wouldn't really call myself a history buff. I don't dedicate tons of my time to studying some historical time period, learning everything I can about it. I watch the history channel when I'm bored rather than actively seeking every airing of "tales of the gun" and "mail call" like someone I know. I've taken classes on Modern Japanese History that left me wanting to play my gameboy in the back row of nearly every class because I found the lectures so boring, yet gotten some version of an A in almost all the history classes I've taken.
History, for me, is something more than watching tv programs, more than reading books, more than watching documentaries about wars and mass slaughter. History is also about learning the past through being right there, where it occurred, in the present.
I learn the best about history when I visit landmarks, usually local ones. One of the reasons I love sightseeing so much is because every place deemed worthy of being a sight to be seen has history entrenched in its very foundations. Some people are artistic and appreciate the beauty of what they are seeing. When most people visit any given place of value, they would want to take pictures of it, either marveling at some aspect of the creation or wondering what the big deal is about(in that case, maybe they won't need to take pictures!). I take pictures because I appreciate beauty as well, but as much as I can, I use my pictures to recollect the historical narrative of the place I visited.
On a really nice November day almost one year ago, I decided to take a trip by ferry boat to this place called "Heda", a quaint town just south of my city. It was on the sightseeing pamphlet I got from my one of my bosses when I first came here. I read that it was accessible by ferry boat and it had some things to see as well as good views, so on a whim, after I got the ferry boat schedule, I decided to go there.
I arrived there by myself at about 1 pm. The first thing I did was go into the small tourist building and ask them "Could you please tell me how to find some interesting places here?". They informed me that it would take too long to find these interesting places by foot. Thankfully, this nice man, somewhere in his 50s, offered to take me by car. Hesitation only crossed my mind once. I liked adventures, and he seemed friendly to me.
I didn't know that this serene town: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/japan/IMGP2372.jpg was the center of some really important events over 150 years ago.
It turned out that he was really a historical guru of his town. He spoke no English and I had trouble understanding his speech tendencies(I tend to understand females better than males) but we managed to communicate somehow. He told me that Heda is famous for being a place where this Russian ship named the Diana, full of sailors, crashed due to a tsunami back in the 1860s. The ship sank and all but one of the sailors made it to shore. This time in Japanese history was known as the "Edo Period", it should also be known as the "period of Xenophobia". Fortunately(or maybe not?) it was also the end stages of the Edo period where they thought twice about immediately assassinating any foreigners who reached Japanese soil. Some samurai did want all the Russians killed, and were main proponents of that, but other thought that it was a good opportunity to learn about basic ship building techniques.
Yamaguchi-san took me to the museum dedicated to telling this important story. This is the model of the Edo-period Japanese ships: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/japan/IMGP2366.jpg . The design of these ships prevented them from going to Russia. They were representative of a one-way track to failure in the hopes of someday being equal to the Western barbarians. So instead of killing all the sailors, the local people of Heda worked with the Russians to build a new ship, a modern ship that would allow the sailors to return home. 6 months later, this was accomplished.
The people of Heda and the Russians treated each other with kindness. This was due in part to admiral Putiatin, who was a skilled diplomat. The same tsunami that caused the Diana to shipwreck was the result of an earthquake which devastated the region at that time. The people of Heda now had to find ways to feed themselves as well as feed the Russian sailors, who numbered in the hundreds. Barring some people who thought they were devils because they caught the Russians drinking red wine that they thought was blood, the Russians and people of Heda were quite amiable to each other. When a sailor died due to eating poisonous mushrooms he mistook for safe ones he ate back home, the Hedans tried to remove as many of them as possible, as well as built a grave in Heda for the sailor. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/japan/?action=view¤t=IMGP2371.jpg (Yamaguchi-san also took me to see that).
I left Heda with a wealth of information about the history. Reading these stories about the famous shipwreck that lead to modernization of the Japanese naval fleet was very profound to me. I imagined how Heda was like during the time the Russians stayed there. The current town of Heda has less than 4000 people. I'm sure the numbers were even less over 150 years ago. The view of Mt Fuji was still there, as was the clear water, the bay, and the surrounding mountainside. But those were the days of uncertainty. How did the Hedans feel being host to these strange guests when probably none of them had even seen reference to a foreigner before in their lives? How did the Russians feel being thousands of kilometers away from home for months, uncertain if they'd ever get home alive? This was all happening right in the very place the museum stood to retell this history.
I would have never learned about this history if I wasn't there to experience it. It is not something that is prominent in history books, it's not full of bloodshed and drama, I even doubt it has been made into a documentary. It is a true story of real events and real people that experienced it a century and a half ago. This is the way I learn the facts and figures the best. I would argue that it is most effective for any given person, if they have the interest. Seeing history with your very eyes in the place where it occurred is highly engaging for me. I will never forget the story of Heda.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I feel very indebted to Yamaguchi-san for being so kind to not only to take the time sharing the history of Heda with me, but also for the next day where he took me to a really big touristic place. I e-mailed him several months later, but never got a reply. I hope he's doing well. Maybe someday before I go home I'll take the ferry back to Heda, pop into the tourism shack and see if he's in...
I'm don't think I'm a very good history fan. It's always been one of those subjects I've done well at but I don't quite think I deserve it. I think I inherited the "good at remembering lots of bits of useless information" genes from my father. However, I wouldn't really call myself a history buff. I don't dedicate tons of my time to studying some historical time period, learning everything I can about it. I watch the history channel when I'm bored rather than actively seeking every airing of "tales of the gun" and "mail call" like someone I know. I've taken classes on Modern Japanese History that left me wanting to play my gameboy in the back row of nearly every class because I found the lectures so boring, yet gotten some version of an A in almost all the history classes I've taken.
History, for me, is something more than watching tv programs, more than reading books, more than watching documentaries about wars and mass slaughter. History is also about learning the past through being right there, where it occurred, in the present.
I learn the best about history when I visit landmarks, usually local ones. One of the reasons I love sightseeing so much is because every place deemed worthy of being a sight to be seen has history entrenched in its very foundations. Some people are artistic and appreciate the beauty of what they are seeing. When most people visit any given place of value, they would want to take pictures of it, either marveling at some aspect of the creation or wondering what the big deal is about(in that case, maybe they won't need to take pictures!). I take pictures because I appreciate beauty as well, but as much as I can, I use my pictures to recollect the historical narrative of the place I visited.
On a really nice November day almost one year ago, I decided to take a trip by ferry boat to this place called "Heda", a quaint town just south of my city. It was on the sightseeing pamphlet I got from my one of my bosses when I first came here. I read that it was accessible by ferry boat and it had some things to see as well as good views, so on a whim, after I got the ferry boat schedule, I decided to go there.
I arrived there by myself at about 1 pm. The first thing I did was go into the small tourist building and ask them "Could you please tell me how to find some interesting places here?". They informed me that it would take too long to find these interesting places by foot. Thankfully, this nice man, somewhere in his 50s, offered to take me by car. Hesitation only crossed my mind once. I liked adventures, and he seemed friendly to me.
I didn't know that this serene town: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/japan/IMGP2372.jpg was the center of some really important events over 150 years ago.
It turned out that he was really a historical guru of his town. He spoke no English and I had trouble understanding his speech tendencies(I tend to understand females better than males) but we managed to communicate somehow. He told me that Heda is famous for being a place where this Russian ship named the Diana, full of sailors, crashed due to a tsunami back in the 1860s. The ship sank and all but one of the sailors made it to shore. This time in Japanese history was known as the "Edo Period", it should also be known as the "period of Xenophobia". Fortunately(or maybe not?) it was also the end stages of the Edo period where they thought twice about immediately assassinating any foreigners who reached Japanese soil. Some samurai did want all the Russians killed, and were main proponents of that, but other thought that it was a good opportunity to learn about basic ship building techniques.
Yamaguchi-san took me to the museum dedicated to telling this important story. This is the model of the Edo-period Japanese ships: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/japan/IMGP2366.jpg . The design of these ships prevented them from going to Russia. They were representative of a one-way track to failure in the hopes of someday being equal to the Western barbarians. So instead of killing all the sailors, the local people of Heda worked with the Russians to build a new ship, a modern ship that would allow the sailors to return home. 6 months later, this was accomplished.
The people of Heda and the Russians treated each other with kindness. This was due in part to admiral Putiatin, who was a skilled diplomat. The same tsunami that caused the Diana to shipwreck was the result of an earthquake which devastated the region at that time. The people of Heda now had to find ways to feed themselves as well as feed the Russian sailors, who numbered in the hundreds. Barring some people who thought they were devils because they caught the Russians drinking red wine that they thought was blood, the Russians and people of Heda were quite amiable to each other. When a sailor died due to eating poisonous mushrooms he mistook for safe ones he ate back home, the Hedans tried to remove as many of them as possible, as well as built a grave in Heda for the sailor. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v326/MajesticArcanine/japan/?action=view¤t=IMGP2371.jpg (Yamaguchi-san also took me to see that).
I left Heda with a wealth of information about the history. Reading these stories about the famous shipwreck that lead to modernization of the Japanese naval fleet was very profound to me. I imagined how Heda was like during the time the Russians stayed there. The current town of Heda has less than 4000 people. I'm sure the numbers were even less over 150 years ago. The view of Mt Fuji was still there, as was the clear water, the bay, and the surrounding mountainside. But those were the days of uncertainty. How did the Hedans feel being host to these strange guests when probably none of them had even seen reference to a foreigner before in their lives? How did the Russians feel being thousands of kilometers away from home for months, uncertain if they'd ever get home alive? This was all happening right in the very place the museum stood to retell this history.
I would have never learned about this history if I wasn't there to experience it. It is not something that is prominent in history books, it's not full of bloodshed and drama, I even doubt it has been made into a documentary. It is a true story of real events and real people that experienced it a century and a half ago. This is the way I learn the facts and figures the best. I would argue that it is most effective for any given person, if they have the interest. Seeing history with your very eyes in the place where it occurred is highly engaging for me. I will never forget the story of Heda.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I feel very indebted to Yamaguchi-san for being so kind to not only to take the time sharing the history of Heda with me, but also for the next day where he took me to a really big touristic place. I e-mailed him several months later, but never got a reply. I hope he's doing well. Maybe someday before I go home I'll take the ferry back to Heda, pop into the tourism shack and see if he's in...
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 01:59 pm (UTC)Great post. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-25 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 05:19 pm (UTC)... I think what clued me in was the revelation that Martin Luther King was not the President ... followed within seconds of the revelation that he was also black.
Seriously, look him up on Wiki or some other place. They never say outright that he was black so how was I to know?
no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 06:38 pm (UTC)I mean, come on, the home of the Ku Klux Klan? Seriously - their headquarters are in my state.
So any commentary about this part of the US would probably hardly offend me hehe. : )
Edited to add: it's because I haven't found many friends in Central AR that I wanted to add you as a friend if you were in AR because I'm seriously friend-deprived. : )
no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 06:43 pm (UTC)I'm sorry that I'm not from Arkansas(actually... well you know what I mean :3) but after reading your profile, I think I'd be really interested in reading your entries!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-24 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-25 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-25 10:31 pm (UTC)