
An 1861 illustrated Japanese book on the American revolutionary war - lermontov
https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/9w2v7l/the_fully_scanned_contents_of_an_1861_illustrated
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TimTheTinker
Direct link to book scans:
[http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/...](http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/bunko11_a0380_0002/bunko11_a0380_0002.html)

Note - the Reddit comment provides some helpful commentary in English, hence
OP didn't link directly to the book scans.

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searke
The same author wrote a short biography of General Grant. I managed to track
it down after reading the Japanese wikipedi page for him.

American Flag Kimonos:
[http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0470/...](http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0470/bunko11_a0470_0002/bunko11_a0470_0002_p0006.jpg)

"Grant kun" at dinner:
[http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0470/...](http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0470/bunko11_a0470_0003/bunko11_a0470_0003_p0030.jpg)

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protomyth
The Google Translate version of the summary
[https://www.kufs.ac.jp/toshokan/gallery/data22.htm](https://www.kufs.ac.jp/toshokan/gallery/data22.htm)
is pretty uhm... odd

 _Read the title of the book as "Farewell Time Letter". Lu Bun is a prominent
man who played a role as a playwriter from the end of the Tokugawa period to
the beginning of the Meiji era, his real name is Bossi Nozaki, from Edo, and
besides this book there are works such as "Western Canal Knee Chest".
According to the introduction of this book, based on the "Seikokushiji" etc.,
which Wei Genji was established, others, based on other "Mr. Satoshi
Ichinomiyoshi", this book is played and the contents are clearly understood by
women and children It is said that it made it into a pseudonym book and put it
in. The outline of this book began with colon (閤 龍) petitioning to Isabela
king and discovering the New Continent, eventually the British reigned and
rushed to regulate, but Washington appeared and established independence and
founding founder Progress has been made interestingly, with some fictional
figures and youkai appearing. Therefore, this book is kind of a novel and a
novel based on the course of the founding of the United States_

I'm pretty sure my high school history class would have been more fun with
youkai appearing.

~~~
resoluteteeth
The Google Translate translation is mostly gibberish, but in short this book
isn't really a history book. It's a book in the "gesaku" genre (Edo era light
literature) that the author created by reading other books about Columbus and
America and adapting the story to fit the conventions of the genre (thus
youkai, etc.).

~~~
crooked-v
So, pretty much like modern historical-fantasy books that posit WW2 with Nazi
vampires or whatever?

Edit: [http://pbfcomics.com/comics/now-
showing/](http://pbfcomics.com/comics/now-showing/)

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zimpenfish
Side-relevance:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6FuHfgF2bc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6FuHfgF2bc)

David Bull talks through how these kinds of books are made, read, etc.

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ramgorur
Interestingly, the style of art and writing is very similar to that of Hokusai
Manga. Which is considered as the one of the predecessors of today's Manga and
Anime.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_manga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_manga)

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craftyguy
Why not link to the original source instead of some reddit post crap?

[http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/...](http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/bunko11_a0380_0002/bunko11_a0380_0002.html)

~~~
kchoudhu
Because the reddit post gives useful context.

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sandworm101
Definitive proof that the Japanese had little knowledge of gunpowder. The
artists obviously had seen a cannon, more likely a picture of one, but had
absolutely no idea how it was actually fired.

[http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/...](http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/bunko11_a0380_0002/bunko11_a0380_0002_p0038.jpg)

~~~
resoluteteeth
> Definitive proof that the Japanese had little knowledge of gunpowder. The
> artists obviously had seen a cannon, more likely a picture of one, but had
> absolutely no idea how it was actually fired.

This is a very incorrect conclusion.

By 1861 when this book was published, Japan had known about and seen cannons
for hundreds of years, and since the 1850s the shogunate had been
manufacturing cannons because of the threat from foreign ships.

Judging whether "the Japanese had little knowledge of gunpowder" at this time
based on a random low-brow book aimed at a popular audience is like concluding
that humans didn't know how electricity worked in the 1990s because you found
a technical mistake in Jurassic Park.

~~~
sandworm101
Japan had the knowledge, not the japanese. The people involved with this print
thought a large cannon, one on wheels, was a hand weapon. Nobody involved had
any real knowledge of gunpowder beyond stories.

~~~
dragontamer
John Adams is fighting a giant snake.

[http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/...](http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko11/bunko11_a0380/bunko11_a0380_0002/bunko11_a0380_0002_p0003.jpg)

\---------------

I guess you can say that the typical American doesn't know about computers in
the `00s:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ)

But no one watches NCIS to get accurate depictions of hackers. People watch
NCIS to get entertained. Pop-culture in general doesn't actually CARE how
things work, its entertainment value, NOT accuracy.

