While Hollywood is not noted for the historical accuracy of its
films, I sometimes think the historians miss the mark in their
criticisms.
One of the criticisms leveled against the movie, THE LAST SAMURAI was
the fact that one of the characters was an American Civil War
soldier. A history student told me the Japanese would not have hired
an American, but a French or Prussian. Professional historians
have made similar comments. The trouble is such criticisms are nice
generalities, but ignore the specifics of historical events.
Unfortunately I repeated what that student told me without doing some
research of my own.
Specifics can yield some startling revelations. I happened to stumble
across a reference to an American Civil war general who served in the
Japanese government. In the one volume work, JAPAN ENCYCLOPEDIA
edited by Louis Frederic, there is mention of American Civil War
general, Charles William Le Gendre, who served in the Japanese
government. Le Gendre was also mentioned in the multivolume work
which I think was entitled: DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY. So
while the United States may not have been the big superpower in the
1870�s, that did not mean Americans were not hired by Japan. I read
that Le Gendre was the first foreigner hired by the Japanese (Meiji
era?) as a government official. He must have acquired some sort of
reputation in China, when he led a punitive expedition against the
indigenous people on Taiwan, who killed shipwrecked American
sailors. The Japanese also hired him to train and lead a punitive
expedition against Taiwan .Before he could lead the Japanese
expedition; he was arrested by the Americans for deserting his post.
So the expedition went ahead without him. Le Gendre served as an
advisor to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1872 to
1875. The Japanese government bestowed on him the honor of �Order of
the Rising Sun.� He lived in Japan until 1890. I believe, he then
moved to Korea, where he advised the Korean government until his death
in 1899.
Yes, the historians do have a point in saying that America was not the
big cheese superpower or the country the Japanese would NORMALLY look
to for military advice. But such generalities do not mean one could
automatically rule out the idea of the Japanese hiring an American.
Because in actual fact the Japanese government did hire a former Union
Army General of the American Civil War.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. The samurai rebellion
mentioned in THE LAST SAMURAI was modeled after the real
life �Satsuma Rebellion� of 1877. But unlike the film, the rebellion
took place on the island of Kyushu, not Honshu, where Tokyo is
located. Since Le Gendre lived in Japan till 1890, it is POSSIBLE
that he could have been involved in the matter of the rebellion.
# posted by GuyTak @ 10:24 PM
