Tsurukichi Tanaka

2021/06/28

On the morning of May 30, 1887 (Meiji 20), a "man of the islands" visited the Fukuzawa residence. This was Tsurukichi Tanaka, the subject of this article. Fukuzawa held "various consultations" with Tanaka and Kakugoro Inoue (who supported the Korean Enlightenment Party, including Kim Ok-gyun, under Fukuzawa) and sent a letter to Michita Nakamura—who has also appeared in this series—stating that he wished to discuss the matter directly. Who exactly was this man, Tsurukichi Tanaka?

Tanaka was born in 1855 (Ansei 2) in Azabu Iikura as the eldest son of Umanojo Tanaka, a vassal of the Shogunate. He was a neighborhood bully who repeatedly caused trouble, and his parents were at their wits' end.

Later, at the age of 11, Tanaka apparently began to think with a child's heart that if he were not around, his parents would not have to suffer. He suddenly ran away from home and visited an acquaintance in Yokohama. It was 1865 (Keio 1), seven years after the signing of the Ansei Five-Power Treaties, and foreign merchant houses lined the streets of Yokohama. Tanaka entered a merchant house and began working as an apprentice.

One day, the captain of an American merchant ship visited the merchant house. Seeing Tanaka, the captain asked if he would like to go to America. It is unknown why he invited him. However, Tanaka accepted without knowing anything about America and departed Yokohama as the captain's apprentice.

After stopping in Australia, the merchant ship entered San Francisco. Tanaka wished to work there and parted ways with the captain, becoming an apprentice at the home of a shoe company president. While working for a monthly salary of 20 dollars, he also attended night school. By 1871 (Meiji 4), the 17-year-old Tanaka had saved up 500 dollars.

At the end of that same year, the Iwakura Mission arrived in San Francisco. The mission informed the Japanese residents of the Meiji Restoration and preached that those who acquired skills abroad would succeed if they returned to Japan. Tanaka was inspired by these words and began to take action to acquire technical skills.

Tanaka set his sights on the salt production business. The Alameda Salt Works in San Francisco was producing high-quality solar salt, and Tanaka visited the president of the salt company, wishing to become a craftsman there. The president refused, fearing the leakage of production methods, but Tanaka persisted, vowing that he did not need wages and would not disclose the methods he learned. Eventually, he was admitted. His hard work was gradually recognized, and by 1879 (Meiji 12), he was receiving a monthly salary of 80 dollars.

During this time, Kiyomatsu Maeda, who ran a dairy company called Hokushinsha, came from afar. In Tokyo after the fall of the Shogunate, some ruined samurai residences were being converted into ranches, and Hokushinsha was one of them. Maeda had traveled to America to learn about dairy farming and visited Tanaka after hearing about him. Finding common ground in their goal of returning to Japan with skills, Maeda proposed starting a salt business in Japan and offered to invest. Tanaka was moved, but he had promised the president to keep the production method a secret. When he negotiated directly with the president, the president issued a license for the production method and supported his return. In December of that year, Tanaka set foot in Yokohama for the first time in 14 years.

Tanaka searched for a suitable site for salt production and established a testing ground in Fukagawa, Tokyo. However, on the night before he was to draw in seawater, a storm hit directly, and the facilities collapsed. Maeda offered support again, but Tanaka declined, saying he was sorry, and set out on a journey across the country to find a place where solar salt production was possible.

He eventually arrived in Tokushima. When he tried making salt, it was of high quality, and the surprised district head promoted Tanaka's salt-making method to local salt producers. However, they not only clung to traditional methods but also spread bad rumors about Tanaka out of jealousy, and eventually, Tanaka was forced to leave Tokushima. He reached Tokyo in March 1881 (Meiji 14) and made a living as a milk deliveryman under Maeda for a while.

The year before Tanaka returned to Tokyo, 1880 (Meiji 13), was the year the Ogasawara Islands were transferred from the government to Tokyo Prefecture. Tokyo Prefecture was to formulate a development plan, and Tanaka and Maeda were the ones who stepped forward. They proposed starting livestock farming on a deserted island in Ogasawara and building a salt works with the profits. Although rejected twice, Governor Michiyuki Matsuda recognized their enthusiasm, and it was decided that Tanaka would first travel there to find a suitable site. After finding Yomejima Island north of Chichijima, Tanaka returned to Tokyo briefly. After obtaining Matsuda's permission, he arrived at Yomejima with five breeding cattle, 20 pigs, rice, wheat, and a hunting rifle. Since Maeda decided to send supplies from Tokyo, Tanaka landed alone.

Life on the deserted island, which began in September 1881, was a series of hardships; first, 15 pigs died of disease. Food supplies also quickly ran out, and he once contracted enteritis from eating fish. Nevertheless, Tanaka did not give up. When he extracted whale oil from a washed-up whale carcass and sold it on Chichijima, it fetched 200 yen. He used that capital to go to Tokyo, purchase cattle and pigs, and returned to Yomejima to work hard at livestock farming for four years. The cattle and pigs increased steadily, and he expanded not only to Yomejima but also to Muko-jima, Nakodojima, Anejima, Imotojima, and Mejima. He no longer struggled for food, and finally, talk turned to building a salt works on Chichijima. Tokyo Prefecture also considered supporting Tanaka, and the Prefectural Assembly passed a resolution to send 300 prisoners from the Ichigaya Prison as laborers.

Now, it was the Jiji Shinpo that introduced Tanaka's life up to this point to the world. It was serialized from January 15 to February 12, 1886 (Meiji 19), under the title "The Little Robinson Crusoe of the Orient." The background of the serialization is as follows: In December 1885, the warship Nisshin called at Ogasawara, and the military officers who met Tanaka were impressed by his high aspirations. Returning to Tokyo, a lieutenant who wanted to introduce Tanaka's story to the world contributed an outline to the Jiji Shinpo, and a reporter fashioned it into a serial.

The response to this series seems to have been significant; on February 5, while the series was still running, six former Aizu clan samurai departed Tokyo to participate in Tanaka's salt business. Booklets summarizing the series were published by various publishers, and Tanaka frequently appeared in biographies for children published in the early Meiji 20s. He also became a subject for nishiki-e (colored woodblock prints). The Sakaiza theater in Kyoto adapted the series into a play titled "The Moon of the Southern Island Yomejima," and Otojiro Kawakami appeared in it before he became famous for the "Oppekepe-bushi" song.

So, was Tanaka's salt business a success? Some point out that it was a failure. Solar salt production is suited for dry regions like San Francisco, and Ogasawara, which is hit directly by typhoons, is certainly difficult. When he returned to Tokyo in 1887 (Meiji 20), what were Tanaka's feelings?

  Image Source: Tokyo Museum Collection

Let us return to the beginning of this article. Tanaka, who returned to Tokyo from Ogasawara on the night of May 29, 1887 (Meiji 20), visited Fukuzawa the following morning. The fact that he visited Fukuzawa immediately after returning suggests a prior acquaintance. At that time, Fukuzawa was working toward the realization of his "Theory of Emigration" with disciples such as Inoue, Nakamura, and Orie Kai (who founded the trading company Kai Shoten in San Francisco in 1885).

The theory of emigration had already been discussed in the "Guide to travel in the western world" (1867), citing America as a place where immigrants flourished. From around 1884, it was frequently expanded upon in the Jiji Shinpo, but it did not simply preach to the impoverished that they could make a living by going abroad. For example, in the editorial "Defense of the Theory of Emigration" on April 20 of that year, he stated, "Once the people of our country emigrate to another country, it not only leads to the prosperity of those people, but the relationship between our country and the country of immigration will inevitably become closer." He argued that Japanese emigration would lead to good diplomatic relations between the countries involved and emphasized the importance of emigration from the perspective of national interest.

Furthermore, Fukuzawa did not think it was enough to simply send emigrants. He believed that if they were to take jobs away from Americans, an anti-Japanese movement would be inevitable, and to prevent this, the emigrants themselves had to start businesses. He aimed for long-term, socially rooted emigration rather than short-term migrant labor, specifically stating that the best course was to buy land in America and engage in farming. Additionally, as his collaborator Kai stated in a letter to Tokichi Yanagida (who opened the Hokumonsha Shinjuku school on Fukuzawa's advice), "The people sent first should be as physically strong and young as possible, so that they can become leaders when a large number of people are sent out later," showing that he had a cautious plan to send an advance party to pave the way.

That advance party of about 15 people left Japan on June 9, 1887. They planned to purchase land on the outskirts of San Francisco using 10,000 dollars jointly invested by Fukuzawa, Inoue, and Nakamura. Inoue was in charge, and Tanaka was also among the members of the advance party.

Tanaka was likely chosen because he had the experience of surviving on a deserted island in Ogasawara and was the kind of "physically strong young person" and "leader type" that Kai had mentioned. It may also be because Fukuzawa valued Tanaka's frontier spirit. Looking back, whether it was going to America, salt production, or his life in Ogasawara, Tanaka had challenged uncharted territories. He was a fitting choice for the advance party of an emigration project where no one knew what might happen.

Furthermore, seeing that Tanaka left for America ten days after returning to Tokyo from Ogasawara, it seems to me that his return was not due to the failure of the salt business, but rather to participate in this emigration. Is it too much to think that Fukuzawa and others had invited Tanaka beforehand to realize the theory of emigration, and Tanaka had responded to it?

The group that arrived in San Francisco purchased land and began fruit cultivation. Since the results were good, Inoue returned to Japan temporarily at the end of that year to consult with Fukuzawa and Nakamura about expanding the business. However, at that time, Inoue was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Gapsin Coup (1884) prior to his departure for America, and he was ultimately unable to return to America. According to the "Biography of Mr. Kakugoro Inoue," Fukuzawa decided to end the project, and after selling the land and houses, the emigration group disbanded to go their separate ways.

There are various theories about Tanaka after that. One story says he avoided contact with Japanese people and worked as an accounting assistant at a theater in San Francisco, while another says he introduced Japanese immigrants arriving in San Francisco to jobs as railroad laborers.

Tanaka passed away in 1925 (Taisho 14). It may be true that he did not leave behind any great social achievements. However, his grandson, who became a third-generation Japanese-American, reportedly became the first physician of that generation. Tanaka lived rooted in American society and passed that foundation on to his children and grandchildren. It might be a bit of a stretch, but I believe Tanaka can be cited as one of the individuals who embodied Fukuzawa's theory of emigration.