In 1793, a Japanese sailor named Tsudayu set out on what should have been an ordinary voyage.

He had no plans to explore the world. But a storm changed everything.

Tsudayu was aboard the Wakamiya-maru, a Japanese cargo ship carrying rice toward Edo (present-day Tokyo). The ship was blown off course and drifted across the North Pacific before reaching the Aleutian Islands, then under Russian control.

For the crew, this was only the beginning of an extraordinary ordeal.

The survivors eventually traveled deep into Russia, spending years far from home. Tsudayu and his companions eventually reached St. Petersburg, where they met Emperor Alexander I.

Imagine being a sailor from a country with extremely limited contact with the outside world, suddenly standing before the ruler of one of Europe's great powers.

But Tsudayu's greatest wish was not to explore Russia or see more of Europe. He wanted to return to Japan.

Eventually, he and three other Japanese sailors boarded the Russian ship Nadezhda, which was taking part in Russia's first circumnavigation of the globe. Their journey home took them across the Atlantic, around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, and across the Pacific.

In 1804, after more than a decade away from Japan, Tsudayu and his companions finally reached Nagasaki.

Think about that: a man who never intended to become an explorer ended up traveling around the world simply because he wanted to go home.

French military mission to Japan (1867–1868) - Wikipedia)

In 1860, a 17-year-old Japanese teenager became an unlikely celebrity in America. His name was Tateishi Onojiro, but Americans knew him as “Tommy.”

Why was he in America, and how did he become so famous?

At the time, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate, a military government that had governed the country for centuries. In 1860, it sent a diplomatic mission to the United States to ratify a treaty between the two countries. Onojiro joined the mission as a trainee interpreter.

The arrival of the Japanese delegation attracted enormous public curiosity. Crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of the visitors, and newspapers covered their journey. For many Americans, the delegation offered a rare opportunity to see Japanese people at a time when the two countries were only beginning to develop closer relations.

Among the visitors, the young Onojiro stood out.

He was outgoing and able to interact with Americans, making him a popular subject of newspaper stories. His nickname, “Tommy,” is reportedly linked to his childhood name, Tamehachi, often shortened to Tame. American sailors are said to have heard the name as “Tommy.”

His popularity even reached the world of music. In 1860, a dance tune called “Tommy’s Polka” was published in his honor. Newspapers also reported on his admirers, although some stories about his popularity may have been exaggerated.

Hi all! Idk if this is the right place to put this, so sorry if I was incorrect, but I'm in need of an ancient Japanese last name(or a few). I tried doing research on my own but it's very confusing and it makes zero sense to me, so thought I'd ask people who probably actually understand what's going on! Preferably names from around 6th century CE, but literally any century or era after that works just as well, just make sure to let me know when the last name is from!

Thanks all! There's probably more I should be including that I'm not getting, but feel free to call me out in the comments if you need more information!

Мне нравится читать про феодальную Японию, Древний Китай, проникся Азией.

Fujita Seiko (1899–1966) called himself the fourteenth head of the Kōga school of ninjutsu, and the press called him “the last ninja.” In 1958 he published a memoir, Doronron: Saigo no Ninja, full of mountain ascetics, clairvoyance, and wartime spy work.

At the end of the preface, Fujita mentions almost in passing that the book was rewritten by an acquaintance, Ōhira Yōsuke, from Fujita’s records and spoken account.

Fujita’s personal library is now held by the Odawara City Central Library. In a 2024 exhibition bulletin, the library described the memoir as a mix of fact and invention, and said most of it appears to be invented, including his accounts of teaching at the Army’s Nakano School and working undercover in Manchuria.

And yet the collection he left is real. After his death, his widow donated it to Odawara in 1974 as he had asked: 3,268 items, including 1,246 old documents and books on martial arts and 605 scrolls. Researchers from Japan and abroad still use it.

So we have a man whose life story can’t be trusted, and an archive that can.

How do you think historians should treat a source like this? Are there other figures in Japanese history who left behind a valuable record while mythologizing themselves?

Sources
Fujita Seiko, Doronron: Saigo no Ninja (Nihon Shūhōsha, 1958), National Diet Library Digital Collections.
Odawara City Central Library, Chiiki Shiryō Kōnā Tsūshin No. 17 (September 2024).

Researched by me from the Japanese sources; drafted and translated into English with AI assistance.

Hi. My grandfather was from Pinedo (Valencia). When he passed away we found this picture in his belongings. He never mentioned it and it could just be that he found it in the harbour.now,

I wonder who this sailor is and if he has alive relatives I could send the picture to.

Some time ago I asked elsewhere and I got this:

In the first image, it says 「大正六年十一月　當年十九才　大庭増太郎」 meaning "November 1917, currently aged 19, Masutaro Oba". Last part is the man's name. The second image says "NARAHARA STUDIO 若松市蛭子通　楢原" That is the name and aaddress of the photo shop where the picture was taken. That city (Wakamatsu) is currently called Kitakyushu and it was a major international trade port. The city is here: ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E4%B9%9D%E5%B7%9E%E5%B8%82

When people picture the Bakumatsu, they often imagine samurai fighting with swords.

But the reality was more complicated.

In 1863, Takasugi Shinsaku organized the Kiheitai in the Choshu domain. Unlike a force limited to the samurai class, it included men from different social backgrounds.

This mattered because military service had long been closely tied to social status in Japan. The Kiheitai reflected a shift toward a different kind of military organization during a period of rapid change.

The transition from the samurai era to modern Japan was not just about who ruled the country. It was also about who could fight, and how.

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Hello! I'm making a character that lives during Japan Taisho era with farmer parents. What were the more agricultural areas of Taisho Japan, ideally near Tokyo?

When Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Japan in 1853, he came with a mission to open the country to American trade.

According to a popular account, Japanese interpreter Hori Tatsunosuke responded in Dutch, reportedly saying:

“I can speak Dutch.”

But why Dutch?

For centuries, Japan had limited contact with much of the outside world. Yet the country was never completely cut off from foreign knowledge. Through Dutch traders based in Nagasaki, Japanese scholars gained access to Western science, medicine, technology, and military knowledge.

This body of learning became known as Rangaku, or “Dutch learning.”

So when Perry arrived, Dutch was more than just a foreign language. It was one of Japan’s most important bridges to the Western world.

I'm running a dnd campaign thats set in a fantasy regency era and one of my PCs wants to play a character thats from Japan, any good sources or websites

I'm perhaps going a little bit nuts on the research for a short work of fiction, but I'm currently researching marriage in Sengoku-era Japan, specifically among the upper classes. (Note: I'm mostly limiting myself to Sengoku-era Japan because I can understand the social hierarchy somewhat better than the Heian-era courtly rankings, but please don't feel like you need to limit your answers on my account. I'm happy to hear what it was like in other periods, too!)

I've found this post which has answers that are wonderfully informative on the traditions and what actually happened but not so much on the implications and the unspoken 'rules' surrounding who's permitted to marry whom.

My general understanding is that much like in Western society, marriages were often arranged for political capital, with parents essentially using their children to solidify alliances between houses and attempt to improve familial standing. In addition to that, Western society also had certain ideas around the permissibility of "class intermarriage" probably best summed up as don't.

Was there anything similar in Japanese society? Could someone of a lower social class marry someone of a much higher (relatively speaking) status without either of them coming under censure?

For example, would marriage be socially permitted between:

• a wealthy, well-connected commoner and a daimyo (or their children)?
• a daimyo and a member of the hereditary aristocracy?
• a samurai's child and a low-ranking member of the hereditary aristocracy?

Furthermore, would the rules be different for men and women? Would they be different for a second child as opposed to a first? Would it make either the lower or higher status spouse the topic of gossip or an object of pity?

Thanks in advance for any answers you're able to give!

I found this coin on the forest trail at the inari shrine in Kyoto. I was wondering if anyone has any input on this thing. It's very very old, I initially thought it was a 50 yen coin, but the material seems to be heavily corroded copper, and obviously the hole is square. Thank you all.

Hello Reddit! I went to Japan a couple months ago and absolutely loved it there. The highlight of the trip though was this staircase I found. It seemed quite old and unused, and I’ve been curious about its history since I found it. Even if someone knows what time period it may be from, I’d love to know, as this area seems to have a lot of history.

The top of the staircase reached the northwest corner of the Senjokaku temple. The staircase started from the main path down the hill, north of Senjokaku. It was hidden behind one of the Southwestern Komainu statues around the Shinto shrine. When you reach the top of the staircase, you need to climb 2 landings to reach the temple, each landing was about 4 feet tall.

I will include photos if this helps, these are descriptions for the photos:
Photo 1: roughly where I remember the path being, the circle being the bottom, behind the Komainu statue
Photo 2: photo of staircase from the bottom (north side)
Photo 3: A photo looking down from halfway up the staircase, I accidentally startled this fawn that was sleeping on the path
Photo 4: Photo of Senjokaku temple from the top to the staircase (beneath the landings)
Photo 5: Senjokaku temple

Thank you!

I found the abstract entertaining. https://apjjf.org/2019/07/smits

I visited Ryuko Myojin Shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa.

The first thing that caught my attention was the large five-headed dragon sculpture near the entrance. I had seen dragon imagery at Japanese temples and shrines before, but this was my first time visiting a shrine centered on such a specific dragon tradition.

According to the shrine's tradition, it was founded in the 13th year of Emperor Kinmei, traditionally dated to 552. The enshrined deities are Gozuryu, the five-headed dragon deity, and Tamayorihime no Mikoto.

The local legend connects Gozuryu with the goddess of Enoshima. The dragon was once feared by the people of the region, but changed its ways after meeting the goddess and later became a guardian of the land.

Because of this story, Ryuko Myojin Shrine and Enoshima Shrine are regarded as a pair of partner shrines.

The shrine moved to its present location in 1978. The grounds were very open and quiet, with stone torii gates, an old tree, and dragon imagery around the main building.

Have you encountered any other Japanese shrines dedicated to a dragon with its own local story?