Sakai incident
The Sakai Incident ( Japanese 堺 事件 , Sakai jiken , French Incident de Sakai ) was a violent event in 1868 that occurred in the port of Sakai near Osaka , Japan, in which eleven French sailors and eleven samurai were killed . The incident is considered the first case of the Japanese seppuku ritual officially observed by Europeans and had no negative impact on the relationship between the countries.
Course of events
On March 8, 1868, the French corvette Dupleix was lying in front of the port of Sakai , which at that time was closed to foreign ships and was controlled by the troops of the feudal lord of Tosa . For controversial reasons, a crew of 20 sailors crossed into the port with a dinghy, who are said to have either been dispatched or left the ship in an unauthorized manner. When they were about to go ashore in the harbor, a dispute broke out, with eleven sailors and the midshipman Guillou being killed by samurai .
The French captain protested fiercely. $ 150,000 compensation is said to have been agreed with the Japanese regional government. The samurai involved were arrested and 20 of them were asked to do seppuku . On the French, who were present as witnesses at the execution, the style and course of the ritual made such a strange and shocking impression that after the death of eleven samurai the captain asked for mercy for the remaining nine, which was granted to them.
The incident did not have a negative impact on the relationship between the French and Japanese. Today a monument in Kobe is dedicated to him. Another monument commemorating the incident is located in Sakai Harbor, south of Nankai Sakai Railway Station.
literature
- Hinata, Yasushi: Himei no fu: Kobe, Sakaiura ryojiken tenmatsu (Kobe and Sakai Incident, 1868), Japanese [1]
- Ōgai, Mori: “The incident in Sakai (Sakai jiken, 1914)” in: Under construction (Fushinchuu). Collected stories, translated by Wolfgang Schamoni, German 1989
Web links
- Osaka Attractions (Engl.)