Did Gingero and Kumakichi visit Japan in 1886?
In the course of researching whether Otake visited Japan in 1886 (final version of the post here ), I came across this in the Rising Sun and Nagasaki Express of 22nd December 1886: “Mr WH Gingiro, Mr Y Kumakichi for London on the Teheran from Yokohama and way ports”. The Teheran was a P&O steamer…
Talk to the British Music Hall Society July 22nd London
Pernille Rudlin is giving a talk to the British Music Hall Society on July 22nd 7pm – 9pm, at the Water Rats, London. Open to non-members. Tamamoto Chiyokichi, was a rope walker, who left Japan at the age of 10. He claimed to have fought in the Zulu war, and then settled in Britain, married…
Ellen Mary Watanabe 1887-1940
In commemoration of International Women’s Day – and Women’s History month, I thought I would record the life of Ellen Mary Watanabe. She was not, strictly speaking, part of the Japanese performer group I have been researching, but there are connections, as I will explain. I had originally thought the “Musme” Watanabe, who gave recitals…
Did Otaké visit Japan in 1886?
Another puzzle I wanted to solve during my recent trip to Nagasaki was whether Otaké really did visit Japan in 1886. Tannaker Buhicrosan announced in The Era on the 11th December 1886 that his wife Otaké had departed for Japan on Friday 10th, for the first time in 20 years and that he had “engaged…
Did Tannaker go to Japan in 1870?
On my recent trip to Nagasaki, I found the following article in the Nagasaki Express, Saturday 16th July 1870 p 106: “KIDNAPPING EXTRAORDINARY – A daring and successful act of kidnapping was performed in our settlement on Thursday last, which for the boldness of its conception, and consummate impudence of its execution, proves that the…
Japan Society talk
A video of Pernille Rudlin’s lecture to the Japan Society at the Swedenborg Institute in London on 15th July 2024 on “Karuwaza, a Risky Business: Japanese acrobats in Victorian Britain” is now available on YouTube as below:
Japan Society 1892
In April 1901 Maruichi Sentarō performed for the Japan Society in London with members of the Nishihama and Fukushima troupes. Even before then, the Japan Society were discussing Ju Jitsu, the martial art which many of the Japanese performers became involved in demonstrating in Britain – as can be seen in the account of the…
Talk at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
Pernille Rudlin gave a talk on September 16th 2023 on the Japanese performers who came to Norwich in the 19th and 20th centuries at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in Norwich, as part of the national Heritage Open Days. The talk explored the lives of the sometimes overlooked individuals who performed…
Another Norwich/Japan connection: Dr Herbert Blackburn
Dr Herbert Blackburn (1862-1902) was director of the Nagasaki hospital from 1892 to 1895. He married Emily May Sutton at the Congregational Church in Prince’s Street, Norwich on the 10th September 1890. He was working in Hong Kong as a medical practitioner at the time, so we can assume that Emily traveled to Hong Kong…
The origins of acrobatics (karuwaza) in Japan
Karuwaza is a general term covering what in the West would be called acrobatics – such as juggling, wire walking and perche acts. Karu 軽 means light, or agile, waza 業 is trick or business. A secondary meaning is “risky business”. Acrobatics are said to have been brought to Japan from China in the seventh…
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