Funaosa Nikki : A Captain's Diary by Hirochika Ikeda, translated by Richard F. Szippl (Chunichi Publishing)

In Edo Era Japan (1600 - 1868), there have been many tales of ships drifting away from the mainland. However, due to the isolationist policy of the Tokugawa government at the time, Japanese ships were only made for coastal trade. If the ships get caught in a storm, they are often blown off course or damaged beyond repair. The ships were not built for trans-ocean travel and many of the drifters have been rescued by Americans, Russian, and Englishmen as well. The survivors of these drifters often spent many years abroad before making it back to Japan. 

One of the best-known of these sea drifters was a man named Manjiro Nakahama who was rescued by an American whaling ship. Manjiro and four others were shipwrecked on the island of Torishima, one of the southernmost islands of the Izu Islands which are all part of Tokyo Prefecture. Only nine of the islands are inhabited. Torishima was one of the uninhabited islands. The five men were rescued by an American whaling ship and were taken to Honolulu.

Manjiro was only fourteen-years-old at the time. He wanted to stay with the ship so the captain of the whaling vessel, Captain William H. Whitfield took him back to the U.S. where Manjiro would study English. Manjiro would later return to Japan and become a translator and interpreter after the opening of Japan to the rest of the world

Funaosa Nikki : A Captain’s Diary is the story of a lesser known account of a ship drifting at sea. Led by a man named Jukichi, he and his crew of thirteen men were blown off course during a storm and drifted for seventeen months on the Pacific Ocean before being rescued by a British merchant vessel captained by Captain William J. Pigot. At the time of their rescue, the only remaining survivors were Jukichi and two of his crew.

As noted in the book’s subtitle, this is “Jukichi’s Four-year Odyssey across the Pacific, through California, Alaska, Kamchatka, and back to Japan, 1813-1817”. It was written by Hirochika Ikeda after he met Jukichi ten years after his ordeal. Many stories were already written about Jukichi’s experience but Ikeda was “more interested in the account of the year and five months he spent adrift than in the strange things in foreign countries”.

Ikeda listened to and made a record of Jukichi’s story which resulted in this book. He had intended to only share it with his family. He wanted them “to appreciate just how fortunate they were, being able to live without want, without starving or freezing, unlike people such as Jukichi, who have suffered such extreme and tragic hardships”. 

One must take into account that Ikeda wrote this forward to the book in the fall of 1822. The first English translation of Funaosa was done in 1984 by Katherin Plummer in the journal Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.

Richard F. Szippl, a long time resident of Japan, was approached by Dr. Muramatsu Suzuki who asked for his cooperation in translating the book as one of former high school teachers discoverd the original manuscript in the year 2000. The new edition was to be published on the occasion of the 2005 World Exposition which was to be held in Aichi Prefecture, Jukichi being a native of the area.

Although the title translates to A Captain’s Diary, the book is not written in diary form. It is written in the style of a story “as told to” someone. It may seem like a tall tale as Jukichi relates to Ikeda how his ship’s rudder was damaged in a storm and then set adrift. He relates how his crew thought about taking their own lives and how he tried to remain positive in such a dire situation. 

Jukichi’s experience on the high seas is just as interesting as are his stories he tells of eating pork and beef for the first time, of meeting other foreigners, such as the Russians and Americans. His return to Japan seemed to be more tragic as the isolationist goverment held him under suspicion and often received the same treatment as a common criminal would. 

It is an inspiring story of surviving against all odds. One man who had to face the wrath of nature, the near mutiny of his crew, and of his own despair. And yet, something or some power pushed him to survive at all costs and make it back to his home and to his wife. It is a story that will make you appreciate what you already have. No matter how bad things may seem, there are always others who have suffered more than we can imagine, like Jukichi. ~Ernie Hoyt