Description:

"TOMMY" ONOJIRO AND THE FIRST JAPANESE MISSION TO THE U.S.
TATEISHI "TOMMY" ONOJIRO The youngest of a group of Samurai who toured the United States in 1860 on Japan's first diplomatic venture beyond its shores after more than two centuries of near-total isolation. This nine-month voyage served to ratify a treaty Japan's Tokugawa Shogunate signed with the U.S. in 1858. Over 170 Japanese left from Tokyo, including the official delegation of 76 samurai, interpreters, doctors and other functionaries and sailed into San Francisco Bay. The Embassy completed its mission in Washington, traveled through Baltimore and Philadelphia and ended its visit with a two-week stay in New York. According to a recent article in the New York Times, Tommy was a heartthrob who had women swooning: "From Washington Heights to East Broadway, Tommy is already a household word, Vanity Fair gushed. Lapping up the adulation, the young man mugged for the crowds and blew kisses to them, in stark contrast to the iron faces who formed the rest of the Japanese delegation...And so he had a tune dedicated to him...". Indeed "Tommy Polka" was apparently a hit tune in its time. An interesting lot, being the signature of Onojiro on an 8vo. sheet in Japanese, along with those of 11 other samurai on other sheets, penned in Japanese with three identified in English: Senne Bujennekame, Senme Bujennokama [?], Murazake, and Oguri. Fine condition, worthy of further research.

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September 28, 2012 11:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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