Stolen Samurai Sword Unsolved Theft 1977
On July 4 1918 Viscount Ishii, Japanese Ambassador to the United States, presented a Samurai sword to the Town of Fairhaven, the gift of Dr. Toichiro Nakahama of Tokyo, in commemoration of the rescue of his father, Manjiro Nakahama, by Captain William H. Whitfield of Fairhaven. On September 1, 1977 the sword was stolen from the Milicent Library and has never been recovered.
Not only was the presentation of this sword an event of signal honor to Fairhaven, but of international significance as well, for the occasion served as a medium for the emphasis of friendly relations between the two countries, Japan and the United States.
Dr. Tadashi Kikuoka, Director of Japanese Studies at Seton Hall University, visited Fairhaven on several occasions and returned to his university with the intention of starting a fund-raising campaign. Monies obtained would be used to replace with another sword.
On June 12 1982 Dr. Kikuoka presented to the Town of Fairhaven the second Samurai sword on behalf of the Japanese Studies Association, Seton Hall University. This sword has been placed in the Rogers Room of The Millicent Library.
Manjiro Nakahama Story
Manjiro (14) was a poor fisherman who lived in the small village of Nakanohama (now a part of the city Tosashimizu) on the Japanese island of Shikoku. Trying to help support his family after his father died, the young Manjiro got a job on a fishing boat with four other men. The boat got caught up in the Black Current off the coast and the group managed to get to a small deserted island inhabited by birds which became a large part of their food supply. The island, called Torishima or “Bird Island” was their home for several months until one day they saw a ship in the distance.
The ship was a New Bedford whaler the “John Howland” whose crew was looking for fresh meat to supplement their food supply. The captain, William Whitfield (1804-1886) of Fairhaven, rescued the group. Unable to bring them home because of the strict isolationist policies of the Japanese government, they continued their whaling voyage. In Hawaii, the other men stayed and found work, but Manjiro decided to go back to Fairhaven with Captain William Whitfield.
Arriving in Fairhaven in 1843, Manjiro went to school, learned to read and write, learned the arts of navigation and barrel-making and even went on some whaling voyages. He helped Mrs. Whitfield on the farm until 1849 when the thoughts of home and family became so strong that Manjiro decided to try and get back to Japan. He resided in Fairhaven from 1843-1846.
Manjiro and a friend from New Bedford went to the gold fields in California where he saved enough for the passage to Hawaii. Eventually he and his old shipmates made it back to Japan in 1851 and was promptly arrested. The other men went back to their villages.
Manjiro did see his family again and because of his time here proceeded to become a samurai, achieve the distinction of having a last name, and became of a professor of what would become Tokyo University. Manjiro came back to Fairhaven in the 1870s for one day while on his way to Europe with a diplomatic mission.
Manjiro married in Japan and had several children, the eldest of how is Dr. Toichiro Nakahama, the donor of the sword which commemorates the rescue of his father and the kindness shown him during his residence in Fairhaven.
Manjiro Nakahama (1827-1898) died at the age of seventy-one (71).
Side Story
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s grandfather owned a share of the whaleship John Howland, which rescued the boy. In 1933, in a letter to Toichiro Nakahama, the president wrote, “You may not know that I am the grandson of Mr. Warren Delano of Fairhaven, who was part owner of the ship. . . that brought your father to Fairhaven. . . . when I was a boy, I well remember my grandfather telling me all about the little Japanese boy who went to school in Fairhaven and who went to church from time to time with the Delano family.” Warren Delano also purchased and donated the land for Riverside Cemetery where the Whitfield family rests.
On July 4 1918 Viscount Ishii, Japanese Ambassador to the United States, presented a Samurai sword to the Town of Fairhaven, the gift of Dr. Toichiro Nakahama of Tokyo, in commemoration of the rescue of his father, Manjiro Nakahama, by Captain William H. Whitfield of Fairhaven. On September 1, 1977 the sword was stolen from the Milicent Library and has never been recovered.
Not only was the presentation of this sword an event of signal honor to Fairhaven, but of international significance as well, for the occasion served as a medium for the emphasis of friendly relations between the two countries, Japan and the United States.
Dr. Tadashi Kikuoka, Director of Japanese Studies at Seton Hall University, visited Fairhaven on several occasions and returned to his university with the intention of starting a fund-raising campaign. Monies obtained would be used to replace with another sword.
On June 12 1982 Dr. Kikuoka presented to the Town of Fairhaven the second Samurai sword on behalf of the Japanese Studies Association, Seton Hall University. This sword has been placed in the Rogers Room of The Millicent Library.
Manjiro Nakahama Story
Manjiro (14) was a poor fisherman who lived in the small village of Nakanohama (now a part of the city Tosashimizu) on the Japanese island of Shikoku. Trying to help support his family after his father died, the young Manjiro got a job on a fishing boat with four other men. The boat got caught up in the Black Current off the coast and the group managed to get to a small deserted island inhabited by birds which became a large part of their food supply. The island, called Torishima or “Bird Island” was their home for several months until one day they saw a ship in the distance.
The ship was a New Bedford whaler the “John Howland” whose crew was looking for fresh meat to supplement their food supply. The captain, William Whitfield (1804-1886) of Fairhaven, rescued the group. Unable to bring them home because of the strict isolationist policies of the Japanese government, they continued their whaling voyage. In Hawaii, the other men stayed and found work, but Manjiro decided to go back to Fairhaven with Captain William Whitfield.
Arriving in Fairhaven in 1843, Manjiro went to school, learned to read and write, learned the arts of navigation and barrel-making and even went on some whaling voyages. He helped Mrs. Whitfield on the farm until 1849 when the thoughts of home and family became so strong that Manjiro decided to try and get back to Japan. He resided in Fairhaven from 1843-1846.
Manjiro and a friend from New Bedford went to the gold fields in California where he saved enough for the passage to Hawaii. Eventually he and his old shipmates made it back to Japan in 1851 and was promptly arrested. The other men went back to their villages.
Manjiro did see his family again and because of his time here proceeded to become a samurai, achieve the distinction of having a last name, and became of a professor of what would become Tokyo University. Manjiro came back to Fairhaven in the 1870s for one day while on his way to Europe with a diplomatic mission.
Manjiro married in Japan and had several children, the eldest of how is Dr. Toichiro Nakahama, the donor of the sword which commemorates the rescue of his father and the kindness shown him during his residence in Fairhaven.
Manjiro Nakahama (1827-1898) died at the age of seventy-one (71).
Side Story
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s grandfather owned a share of the whaleship John Howland, which rescued the boy. In 1933, in a letter to Toichiro Nakahama, the president wrote, “You may not know that I am the grandson of Mr. Warren Delano of Fairhaven, who was part owner of the ship. . . that brought your father to Fairhaven. . . . when I was a boy, I well remember my grandfather telling me all about the little Japanese boy who went to school in Fairhaven and who went to church from time to time with the Delano family.” Warren Delano also purchased and donated the land for Riverside Cemetery where the Whitfield family rests.
On July 4, 1918, Viscount Ishii, the ambassador from Japan to the US, was in Fairhaven to present the town with a Samurai sword on behalf of Toichiro Nakahama, the son of Manjiro. After the sword presentation ceremony in the high school stadium, Ambassador Ishii visited the grave of Capt. William Whitfield in Riverside Cemetery.
The man standing to the right of Ishii is
Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge, who later became U.S. Vice President (1921-1923) and then President (1923-1929)