「もしもし、富田です。お会いしたいのですが・・・」、どこか遠慮がちな電話を頂くと私はすぐ日時の約束をとりつけ、所沢の駅に出かけて行った。当時先生は所沢にお住まいで、私たちは駅近くの喫茶店で時間の許す限り話し込んだ。奥さまの介護で長時間家をあけられなかった先生の家庭の事情があったので、1時間半の所沢行きは私にとって負担ではなかったし、少しでも先生とお話出来る機会をもちたかったのである。話題は研究のこと、学会情報など学術的なことのほか、旅の話も多かった。話は何時もマクドナルドのことに及び、懸案になっていたマクドナルドの本発行の可能性について色々話し合うのだった。

話は1996年10月にさかのぼる。マクドナルドに関心のある何人かが立教大学富田研究室に集まり、アメリカのFOMとは別に「日本マクドナルドの会」を立ち上げた。会長は富田虎男氏、事務局は利尻の西谷榮治氏、会員は逢坂祐二、稲上護、石原千里（いしはらちさと）、宇城祐司（うしろゆうじ）、河元由美子の面々で、これに長崎在住の塩田元久、海外からはフレデリック・ショットが加わった。会の目的はマクドナルドに関するさらなる研究とマクドナルドの本刊行にあった。日本国内でマクドナルドに関する出版物と言えば『マクドナルド「日本回想記」インディアンの見た幕末の日本』（ウイリアム・ルイス、村上直次郎編、富田虎男訳、1979年初版、1993 年補訂版、刀水書房）のほか、まとまった出版物がなかった。そこで会員それぞれの知識を結集し、新しい資料を加えた独自のマクドナルド像を1冊の本にまとめ上げたいという希望を抱き、富田先生が全体を編集監修することで意見が一致した。それぞれが熱い思いを抱き、準備のための会合は数回に及んだ。日本を目指すためのハワイにおける準備活動、利尻上陸から長崎護送まで、長崎における取り調べや大悲庵での英語授業、プレブル号による引き渡し交渉、離日後のマクドナルドの動行など大まかな部分分けが行われ、会員が自分の得意とする分野を受け持ち、出来上がった原稿を富田先生に送った。

この作業だけでも多くの時間が費やされた。書きだすとつい自分の思惑が先にたち、時にはマクドナルドを離れた内容になってしまう。それを先生は根気よく一本の作品にするための努力をなされた。他人の原稿をむやみに書き直すことは出来ない。元の原稿のオリジナリティーを活かしながら全体の統一性を失わないように編集するのは並大抵のことではない。

原稿提出にも時間的なばらつきもあり結局作業は頓挫、富田先生はみなの原稿を預かったまま編集責任の苦渋を負われたのである。年月がたち会員達の高齢化による変化が見え始めた。先生自身もご自分の健康状態の悪化や奥さまの介護などで、自由にマクドナルドに懸ける時間には制約があった。私の所沢訪問はこうして始まった。その後先生は清瀬の老人ホームに居を移され、私は清瀬にも先生を訪ねた。この時には放射線の再治療などで大分体力が落ち長く話すにはかなりお疲れの様子であったが、それでもマクドナルドの原稿と資料はしっかりとそろえられ、しかるべき後継者に委譲する準備をされていた。私自身も体力、能力、時間などを考慮すると残念ながらこれ等の貴重な資料を預かることに責任が持てなかった。幸いこれらの原稿と資料は現在利尻の西谷氏に受け継がれ、北海道新聞社の協力のもと再編集作業が行われようとしている. 最後まで心を残された富田先生にマクドナルドの本が刊行され墓前にささげることが出きれば大変喜ばしいことである。~~ Yumiko Kawamoto

Mr. Torao Tomita, Professor Emeritus of St. Paul’s University in Tokyo and Chairman of Friends of MacDonald Japan, passed away on June 11, 2016 at the age of 87.  Prof. Tomita came across Ranald MacDonald in 1969 when he attended the live play “Grassroots Warriors” performed by the Bunka-za Theater Group. Tomita-san was quite intrigued when one of the actors – portraying an American Indian named Ranald MacDonald – proclaimed that “in America, the People are more important than the President”.  Based on this single statement, Mr. Tomita began doing his own research into the man Ranald MacDonald, reading everything he could find, including the Narrative written by MacDonald and visiting as many of the places MacDonald had mentioned, both in Japan and in America.  In 1979 Tomita translated Ranald’s Narrative into Japanese, and published his own revision in 1981 and again in 2012. Eventually, as his research continued, Mr. Tomita revised his original portrayal of Ranald MacDonald from a youth who seemed a rather “reckless adventurer” into a rational, deliberate and thoughtful adventurer.

「マクドナルド上陸記念碑の建立を祝ってラナルド・マクドナルド利尻島上陸記念碑の建立に際し、私ども日本マクドナルド友の会から、心からお祝いを申し上げます。野塚岬の丘の上に立つと、はるか150年も昔、マクドナルドが草履をはき、二人のアイヌに手を引かれて、おぼつかない足どりで浜辺から上がってくる姿が眼に浮かびます。厳しい鎖国令下にある日本に潜入するため、慎重で大胆な冒険家マクドナルドが選んだ戦略は偽装漂流と、島の人びとの温情にすがることでありました。それは美事に成功し、野塚の番小屋では、タンガロと誤記された番人多治郎との暖かい友情まで生まれました。同じ平地に立って一対一で対等に向き合えば、いつの時代でも、どこででも、暖かい人間同士の交流が成立するのだ、という事をマクドナルドは身をもって示してくれたのです。10年ばかり前に、アメリカ側にフレンズ・オブ・マクドナルドが結成され、アストリアの丘の中腹にある生誕地に、マクドナルド顕彰碑が建立されました。ここ野塚の上陸記念碑とアストリアの顕彰碑は、太平洋を挟んではるかに向き合い、初めは言葉も分からない人間同士が、相互に相手を信頼し合えば、深い友情の絆で結ばれうるという事を、訪れる人びとに語り続ける事でありましょう。ひと言つけ加えたいと思います。それは、この記念碑の建立を誰にもまして悦んで下さるはずの二人の方を、最近相ついで失ってしまった事です。一人はフレンズ・オブ・マクドナルドの会長冨田正勝氏であり、もう一人は日本マクドナルド友の会の発展に尽くされた高橋正樹氏であります。お二人の御冥福を祈りたいと思います。1996年10月23日　日本マクドナルド友の会　富田虎男」

今から20年前の1996年10月23日、利尻島野塚岬に建立されたマクドナルド顕彰碑・吉村昭文学碑除幕式の立教大学名誉教授富田虎男先生の祝文である。

マクドナルドの利尻島上陸に手を引いた二人のアイヌ人、上陸してから芽生えた番人多治郎との暖かい友情。マクドナルドの生誕地米国オレゴン州アストリアの丘の中腹と日本国利尻島野塚とに太平洋を挟んで向き合う二つの記念碑。富田虎男先生の祝文を今一度読み直した私は、マクドナルドと島人たちの出会いを過去、現代において建てられた記念碑は物として使うのではなく、人は心と心、物は物語として膨らませて現代に繋げ、未来の交流を創って行く事の大切さ強く感じた。このことから、アストリアに建つ顕彰碑の上の五角形はマクドナルドが生まれたアストリア、捕鯨船から離れて上陸した焼尻島、初めて人と出会った利尻島、オランダ通詞たちに英語を教えた長崎、墓のあるトロダの五ヶ所を表していることになると思った。

病気療養中の富田虎男先生は2016年6月11日の未明、87歳で永眠された。家族葬にて6月16日午後6時から通夜、翌17日午前11時半から告別式が埼玉県所沢市の所沢市斎場で行われた。葬儀会場で富田虎男先生の遺影写真を見ながら様々に思いが蘇ってきた。

富田虎男先生がマクドナルドに出会ったのは1969年の劇団文化座「草の根の志士たち」だったという。公演で「長崎にはアメリカのインディアンがいて、アメリカでは一番偉いのは人民、その次が大統領」という台詞から、マクドナルドの事を知った富田虎男先生は、マクドナルドに縁のある米国・日本各地を訪れ、マクドナルドの日本回想記に書かれている事柄を確認しながらマクドナルドを追い続けた。その成果を1979年に富田虎男訳訂『マクドナルド「日本回想記」－インディアンの見た幕末の日本』として発刊した。その後、1981年に補訂版、2012年に再訂版を出している。発刊後に得た新しい資料等を基にして書き換えてきた。再訂版には「鎖国の日本に潜入した命知らずの大胆不敵な冒険家というラナルドのイメージは消え失せ、大胆ではあるが用意周到な冒険家というイメージが私の中に浮かんできた」と書いている。

富田虎男先生のマクドナルド研究の視点から「日米民間交流の先駆者ラナルド・マクドナルド－鯨が開いた鎖国の扉－」として、マクドナルドの調査研究とまとめを引き継ぎたい。~ Eiji Nishiya, Rishiri Isl., FOM Japan

The First Ranald Macdonald Prize to be awarded on October 11, 2016

Long ago, in 1993, I took a trip to Indonesia, and ever since then I have searched for some thread I could follow that connects Holland westward – not eastward – to the Far East. Fifteen years later I found this thread in Frederik Schodt’s biography of Ranald MacDonald. In 2008, my best friend Josje-Marie Vrolijk and I traveled westward around the world in the footsteps of Archibald McDonald and Ranald MacDonald. That was when we met you, the Friends of MacDonald. The trip was so inspiring that I became a very good friend of both Ranald and his modern friends.

My father died in 1999, and when my mother passed away in 2011 I decided to use the inheritance, earned by them in the private sector, for something useful in the public sector. That is how the idea for the Ranald MacDonald Award was conceived. But it needed some time to gestate. The name of the foundation, The Friends of MacDonald • The Dutch Connection, was inspired by a nickname Bruce Berney kindly gave Josje and me during our 2008 trip, and the foundation itself was formally established on November 12, 2015. It would not have been possible without a little help from my friends, actually without much help, from many friends, including you. And I am very grateful to all. 

Frederik Schodt suggested having the award ceremony on October 11 of every year, in commemoration of that Wednesday in 1848, when Ranald MacDonald arrived in the bay of Nagasaki on the Tenjinmaru and was met by the Japanese government’s interpreter, Einosuke Moriyama, and the Dutch trading factor, Joseph H. Levyssohn. I was very happy with this idea, because this small meeting beautifully symbolizes the meeting of ‘the West’ coming from “the East”; the “East” in this case being on the spot in Nagasaki and ‘the West’ coming from the true west—a directional meeting that I have long been intrigued by, and which shall always be central in the works we are henceforth going to commemorate. So, in the official papers of FOM NL, as we have abbreviated the name, October 11 is now the official date for the award ceremony.

For details about the prize, please visit the website of the foundation and/or its Facebook page (see below). For a short explanation, the text on our business cards should suffice:  “Friends of MacDonald • The Dutch Connection – a Cultural Public Benefit Organization which tries to advance insight in relations between Asia, Europe and North America. Its major activity is to grant the ‘Ranald MacDonald Prize’ to a young writer or artist whose work sheds new light on those relations. The prize amounts to 5000 Euros and will be announced every October 11.”

I suspect there is one thing readers of this description might consider odd: the award is Pan-Asian, Pan-European and Pan-North-American, which might seem to be too much to put on the shoulders of one individual like Ranald. But on the other hand, Ranald MacDonald was very much like you and me, operating in a highly unbalanced world. And it seems to me that we are all living again in a highly unbalanced world. Just as Ranald MacDonald cannot be understood without understanding the world he lived in, so, too, are we unable to understand ourselves without understanding the world that surrounds us. FOM NL therefore seeks to recognize and encourage the work of people who can help us understand what is happening. I like to think that Ranald MacDonald would be very happy with our goal, and I hope you agree.

As I write this, it is August 17, or “Hari Proklamasi” or Independence Day, in Indonesia, where I was born. At FOM NL we are now judging some fifty  works of writers and artists from all over the Northern Hemisphere, and we are trying very hard to select just one. This is not easy, because, frankly, the applicants all really deserve the award. But in the process of deciding, the name of Ranald MacDonald will become better known in the Netherlands – and every year one modern individual will be very surprised to receive an award named after him. Is not that amazing?

Fred Dijs, Secretary,  FOM • The Dutch Connection  

小濱正美医（マクドナルド友の会長崎代表）からのご報告によると、２０１５年１２月１０日に愛知県美浜町より４１名の音吉顕彰会（齋藤宏一会長）の方々が訪長、マクドナルド友の会長崎及び長崎南ロータリークラブの方々と和やかに交流、友好・親睦の輪が出来上がったとの事でした。

According to Dr. Masami Obama of FOM Nagasaki, 41 members of Friends of Otokichi – led by its President Koichi Saito – came to Nagasaki and had a friendly exchange with FOM Nagasaki and Nagasaki-Minami Rotary Club members.  Together, they visited Ranald MacDonald’s and Moriyama Einosuke’s monuments, both of which were erected by Nagasaki-Minami Rotary Club in 1995 and 2015 respectively. 

“Haku-san Chidori”, the Alpine Swamp Orchid ~ dactylorhiza aristata .  There are many alpine plants which have “Hakusan” in their name because they were first discovered and named along the older hiking trails leading to Hakusan Shrine in Gifu Prefecture; however, the same plants can be found on many mountains throughout Japan – including Rishiri-Fuji.  ~ photo by Eiji Nishiya

Sendai Hagi – Japanese ‘Bush Clover’ (also known as Russian False Yellow Lupine) ~ Thermopsis lupinoides. In China the aerial parts and seeds are used as a crude drug as anti-inflammatory, expectorant, and emetic (a medicine or potion that makes you vomit; the Chinese name for medicinal use is ye jue ming). ~ photo by Eiji Nishiya

Japanese teens learn about famous resident’s birthplace ~ By Edward Stratton, The DAILY ASTORIAN,  Oct. 9, 2013

Ranald MacDonald, an Astoria native born at Fort George, landed on the Japanese island of Rishiri 165 years ago, and became the first English teacher in Japan.  During October 2013, two students from Rishiri Public High School visited Astoria to improve their English skills and understanding of MacDonald’s birthplace. They departed for other locations in Washington before heading back to Japan.

Tatsuya Koujiya and Yuuki Komatsu, both 17, arrived in Astoria Oct. 6 with their principal, Hiroyuki Tsukamoto.

“The purpose of it is to encourage the students to learn English and nurture international-minded youth,” said Masaru Yatabe, chairman of the 25-year-old Friends of MacDonald and host and interpreter for the students during their visit to the U.S.

The Japanese newspaper Daily Souya reported Dec. 11 that the communities on Rishiri Island, namely Rishiri and Rishirifuji, established the MacDonald’s Encouragement Study Fund, encouraging students to learn English. One or two top students will be chosen each year from their English-language class and travel to Oregon and Washington to experience American life and encourage their English-language skills.

Tatsuya and Yuuki are the first recipients of the fund. They passed a standardized English test, wrote theses in Japanese about what their goals were during the visit and were interviewed by their principal, vice principal and English teacher.

Tatsuya, a senior at Rishiri, said he was hurt and unable to play for his school’s badminton team. So he looked into the study abroad fund and thought it would contribute to his future. Yuuki, who had never left Japan before, works part time at a restaurant and wants to improve his language skills for when he helps foreign customers.

Yuuki and Tatsuya moved in with the families of 15-year-old sophomores Clay Williams and Ben Williams, respectively (they are not related). They’ve been shadowing their hosts in class, visiting local tourist attractions and the MacDonald monument near Fort George. They also attended a 15-6 AHS junior varsity football victory in Tillamook.

Rishiri’s high school has 96 students compared with AHS’ more than 600. Yuuki said at first it was overwhelming, but that over time Ben and Clay have introduced him and Tatsuya to other students, and that they’ve been enjoying the last couple of days despite the language barrier.

“Anyone going to a new place would feel kind of … nervous and quiet,” said Ben Williams, who along with Clay Williams said their Japanese peers are particularly polite. “The language sometimes is a little bit of a problem.”

The relative freedom and individuality of AHS was something new to Tatsuya and Yuuki, who said their high school environment in Rishiri is much more controlled with a focus on group action.

“Sometimes we feel like we lack the structure, so it’s the meeting of the minds,” said AHS Principal Lynn Jackson about the differences.

The two students and their principal left for Spokane, Wash., this morning, bound ultimately for Republic, Wash., where MacDonald died in 1894. Yatabe said they’ll shadow more students at Curlew High School in northeastern Washington, pay respects at MacDonald’s graveside and visit Mukogawa Women’s University in Spokane, Wash.  Then they will spend two days getting back to Rishiri, traveling through Spokane, Seattle, Tokyo, Sapporo, Japan, and finally home.

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