CHAPTER 13

RIZAL IN
JAPAN
Rizal percepcion of
CHAPTER 13
RIZAL IN
JAPAN
Japan has pleased me.
The most beautiful
scenery, the flowers,
the trees, the
inhabitants so
peaceful, so courteous,
so pleasant.
-Jose Rizal
polite, respectful, or considerate in manner.
One of the happiest
interludes in the life of
Rizal was his visit to the
delightful Land of Cherry
blossoms for 1 month and
a half.

Cherry of Sakura
 He was enchanted by the natural
beauties of Japan
 The charming manners of the Japanese
people.
 Picturesque shrines.
 He fell in love with a Japanese
beauty(O-SEI-SAN), whose
loveliness infused joy and romance in his
sorrowing heart but cut short his happy
days in Japan, he had to sacrifice his own
happiness to carry on his work for the
redemption of his oppressed(inaapi)
people.
Rizal arrives in Yokohama Japan
Early morning of
Tuesday, February
28, 1888, Rizal
Arrived in
Yokohama. He
registered at
Grand Hotel
The next day Rizal
proceed to Tokyo and
registered at Tokyo
Hotel
He stayed at the
Tokyo Hotel from
March 2 to March 7.
He was impressed by
the city of Tokyo.
He wrote to Professor
Blumentrit.

“Tokyo is more extensive

(malawak) than Paris,

the walls are built in a
cyclopean manner, the
streets are large and
wide.”
After Rizal arrived in Tokyo he was
visited at his hotel by Juan Perez
Caballero, later he invited Rizal to
the Spanish Legation.
He was a Spanish politician and diplomat who
served three times as Minister of State during the
reign of Alfonso XIII.

Being an intelligent man, he realized

that the Spanish diplomatic
authorities were instructed from
Manila to watch out for his
movements in Japan. A group of officials who represent their government
in a foreign country but who have less importance
than an embassy.
He accepted the invitation for 2 reasons:
1. He could economize his living
expenses by staying at the legation.
2. He had nothing to hide from the
prying eyes of the Spanish authorities.
On March 7, 1888, Rizal lived at the
Spanish Legation.
He and Perez Caballero became good
friends.
In a letter of Rizal to Blumentritt, he
described Caballero as “a young, fine,
and excellent writer’’.
During his first day in Tokyo, Rizal was embarrassed because
he did not know the Japanese Language, he looked like a
Japanese, but could not talk Japanese.
He wrote to Blumentritt about his experience.
“Here you have friends, Rizal, the wonder of the Japanese, who
has a face of a Japanese but does not speak Japanese. On the
streets, when I go shopping people look at me and ill-educated
children laugh, because I speak such strange language. In
Tokyo very few persons speak English, but in Yokohama many
speak it. Some believe I am an Europeanized Japanese who does
not want to be taken as such.”
To avoid further embarrassment, Rizal decided to study the Japanese
Language, and he could speak it within a few days.

He also studied:

Japanese drama(kabuki).
Japanese Arts
Japanese Music, and

Judo (Japanese art of self defense)

Japanese drama(kabuki).
Kabuki ( 歌舞伎 , かぶき ) is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama.
Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylized performances, and the
often-glamorous costumes worn by performers.
Judo (Japanese art of self defense)
The objective of competitive judo is to throw an opponent, immobilize
them with a pin, or force an opponent to submit with a joint lock or a choke.
He also browsed in museums, libraries, art galleries, and shrines.
He visited:

Meguro

Nikko,

Hakone,

Miyanoshita,
Meguro

Meguro is predominantly residential

in character, but is also home to light
industry, corporate head offices, the
Komaba campus of University of
Tokyo as well as fifteen foreign
embassies and consulates.
 NIKKO
There are also many famous hot springs (onsen) in the area. The place is named after
the Kinugawa River
Hakone

The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many

hot springs and views of Mount Fuji.
Mt. Fuji is the second-highest volcano located on an island
in Asia and seventh-highest peak of an island on Earth.
Miyanoshita

The hot springs have been an attraction for tourists and pleasure-seekers for hundreds
of years going back to the beginning of the Edo period (1603 to 1867).
Rizal at the Tokyo Musicians
One cool afternoon at the park in Tokyo, Rizal heard the Tokyo
Band Playing a classical work by Strauss.(Richard Strauss)
“How admirable was the rendition, I wonder how these Japanese
people have assimilated the modern European education to the
extent of playing so well the beautiful musical masterpieces of
the great European composers!”
The band stopped playing, and the musicians descended from
the band and walk around for a ret, some began to converge,
and Rizal's utter surprise, they were talking Tagalog, he
approached them, “Paisano, taga saan po kayo?” and the
musicians are equally surprised and delighted to meet him.
Rizal’s Impressions of Japan
The things which favorably impressed Rizal in Japan:
1. The beauties of the country- its flowers, mountains, streams,
scenic panoramas.
2. The cleanliness, politeness, and industry of the Japanese people.
3. The picturesque dress and simple charm of the Japanese
women.
4. There were very few thieves in Japan so that the houses
remained open day and night, and in the hotel room one can
safely leave money on the table.
5. Beggars were rarely seen in the city streets, unlike in Manila and
other cities.
Rizal in Japan

There is one thing which he did not like in Japan, he felt disgusted at
the way a human being was employed like a horse.

RICKSHAW
Romance with O-Sei-San
One spring morning in mid-
March, 1888, Rizal entered a
big store in Yokohama to buy
something(western goods
mart), this was one of the
biggest stores in that port
city owned by former
samurai Usui-San.
A lovely young woman was then at the store at that time,
seeing that she seemed to be a member of the store staff,
Rizal ask her if she knew English. She replied in the
affirmative. In fact, O-Sei-San was very fluent in three
languages- Japanese, English, and French.
Rizal was glad to converse with her in English and in
French.
Rizal was impressed by the girl’s cameo-like beauty,
charming tenderness, and high intelligence.
O-Sei-San told to Rizal that her name is Seiko Usui; that
she was the daughter of the store owner.
Then Rizal was 29 years old and O-Sei-San is 23 years old.
In dew time their friendship bloomed into romance.
O-Sei-San loved Rizal with all her heart, her love was
reciprocated by the latter.
They Spend a Happy month, visiting old temples and art
galleries, walking along the cool meadows in the moonlight ,
sipping tea in quaint country tea houses, and conversing
beneath the lantern-laden branches of cypress trees.
O-Sei-San taught Rizal the art of Japanese painting and improved his
knowledge of the Japanese language and literature.
They are both theater addicts and attended several kabuki plays.
Sendaihagi

This play was based on feud in the Date family, part of the Sendai
Domain during the Edo Period (17th to 19th centuries)
Manjiro Nakahama

During his early life, he lived as a simple fisherman in the village of Naka-no-hama, Tosa Province (now
Tosashimizu, Kōchi Prefecture). In 1841, 14-year-old Nakahama Manjirō and four friends (four brothers named
Goemon, Denzo, Toraemon, and Jusuke) were fishing when their boat was wrecked on the island of Torishima.
The American whaleship John Howland, with Captain William H. Whitfield in command, rescued them.[3] At the
end of the voyage, four of them were left in Honolulu; however Manjirō (nicknamed "John Mung") wanted to stay
on the ship. Captain Whitfield took him back to the United States and briefly entrusted him to neighbor
Ebenezer Akin, who enrolled Manjirō in the Oxford School in the town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The boy
studied English and navigation for a year, apprenticed to a cooper, and then, with Whitfield's help, signed on to
the whaleship Franklin (Captain Ira Davis). After whaling in the South Seas, the Franklin put into Honolulu in
October 1847, where Manjirō again met his four friends. None were able to return to Japan, for this was during
Chushingura

Chūshingura ( 忠臣蔵 , The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) is the title given to fictionalized accounts in Japanese
literature, theater, and film that relate to the historical incident involving the forty-seven rōnin and their
mission to avenge the death of their master, Asano Naganori. Including the early Kanadehon Chūshingura ( 仮
名手本忠臣蔵 ), the story has been told in kabuki, bunraku, stage plays, films, novels, television shows and
other media. With ten different television productions in the years 1997–2007 alone, Chūshingura ranks among
the most familiar of all historical stories in Japan.
Rizal was deeply moved by the chivalrous spirit of Amagawaya Gihei, the
hero of the play.
So he painted a scene depicting his heroic death to save the life of the lord.
O-Sei-San’s beauty and affection almost tempted
Rizal to settle down in Japan, at the same time,
he was offered a good job.

If Rizal were a man of less heroic mould, of less

willpower, he would have lived permanently in
Japan – and happily at that with O-Sei-San; but
then the world, in general, and the Philippines,
in particular, would have lost a Rizal.
Rizal great love for O-Sei-San is tested by the hero’s diary. On the
eve of his departure, he wrote.

“ Japan has pleased me. The beautiful scenery, the flowers,

the trees, and the inhabitants- so peaceful, so courteous, and so
pleasant, O-Sei-San, Sayonara, Sayonara! I have spent a lovely
golden month; I do not know if I can have another one like that all
my life. Love, money, friendship, appreciation, honors- these have
not been wanting.
To think that I am leaving this life for the uncertain , the
unknown. There I was offered an easy way to live, beloved and
esteemed…
 To you, I dedicate the final chapter of these memoirs of my
youth. No woman, like you, has ever loved me. No woman, like you
has ever loved me. Like the flower of the chodji that falls from the
stem fresh and whole without falling leaves of without withering-
with poetry still despite its fall – thus you fell. Neither have you lost
your purity nor have the delicate petals of your innocence faded-
Sayonara, Sayonara!
You shall never return to know that I have once more thought
of you and that your image lives in my memory; and undoubtedly, I
am always thinking of you. Your name lives in the sighs of my lips,
your image accompanies and animated all my thoughts. When shall
I return to pass another divine afternoon like that in the temple of
Meguro?
When shall the sweet hours I spent with you return?
When shall I find them sweeter, more tranquil, more
pleasing? You the color of camellia, its freshness, its
elegance . . . Ah! last descendant of a noble family,
faithful to an unfortunate vengeance, you are lovely
like . . . Everything has ended! Sayonara, Sayonara!

With this tenderly tragic entry in his own diary,

Rizal bade farewell to lovely O-Sei-San.
Sayonara, Japan.
On April 13, 1888, Rizal boarded the Belgic, an English steamer, at
Yokohama, bound for the United States. He left Japan with a heavy
heart, for he would not see O-Sei-San anymore.
One of Rizal’s fellow passengers
was Tetcho Suehiro, a Japanese
newspaperman who had been
jailed twice for writing articles
against the government. He did
not know any foreign language
so he could not talk with other
passengers. Rizal, who could
fairly talk in Japanese, helped
him, and they became good
friends.
Rizal and Suehiro were advocates of freedom. Both were valiant
patriots, implacable enemies of injustice and tyranny.

Rizal told Suehiro of the Spanish misrule on the Philippines, his

efforts to defend his people from Spanish abuses, and his novel Noli
Me Tangere was banned by the Spanish authorities.
They travelled together across the Pacific, through the US, and
parted at London.

Suehiro admired Rizal for his kindness and genius. It was Rizal who
taught him the Western way.
Suehiro kept a diary of his travels, under the date of May 20,
1889, he mentioned how he bade farewell to Rizal in London.
“ I bade farewell to the inmate of my boarding-
house, I got on a carriage at 9:30 a.m. and went down
the parliament hill road, when I came across Mr. Rizal,
an intimate friend of mine waking up to see me. I had
him get on my carriage.”
Mr. Rizal was a citizen of Manila in the Philippines. Age
about 27-28. young as he was, he was proficient in seven
languages.”
It was in S/S Belgic that we first met. I came to England by
way of America with him. Ever since I had been intercourse
with him.”
Rizal was an open-hearted man. He was not
hairsplitting. He was an accomplished man, good at pictures,
skillful in exquisite wax work, especially.”

Suehiro published his book entitled Deaf Traveler; in which he

mentioned his travel with Dr. Rizal from Yokohama to London via
America.
And Storm over the southern sea, the plot of which was similar to Rizal’s
Noli, The hero was named Takayama, which was Ibarra in the Noli.
After Rizal’s execution on December 30, 1896, where suehiro mourned
deeply, he became prominent in Japan’s journalistic and political circles.
He grew rich as editor of Choya Shinbun and later became a member of
the Japanese Parliament.
Amusing Incident during Pacific Crossing
Rizal had an amusing incident during the voyage across the
Pacific On board the Belgic he met Mrs. Emma Jackson, a
Filipino woman married to an Englishmen.
One of her children, a bright boy, used to converse with
Rizal.
One day the boy asked Rizal: “Do you know a man in
Manila named Richial? He wrote a novel entitled Noli.”
Rizal Replied: “Yes, I’m Richial.”
CHAPTER 13
RIZAL IN
JAPAN
END
1. When did Rizal register at Grand Hotel and arrive in Yokohama?
2. After Rizal arrived in Tokyo, who visited his hotel?
3. What is a light two-wheeled hooded vehicle thing that Rizal did
not like in Japan?
4. Who was a woman that is very fluent in three languages, such as
Japanese, English, and French. She also became the translator
and teacher of Rizal when he was staying in Japan?
5. What is this classical form of Japanese dance-drama that is
known for its heavily-stylized performances, and the often-
glamorous costumes worn by performers?
6. What steamer did Rizal board on April 13, 1888, when he left Japan?
7. He is a fellow passenger of Rizal when he was leaving Japan, a
Japanese newspaperman who had been jailed twice for writing
articles against his government. Who is he?
8. What aspect of Japanese self-defense focuses on throwing an
opponent, immobilizing them with a pin, or forcing an opponent
to surrender with a joint lock or a choke?
9. Rizal stated that Tokyo's walls were constructed in what particular
manner.?
10. Who is the father of the woman Rizal’s lover in japan? He is also
the samurai who owned the biggest store in Yokohama in his time?
Answer
.
.
.
.
.
1. February 28, 1888
2. Juan Perez Caballero
3. Rickshaw
4. O-Sei-San
5. Kabuki
6. Belgic or S/S Belgic
7. Tetcho Suehiro
8. Judo
9. Cyclopean manner or Cyclopean
10. Usui-San