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In 1879, author Kanagaki Robun & illustrator Kobayashi Eitaku published a paean to...Ulysses S. Grant. They did so following Grant's stop in Japan as part of a post-presidency world tour. If you're curious how the Japanese depicted the US Civil War, do I have a thread for you 1/
While the material focuses principally on the Civil War, it also offers something of a coming of age story of Grant himself. Here he is as a youngster in Ohio, his father, Jesse, by his side. 2/
As one would expect of any good hagiography, the authors relate Grant's rise through the ranks of the military and his heroic service on the front lines of the Mexican-American War. Here's a scene of the Battle of Palo Alto. 3/
On the whole, though, the booklets devote most of their attention to Grant's leadership during the Civil War, providing a play-by-play of major battles and turning points. Here's Grant training the 21st Illinois Infantry early into the war. 4/
Here's a harrowing portrait of the hardship accompanying the long campaign for Vicksburg. 5/
Here's Grant closing in on defeated Confederate soldiers at Lookout Mountain outside of Chattanooga. 6/
Here's Lee's Army on the run from Grant during the Overland Campaign. 7/
Not surprisingly, considerable ink is also devoted to Grant's counterpart, Robert E. Lee. On the lefthand page is a face-off between the leaders of North and South, with Lincoln and Grant to the left and Davis and Lee to the right. 8/
Naturally, Appomattox looms large in their account. Here's their portrayal of surrender—a moment of capitulation that would be played out by the US and Japan aboard the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay not 70 years later. 9/
One of the more dramatic illustrations is of the assassination of Lincoln. Obviously, the depiction of a stabbing (not a shooting) and a group (not a lone assassin) speaks to the limits of the sources available and/or the artistic liberties taken. 10/
Much of the rest of the material concerns Grant's world tour, casting him (and his wife Julia) as a beam of light on a civilizing mission across the globe. Here I'd be remiss not to point out that Japan was in the midst of styling itself a colonial power in Asia. 11/
It's hardly surprising that the authors would take pains to distinguish a civilized, industrial Japan from the rest of Asia. Here, for example, is a scene of Grant & co. being feted by Meiji era high society. 12/
In many respects, the document reads as a celebration of US-Japan relations. For Japan, a freshly forged nation still enduring paroxysms of civil unrest (e.g. the Satsuma Rebellion) the story of Grant and the US Civil War had perhaps more salience than we fully appreciate. 13/
The entire three-volume publication, entitled 格蘭氏伝倭文賞, has been digitized by the good folks at the Waseda University Library. Non-Japanese speakers needn't fret; just click on the thumbnail and a pdf download option will appear. http://www.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kotenseki/html/bunko11/bunko11_a0470/index.html
