午夜剧场

While trying to decipher the turmoil of the Bakumatsu and Meiji Restoration, I found myself sympathizing more with the defeated Tokugawa shogunate than with the victors from Satsuma and Choshu. I became particularly interested in Enomoto Takeaki, who, on the side of the Tokugawa shogunate, fled to Hakodate and continued to resist the "imperial army" to the very end. My interest was directed less toward the Battle of Hakodate and more toward how Enomoto Takeaki lived after surrendering to the imperial army. Seeing how he studied intensely during his imprisonment after the surrender and, upon his release, served in the Hokkaido Development Commission, dedicating himself to the development of Hokkaido, I decided to pursue research on Hokkaido in modern Japan. Since the fishing industry held an overwhelming share of Hokkaido's industries during the Meiji period, my research subject narrowed down to fish manure, a representative fishery product there. My interest in how this Hokkaido-produced fish manure was transported to Honshu and Shikoku led me to my main research theme: the Kitamae-bune ships.

The Kitamae-bune were ships owned by merchant shipowners active on the Sea of Japan coastal routes in the 19th century. Although the Kitamae-bune shipowners never formed a major shipping company, they formed alliances with each other to compete against the giant trading company Mitsui & Co., successfully forcing Mitsui to withdraw from the domestic market for Hokkaido-produced fish manure. Furthermore, as local wealthy individuals in various regions, they contributed to the industrialization of Japan in diverse ways. However, the direction of their contribution was not to actively establish manufacturing companies like the wealthy individuals in Tokyo and Osaka. As a result, the Hokuriku region, which produced many Kitamae-bune shipowners, lagged behind the Kanto and Kansai regions in industrialization. Conversely, this led to gradual economic growth while preserving the natural environment, providing the Hokuriku region with a different quality of "richness" than that of Tokyo and Osaka. The fact that diverse evaluations become possible with the changing times can be said to be the true pleasure of historical research.

I believe there are moments in life that are, in various senses, decisive contests. However, please do not judge winning and losing from a short-term perspective, but rather evaluate your life from a long-term one. In doing so, the important thing is to do your best and leave the rest to fate. I believe that if you truly do your best, you can accept any outcome. And even if you feel you have become a loser, do not give up there; continue to make further efforts. If you do so, your efforts will surely be rewarded someday. Just as Enomoto Takeaki continued his studies in prison after his surrender, prepared for conviction.

(Interview conducted in December 2013)

*Profile and position are as of the time of the interview.