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John Lindsey
25th July 2000, 05:29
The following is attributed to a personal letter written by
Will Adams (the character the Shogun TV show was loosely based around).
My question is if this style of English was proper for that time, or what?

Also, does anyone know of a source that contains all of his writings?

" Hee mad warres with the Emperour . . . allso
by the Jessvits and Ffriers, which mad belleeue he
should be fauord with mirrackles and wounders;
but in fyne it proued the contrari. For the ould
Emperour against him pressentlly maketh his forces
reddy by sea and ^land, and compasseth his castell
that he was in; although with loss of multitudes on
both sides, yet in the end rasseth the castell walles,
setteth it on fyre, and burneth hym in it. Thus
ended the warres. Now the Emperour heering of
thees Jessvets and friers being in the castell with his
ennemis, and still from tym to tym agaynst hym,
coumandeth all romische sorte of men to depart ovt
of his countri — thear churches pulld dooun, and
burned. This folowed in the ould Emperour's
daies. Now this yeear, 1616, the old Emperour he
died. His son raigneth in his place, and hee is
more hot agaynste the romish relligion then his
ffather wass: for he hath forbidden thorough all
his domynions, on paine of deth, none of his subjects
to be romish christiane; which romish seckt to pre-
vent eueri wayes that he maye, he hath forbidden that
no stranger merchant shall abid in any of the great
citries."

Neil Hawkins
25th July 2000, 08:58
I'm not sure of a source for his writings (if Joe doesn't jump in I'll try to hunt them down :)), but the style is comparable to other 17th century writings.

Below is an excerpt from "The Private School of Defense" (The Priuate Schoole of Defence) written by G. Hale Gent, of London in 1614. You can see the similarities between his and Will Adams' writing. The differences could be attributed to a lower standard of education, or the fact that he was writing a letter whereas Mr Gent was writing a book and so would have had proof readers and/or an editor.

"Many are the imputations laid upon this Art, (for such I dare now affirme it) the chiefe whereof is, the increasing our bloudy and irreligious Duels, which is the name of this Science, being called Defence, will not avoyd, yet the most licentious age of the Romanes shall sufficiently cleare: No History of those times making mention of any Duello or single fight to the losse of any Noble Person in that State, or disreputation of the publique justice. Yet that this kinde of battell was knowne and in some cases approved amonst the Romanes. The Hiperduels betweene the Curatij and the Horatij, and that famouse Duell betweene Torquatus and the French-man, apparantly speake.

It is not then the publique profession of this Science, nor the multiplicitie of Professors that increase these desperate asassinations: for, Knowledge begets Wisedome, and Wisedome by how much it particpates of skill with Discretion, mi doubteth the same in another, and concludes safety as the summe of her abilitie. This is manifest in the Italians, the first inventers of Foyle-weapon, and the cunningst Practisers, where notwithstanding these single Combats are rather reported then seene; and yet in ruder Countries as Poland, &c. nothing more common; which I impute wholy to a daring Ignorance. Neyther had this knowledge of Defence, if justly taxt with any so wicked effects, been graced with so many Authentick priviledges in all well goverened States, nor the Professors thereof had received such honor and respect, insomuch that amongst the Romanes some of them had their statues erected, as Plutarch witnesseth. These Reasons (if my judgement faile not) forcing the same."

Regards
Neil

Neil Hawkins
25th July 2000, 09:32
Just found this...


SLADEN Douglas, LORIMER Norma. More Queer Things About Japan.

To Which Are Added A Precis Of The Terms Of Peace, And A Skeleton History Of The Entire War Specially Compiled For This Edition Entitled “The War At A Glance.”

Dodge Publishing, New York, n.d. 8vo, 24 double page illustrations.

This edition includes the letters of Will Adams from Japan, being the earliest English account of Japan. Also a life of Napoleon, written and illustrated by Japanese in the first half of the nineteenth century and specially translated
for this book.

And...

"We attempt to throw light, not only on the parallels to Gulliver's Travels in early European accounts of travels in Japan, but on ways Swift may very well have intended his book to be read. Our first section deals with Gulliverian materials in Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas HisPilgrimes (1625), one of the travel books Swift owned, and especially with the account in Purchas of William Adams (1554-1620), the seventeenth-century Englishman who lived in Japan."

From a study of Jonathon Swift of "Gullivers' Travels" fame http://www.jaffebros.com/lee/gulliver/moonlight/intro.html .

A brief history of Will Adams http://www2.gol.com/users/bconroy/index.htm#jogrisseg homepage

And...

Aknowledgements to Mr. Tadashi Makino, author of "The Footprints of Miura Anjin" and "The Blue-Eyed Samurai," who published his first book about William Adams two years before Clavell's "Shogun," and who has dedicated half his life honoring the memory of the Anjin in his capacity at the Ito City Tourist Association.

What became of William Adams?
Recorded history following the death of William Adams on May 16, 1620 is to this day somewhat sketchy. This is mainly attributable to poor or nonexistent record-keeping at Adams' trading post in Hirado, north of Nagasaki, between Jan.15, 1619 and Dec. 5, 1920, and was further compounded by the expulsion of foreigners from Japan that began in 1633. The British trading post had already closed in 1623, and the remaining Dutch traders were secluded to Dejima Island in Nagasaki in 1641 under the Acts of Seclusion, leaving none of Adams' European countrymen to tend the foreigner's cemetery in Hirado.

Scattered diary records researched by Mr. Makino reveal that Adams was laid to rest in one corner of the foreigner's cemetery near the trading post. After the Shimabara revolt in 1637 (brought on the government's repression of Christianity), the state took a severe stance against foreigners and had their cemetery dug up and the remains of those buried there cast into the sea. However, some of the local people secretly recovered what they could and reburied their departed friends at different locations.

In the confusion and course of time, it is thus impossible to know exactly where famed pilot now rests. But on a hillside to the right of Hirado Port, there is a tombstone erected in the memory of William Adams.

And finally...

WILLIAM
ADAMS IN JAPAN - 400 YEARS AGO THIS YEAR http://www.old-japan.co.uk/anjinfe.html

Well this time finally :)...

If you have enough money:
art 1: The Log Book of William Adams (1564-1620) and other Manuscript and Rare Printed Materials from the Bodleian Library, Oxford 22 reels of 35mm silver-halide positive microfilm plus guide
Sterling Price: £1720
US Dollar Price: $2750
http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/COLLECT/P105.HTM


Regards
Neil

[Edited by Neil Hawkins on 07-25-2000 at 03:37 AM]

hyaku
25th July 2000, 13:34
Double post

[Edited by hyaku on 07-25-2000 at 10:57 PM]

hyaku
25th July 2000, 13:41
[QUOTE]Originally posted by hyaku
[B]
In the confusion and course of time, it is thus impossible to know exactly where famed pilot now rests. But on a hillside to the right of Hirado Port, there is a tombstone erected in the memory of William Adams.

Regards
Neil

Hello Neil

Actually it's in a private area. Quite a big flat raised grave. His wife is buried next to him and she has a very English name. Its quite hard to find. If you go up behind the Hirado Hotel it's at the top of a steep path.

Regards, Hyaku

PS Might take a drive over there next week and take a few pics.

ghp
26th July 2000, 04:16
Double post


[Edited by ghp on 07-25-2000 at 10:20 PM]

ghp
26th July 2000, 04:18
I read this book just before reading Clavell's Shogun and was struck by how closely Clavell followed The Needle Watcher. Obviously Needle preceeds Shogun by at least a couple of years! :D

========
Blaker, Richard, 1893-1940.
The needle-watcher. London : W. Heinemann, [1932].
fictional retelling of Adams's story

========
The Needle-Watcher
The Will Adams Story, British Samurai
by Richard Blaker
This historical novel reconstructs the story of Will Adams, the English pilot of a Dutch vessel beached in Japan in 1600.
110 x 182 mm, 512 pp.
0-8048-1094-X Softcover

Regards,
Guy

Jeff Bristol
30th July 2000, 01:36
From my understand English was only recently standardized (compared to other european languages). Where you lived was a big part of how you spoke. The use of the v in Jesuits is a hold over from latin, that I know. It is interesting he spells out ovt and Jessuits Jessvits, but no other u is a v. Some of the grammar does look similar to a slang. It is different from other example of english from this period. There are marked hold overs from old english in the spelling. The use of the word -ish as opposed to -an (romish not roman) is an old english hold out. In fact he looks to be one step away from spelling romish romisc (sc is pronounced sh, so fisc is really fish. this can be seen in modern languages like norweign which fish is fisk, keeping more conservativley to the old spelling). The french and latin influence is not very noticeable spelling-wise, but everything would be pronounced pretty close to modern english. English may not have been standardized at this point in time, but it is not the english used by the upper segments of socity, but since there was no real standard it can't truly be called ebonics. By the way, most of this is coming from someone that is self educated int he ways of old english, so if you know better correct away, though I am 99% sure this is right.

Jeff Bristol