When I arrived at the lantern, there was a park ranger sharing facts with a small tour group. He explained that it was a gift from Japan to the United States in 1954, meant to symbolize renewed friendship between our countries after having fought each other in the Second World War - which of course culminated in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He went on to say that the lantern had been carved three hundred years before, and was given then as a gift or tribute to one of the Tokugawa shoguns. The requirement for such gifts helped ensure that local lords couldn't amass enough wealth to challenge their leaders. An inscription on the lantern's support column records the details of this original presentation, marking it as a gift from Hizen Province. A Chinese fellow in the group was even able to make out the inscription and confirm this. The park ranger then shared that the part of Hizen Province from which the lantern came is now the Nagasaki Prefecture.
This well-presented tale drew an impressed murmur from the group (myself included), and gave added meaning to the monument before us. It stayed with me and made me curious, so when I got home I checked into more of the details.
I found this translation of the inscription on the lantern, with additional notes:
"A pair of stone lanterns dedicated in memory of Daiyuin, placed in front of mausoleum at Toeizan in Bushu on this 20th day of the 11th month of the 4th year of Keian by Shigenobu Matsuura, Lord of Hirado, in Hizen Province." (Translated from Japanese by the Library of Congress.)
Daiyuin was a posthumous name for Iemitsu Tokugawa, third of the Tokugawa shoguns, who lived from 1604 to 1651.
Toeizan in Bushu is the Kan'ei-ji Temple, now in Ueno Park in Tokyo.
The date listed is equivalent to January 1, 1652.[1]While looking up information about Hizen Province and the city and domain of Hirado, I found another intriguing connection. In 1616, a decree made the cities of Hirado and Nagasaki the only two Japanese ports open to non-Chinese foreigners. In the 1630s, Iemitsu Tokugawa enacted the sakoku policy which would close Japan's borders for over two centuries.
Japan began to re-open its borders in the 1850s, after the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry's "Black Ships" and a show of force. Perry signed the Treaty of Peace and Amity with Japan on March 31st, 1854.
The lantern was presented as a gift to the people of the United States at the opening of the Cherry Blossom Festival of 1954[2]. The dedication ceremony was held on March 30th, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the signing of the treaty between Japan and the U.S., and using that to call to mind the bond between the countries.
So... the lantern which was first carved as one of a pair, honoring the shogun who had closed Japan's borders, became a gift to the United States as a symbol of friendship and commemoration of the re-opening of Japan's borders.
I wonder if this was an intentional choice, or just a coincidence. I found a few references[3] which indicate that Japan had offered the lantern as a gift as far back as 1921, but diminishing relations between the countries and then the war prevented that from happening for 32 years. In any case, the lantern is still an integral part of the Cherry Blossom Festival and it tells quite a story.
[1] "The Japanese Flowering Cherry Trees of Washington, D.C., A Living Symbol of Friendship" by Roland M. Jefferson, U.S. National Arboretum and Alan E. Fusonie, National Agricultural Library (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1977), p 28 (p 38 of PDF)
[2] newsreel footage from 1954 dedication ceremony
[3] National Park Service sign, undated
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