Foreword

On September 17, 1962, the Asiatic Society of Japan observed its ninetieth anniversary with a dinner meeting in the New Grand Hotel, Yokohama, the city where it had been founded in 1872. Before dinner, Mr. Paul C. Blum, who not only lived there as a boy but long has collected prints, books and other materials relating to Yokohama, some of which he displayed for the occasion, read a paper on the community in which the Society came into being and some of its personalities. So much was this paper enjoyed by the members and guests who heard it that the Council of the Society decided to have it printed.

The illustrations, except for the map, are caricatures and cartoons by Charles Wirgman, a British artist, taken from issues in the 1860's and 1870's of the Japan Punchy which he published for the amusement of the foreign community in Yokohama. Most of them are reprinted here for the first time. The map, especially drawn for this publication, is based on a Japanese map of 1870, modified to show changes which had come about by 1872.

The Editors

Mr. President, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen :

We have met here this evening to celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the Asiatic Society of Japan. Ninety years ago, the Society was born in this city of Yokohama, and it has had, except for the war years, a continuous record of activity and achievement. To mark the occasion, it was thought fitting to gather around the cradle, so to speak, and recall the past. None of the remarkable men who brought the Society into being are alive and able to join with us to tell their story. Nor are there extant documents relating to the origins of the Society, its early organization or the first general meeting on October 30, 1872. Perhaps, however, in recalling the Yokohama of that time, by reviving some of the personalities and trying to recapture the life of that young community, we may understand how the Society came into existence.

Yokohama in 1872 was just thirteen years old. Established as an open port in July of 1859 to accommodate the importunate foreigner, it had increased rapidly in size and population.