Japan-Nantucket (Rashomon): Episode 9 - [UNCUT] The Great Wave: The Asthetes

In this final episode of season 6, Jim and I invite our colleague James Grieder to join us to discuss The Great Wave by Christopher Banfey. James has personal connection to one of the characters featured in Banfey's book.

This is the last episode in this season, but be sure to click that subscribe button, os you don't miss any bonus episodes and future seasons!

This is a production of the Nantucket Atheneum. It is hosted and edited by Janet Forest. It was researched, fact checked and co-hosted by Reference Library Associate Jim Borzilleri. Thank you to Reference Library Associate James Grieder for joining us for this discussion. Special thanks to the Berkshire Athenaeum for use of their space and Shire Video for production support.

SHOW NOTES: If something piqued your interest and it isn’t in the Show Notes, please email info@nantucketatheneum.org. and include “Podcast Question” in the subject header. 

• Google Books has online versions of Edward Morse’s Japan Diaries: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
  
  
• Independent Researcher Hina Hirayama recently transcribed the original diaries for her paper The Self-Fashioning of E. S. Morse: A Comparison of Japan Day by Day and Its Primary Source . She demonstrates that Morse’s “…authorial voice sought to accommodate the historical, social, and personal changes that had occurred since his travels…”, and, like many travel documentaries today, marginalized his support network and travelling companions to create an aura of a lone adventurer in a strange land.
  
  
• The Lowell Institute where Dr. Morse gave his lecture on Japan is still active.
  
  
• While Dr. Morse may have encountered our three Nantucket Captain’s during his travels in Japan, he certainly would have met Capt. Peter Hussey when the latter returned to America in 1888 and settled in Salem Mass. 
  
  
• Besides traveling with Capt. Richard Swain on their voyage from Japan to China, Isabella Stewart and Jack Gardner then stayed with two grown daughters of Warren F. Delano Jr., one in Shanghai and the other in Hong Kong. Both had married partners in Delano’s old firm, Russell & Co. As he resided part of the year in Shanghai, it’s likely Capt. Swain knew them as well. 
  
  
• Woman were also swept into the “Muscular Christianity” movement. Seven years after Sutematsu Yamakawa graduated, Vassar College opened a new Gymnasium Building, which included a swimming pool. While its students were always required to take some form of daily exercise, the College gradually implemented programs that examined the health and physical abilities of incoming Freshwomen, created a personalized regimen and tracked their progress. It also expanded its sports and recreation offerings, and later added a “swimming requirement” to graduate. (Miss Yamakawa would have aced it). · Here is the link to the MFA BOSTON Japanese Collection. · James Grieder also wrote this article about William Sturgis Bigelow on Tuckernuck. 
  
  
• William Sturgis Bigelow also actively promoted Japanese scholars to positions in American institutions (particularly the MFA) and was a tireless advocate for the nation through his political connections. Christopher Benfey covers his efforts in detail. 

© The Nantucket Atheneum