The Chrysanthemum colony

This TL is the story of a very different relationship between Japan and America.



The lands of salmon and rice
[FONT=&quot]Brief history of the Japanese in north america

Author: Boris Hashimoto

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It was in the year 1643 that Oda Nobuhide, the ninth youngest son of a formerly impoverished Samurai clan turned to trading based in Nagoya, set out sails to explore the pacific. The journey was sponsored by the chief clan of the area Shiba that had for a long time enjoyed good trading relationships with Portugese, Dutch as well as British merchants. The ship itself was an imitation of portugese caravelas, a rather small but efficient vessel. For centuries pirates and merchants had sailed from Japan to China, but this was the first exploratory mission undertaken. The Shiba clan may have had some ideas of enriching themselves by trading with Europe without the intermediaries of European shipping companies, but if so they severly underestimated the size of the pacific. Nobuhide did not make it further than to the philippines and back, his mission did not bring any new knowledge of distant lands nor any profitable ideas. The Shiba clan continued sponsoring shipbuilding mostly due to the curiosity of the young Daimyo, but when Nobuhide asked for the creation of a bigger vessel, possibly even two or three decent sized caravellas (one document indicates he wanted to buy one from a Dutch captain), the answer was that funds were insufficient.

The story of Japanese pacific exploration might have ended there. However, it just like Portugese explorations were kicked off by an enthusiastic prince and Chinese explorations funded by the chinese Ming a hundred years earlier, the monarchy stepped in and changed history.
 
A brief history of the Japanese monarchy

The Tenno is an interesting institutions with a long and fascinating history. The height of it´s power was during the Nara or possibly Heian period when it enjoyed nearly full power (officially) over the islands. Over the Heian period imperial power decreased slowly, the emperor became a puppet of sorts of the Fujiwara family but when the emperor attempted to wrest back his lawful power it spawned a war where two rival factions of imperial origin (the Taira and Genji that inspired a literary tradition), fought in the name of two rivalling emperors (father and a son). The result of that conflict was decreased imperial power where the real capital was moved to Kamakura.
The Bakufu (military government) kept the power but was weakened by the mongol invasions. The cost of keeping up defence ended up eroding military loyalty and that gave the emperor Godaigo oppurtunity to try once again to reclaim power. He was not immediatly succesful but the Kemmu restoration saw some return of power although the emperor had to rely on Ashikaga Takauji, the new shogun. His successors would occasionally cooperate and occasionally rival with the Ashikagas seeing both strong Shoguns vs. weak emperors, and strong emperors vs. weak shoguns. A prime example of a weak emperor was the former abbot of Enryakuji and son of Godaigo Moriyoshi (imperial name Go-Kamayama). The Ashikaga´s held most power over Japan but slowly and surely the emperors managed to strengthen their political position.
The historian Murakami Hayashi has sometimes described this as an opposite to the way Europe developed. In Europe the pope and church can stand for the remnants of the Roman Empire, their symbolic power derives from holding the former imperial capital and representing god´s will on earth. During the middle ages the secular emperor and other kings around Europe had conflicts with the church, where did the church authority start and end. In Japan the authority derived from the emperor as it did from god in Europe, holiness however does not always translate into real power. In the 1500s protestanism offered northern european kings the possibility of rebelling against Roman authority and seizing church lands, the church weak after reigns of pretend popes (two popes at times even just as the courts were two in Japan some part of Godaigo´s reign). The 1500s in Japan were much different.
During the Onin wars the emperor Go-Shoko managed to gain territory and engage in outright warfare as a monarch, the first emperor to do so properly since before Heian. Attacking the emperor was difficult for daimyos and through clever marriage tactics Go-Shoko used the prestige of the imperial name to gain many useful allies. By the end of the wars the Shogunate had been abolished as the center of power. The emperor still nominated a Shogun, but it was clear that the man in charge was the emperor and not the general.
Imperial authority would not go completely unquestioned though. Emperor Go Heizei had to wage war in Shikoku and Kyushyu to establish his authority there and whether he was completely succesful is debateable. By the 1600s imperial power was at it´s peak but Japan was still a feudal state, possession of weaponry had been limited to the Samurai class and Daimyos had been restricted in their power projection capabilities.
Go-Heizei had established the new de-facto capital at Osaka (conveniently close to Kyoto), this also showed how much importance trade was to the monarchy. His policy dictated that the Daimyos could not increase the number of Samurai warriors in their household and that they had to spend one out of two years in Osaka. The cost of keeping a residence at Osaka limited the cost they could spend on maintaining an army. But the Daimyos still retained a lot of independence and some although not openly hostile to the emperor in secret harbored anti-imperial leanings. (Many encouraged christianity as opposed to traditional beliefs and only revered the emperor officially, the secret book of the Hizen Daimyo (written by an anonimous vassal) professes a belief that the role the emperor should be limited to tending spiritual needs of the nation, and leave the tainted corruptness of power to the samurai class. Literature of that kind and influences from both confucian texts and european enlightenment thinking would in the 19th century restore the Shogunate to it´s former power.
But when Oda Nobuhide came to Osaka in 1644 it was the height of imperial power and the young emperor Arashiyama was very interested in the ocean.


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Osaka during the imperial restoration period.
 
The beginning of the age of exploration

The emperor was ambitious but cautious. He wished to increase his power over the Daimyos but there was no open way to do so. No causus belli to attack, the imperial decrees were being followed and he didn´t want to install that a majority of them would oppose. If the Tokugawas and other powerful Daimyos were to organize against him in a civil war he might lose despite having formidable fortresses in both Osaka and Kyoto. Thus imperial decrees were designed never to upset everyone, the Daimyos were 150 all in all, most aligned with the emperor but loyalties could waver.
One of the ideas on the drawing board was an invasion into Korea. The idea was simple. If Korea were captured the emperor would gain territory he could distribute to supporters and those of his sons who would not inherit his title. If the invasion were a disaster the Daimyos would have fought an expensive war and would be further weakened. But there were risks involved in that and Arashiyama was not to keen on that. His grandfather had nearly gambled everything away when he tried to suppress christianity in his day. If the Tokugawas had not sided with the emperor he could´ve easily been replaced by his younger brother and thus the monarchy would have gone back to it´s purely ritual role. Arashiyama was intent on respecting the autonomy of the Daimyos but was worried that some of them were gaining to much traction economically. His father had toyed with the idea of closing Japan to outside trade but Arashiyama instead took up the policy of increasing Osaka´s importance as a trade port.
Kyoto as the spiritual center, Osaka as the economic center and all political power somewhere in between.
Oda Nobuhide didn´t get an immediate audience with the emperor but his blueprints made it up the ladder of servants somehow and the emperor gave it a nod.
So in 1645 the second Nobuhide mission started. This time the objective was America.


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Japanese and European shipping design were different at first.




Oda Nobuhide, the man

It is said that Nobuhide´s father could speak Dutch fluently. In any case the family was of a noble descent, albeit impoverished one. Once stewarts and landowners in Owari, then warriors in the service of Shiba clan, now merchants (the lowest of the four social ranks) in Nagoya the Oda clan could remember a nobler past. Being a merchant however also meant better chance at enrichment than any other class, during the imperial restoration period some merchants and merchant companies rivalled Daimyos in wealth. Nobuhide was not the son that inherited the business of his father, but he certainly got well educated in the ways of foreigners and their culture. The bright young boy could´ve become a scholar and his calligraphic skills are still admired today. His kanbun (chinese writing) was skilled and documents from the dutch-japanese trading company reveal that he could write dutch reasonably as well. (A letter from 1637 reveal a purchase of shipdrawings and maps from the company, very likely written by Nobuhide himself).
His life was set out to be quite mediocre though. In 1622 he married and became a teacher. He worked under his older brother at the family company while teaching Dutch and Chinese classics to children. In 1625 he had his first child and moved. Then there is not much known about his life but apparently both his wife and a daughter die from an unknown disease in 1629. It is a lifechanging event. Nobuhide left his remaining children in the care of his oldest brother and hired himself apparently on to a foreign vessel.
In 1633 after a few years traveling he seems to have become an advisor to the young head of Shiba clan who´s interested in European shipping technology. Then not much is heard until Nobuhide sets sails in 1643 after 10 years of intensive studies of both European maps and ships.
And then in 1645 after leaving the service of Shiba clan he sets sails on an imperial vessel headed for the new world.
The rest is history.


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Pipe from the period
 
The second and third missions

Nobuhide did not reach America in his first try. The imperial inventories show however that this time his ship reached much further than the Philippines. After bringing back art objects from natives in Micronesia the emperor decided to sponsor another mission. This time Nobuhide decided on a northern route which took him to the Nobuhide Arcipelago (OTL Aleuts),( named so half a century after his death.) His report to the emperor includes a description of native whale hunting, native houses and customs to a certain extent.
Nobuhide claims that the inhabitants of these islands swore loyalty to the emperor after his visit but that is probably a fabrication intended to justify further investment. Of course there was not much for the emperor to seek from the islands but he liked the idea of increasing his prestige through gaining territory outside of Nippon. This time he expressed a wish to see Nobuhide and his vessel in person and so in 1648 Nobuhide and his crew bowed to the monarch as he stepped on board the vessel. The monarch was so pleased by Nobuhide´s report and apparently also appreciated the artwork brought by him. He decided to fund Nobuhide enough to take three much larger ships to sea. One of these ships had a sizeable hull to bring back objects of interest.
The Renku poet Okubo Sansho remarked:

Objects of interest,
Ah, tell me not what they were made for,
Tell me what season they were made in.

On his return in 1649 Nobuhide brought an immensive amount of objects gathered from the northwestern coast of America. He seems to have had good relations with most natives, his reports only mention one incident where his shipmates had conflicts with a native tribe. Apart from that Nobuhide seems to have been able to trade with natives by exchanging inexpensive japanese objects for native artwork.
The conflict Nobuhide mentions was when he decided that a more impressive gift was needed for the emperor and so ordered his men to steal a totempole from a village. Stealing such an important symbol was of course not found acceptable by the natives and it cost Nobuhide seven of his men as well as laying seeds to future conflicts.
But despite those losses the objects seemed to please the emperor enough to double the expeditionary budget.

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The ministry of exploration and the foundation of the first colonies

The emperor created a special rank in the court for Nobuhide and created an agency of exploration. Unfortunately Nobuhide did not enjoy his success for long. Before he could go back on an expedition he became to ill to travel. Some historians speculate that Nobuhide had cancer. It is not implausible considering that his trademark was after all the pipe he always carried with him. In Japan he is always shown on Ukiyoe (woodblock printing that reached it´s peak of popularity during the third Shogunate), with a pipe in his mouth.
50 years after his death the archipelago discovered by him was named after him, and later on he become a god of sailing with shrines on both sides of the pacific. He was succeeded in his post by Okumoto Takada, one of his captains in the last two expeditions.
Okumoto was politically unsavvy and soon found himself out of favour within the court. There was much opposition to the expenditure that the emperor was committing to the sailing project but after two years pause the emperor restored the court rank and put in Suzuki Hatsuo whom not much is known about.
Despite how little we may know of the man Suzuki spent his entire life in this post and lasted three emperors.
Suzuki´s success can be attributed to his ability to read into his superiors. He knew that the emperor wanted grand ideas but was not necessarily interested in details. Therefore he suggested that an army would be sent to the new world and a city established. New lands that could belong to the emperor that would in time increase his power.
Suzuki never went himself on an expedition unlike Nobuhide. Instead he ensured funding and sent vessels to the new world. Therefore he is not considered as important as Nobuhide despite the fact that his political ability ensured the establishment of the Japanese colonies in America.


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Arashimachi today




Sakedachi [FONT=&quot]鮭立[/FONT] and Arashimachi [FONT=&quot]嵐町[/FONT]

And so in 1657 the first colony was founded. The enterprise was small, mostly exploratory with no women for the first two years. Salmons in the river area granted the colony it´s name and in a few years the village grew to a size of 200 people. Ricefields, a reasonable port and even a sakebrewery in good time.
The colony of course did not pay of economically. There was no sense in importing rice or wood from it, after all these things were found in Japan already. The settlers did not produce anything valuable in that sense, but sending ships there regularily as well as putting up defences did cost. The settlers got into disputes with the natives over land soon enough. Plagues had cleared the coast a few years after the first missions arrived but despite that natives and settlers fought bitterly over land. If the emperor had not been positive towards the idea of keeping a colony the colony would not have lasted.
Special imperial territory was soon extended and another village Arashimachi [FONT=&quot]嵐町[/FONT]soon rose. The name was certainly intended to invoke the monarch´s name, surely Arashiyama would not let a village so named fall.
But in 1666 a new emperor came to power with less of an interest in the exploration projects. Suzuki received only support for one exploration trip during the next twenty years. During Arashiyama´s period Japan had sent vessels to India, Indonesia and some even suggest ships sailed to the northern side of Australia and the east coast of Africa (like the Chinese before them). The colonial towns were essentially on their own during Go-Hanazono´s rule, and the ministry of exploration concentrated instead on improving shipping technology and translating books from Dutch. Suzuki made the decision to train translators in French and English rather than Dutch which would in time have many benefits. In the latter part of Go-Hanazono´s reign the budget would again increase as the ministry exploration became the window of the empire out towards the rest of the world.


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Only existing portrait of Suzuki


The fur trade

Population level of the colonies remained stable and increased slowly. The rigid structure of the japanese society was less prevailing here and in due time people trying to flee authority or seeking a better life started to look towards them. But the essential driving motor of the colonial economy was the fur trade. Beaverskins, bearskins and other furs became fashionable when Kabuki actors in the Osaka scene started using them. Soon the leisurely Samurai class was ordering coats and hats made out of various fur.
In 1698 the new emperor Komei put a tax on the fur trade and institutionalized the immigration to the colonies. By then Shiba clan had already put up their own trading post which traded with the Haida´s. Suzuki´s last act as the minister of exploration was putting up a system of immigration. From now on people had to apply if they wished to move to the colonies and be approved. A small fee was also involved.
Moving there was attractive for many since landspace was limited in Japan. But the real population explosion would occur 25 years later when the Kyoho famine killed hundreds of thousands in Kyushuu and Shikoku and sparked a great migration.


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Umm so to which place goes the japanese... Vancover? Oregon? or north in California?

How the butterflies will effect both Japanese and Pan-Americas History will be pretty nice.

The timeline good very nice and well made, i loved it.
 
Umm so to which place goes the japanese... Vancover? Oregon? or north in California?

How the butterflies will effect both Japanese and Pan-Americas History will be pretty nice.

The timeline good very nice and well made, i loved it.

Thank you.

They´ll start in Vancouver and slowly move south, there are a number of famines in the 18th and 19th century Japan (natural causes so they´ll occurr TTL as well as OTL) so there is a lot of incentive for people to move over to America. The population of Japan was higher than Britain so I could imagine them being at least as populous as the British east coast settlement. Which could be interesting.

I´m going to focus on the japanese side and make the TL rather concise, but there will of course be butterflies flying around.
 
Thank you.

They´ll start in Vancouver and slowly move south, there are a number of famines in the 18th and 19th century Japan (natural causes so they´ll occurr TTL as well as OTL) so there is a lot of incentive for people to move over to America. The population of Japan was higher than Britain so I could imagine them being at least as populous as the British east coast settlement. Which could be interesting.

I´m going to focus on the japanese side and make the TL rather concise, but there will of course be butterflies flying around.

De rien.

In fact sometimes i forgot how dense populate was historically Japan, and for that, the Impact of Colonies can reduce the Malthusian Bottleneck and stimulate emigration.

But Long Term Impact.. How will be a asian pacific Coastboard impact in both Spanish and English Colonies(in a moment they will found hawai, and that was close to be japanese in OTL)
 
The great famine and consequences

It is an exaggeration to claim that no attempts at expansion were made by the Japanese before 1732. Illegal settlers continued to work their way south and in 1721 Morioka[FONT=&quot]盛岡、[/FONT]Aomori[FONT=&quot]青森、[/FONT]Shinhiroshima[FONT=&quot]新広島[/FONT] were founded 300 kilometers south of Arashimachi. The first two names both refer to the foresty area but new Hiroshima refers to the city most settlers came from. The idea came from the new head of exploration ministry that it would be a good idea for Japan to grow it´s own Tobacco. At the time being Japanese imported massive amounts of Tobacco which the state had monopoly on. The idea was that if the state could grow it´s own they would be able to keep the profit entirely.
The plan did not work out completely. The new settlements were in a mild and rainy climate and while tobacco could certainly be grown there conditions were not ideal. The farmers soon turned to ricecultivation and fishing to sustain themselves rather than going with government plans of starting a plantation.
In 1732 these settlements kicked off for real. The Kyoho famine resulted from a series of bad harvests, last of which was when winter harvest was completely ruined by heavy rains. Some estimate that 20% of Fukuoka´s population died and both Kyuushuu and Shikoku were especially hard hit.
This lead to a massive influx of people applying for immigration and some even not waiting for permission.
The disaster continued far into the decade. As many as 200,000 settlers came over the next fifteen years, often without official permission and woefully unprepared. The colonial authorities could not send them back, yet they could not feed them either. The end result was a complete destabilization of native relations as the colonies nearly tripled in size in one decade. In 1736 the emperor and some Daimyos decided to officially endorse the migration. There were too many people, too many mouths to feed and it was better that those not needed were sent to the new world.
In 1739 the idea of the penal colony was introduced by the ministry of exploration. People in Osaka and nearby areas accused of crimes could decide to face punishment or move to Shinhiroshima. This had come after the settlement requested formal aid in the wars it had started with natives in the area. The Chasta, Chinook and Klamath were driven from their homelands and replaced by malnourished but gunowning settlers.
By 1743 a census estimates that the colonies now have over half a million inhabitants but predicts that from this point on things will slow down.
And they did, until the Asama famine hit in 1783.

famvic.2.jpeg


This photo was taken in the 19th century by a french diplomat trying to describe the famines occurring in his day when he was stationed in Japan. Famines were regular occurence in those days and they increased the population movements to the new world drastically.



European contact

In 1751 the colonies came into contact with the Russians. Furhunters and explorers from Russia had already worked their way up the Nobuhide archipelago seeking mostly otterskins. The colonial authorities viewed them with suspicion but recognizing they could not ban their own people to sell the southern barbarians fur they decided not to take any official stance.
The reports sent home about Russian presence in the vicinity of the colonies alarmed the monarchy much more than any reports sent about the fighting and skirmishes with natives in the area. In 1753 a fortress was built much further north than previously and settlement encouraged in the area. Since Nobuhide´s days the inhabitants of the archipelago had been considered the emperor´s subjects. A trading ship stopping by the islands confirmed that there were indeed many russian traders but there apart from that Russian presence was negligable.
In 1769 the colonies came into contact with a different kind of European. The catholic spanish missionary was a very different breed from the Russian furtrader. The older settlements refused any request for building churches but the more recent ones openly embraced the missionaries. In the southern parts of Aomori most settlers came from Kyuushyuu, some even from Nagasaki were as much as one third of the population was christian. The missionaries revealed slight cultural differences between the colonies. While the northern ones Sakedachi and Arashimachi considered themselves imperial domain and had low levels of christianity, the new ones mostly inhabited by people fleeing the famine saw themselves in a different light.
The missionaries reported that they had great successes in conversion, but in truth Jesuit presence in Kyushyu were the settlers came from had always been strong and they had been happy to discover something that reminded them of home.
In 1771 the first catholic church of Aomori was built and it was celebrated by a traditional Kyushyuu matsuri.


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This woodblock print was made by a Nagasakian artist.
 
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So no Tokugawa Shogunate actually existed here in this TL.

Yes. Not just that. The Oda clan never rose to prominence though a distant relative of sorts made it into history, there was no Hideyoshi either nor a Korean invasion.

Now, there´ll have to be butterflies from this but truth be told I want them to be rather minimal at first. The most obvious result is that Korea doesn´t get completely trashed. I don´t see that as a reason for Korea to change much in particular, they might be slightly less rigid in terms of confucianism, but apart from that not much else until 19th century. The british colonies, quebec, spanish missions in california and russian furtrade in Alaska is all there on time.
 
The great famine and consequences

It is an exaggeration to claim that no attempts at expansion were made by the Japanese before 1732. Illegal settlers continued to work their way south and in 1721 Morioka[FONT=&quot]盛岡、[/FONT]Aomori[FONT=&quot]青森、[/FONT]Shinhiroshima[FONT=&quot]新広島[/FONT] were founded 300 kilometers south of Arashimachi. The first two names both refer to the foresty area but new Hiroshima refers to the city most settlers came from.
The 'Mori' in the second one is clearly a bunch of trees, so I didn't even look it up. The first one placename, however, seems to be 'Abundant ridge' as far as I can tell.

The idea came from the new head of exploration ministry that it would be a good idea for Japan to grow it´s own Tobacco. At the time being Japanese imported massive amounts of Tobacco which the state had monopoly on. The idea was that if the state could grow it´s own they would be able to keep the profit entirely.
The plan did not work out completely. The new settlements were in a mild and rainy climate and while tobacco could certainly be grown there conditions were not ideal.
In the Pacific Northwest? Wow, that's a lousy place to grow tobacco, AFAIK. Of course, you have them fail, so that's OK.
Perhaps more to the point, where do they get 1) the seeds 2) the skilled workers who know how to grow, harvest and process the crop?



In 1732 these settlements kicked off for real. The Kyoho famine resulted from a series of bad harvests, last of which was when winter harvest was completely ruined by heavy rains. Some estimate that 20% of Fukuoka´s population died and both Kyuushuu and Shikoku were especially hard hit.
This lead to a massive influx of people applying for immigration and some even not waiting for permission.
The disaster continued far into the decade. As many as 200,000 settlers came, often without official permission and woefully unprepared.
200,000!?!?
Oh my. OTL, Quebec was settled with about 2000 - 3000 settlers, New England with some 30,000 - and that over generations.

Where do they get the tech (and money) to ship 200,000 people across the PACIFIC in the 1700s? I think that may be an order of magnitude too large to be plausible.
 
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