For love of a lady
Media
Part of Panorama
- Title
- For love of a lady
- Language
- English
- Source
- Panorama 4 (7) July 1939
- Year
- 1939
- Subject
- Adams, William, 1564-1620
- Japan -- Officials and employees, Alien
- Shipbuilding -- Japan
- Rights
-
- Abstract
- [William Adams is the lone survivor of a shipwreck off the Nipponese coast. He was imprisoned by Emperor Ieyasu but eventually escaped with the help of a Japanese woman named Kioto. Instead of returning to England, Adams chose to stay in Kioto. He offered his ship to the emperor in exchange for his marriage and freedom. He led the construction of many vessels. By this, William Adams was recognized as the builder of the Japanese Navy.]
- Fulltext
- "There shall be no Alps," and the road across the Simplon Pass was constructed through a district formerly almost inaccessible. "Impossible," said Napoleon, "is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools."-Carveth Wells, condensed from Your Life. 24 * * * FOR LOVE OF A LADY IT 1s one of fate's quaint ironies that the Japanese Navy, which may challenge England's supremacy of the sea, was conceived and built by an Englishman for love of a Japanese lady. Four centuries ago an English explorer named William Adams was the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the Nipponese coast. As Japanese law decreed death to any foreigner found on its shores, Adams was brought before Emperor Ieyasu for sentence. But the Emperor, amazed to see a big, blond man, imprisoned him instead, as a human curiosity. Months later a Japanese beauty named Kioto fell in love with Adams and helped him to escape to a hidden bay. There she marshaled hundreds of slaves, who labored secretly with Adams to build a ship to return him to England. But by the time the ship was completed, Adams was so deeply in Jove with the beautiful Kioto that he had no wish to return to his native land. Throwing himself on the mercy of Emperor Ieyasu, he offered his ship as a gift in exchange for his freedom and the privilege of marrying Kioto. The Emperor was impressed with the ship. No Japanese had been able to build a seagoing vessel. He promised to grant the Englishman his wish if Adams would superintend the construction of a dozen more such ships, and Adams agreed to do so. Years later, when the navy was completed, Emperor Ieyasu not only kept his word to Adams but made the white man a power in his realm. Today a tomb proudly overlooking the naval base at Y okosuka honors the Englishman, William Adams, sole survivor of a shipwreck, as the builder of the Japanese Navy. -Adapted from "Don't You Believe It" Program, Mutual Broadcasting System. PANORAMA
- pages
- 24