Ranald MacDonald, in Nagasaki, Japan.

Ranald MacDonald (3 February 1824 – 24 August 1894) was the first man to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Commodore Perry and the Tokugawa Shogunate. Monument to Ranald MacDonald in Nagasaki, Japan. ... Monument to Ranald MacDonald in Nagasaki, Japan. ... Nagasaki City Hall Mayor {{{Mayor}}} Address 〒850-8685 Nagasaki-shi, Sakura-machi 2-22 Phone number 095-825-5151 Official website: www1. ... February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Einosuke Moriyama (森山栄之助 Moriyama Einosuke) was a samurai during the Tokugawa Shogunate, and an interpreter of Dutch and English. ... Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 - March 4, 1858) was the Commodore of the U.S. Navy who forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854, under the threat of military force. ... The Tokugawa shogunate or Tokugawa bakufu (徳川幕府) (also known as the Edo bakufu) was a feudal military dictatorship of Japan established in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family until 1868. ...

Early life

MacDonald was born in Fort Astoria, Oregon, USA, to Archibald MacDonald, a Scottish Hudson's Bay Company fur trader, and Raven (also known as Princess Sunday), a Chinook Indian, daughter of Chief Comcomly, a leader of Chinook people from the Cascade Mountains and Cape Disappointment. The Astoria Column Suomi Hall, the meeting hall of Finnish and Scandinavian immigrants, under the Astoria-Megler Bridge Woman walking her dog along the Columbia River in Astoria The city of Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. ... Motto: , traditionally rendered in Scots as Wha daur meddle wi me?[1] and in English as No one provokes me with impunity. ... The Hudsons Bay Company (HBC. TSX: HBC) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mount Adams in Washington state The Cascade Range is a mountainous region famous for its chain of tall volcanos called the High Cascades that run north-south along the west coast of North America from British Columbia to the Shasta Cascade area of northern California. ... Cape Disappointment can refer to: Cape Disappointment (South Georgia) Cape Disappointment (South Orkney Islands) Cape Disappointment (Antarctica) This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ...

He was educated at the Red River Academy in Manitoba, Canada, and secured a job as a bank clerk, following the wishes of his father. He developed a fascination with Japan, however, as a result of the shipwreck of three Japanese sailors (among them, Otokichi), who had washed ashore and been taken in by an Indian tribe, and a belief that the Native Americans were descendants of a people who had come from Asia. The Red River Academy (later St. ... Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Latin: Glorious and free) Official languages English and French, per mandate of the Constitution Act 1982 Flower Prairie Crocus Tree White Spruce Bird Great Grey Owl Capital Winnipeg Largest city Winnipeg Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard Premier Gary Doer (NDP) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 14... Japanese drawing of Otokichi in 1849, as he visited Japan disguised as a Chinese man. ...

Japan

A restless man, he soon quit his bank job and decided that he would visit Japan. Despite knowing the strict isolationist Japanese policy of the time, which meant death or imprisonment for foreigners who set foot on Japanese soil, he signed on as a sailor on the whaling ship Plymouth in 1845.

In 1848, he convinced the captain of the Plymouth to set him to sea on a small boat off the coast of Hokkaido. On 1 July, he came ashore on the island of Rishiri where he pretended he had been shipwrecked. He was caught by Ainu people, who remitted him to the Daimyo of Matsumae. He was then sent to Nagasaki, the only port allowed to conduct limited trade with the Dutch and Portuguese. For the dog breed, see Hokkaido (dog). ... Rishiri Island (利尻島, rishiritō) rises out of the Sea of Japan off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan. ... The Ainu IPA: /?ajnu/) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaido and north of Honshu in Northern Japan, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... Daimyo Matsudaira Katamori visits the residence of a retainer. ... Matsumae was the name of a town in Hokkaido, Japan, near the port of Hakodate. ... Nagasaki City Hall Mayor {{{Mayor}}} Address 〒850-8685 Nagasaki-shi, Sakura-machi 2-22 Phone number 095-825-5151 Official website: www1. ...

Since more and more American and British ships had been approaching Japanese waters, and nobody in Japan spoke English with any sort of fluency, fourteen men were sent to study English under him. These men were samurai, who had previously learned Dutch and had been attempting to learn English for some time from secondhand sources, such as Dutch merchants who spoke a little of the language. The brightest of these men, a sort of language genius, was Einosuke Moriyama. Japanese samurai in armour, 1860s. ... Einosuke Moriyama (森山栄之助 Moriyama Einosuke) was a samurai during the Tokugawa Shogunate, and an interpreter of Dutch and English. ...

Captain James Glynn's sloop-of-war USS Preble, on which MacDonald returned from Japan.

MacDonald stayed in confinement, in Nagasaki, for 10 months, during which he also studied Japanese, before being taken aboard a passing American warship. In April 1849, in Nagasaki, MacDonald was remitted together with fifteen other shipwrecks to captain James Glynn on the American warship USS Preble which had been sent to rescue stranded sailors. Glynn later urged that a treaty should be signed with Japan, "if not peaceably, then by force". Drawing of USS Preble (1839). ... Drawing of USS Preble (1839). ... James Glynn (1800-1871) was a U.S. Navy officer, who in 1848 distinguished himself by being the first American to negotiate successfully with the Japanese during the Closed Country period. ... USS Constellation, a United States Navy sloop-of-war. ... The sloop-of-war USS Preble. ... James Glynn (1800-1871) was a U.S. Navy officer, who in 1848 distinguished himself by being the first American to negotiate successfully with the Japanese during the Closed Country period. ... The sloop-of-war USS Preble. ...

Upon his return to America, MacDonald made a written declaration to Congress, explaining that the Japanese society was well policed, and the Japanese people well behaved and of the highest standard. He continued his career as a sailor. Congress in Joint Session. ...

After travelling widely, MacDonald returned to Lower Canada and, in 1858, went to the new colony of British Columbia where he set up a packing business in the Fraser River gold fields and later in the Cariboo, in 1864. He also participated in an expedition that explored parts of Vancouver Island. Lower Canada was a British colony in North America, at the downstream end of the Saint Lawrence River in the southern portion of the modern-day province of Quebec. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Official languages English de facto (none stated in law) Flower Pacific dogwood Tree Western Redcedar Bird Stellers Jay Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 36 6 Area... The Fraser River is the longest river in British Columbia, Canada, rising in the Rocky Mountains near Mount Robson and flowing for 1400 km (870 mi), into the Pacific Ocean at the city of Vancouver. ... The Cariboo is a region of British Columbia along a plateau stretching from the Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. ... Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Strait of Georgia and the Queen Charlotte Strait, and from Washington by the Juan De Fuca Strait. ...

Although his students had been instrumental in the negotiations to open Japan with Commodore Perry and Lord Elgin, he found no real recognition of his achievements. His notes of the Japanese adventure were not published until 1923, 29 years after his death. He died a poor man in Washington state in 1894, while visiting his niece. His last words were reportedly "Sayonara, my dear, sayonara..." Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 - March 4, 1858) was the Commodore of the U.S. Navy who forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854, under the threat of military force. ... James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine (July 20, 1811 - November 20, 1863) was a British colonial administrator and diplomat, best known as Governor General of the Province of Canada and Viceroy of India. ...

Last resting place

The monument to Ranald MacDonald in Nagasaki, Japan.

MacDonald rests today in the Ranald McDonald Cemetery, Ferry County, Washington (48ｰ56'51"N, 118ｰ45'43"W) . Ranald McDonald's Grave is 18 miles northwest of Curlew Lake State Park on Mid Way Road and is a satellite of Osoyoos Lake State Park. The grave bears the following inscription: Monument to Ranald MacDonald in Nagasaki, Japan. ... Monument to Ranald MacDonald in Nagasaki, Japan. ... Nagasaki City Hall Mayor {{{Mayor}}} Address 〒850-8685 Nagasaki-shi, Sakura-machi 2-22 Phone number 095-825-5151 Official website: www1. ...

RANALD MacDONALD 1824-1894

SON OF PRINCESS RAVEN AND ARCHIBALD MacDONALD

HIS WAS A LIFE OF ADVENTURE SAILING THE SEVEN SEAS

WANDERING IN FAR COUNTRIES BUT RETURNING AT LAST TO REST IN HIS HOMELAND. SAYONARA-FAREWELL

ASTORIA EUROPE JAPAN THE CARIBOO AUSTRALIA FT COLVILLE

To this day, there are memorials to Ranald MacDonald in Rishiri and in Nagasaki.

There is also a memorial to him in his birthplace located where Fort Astoria used to stand in Astoria, Oregon The Astoria Column Suomi Hall, the meeting hall of Finnish and Scandinavian immigrants, under the Astoria-Megler Bridge Woman walking her dog along the Columbia River in Astoria The city of Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. ...

Further reading

• Schodt, Frederik L. Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press, 2003. ISBN 1-880656-77-9

External links

• An account of MacDonald's life in relation to a book about him
• Another account of Ranald MacDonald's story
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• The monument to Ranald MacDonald in Rishiri
• Ranald MacDonald in Nagasaki
• Research
• Article on MacDonald's grave
• Another article with many biographical details