BOOK MARKS
Castaway himself describes 1841 sea adventure

"DRIFTING TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST, The Story of Five Japanese Castaways told in 1852," by John Manjiro; Spinner Publications, paper, $25 ($70 hardcover)

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Books Editor

The story of Nakahama "John" Manjiro and his four sailing companions, castaway Japanese fishermen rescued by an American whaler in 1841, is not a new one. The tale, which includes a sojourn in Hawai'i, has been told in a number of forms, including a 2003 children's book, "Shipwrecked, the True Adventures of a Japanese Boy" (HarperTrophy, $7.99). But this is the story that Manjiro himself told after his return to Japan, illustrated by his own hand and that of samurai artist and scholar Kawada Shoryo, who was assigned by the government to record the men's story in a manuscript titled "A Brief Account of Drifting Toward the Southeast, 1852."

The samurai was the best sort of journalist/historian, taking Manjiro to live in his home, questioning him closely and recording his answers without embellishment — an exceptional accomplishment given the insular nature of Japan at that time, closed to all contact with the West. In fact, the reason for the manuscript was that officials were so unfamiliar with and suspicious of the four survivors' story that they could neither understand nor believe it. Shoryo might have been forgiven a temptation to vilify the West or politicize the document.

The book includes much explanatory material as well as the translation by Junya Nagakuni and Junji Kitadai and reproductions of the book's maps and beautiful line-and-watercolor drawings.

The book can be ordered at Borders or Barnes & Noble stores if it's not in stock or by mail-order from the publisher's Web site: www.spinnerpub.com.