There was a great example of entangled history on the latest episode of the History Of Japan podcast. It’s now well into its fifth hour on the Bakumatsu/Meiji Ishin, and things are beginning to hot up. According to the podcast, the end of the Civil War left the U.S. with a large amount of weaponry – chiefly rifles – no longer needed, and Choshu eagerly picked some up to equip their new experimental corps. I don’t recall seeing this mentioned anywhere before, but I’m intrigued – does it mean that the civil war made the Meiji Ishin? Very AHR.
One connection between the two I do know about is the CSS Stonewall/Kōtetsu. The Stonewall was an ironclad ram built (in secret?) by the French for the confederates. The ship went through several hands before reaching America, by which time the was was over, and so she was delivered to the victorious United States. After some time she was sold to the Tokugawa Bakufu, one of a series of ships that were bought or built by the Japanese in the years after the Perry mission. Then history repeated itself – by the time the ship reached Japan, the restoration of imperial rule had been declared, Edo had fallen and the Stonewall was delivered to the new government, where it was renamed the Kōtetsu (甲鉄). However, what remained of the Bakufu fleet had fled north to the port of Hakodate, where the last vestiges of pro-Tokugawa support declared the ‘Republic of Ezo’. There, the Kōtetsu finally saw action, in the battle of Hakodate, the last blows of the Boshin War, the end of the Tokugawa.
Fireflies 