Ties between Zhoushan and Kesennuma Go Back to 1752
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On January 21, 2010, Noboru Suzuki, the mayor of Kesennuma City, Japan, headed a government delegation and came to visit Zhoushan, an international sister city with Kesennuma. The next day, Zhoushan mayor Zhou Guohui met with his Japanese counterpart and other Japanese guests.
Zhoushan in Zhejiang and Kesennuma in Japan are twin cities since 1997. Over the past ten plus years, the governments of the two cities have promoted the official relations and people-to-people ties in various fields such as economy, culture and education.
The real tie between the two cities, however, started in November 1752. Kasuga-Maru, a Japanese commercial cargo ship, loaded with tobacco, kelp, fish and shrimps, ran into a severe storm on its way to Taozi Port from Kesennuma. Seriously damaged, the ship floated for four months on the sea. Freshwater and food had run out. Then one day the captain and 12-men crew spotted an island. They approached the island and began to call for rescue. The islanders saw them and rushed out in boats. The 13 Japanese sailors were saved. They were put up at the nearby White Sparrow Temple and the Kasuga-Maru was beached for repair. After hearing the wreckage and the Japanese sailors, more islanders rushed in with food and medicine.
The Japanese sailors were transferred to Dinghai after the government in Dinghai learned of the rescue. The county magistrate went out of his way to get an interpreter from the mainland to communicate with the Japanese. The magistrate also visited the Japanese sailors with food and medicine. After the governor of Ningbo prefecture heard of the rescue, he crossed the sea and came to visit the Japanese sailors. The 13 Japanese stayed in Dinghai for 10 months. One of them died of sickness and his burial was arranged by the Dinghai County Government. In March, 1754, the captain and 11 sailors of the Kasuga-Maru visited Peach Island, Dinghai Government and Ningbo Government and expressed their gratitude and said farewell. With the silver dollars given by Emperor Qianlong and an official letter by the county magistrate to the Japanese government, the repaired Kasuga-Maru set sail on its way back to Japan.
The sailors wanted to come back to say thank you again to their saviors. But they were unable to come back. Their descendents have taken the unrealized wish most seriously. Over decades, the descendents of these sailors studied their family records and tried to figure out exactly where the sailors had been saved. They tried Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, all coastal provinces of China. But things did not fit with the records. Scholars and local residents helped. After repeated researches, studies and cross-references, it was finally confirmed that the Kasuga-Maru was rescued by the people of Tawan Village on what is now known as Peach Island, zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province.
In May 1992, Peng Guozhen, then mayor of Zhoushan, headed a fishery delegation to visit kesennuma. Dozens of Japanese residents of Kesennuma came to meet the mayor. They knelt and kowtowed to the mayor, expressing their gratitude for saving the lives centuries ago. Ryosuke Sato, an eighth-generation descendent of the captain of the Kasuga-Maru and now an entrepreneur whose business processed the Atlantic crabs, came to see the mayor and took out a self-compiled book on the adventures of the Kasuga-Maru on the sea.
On September 11, 1992, the then deputy mayor of Zhoushan Ma Qizhong with a friendship delegation from Peach Flower Town arrived at Kesennuma for a visit.
The delegation visited Ryosuke Sato at his home. The articles of the Kasuga-Maru passed on from his ancestors were a bamboo basket, a fan, a bowl, all carefully wrapped up yellow fabrics. Other things had been lost over all these years.
In January 1993, Sato brought a miniaturized duplication of the Kasuga-Maru made by prominent artists in Japan to Peach Blossom Island where the Kasuga-Maru was rescued. He bowed to the islanders. He said that when he was a boy his ancestors told him repeatedly that he must visit China one day to express the family’s gratitude.
A stone monument was set up at the beach on the island with a cost of RMB 260,000 yuan, which came from Sato’s pocket. The inscription on the monument relates what happened to the Kasuga-Maru and its crew in 1752, 1753 and 1754. On November 21, 1995, a government delegation from Kesennuma came to the island to attend the unveiling ceremony of the monument. During the visit, Ryosuke Sato also donated cash to White Sparrow Temple expressing his gratitude for its serving as a shelter for the sailors. Over years, Sato and his family have visited Zhoushan many times.
In October 1997, Zhoushan and Kesennuma signed an agreement to become twin cities. Since then, many exchange programs have taken place. The aquatic processing businesses in Kesennuma have trained 409 workers from Zhoushan. A primary school in Dinghai and a primary school in Kesennuma are in a program of exchanges in paintings and calligraphic works every year. Middle school students can visit Zhoushan and Kesennuma and live with local families to understand local cultures. Artists from two cities also send their artworks to each other regularly.
Now the two cities have signed a new agreement for further friendly exchanges and cooperation. Economic and educational ties will become closer.