59- The Tale of the Three Kichis

Aboard January 1834, the first Japanese believed to have visited what is now Washington landed in a dismasted, rudderless ship that ran aground on the Olympic Peninsula's northernmost tip. The ship had set sail from its home port on Japan's southeast coast in October 1832, carrying a crew of 14 and a cargo of rice and china on what was expected to be a short journey to Edo (Tokyo). Instead, it was pushed out to sea by a hurricane. It traveled 5,000 kilometers across the ocean before reaching the Northwest coast with three survivors.
Iwakichi, Kyukichi, and Otokichi were their names. The "three kichis," who were discovered and temporarily imprisoned by Makah Indians, spent several months at Fort Vancouver before being taken to London and subsequently to China. They were pawns in the diplomatic chess game that ruled Japan's dealings with the rest of the world in the mid-nineteenth century, and they were never allowed to return home.
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