From the prewar to postwar period, immigration from Japan, a country surrounded by the sea, was almost entirely by sea transport. Emigrant ships were the main means of travelling overseas, and all immigrants experienced life on board a ship.
"Floating elementary schools" (shipboard elementary schools) were elementary schools opened on immigrant ships. Since most immigrants to Brazil were families, the group included many housewives and children, adding excitement and gaiety to the voyage. Floating elementary schools were aimed at children of elementary school age, and were most common among immigrants to Brazil, whose voyages were particularly long. When considering the educational opportunities and continuity of Japanese-style education for children who traveled between the two countries, from Japan to Brazil and from Brazil to Japan, the existence of floating elementary schools cannot be taken lightly.
Yamada Michio's "The History of Japanese Immigration as Seen through Ships: From Kasato Maru to Cruise Ships" (1998) is an excellent book that looks at immigration history from the perspective of immigrant ships. Using the example of the "La Plata Elementary School," which opened on the 23rd voyage (1936) of the immigrant ship La Plata Maru, he introduces floating elementary schools as follows:
On the second and third voyage of the Laplata Maru, the opening ceremony for the Laplata Elementary School, which also had a senior high school attached, was held in the Tokusan Restaurant 1 on the fourth day after leaving Kobe. The opening ceremony was a magnificent affair, beginning with an opening address, followed by the singing of the national anthem, a distant worship of Miyagi and Ise Shrine, an address from the principal, introduction of teachers, congratulatory speeches from guests, and a closing speech. Invited guests included notables Tazaki and Uetsuka, as well as the ship's administrative director. With congratulatory speeches from a sitting university president and a member of parliament, it was quite a lavish opening ceremony, even though it was held at sea. The principal was in charge of transportation supervision on this voyage.
The total number of pupils, including those in the senior high school, was 50. There was one combined class for second graders, and lessons were held in the morning in the special dining hall. As there were four classes, four teachers were needed, but luckily, among the many immigrants there were some with teaching experience who took on the task of teaching the children (Yamada, 1998, pp.182-184).
One of the materials that can be used to convey the life on board immigrant ships is the onboard newspapers that were written and published by the immigrant passengers themselves. Yamada (1998) cited many articles from the onboard newspapers. The Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Corporate History Editorial Office and the Nippon Yusen Museum provided us with copies of some of the onboard newspapers. These vividly depict the elementary school that was opened on board the immigrant ships (Photo 14-1). For example, schools were named after the ships, such as "Wakasa Maru Elementary School" and "Sansu Village Elementary School." The captain or the transportation supervisor appointed the principal and selected experienced teachers from among the passengers as teachers, and the students were even awarded certificates of completion before arriving in Brazil. The athletic meets that were held frequently during the voyage also show the elementary school students' active participation, such as "1. Elementary school children in a flag race," "9. Elementary school girls in a musical chair race," and "18. Elementary school children in a spoon relay" (Osaka Shosen, 1939).
Photo 14-1: An article in the shipboard newspaper announcing the opening of La Plata Elementary School (1935, provided by the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Corporate History Compilation Office)
According to the ship's newspaper, "La Plata Times," on the 22nd voyage of the La Plata Maru (November 1936 - March 1937), the principal was chosen not by the captain or the transport supervisor, but by the other passengers. The teachers were also replaced during the voyage. The instructor, who was also chosen by the passengers, was required to wear a white and red ribbon as an insignia (Osaka Shosen, 1935-1936). On the 25th voyage of the La Plata Maru (February 1937 - June 1937), the elementary school principal was Yoshiro Morioka, the transport supervisor (Osaka Shosen, 1937). Since it was at sea, it seems that everything was handled on an ad-hoc basis.
The difference between immigrants to Brazil and those to other regions is the length of the journey. From Kobe to Santos, it took 52 days on the Kasato Maru, the first group of immigrants, 63 days on the Bingo Maru, the ship of Tsuji Kotaro (described later), 46 days on the Buenos Aires Maru and Rio Deji Yanero Maru, two "excellent diesel ships" of Osaka Shosen that were launched in 1929, and 34 days even for high-speed ships such as the Argentina Maru, which was called the "definitive immigrant ship" in the late 1930s. In order to make this long voyage safe, enjoyable, and useful as a preparation period for life in Brazil, the shipping companies, the immigration companies, and the immigrants themselves all came up with various ideas. These were similar to community activities on land, such as the Equator Festival, sports days, entertainment, costume contests, Portuguese language classes, dressmaking classes, youth and women's association activities, and the opening of an elementary school. It is known that the Kasato Maru had already hosted the Equator Festival, which featured Okinawan sanshin and karate dancing, Shinnai-bushi, Soma-bushi, shigin (reciting poetry), shakuhachi performances, and costume parades (Hosokawa, 1995, p.15).
The third-class cabins allocated to prewar immigrants were small and the living space was poor, but they had plenty of time. However, it was dangerous and problematic for energetic children with too much free time to run around the ship all day. The teacher was probably found at a convenient time, but since a kindergarten was also being run, the floating elementary school was more of a daycare center as well as an educational institution.2 Wasn't this a service that was created as an essential way for children to spend their days safely and happily, and to reassure their parents, during the long voyage ?
On July 25, 1928, Kotaro Tsuji (1903-1970) boarded the Bingo Maru (Nippon Yusen, Photo 14-2) as an immigration transport officer when it departed Kobe. In his memoir, Visiting My Brazilian Compatriots (1930), we can see the beginning of life on board with the establishment of "Bingo Village" after boarding the ship, up to the opening of an elementary school there.
He united them all into one group, organized a local government and called it Bingo Village, divided them into eight districts based on their seats, with seven families in each district, and gave all men over the age of 20 the right to vote and the right to be elected to elect one district chief and village council member. He took up the position of village chief himself, with his assistant as deputy mayor, and organized a village council of ten people in total. All matters concerning the group would be decided by majority vote of this meeting.
Next, a youth group was organized for men aged 15 to 30, with general affairs departments, sports departments, debate departments, language departments, morals and hygiene departments, editorial departments, and events departments, with each department assigned specific responsibilities and responsibility, and the general affairs department was organized with directors for each department.
(Omitted) Three people with experience in education were appointed as teachers for the elementary school, and one other person was placed on the school affairs committee to look after them.
(Omitted) While a village meeting was being held on the first-class deck to discuss the issue of landing, a general meeting of the Young Men's Association was being held on the opposite deck to discuss issues of security while at anchor and dress codes, kindergarten had started on the foredeck and cute children were busy playing with pigeons, primary school had started on the aft deck and the third class of students were studying hard, and the health association was concentrating all its efforts on treating patients with trachoma.3 (Tsuji, 1930, p.4-5)
Photo 14-2: The Bingo Maru, the ship on which Kotaro Tsuji is said to have boarded (reprinted from "Ships Owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha")
Incidentally, on this occasion, in addition to the elementary school cultural festival, three athletic meets, a debate meeting, a kendo competition, a performing arts competition, a motion picture event, and a karuta game were held aboard the Bingo Maru, and the Brazilian national anthem was also practiced (ibid., p.18).
It is not clear at present when these floating elementary schools were first established. There remains a photograph of a Portuguese language seminar held on the Shiatoru Maru in 1917. Adult men in kimonos are sitting on the outdoor deck, reading textbooks in front of a lecturer in a suit (National Diet Library). An example of an elementary school was already in place on the Shikago Maru in 1924, as confirmed by the ship's onboard newspaper, the Tonnant Times. The Shikago Maru would not have had a special dining hall like the Sansu Maru class ships, so elementary schools would likely have been held on the deck as well.
The opening of the floating elementary school is thought to have some connection to the movement to make emigration to Brazil a national policy that began in the 1920s.4 In 1921, the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Social Bureau budgeted 100,000 yen as a subsidy to the Overseas Industrial Company and the emigrants, with 7,821 yen allocated as "educational expenses" for "teaching materials and entertainment during the voyage, such as onboard schools" (Iikubo, 2003, p.43). It is not clear whether "onboard schools" refers to floating elementary schools, but "educational expenses" increased year by year until 1928 (25,400 yen), and in 1924 the Japanese government decided to fully subsidize the cost of shipping to Brazil. It is likely that the floating elementary school began amid these developments.
The creation of this floating elementary school meant that the education of immigrant children was prevented from being interrupted by the voyage, at least from the end of the Taisho period. It can be seen that the practice of Japanese education was continuous, from the elementary schools in the immigrants' home villages, through the floating elementary school, and on to the Japanese educational institutions in Brazil. Although immigrant ships were called "cargo ships carrying people" and were associated with a very harsh image, the fact that from a certain point in time the humane practice of a floating elementary school was also taking place should not be overlooked from the perspective of educational history.
Note
1. Since the Sansu Maru class, which was launched in 1925, Osaka Shosen ships have had special third-class dining rooms, which have become groundbreaking public spaces. Apart from meal times, they have been used for orientation after departure, meetings and events for the ship's self-governing organizations, and classrooms for elementary schools and Portuguese language courses (Yamada, 1998, p.111). The emergence of this public space, the special third-class dining room, has made it possible to carry out educational and cultural activities on board without being affected by the weather to a certain extent.
2. With guidance from Mr. Kimio Kuroda.
3. When quoting, old kanji have been changed to new kanji as appropriate.
4. With guidance from Mr. Yamada Michio.
References
Iikubo, Hideki (2003) "The Ministry of Home Affairs' Social Bureau's Overseas Emigration Promotion Policy in the 1920s" History and Economy, Vol. 181, Political Economy and Economic History Society
National Diet Library "Portuguese Language Seminar (on board the Seattle Maru) June 30, 1917" "100 Years of Emigration to Brazil"
http://www.ndl.go.jp/brasil/data/R/008/008-001r.html (Accessed 2010/11/29)
Kotaro Tsuji (1930) Visiting my fellow Brazilians, Japan-Brazil Association (Reprinted in Yuki Ishikawa's (1999) Collection of Japanese Emigrant Materials, South America, Vol. 14, Japan Library Center)
"Ships owned by Nippon Yusen" http://homepage3.nifty.com/jpnships/company/nyk_meijikoki1.htm (Accessed 2010/11/29)
Hosokawa, Shuhei (1995) Enka flows in the land of samba: the history of Japanese immigrants to Brazil seen through music, Chuokoron-Shinsha
Yamada, Toshio (1998) "The History of Japanese Immigration as Seen Through Ships: From the Kasato Maru to Cruise Ships" Chuokoron-Shinsha
Shipboard Newspaper Osaka Shosen (1935) "Shipboard Newspaper: La Plata Maru, 21st Voyage"
Osaka Shosen (1935-1936) "Shipboard Newspaper: La Plata Maru 22nd Voyage"
Osaka Shosen (1937) "Shipboard Newspaper: La Plata Maru, 25th Voyage"
Osaka Shosen (1939) "Shipboard Newspaper: Rio Deji Yanero Maru 22nd Voyage"*
*The above information was provided by the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Corporate History Compilation Office.
"Tonan Times" (1924) (Shikago Maru shipboard newspaper)
© 2010 Sachio Negawa
