【I love Japan!】Aloha 'Oe (Give you love)

Hello, everyone.

This time, I'll translate into English a renewal of an old article by Yoshiyuki Onaki, aka Nezu-san, because I'm sure that modern Westerners and Americans, even Hawaiians, do not know this anymore.

---------- DeepL translation ----------

Aloha Oe

Hawaii, known as a paradise in the Pacific Ocean, was "discovered by Captain Cook"

at the end of the 18th century. With Cook at the helm, the whites who came to Hawaii brought with them...

The whites who came to Hawaii, led by Cook,brought with them traders, Christian missionaries, measles, tuberculosis, cholera, leprosy, and syphilis.

The area where the Japanese originally lived as ancestral Japan (Hankoku) had no concept of land ownership.

The same is true for Hawaii, where the land was common property for the people of the islands, and each palm tree and banana tree growing on the land was assigned its own owner (or rather, householder) on the island, as each tree was to support the food of each family! In the early days, each tree on the island had its own owner (more like a family).

The white man from the West took over the land for free, and soon owned over 75% of the land.

The native Hawaiians, unarmed and unable to resist, had a population of 300,000 when Cook arrived on the islands. By 1872, the population had declined from 300,000 to 57,000.

It was under these circumstances that the famous King Kamehameha the Great

rose up to unify the Hawaiian Islands.

In order to compete with Europeans and Americans, he tried to protect the people of Hawaii by unifying the Hawaiian Islands, which were crowded with various tribes, on the one hand by purchasing weapons and ammunition from them, just as Japan did during the Meiji Restoration.

The purchase of weapons was financed by the development of domestic industries such as the export of sugar cane.

However, fluctuations in the export market and the spread of epidemics led to a gradual decline in national power.　

King Kamehameha the Great's grandson, King Kalakaua the Great,

came to Japan in 1881.

At the time, Japan was the only independent country for people of color. He was a star of hope for people of color.

Outwitting the U.S. attendants who were determined not to let him meet the Emperor of Japan, King Kalakauwa, accompanied only by a Japanese interpreter, secretly visited Akasaka Rikyu Palace

and requested a meeting with Emperor Meiji.

The Emperor was suspicious of the visit in the middle of the night, but decided to have a meeting anyway.

At this time, King Kalakauwa described the plight of the Kingdom of Hawaii, both internally and externally, and asked for Japan's cooperation in five areas.

First, Japanese immigration (to compensate for the declining population of the Hawaiian people through the colonization of Japanese people of the same race).

Second, the engagement of his niece, Princess Kaiulani, who would eventually succeed to the throne, to Sadamaro Yamashina, a member of the Japanese royal family.

Third: The union of Japan and Hawaii (federation).

The laying of submarine cables between Japan and Hawaii.

The "Federation of Asia" is established under Japanese leadership.

At this time, however, it was only 14 years after the Meiji Restoration.

Japan did not have the power to compete with the United States.

After much deliberation, the following year, Emperor Meiji sent a special envoy to King Kalakaua to apologize for the marriage proposal.

However, the immigration was realized and the Japan-Hawaii Immigration Agreement was signed in 1884.

In 1885, the first group of Japanese immigrants arrived in Honolulu and were welcomed with a reception attended by the Great King himself, Japanese sake, Hawaiian music, hula dancing, and a sumo wrestling tournament.

Queen Liliuokalani, the King's younger sister, was nominated to succeed King Kalakaua, who died of illness in January 1891.

On January 15, 1893, Queen Liliuokalani

attempted to change the constitution to give Hawaiians the right to vote and to deprive whites who did not have citizenship of the right to vote.

Hawaiians gathered in front of the palace in support of the Queen.

In response, on the 16th, the U.S. Minister Stevens landed more than 160 naval personnel from the U.S. warship Boston,

which was docked in Honolulu Harbor, and took control of the government building and the area near the palace, "to protect the lives and property of American citizens. The navy landed more than 160 men from the U.S. warship Boston, which was docked in Honolulu Harbor, and overran the government buildings and the palace.

He then aimed the main guns of the Boston at Iolani Palace.

"I don't want to see any bloodshed..."

Queen Liliuokalani decided to abdicate, and the Kingdom of Hawaii was destroyed.

At that time, 25,000 Japanese had settled in Hawaii.

Therefore, the cruisers Naniwa

and Kongo

hurriedly sailed from Japan to Hawaii to provide security.

The following day, February 23, the Naniwa arrived and anchored next to the U.S. warship Boston.

The captain of the ship is a young Heihachiro Togo.

From Boston's point of view, this was really unpleasant.

The crew of the Naniwa makes no attempt to meet with any U.S. government officials, but instead quietly anchors next to the Boston.

As soon as the bow gun was pointed at Boston, the sinking of the Boston was inevitable.

In this way, the two Japanese ships were able to exert silent pressure on the Americans, thus preventing the confusion of the Hawaiian citizens and the looting of the citizens by the whites.

Victory without a fight! That's right.

That's Heihachiro Togo.

King Kalakaua the Great, who appeared here, is the father of the hula, who revived the hula dance, which had been banned by Christian missionaries.

The last queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani, who is said to have been a close friend of Heihachiro Togo, wrote the lyrics to the famous song Aloha Oe.

Aloha 'Oe Aloha 'Oe (Love to you)

Ha'aheo ka ua i na pali

Ke nihi a'ela i ka nahele

E hahai ana paha i ka liko

Pua 'ahihi lehua o uka

Aloha 'oe, aloha 'oe

E ke onaona noho i ka lipo

A fond embrace a ho'i a'e au

Until we meet again

The mountain is full of clouds, the forest is foggy

Searching valley blooming flowers, moistening life buds

Hometown, hometown

Oh, Mahoroba, the place of warmth　

Embrace me once more

Good-bye, hometown

The word "mahoroba" refers to a wonderful place.

"Mahoroba" is a wonderful place, and it is described as "urumu, uruwashi".

The word "urumu" is a reference to the tearfulness of the place.

The word "uruwashi" means a place that is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and beautiful.

In other words, it is saying goodbye to Hawaii, which was a wonderful place, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Behind the beautiful melody of "Aloha Oe" is a poem about the sorrow of losing one's homeland to the invaders.

And "Aloha Oe" conveys how sad it is to lose one's homeland.

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What would have happened if Japan had become a federal state with Hawaii at this time?

Of course, the attack on Pearl Harbor would not have happened.

On the contrary, during the Pacific War, Japan would have been attacked by the US at Pearl Harbor.

There is no such thing as "what if" in history, but it would have been very interesting to see if the Meiji Emperor had met the conditions of King Kalakaua of Hawaii.

Iyasaka!