An Unrecorded 1894 Book on the Japense in Idaho

[The Idaho Incident and Its Aftermath] Aidaho jiken haikan shimatsu

"Daifu-sei" ["Mr. Big Hatchet"]

Notes: An apparently unrecorded exposé of Tanaka Tadashichi and the 19th century swindle of Japanese contract workers building railroads in Idaho, events known as the Idaho Anti-Corruption Incident (アイダホ 排姦事件).

Tanaka, an unscrupulous labor contractor whose employees literally starved, was the main supplier of Japanese workers in Idaho in the early 1890s, particularly for the Oregon Short Line Railroad. He embezzled $15,000 from his employees; beyond that fact, the details of Tanaka's crimes are little known. This book traces the history of the fraud, provides lists of workers and amounts owed, and describes the response of the Japanese consul to Tanaka's malfeasance. Many histories of 19th century Japanese immigration to the US mention Tanaka and his role in bringing many of his fellow countrymen to America. Those histories draw on a handful of sources which have not included this book, which may be the most substantial Japanese-language book written in the US in the 19th century.

The Idaho Incident is one of the earliest books printed in Japanese in California. According to the front cover and the colophon, this was a collaboration between two newspapers, the Ensei and the Soko Hyoron. Unlike those papers, which were mimeographed from handwritten printing masters, this book is printed letterpress on the mission press at the Japanese Presbyterian Church at 121 Haight St., in San Francisco. (According to a report on Japanese missions, by 1903, at least three San Francisco newspapers were printed using the church's press and its fount of Japanese type.)

According to the Hoji Shinbun early Japanese newspaper project at the Hoover Institution, "The Ensei published articles related to various issues facing the early Japanese community, including immigration, race, agricultural industry in California, and medical care." The Soko Hyoron was a twice-a-month general review magazine targeted at the Japanese in the United States.

181 pages.

NOTE: The author of this work is identified as 大斧生 (Daifu or Daifu-sei), a nom-de-plume that means something like Mr. Big Hatchet. It incorporates the surname "Ono" (斧生) and what could also be a first initial "O." (大), perhaps punning on the name "O. Ono.". Daifu-sei had letters to the editor published in 1893 in Soko Hyoron about the Idaho Incident.

Edition + Condition: A fair to good copy, with the spine partly perished, some worming to the back cover, and a bit of adhesion between the last two leaves. Corners worn.

Publication: San Francisco: Soko Hyoron (San Francisco Review) and Ensei (The Expedition), 1894.

Item No: #308103

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