Na Kuʻu Lunn (Graduate Student, Geography)
This year marks the 50th birthday of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa. Lashed into the history of this waʻa is over 2000 years of Hawaiian sea fairing and exploration. Our kūpuna of the past, as well as our people today, have voyaged around the world for various reasons- for survival, for curiosity, for resources, and especially for knowledge and connection. The legacy of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Hōkūleʻa reflects messages of sustainability, native intelligence, international relations and love of homeland. The work at PVS has also been a great undertaking and sacrifice for many in our lāhui. Two tremendous Hōkūleʻa leaders are Myron “Pinky” Thompson and Nainoa Thompson, descendants of a humble Hawaiian named Isaac (Hakuʻole) Harbottle who in 1882 set sail from Hawaiʻi to be educated abroad in service of his kingdom.
Like Hōkūleʻa, Kalākaua saw great value in touring the world to foster connections. During his reign, King Kalākaua and the Hawaiian Kingdom government founded a program called Hawaiian Youths Abroad, which operated out of the Office of Foreign Affairs. On June 1, 1880, Hawaiian Kingdom representative Robert Hoapili Baker introduced a legislative bill encompassing this youth program and its goals to further international diplomacy, invest in education and develop future leaders for the kingdom. Hawaiian Youths Abroad included 18 young Hawaiians who voyaged to various countries like England, Scotland, Italy, France, and China, to be trained in subjects such as military science, various foreign languages, engineering, law, medicine, music and more. Two of these youths, brothers Isaac Harbottle and James Hakuʻole, were sent together to Japan.
In March of 1881, Yokohama, Japan was the first stop on Kalākaua’s world tour. Through this trip, diplomatic relations were further formalized in treaties, permanent legations and embassies. One year later in 1882, students James Kapaʻa, James Hakuʻole, and Isaac Harbottle departed Hawaiʻi and sailed to San Francisco on a ship named the City of Peking that would continue on to China and Japan. Today, the port of Yokohama, where they would have landed, carries a wonderful spirit of trans-pacific sailing and travel. We visited the Yokohama Port Museum, the Yokohama Archives of History and the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum. On display at the Yokohama Archives is a beautiful photo of the station and vicinity during the late 19th century, at which time Isaac would have been just 11 years old. Docked in Yokohama today is the Nippon Maru, a ship that is regarded as a Japanese historical treasure, as it holds multiple Guinness world records. We were able to tour the Nippon Maru, led by its retired captain and learned that it had sailed to Hawaiʻi over 20 times. The great pride that the Japanese have for the Nippon Maru reminds me of the aloha we have for our own voyaging wa’a Hōkūleʻa, which sailed into the Yokohama port back in 2007 led by Isaacʻs great grandson and navigator Nainoa Thompson.
At the Japanese Overseas Migration Museum we viewed a rich display of Japanese immigration including history relating to the Hawaiian plantation era and a Royal Order awarded to Hawaiian Kingdom Minister Robert Walker Irwin by Kalākaua. For three decades prior to Isaac Harbottle arriving in Japan, Chinese immigrants had worked as contract laborers on Hawaiʻi’s sugar plantations. The Hawaiian Kingdom had negotiated to bring Japanese to work in sugar plantations as well. Issac and James were seen as potential assets in foreign relations with Japan as they would be trained in the Japanese language and culture.
For the next five years, 1882-1887, brothers Isaac and James would live in Japan, receiving an education from private tutors, as well as being enrolled in Arima Elementary and Gakushūin School. Gakushūin, also known as The Peers’ School beginning in 1877, opened in Kanda Nishiki-cho, Tokyo. The school was originally established to educate court nobles. Isaac and James became immersed in Japanese food, fashion and customs and language. It was reported by Hawaiian Kingdom minister Robert Walker Irwin that they “rapidly” learned to read and write in Japanese. We are excited to travel to Ikaho to visit the home of Robert Walker Irwin who dedicated much of his career to the support of Isaac and James.
After the 1887 Bayonet Constitution, the Haku’ole-Harbottle brothers returned home to Hawai’i in 1888. Isaac Harbottle went on to attend Kamehameha Schools then work as a teacher in his hometown of Kipahulu, Maui. Isaac later became an interpreter in the Honolulu Tax Office utilizing various language and life experiences he acquired in Japan. He also worked as a land title researcher in Honolulu. His foreign education well positioned him to guide Hawaiian Kingdom dealings with the many foreign nationals coming in and out of Hawaiʻi waters.
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