Japan-India Connection

Through the Ages

Mukesh Williams

The relationship between India and Japan run deep. There are spiritual, economic, political and cultural affinities between the two countries that date back to the period of Buddhist expansionism from the 6^th to the 8^th century. This connection has gained a fillip in the sixteenth, seventeenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries through the activities of evangelists, scholars, traders, political rebels and IT professionals. The modern Indian expatriate communities in Japan largely comprise of Kobe and Yokohama traders and Tokyo IT professionals. Early settlers from Kobe see themselves as “self-made” while look down on late-comers from Tokyo as “privileged.”Parsees, Punjabis, Gajaratis, Sindhis and Bengalis all make up the demographic mosaic of Indian entrepreneurship and success in Japan. However reliable information of the age-old Japan-India connection has never been systematically undertaken either because of academic disinterest or segmented nature of the interaction between the two countries. Recently, this lacuna has been partly overcome by a new emphasis on oral history vis-à-vis government narratives. Though the Indians in Japan are ethnically and religiously diverse they are nevertheless building “new bridges” of understanding through their activities. They have not only adapted to the singular uniqueness of Japan but also helped acquaint Japanese society to Indian business techniques, cuisine and education. Today the different Indian communities living in Japan total over 23,000. The Japanese media and the public at large have begun to respond positively to Indians. The stereotypical perception of India as “curry rice poor country” has given way to “IT and 20 into 20.”
As can be seen through Graph 1 the highest numbers of Indians reside in Chiba, followed by Tokyo and Kanagawa.
The Buddhist Connection
The Buddhist monk Bodhisena came to Nara in August 736 on the invitation of the Japanese emperor Shomu. Bodhisena, or as Shoko Nihongi call him Bodai Senna, was a South Indian Brahmin and shared a mystical connection with Bodhisattva Manjusri. In search of the reincarnation of Manjusri he went to China and was brought to Nara on a ship via Cambodia and Vietnam by the Japanese ambassador to China Tajihi no Hironari. When Bodhisena reached Nara he was met by the Buddhist monk Gyoki. Gyoki took him to the emperor who asked him to teach Sanskrit and establish Kogen Buddhism. Bodhisena stayed at the Daian-ji temple in Nara and conducted the opening of the eyes ceremony of the bronze Vairocana statue at Todai-ji. He died on February 26, 760 and was buried on the Ryoujusen Mountain as per his desire. Scholars such as Sir Charles Eliot have highlighted the entry of Buddhism into Japan as a direct outcome of the “intercourse with Hindus and other foreign Buddhists.” By the 12th and 13th centuries Buddhism had already taken deep roots in Japan and was both transforming “old sects” and creating “new ones” (Hinduism and Buddhism, 1921 rpt., 1962, p. 14). It is believed that Japanese traditional court dance and music owe in some measure to the influence of Bodhisena’s Indian heritage. But the strongest influence was on the Hiragana syllabary which owes in substantial measure to the Sanskrit system introduced in Japan by Bodhisena.   

Tokugawa Bakufu and Portuguese

This Indian relationship with Japan was further renewed in the 16th century through economic connections with the Portuguese colony in India. As copper and silver were discovered in Japan, Portuguese merchants began to trade in spice with China and India paying with Tokugawa metals. The Portuguese ships visiting Japan came from Goa which was the headquarters of the Portuguese East India Company and had on board Indian Christians referred to as lascar seamen. In Japan the Portuguese were perceived as Indians and when they introduced Christianity into Japan, the religions was seen as a new Indian religion. It is believed that when the Japanese Christians were persecuted by the Tokugawa government in 1596 many of the Japanese Christians escaped to Goa on these ships. So by the early 17^th century there was a small colony of Japanese traders in Goa. This colony was further joined by abducted Japanese girls from the stigmatized Japanese Christian and poor farming communities from Amakusa Islands of Kumamoto Prefecture and Christian families fearing persecution.

Graph 2

(From Yamawaki, Teijiro. (1980). Nagasaki no Oranda Shokan-Sekai

no Naka no Sakoku Nihon-. Chuo Koron Sha: Tokyo, p.116)

It was not just trade that encouraged Japan-India relations but also knowledge transfer. In the 12^th century Japanese scholars enrolled in the global Nalanda University to learn analytical and scientific methods based on Buddhism. In the 17^th century adventurer Tenjiku Tokubei (1612-92) travelled to India and wrote an essay “Tenjiku Tokai Monogatari” or Sea Travels to India that became extremely popular. His spiritual quest and high regard for Indian spirituality made Japanese call India ‘Tenjiku’ or heavenly abode. The knowledge of Japan ran deep within the Indian imagination and the early modem-day expatriates who came to Japan were Indian Portuguese, some of whom like Phiroze Hormasji Dastur of Navsari are buried in the Foreigners Cemetery Yokohama.

Meiji Era and Trade

During the Meiji era (1868-1912) Japan began to modernize its trading sea routes. In 1893 the shipping company Nippon Yusen started the first run between Yokohama and Bombay bringing in both Indian workers and traders to Japan. A young Muslim boy working on the ship’s deck named Jaffa Abdul Kaza came on one of the runs. Japan left a deep impression on the young boy. As he grew up he returned once more to Japan on the Empress Queen Victoria. He worked with the Kumazawa family and was called Kumazawa Impressu as he came on Empress Victoria. He married Goto Kumazawa and had seven children. After Kaza many Sindhi and Punjabi traders came from erstwhile British colonies to seek their fortunes in Japan.

Many of the Indian merchants who became involved in the silk trade in Yokohama flourished. But during the Kanto Earthquake of 1923 twenty-eight Indians also lost their lives. A memorial fountain was constructed at Yamashita Park where Chandru Advani together with the Yokohama Municipal Government organizes a memorial service every year. Most Japanese traders who do business with Indians feel that Indians are prompt in payment and have a vast network of business relations which are quite useful.  

As the activities of the Indian trading community expanded the Japan-India Association was established in 1903 to foster Japan-India friendship. In 1939 the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognized its work and accepted it as an association. It played a significant role in providing support to members of the Indian independence and was outlawed for this very reason when the Allied Forces took over Japan. It resumed and expanded its activities to include culture under the leadership of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Post World War II

The warming of Japan-India relations continued after WWII when in 1949 Jawaharlal Nehru donated two Indian elephants to the Ueno Zoo to uplift the spirit of the nation. One of the elephants was called Indira, named after his daughter Indira Gandhi. Nehru was an ardent admirer of Japan from his youth. His admiration grew when Japan defeated Russia at Tsushima in 1905. Nehru felt that if an Asian nation like Japan cold defeat a European power like Russia then India had hopes of defeating Great Britain.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was also an ardent admirer of the fine things in Japanese culture at the same time a belligerent critic of the rising nationalism. In 1916 when he came to Japan on the invitation of his Japanese friend Yonejiro Noguchi (1875-1947) he was deeply impressed by the economic progress, scientific development and emotional restraint of the Japanese haiku verse. When he visited the Sankeien Gardens, Yokohama he was moved by its aesthetic simplicity and harmony. But at the same time he was deeply troubled by the rising militarism. He wrote passionate letters to his friend who by the 1930s had turned pro-nationalist. Though Tagore was hurt by Noguchi’s support for Japanese expansionism in Asia, others like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Rash Behari Bose (1886-1945) endorsed his ideas. 

The contributions of Rash Behari Bose to the cause of India’s freedom have been neglected for many reasons. First, he relinquished his Indian citizenship and became a Japanese national. Second, Netaji’s elevation to heroism overshadowed his contributions. Third Japan lost the war and its leaders were discredited by the War Tribunal which negated all the work they did for the Indian freedom struggle. Finally most of the information on Rash Behari was hitherto irretrievable either through linguistic difficulties or extraneous factors.

The archival material on Rash Behari in possession of his granddaughter Tetsuko Higuchi sheds light on his personality showing him as a tireless leader committed to cause of Indian independence and a warm-hearted man taking care of all those around him. It is also possible to see his role in strengthening Japanese support for the Indian freedom struggle in the decades of the 20s, 30s and early 40s through his wide-ranging contacts which reached to the very top. The significance of his contributions is not lost in Japan though they have hardly ever been recognized by Indian scholars. His friend Ayappanpillai Madhavan Nair (1905–1990) also suffers from the same neglect.

Conclusion

Japan-India connection is built on a wide range of breathless possibilities and endorsed by centuries of cultural similarities and trade relations. But at times these perceptions differ which may stem from economic and political causes or cultural and social biases. But in the long run shared economic interests of both nations would override narrow parochialism or partisan concerns lead to the sharing of knowledge and mutual transfer of technologies. The centuries-old connections would guide the two nations towards peace and security and in the long run contribute to the overall economic prosperity of both nations (1600).