Quiz: Revolutionernas & Imperialismens tid

[sveahk]

Andra sidan jordklotet...

Hans K

[Niedzwiadek]

Kan det varit dankst ursprungligen?

[sveahk]

Just det...

Hans K

[varjag]

Jag botaniserade omkring i Västindien oxå Det är det danska Fort Dansborg i Tranquebar i Indien, Varjag

[sveahk]

Det stämmer precis, som köptes av engländarna 1845...

Din tur, varjag!

Hans K

[varjag]

Tack sveahk. En brittisk legationssekreterare blev, tillsammans med sex andra europeiska diplomater 'inbjudna' att bevittna bestraffningen av en officer som givit order om eldgivning mot en europeisk enklav. Det hade länge gått rykten bland oinvigda om bestraffningsformen ehuru ingen riktigt visste besked. Men - detta blev första gången då Corps Diplomatique fick alla tvivel skingrade.....Vem var legationssekreteraren, vem var officeren ,vad var bestraffningen och när hände det?
Varjag

[varjag]

....här en teckning som föreställer delinkventen och vittnena......

[varjag]

Luktsalt var ju något man på den tiden gav damer som dånade - men här vad det minst två herrar - som behövde samma behandling......, Varjag

[varjag]

Var detta verkligen så svårt - lägg ett blad till detta....

[sveahk]

Bestraffningen var naturligtvis harakiri eller seppuko, men resten ??

Hans K

[varjag]

Bestraffningen var naturligtvis harakiri eller seppuko, men resten ??

Hans K

Det var i Kobe 1868, legationssekreteraren var Algernon Freeman-Mitford (Baron Redesdale). Officeren var samurajen Taki Zenzaburo.

In his book Tales of Old Japan, Mitford describes witnessing a hara-kiri [1]:

As a corollary to the above elaborate statement of the ceremonies proper to be observed at the hara-kiri, I may here describe an instance of such an execution which I was sent officially to witness. The condemned man was Taki Zenzaburo, an officer of the Prince of Bizen, who gave the order to fire upon the foreign settlement at Hyōgo in the month of February 1868,—an attack to which I have alluded in the preamble to the story of the Eta Maiden and the Hatamoto. Up to that time no foreigner had witnessed such an execution, which was rather looked upon as a traveller's fable.

The ceremony, which was ordered by the Mikado himself, took place at 10:30 at night in the temple of Seifukuji, the headquarters of the Satsuma troops at Hiogo. A witness was sent from each of the foreign legations. We were seven foreigners in all.

After another profound obeisance, Taki Zenzaburo, in a voice which betrayed just so much emotion and hesitation as might be expected from a man who is making a painful confession, but with no sign of either in his face or manner, spoke as follows:

"I, and I alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at Kobe, and again as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself, and I beg you who are present to do me the honour of witnessing the act."

Bowing once more, the speaker allowed his upper garments to slip down to his girdle, and remained naked to the waist. Carefully, according to custom, he tucked his sleeves under his knees to prevent himself from falling backwards; for a noble Japanese gentleman should die falling forwards. Deliberately, with a steady hand, he took the dirk that lay before him; he looked at it wistfully, almost affectionately; for a moment he seemed to collect his thoughts for the last time, and then stabbing himself deeply below the waist on the left-hand side, he drew the dirk slowly across to the right side, and, turning it in the wound, gave a slight cut upwards. During this sickeningly painful operation he never moved a muscle of his face. When he drew out the dirk, he leaned forward and stretched out his neck; an expression of pain for the first time crossed his face, but he uttered no sound. At that moment the kaishaku, who, still crouching by his side, had been keenly watching his every movement, sprang to his feet, poised his sword for a second in the air; there was a flash, a heavy, ugly thud, a crashing fall; with one blow the head had been severed from the body.

A dead silence followed, broken only by the hideous noise of the blood throbbing out of the inert heap before us, which but a moment before had been a brave and chivalrous man. It was horrible.

The kaishaku made a low bow, wiped his sword with a piece of rice paper which he had ready for the purpose, and retired from the raised floor; and the stained dirk was solemnly borne away, a bloody proof of the execution.

The two representatives of the Mikado then left.....

sveahk's fråga, Varjag

[sveahk]

Ja, det var inte mycket jag visste, men här kommer nästa fråga:
Den här gamla damen försökte en gång i tiden rädda sitt land från den STORA makten...
Vem är damen, vad var hennes land och, ja, vem ville hon ha bort?

Hans K

[steben]

En gissning, Ranavalona III, drottningen av Madagaskar. Som ju då försökte värja sitt rike ifrån fransmännen, och även engelsmännen. /Stefan

[sveahk]

Nej, här gäller det en annan dam - från en annan ö...

Hans K

[tyskaorden]

Kan det vara drottning Liliuokalani av Hawaii?