A book that should not be voiced--Kaei Nenkan: The Quiet Advice of Ranald McDonald the Foreigner and Einosuke Moriyama

A book that should not be voiced--Kaei Nenkan: The Quiet Advice of Ranald McDonald the Foreigner and Einosuke Moriyama

Japan during the Kaei era was a society that maintained an isolationist system as an institution, yet harbored a strong sense of insecurity and tension within its borders. Foreign ships continued to arrive, and there was a deep-seated fear that not only military force but also ideology and faith could shake the order. Christianity, in particular, was associated with memories of past rebellions, and the mere mention of its name aroused political suspicion.

The gringo Ranald MacDonald was a neophyte who placed the Bible at the center of his faith. For him, the Bible was neither an ideology nor a statement, but a natural stronghold inside his daily life. In Japanese society, however, the word itself had a dangerous ring to it. It was not so much the content of the faith that was at stake, but the change in atmosphere that the words brought about.

Einosuke Moriyama, a government official in the magistrate's office, understood this danger better than anyone else. Moriyama was in a position to support the system as an official of the magistrate's office, but at the same time, he was a person on the frontlines of dealing with foreigners as human beings. One day, he quietly tells McDonald in a private conversation, not during an official interrogation. In Japan, the word "Bible" must never be uttered. That single word was not a command, but more of a consideration than a warning.

Through his advice, MacDonald learns that in Japan, words themselves can determine one's fate. It is not that he is denied his faith. However, in this society, words of faith are immediately turned into doubts. Moriyama's advice emanated not from the logic of the system, but from a sense of trying to protect him as a person.

What emerges here is the delicacy of human relationships in an isolated society. The relationship was maintained by carefully choosing words that transcended the positions of official and gaijin, interrogator and interrogated. It was this kind of outward advice and consideration that enabled MacDonald to fulfill his role as an English teacher in Japan despite his precarious position as a prisoner of war.

At a time when books existed that should not be spoken aloud, McDonald learned to be silent, and Moriyama tried to protect him in silence. More than the treadmill and the interrogation, these quiet exchanges deeply illustrate the tensions that existed in Japan at the end of the isolationist period, and the reality that human relationships barely eased these tensions.