When Place Names Turn to Doubt Kaei Nenma Tension that went unheard by gringo Ranald McDonald (Kaei Nenma)

When Place Names Turn to Doubt Kaei Nenma Tension that went unheard by gringo Ranald McDonald (Kaei Nenma)

The interrogation conducted at the Nagasaki Magistrate's Office during the Kaei Nenkan was a space where the tensions of the isolationist regime were at their most acute. As the gringo Ranald MacDonald pointed to a map and explained his route and the place where he was staying, the sound of the place name he uttered sounded to the officials' ears as "Bantenren," meaning forbidden Christian missionaries. This mishearing was not merely a matter of pronunciation, but had the power to transform the atmosphere of the place. McDonald was a neophyte, and he did not fully understand that the word "ban-ten-ren" represented a political danger in Japan. On the other hand, for the Japanese side, bantenren was not a religious term, but a security concept that referred to an entity that could invite rebellion or infiltration, and there was an institutional reflex that activated alarm even at the mere sound of the word. In this scene, the combination of McDonald's unconscious utterance, the
oversensitive reaction of the officials, and the tense coordination of the passersby turned a place name into an ideological aversion in an instant. Although the result was not fatal, this event symbolically illustrates the anxiety and fragility of Japan during the period of isolation, when linguistic displacement could determine one's fate.