Austrian H. M. S. Fasana let anchor at Naha harbor on June 27th, 1888 and stayed only two days. Aboard as a naval cadet was Archduke Leopold Ferdinand, a member of the House of Habsburg, the ruling family of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Archduke’s educator was an officer of the Fasana, Leopold von Jedina (1849–1924), at that time in the rank of a Linienschiffs-Leutnant. Later he would become vice-admiral.(*1) Jedina left a picturesque decription about his short stay in Okinawa, published in 1891.(*2) The description is accompanied by a photograph depicting a street scene in front of the Sōgen-ji Temple.
Photo depicting people in front of the Sōgen-ji Temple in Tomari. taken in 1888 during the visit of Austrian H. M. S. Fasana.
❁
Biblio
*1:Pantzer, Peter: Knowledge and Sources on Ryūkyū in Germany and Austria. In: Kreiner, Josef (Ed.): Sources of Ryūkyūan History and Culture in European Collections. Phillip-Franz-von-Siebold-Stiftung, Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien. Monographien 13. Iucidium, München 1996, p. 83.
*2: Leopold von Jedina. An Asiens Küsten und Fürstenhöfen. Tagebuchblätter von der Reise Sr. Maj. Schiffes ‘Fasana’ und über den Aufenthalt an asiatischen Höfen in den Jahren 1887, 1888 und 1889. Wien und Olmütz (Hölzel), 1891, p. 427–433.
© 2016, Andreas Quast. All rights reserved.