Introduction

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Foundation held an international symposium, a special exhibition titled “Japan and Sun Yat-sen” and completed the 3rd award ceremony of Yamaguchi Ichiro Memorial Prize. Following these accomplishments the Foundation decided to publish A Directory of People Who were connected with Sun Yat-sen in Japan. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall was assigned to compile this directory and it is through their great efforts that this project has become a reality.

　Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) had lived and organized various political activities during the approximately nine years he stayed in Japan. We were interested in his time in Japan and decided to research how many Japanese people became connected with Sun Yat-sen during his staying here. Even though we discovered several indications and connections from previous studies, we felt that this task was only scratching the surface and we needed to make further investigations. There have been many completed works and we already know of several people such as Miyazaki Toten, Umeya Shokichi, Kayano Nagatomo, Toyama Mitsuru, Inukai Tsuyoshi, Yamada Yoshimasa, Yamada Jyunzaburo, Shibusawa Eiichi, and Minakata Kumagusu. These people can easily be looked up in an encyclopedia so this time we wanted to investigate people we could not find in such a manner. We found many names but we could not discover who they are and for some, we do not even know how to read the names. Our purpose of compiling this directory was first of all, to provide as much information as possible, not resevered for researchers, but for everybody. We would like to make this directory as comprehensive and accurate as possible. Therefore our goal and aspiration is to receive feedback from the readers. This is only our first step forward. Though there may be omissions and mistakes in many places, we hope this directory will be is useful in many aspects. We will welcome all opinions and information regarding “Japan and Sun Yat-sen” from our readers.

2011, November
Curator of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Yasui Sankichi