Call Number:

Print Collection 55

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.2 linear_foot (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Japanese Imperial Naval Squadron training cruise postcards relating to the 1922-1923 cruise, 1922-1923, Print Collection 55, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1922-1923 (inclusive)

Form:

Postcards and Picture postcards

Abstract:

The Training Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Renshū Kantai, operated from 1903-1940. Graduates of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy would spend several months in training deployment throughout the Pacific Ocean and beyond, occasionally venturing as far as the Mediterranean Sea or the East Coast of the United States. This collection consists of picture post cards documenting the 1922-1923 training cruise of the Japanese Imperial Naval Squadron which traveled to Honolulu, Los Angeles, the Panama Canal, Rio de Janeiro (to attend a naval review commemorating the 100th anniversary of Brazil's independence), Buenos Aires, Argentina, Capetown and Durban, South Africa.

The Training Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Renshū Kantai, operated from 1903-1940, with only a brief hiatus during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Graduates of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy (Kaigun Heigakkō)—and from 1921 onward, graduates of the Naval Engineering Academy (Kaigun Kikan Gakkō) and the Naval Paymasters Academy (Kaigun Keiri Gakkō)—would spend several months in training deployment largely throughout the Pacific Ocean and beyond, with their near-annual cruises occasionally venturing as far as the Mediterranean Sea or the East Coast of the United States.

The 1922-1923 cruise was commanded by Vice-Admiral Naomi Taniguchi, with three ships, Iwate, Izuomo, and Asama, circumnavigating the globe. The cruise began in Yokosuka, Japan on June 26, 1922, and the ships traveled across the Pacific Ocean and down along the west coast of North America, up through the Panama Canal and around the east coast of South America, making stops in Brazil and Argentina. The ships crossed the southern Atlantic Ocean and around the southern coast of Africa, through the Indian Ocean and back through East Asia, making stops along the way at Colombo, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Hong Kong, among others. The ships landed at Yokosuka again on February 12, 1923.

Fuller accounts of the 1922-1923 cruise are documented in other sources. The first is a commemorative publication printed by Gahōsha in 1923, entitled Taishō jūichi, jūninen renshū kōkai kinen ("Commemoration of the Training Cruise of Taishō 11-12 [1922-1923]"). This "cruise book" provides portraits of the crew and its commanders, photographic records of the crew's ship life and daily activities in and around their ports-of-call, and a complete crewman manifest of the three ships. The second is Taishō Jūichinendo Renshū Kantai kiji ("An Account of the Taishō 11-12 [1922-1923] Renshū Kantai"), a detailed official and very technical report of the cruise published by the commanders of the Renshū Kantai. Both of these sources list Tōhei Yamamoto's name and affiliations.

This collection consists of picture post cards documenting the 1922-1923 training cruise of the Japanese Imperial Naval Squadron which traveled to Honolulu, Los Angeles, the Panama Canal, Rio de Janeiro (to attend a naval review commemorating the 100th anniversary of Brazil's independence), Buenos Aires, Argentina, Capetown and Durban, South Africa. The training cruise laid over at Colombo, Ceylon, Singapore and Hong Kong, before returning to Yokosuka on February 8, 1923.

The postcards are arranged in the order of the stops on the cruise and include California, Panama, Africa, and India. There are also a few postcards that may not be a part of the this cruise: Australia and what appears to be Switzerland (although all postcards that are presumed to be Switzerland are uncaptioned). Of particular value may be the first postcard in the collection which is a map of the cruise route.