The fully scanned contents of an 1861 illustrated Japanese book on the American revolutionary war -

[PS1gamenwatch]

No, it's not a manga

http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kos...80/bunko11_a0380_0002/bunko11_a0380_0002.html

Info from reddit regarding this particular work:

https://www.reddit.com/r/history/co...dpXSgUVCrjZ1S49DQUHZaRlYfV22f0WB56lWxOkkkdO_s

American second-in-command, "Adomusu" (John Adams)

"Furankirin" (Ben Franklin) firing a cannon (Adomusu is the one pointing)

"Washinton" (Washington) swordfighting an English bureaucrat named "Asura" to save his wife "Kareru" (Carol?)

(That's asura as in the Buddhist term by the way)

There seem to be a bunch of fictional characters including a side character "maidservant to the British queen "Harina" (Helena?) seen being protected by Washington here from some kind of monster(probably some sort of metaphor; It does have a box with a name but it's too deteriorated to make out). And an "American immortal sage woman" on page 4 (a "sage woman" also appears on 33 but is labelled slightly differently).

The queen herself also appears, labelled only as "queen" with no name given.

Unfortunately I can't read the more squiggly text, just the clearer bits like the names, but it's pretty obvious that this is probably taking a few liberties.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the author is Kanagaki Robun

The title of the book is Osanaetoki Bankokubanashi (童絵解万国噺) and was written based on second-hand sources (two other books, Kaikoku Zushi/海国図志 and Amerika Ittoushi/亜墨利加一統志).

According to a summary from Kyoto University's library's website, it starts with the Spanish queen Isabel being reported to that a new continent has been found, and then mostly follows Washington but also includes numerous fictional characters and monsters (I guess that thing he was fighting isn't a metaphor after all). The page says it's more of a novel set in America than a serious historical book, and that it includes pictures and is written with kana "so as to be accessible to women".

Pages 3-6 seem to be just forewords and character introduction pages, the story itself starts on page 7.

Edit: Oh and I figured I'd add that page 7 depicts "Koron" (Christopher Columbus) reporting to Queen Isabel on his finding America.

 

[GS 281]

this is fucking amazing

 

[Deadwaste]

idk what it says but it's probably correct about everything

 

[The Shadow]

wtf I love Yellow washed history

 

[Nekromantik]

http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kos...80/bunko11_a0380_0002/bunko11_a0380_0002.html

I hope all these pages are about the Revolutionary War, it has people fighting giant snakes and dragons. I don't think even America gets that crazy with retelling our history.

 

[Zaragoza]

wtf I love Yellow washed history

 

[Crunchy Leaf]

i've seen pictures of japanese people drawn in western style from this period but never the other way around, neat
it also looks like the clothing is more based off of 1860s american clothing than 1770s which makes sense (e.g. male characters wearing full length trousers and not knee-length breeches)

 

[XYZpdq]

Did they include when he launched his giant robot to cross the Delaware?

 

[The Manglement]

When is this getting turned into an anime, and not the gallons of cookie-cutter shit we normally get.

 

[whathefuckman]

Wow! This is absolutely phenomenal, its amazing how they blended the American uniform style to Japanese designs and ornamentation, it's so friggin' beautiful.

 

[CWCchange]

wtf I love Yellow washed history

150 years ago, white people were drawn like Japanese people in books. 150 years later, Japanese people are drawn like white people in anime, and are often indistinguishable from any white characters, save for obvious blonde hair, blue eyes, and huge tits if it's a female ninety-five percent of the time.

 

[Umaibae]

It's not even mentioned on homeboy's Japanese Wikipedia page.

Some Googling tells me this was intended to be written in a way to make the history manageable and engaging for children and others who weren't interested in reading, and that the fantastical elements are part of that end game. So, I guess it is like a manga after all.

 

[Night Owl]

I'm not saying I would watch an anime based on American Revolutionary War, but I would totally watch it.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

I'm not saying I would watch an anime based on American Revolutionary War, but I would totally watch it.

It will probably be like Code Geass. George Washington and Ben Franklin were implied to be associated with CC.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

That image is fucking badass, but then again, there's no shortage of images of badass people doing badass things in this book.

It's really interesting to see the artist try to depict some things that he saw mixed up with things that he might only have heard about.
Stuff like this:

It's always interesting to see artists trying to interpret something exotic through the lens of their own experience.

 

[Snuckening]

LMAO this nigga hip-firing a fucking field gun? Is that meant to be Washington?

 

[heathercho]

LMAO this nigga hip-firing a fucking field gun? Is that meant to be Washington?

I love that the white people are drawn the way nature intended them : Asian.

All that handwriting though... I'd hate to be translating it.

 

[c-no]

LMAO this nigga hip-firing a fucking field gun? Is that meant to be Washington?

According to this guy, it's a "incredibly jacked Benjamin Franklin" that's firing the cannon in his hands.
https://twitter.com/nick_kapur/status/1062829209062649856

Damn it, this we need more shit like this in this style.

 

[Lurkette]

Better handled and more historically accurate then Hidekaz Himaruya

 

[Syaoran Li]

Alright, I must admit that this is awesome!