Japanese 'Spies' along the Silk Road - Chinese manuscripts

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58 Japanese Religions 35 (1 & 2) Bunka isan 文化遺産 11 (April): 34-35. Valikhanov, Chokan Chingisovich. 1961. Sobranie sochinenii v piati tomakh (Collected Writings in Five Volumes). Alma-Ata: Akademiia Nauk Kazakhskoi SSR. Valikhanof, Capt., M. Veniukof, and Other Russian Travelers. 1865. The Russians in Central Asia. London: Edward Stanford. Younghusband, Francis E. 1896. The Heart of a Continent: A Narrative of Travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert, through the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Chitral, 1884-1894. London: John Murray. Appendix 35 Copy of a letter No. 929/5, dated the 10th October 1909, from Captain A. R. B. Shuttleworth, His Britannic Majesty’s Officiating Consul, Kashgar, to the First Assistant to the Resident in Kashmir. With reference to your confidential D.O. No. 6058, dated the 11th November 1908, and the instructions contained therein, I have the honour to state that I have reported to you fully, from time to time, the movements of the two Japanese travellers, Nomura and Tashibana and I now give a general summary. In February of this year I received a letter from a Mr. Kozin Atain despatched from Kyoto, Japan, in January. He informed me that he had sent two of his “student assistants” in the “research of Budhistic Archaeology” in Chinese Turkistan. He said that they would arrive in March and desired me to send all the letters I had received for them to the Taotai to be despatched to Kuchar to await their arrival. My Mir Munshi received a letter in November or December 1908 from the Post Master at Gilgit asking him to return all letters for these two men to him if they did not arrive by a certain date. I took no notice of the Post Master’s letter and kept all the letters and parcels with me. I first heard of the arrival of the travellers to this country through Sahib Ali Khan, British Aksakal of Kuchar. He wrote to me on the 10th of March and informed me that they had arrived. He said that they were in search of “Budhistic 35. This letter by Captain Shuttleworth is part of L/P&S/IO/55/240: 3-10 among the Political and Secret Files. This document is singled out and published here because it is a complete description of what transpired during those months in the summer of 1909 regarding the two Japanese visitors in Kashgar. Although the entire folder dealing with the Japanese ‘spies’ in the Political and Secret Files is much larger, this letter conveniently summarizes all the events and opinions that were transmitted from Kashgar to the Government of India. I have kept the original spelling, even if in places where it is clearly incorrect (e.g. Tashibana, Kozin Atain).
Galambos: Japanese ‘Spies’ along the Silk Road 59 remains”, but that they were sketching and surveying as well, and went on to say that they were to separate, one going to Kashgar by the Lob Nor and Khotan while the other was going direct viâ Aksu. On the 12th of June I received a letter from Badruddin Khan, British Aksakal of Khotan, which was despatched on the 20th of May. The letter was as follows: — “One Japanese traveller accompanied by one Chinaman and a Kuchari Muhammadan interpreter has arrived at Keria. He lives in European fashion and can talk Chinese. He has visited all the places visited by Dr. Stein. He has also explored many ruined cities. The Amban of Keria gave him the services of Ibrahim Beg who was with Dr. Stein. The Amban has asked me to prepare my house for his reception if he comes here. If he comes to Khotan I will report his movements and will tell you what he has done in the city.” Nomura, who came direct viâ Aksu, arrived at Kashgar on the 11th of June. A house had been prepared for him by the Chinese. He sent his card and asked for any letters which may have come for him. I sent my Aksakal over with 16 letters and 3 parcels for which I obtained a receipt. One letter which I had received through Abdulla Jan, a trader of Yarkand, and which had been given to him by a servant of his who told him that a Japanese gentleman had given it to him at Leh, I told him I would give him when he called on me. This letter was probably from Ama. Nomura called on me on the 23rd of June. He brought me a lot of letters which he wished me to despatch to Japan. I told him I had no stamps and that this was not a proper Post Office and sent the letters to Major Dew and asked him to have them posted and to bill Nomura through the Resident in Kashmir on the former’s arrival at Srinagar. At this interview Nomura told me that he had received instructions from Japan informing him that he and his companion could return to their country viâ India. I told him that I had had no instructions and so wired to you for the necessary permission, at his request. He told me that he and Tashibana had travelled from Peking northwards to Urga in Mongolia and from thence to Uliassitai. From Ulissitai they went to Kobdo and from there to Guchen, in Hsin Chiang, by the ordinary trade route. From Guchen they went to Urumtchi where they were well treated by the Chinese authorities and entertained by the Futai. They stayed about a fortnight there and then left for Turfan. They thoroughly explored the neighbourhood of that place but found that Stein, von Le Coq and others had done their work very thoroughly and had stripped the place of everything worth taking. From Turfan they went to Kuchar and there separated Tashibana going to Khotan viâ the Lob Nor while Nomura came here direct. Shortly after Nomura’s call I received a letter from the Fu of Yarkand complaining about Tashibana’s behaviour. He said that he had been beating Chinese subjects and making himself a general nuisance. I wrote and told him that
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Japanese 'Spies' along the Silk Road - Chinese manuscripts

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