Nagasawa Kanae

Other Names: 磯永彦助 (Isonaga Hikosuke)
Japanese: 長沢鼎 (Nagasawa Kanae)

Nagasawa Kanae was one of nineteen young men from Satsuma han who snuck out of the country in 1865 to study in Europe. He eventually settled in the United States and started a vineyard.

At age 13, Nagasawa was the youngest of the nineteen Satsuma students. Because of his young age, he did not specialize in his studies like many of the others in the group did. Like them, however, he did take on a pseudonym in order to avoid trouble from having snuck illegally out of the country; originally known as Isonaga Hikosuke, he took on the name Nagasawa Kanae, and is more known today by the latter.

After some time studying alongside the others, he split off from the group and moved to Aberdeen, in Scotland. In 1867/7, he then traveled to the United States. He settled there and started a vineyard, eventually coming to be known (in Japan, at least) as "the Grape King" (budô-ô).

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References

Plaque at Satsuma students monument outside Kagoshima Chûô train station.[1]