View source for Eugène Collache

{{short description|French Navy officer and samurai}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}

{{Infobox person
| name        = Eugène Collache
| image       = EugeneCollache.jpg
| alt         =
| imagesize   = 200
| caption     = Eugène Collache in samurai attire
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|df=yes|1847|1|29}}
| birth_place = [[Perpignan]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age |df=yes|1883|10|25|1847|1|29}}
| death_place = [[16e arrondissement de Paris]]
| nationality = French
| other_names = 
| known_for   = Western samurai and the [[Boshin War]]
| occupation  = {{Plainlist|
* Adventurer
* Navy officer}}
}}

'''Eugène Collache''' (29 January 1847 in Perpignan – 25 October 1883 in Paris) was a [[French Navy]] officer who fought in Japan for the ''[[shōgun]]'' during the [[Boshin War]].

==Arrival in Japan==

Eugène Collache was an officer of the [[French Navy]] in the 19th century. Based on the ship ''Minerva'' of the French Oriental Fleet, he deserted when the ship was anchored at [[Yokohama]] harbour, with his friend [[Henri Nicol]] to rally other French officers, led by [[Jules Brunet]], who had embraced the cause of the [[Bakufu]] in the [[Boshin War]]. On 29 November 1868, Eugène Collache and Nicol left Yokohama on board a commercial ship, the ''Sophie-Hélène'', chartered by a Swiss businessman.<ref>"Une aventure au Japon", by Eugene Collache, p.49</ref>

==The Boshin War==

[[File:TsugaruReception.jpg|thumb|left|Reception of Eugène Collache by a minister of the Daimyo of Tsugaru]]
The two French officers first reached {{interlanguage link|Samenoura Bay|ja|鮫浦湾}} in the province of [[Nanbu clan|Nanbu]] (modern [[Miyagi Prefecture]]), where they learned that the Imperial forces had subdued the ''[[daimyō]]s'' of Northern Japan, and that the rebel forces favorable to the ''shōgun'' had fled to the island of [[Hokkaidō]]. They went further north to [[Aomori Prefecture|Aomori]], where they were warmly received by the ''daimyō'' of [[Tsugaru Peninsula|Tsugaru]]. A visiting American ship brought them the news that an order of arrest had been issued against them. Eugène Collache and Nicol decided to board the American ship and reached Hokkaidō.

During the winter of 1868–1869, Collache was put in charge of establishing fortifications in the volcanic mountain chain protecting Hakodate (Nicol was put in charge of organizing the Navy).

On 18 May, the decision was taken to make a surprise attack on the Imperial Navy, which was moving north to confront them. Collache thus participated to the [[Naval Battle of Miyako]]. He was on the [[Japanese steam warship Takao|''Takao'']], former ''Aschwelotte'', which he was commanding. The two other ships were the [[Japanese warship Kaiten|''Kaiten'']] and the [[Japanese warship Banryū|''Banryū'']]. The ships encountered bad weather, in which the ''Takao'' suffered from engine trouble, and the ''Banryū'' was separated. The ''Banryu'' eventually returned to Hokkaidō, without joining the battle.

[[File:Takao1869.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Takao'', pursued by steamships of the Imperial Navy]]
To create surprise, the ''Kaiten'' planned to enter Miyako harbour with an American flag. Unable to achieve more than three knots due to engine trouble, the ''Takao'' trailed behind, and the ''Kaiten'' first joined battle. The ''Kaiten'' approached the enemy ships and raised the Bakufu flag seconds before boarding the Imperial warship [[Japanese ironclad Kōtetsu|''Kōtetsu'']]. The ''Kōtetsu'' managed to repel the attack with a [[Gatling]] gun, with huge losses on the attacking side. The ''Kaiten'', pursued by the Imperial fleet, steamed out of Miyako Bay just as the ''Takao'' was entering it. The ''Kaiten'' eventually escaped to Hokkaidō, but the ''Takao'' was unable to flee. Her crew set her on fire before escaping, and she blew up.

===Capture and imprisonment===
[[File:CollacheInPrison.jpg|thumb|Collache in prison in Edo]]
[[File:CollacheTribunal.jpg|thumb|The trial of Eugène Collache in Edo]]

Trying to escape through the mountain, Collache finally surrendered after a few days together with his troops to the Japanese authorities. They were brought to [[Edo]] to be imprisoned. He was judged and condemned to death, but he was eventually pardoned.

He was transferred to [[Yokohama]] on board the French Navy frigate Coëtlogon, where he joined the remaining of the French rebel officers led by [[Jules Brunet]].

==Return to France==

Back in France, he was discharged from the armed forces and court-martialed as a deserter, but the sentence was light, and he was allowed to reenlist for the [[Franco-Prussian War]] together with his friend Nicol.

===Books===

Collache wrote "An Adventure in Japan 1868–1869" ("Une aventure au Japon 1868–1869"), which was published in 1874.

==See also==
* [[William Adams (sailor, born 1564)|William Adams]] (1564–1620), known in Japanese as '''Anjin Miura''' (三浦按針: "the pilot of [[Miura Peninsula|Miura]]"), was an English [[navigator]] who travelled to [[Japan]] and is believed to be the first [[England|Englishman]] ever to reach the country.
* [[Jules Brunet]] (1838–1911) – was a French officer who fought for the ''shōgun'' in the Boshin War and later became a General and Chief of Staff of the French Minister of War in 1898.
* [[Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn|Jan Joosten]] – known in Japanese as '''Yayōsu''' was a Dutch colleague of Adams, and was the only known Dutch samurai. Today, [[Yaesu]] neighborhood in [[Chūō, Tokyo]] is named after him. 
* [[Edward and Henry Schnell|John Henry Schnell]] – known in Japanese as '''Hiramatsu Buhei''' was a Prussian arms dealer, who served the [[Aizu]] domain as a military instructor and procurer of weapons.
* [[List of foreign-born samurai in Japan]]
* [[French military mission to Japan (1867–1868)]]
* [[Franco-Japanese relations]]
* [[Yasuke]]
* [[Wakita Naokata]]
* [[Rinoie Motohiro]]
* [[Yagyū Shume]]

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
* [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k34402b/f52.item Eugène Collache "Une aventure au Japon", in ''Le Tour du Monde'' No. 77, 1874]

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collache, Eugene}}
[[Category:samurai]]
[[Category:French Navy officers]]
[[Category:People of the Boshin War]]
[[Category:1847 births]]
[[Category:1883 deaths]]
[[Category:French prisoners sentenced to death]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Japan]]
[[Category:French people imprisoned in Japan]]
[[Category:Foreign samurai in Japan]]