Remembering Texas and the Battle of the Alamo in Japan
How a poem by a Japanese scholar further glorified the most mythologized event in the history of Texas.
In the Alamo Convent Courtyard, a few meters away from the sand colored stone structure known as the Long Barrack, where in the early morning hours of March 6, 1836 some of the last Alamo defenders succumbed to the pre-dawn Mexican onslaught, stands a small stone monument. A poem in classical Chinese is inscribed on the stone.
The poem, composed in September 1914 by Shiga Shigetaka – a Japanese scholar, world traveler, popular writer, and eminent geographer – vividly describes the thirteen days of the siege and subsequent battle over the Alamo Mission, located in San Antonio, Texas. It begins:
One hundred fifty are besieged by five thousand;
Not only the provisions but the ammunition is all gone.
Thirty-two men hear the news and hurry to the scene.
The heavy strokes of their sabers lead them into the fortress, through the ranks of the enemy to see
The commander of the fortress wet with blood,
And his men reeling against the walls with exhaustion but with swords in hand.
The Battle of the Alamo is the most momentous event of the Texas Revolution. It took place on March 6, 1836, when a Mexican Army commanded by then Mexican-president, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, took the Alamo Mission by storm, killing all of its defenders (estimated between 182 to 257 strong). Those killed included commanding officers William B. Travis and James Bowie, as well as the American folk hero and politician, David Crockett. Prior to the battle the Mexican troops had hoisted a blood-red flag signifying no quarter.