Cocochine shishis who came to Japan

Abstract

Every time the Journey-to-the-East Movement (known as the Đông Du Movement in Vietnamese) is mentioned, people quickly think of Phan Bội Châu and his comrades from Northern Vietnam/Tonkin and a part of Middle Vietnam/Annam called Thanh Nghệ. Actually, the movement attracted many more patriotic scholars from Southern Vietnam/Cochinchina than those from Northern/Tonkin and Middle Vietnam/Annam. Many of them had suffered prison and exile or even died in prison or in remote countries. Scholars such as Trần Chánh Chiếu, Nguyễn Thần Hiến, Trương Duy Toản, and Nguyễn Háo Vĩnh were not only famous writers in the Southern Vietnamese/Cochinchinese literary and press world but also leading patriotic scholars in the Journey-to-the-East Movement. This paper will try to find out, amongst the patriotic scholars coming to Japan in the Journey-to-the-East Movement, who were from Southern Vietnam/Cochinchina, and what they did before, during, and after their visit to Japan. This finding will help to clarify a historical issue that has not been mentioned yet.