SHIRASE, Nobu (1861-1946). Chishima Tanken-roku. [in English: Records of Chishima (Kuril Islands)]. Aichi: Heibe Yano, 1901.
8vo (216 x 140 mm). 3 full-page blue-tinted illustrations; 6pp. publisher’s ads printed on purple paper at end. Original pictorial wrappers with blue-tinted illustration on upper cover (few small repairs to spine near ends, original staple protruding at front hinge, some very light edgewear to upper cover); folding cloth chemise with ties and cover label.
SECOND EDITION, originally published in 1897, Chishima Tanken-roku is the first book written by Nobu Shirase, and it gives the account of his two-year expedition in the Kuril Islands.
In 1893, Shirase was an Army lieutenant and member of a 14-member expedition under the command of Captain Shigetada Gunji sent to the Kuril Islands north of Japan. The purpose of the expedition was to investigate poaching of sea otters and Arctic foxes. The ordeal lasted two years with only Shirase and Gunji surviving by living in an ice cave on Shumushu Island. Shumshu is the second-northernmost island of the Kuril Islands chain, which divides the Sea of Okhotsk from the northwest Pacific Ocean. During this ordeal, Shirase presented himself as a passenger to gain passage on one of two Russian poaching ships and sailed to Point Barrow via Vancouver where he spent a year. The poaching ships’ names were the Alexander (Chishima to Alaska, 100-ton) and the Roland (Alaska to Chishima, 100-ton). This was Shirase’s first polar experience, and it helped to reinforce his childhood desire of becoming a polar explorer and conquering the North Pole. It is also notable that this expedition put Shirase in a unique category of heroic age explorers who explored in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Ross 1.1.2.