Eugène Emmanuel MERMET CACHON (1828-1889)

Missionary to Japan

He was born on September 10, 1828 at Le Cénetrou in La Pesse, Haut-Jura.

He died in Cannes on March 14, 1889.

Eugene Emmanuel Mermet Cachon

Biography

He was born on September 10, 1828, at Le Cénetrou in La Pesse, Haut-Jura.


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On July 11, 1852, he knocked on the door of the Missions Étrangères seminary on rue du Bac in Paris. He was ordained on June 11, 1854.

Divided between his studies and prayer, he realized his childhood dream of going far away. On August 25, 1854, less than two months after his ordination, Eugène-Emmanuel was sent to Hong Kong. He was 27 years old at the time. He embarked on the Sibylle with Fathers Furet and Girard.

On May 6, 1855, they arrived in Naha, in the RIOU-KIOU islands, a Japanese archipelago whose main island is Okinawa. Father Mermet-Cachon spent two years studying the Japanese language.

Thanks to his knowledge of the language, he was used on a mission by Baron GROS, responsible for officially establishing relations between France and Japan. Despite considerable difficulties, the efforts of Baron Gros, an envoy of Napoleon III, were successful. The first Franco-Japanese friendship and trade treaty was signed on October 9, 1858.

In 1859, Père Mermet-Cachon visited Hakodaté, the main city on the island of Hokkaido. He noted in his diary that he found himself in the midst of snow and bears, battling the cold and the authorities. His many letters recount many details of his rustic life, rich in discoveries.

Around April 1860, he opened his French school, and a major project to build a hospital and school came to nothing, due to limited resources.

Disappointed and humiliated, Father Mermet-Cachon, weakened by illness, left Hakodaté in 1863. Returning to Paris in 1864, he left the Missions Étrangères to undertake scholarly work. He published "Les Aïnous, langue, mœurs, religion".

He prepared the publication of the first French-English-Japanese dictionary.

In 1867, he acted as interpreter between Napoleon III and Yoshitaké at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.

He then remained in France. He then left Paris for the south of France. He married and died in Cannes (Villa Marie) on March 14, 1889.

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