Samuel Cocking (19 March 1845 in Camberwell London – 26 February 1914 in Yokohama, Japan) was a merchant in Yokohama arriving in 1869, shortly after the “Opening of Japan”. Although he was born in Ireland, he moved with his parents to Australia at a young age and grew up mostly in Melbourne. In Japan he is known for the large greenhouse (660 m2 (7,100 sq ft)) and gardens that he developed in Enoshima that bears his name. However, a lot about his life and achievements are still not common knowledge in Japan.
He married Miyata Riki in 1872. Although Cocking and Miyata Riki did not have any children of their own, they adopted Miyata Riki's niece after her mother died at a young age. Cocking is buried in the Miyata family plot in a Buddhist cemetery in Yokohama, which is unusual for foreigners living in Japan at that time. Most foreigners (including Cocking's younger sister Florence who died shortly after joining her brother in Japan) were interred at the well known and well researched foreigners cemetery in Yokohama.
His company, “Cocking & Co” specialized in trading Japanese curios, art and antiques as well as importing chemicals, drugs, scientific and laboratory apparatus. He imported carbolic acid (phenol) which was used as a disinfectant, particularly against cholera. It is noted during one cholera outbreak he distributed his stock of carbolic acid free of charge. He exported peppermint oil – refined from peppermint grown in Yamagata prefecture. He is credited for introducing soap, bicycles, the electric lightbulb to Japan. He was also heavily involved in the fledgling photographic industry in Japan, importing photographic materials and chemicals and organizing the first photographic society in Japan. He also helped the foundation of Konishi Honten, a photographic store that would become Konica.
In 1880, he purchased (in his wife’s name) the highlands, including derelict Buddhist shrines, on the island of Enoshima and began building the botanical gardens and a villa. The State Shinto 'Abolish the Buddha. Destroy Sakyamuni' policy Haibutsu kishaku (廃仏毀釈) of the new Meiji government had made the land available.
It was during the years of anti-Buddhist sentiment in Japan that Cocking was heavily involved in the Japanese curios trade. One famous incident involved Cocking being offered the Kamakura Daibutsu for 'a song'. He refused to buy the Daibutsu – no doubt[citation needed] feeling it had too much cultural importance to Japan and should remain in the country.
In 1887, he added a power plant (which was later the origin of the Yokohama Cooperative Electric Light Company). His garden is now operated by the city of Fujisawa as the Samuel Cocking Garden renamed after remains of Cocking's greenhouse were rediscovered during renovation work on the lighthouse and gardens.
SamuelCocking (19 March 1845 in Camberwell London – 26 February 1914 in Yokohama, Japan) was a merchant in Yokohama arriving in 1869, shortly after the...
The SamuelCocking Garden (江の島サムエル・コッキング苑, Enoshima Samueru Kokkingu En), also known as the Enoshima Tropical Plants Garden, is a small botanical garden...
government had made the land available, much of the uplands was purchased by SamuelCocking, a British merchant, in his Japanese wife's name. He developed a power...
Look up cocking in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Cocking may refer to: Cocking affair, an attempt in 1941 by Georgia governor Eugene Talmadge to exert...
Observatory Lighthouse, is an observation tower and lighthouse located in the SamuelCocking Garden on the small tidal island of Enoshima in Fujisawa, Kanagawa,...
lilies, though the species of lily is not clarified. The mint exporter SamuelCocking of Yokohama also exported lilies from the early 1800s, presumably of...
internationally oriented Japanese city. In 1887, a British merchant, SamuelCocking, built the city's first power plant. At first for his own use, this...
Samuel or Sam Cox may refer to: Samuel Cox (minister) (1826–1893), English Baptist minister and Christian universalist Samuel Cox Jr. (1847–1906), American...
II of Belgium. In Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by SamuelCocking, a British merchant who exported herbs. In the 20th century, the geodesic...
Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member...
relationship with Yuki and human social interactions. She works at the SamuelCocking Garden in Enoshima. Coco (ココ, Koko) Voiced by: Emiri Katō (Japanese);...
spaniels. By 1801, the smaller variety of land spaniel was called the Cocker or Cocking Spaniel, so named for its use in flushing woodcock. According to historical...
Cock-lane". Works such as The Orators (1762) by Samuel Foote, were soon available. Farcical poems such as Cock-lane Humbug were released, theatres staged plays...
self-cocking mode. The accepted meaning of "double-action" has come to be the same as "self-cocking", so modern revolvers that cannot be pre-cocked are...
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Britannica. Crow Country was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction (2008). Cocker is a co-founder of the Oriental Bird Club, a founding...
by Edward Cocker, Philomath (1664), is preserved in the British Museum. Samuel Pepys, in his Diary, makes very favourable mention of Cocker, who appears...
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English...
in that it allowed the shooter to rotate the cylinder by the action of cocking the hammer, with an attached pawl turning the cylinder, which was then...
incorporated into the Colt Paterson. The trigger became visible only upon cocking the hammer. A subsequent patent renewal in 1849, and aggressive litigation...
the surname Cocks, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. One creation is extant as of 2008. The Cocks Baronetcy,...
SamuelCocking, Bus Driver, Bristol Omnibus Co. Ltd. Philomena Mary Coghlan (Sister Philomena), Leader, Wigton Boys' Club, Cumbria. Reginald Samuel James...
holding it there. When the cocking handle is rotated closed, the cocking cam disengages but the striker is retained in the cocked position by the trigger...
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