雑司ケ谷霊園 Joseph Strasser d.1913
Joseph Strasser
1913
============================
Joseph Strasser came to Japan on June 1893 as the valet of Prof. Raphael von Koeber (1848-1923), when he was about seventeen. Strasser had worked as a waiter at Koeber's favorite restaurant in Munich, Bavaria, and his father was the manager of the restaurant.
Because Koeber never went back to Munich after all, his valet (later housekeeper) also was never to return home again. After spending twenty years in Japan, he shot himself on 9 September 1913 at Koeber's house in Tokyo. In his sorrow, Koeber canceled his lecture at Tokyo Imperial University for two weeks.
It is said that Strasser was easygoing, and cheerful man, speaking fluent Japanese. Some said he had been a man of rustic manners and led a dissipated life, sometimes called himself the son of Koeber. Actually, Koeber was a second father to him.
Incidentally, Koeber converted from Russian Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism in 1899. While the Roman Catholic Church refused a suicide's funeral, that was a Deacon Dmitry of his former church, who performed a funeral service for Strasser. This Russian deacon had continued a good friendship with an apostatized professor.
Strasser, who remained single all his life just like his master, now sleeps in the front of his former master's grave at Zoshigaya, far away from his homeland.
[yc]
雑司ケ谷霊園／東京都豊島区
撮影：河野利彦（2015/01）
雑司ケ谷霊園 Joseph Strasser d.1913
Joseph Strasser
1913
============================
Joseph Strasser came to Japan on June 1893 as the valet of Prof. Raphael von Koeber (1848-1923), when he was about seventeen. Strasser had worked as a waiter at Koeber's favorite restaurant in Munich, Bavaria, and his father was the manager of the restaurant.
Because Koeber never went back to Munich after all, his valet (later housekeeper) also was never to return home again. After spending twenty years in Japan, he shot himself on 9 September 1913 at Koeber's house in Tokyo. In his sorrow, Koeber canceled his lecture at Tokyo Imperial University for two weeks.
It is said that Strasser was easygoing, and cheerful man, speaking fluent Japanese. Some said he had been a man of rustic manners and led a dissipated life, sometimes called himself the son of Koeber. Actually, Koeber was a second father to him.
Incidentally, Koeber converted from Russian Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism in 1899. While the Roman Catholic Church refused a suicide's funeral, that was a Deacon Dmitry of his former church, who performed a funeral service for Strasser. This Russian deacon had continued a good friendship with an apostatized professor.
Strasser, who remained single all his life just like his master, now sleeps in the front of his former master's grave at Zoshigaya, far away from his homeland.
[yc]
雑司ケ谷霊園／東京都豊島区
撮影：河野利彦（2015/01）