Dejima


Dejima was a Dutch trading post located in Nagasaki, Japan from 1641 to 1854.
Dejima was a small fan-shaped artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki covering an area of or, and is listed in old Western documents Latinised as Deshima, Decima, Decuma, Desjima, Dezima, Disma, or Disima. Dejima was built in 1634 to house Portuguese traders and separate them from Japanese society by digging a canal through a small peninsula. The Dutch were moved to Dejima in 1641 and during most of the Edo period the island was the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world. Dejima was abolished after the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854 and the island was later integrated into Nagasaki city through land reclamation. In 1922, the "Dejima Dutch Trading Post" was designated a Japanese national historic site.

History

In 1543, the history of direct contacts between Japan and Europe began with the arrival of storm-blown Portuguese merchants on Tanegashima. Six years later the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima. At first Portuguese traders were based in Hirado, but they moved in search of a better port. In 1570 daimyō Ōmura Sumitada converted to Catholicism and made a deal with the Portuguese to develop Nagasaki; soon the port was open for trade. In 1580 Sumitada gave the jurisdiction of Nagasaki to the Jesuits, and the Portuguese obtained the de facto monopoly on the silk trade with China through Macau.
The shōgun Iemitsu ordered the construction of the artificial island in 1634, to accommodate the Portuguese traders living in Nagasaki and prevent the propagation of their religion. This was one of the many edicts put forth by Iemitsu between 1633 and 1639 moderating contact between Japan and other countries. However, in response to the uprising of the predominantly Christian population in the Shimabara-Amakusa region, the Tokugawa government decided to expel the Portuguese in 1639.
Since 1609, the Dutch East India Company had run a trading post on the island of Hirado. The departure of the Portuguese left the Dutch employees of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie as the sole Westerners with trade access to Japan. For 33 years they were allowed to trade relatively freely. At its maximum the Hirado trading post covered a large area.
In 1637 and 1639 stone warehouses were constructed within the ambit of this Hirado trading post. Christian-era year dates were used on the stonework of the new warehouses and these were used in 1640 as a pretext to demolish the buildings and relocate the trading post to Nagasaki.
With the expulsion of the last Portuguese in 1639, Dejima became a failed commercial post and without the annual trading with Portuguese ships from Macau, the economy of Nagasaki suffered greatly. The Dutch were forced by government officials to move from Hirado to Dejima in Nagasaki. From 1641 on, only Chinese and Dutch ships were allowed to come to Japan, and Nagasaki harbor was the only harbor they were allowed to enter.

Regulated prostitution

Dutch men and Chinese men visiting Edo period Tokugawa shogunate Japan patronized Japanese sex workers in brothels who were designated for them. Japanese women designated for Chinese male customers were known as Kara-yuki while Japanese women designated for Dutch men at Dejima were known as Oranda-yuki while Japanese women servicing Japanese men were called Nihon-yuki. Karayuki-san was then used for all Japanese women serving foreigners in sexual capacities during the Meiji period. The Japanese women were offered to Japanese and Chinese customers at a low fee but the price of Japanese women for Dutch customers was expensive and higher. Dutch traders were confined to the designated post at Dejima where Oranda-yuki prostitutes were sent. Initially Chinese men were much less restricted than the Dutch were at Dejimi, Chinese men could live all over Nagasaki and besides having sex with the kara-yuki Japanese prostitutes, the Chinese men were permitted to have sex with Japanese women who weren't prostitutes since 1635, unlike Dutch men who were only permitted to have sex with prostitutes. Later the rules that applied to Dutch were applied to Chinese and Chinese were put in Jūzenji-mura into Tōjun-yashiki, a Chinese settlement in 1688 so they would have sex with the Kara-yuki Japanese prostitutes sent to them. Chinese men developed long term romances with the Japanese women like the Chinese Suzhou merchant Chen Renxie 陳仁謝 with the Japanese Azuyama girl Renzan 連山 who both committed suicide in a lover's pact in 1789, and the Chinese He Minde 何旻德 who pledged eternal love in Yoriai-machi with the Chikugoya Japanese women Towa 登倭. She killed herself to join him in death when he was executed for forgery in 1690. The Chinese men were generous with their expensive presents to the Japanese sex workers and were praised by them for it. The Japanese sex workers violated Japan's laws which only permitted each to spend one night in the Chinese settlement by retracing their steps after reporting to the guards when they left the gate open in the morning. The Japanese issued laws and regulations considering the mixed children born to Japanese women from Maruyama and the foreigner Dutch and Chinese men in the Shōtoku era. The mixed children had to stay in Japan and could not be taken back to China or the Dutch country but their fathers could fund the children's education. The boy Kimpachi 金八 was born to the Iwataya Japanese woman Yakumo 八 and the Nanking Chinese captain Huang Zheqing 黃哲卿. He requested a permit from the Chief Administrator's Office of Nagasaki to trade goods to create a fund his son could live on for all his life, after coming back to Nagasaki at age 71 in 1723. A Hiketaya Japanese woman in Sodesaki 袖笑 gave birth to a son fathered by the Chinese Jiang Yunge 江芸閣 , a poet, painter and sea captain. Yanagawa Seigan and Rai Sanyu were his friends. Chinese dishes, delicacies, sweets and candies were introduced to Japan by Chinese men teaching the Japanese prostitutes they visited how to make them. In the Genroku era a Chinese man taught the Japanese prostitute Ume how to make a plum blossom shaped sugar and rice flour soft sweet called kōsakō. Her name also meant plum blossom. The songs were sung in the Tōsō-on The Kagetsu Entertainment booklet contained information about songs the Chinese men taught to their Japanese prostitute lovers showing that they were sang in Tōsō-on with instruments like hu-kung, ch’i-hsien-ch’in and yüeh-ch’in. The Japanese prostitutes of Maruyama who served the Chinese men in Nagasaki were taught dance, songs and music of Chinese origin. The gekkin were used to play these Kyūrenhwan songs. The Kankan-odori dance accompanied one of these songs which spread in Edo and Kyōto as it gained fame. Exhibitions of the original Chinese style dance were performed in Edo by arranging for the sending of Nagasaki officials managing Chinese affairs and geisha to be sent there by Takahashi Sakuzaemon who was the court astronomer of the Shogunate. He became famous due to the Siebold Incident. Later on the prostitutes were sent to service the Dutch at Dejima after they serviced Chinese at Maruyama being paid for by the Commissioners for Victualing.

Organization

On the administrative level, the island of Dejima was part of the city of Nagasaki. The 25 local Japanese families who owned the land received an annual rent from the Dutch. Dejima was a small island, by, linked to the mainland by a small bridge, guarded on both sides, and with a gate on the Dutch side. It contained houses for about twenty Dutchmen, warehouses, and accommodation for Japanese officials. The Dutch were watched by a number of Japanese officials, gatekeepers, night watchmen, and a supervisor with about fifty subordinates. Numerous merchants supplied goods and catering, and about 150 interpreters served. They all had to be paid by the VOC. As the city of Nagasaki, Dejima was under the direct supervision of Edo through a governor.
Every ship that arrived in Dejima was inspected. Its sails were held by the Japanese until they released the ship to leave. They confiscated religious books and weapons. The Dutch were not allowed to hold any religious services on the island.
Despite the financial burden of maintaining the isolated outpost on Dejima, the trade with Japan was very profitable for the Dutch, initially yielding profits of 50% or more. Trade declined in the 18th century, as only two ships per year were allowed to dock at Dejima. After the bankruptcy of the East-India Company in 1795, the Dutch government took over the exchange with Japan. Times were especially hard when the Netherlands was under French Napoleonic rule. All ties with the homeland were severed at Dejima, and for a while, it was the only place in the world where the Dutch flag was flown.
The chief Dutch official in Japan was called the Opperhoofd by the Dutch, or Kapitan by the Japanese. This descriptive title did not change when the island's trading fell under Dutch state authority. Throughout these years, the plan was to have one incumbent per year with some flexibility.

Trade

Originally, the Dutch mainly traded in silk, cotton, and materia medica from China and India, but sugar became more important later. Also, deer pelts and shark skin were transported to Japan from Taiwan, as well as books, scientific instruments and many other rarities from Europe. In return, the Dutch traders bought Japanese copper, silver, camphor, porcelain, lacquer ware, and rice.
To this was added the personal trade of VOC employees on Dejima, which was an important source of income for them and their Japanese counterparts. They sold more than 10,000 foreign books on various scientific subjects to the Japanese from the end of the 18th to the early 19th century. These became the basis of knowledge and a factor in the Rangaku movement or Dutch studies.

Ships

In all, 606 Dutch ships arrived at Dejima during its two centuries of settlement, from 1641 to 1847.
For two hundred years, foreign merchants were generally not allowed to cross from Dejima to Nagasaki. The Japanese were likewise banned from entering Dejima, except interpreters, cooks, carpenters, clerks and 'Women of Pleasure' from the Maruyama teahouses. These yūjo were handpicked from 1642 by the Japanese, often against their will. From the 18th century, there were some exceptions to this rule, especially following Tokugawa Yoshimune's doctrine of promoting European practical sciences. A few Oranda-yuki were allowed to stay for longer periods, but they had to report regularly to the Japanese guard post. Once a year the Europeans were allowed to attend the festivities at the Suwa-Shrine under escort. Sometimes physicians such as Engelbert Kaempfer, Carl Peter Thunberg, and Philipp Franz von Siebold were called to high-ranking Japanese patients with the permission of the authorities. Starting in the 18th century, Dejima became known throughout Japan as a center of medicine, military science, and astronomy. Many samurai traveled there for "Dutch studies".
In addition, the Opperhoofd was treated like the representative of a tributary state, which meant that he had to pay a visit of homage to the shōgun in Edo. The Dutch delegation traveled to Edo yearly between 1660 and 1790, and once every four years thereafter. This prerogative was denied to the Chinese traders. The lengthy travel to the shogunal court broke the boredom of the Dutch stay, but it was a costly affair. Government officials told them in advance and in detail which gifts were expected at the court, such as astrolabes, a pair of glasses, telescopes, globes, medical instruments, medical books, or exotic animals and tropical birds. In return, the Dutch delegation received some gifts from the shōgun. On arrival in Edo, the Opperhoofd and his retinue had to wait in the Nagasakiya, their mandatory residence, until they were summoned at the court. During the reign of the somewhat eccentric shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, they were expected to perform Dutch dances and songs for the amusement of the shōgun after their official audience, according to Engelbert Kaempfer. But they also used the opportunity of their stay of about two to three weeks in the capital to exchange knowledge with learned Japanese and, under escort, to visit the town.

New introductions to Japan

Following the forced opening of Japan by US Navy Commodore Perry in 1854, the Bakufu suddenly increased its interactions with Dejima in an effort to build up knowledge of Western shipping methods. The Nagasaki Naval Training Center, a naval training institute, was established in 1855 by the government of the shōgun at the entrance of Dejima, to enable maximum interaction with Dutch naval know-how. The center was equipped with Japan's first steamship, the Kankō Maru, given by the government of the Netherlands the same year. The future Admiral Enomoto Takeaki was one of the students of the Training Center.

Reconstruction

The Dutch East India Company's trading post at Dejima was abolished when Japan concluded the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US in 1858. This ended Dejima's role as Japan's only window on the Western world during the era of national isolation. Since then, the island was expanded by reclaimed land and merged into Nagasaki. Extensive redesigning of Nagasaki Harbor in 1904 obscured its original location. The original footprint of Dejima Island has been marked by rivets; but as restoration progresses, the of the island will be easier to see at a glance.
Dejima today is a work in progress. The island was designated a national historic site in 1922, but further steps were slow to follow. Restoration work was started in 1953, but that project languished. In 1996, restoration of Dejima began with plans for reconstructing 25 buildings in their early 19th-century state. To better display Dejima's fan-shaped form, the project anticipated rebuilding only parts of the surrounding embankment wall that had once enclosed the island. Buildings that remained from the Meiji period were to be used.
In 2000, five buildings including the Deputy Factor's Quarters were completed and opened to the public. In the spring of 2006, the finishing touches were put on the Chief Factor's Residence, the Japanese Officials' Office, the Head Clerk's Quarters, the No. 3 Warehouse, and the Sea Gate. Currently, some 10 buildings throughout the area have been restored.
In 2017, six new buildings, as well as the 'Omotemon-Bashi Bridge', were restored. The bridge was officially opened in attendance of members of the Japanese and Dutch royal families.
The long-term planning intends that Dejima will be surrounded by water on all four sides; its characteristic fan-shaped form and all of its embankment walls will be fully restored. This long-term plan will include large-scale urban redevelopment in the area. To make Dejima an island again will require rerouting the Nakashima River and moving a part of Route 499.

Chronology

Opperhoofd is a Dutch word which literally means 'supreme head'. The Japanese used to call the trading post chiefs kapitan which is derived from Portuguese capitão. In its historical usage, the word is a gubernatorial title, comparable to the English Chief factor, for the chief executive officer of a Dutch factory in the sense of trading post, as led by a Factor, i.e. agent.

Notable ''opperhoofden'' at Hirado

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