List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868

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This list contains notable Europeans and Americans who visited Japan before the Meiji Restoration. The name of each individual is followed by the year of the first visit, the country of origin, and a brief explanation.

Contents

16th century

17th century

(Note: In 1639, the Japanese government promulgated the Sakoku policy, which prohibited foreigners from entering Japanese territory. The only exceptions were Dutch traders and associated workers permitted to live on Dejima Island. This policy lasted until 1854.)

18th century

19th century

See also

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The Convention of Kanagawa, also known as the Kanagawa Treaty or the Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity, was a treaty signed between the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate on March 31, 1854. Signed under threat of force, it effectively meant the end of Japan's 220-year-old policy of national seclusion (sakoku) by opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American vessels. It also ensured the safety of American castaways and established the position of an American consul in Japan. The treaty precipitated the signing of similar treaties establishing diplomatic relations with other Western powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dejima</span> Former artificial island in Nagasaki

Dejima or Deshima, in the 17th century also called Tsukishima, was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, it was the central conduit for foreign trade and cultural exchange with Japan during the isolationist Edo period (1600–1869), and the only Japanese territory open to Westerners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tokugawa shogunate</span> 1603–1868 Japanese military government

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<i>Bakumatsu</i> 1853–1867 final years of the Edo period of Japan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emperor Higashiyama</span> Emperor of Japan from 1687 to 1709

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tokugawa Iemitsu</span> Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate (1604–1651)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirado, Nagasaki</span> City in Kyushu, Japan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Peter Thunberg</span> Swedish naturalist (1743–1828)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Ships</span> 16th-19th-century Japanese term for Western vessels

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<i>Kirishitan</i> Term for Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">An'ei</span> Period of Japanese history (1772–1781)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Sotelo</span> Spanish missionary

Luis Sotelo, OFM, in English known also as Louis Sotelo, was a Franciscan friar from Spain who died as a martyr in Japan, in 1624, and was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1867.

<i>Sakoku</i> Japanese isolationist policy from 1633–1853

Sakoku is the most common name for the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, during the Edo period, relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and almost all foreign nationals were banned from entering Japan, while common Japanese people were kept from leaving the country. The policy was enacted by the shogunate government (bakufu) under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633 to 1639. The term sakoku originates from the manuscript work Sakoku-ron (鎖國論) written by Japanese astronomer and translator Shizuki Tadao in 1801. Shizuki invented the word while translating the works of the 17th-century German traveller Engelbert Kaempfer concerning Japan. Japan was not completely isolated under the sakoku policy. Sakoku was a system in which strict regulations were placed on commerce and foreign relations by the shogunate and certain feudal domains. There was extensive trade with China through the port of Nagasaki, in the far west of Japan, with a residential area for the Chinese. The policy stated that the only European influence permitted was the Dutch factory at Dejima in Nagasaki. Western scientific, technical and medical innovations flowed into Japan through Rangaku. Trade with Korea was limited to the Tsushima Domain and the wakan in Choryang. There were also diplomatic exchanges done through the Joseon Tongsinsa from Korea. Trade with the Ainu people was limited to the Matsumae Domain in Hokkaidō, and trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom took place in Satsuma Domain. Apart from these direct commercial contacts in peripheral provinces, trading countries sent regular missions to the shōgun in Edo and at Osaka Castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melchior van Santvoort</span> Dutch sailor who travelled to Japan (c. 1570 – 1641)

Melchior van Santvoort was one of the first Dutchmen in Japan, was a purser on the Dutch ship De Liefde, which was stranded in Japan in 1600. Some of his shipmates were Jacob Quaeckernaeck, Jan Joosten, and William Adams. Van Santvoort remained in Japan, where he spent 39 years as a merchant in Nagasaki.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janus Henricus Donker Curtius</span>

Jan Hendrik Donker Curtius was the last Opperhoofd of the Dutch trading post in Japan (1852-1855), located at Dejima an artificial island in the harbor of Nagasaki. To negotiate with the Japanese government for a treaty, he received the title "Dutch Commissioner in Japan" in 1855.

Hendrik Godfried Duurkoop was a Dutch merchant-trader and VOC Opperhoofd in Japan. During his career with the Dutch East Indies Company, he worked on Dejima, a small artificial island in the harbor of Nagasaki, Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VOC opperhoofden in Japan</span> Heads of the Dutch trading post in Japan

VOC opperhoofden in Japan were the chief traders of the Dutch East India Company in Japan during the period of the Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the Edo period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch missions to Edo</span>

The Dutch East India Company missions to Edo were regular tribute missions to the court of the Tokugawa shōgun in Edo to reassure the ties between the Bakufu and the Opperhoofd. The Opperhoofd of the Dutch factory in Dejima and his attendants were escorted by the Japanese to Edo where they presented exotic and elaborate gifts to the shōgun: clocks, telescopes, medicines, artillery and rare animals were usual gifts of the tribute missions. The shōgun would correspond at the same time with gifts to the Dutch. The tribute system, as in China, served to enhance the idea of the shōgun's supremacy to his subjects.

<i>Nanban</i> trade 1543–1614 period of Japanese history

Nanban trade or the Nanban trade period was a period in the history of Japan from the arrival of Europeans in 1543 to the first Sakoku Seclusion Edicts of isolationism in 1614. Nanban is a Japanese word which had been used to designate people from Southern China, the Ryukyu Islands, the Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia centuries prior to the arrival of the first Europeans. For instance, according to the Nihon Kiryaku (日本紀略), Dazaifu, the administrative center of Kyūshū, reported that the Nanban pirates, who were identified as Amami islanders by the Shōyūki, pillaged a wide area of Kyūshū in 997. In response, Dazaifu ordered Kikaijima (貴駕島) to arrest the Nanban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirado Dutch Trading Post</span>

The Hirado Dutch Trading Post was a trading base of the Dutch East India Company on the island of Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture Japan. It was established in 1609 and lasted for 33 years. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1922.

References

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