A beautifully illustrated and highly important manuscript recording the life of Dutch and Chinese merchants in Nagasaki in the first decade of the 19th century. This manuscript is closely related to one that Tazawa Harufusa (dates unknown) wrote at the same time entitled “Nagasaki Kibun” [Journal of Nagasaki], a manuscript which was only published in facsimile in 1930 (Tokyo, Kicho Tosho Eihon Kankokai). Much of the text and the illustrations are identical. A further copy of the book by Tazawa entitled: Nagasaki zatsuran zutetsu is located in Kyoto University Library which includes a preface where he explains the he travelled from Edo to Nagasaki in 1804, made sketches on the spot, and returned home in the following year. He appears to have travelled in an official capacity, but nothing else is known about his background.
The first volume opens with a chapter relating to the origins of the Nagasaki Clan who were originally retainers of the Tokuso family during the Kamakura period. This is followed by illustrations of two famous stone bridges: The first called Magane-bashi [Eye-glasses Bridge, due to its shape], which was originally built across the Nakashima river by a Chinese monk in 1634, the other a single arch stone bridge together with text on a monument describing its reconstruction after it was damaged in a flood. This is followed by a painting of the Ohado wharf where Dutch goods were unloaded and inspected. This was also the entrance to the Western Office (Nishi yakusho) of the Nagasaki Magistrate (Nagasaki bugyo), which was itself facing Deshima island. There is a spectacular panorama of Nagasaki Bay drawn from the high vantage point of Fukusaiji Temple, followed by plates of a number of checkpoints (gobansho) on either side of the bay, keeping a close watch on all the incoming and leaving vessels. Interestingly, the text provides details on the number of canons for each of these fortresses, information which would have been strictly confidential.
The next chapter deals with the visit of the Russian envoy Nicolai Rezanov (1764-1807) who arrived in Nagasaki on October 9th, 1804. It includes two double-paged plates of the Russian delegation and their quarters at Umegasaki. The first image shows Rezanov, his officers as well as a group of armed soldiers and flag-bearers arriving at the compound. Interestingly Rezanov is shown with his sword drawn as he addresses his men. This was completely unacceptable in Japanese samurai culture and during the negotiations Rezanov was asked to hand over his sword, something he strongly objected to. It is a classic example of a cultural gap, with each group taking offence when none had been intended. They left on left on April 5th, 1805, having achieved very little.
There is a detailed description of a bronze fumie panel (incl. dimensions), which was still in use in Nagasaki until the 1850s. The accompanying text explains that the men and women of Nagasaki were ordered to step on these panels during the New Year, and when the Chinese ships arrived, the Chinese were required to do the same, but that the red-haired people (Dutch) did not step on it. This is followed by a generic account of a Dutch voyage across the seas, as well as conditions onboard his ship. There is a detailed aerial view of the island of Deshima together with all the buildings, gardens and the main gate as well as some technical details and features aboard a Dutch ship (cannon, anchor, whinges, steering-wheel, and the name of a Dutch ship 'Zuiderburg' which had visited Nagasaki in 1790), and aspects of the rigging. The rest of the book is devoted to the life-style of the Dutch in Deshima, featuring a chandelier, a mirror, a painting of a woman, a street lantern, window-frames, and writing implements in the house of the Opperhoofd (kapitan), the Dutch manner of eating from a table, and the grizzly scene of an amputation of an arm performed by a Dutch surgeon. Javanese musicians and dancers as well as pieces of Dutch clothing are also illustrated. The final chapter provides a list of the Dutch alphabet as well as the numbers from 1 to 30,000 together with the Dutch pronunciation using katakana phonetic syllabary.
The second volume gives a description of the Chinese merchants in Nagasaki. It opens with a list of the names of Chinese vessels and their owners as well as the votive tablets they used. There are plates of the painted stern of a Chinese vessel, anchors, sails, rigging, a view of a merchant junk, Chinese store-houses and mooring places providing direct access to the barges transferring the goods, as well as three variants of the coats worn by day labourers. The Chinese volume of trade was at least twice as big as the Dutch which in the late 18th century had been frozen at 700kanme of silver per year. Thereafter we find a detailed rendition of the walled enclosure where the Chinese merchants lived (tojin yashiki) extending over three pages. Other plates illustrate the habits of the Chinese, fruit, flower and incense burners, writing utensils, baskets, flasks, matting and trunks used for transporting goods, table manners, as well as a series of plates illustrating Chinese theatre, official costumes (incl. hats), as well as images of a Chinese graveyard as well as a Western grave with details of the inscription (“sine mora volat hora”) on the grave-stone. This grave belonged to Hendrik Duurkoop (1736-1778), who was opperhoofd in Nagasaki from 1776 to 1778 but his name and details are omitted from the illustration. The manuscript ends with reproductions of the carved wooden tablets (jap. gakuren) as well as couplet tablets (jap. tairen) that were affixed to the gates and suspended in the main halls of Sofukuji and Fukusaiji, both of them Chinese temples in Nagasaki.
Provenance: From the Gansuido collection. Gansuido was the first private school in Osaka which was open to people from all walks of life. It was founded in 1717 by Tsuchihashi Tomonao (1685-1730) in order to give a Confucian education to all who could afford it.
