The Marginalia of the Deshima Diaries

Extract

As is well-known, between 1639 and 1853 the only officially allowed communication between Japan and the rest of the world flowed through the single Dutch trading post on Deshima island in the bay of Nagasaki. Even before this, and indeed for a short time thereafter, the Dutch trading establishment there provided a spyhole through which Europeans could observe some of what went on in the Land of the Rising Sun and through which Japanese could gain some insight into the rest of the world. It is therefore not surprising that since the 1880s the archives of the Dutch factory have been seen as an important source for the history of Japan. In particular the daily Daghregister (or Journal) which is unbroken between 1633 and 1860, forms the basic key to the records of the Deshima factory, especially during the annual journey to the court in Edo (Tokyo).