“How justly therefore, how deservedly accused stand History of Japan (1727), vol. 2, Appendix p. 52 ff.

the Japanese of a signal breach of the laws of nature, (download link: https://app.box.com/s/

of an open disregard of the Supreme Will of the e3m0ilmf63k3sg88lka4q5xqxnkairib)

Allwise Creator, of a wilful infraction of the laws of

the society, which it was his intention should be for
ever among men? To shut up the Empire, as they do, to “Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, who now sits on the secular

deny a! accession and commerce to foreigners, to repe! Throne of Japan, is a Prince of great prudence and

them by force, if any there be who attempt to enter, to conduct, and heir of the virtues and good qualities of

keep the natives, as it were, prisoners within the bounds his predecessors, and withal eminent for his singular

of their own Country, to sentence to perpetual clemency and mildness, though a strict maintainer of

imprisonment, as fugitives, even those whom storms the Laws of the Country. Bred up in the Philosophy

and distress of weather forced away upon other coasts, of Confucius, he governs the Empire, as the state of

to condemn to the Cross those who leave the Country of the Country, and the good of his people require.

their own choice, either out of dissatisfaction, or with Happy and flourishing is the condition of his subjects

an intent to see other transmarine parts of the world, to under his reign. United and peaceable, taught to give

imprison those who have the misfortune to be driven due worship to the Gods, due obedience to the Laws

upon their coasts by storms or shipwrecks: What is it due submission to their Superiors, due love and

else but breaking through the laws of nature, and the regard to their Neighbours, civil, obliging, virtuous,

All-wise order which the Supreme Being established in art and industry exceeding all other nations,

in the world.” possess'd of an excellent Country, enrich'd by mutual

Trade and Commerce among themselves, couragious,

Engelbert Kaempfer, ‘An Enquiry, whether it be conducive for abundantly provided with all the necessaries of life,

the good of the Japanese Empire, to keep it shut up…’, in The and withal enjoying the fruits of peace and
tranquillity. Such a train of prosperities must needs
convince us, whether we reflect on their former loose
way of life, or consult the Histories of the remotest
ages, That this Country was never in a happier
condition than it now is, governed by an arbitrary
Monarch, shut up, and kept "om a! Commerce and
Communication with foreign nations.”
Kaempfer, ibid., 1727; re-translated into Japanese 1801
The German Kaempfer spent two years in Japan between 1690–
92 working as a doctor for the Dutch East India Company
(VOC) in Nagasaki. His account of Japan was published first in
an English translation in 1727 and a Dutch re-translation was
rendered into Japanese in 1801 by Nagasaki interpreter Shizuki
Tadao. The text ended up becoming an important reference for
scholars and officials of the last decades of the Tokugawa order
and a source of knowledge about Western perception of Japan.
Shizuki Tadao’s translation of the ‘shut up’ country from
Kaempfer’s title coined the neologism sakoku that textbooks still
often use to describe what happened in the seventeenth century
Japan under the early Tokugawa rulers.
Further reference:
David Mervart, ‘Closed Country in the Open Seas: Engelbert
Kaempfer’s Japanese Solution for European Modernity’s
Predicament’, Journal of the History of European Ideas 35:3 (2009), pp.
321–9 (download link: https://www.academia.edu/174219/
_A_Closed_Country_in_the_Open_Seas_Engelbert_Kaempfer_s_Jap
anese_Solution_for_European_Modernity_s_Predicament_Journal_o
f_History_of_European_Ideas_35_3_2009_)
W. J. Boot, ‘‘Shizuki Tadao’s Sakokuron’, in The Patriarch of Dutch
Learning Shizuki Tadao (1760– 1806), edited by W. J. Boot and W. G.
J. Remmelink (Tokyo: Japan-Netherlands Institute, 2008), pp. 88–
106 (download link: https://app.box.com/s/
iayl3xbrf2vuwtrcv4&p7jvc7p3uge6)
Hiraishi Naoaki, ‘E. Kaempfer’s Treatise on Japan’s Policy of
Seclusion and Its Influence on Japan’s Decision to Open the
Country’, Japonica Humboldtiana 3 (1999), pp. 167-181 (download link:
https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/7358)
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“And towards night the secretary of [Tokugawa
chancellor] Doi Toshikatsu came and visited me at
my lodging, and brought me a present of a hen; and
amongst other speeches he began to talk of the
padres, and that it were good we had no conversation
with them. Whereupon I took occasion to answer
him that he needed not to doubt us, for they were
enemies to us and to the state of England, and would
destroy us all if they could. But that it would be good
if he advised the Emperor to take heed of them, lest
they did not go about to serve him as they had done
the Kings of England, in going about to kill and
poison them or to blow them up with gunpowder, and
stirring up the subjectes to rebell against their
natural prince, for which they were all banished out
of England.”
… were banished out of England before I was borne, the
“The emperor [Tokugawa Hidetada] has banished all
the Jesuits, priests, & friars, and pulled down all
their churches and monasteries. They put the fault in
the arrival of the English in Japan.”
Richard Cocks, Diary, Sept. 7, 1616
Diary of Richard Cocks, Cape-Merchant in the English Factory on
Japan, vol. 1, p. 173
(download link: https://archive.org/details/diaryofrichardco01cock/
page/172)
“… once I thought we should have lost all our
privelegese [trading privileges], for the Councell
sent unto us I think above twenty tymes [times] to
know whether the English nation were Christians or
no. I answerd we were, and that they knew that
before by our Kinges Maties. [Majesty’s] letter sent
to the Emperour his father [Tokugawa Ieyasu] (and
hym selfe [Tokugawa Hidetada]), wherein it apeared
he was defender of the Christian faith. ‘But’, said
they, ‘are not the Jesuists and fryres Christians two
[too]?’ Unto which I answerd they were, but not such
as we were, for that all Jesuists and fryres [Friars]
English nation not houlding with the pope nor his
doctryne, whose followers these padres (as they cald
them) weare [were]. Yt [It] is strang to see how often
they sent to me about this matter, and in the end gave
us waynyng that we did not comunecate, confesse,
nor baptiz [baptise] with them, for then they should
hold us to be all of one sect. Unto which I replied that
their Honours needed not to stand in dowbt [doubt]
of any such matter, for that was not the custom of our
nation.”
 Richard Cocks, Letter to the headquarters of the East India
Company, January 1, 1617, Hirado
Diary of Richard Cocks, Cape-Merchant in the English Factory on
Japan, vol. 2, p. 280
Cocks, a former spy working undercover in France, became the head
of the English East India Company’s trading station in Hirado, off
Kyūshū, in the years around Tokugawa Ieyasu’s death and full takover
of power by his son Hidetada, a period which coincided with the
toughening of the Tokugawa government’s stance on the spread of
Catholic Christianity as proselytised by the Portuguese-sponsored
Jesuits and the Spanish-sponsored Franciscans and Dominicans.
Cocks’s diaries and letters from the period, atrociously spelt as they
are, are an important external source for this watershed moment in
early modern history.
Further reference:
Timon Screech, ‘The English and the Control of Christianity in the
Early Edo Period’, Japan Review 24 (2012), pp. 3–40 (download link:
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/21092/1/CofE%20Published.pdf)
Mark Ravina, ‘Tokugawa, Romanov, and Khmer: The Politics of
Trade and Diplomacy in Eighteenth-Century East Asia’, Journal of
World History 26:2 (2015), pp. 269-294.
(download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/72bm62h2ym9qkkm/
Mark%20Ravina%20%28WHJ%202015%29%20Tokugawa%2C%2
0Romanov%2C%20and%20Khmer--
The%20Politics%20of%20Trade%20and%20Diplomacy%20in%20
Eighteenth-Century%20East%20Asia.pdf?dl=0)
Suzuki Shōgo, ‘Europe at the Periphery of the Japanese World
Order’, in Suzuki Shogo, Zhang Yongjing, and Joel Quirk, eds.,
International Orders in Early Modern World: Before the Rise of the West
(Abingdon: Routledge, 2014), pp. 76–93.
(download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6zaz9qez0ks5a5b/
Suzuki%20Shogo%2C%20Yongjing%20Zhang%20%E2%9D%98%
20International%20Orders%20in%20Early%20Modern%20World.
pdf ?dl=0)
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“[Christianity of the first three centuries of its
history] was a benign, gentle and patient religion
which recommended subjects to submit to their
sovereigns; nor did it aspire to raise itself to thrones
by way of rebellion. But the Christianity which was
preached to the non-believers of the sixteenth
century was no such thing: it was a bloody and
murderous religion which had become accustomed to
slaughtering for five or six hundred years. It had
contracted a deeply entrenched habit of sustaining
itself and expanding its dominions by putting to the
sword all those who resisted it. The stake and the
gibbet, the terrifying tribunal of the Inquisition,
crusades, papal bulls to incite subjects to rebel,
seditious preachers, conspiracies, and assassinations
of princes, were the ordinary methods they employed
against those who did not submit to their commands.
[…] The best choice the Japanese could have made
would have been to convert to the true God: but not
having su&cient illumination to renounce their false
religion there remained a choice only between
persecuting and being persecuted.They could
preserve their traditional government and their
traditional worship only by ridding themselves of the
Christians. For the latter, sooner or later, would have
ruined both these institutions as soon as they had
been capable of making war. They would have armed
all their proselytes and they would have introduced
into the country the support and the cruel maxims of
the Spaniards. And by means of killing and hanging,
as in America, they would have brought all Japan
under their yoke. Thus when one considers these
matters only from the perspective of public policy
one is obliged to acknowledge that the persecution
su'ered by Christians in that country was a
consequence of the means which prudence uses to
forestall the overthrow of the monarchy and the
dishonour of the state.”
Pierre Bayle, Dictionnaire historique et critique (1695, English
translation, London, 1734)
Pierre Bayle, a French Huguenot (Calvinist) refugee from a wave
of oppression and forcible re-Catholicisation of Protestants
under the most Catholic king Louis XIV. Writing from
Rotterdam, Bayle becomes one of the chief European voices in
favour of religious toleration. He is often considered one of the
most important and consequential theorists of the principle of
toleration in Europe.
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“[The Jesuit Sidotti] states: ‘This teaching
[Christianity] holds that God, through his creation of
Heaven, Earth and all the multifarious things is the
Great King and Great Father. If we do not love our
father, or if we do not respect our king, then that is
going against loyalty (chū) and against filial piety (kō).
So we must serve our Great King and Great Father
[God] and fulfill our love and respect to him.’
[In countering this I say:] In the Book of Rites, there
are rites whereby the emperor serves Shangdi [or The
Lord on High, Heaven (the term that Ricci and other China
Jesuits equated with God)], but there are not rites whereby
the feudal lords [the rank beneath the emperor] or
anyone below them [anyone other than the emperor]
would dare to o'er sacrifice to [worship] Heaven.
Such practice would confuse the positions of status
and respect, causing disorder. The feudal lord should
serve the king in place of [as the representative of]
Heaven, the son serve the father in place of Heaven,
the wife should serve her husband in place of Heaven.
In this manner, by serving the king we show loyalty
(chū), this is how we serve Heaven. By serving our
husband we show righteousness, this is how we serve
Heaven. Outside of the three cords [these three set
social relations between sovereign and vassal, parent and
child, husband and wife] there is no way to properly
serve Heaven. If there is a ‘Great King’ other than
our own king whom we serve, or a ‘Great Father’
other than our own father whom we serve, then that
means our respect is not directed towards our own
king and father, that means we would have two heads
in our household and two kings of our lands, it would
mean we forsake our father and forsake our king, and
there is nothing worse than that. Even if we say for
instance that the [Christian] teaching itself does not
extend to the forsaking of kings and fathers,
nonetheless, its propagation among the people would
most certainly lead to the extermination of kings and
fathers; and that is why we should not reconsider the
current prohibition.”
Arai Hakuseki, Seiyō kibun (Overheard Tales from the West),
in Nihon Shisō Taikei 35, p. 66–67.
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“It is because of the danger of such occurrences that
in Europe a king governs his subjects with benevolent
solicitude. It is considered to be the appointed duty
of a king to save his people from hunger and cold by
shipping and trading. This is the reason there are no
bandits in Europe. A similar approach would be
 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
especially applicable to Japan, which is a maritime
nation. It is obvious that transport and trade are
“I have read the Western histories and know their
essential functions of the government.
voraciousness. In the beginning they come begging
…
for trade, all meek and deferential; once permitted to
It is for this reason that all the treasures of the world
trade, they o'er plentiful presents in return for a
are said to be attracted to Europe. There is nowhere
lease of land; once granted the land, they fortify it
the Europeans’ ships do not go in order to obtain the
and put garrisons in place; then they wait for an
di'erent products and treasures of the world. They
unguarded moment to avail themselves of the
trade their own rare products, superior implements,
opportunity. This is the stratagem by which they have
and unusual inventions for the precious metals and
made themselves masters of all the countries in the
valuable goods of others, which they bring back to
south seas.”
enrich their own countries. Their prosperity makes
them strong, and it is because of their strength that
Nagayama Choen, Shin-ei senki (On the War between the Qing
they are never invaded or pillaged, whereas for their
and the English), 1848
part they have invaded countless non-European
countries.”
Further reference:
Mitani Hiroshi, Escape 'om Impasse: The Decision to Open Japan
Honda Toshiaki, Keisei hisaku (A Secret Plan for Government), (Tokyo: International House of Japan, 2006)
1798 (download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2ivmq8r4whgwfcx/
Translated in Donald Keene, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, Mitani%20Hiroshi%20%282006%29%20Escape%20from%20I
1720–1830 mpasse.pdf ?dl=0)
(download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/
0B87EKaUCwsPMTm93cWhuOFlQNzA/view?usp=sharing) ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“We know that the ancient laws of your imperial
majesty’s government do not allow of foreign trade,
except with the Chinese and the Dutch; but as the
state of the world changes and new governments are
formed, it seems to be wise, from time to time, to
make new laws. There was a time when the ancient
laws of your imperial majesty’s government were
first made.
About the same time America, which is
sometime called the New World, was first discovered
and settled by the Europeans. For a long time there
were but a few people, and they were poor. They have
now become quite numerous; their commerce is very
extensive; and they think that if your imperial
majesty were so far to change the ancient laws as to
allow a free trade between the two countries it would
be extremely beneficial to both.”
Millard Fillmore, President of the United States of America,
to His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, November 13,
1852.
Asylum seekers and economic migrants are flocking to the United
States. Nativism spreads like a wildfire, fuelled by warnings that
these foreigners will drive up crime, drive down wages and destroy
the nation. An anti-immigrant president from New York rises to
power. He has a proclivity for conspiracy theories and appoints his
daughter to a key White House role.
But the year isn’t 2016. It’s 1850. Instead of Muslims or Central
Americans, it’s German and Irish Catholic immigrants. And the
president’s name is not Donald Trump, but Millard Fillmore. Two
years later, this president will dispatch commodore Matthew Perry
to deliver the letter to the ‘Emperor of Japan’ (i.e., the Tokugawa
shogun, the de facto head of the only effective central government
Japan has) to talk or bully him into opening diplomatic and trading
relations with the USA. Hail the brave new world.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“The dynamics of the ten thousand countries [of the
world today] … resembles that of China of the Spring
and Autumn period or of the latter days of Ashikaga
[warring] period of our land. … Everyone holds on to
their respective territories and call themselves
‘emperors’ and ‘kings’ and there is no end to their
desire to assert supremacy over each other. … If you
have not tied a knot of peace and friendship, you are
at war with each other; if you are not at war with each
other, you must have tied the knot of peace and
friendship. There is not a single country that could
sever the diplomatic ties and having neither war nor
the ties of friendship, independently enjoy the
peaceful quiet.”

Hotta Masayoshi 堀田正睦（Chancellor in charge of foreign

affairs）(1857)

Report to the highest ruling body of the Shogunate, Hyōjōsho

Further reference:
Michael R. Auslin, Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal
Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2004)
(download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/imzp87r5wbc7his/
Michael%20R.
%20Auslin%20Negotiating%20with%20Imperialism%20The%
20Unequal%20Treaties%20and%20the%20Culture%20of%20J
apanese%20Diplomacy%20%202006.pdf?dl=0)

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