Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies ISSN: 0874-8438 [email protected] Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Ribeiro, Madalena Reseña de "The Trade from . Translations from the Tôsen Fusetsu- Gaki, 1674- 1723" de Ishii Yoneo (ed.) Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies, núm. 2, june, 2001, pp. 158-160 Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal

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Edition by Ishii Yoneo. had no possibility of returning to their Preface by Anthony Reid. country of origin. In effect, at the same time that The Junk Trade from Southeast Asia. the ships of the go-shui-sen ploughed Translations from the Tôsen Fusetsu- the seas, internal Japanese politics Gaki, 1674-1723 underwent a profound change with the (Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asia advent of the Studies, 1998) (1603-1868). In the second quarter of the seventeenth century the dynasty In the mid sixteenth century, implemented the policy of the Japan initiated the process that would and effectively closed Japan’s doors to culminate in the centralization of the rest of the world during more than power and, at the same time, came into two centuries2. The Shogunate did not contact with foreigners coming from intend to isolate the country by this abroad. A little later, at the end of the policy but, rather, aimed to eradicate sixteenth century and the beginning of Christianity and control external rela- the seventeenth century, a commercial tions so as to avoid any possible expansion also took place, that encom- revival3. Other reasons cited for this passed a large part of Southeast Asia. isolationist policy are related to issues One of the main measures implement- of an economic nature, arising from ed by the Tokugawa Shogunate to pro- the decrease in the extraction of silver mote external trade consisted of the and the fear that some daimyô could creation of official travel and commer- enrich themselves greatly with this cial licenses for Japanese merchants. trade and instigate revolts against the The ships that these traders sent newly established central authority.4 abroad had a capacity of 200 men and However, this isolationist were called the “red seal ships” or go- policy did not diminish the demand for shui-sen. Japanese immigrants - mer- certain commodities in the archipelago chants, sailors, rônin, etc - fomented and, from this point onwards, trade relations between the areas in Japanese commerce, that had initially which they had settled and Japan. been realized by Portuguese and Scattered throughout Southeast Asia Japanese, passed into the hands of were to be found Japanese quarters in Chinese and Dutch merchants. From which these immigrants lived together 1639 onwards, the latter were to be the in groups and remained a closed com- sole Europeans authorized to trade munity1. After the mid seventeenth with the Empire of the Rising Sun. The century, at the same time that their presence of the Chinese junks - the main source of income dried up, these tôsen - and the ships of the VOC at the Japanese would also discover that they port of (which was the only Book Reviews 159 port open to foreign trade till 1853) ding to the aforementioned author, the was implacably controlled by the creation of the post of “Inspector of Japanese authorities. This was to prove Chinese Interpreters”, in 1696, was to be the only way by which Japan proof of the extreme caution taken in could obtain certain products that the nomination of these interpreters. were essential components of the This was followed three years later, in Japanese market, as well as the only 1699, by the establishment of the means by which Japan could have “Officer in Charge of the Fûsetsu”7 access to any kind of information Ishii Yoneo informs us that about the happenings of the world there currently exist three collections beyond the archipelago. of manuscripts of the Tôsen fûsetsu- In this manner, these Chinese gaki: the Kai-Hentai, the Kikô- and Dutch sailors and merchants, who Shosetsu and lastly, the texts known arrived annually at the port of simply as the Tôsen fûsetsu-gaki, that Nagasaki from the most varied parts of is to be found in the “Matsudaira the world, were the principal sources Bunko of the Shimabara Municipal of information about the outside world Library”. The first two were published for the Japanese authorities. From in 1958-59 and the last one in 1974. 1644 onwards, the captains of these The English edition, prepared by Ishii ships were obliged to prepare reports - Yoneo, was based on the Japanese the fûsetsu-gaki - with this informa- edition of 1958-59, and does not there- tion. Three copies were then made: one fore include the last manuscript indi- for the authorities in Edo, the other for cated above, that covers the years the bugyô of the city, and the last copy between 1724 and 17288. On the other for the interpreter5. According to Ishii hand, as the very title of the work indi- Yoneo, fûsetsu - that literally means cates, Ishii has opted to include only “rumour” - refers to the interview to the reports by the Chinese who junks which the Dutch and Chinese were came from Southeast Asia, namely, subjected to when they arrived at from “Siam, Pattani, Ligor, Songhkla, Nagasaki. Once this interview was , Kelapa, and transcribed onto paper, it was then Banten” - following the order of the known as the fûsetsu-gaki: Tôsen respective chapters of this book. The fûsetsu-gaki were the reports by the reports of the junks coming from Chinese and Oranda fûsetsu-gaki were China and the Vietnamese coast which, those by the Dutch6. A Chinese inter- according to Ishii, constitute the major preter was nominated from amongst part of the documentation, have been the Chinese population resident in the excluded. Nagasaki quarter, to elaborate the Here, we would like to further former, the Tôsen fûsetsu-gaki. Accor- elaborate upon the source itself, and its 160 Book Reviews importance for the study of Southeast junks visited Japan to trade their goods Asia and the Far East. As a general and the commodities that were of rule, from the thematic point of view, greatest interest for the internal we can divide these reports into two market. It also indicates the kind of parts. In one part, the Chinese recount information that the Japanese tried to information about their journey, from obtain from the Chinese with regard to the point of departure up until their the “outside world”. arrival at the port of Nagasaki. Here, In conclusion, we can say that they generally give details of the port the Tôsen fûsetsu-gaki is clear proof of from which they set sail, of the other the efficiency of the sakoku policy, ships which were anchored there, any which was implemented by the Toku- chance encounters - peaceful or not - gawa Shogunate, and is an indication with other ships on the high seas, of of the way in which they maintained the nationalities of the crews, of the strict control of all the information scarcity or lack of provisions and that came from outside. water, and of the climatic conditions in which the voyage was made - storms, Madalena Ribeiro winds or currents which they encoun- Holder of a scholarship from tered and their consequences. Here we the Fundação Oriente. find some references to the socio-poli- tical disorder within China, resulting 1 With regard to the Japanese quarters scattered throught Southeast Asia, see Ishizawa Yoshiaki, from the tumultuous dynastic change, “Les quartiers japonais dans l’Asie du sud-est au and other references that show how XVIIème siècle” in Guerre et Paix en Asie du Sud-Est, Nguyên the Anh and Alain Forest this war was transported to the China Edition, Paris, 1998, pp. 85-94. Seas. This data is also an important 2 With regard to the establishment of the policy of the sokoku see the chapter entitled “Foreign indication of the interest that Japan Relations” in the classic work by George continued to show for whatever Sansom, A History of Japan, 1615-1867, 9th Edition, Tokyo, Vol. 3, pp. 35-45. happened in China. On the other hand, 3 See Michel Vié, Histoire du Japon, des origines in another part of the same report, the à Meiji, 5th Edition, Paris, 1995, p. 89. Chinese take great pains to give infor- 4 See Francine Hérail, Histoire du Japon, des origines à la fin de Meiji, Paris, 1986, pp. 332- mation - both political as well as socio- 333 and Marius B. Jansen, China in the economic, which we would classify as Tokugawa World, Harvard, 1992, p. 28. 5 See Marius B. Jansen, Op.Cit. p. 12. being the “latest news” - about the 6 See Ishii Yonei, The Junk Trade from Southeast kingdoms of Southeast Asia from Asia. Translations from the Tôsen Fusetsu-Gaki, 1674-1723. p. 6. which they set sail. 7 See Ibidem, p. 6. In the context of Japan, the 8 See Ibidem, pp. 6-7. Tôsen fûsetsu-gaki is an important source for information such as, for example, the frequency with which the