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Needless Lies? Merchant Letters and Knowledge of Japan in Early Seventeenth-Century England

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Needless Lies? Merchant Letters and Knowledge of Japan in Early Seventeenth-Century England Needless Lies? Merchant Letters and Knowledge of Japan in Early Seventeenth-Century England Samuli Kaislaniemi Master's Thesis Department of English University of Helsinki April 2005 Now as concerning your lettrs … They were sayd to bee copiuse but not compendious; large, but stufed with idell & nedles matter ill-beeseming one of your place, yeres & experyence … George Ball to Richard Cocks, 9 June 1617 Most gracious soveraigne, About a yeare or two since I was bold to shew your Ma'ty l'res written unto me from the furdest part of the world eastward by an old acquaintance of myne resyding at Edo, the court of the Emperor of Japan. Wherein were so many strange things … that your Ma'ty at the redelivery of the l'res unto me (not without cause) told me that they were the loudest lyes that ever yow heard of. Sir Thomas Wilson to King James I, September 1621 ii Note on transcription, orthography and terminology For transcription of Japanese names and words, the modified Hepburn system as employed by the Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary is used (Watanabe et al. 2003). Diacritics marking long vowels are omitted from familiar names (T!ky!, "saka) and terms (sh!gun, daimy!), i.e. those Japanese loan words found in modern English. Japanese personal names are given last name, first name. Many of the Japanese words transcribed by the English merchants in Japan are not immediately recognizable to a modern reader. Several sound changes in Japanese account for the most prominent differences: initial /h/ sounds were voiceless bilabial fricatives, sounding more like /f/ to European ears (Firando for Hirado)1; vowels were nasalized before voiced plosives and nasals (Langasaki for Nagasaki, Umbra for "mura); and initial /e/ was pronounced ye (Yezo for Ezo (old name of Hokkaido); cf. yen, for modern Japanese en) (Michel 1993: 2–4). Two frequent Japanese titles require explanation. The English, following local practice, referred to the daimyo (and some high government officials) as tono. This epithet corresponds to the English “sir”, “lord”, or “esq.”, and can be used on its own, although it also appears as a suffixed voiced form, -dono. Another suffix, -sama, is more reverential, being roughly equivalent to “lord”. The English adopted some other Japanese terms into their everyday use. Most of these were local measures (such as tatami) and names of things related to their business (such as goshuin). The extent to which these were employed can be seen in the fact that tatami came to be abbreviated to “tat’” or “tatt’”. The various terms are defined in this paper at their first occurrence. 1 Modern Japanese retains this sound only before /u/. It is romanized as f (“fu”, as in Fuji). iii Timeline . 1298-9 Marco Polo’s Travels written down. 1511 Portuguese reach South-East Asia. 1542 The first Europeans reach Japan. 1549 Jesuits led by Francis Xavier arrive in Japan. 1550–1639 Portuguese náo voyages Macao to Japan. 1568 The Netherlands revolt against and separate from Spain. 1577 Richard Willes publishes the first known account of Japan in English. 1579 First English translation of Marco Polo’s Travels. 1581 Spanish and Portuguese thrones united (until 1641). 1587 Edict expelling missionaries from Japan (not enforced). 1588 Japan consolidated under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 1588 The Armada. 1589 Richard Hakluyt publishes his Principal Navigations. 1589 Marchants Avizo published. 1597 First Christian martyrs in Japan. 1598 Death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. 1598 English translation of Linschoten’s Itinerario published. 1598–1600 Second, much enlarged edition of Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations. 1600 William Adams arrives in Japan. 1600 English East India Company founded. 1602 Dutch East India Company founded. 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu becomes shogun. 1609 Dutch East India Company establish a factory at Hirado. 1613 The English reach Japan on the Clove; Hirado factory founded. 1614 Edict proscribing Christianity (enforced). 1615 Final wars of consolidation in Japan. 1616 Death of Ieyasu; Dutch and English trading privileges curtailed. 1618–1620 Period of Anglo-Dutch hostility in the East Indies. 1620 Death of William Adams. 1620–1622 The Fleet of Defence visits Hirado. 1621 Dutch and English trading privileges curtailed further. 1623 The Hirado factory is closed; the English withdraw from Japan. 1624 Spanish expulsed from Japan; death of Richard Cocks. 1625 Samuel Purchas publishes his Pilgrimes. 1639 Portuguese expulsed from Japan; only Chinese and Dutch merchants allowed to retain trade with Japan. 1641 The Dutch in Japan restricted to Deshima. 1672 English attempt to re-establish trade with Japan. iv Table of Contents Note on transcription, orthography and terminology..........................iii Timeline............................................................................................ iv Table of Contents............................................................................... v 1. Introduction ................................................................................1 1.1 “Immensely fruitful nonsense”: Chipangu and Japan.............1 1.2 “Notis of what passeth”: letters from Japan............................3 1.3 The material..........................................................................4 2. Travel Writing and Ethnography ..................................................5 2.1 Travel Literature and Travel Writing ......................................5 2.1.1 English Travel Writing c. 1600 .......................................6 2.1.2 Facts and Fictions..........................................................8 2.2 Implicit ethnography and thematic typologies ........................9 3. Early Modern English Merchant Correspondence.......................11 3.1 Early Modern English letters ...............................................11 3.2 East India Company Correspondence ..................................14 Map of Japan...................................................................................16 4. Historical Background: The “Christian Century” in Japan..........17 4.1 The European “Discovery” of Japan .....................................17 4.2 Making the Cuckoo Sing: Japan 1550–1650 ........................19 4.3 The Merchant Companies Trading into the East ..................22 4.4 The English East India Company in Japan, 1613–1623 .......25 5. Merchant letters from Japan: four case studies..........................33 5.1 Before the East India Company: William Adams in Japan....33 5.2 Case 1: William Adams to his countrymen 1611 ..................34 5.3 Case 2: Richard Wickham to the EIC 1615 ..........................38 5.4 Case 3: Richard Cocks to Thomas Wilson 1617 ...................43 5.5 Case 4: Richard Cocks to the EIC 1614 ...............................49 5.6 Comparison of the Case Letters ...........................................53 6. Knowledge of Japan in letters sent home by English East India Company members in Japan............................................................55 6.1 Writers and recipients .........................................................55 v 6.2 William Adams, c. 1605–1617 (3 letters) ..............................57 6.2.1 Knowledge of Japan in the letters of William Adams .....60 6.3 Richard Wickham, 1617 (2 letters).......................................61 6.3.1 Knowledge of Japan in the letters of Richard Wickham.63 6.4 Letters from other Hirado factory employees ........................64 6.4.1 William Eaton, 1616–1620 (4 letters)............................64 6.4.2 John Osterwick, 1617 ..................................................66 6.4.3 Tempest Peacock, 1613................................................66 6.4.4 Edmund Sayers, 1615–1618 (3 letters) .........................67 6.4.5 Knowledge of Japan in the letters of the other Hirado factory members........................................................................68 6.5 Letters by other EIC employees visiting Japan .....................68 6.5.1 Robert Adams, 1620–1621 (2 letters)............................69 6.5.2 John Neeve, 1621.........................................................70 6.5.3 Richard Watts, 1621 ....................................................70 6.5.4 Knowledge of Japan in the letters of other EIC employees visiting Japan............................................................................71 6.5 Richard Cocks, 1613–1622 (29 letters) ................................72 6.6.1 First years, 1613–1616 (6 letters) .................................73 6.6.1.1 Knowledge of Japan in Cocks’s letters for 1613–1616 80 6.6.2 Curtailed privileges, 1616–1618 (8 letters)....................81 6.6.2.1 Knowledge of Japan in Cocks’s letters for 1616–1618 88 6.6.3 Period of isolation, 1618–1620 (3 letters) ......................90 6.6.3.1 Knowledge of Japan in Cocks’s letters for 1618–1620 96 6.6.4 Fleet of Defence, 1620–1622 (10 letters) .......................97 6.6.4.1 Knowledge of Japan in Cocks’s letters for 1620–1622 104 6.6.5 Last letters, 1622 (2 letters)........................................105 6.6.5.1 Knowledge of Japan in Cocks’s letters for 1622 .......107 7. From Marco Polo to Richard Cocks: a Conclusion ....................108 Bibliography ..................................................................................113 Appendix I: list of letters Appendix II: case study letters from EFIJ vi 1. Introduction 1.1 “Immensely fruitful nonsense”: Chipangu and Japan Chipangu is an Island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles distant from the continent; and a very
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