Part 1: Tracing the History 3. Boom in Dutch Studies

The exchange that was at first limited to trade gradually moved to the exchange of knowledge. The cargo imported by the Dutch ships sometimes included books in Dutch. These books allowed Japanese during the Edo period to learn Western scientific knowledge, which was called Dutch Studies.

Dutch studies started to bud during the reign of the 8th Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune. He was interested in products from overseas as a means of encouraging new industries and domestic production. To improve horses he imported Western horses via the Dutch ships several times including in 1725, and invited the German-born equestrian H. J. Keijser to teach Japanese people Western horsemanship and horse veterinary medicine. In 1720, he relaxed the Book Ban Order to allow the import of non-Christian-related books, and actively promoted the learning of foreign knowledge, such as having Aoki Kon'yo and Noro Genjo learn the Dutch language.

The Dutch books provided impetus for acquiring Western learning. This began with efforts to acquire medical knowledge, because it was the most suitable for practical application. Before this, there had been some Nagasaki interpreters who had studied medicine from the Dutch factory doctors and opened practices of their own, but the major innovation came with the publication of Kaitai shinsho, which was the first translation of a systematic Western anatomical book.

In this way, many students of Dutch studies implemented and spread foreign knowledge after studying the language under Nagasaki Dutch interpreters or studying Dutch books in Dutch studies schools. Dutch studies would soon spread out to other regions.

It should be noted that in reflection of the way learning was done as the family's business in the Edo period, as with Confucianism and other studies, Dutch studies was also often a family pursuit that was passed down from generation to generation. Representative examples of this are the Sugita family, Katsuragawa family and Udagawa family.

Dutch dictionaries were also compiled. Well known among these are Haruma wage by Inamura Sanpaku, H. Doeff's Zufu haruma and its revised version Oranda jii. All these dictionaries were based on F. Halma's Dutch-French dictionary. Books on grammar were imported and many introductory texts were compiled. (II-3)

During the 19th century, many Russian and British ships sailed close to Japan, and in the northern part of the country there was a clash between Russians and Japanese officials. This incident increased interest in Russia, overseas geography, and military studies, so Dutch studies became an even more practical endeavor. As advocated by Takahashi Kageyasu, in 1811 the Shogunate government established the Bansho Wage Goyo as the official translation organization in which Baba Sajuro, Otsuki Gentaku, Aochi Rinso and others served, and among other works translated N. M. Chomel's Algemeen ... woordenboek as the Kosei shinpen.

The arrival of P. F. von Siebold to Japan at that time deserves special mention. As mentioned above, he was sent to Japan with the commission to study Japan and its circumstances, but at the same time he contributed to raising the level of Dutch studies by instructing many Japanese. However, in 1828 when he was returning home, many prohibited items were found among his possessions, which caused the von Siebold Incident. (II-1)

Then in 1839, the Bansha no Goku Affair occurred. The Shogunate government dignitaries who disliked having their foreign policy and other administration intervened by intellectuals and others suppressed these intellectuals such as Watanabe Kazan et al. (II-2)

At this time, however, Western knowledge through Dutch studies and goods from the Netherlands began to make their way to the general public to whom they became familiar. (II-4)

Many Dutch books came to Japan during the Edo period, and there were many Dutch books that received particular attention by Dutch studies scholars in addition to R. Dodoens' Cruydt-Boeck, J. Jonston's Naeukeurige beschryving van de natuur der viervoetige dieren and N. M. Chomel's Algemeene ...woordenboek.

For example, to scholars of Dutch studies, 'zeogarahi' does not refer to the general word 'geography', but to the Algemeene geographie written by the German J. Hubner. This Dutch translation of his Allgemeine Geographie was prized by interpreters and Dutch studies scholars as a source of information on world geography, and many translations and reference works were made from it.