FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE DECLINE OF THE TOKUGAWA
FOREIGN TRADE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
FROM what has been stated in previous chapters, it is clearly
understood that Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were all well
disposed towards foreign intercourse and trade, and that the Tokugawa
chief made even more earnest endeavours than Hideyoshi to
differentiate between Christianity and commerce, so that the fate of
the former might not overtake the latter. Ieyasu, indeed, seems to
have kept three objects steadfastly in view, namely, the development
of oversea trade, the acquisition of a mercantile marine, and the
prosecution of mining enterprise. To the Spaniards, to the
Portuguese, to the English, and to the Dutch, he offered a site for a
settlement in a suburb of Yedo, and had the offer been accepted,
Japan might never have been closed to foreign intercourse. At that
time the policy of the empire was free trade. There were no customs
dues, though it was expected that the foreign merchants would make
liberal presents to the feudatory into whose port they carried their
wares. The Tokugawa baron gave plain evidence that he regarded
commerce with the outer world as a source of wealth, and that he
wished to attract it to his own domains. On more than one occasion he
sent an envoy to Manila to urge the opening of trade with the regions
in the vicinity of Yedo, and to ask the Spaniards for expert naval
architects. His attitude is well shown by a law enacted in 1602:
"If any foreign vessel by stress of weather is obliged to touch at
any principality or to put into any harbour of Japan, we order that,
whoever these foreigners may be, absolutely nothing whatever that
belongs to them, or that they may have brought in their ship, shall
be taken from them. Likewise, we rigorously prohibit the use of any
violence in the purchase or sale of any of the commodities brought by
their ship, and if it is not convenient for the merchants of the ship
to remain in the port they have entered, they may pass to any other
port that may suit them, and therein buy and sell in full freedom.
Likewise, we order, in a general manner, that foreigners may freely
reside in any part of Japan they choose, but we rigorously forbid
them to propagate their faith."
In the year 1605, the Tokugawa chief granted a permit to the Dutch
for trade in Japan, his expectation being that the ships which they
undertook to send every year would make Uraga, or some other place
near Yedo, their port of entry. In this he was disappointed. The
first Hollanders that set foot in Japan were eighteen survivors of
the crew of the wrecked Liefde. These men were at first placed in
confinement, and during their detention they were approached by
emissaries from the feudatory of Hirado, who engaged some of them to
instruct his vassals in the art of gun casting and the science of
artillery, and who also made such tempting promises with regard to
Hirado that the Dutch decided to choose that place for headquarters,
although it was then, and always subsequently remained, an
insignificant little fishing village. The Dutch possessed one great
advantage over their rivals from Manila and Macao: they were prepared
to carry on commerce while eschewing religious propagandism. It was
this element of the situation that the Hirado feudatory shrewdly
appreciated when he enticed the Dutchmen to make Hirado their port of
entry.
With regard to the desire of Ieyasu to exploit the mining resources
of his country, the fact is demonstrated by an incident which
occurred at the time. The governor--general of the Philippines
(Rodrigo Yivero y Velasco), whose ship had been cast away on the
coast of Japan while en route for Acapulco, had an interview with
Ieyasu, and in response to the latter's application for fifty mining
experts, the Spaniards made a proposal, to the terms of which,
onerous as they were, Ieyasu agreed; namely that one half of the
produce, of the mines should go to the miners; that the other half
should be divided equally between Ieyasu and the King of Spain; that
the latter might send officials to Japan to protect his mining
interests, and that these officials might be accompanied by priests,
who would have the right to erect public churches, and to hold
religious services there.* These things happened in 1609. Previous to
that time, the Tokugawa chief had repeatedly imposed a strict veto on
Christian propagandism; yet we now find him removing that veto
partially, for the sake of obtaining foreign expert assistance. Like
Hideyoshi, Ieyasu had full confidence in himself and in his
countrymen. He did not doubt his ability to deal with emergencies if
they arose, and he made no sacrifice to timidity. But his courageous
policy died with him, and the miners never came. Moreover, the
Spaniards seemed incapable of any successful effort to establish
trade with Japan. Fitful visits were paid by their vessels at Uraga,
but the Portuguese continued to monopolize the commerce.
*It is to be understood, of course, that these ministrations were
intended to be limited to Spaniards resident in Japan.
ENGRAVING: OLD SPANISH CLOCK PRESERVED IN KUNOZAN.
That commerce, however, was not without rude interruptions. One,
especially memorable, occurred at the very time when Rodrigo's vessel
was cast away. "In a quarrel at Macao some Japanese sailors lost
their lives, and their comrades were compelled by the commandant,
Pessoa, to sign a declaration exonerating the Portuguese. The
signatories, however, told a different tale when they returned to
Japan, and their feudal chief, the daimyo of Arima, was much
incensed, as also was Ieyasu In the following year (1609), this same
Pessoa arrived at Nagasaki in command of the Madre de Dios, carrying
twelve Jesuits and a cargo worth a million crowns. Ieyasu ordered the
Arima feudatory to seize her. Surrounded by an attacking force of
twelve hundred men in boats, Pessoa fought his ship for three days,
and then, exploding her magazine, sent her to the bottom with her
crew, her passenger-priests, and her cargo."
Fifty-eight years before the date of this occurrence, Xavier had
conveyed to Charles V a warning that if ships from New Spain
"attempted to conquer the Japanese by force of arms, they would have
to do with a people no less covetous than warlike, who seem likely to
capture any hostile fleet, however strong." It was a just
appreciation. The Portuguese naturally sought to obtain satisfaction
for the fate of Pessoa, but Ieyasu would not even reply to their
demands, though he made no attempt to prevent the resumption of trade
with Macao.
OPENING OF ENGLISH AND DUTCH TRADE
In the year 1609, Ieyasu had reason to expect that the Spaniards and
the Dutch would both open trade with Japan. His expectation was
disappointed in the case of the Spaniards, but, two years later, the
Dutch flag was seen in Japanese waters. It was flown by the Brack, a
merchantman which, sailing from Patani, reached Hirado with a cargo
of pepper, cloth, ivory, silk, and lead. Two envoys were on board the
vessel, and her arrival in Japan nearly synchronized with the coming
of the Spanish embassy from Manila, which had been despatched
expressly for the purpose of "settling the matter regarding the
Hollanders." Nevertheless, the Dutch obtained a liberal patent from
Ieyasu.
Twelve years previously, the merchants of London, stimulated by a
spirit of rivalry with the Dutch, had organized the East India
Company, which at once began to send ships eastward. As soon as news
came that the Dutch were about to establish a trading station in
Japan, the East India Company issued orders that the Clove, commanded
by Saris, should proceed to the Far Eastern islands. The Clove
reached Hirado on the 11th of June, 1613. Her master, Saris, soon
proved that he did not possess the capacity essential to success. He
was self-opinionated, suspicious, and of shallow judgment. Though
strongly urged by Will Adams to make Uraga the seat of the new trade;
though convinced of the excellence of the harbour there, and though
instructed as to the great advantage of proximity to the shogun's
capital, he appears to have harboured some distrust of Adams, for he
finally selected Hirado in preference to Uraga, "which was much as
though a German going to England to open trade should prefer to
establish himself at Dover or Folkestone rather than in the vicinity
of London." Nevertheless he received from Ieyasu a charter so liberal
that it plainly displayed the mood of the Tokugawa shogun towards
foreign trade:
"(1) The ship that has now come for the first time from England over
the sea to Japan may carry on trade of all kinds without hindrance.
With regard to future visits (of English ships), permission will be
given in regard to all matters.
"(2) With regard to the cargoes of ships, requisition will be made by
list according to the requirements of the shogunate.
"(3) English ships are free to visit any port in Japan. If disabled
by storms they may put into any harbour.
"(4) Ground in Yedo in the place which they may desire shall be given
to the English, and they may erect houses and reside and trade there.
They shall be at liberty to return to their country whenever they
wish to do so, and to dispose as they like of the houses they have
erected.
"(5) If an Englishman dies in Japan of disease or any other cause,
his effects shall be handed over without fail.
"(6) Forced sales of cargo and violence shall not take place.
"(7) If one of the English should commit an offence, he should be
sentenced by the English general according to the gravity of his
offence."*
*In this article, Ieyasu recognizes the principle of
extra-territorial jurisdiction.
The terms of the above show that Saris was expected to make Yedo his
headquarters. Had he done so he would have been practically free from
competition; would have had the eastern capital of the empire for
market, and would have avoided many expenses and inconveniences
connected with residence elsewhere. But he did not rise to the
occasion, and the result of his mistaken choice as well as of bad
management was that, ten years later (1623), the English factory at
Hirado had to be closed, the losses incurred there having aggregated
£2000--$10,000. It has to be noted that, a few months after the death
of Ieyasu, the above charter underwent a radical modification. The
original document threw open to the English every port in Japan; the
revised document limited them to Hirado. But this restriction may be
indirectly traced to the blunder of not accepting a settlement in
Yedo and a port at Uraga. For the foreign policy of the Tokugawa was
largely swayed by an apprehension that the Kyushu feudatories, many
of whom were not over-well disposed to the rule of the Bakufu, might
derive from the assistance of foreign trade such a fleet and such an
armament as would ultimately enable them to overthrow the Tokugawa.
Therefore, the precaution was adopted of confining the English and
the Dutch to Hirado, the domain of a feudatory too petty to become
formidable, and to Nagasaki, which was one of the four Imperial
cities, the other three being Yedo, Kyoto, and Osaka.
ENGRAVING: THE "ATAKA MARU" (Shogun's Barge)
It is easy to see that an English factory in Yedo and English ships
at Uraga would have strengthened the Tokugawa ruler's hand instead of
supplying engines of war to his political foes; and it must further
be noted that the question of locality had another injurious outcome.
For alike at Hirado and at Nagasaki, the foreign traders "were
exposed to a crippling competition at the hands of rich Osaka
monopolists, who, as representing an Imperial city and therefore
being pledged to the Tokugawa interests, enjoyed special indulgences
from the Bakufu. These shrewd traders who were then, as they are now,
the merchant-princes of Japan, not only drew a ring around Hirado,
but also sent vessels on their own account to Cochin China, Siam,
Tonkin, Cambodia, and other foreign lands with which the English and
the Dutch carried on trade." One can scarcely be surprised that
Cocks, the successor of Saris, wrote, in 1620, "which maketh me
altogether aweary of Japan."
It is, however, certain that the closure of the English factory at
Hirado was voluntary; from the beginning to the end no serious
friction had occurred between the English and the Japanese. When, the
former withdrew from the Japanese trade, their houses and stores at
Hirado were not sold, but were left in the safe-keeping of the local
feudatory, who promised to restore them to their original owners
should the English company desire to re-open business in Japan. The
company did think of doing so on more than one occasion, but the idea
did not mature until the year 1673, when a merchantman, the Return,
was sent to obtain permission. "The Japanese authorities, after
mature reflection, made answer that as the king of England was
married to a Portuguese princess, British subjects could not be
permitted to visit Japan. That this reply was suggested by the Dutch
is very probable; that it truly reflected the feeling of the Japanese
Government towards Roman Catholics is certain."*
*Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th Edition)'; article "Japan," by
Brinkley.
END OF THE PORTUGUESE TRADE WITH JAPAN
In the year 1624, the expulsion of the Spaniards from Japan took
place, and in 1638 the Portuguese met the same fate. Two years prior
to the latter event, the Yedo Bakufu adopted a measure which
effectually terminated foreign intercourse. They ruled that to leave
the country, or to attempt to do so, should constitute a capital
crime; that any Japanese subject residing abroad should be executed
if he returned; that the entire kith and kin of the Spaniards in
Japan should be expelled, and that no ships of ocean-going dimensions
should be built in Japan. This meant not only the driving out of all
professing Christians, but also the imprisonment of the entire nation
within the limits of the Japanese islands, as well as an effectual
veto on the growth of the mercantile marine. It is worth noting that
no act of spoliation was practised against these tabooed people.
Thus, when those indicated by the edict--to the number of 287--left
the country for Macao, they were allowed to carry away with them
their whole fortunes.
The expulsion of the Spaniards did not leave the Portuguese in an
improved condition. Humiliating restrictions continued to be imposed
upon them. If a foreign priest were found upon any galleon bound for
Japan, such priest and the whole of the crew of the galleon were
liable to be executed, and many other irksome conditions were
instituted for the control of the trade. Nor had the aliens even the
satisfaction of an open market, for all the goods carried in their
galleons had to be sold at a fixed price to a ring of licensed
Japanese merchants from Osaka. In spite of all these deterrents,
however, the Portuguese continued to send galleons to Nagasaki until
the year 1637, when their alleged connexion with the Shimabara
rebellion induced the Japanese to issue the final edict that
henceforth any Portuguese ship coming to Japan should be burned,
together with her cargo, and everyone on board should be executed.
This law was not enforced with any undue haste; ample time was given
for compliance with its provisions. Possibly misled by this
procrastination, the Portuguese at Macao continued to strive for the
re-establishment of commercial relations until 1640, when a very sad
event put an end finally to all intercourse. Four aged men, selected
from among the most respected citizens of Macao, were sent to
Nagasaki as ambassadors. Their ships carried rich presents and an
earnest petition for the renewal of commercial intercourse. They were
at once imprisoned, and having declined to save their lives by
abjuring the Christian faith, the four old men and fifty-seven of
their companions were decapitated, thirteen only being left alive for
the purpose of conveying the facts to Macao. To these thirteen there
was handed at their departure a document setting forth that, "So long
as the sun warms the earth, any Christian bold enough to come to
Japan, even if he be King Philip himself or the God of the
Christians, shall pay for it with his head." One more effort to
restore the old intimacy was made by the Portuguese in 1647, but it
failed signally, and would certainly have entailed sanguinary results
had not the two Portuguese vessels beat a timely retreat.
THE DUTCH AT DESHIMA
In 1609, the Dutch made their appearance in Japan, and received an
excellent welcome. Ieyasu gave them a written promise that "no man
should do them any wrong and that they should be maintained and
defended as his own vassals." He also granted them a charter that
wherever their ships entered, they should be shown "all manner of
help, favour, and assistance." Left free to choose their own trading
port, they made the mistake of selecting Hirado, which was eminently
unsuited to be a permanent emporium of interstate commerce.
Nevertheless, owing partly to their shrewdness, partly to their
exclusive possession of the Spice Islands, and partly to their
belligerent co-operation with the English against the Spaniards, they
succeeded in faring prosperously for a time.
The day came, however, when, being deprived of freedom of trade and
limited to dealings with a guild of Nagasaki and Osaka merchants,
they found their gains seriously affected. Other vicissitudes
overtook them, and finally the Japanese concluded that the safest
course was to confine the Dutch to some position where, in a moment
of emergency, they could easily be brought under Japanese control.
Nagasaki was chosen as suitable, and there a Dutch factory was
established which, for a time, flourished satisfactorily. From seven
to ten Dutch vessels used to enter the port annually--their cargoes
valued at some eighty thousand pounds (avdp.) of silver, and the
chief staples of import being silk and piece-goods. Customs duties
amounting to five per cent, were levied; 495 pounds of silver had to
be paid annually as a rent for the little island of Deshima, and
every year a mission had to proceed to Yedo from the factory,
carrying presents for the chief Bakufu officials, which presents are
said to have aggregated some 550 pounds of silver on each occasion.
The Dutch traders, nevertheless, found their business profitable
owing to purchases of gold and copper, which metals could be procured
in Japan at much lower rates than they commanded in Europe. Thus, the
now familiar question of an outflow of specie was forced upon
Japanese attention at that early date, and, by way of remedy, the
Government adopted, in 1790, the policy of restricting to one vessel
annually the Dutch ships entering Nagasaki, and forbidding that
vessel to carry away more than 350 tons of copper.
EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON JAPAN BY THE POLICY OF EXCLUSION
Whatever losses Japan's policy of seclusion caused to the nations
which were its victims, there can be no doubt that she herself was
the chief sufferer. During two and a half centuries she remained
without breathing the atmosphere of international competition, or
deriving inspiration from an exchange of ideas with other countries.
While the world moved steadily forward, Japan stood practically
unchanging, and when ultimately she emerged into contact with the
Occident, she found herself separated by an immense interval from the
material civilization it had developed.
The contrast between the Japan of the middle of the sixteenth and
that of the middle of the seventeenth century has often been made by
the historian of foreign influence. In 1541 the country was open to
foreign trade, foreign civilization and foreign ideas and these were
welcomed eagerly and, in accordance with the remarkable natural
aptitude of the Japanese for adaptation, were readily assimilated.
Not only were foreign traders allowed to come to Japan, but Japanese
were allowed to go abroad. And all this was in the line of a
long-continued Japanese policy--the policy thanks to which Chinese
influence had made itself so strongly felt in Japan, and which had
brought in Buddhism and Confucianism, not to speak of arts and
letters of foreign provenance.
At the close of the hundred years, in 1641, all was changed. Japan
was absolutely isolated. Foreigners were forbidden to enter, except
the Dutch traders who were confined to the little island of Deshima.
And natives were forbidden to go out, or to accept at home the
religious teachings of foreigners. Only ships suited for the
coastwise trade might be built. The nation's intercourse with
Occidental civilization was shut off, and its natural power of change
and growth through foreign influences was thus held in check. The
wonder is that it was not destroyed by this inhibition. The whole
story of foreign intercourse as it has so far been told makes it
plain that the reason why it was prohibited was in the nature of
foreign propaganda and not in any unreadiness of the Japanese for
western civilization.
SECOND ERA OF FOREIGN TRADE
Japan's seclusion was maintained unflinchingly. But, though her goods
found a market in China, only during her period of self-effacement,
the reputation of her people for military prowess was such that no
outside nation thought of forcing her to open her ports. A British
seaman, Sir Edward Michelborne, in the sequel of a fight between his
two ships and a Japanese junk near Singapore, left a record that "The
Japanese are not allowed to land in any part of India with weapons,
being a people so desperate and daring that they are feared in all
places where they come." Nevertheless, Russian subjects, their shores
being contiguous with those of Japan, occasionally found their way as
sailors or colonists into the waters of Saghalien, the Kuriles, and
Yezo. The Japanese did not then exercise effective control over Yezo,
although the island was nominally under their jurisdiction. Its
government changed from one hand to another in the centuries that
separated the Kamakura epoch from the Tokugawa, and in the latter
epoch we find the Matsumae daimyo ruling all the islands northward of
the Tsugaru Straits. But the Matsumae administration contented itself
with imposing taxes and left the people severely alone. Thus, when in
1778, a small party of Russians appeared at Nemuro seeking trade, no
preparations existed to impose the local government's will on the
strangers. They were simply promised an answer in the following year,
and that answer proved to be that all Japan's oversea trade must by
law be confined to Nagasaki.
The Russians did not attempt to dispute this ruling. They retired
quietly. But their two visits had shown them that Yezo was capable of
much development, and they gradually began to flock thither as
colonists. Officials sent from Japan proper to make an investigation
reported that Kamchatka, hitherto a dependency of Japan, had been
taken possession of by Russians, who had established themselves in
the island of Urup and at other places. The report added that the
situation would be altogether lost unless resolute steps were taken
to restore it. Unfortunately, the death of the tenth shogun having
just then occurred, the Yedo Court found it inconvenient to take
action in remote Yezo. Thus, Russian immigration and Japanese
inaction continued for some time, and not until 1792 were commissions
again despatched from Yedo to inquire and report. They made an
exhaustive investigation, and just as it reached the hands of the
Bakufu, a large Russian vessel arrived off Nemuro, carrying some
ship-wrecked Japanese sailors whom her commander offered to restore
to their country, accompanying this offer with an application for the
opening of trade between Russia and Japan. Negotiations ensued, the
result being that Nagasaki was again referred to as the only port
where foreign trade might be lawfully conducted, and the Russians,
therefore, declared their intention of proceeding thither, a passport
being handed to them for the purpose. It does not appear, however,
that they availed themselves of this permit, and in the mean while
the Yedo commissioners pursued their journey northward, and pulled up
a number of boundary posts which had been erected by the Russians in
Urup.
The Bakufu now began to appreciate the situation more fully. They
took under their own immediate control the eastern half of Yezo,
entrusting the western half to Matsumae. The next incident of note
was a survey of the northern islands, made in 1800 by the famous
mathematician, Ino Tadayoshi, and the despatch of another party of
Bakufu investigators. Nothing practical was done, however, and, in
1804, a Russian ship arrived at Nagasaki carrying a number of
Japanese castaways and again applying for permission to trade. But it
soon appeared that the Bakufu were playing fast and loose with their
visitors and that they had no intention of sanctioning general
foreign commerce, even at Nagasaki. Incensed by such treatment, the
Russians, in 1806, invaded Saghalien, carried away several Japanese
soldiers, and partially raided Etorop and other places. They
threatened further violence in the following year unless
international trade was sanctioned.
The Bakufu had now a serious problem to solve, and their ideas of its
solution were almost comical. Thus, one statesman recommended the
organization of a special force recruited from the ranks of vagrants
and criminals and stationed permanently in the northern islands, A
more practical programme was the formation of a local militia. But
neither of these suggestions obtained approval, nor was anything done
beyond removing the Matsumae feudatory and placing the whole of the
islands under the direct sway of the Bakufu.
For a period of five years after these events the Russians made no
further attempt to establish relations with Japan, and their next
essay, namely, the despatch of a warship--the Diana--to survey the
Yezo coasts, was unceremoniously interrupted by the Japanese. Another
vessel flying the Russian flag visited Kunajiri, in 1814. On that
occasion the Japanese managed to seize some members of the Russian
crew, who were ultimately saved by the shrewdness of one of their
officers. These events imparted fresh vigour to Japan's prejudices
against foreign intercourse, but, as for the Russians, not a few of
them found their way to Saghalien and settled there without any
resolute attempt on the part of the Bakufu to expel them.
COAST DEFENCE
One effect of the events related above was to direct Japanese
attention to the necessity of coast defence, a subject which derived
much importance from information filtering through the Dutch door at
Nagasaki. Under the latter influence a remarkable book (Kai-koku
Hei-dan) was compiled by Hayashi Shibei, who had associated for some
time with the Dutch at Deshima. He urged frankly that Japan must
remain helpless for naval purposes if her people were forbidden to
build ocean-going vessels while foreigners sailed the high seas, and
he further urged that attention should be paid to coast defence, so
that the country might not be wholly at the mercy of foreign
adventurers. The brave author was thrown into prison and the
printing-blocks of his book were destroyed, but his enlightenment
bore some fruit, for immediately afterwards the Bakufu prime minister
made a journey along the coasts of the empire to select points for
the erection of fortifications, and to encourage the feudatories to
take steps for guarding these important positions.
FOREIGN LITERATURE
It has already been stated that in the days of the shogun Yoshimune
(1716-1745) the veto against studying foreign books was removed. But
for some time this liberal measure produced no practical effect,
since there did not exist even a Dutch-Japanese vocabulary to open
the pages of foreign literature for Japanese study. Indeed, very few
books were procurable from the Dutch at Deshima. The most accessible
were treatises on medicine and anatomy, and the illustrations in
these volumes served as a guide for interpreting their contents.
Earnestness well-nigh incredible was shown by Japanese students in
deciphering the strange terms, and presently the country was placed
in possession of The History of Russia, Notes on the Northern
Islands, Universal Geography, A Compendium of Dutch Literature,
Treatises on the Art of Translation, a Dutch-Japanese Dictionary and
so forth, the immediate result being a nascent public conviction of
the necessity of opening the country,--a conviction which, though not
widely held, contributed materially to the ultimate fall of the
Bakufu.
The Yedo Court, however, clung tenaciously to its hereditary
conservatism. Thus, in 1825, the Bakufu issued a general order that
any foreign vessel coming within range of the coast batteries should
at once be fired upon, and not until 1842 was this harsh command
modified in the sense that a ship driven into a Japanese port by
stress of weather might be given food, water, and provisions, but
should be warned to resume her voyage immediately. Meanwhile,
strenuous efforts were made to strengthen the littoral defences, and
a very active revival of the study of the military art took place
throughout the empire, though, at the same time, the number of
patriots sufficiently brave and clear-sighted to condemn the policy
of seclusion grew steadily.
ENGRAVING: "OHARAME" (A FEMALE LABOURER IN THE SUBURBS OF KYOTO)
ENGRAVING: TWO DRUMS AND TSUZUMI--A and D are Drums; B and C are
Tsuzumi.