By the end of the eighteenth century, the trade between The
Netherlands and Japan had reached a low ebb and the relations
between the Dutch representatives and the Japanese were rather
strained. Isaac Titsingh, the chief of the Dutch factory on
Deshima, in need of some forceful arguments to counter the
Japanese restrictions which were being placed on the trade, wrote
in his official dagregister in 1782: "I also found a
letter from the High Government in Batavia to Opperhoofd
Johan van Elseracq, dated 2 August 1641, that, if he did not see
any improvement in the trade, he should make thoroughly clear to
the Nagasaki Regents, the resolution of the Indian Government
which read: "That we do not come to Japan to serve her and to
obey her strict laws, but to enjoy the profits from the tra-
de." (See The Deshima Dagregisters, Vol. IX, Leiden
1996)
That Titsingh could quote from the original letter (and we from
the original diary) was due to the fact that the Dutch on Deshima
had always carefully looked after their chests with documents
concerning their trade with Japan. This was one of their chief
concerns in a country where behaviour and policies were based on
precedent. The dagregisters, the official diaries in which
the events of the day were recorded along with whatever news the
Dutch were told by the Japanese interpreters, formed the backbone
of this hoard of information. These were the source the
opperhoofden consulted when they needed information on
Japanese decision making on foreign trade and related matters.
In conjunction with other documents, such as letters and trade
ledgers, the diaries also served to inform the higher authorities
in Batavia and The Netherlands of the Dutch dealings in Japan.
Court journey
The composition of the diaries follows the annual routine of a
year in office of an opperhoofd. It starts when he is
installed as the chief on the departure of his predecessor, in
October or November. In the first few months his main occupations
are the preparations for the journey to the Court in Edo to
present gifts to the Shogun and high Japanese officials. The
court journey train, with the chief, the physician, and a clerk
as the Dutch representatives, sets out on the fifteenth day after
the Japanese New Year. The journey to Edo and back took, on
average, about three months. Depending on the keeper of the
diary, and of course the circumstances, the entries made during
the trip, even though sometimes brief, often make for some
interesting reading. For example, in 1780 Titsingh regretfully
records the death of one of the most famous Rangakusha (scholars
of Western learning), Hiraga Gennai, who poisoned himself in an
Edo prison to avoid the humiliation of a public execution for
having slain one of his pupils. "... He is pitied by everyone as
having been a man who had trained himself in several sciences
through research and observation and, having been a great friend
to the Dutchmen, his mediation could have been fruitful in time."
(See The Deshima Dagregisters Vol VIII)
Having friends in high places was of prime importance to the
Dutch for the promotion of their trade. They did their best to
be kept informed of all the changes in government and the
effects the men in power had on their interests. They also refer
to the politics of the time, for instance, to "the hated and
feared" Councillor Matsudaira Sadanobu, whose "despotic
government" is the cause that "since time immemorial life has
never been so bad in Edo." (See The Deshima Dagregisters, Vol.
IX)
During the absence of the opperhoofd on the court journey,
the factory on Deshima was under the command of the deputy. His
entries are usually the dullest part of the whole diary. More
often than not recording "nothing noteworthy happened". Of one
particular year, however, we not only have the official record
of the deputy, but also his private notes and those of an
assistant. They make an interesting comparison, especially
because of the mention of the Japanese women companions of the
Dutch, who are rarely if ever mentioned in the official diaries,
and the constant bickering between the Japanese interpreters and
the Dutch about who should take precedence over the other.
The interpreters and the Dutch were not always on the best of
terms. Lack of language ability was part of the problem. When one
of the senior interpreters, who had been an interpreter for 54
years, died, the opperhoofd commented: "This is no loss,
for he was completely unsuitable for his task and a useless piece
of furniture."
After the opperhoofd's return from Edo in May-June,
everything on Deshima was prepared for the arrival of the ships
from Batavia, which were expected in July-August. During these
months, daily mentions are made of whether the winds are blowing
from a favourable quarter or not and one can sense the longing
the Dutch must have felt for the arrival of the ships, their only
link with the outside world. The relief felt, not only by the
Dutch but also by the Japanese, when the ships did arrive, is
evident.
The trading season, which lasted till the fixed day of departure
for the ships in October or November, was the busiest time of the
year with the unloading of the ships, the negotiations for the
sale of the goods, and the loading of the ships with the return
cargo. This is probably the part which has given rise to the
diaries often being referred to as being merely concerned with
business calculations.
Reading through the tens of thousands of folios of the diaries
(which vary in length from a few score pages to almost five
hundred and which cover over two centuries) one of the things we
learn is that, being confined for most of the year on a small
island, battling against the tedium and the "intransigent"
Japanese, the one trait that each Westerner who had any dealings
with a Japanese should possess, is patience. The circumstances
have changed, but the lesson still holds.
Dagregisters
So-far eight so-called working paper editions of The Deshima
Dagregisters have been published in IGEER's
Intercontinenta series, covering the 1680-1780 period.
These publications are available at IGEER, Department of History,
Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
A hard cover edition J.L. Blussé and W.G.J. Remmelink
eds., Paul van der Velde and Rudolf Bachofner, The Deshima
Diaries Marginalia 1700-1740 has been published in 1992 by
the Japan-Netherlands Institute in Tokyo. In due time all working
paper editions will be published in Tokyo hard cover editions.
Cynthia Viallé is the co-editor of the Deshima Diaries Working papers series