Part Two: Going Dutch.

Woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada
1847

Dutch factory at Dejima

 

Despite the restrictions placed on foreign trade and relations, Japan after 1639 was not entirely closed to foreign influence.  The Portuguese, despite their huge importance in Japan’s history, had not been the only Europeans to establish trade in Japan. The first Dutch ship arrived in 1600 and the Dutch East India Company [the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; the VOC], formed in 1602, opened a trading factory in Hirado in September 1609 and following the expulsion of the Portuguese in 1639, they became the only Europeans allowed to remain in Japan although their presence was strictly limited. They were forced to move to Dejima, a tiny artificial island in Nagasaki Bay where they remained under Japanese scrutiny, with access to Dejima by locals interested in seeing these exotic Europeans, limited to local officials and courtesans. However, true to their mercantile nature and in spite of political ctosswinds, Dutch paintings and more commonly, woodblock prints, continued to be 

Early 17th century blue and white porcelain

available for sale to all!

Antique lacquered tea set. Kyoto.

Although the chief purpose of trade with Japan was mainly for Europe to obtain their gold, silver and copper, the luxury goods produced by Japanese craftsmen to a very high standard, had a huge appeal and these quickly became a significant part of the goods shipped back to the West. Lacquer was unknown in the West and the Portuguese quickly saw its decorative potential and began to commission objects designed to appeal to the European market. The early nanban lacquer goods for the Portuguese were not of the usual high Japanese standard as its trade potential was initially underestimated by the Japanese, but there are examples on museum display today of high-quality lacquer objects made for the Dutch during the 1630s and early 1640s.

Kakiemon ware.
The most famous Kakiemon designs were often asymmetrical
Exported to Europe by the Dutch, Kakiemon signficantly
influenced the early decorative styles of
Chelsea, Bow and Worcester pottery in England.

Although lacquered objects were highly sought after, they were always of secondary importance to the porcelain first made in Arita in the north of Kyushu. This porcelain, influenced heavily by the Chinese and Korean, was entirely different from earlier Japanese ceramics. The decoration on the early Japanese blue and white export pottery closely followed Chinese models with some incorporating the initialsVOC, the monogram of the Dutch East India Company. Another type of Japanese porcelain was Kakiemon ware, characterised by simple, asymmetrical designs using bright colours including red, light blue, bluish green and yellow with sometimes a little gilding; all on a fine white background. Again, several Kakiemon enamelling studios wete situated in Arita. This was the costliest and most sought-after type of Japanese porcelain exported to Europe by the Dutch, and widely copied by the Dutch, German, French and English potteries.

The most iconic woodblock image for Europeans: 
The Wave off the Coast of Kanigawa
by Hokusai, c 1831.

When the Shogun, (military ruler) Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751) eventually relaxed the rules regarding the importation of foreign books, the Dutch and their scientific knowledge became the subject of both Japanese scholarly enquiry and popular interest. And the latter half of the 18^th century saw the development of rangaku or ‘Dutch learning’ which became an important intellectual alternative to the prevalent China-based discussion. The Dutch, though ‘only merchants’ received the rare honour of regular audiences with the Shogun, and the taste for ‘Dutch things’ became widespread and varied, with images of Europeans appearing on fashionable items such as combs and netsuke [miniature sculptures]. For most Japanese, the rangaku represented the new and the fashionable with the Dutch, highly regarded.

Geisha in a Hurry.
Woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisyasu#
c 1816

Modern lacquerware A4 storage box
combining beauty with functionality

In understanding the reaction of Japanese culture to that of other Western nations, emphasis is often placed on the polarity between ‘native’ and ‘foreign’ but a brief overview also shows a journey of the ‘foreign’ and ‘exciting’ moving from the ‘strange and different’ to one of gradual acceptance and a consistent pattern of assimilation and absorption emerges. The Dutch, like the Portuguese before them, had a significant effect on the culture of the Edo period but the confidence and trust inspired by the Dutch was heavily influenced by that nation's relentless mercantilism and lack of religious desire to proselytize. 

N.B. These two little essays on Japan began with the intention of discovering the effect of Japanese on the English language, but I was side-tracked into the fascination of Japan’s early history, vis-à-vis foreigners; an important part of its historical narrative.