Blussé, Leonard, Willem Remmelink and Ivo Smits, eds., Bridging the Divide: 400 Years
of Dutch-Japanese Relations (2000), 288p.
This volume, aimed at the general reader, is a result of a co-operative venture
between Japanese and Dutch Scholars to commemorate four hundred years of JapaneseDutch relations. Sixty-seven authors contributed to fifteen chapters that deal with a
variety of topics, including the influence of Japan upon the Dutch and the impact of the
Dutch on Japan; the history of their trade and political relations; the role of VOC
personnel in transmitting European science, technology, medicine, and art to Japan; the
influence of Japanese artistic objects on the Netherlands and Europe; and interesting
Japanese and Dutch persons involved in the exchange.
From 1639 until 1854, Deshima, a small artificial island in Nagasaki Bay (about
100 by 450 feet) connected by a wooden bridge to Kyushu Island in southwestern Japan,
was the sole location for trade between Europe and Japan and the only direct link
between Europe and Japan during the latter’s self-imposed isolation. The Dutch first
arrived in Japan in 1600 on the ship Liefde, whose mission was to destroy Spanish and
Portuguese settlements in Africa and Asia. The Portuguese had initiated European trade
with Japan but the Japanese evicted them because of their missionary activities. They
preferred to trade with the more pragmatic and business oriented Dutch who were
primarily interested in trade and did not meddle in Japanese affairs. After a Christian
Samurai rebellion in 1637-38, during which Dutch ships assisted the Japanese Shogun,
the Portuguese were expelled from Japan. In 1641, the VOC, the Dutch East India
Company, transferred its Japanese trade to the former Portuguese ‘factory’ of Deshima.
The Dutch were closely watched and regulated but they were nonetheless treated akin to
Japanese feudal Lords and annually sent a delegation to the Tokugowa court at Edo
(modern Tokyo). One of the main items of trade that passed through Deshima was silk
from China. This trade, known as the “country trade,” in which the Dutch served as the
traders and transporters of Asian goods, provided them with profits that gave them access
to Japanese, gold, silver and porcelain. The latter enjoyed considerable demand in Europe
and became one of the foundations of the Dutch ceramic industry, known as Delftware.
The book is attractively produced with many historical illustrations, such as cartoons,
drawings, paintings, and objects that greatly enhance its value for understanding and
teaching the subject. It also includes many interesting and accessible stories that provide
immediacy to the larger themes of the book, as well as an extensive bibliography of
English and Dutch titles for further reading.