Tmp_new Materials for the Intellectual History of Nineteenth-century Japan

8/16/2019 Tmp_new Materials for the Intellectual History of Nineteenth-century Japan

1/32

Harvard-Yenching Institute

New Materials for The Intellectual History of Nineteenth-Century JapanAuthor(s): Marius B. JansenSource: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3/4 (Dec., 1957), pp. 567-597Published by: Harvard-Yenching InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718363 .

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2/32

NEW

MATERIALS

FOR

THE

INTELLECTUAL

HISTORY

OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY JAPAN

MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

For historianswho concern

themselveswith

the

contacts

be-

tween civilizations nd cultures

few areas offer

reater

rewards

than

does Japan of the

Tokugawa (1600-1867) Period.

The

long

process whereby rivate and officialcholarsfamiliarized hem-

selves with elements f

European knowledge,

o which

they

had

access

through ooks

mported rom

he

Netherlands

nd

China,

and

the

way

in which that

knowledge pread beyond

the small

group of specialists

who first ssimilated t, combine

to form

items

of absorbing

nterest orthe intellectual

istorian.

The

principalmilestones f translation nd the

pathbreakers

who ed the

way have

come n for erious tudy n

the

West.'

The

lastdecadesofTokugawa rule,however, ave been essthoroughly

investigated.Research

in the intellectualhistory f

nineteenth-

centuryJapan has

been hamperedby the complexity f the set-

ting. ElementsofWestern earningwhich n earlier

years can be

traced

to their sourcewith some certaintywere,

by the mid-

nineteenth entury,

ar more widely spread and

sometimes o

altered n

the process

s to lose some of thecharacteristics here-

by

their

ransmissionould be established.

In thenineteenthentury he number f scholarlyworkers nd

influences lso

increased in number. Investigators

of earlier

1

The

standard

work on

Dutch

influence n

Japan

has

been that

of

C.

R.

BOXER,

Jan

Compagnie

in

Japan

1600-1850

(The

Hague,

1950).

The

opening

chapters

of

Donald

KEENE's

The

Japanese

Discovery

of

Europe:

Honda Toshiaki

and Other Dis-

coverers

1720-1798

(London,

1952)

are

valuable

additions. A

general

survey

can

be

found n

the

unpublished

dissertation

f

Grant

K.

GOODMAN,

The Dutch

Impact on

Japan

(1640-1853)

(University

f

Michigan,

1955),

and a

convenient

hronology

f

developmentsn Western tudiescan be found n

OTSUKi

Nyoden

MNtl4I

(1845-

1931),

Y5gaku

nempyo

'

part

of

which

has

been

translated

by C.

C.

KRIEGER

as The

Infiltration

f

European

Civilization

nto

Japan

during he

Eighteenth

Century

(Leiden,

1940).

567


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3/32

568

MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

periodshave been able to

devote themselves

o

individual

figures

whose "

awakening" and contribution

ere inked

with

a

small

number f workson medicine, s-tronomy,r geography, ut the

scholars nterested

n the

nineteenth-century

riters

nd

trans-

lators

find

hey

were

more

numerous,

nd

that

they

had

before

them a far richer

collec-tion

f

Western

works from which

to

choose.

The renewal nd

subsequent

ntensification

f Western

ontact

with

China

and

Japan which

began

n the 1840's

greatly

ncreased

the

number nd

variety

f

mports

f

Dutch

and

Chinese

transla-

tionsand popularizations fWesternknowledge.Whenthemo-

nopoly fthe

Hollanderswas broken

y

the arrival

f

traders

rom

other

Western

ands in

the

1850's,

the avenues of

possible

ntel-

lectual

and

political nfluenceswere

multiplied.

n

the

political

confusion f

the

period,policies

and institutions

hanged

rapidly.

This was as true

of

educational

nstitutions

s it was

of

political.

As

a

result,

with

the

exception

of

a

few

private

collections

of

Dutch

books,

argely elective

n content nd

antiquarian

n

in-

terest,no fullyrepresentativeollectionof Western books has

remained

o

indicate the

variety nd

nature of the

works from

which the

scholars

at the

capital

might

have

drawn their

con-

clusions

about

Japan's

present

nd

future

ourse.

Several

of the

better

collections

were

damaged or

lost during

World War

II,

and

it

seemed

unlikely

that

Tokyo, twice

destroyed

withina

quarter

century,

ould

yield up

new

materials

with

bearing

on

these

problems.

This

situation

changedwith

the

discovery

made

by

young

librarians f

the

Ueno

branch f

the

National

Diet

Library

during

the

winter

of

1954.

Mr.

ASAKURA

Haruhiko

*1ftM;*

and his

colleagues,

urious

about

the

contents

of a

storage

building t-

tached

to

the

poorly

housed and

understaffed

ibrary n

which

they

work,

nd

recalling

ccasional

glimpsesof

unfamiliar

eals

on

old

books

n their

main

building,

etermined

o

investigate he

storehouse.Sharing n the generalrise of interest n the intel-

lectual

history f

Japan's

recent

century,

hey

were

hopefulof

finding

materials

which

might

bear on

that

history.

The

men

spent

weekend

and

vacation days

working

hrough

part

of

the




4/32

NEW

MATERIALS FOR

INTELLECTUAL

HISTORY

OF JAPAN

569

storehouse,

rotecting

hemselves

s best

they

could

against

the

cold

of

-the

okyo

winters.The

building

n

which

hey

searched,

a wooden tructure rected n theearlyyearsof theMeiji (1868-

1912U)

eriod,

shows, n

its

still

unexplored

reas,

the utter

dis-

array n

whichbundlesof

books

of

all

sorts,

izes,

and

conditions

were

piled

to

relieve

overcrowded helves.

The

need

to

store

materials

housed in

more

exposed

locations

during

World

War

II

had

added a final

ayerof material

o

the

previous

disorder.

ASAKURA

and

the

others

had their

fforts

ewarded

by

the

dis-

covery f

ncreasinrg

umbers

f books

bearing

he

seals

they

had

seenelsewhere,nd as theirfinds fDutch booksaccumulated t

became

apparent

that

theirenthusiasm

had resulted

n

a

major

"

discovery."

When

the

books were

finally

estored o shelves n

the main

ibrary

uilding nd

arranged

ccording

o

their

riginal

seals

and

categories,

hey proved

to

number

over

3,500.

The

shogunate's

ollection

f

foreign

earning

whichhad

been

brought

together

or

he

Bansho

Shirabesho4SMJ

JW

("

Institutefor

he

Investigation f

Barbarian

Books"), a

collectionwhichhad been

thesubjectofsearchand speculation yJapanesehistorians ver

since

the

problem

began to

interest hem

generation

go,

s

now

at last

available.

There

is

at hand

in

this collection

virtually

everything

hat

was

available to

students

of things

Western

n

the ast

decades of

Tokugawa

Japan.

The

books

have

been

arranged n

sections

accordingto

the

official

nstitutions

hich

hey

erved, nd

they re

shelved n the

categoriesdevised by the originalusers. In goingthrough he

volumes

he

student

f

ntellectual

istoryan

see

thebooks

which

intrigued

he

Tokugawa

scholars,

onscious

hat he

sees

them n

very

much

the same

order hey

once

were,

lbeit

considerably

he

worse

for

the

yearsof

"

storage."

One of

the

scholars

who first

used

them,

KATO Hiroyuki

tn13t

(1836-1916),

later

wrote:

While

was

instructing

could

lsoread

books n

myown,

nd

thismade t

very

onvenient.

ntil

then

had

been

following y

original

ntentionf

studying esternooks n order outilizeWesternmilitarycience ndgun-nery.But after entered he

Bansho

hirabesho

found

ther ooks,

ooks

not

available

o anyone

lse.

When

looked

nto

them

found hem

very

interesting;or he

first

ime

saw

books bout

things

ike

philosophy,

oci-

ology,

morals,

olitics,

nd law. It

was

extremely

nterestingo be

able to

read




5/32

570 MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

things

ike that

when

they

were

not

yet

available for others.

Moreover,

at

that time

the

numberof men

working

n

Western

military

cience

and

drill

was

already considerable;

n view of that

my

ideas

began

to

change.

.

.

I

beganreadingbooks on philosophy,thics, olitics, nd law,and was impressed

by

many

of

the

things

n

them.2

The

interestn the

collection,

nd its

mportance

or he

history

of

modern

Japan,resulted

n

a

public

exhibit

n December

1954,

in

Tokyo.3 Efforts o

exploit and

develop its

possibilities

have

since been

underway

n Japan. In

the West

no notice has yet

been

taken

of

the

promise

nd problems f the

library,

owever,

and thesenotes are thereforeesigned o setforth hereasonsfor

which

the

librarywas

organized and to

give some idea of its

categories,

trengths,nd

weaknesses.*

I. The

Bansho Shirabesho

The

late

Tokugawa

institutions evoted to

Western

earning

were

the

inheritorsf a great

deal of

nformation hich

had been

accumulatedby

official nd

privatescholars

who

soughtto keep

abreastof developments n the West. The Opperhoofd, Chief

'

This

passage is

quoted in

NUMATA Jiro

jir"

m

Bakumatsu

yogaku shi

Pw*

'ir_

[History of

Western

Studies

at

the End

of

the

Shogunate], (Tokyo,

1952), pages

198-199.

In the

Meiji

period

KATO

was at first

n

exponent

of

a

liberal

political

position,

only to

reverse

himself

n later

writings

which

were

based

on

the

works

of

conservative

heorists

ike

BLUNTSCHLI.

'A

catalogue

of

books

exhibited

t this

"

Yogaku

kotohajime

ten"

,A

?

)

E

,

[" Display

of

Materials

Relating

to

the

Beginning

of

Western

Studies

],

held on December13-18,1954,was issuedby theRangaku ShiryoKenkyuikai

?

#FR*,

edited y

OKUBO

Rikken

*aj1

'Jl

(Tokyo,

954,p.

72), and

it

is

hereafter eferred

o as

"

Catalogue."

A

more

recent

nd

presumablymore

complete

catalogue

of the collection

has

been

issued

under

the

title Edo

bakufu

kyuizo

y5sho

mokuroku

f,P

X>

M

H

, but it

has not

yet

been

available to

me.

*

I am

grateful o

the

Ford

Foundation for

the

Fellowship

which made

it

possible

for

me to

visit

Tokyo,

and

to Mr.

YOSHIDA

Kunisuke

wu

and his

colleagues

in the

Ueno

Branch

ofthe

National

Diet

Library

for

heir

kindness

n

grantingme full

access

to

the

collection

which is

described

here.

Mr.

YOSHIDA is

also

Executive

Secretary of the

Rangaku

Shiryo

Kenkyitkai, n

organization

which also

uses

the

English name "Association for the Study of Netherlands-Japan ultural Relations,"

of

which

the

president s

Professor

GATA

Tomio

,

ffX,

and I am

grateful

o

Professor

OGATA

nd to

the

members f

the

Association

for

ndividual

counselas

well

as

for

permission

o

attend

their

seminars.

None

of

the above

is

in any

way

respon-

sible for

conclusions

r

opinions

expressed

here.




6/32

NEW

MATERIALS FOR

INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF JAPAN 571

Factor,"

of

the Dutch

trading

tation

at Deshima made annual

visits to Edo (modern

Tokyo) bringing

with

him

reports

f

de-

velopments n the Westernworld.After 649 it becamecustom-

ary forthe station

doctorto accompany

him.4

Japanese surgery

was thereby nfluenced,

owever modestly,

by European

tech-

niques

as

early

as

the

seventeenth entury.

From the doctors,

men

like KAEMPFER,

THUNBERG, nd

VON

SIEBOLD,

came most of

the outside world's nformationbout Japan,

and they were

also

the avenues fortransmissionf much

medical and scientific

n-

formation nto Japan. Althoughthe Edo

visits became

quad-

rennial fter 790 to save expense, he freedomwithwhichJapan-

ese

doctorswere ble

to questionthe stationdoctorswhile n Edo

made their nfluencencreasinglymportant.5

Western

books

were also included

in

the

annual giftswhich

the

trading tation

made

to the shogunate,

nd although n early

years heywereregarded

more s curiosities han

as useful ources

of

information,

n

time

they came to be articleswhich the sho-

gunate

ordered

the

Dutch to import. Import of books which

mightrelate to Christianity as of course forbidden, nd in the

case of scientificworkswhich had been translated nto Chinese

by the Jesuitmissionariesn Pekingthisprohibition

ong nhibited

scientific rogress n

Japan. But the censorship f such Chinese

workswas modifiedwhen

Shogun Yoshimune,

n

17120,

ecame

desirous f

revising

he

Japanese

calendar. Thereafterhe mport

of

Westernbooks,which had never been completely

orbidden,

was

encouraged,

s

was the studyofDutch by

properly uthorized

persons.

Extant

copies of these

reportsdate from1644. Cf.,

in this regard, he contribution

of OKUBO

Rikken, " Rekishi"

["

History

I,

in

Sakoku

jidai Nihonjin no

Kaigai

chishiki

fi.jfR

[]*

4A

9)

M40

fii?t [Japanese nowledgef Foreign

ountries

during the Era of Seclusion],

edited by

Kaikoku Hyakunen Kinen

Bunka Jigyokai

g4+,=Xe,<

4tXitt

(Centenary

Culture

Council),

(Tokyo,

1953),

pages

379

ff. GOODMAN,

op. cit., page 34, sets

the

figure

t 186 such visits between

1633

and

1850.

6SUGITA

Gempaku

rt,,-i

{I,

writing

n 1815 about the late

eighteenth-century

visits,

described the

privileges

of the aspirants to

official

posts

in

medicine and

astronomy

n

visiting

nd

questioning

he Dutch. All students of the incumbents,

e

notes, could

go, and many

who

were

not

students

could

pass

themselves

ff

s

such.

Cf. Rangaku

kotohajime

j2g4f

[The

Beginning of

Dutch

Studies], translated

into German by MORI Koichi

9 wa-

Monumenta

Nipponica,

5

(194f2).157.




7/32

572

MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

At Nagasaki the guild

of

official

nterpretersuilt up a

very

considerable

nowledge f Dutch.

In the early

years their ctivi-

ties werenot encouraged y the shogunate, nd fewof the Dutch

visitors

wereenthusiastic

bout the nterpreters'

bilities.

Never-

theless, t

is certain hat able members

f the

guild,such as the

MOTOKI

*4I

family,

were n

possession

f

more

nformationnd

books than were heir

ontemporaries

n Edo.6 By the eighteenth

century here re accounts

of scholars

who sold theirpossessions

to

buy

books

from

nterpreters,actors who

gave interpreters

books,

and auctions

of the books of Dutch

merchants.7

t

is

apparentthat the Dutch books, probably because so fewcould

read them,were not

considered s

dangerous s the translat.ons

of Western works into Chinese

which also

came in through

Nagasaki.

The eighteenth enturywas one

of very great

advance. This

gain

is

often

symbolizedby the

celebrateddiscovery f

SUGITA

Gempaku*8Ff1l{lkl 1733-1817)

and his friends hat

European

treatises n anatomyweremore ccuratethan thosefromChina.8

Toward

the end of the

century

he word

Rangaku,

Ei

" Dutch

learning"

became

a standard

term

for

the new

body

of

wisdomn.

As

interest

n Dutch

studies

grew,

ome

individual scholars ike

HONDA

oshiaki

*

'JIi

(1744-1821) began

to show a

willing-

ness to look

beyondaccepted

solutions

for

the

national

econoiny

and

defense.9

Even

leaders

in the

Shinto

revival

profited

rom

6

Cf.

ITAZAWA

Takeo

&jTj ,

" Oranda tsfijino kenkyfi"

f

E

priJ

J

t

["

Studies

in the

Dutch Interpreters

],

Ho5sei

Daigaku

Bungakubu

Kiyo

J**

a:$X;EJ

[Memoirs

of the

Hosei University

ivision of Letters],

No.

1,

1953.

For

the MOTOKI

family there

is

a recent and comprehensive

work

by

WATANABE:

Kuranosuke

MA qfi,

Oranda tsutji

Motoki

Shi

jiryaku

g

J*

,

1I

[A

Concise Account

of the

Motoki

Family

of Dutch Interpreters],

agasaki

Gakkai

Sosho No.

1

(Nagasaki,

1956),

p.

110.

7 Cf. KEENE,

op. cit., pages 81,

88,

97.

'For

discussions

f the celebrated

dissection

f

1771,

and SUGITA'S

subsequent

trans-

lation

of J. A. KULM1US'

Tafel

Anatomia,

cf.

BOXER,

op. cit., pages

47-48; KEENE,

op.

cit., pages 28 ff.;and

SUGITA'S

own account in Rangaku kotohajime, oc. cit., pages

160-166.

8 KEENE,

op.

cit., ncludes

detailed treatment

f

HONDA

Toshiaki.

as well as

a trans-

lation

of one

of his

most important

works.




8/32

NEW

MATERIALS FOR INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF JAPAN

573

the new earning

s

they

foundnew

arguments

or

disputing

with

theirConfucian

ntagonists.10

Official hogunal attempts to utilize and channel the new

science entered round he Bureau

of

Astronomy

X@:Af)

which,

from he timeof the

calendarrevisionswhich

werefirst ompleted

in 1754, needed to

tap foreignknowledge. At the end of the

eighteenth entury

series of administrative eforms lso pro-

duced official

ponsorship

or a school which ncluded Western

medicine

mong ts

concerns. n 1798 came a further evision f

the calendar, nd,

this completed, he astronomers

ere charged

withutilization fWesternknowledge bout geography.A team

was sent out

to

survey the northernsland of Hokkaido.

De-

velopments

n

geography

ncluded a new

worldmap, which was

commissionedn 1807 and struck ff n 1809.

Geography, y ex-

tension,

ame

to include

the history nd institutionsf the West,

and

further hogunalordersresulted n translations

f books on

artillery nd astronomy

rom he Dutch.1"

Shogunal sponsorship

or

these projects

reflected two-fold

purpose. As Western earning ame to be morewidely spread,

Western

ooks,by

virtueof

the fact

that

more

people

could

now

read

them,became

more dangerous. Hence sponsorship

ffered

opportunitieso promote nd to control

he new science. This was

perhaps most clearlyexpressedby the Chief

Minister MATSI-

10

Cf.

Donald

KEENE,

"IHirata Atsutane

and

Western

Learning," T'oung Pao, 42

(1954).353-380. Of special

interest n this

regard

s

an articleby ITO Tasaburo

D

f$5

, "Kokugaku to y6gaku" M* I f [" National (Shinto) Studies and

Western tudies

],

Rekishigaku

Kenkyut

,gff

[Historical cience],

Volume

7,

No.

3

(Tokyo, 1937) pp. 2-34, showing he way Buddhist

and

Confucianist pponents

of the HIRATA line of Shinto scholars

charged

them with secret Christian

eanings

because of

their utilizationof

Christianconcepts

of creation.

As a

result anti-foreign

extremists

f

Restorationdays

charged

the Shinto

scholarswith treason.

But

although

the

Shinto

writersfound

much to

praise in Western earning, hey were hardly pro-

Western;

heir

cceptanceof the

heliocentric heory implyredounded o the advantage

of the Sun Goddess.

11SHIMMURA Izuru

rfj,1

U4,

Ransho yakukyoku no s6setsu

t?iJ

R

["

The Establishment f the Office or TranslatingDutch Books

"],

Shirin,Volume

i, No. 3 (Kyoto, 1916).

Although earlier scholars had studied Western

leaming,

this did not necessarilymean

that they utilized t, as

is

shown by

SHIMMURA's

refer-

ence

to

a

Dutch

expert who translated

book

on internal

medicineand then excom-

municatedone of

his

disciples

who tried

to

practice t.




9/32

574

MARIUS B.

JANSEN

DAIRA

Sadanobu

**ZPP1

(active

1790-1812),

underwhose

ad-

ministration

he ate

eighteenth-century

evelopments

ook

place:

I began about 1792 or 1793 to collectDutch books. The barbariannations

are

skilled

n

the

sciences,

nd considerable

rofit

may

be

derived from

heir

works

f

astronomy nd

geography,

s well as

from

heir

military

weapons

and

their

methodsof

internal

nd

external

medicine.

However,

their

books

may

serve

to

encourage dle

curiosity r

may express

harmful deas. It

might

hus

seem

advisable to ban

them,

but

prohibiting

hese books would not

prevent

people

from

eading hem.

There

is,

moreover,

rofit

o be derivedfrom

hem.

Such

books and

other

foreign

hings

hould therefore

ot

be allowed to

pass

in large

quantities

nto the

hands

of

irresponsible

eople,

but it

is

desirable,

on the

other

hand,

to

have them

deposited

n a

government

ibrary.

If there

is no one to read them, however, heywillmerelybecome nests for nsects.

I

informed

he

Governorof Nagasaki that if such

works

were

acquired

by

the

government,

hey

would

not

be

dispersed

n the

country,

nd could

thus

be consulted

f

there

were

any

official

eed of them.

Thus it came

about that

foreign

ooks were

purchased.12

At

Edo official

ponsorship

nd

direction

esulted n

larger

cale

activity

n

Western

tudiesthan

was

possible

under the

sponsor-

ship

of

individual

feudal

ords.

Yet

sizable

collections f

books

and impressive evelopments ontinuedto take place at other

points,

especiallyunder the

lords

of

Saga

and

Kagoshima.

It is

sometimes

eld that

the

smaller

ords,

who had

to

operate

within

more

modest

means,

concentrated

heir

fforts

moreand

utilized

their

Dutch scholars

with

greater

fficiency.et it

is

evident

that no

domain

had

the

opportunities

o order

nd

collect books

as

great

as

those

the

shogunate

enjoyed.

And,

for each

of

its

projects, the

shogunatewas

furthermore

ble

to

command

the

services fspecialists hroughouthecountry.

The

great

cities

of Osaka

and

Edo

also had

a number

f

private

schools

for

Western

earning.

Dutch

visitors

o Edo

in the

early

nineteenth

entury

eported

hat

the

Japanese

cholarswho

came

to

interview

hem

were

far

better

nformed

hanthey

had

been a

few

decades

earlier.'3

The

progress t

Nagasakiwas

also

striking,

12

This

passage

is

quoted

and

translated

by

KEENE, The

Japanese

Discovery

of

Europe, pages 97-98.

13

Cf.

Hendrik

DOEFF,

Herrinneringen

it

Japan

(Haarlem,

1833),

page

143:

"

The

questions

of the

astronomers

were

addressed

directly

o

the

Opperhoofd

i.

e.,

DOEFF]

and this

made it

difficult or

him, as

he

had not

concentrated n

that

subject

and

could

not

answer

their

questions

.

.

.

the

Japanese has

had

no

training

beyond

a




10/32

NEW MATERIALS

FOR

INTELLECTUAL HISTORY

OF JAPAN

575

as a relaxationof

restrictions

reviouslymposed

on the

Dutch

made possible

the extensive

utoring

f

Japanese

tudents

y

VON

SIEBOLD.14

The

most

ambitious

official

roject

in

pre-PERRY

ays

came

with

thecreation f a

translation eam n 1811 to

tap

the

wisdom

of

a

new

work.

This

was

a

Dutch

translation nd

amplification

of

the

Dictionnaire

Oeconomique

of

Noel

CHOMEL

(1632-1712),

a

Lyon

educator. CHOMEL'S

work,

first

published

in two volumes

in

1709

and

enlarged

many

times n later revisions

by J.

A. DE

CHALMOT, as

translated

nto Dutch

in

1743. Subsequent

ver-

sionsprovidedan astonishing umberof editionswhichranged

from

woto

eighteen

olumes. After ts

arrival

n

Japan

the work

figures

rominently

n the

order list

(Eisch

boek)

which the

shogunate

gave

each departing

Dutch vessel.

Sets of

varying

numbers f

volunmes

ere

ordered n

1819,

1827,

1833,

1836,

1837,

1839,

and

1849.

The

work,

minor

y-product

f

the

eighteenth-

century

ncyclopedist

radition, as a

vast

miscellany

rawnfrom

many

sources

contenant

ivers

Moiens d'augmenter on bien

et

de conservera sante

;

the titlepage heldouthope of" remedes

assurez

et

eprouvez,"

. .

"beaux

Secretspour

parvenir

une

longue

et heureuse

vieillesse,"

nd

useful

knowledge or

agricul-

ture,

animal

husbandry,

manufacture,

onstruction,

methods

of

merchandising,

fficial

management,nd so

on, so

that

"

chacun

pourrase

convaincrede

toutes

ces

veritez,

n

cherchant e

que

peut lui

convenir, haque

chose

etant

rangee

par

ordre

Alphabe-

tique

comme

dans les

Dictionnaires."

For

scholars

and officials

ncertain

which

sourcesshould

be

tapped next,

this

offered he

perfect

olution.

It was

eagerly

sought

nd

extravagantly

raised

by the

scholars.

The

Astronomy

Bureau

was ordered

o

translate t in

1811,

adding to its

rollsfor

this

purpose a

number of

competent

cholars

who

selectedfor

translation

hose elections

which

hey

onsidered

seful o

Japan.

few

Dutch

books, ike the

translation

f Lalande's

Astronomie, romwhich

he has

been

able to reckoneclipsesof the sun and moon very accurately."

"

Dr.

VON

SIEBOLD

was in

Japan

from 1823

to

1829 and

again

from

1859 to

1861.

There is

a

magistral

biography by

KURE

Shiizo

4*,

Shiiboruto

Sensei, sono

sh5gai

oyobi

kdgyd

Y-

7

4Lv

?+IJX [Doctor

Siebold, His

Life

and

Contribution]

Tokyo,

1926),

pages 923,

492.




11/32

576

MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

Thus 152 articles

ealing

with

oology

nd

botany

were

xcerpted,

39 on

fish, 3

on medicine nd

sickness, 8

on

technology,nd

sinall numbersof items dealingwith less usefulsubjects were

translated.

Of the

articles

selected

further ondensations

were

made,

but on the whole the

workwas

extremely

ainstaking, n-

cluding

footnotes

whichranto

many

pages. The

workwas

never

completed,

nd it

ended

with the

death of

one of

the

translators

in 1846.

By

then over one

hundred

and

thirty-five

apanese

volumes

had

been

produced. It

was

also never

published, nd

todayonly

single

hand-written

ersion s

preserved t

Shizuoka,

wherethe last shogunretired.Long yearsof scholarlyworkby

Professor

TAZAWA

Takeo

&;-A4.

devoted to the

problem

of

which

ditionl nd

whichof

the

extant

sets

of

CHOMAL

had

beenl

used for

he

translation,

ould

have been

simplified

y

an earlier

exploration

f

the Ueno

storehouse,which

containedan

eight

volume set

published

from

778-1786,

he

Algemeen

Huishoude-

lijk-,

Natuur-,

Zedekundig-

n

Konst-

Woordenboek, omplete

with

markers

ffixed or

he

sections

which

were obe translated.'5

The coming fthe AmericanmissionunderPERRYn 1853,and

the

urgency f

the

need to make

even more

systematicuse of

Western

knowledge

of

science for

purposes of

defense and to

know

more

about the

enemy n order

to

thwarthis

desires,

ed

to the

final

development f

institutions

esignedto

utilize,

and

to

control, utch

scholars nd

Dutch

books.

The

desirability f more

systematic

tudy

was

pressed

upon

the

Japanese by the

Dutch fromtheirDeshima headquarters.

Before

the treaty

with

PERRY

had

been signed

the

Governor f

Nagasaki had

already

addressed

to

Donker

CURTIUS,

Opper-

hoofd

whose

title

was

shortly o

be changed

to

Commissioner,

desirefor

purchaseof a

warship

nd

for

nstructionn

its opera-

tion.

CURTIUS,

who

complained

n his

messages

to Java of

the

The early

study

by

Professor

TAZAWA

Takeo,

"Kosei

Shimpen

yakujutsu

k

"

t?w;gQJ%tXiX:t

["

On the

Translation of

the

New

Collection

for

Public Welfare" (Chomel)], Shigaku Zasshi At*e, (Tokyo, 1932), pages 949-

994,

has been

revised

by

ASAKURA

Haruhiko

AS

i4

and

IsmIYAMA

Hiko

l

j?,

"Bansho Shirabesho

kyiiz6 ransho

sakki"

)W:S;Mj

F,"

Notes

on the Old

Dutch

Books

of

the

Bansho

Shirabesho

],

Ueno

Toshokan

Kiyo k

I

fflW#EB

(Memoirs

of

the

Ueno

Library),

Vol.

1,

April

1954.




12/32

NEW MATERIALS FOR INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF JAPAN

577

deficienciesn the inguistic ompetence

n

the

part

of the

Japan-

ese

interpreters,

ost no

opportunity

o stress

the

necessity

for

training he future tudents n Dutch so that instructionwould

not have to take place through nterpreters.

Officials

n Java

and in The

Hague

also saw in the new

and

intense shogunal desire to utilize Netherlands

id

in

mastering

Western

military

cience

a

way

of

strengthening

heir

nfluence

in

Japan,and books were sent to Deshima

in

the hope

of

sug-

gesting to Japanese officialswho might see them how

advan-

tageous it would be to sponsor anguage and technical

nstruc-

tion. The advice of Lt. G. FABIUS,who made three rips o Japan

between

he opening f the negotiations nd the establishment

f

a school fornaval

training t

Nagasaki

in 1855, with

nstructors

providedby the

Netherlands

avy, was particularly orceful nd

effectiven persuading he Japaneseofficials f the need formore

intensive

raining n Dutch."6 The detachment f instructorst

Nagasaki, together

with

Pompe VAN MEERDERVOORT,

ho

gave

training

n

medicine,

erved

the interests f both Holland

and

Japan effectively.'7

The

import of books now increased rapidly. Books reached

Japan only

a

year after their publication n Holland, and the

military

nd

medicalworks ecame ncreasinglyifferentiatednd

specialized. A small press brought o Deshima created the pos-

sibility freproducing orksparticularlywell suited for nstruc-

tion.

This

press was later taken over by the Japanese, nd the

Ueno collection

ncludes several

dozens

of

books bearing the

Deshima and

Nagasaki imprints,

he workof

printerswhose skill

16

The standard account of Netherlandspolicy in late Tokuwaga days in J A.. VAN

DER CHIJS, Neerlands Streven tot Openstellingvan Japan voor den

Wereldhandel

(Amsterdam, 867), a work written n Batavia and copiously documentedwith the

sources which were there available. Based on this and on supportingJapanese docu-

ments

s

the work

of

MIZUTA

Nobutoshi

71(1f1

i#fJ,

akumatsu

ni

okeruwaga kaigun

to Oran '

2: M

[Our Navy

and IIolland n Late

Toku-

gawa

Days], (Tokyo, 1929).

1

Cf. J. L. C. Pompe

VAN MEERDERVOORT,

Vijf Jaren n Japan (1857-1863) (Leiden,

1868), 2 volumes, the second volume containingpersonal experiences.

Short

accounts

in English are to be found n the Journalof the

North China

Branch, Royal

Asiatic

Society (Shanghai, 1859, 1860):

"On

the

Study

of the Natural

Sciences in

Japan"

(2.211-221),

and

"

Dissection of a Japanese

Criminal

(2.185-91).




13/32

578

MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

was still

unequal

to the

setting

f a

completely

traight

ine

of

type.

At Edo the emergencyreatedby PERRY'S rrival resulted n

requestsby

the

shogunatefor

counsel

from he feudal

ords

and

from elected individuals

n several

walks

of

life. The

lengthy

memorial ubmitted

by

a

young

Tokugawa

vassal

who

had

be-

come

known

as a studentof

Dutch

learning

deserves

particular

notice.

KATSURintaro

&1UUSti1

18923-1899),

in

developing

his

proposalsfor

national

defense,

ointed

o the need

to tap Western

knowledge.

He

suggested

greater

flexibility

n the selection

f

officials han was possible underthe then current ulesof rank

and

status, and

he

then moved

on to

the need for

producing

warshipswithin

Japan as

rapidly

as

possible

n order

to

be free

from

ependence n

foreign

upplies.

Shipbuilding,n

turn,would

require

trade,

and the new

dangers o Japan

would

also require

changes

n

defense

rrangements.

etween hisand the final

oint

of

the memorial

advocating manufacture

f modern

firearms,

KATSU

suggested the

institution

that was to become the Bansho

Shirabesho:

I

respectfully

uggest

that a school

for instruction

nd

training

hould

be

established at

a

place

three or

four

ri

from

Edo,

that

for

its

library

there

should be collected ll

sorts of

books

in

Japanese,Chinese,

and Dutch

having

to do with

military

matters

nd

gunnery,

nd

that

within the

school orders

be

given

to

set

up facultiesfor

the

study of

astronomy,

eography,

cience,

military

cience,

gunnery,

ortification,nd mechanics. If

the

number of re-

tainers

roves

nsufficient,

en

could be

called

up from

he

fiefs o

offer

nstruc-

tion,

nd thenwithin

short

imemen more

capable than

their

eachers hould

emerge.Moreover, lthoughthe numberof books translatedhas grownvery

much n

recent

years,

t

is

my impression hat

many are

done very

carelessly.

But

now

if

books of

value to

the

country

were

to

be given to

scholars

for

translation

y

the

government

nd

published

officially,

think that it

would

not be

necessary

o fear

the

bad

effect

f

such

careless

nd

misleading

works.18

It

is

significanthat

KATSU'S

suggestions

contained a

three-

fold

purpose

of

instruction,

ranslation,

nd

controlfor

such

an

institution.The

argumentfor

supervision

ver the

translation

18

KATSU'S

memorial

is

reproduced

in

Dai Nihon

komonjo,

Bakumatsu

gaikoku

kankei

monjo

*-k

j

M*&;XS

[Documents

on

Foreign Re-

lations at

the

End

of

the

Shogunate,

Documents

of

Japan], Vol.

1

(Tokyo,

1910),

page

735;

it is

also

quoted in

NUMATA,

op.

cit.,

pages

56-57.




14/32

NEW MATERIALS

OR

INTELLECTUAL

ISTORYOF JAPAN

579

and

dissemination

f

Western

earning

was

particularly

ttractive

to those

who held

that

military

nd

political

secrets could

not

indefinitely e entrustedto the translatorsof the Bureau of

Astronomy.

At

Nagasaki,

where

CURTIUS

erved

as

middleman

intranslating

nglish

and

French

nto

Dutch

and back

again

for

the

Japanese

interpreters,

he

shogunate

was

particularlyde-

fenseless.19

KATSU'S

suggestionwas wellreceived

by

his

superiors,

or

hey

shared most of

his ideas. The

young ABE

Masahiro

0IU,3EL

(1819-1857) who

headed the Council

of

Elders

directed that

preparatoryworkshouldbeginin 1854, and the following ear

officials

et to

work n earnest

o plan the

new nstitution.As

one

of

them,

TSUTSUI Masanori fSY#

t

(1778-1859)

wrote n

a

memorandum

o

ABE,

It

is

urgent hat

we know

more boutthe

West;by

studyinghetruly

seful

thingsike the

strengthnd

weakness,he

semblancend the

reality

f each

country,

hestate

of ts

army nd

navy, he

advantagesnd

drawbacksf

ts

machinery,e can

adopt

heir trong oints

nd avoid

their

hortcomings..

(We

should

ranslate) ookson bombardment,n the constructionfbat-teries, n fortifications,ooks on buildingwarshipsnd maneuveringhem,

books on

sailing nd

navigation,

ooks on training

oldiers

nd sailors, n

machinery,ooks hat set

forth he

real strength

nd

weakness,ppearance

and

reality, fthese

ountries,

ooksongeography,

ookson

products

.

.20

TSUTSUI

and

his

colleagues,

who were

charged

with the

respon-

sibilityfor

planning, oon

turned

much of their

work

over to

younger

subordinates.

As a result

KATSU

himself came to

be a

member

f the

planning ommission.

He

showeda vigorous

ref-

erence

for

n

institute

which

wouldserve a

purpose

ofenlighten-

ment

and

education,

while

several of his

colleagues,fearful f

philosophical nd

spiritual

nfection rom he

West,

preferredo

think

f

t

in

narrowly

military

nd

utilitarianines.

Further

dif-

ferences

concerned

personnel.

The cautious

faction

preferred to

sacrifice

quality for

safety, while

KATSU

argued

against restrict-

ing

the

school

to regular

Tokugawa

retainers.

The name ofthe nstitutionnderwenteveral hanges. Atfirst

it was

to be

the

Y6gakusho ft-41,

or

"

Institutefor

Western

9

Cf. VAN DER

CHIJS,

op.

cit.,

page

158.

20

This

passage

is

quoted in

NUMATA, op.

cit.,

page 59.




15/32

580 MARIUSB.

JANSEN

Learning,"

but

in 1855

the vote

swung

to Bansho

Shirabesho,

"Institute

for the

Investigation

f Barbarian

Books." The

ban

f

for" barbarian,"however,was an approvedtermfor" Euro-

pean,"

and was

rapidly osing

muchof its

pejorativecontent, o

that it would not be inaccurate o translate he

title

as

" Euro-

pean books." By

1862

the name

was felt o

be

in

need

of

revision,

and

the title reverted to the

"

Institute for Investigation

of

Western

Books."

In 1863,

with

the

triumph

f

the

KATSU

posi-

tion,

t became

the

Kaiseijo

UK)HAP,r

" Institute for

Develop-

ment."

21

The productof all this discussion nd planningfinally pened

for

ctivity arly n 1857 at Kudan-shita, do, in

the residence f

a

Tokugawa bannermanwhich had been commandeered or the

purpose.

In

staffing

he

Bansho Shirabesho

he

shogunate

found

it

necessary

o follow

KATSu's

advice to look

beyond

the ranks

of

its

immediate vassals.

Of

the

staff

of two

professors,

en

assistants,

and

threereaders, only the last named

and

lowest

rankingwere Tokugawa retainers. The others, elected after a

survey f available talentby

KATSU

and others,

weredrawnfrom

the

fiefs,

nd

chiefly rom he ranksof doctors.

This was little

o

the

iking fthe governmentonservatives, ho

tried o coverthe

problem y hastily naturalizing the men by

enrolling hemon

the

Tokugawa rolls.22

The

officials ho wereplaced in over-all hargewere naturally

im-portantersonages, nd on theirvisits they

were treatedwith

all the deference hat Tokugawa feudalism eserved or he great.

KAT6's reminiscences bring out the picture of the staff kneeling

with

heads

to the floor,motionless n greeting he directorwho,

standing, acknowledged this by a slight nod. As the Institute

21

HARA

Heizo

,

"Bansho

Shirabesho

no

sosetsu

;

PRO

pIJ-

["The

Establishment

f the

Bansho.

Shirabesho

],

Rekishigaku

Kenkyfz

I

3t,

No.

103

(Tokyo,

1942),

pages

1-42,

is the

best

account

of

the

evolution of

the

Institute

n

Tokugawa

policy-making

roups.

According

o

the

reminiscences

f

KATc

Hiroyuki, " Bansho Shirabesho ni tsuite f

f

FtC

t

["

Concerningthe

Bansho

Sh-irabesho

],

Shigaku

Zasshi,

Volume

XX,

No.

7

(Tokyo,

1909),

page

84,

the

Institute

could

not be

called

"School

"

(gakko)

because

of

the

jealousy

of

the

staffs f

the

Confucian

chools

which

bore

that

name.

22

Cf.

TIARA,

op.

cit.,

page

32.




16/32

NEW

MATERIALS FOR

INTELLECTUAL

IHISTORY OF JAPAN

581

gained

in

prestige

and

respectability,

ormal

supervision

was

delegatedto the HAYASHI

1*

family

f court

Confucianists,

nd

in thismanner heBansho Shirabeshobecamemorefirmlynte-

grated

within he

administrativetructure.23

High

hopes were held forthe Institute, and

as Edo

had

a

considerablepopulation of would-be Dutch scholars there

were

large numbers of

applicants; one source gives

the figure

f

a

thousand Tokugawa

retainers. These daily

throngs, lthough

soon thinned hrough

electionof suitable

students,

meant that

the

Institute

could become

an important

venue for

the new

thought. Fears fororthodoxy roduced the logical requirement

of

a

background n Chinese tudiesfor ntering tudents.

The

Institute day began

at five o'clock in the

morning,

nd

it ran

until even

n the

evening. This rigorous chedule

did

not,

however,

mean as

full a programof instruction s

it

seemed.24

Instruction n a large,

relatively mpersonal

ettingof

this

sort

would

n

any

case

have

posed problems ormembers fa society

in

which he master-student

elationship as the approvedvehicle

for earning. Differences frank and originfurther indered he

learning

process,for as withthe schools for

medical and naval

training t Nagasaki,

formidable bstacles s-tood

n the way of

giving

studentsof varyingranks in the feudal

hierarchy qual

treatment.25 s a result

there was a group of

highlyborn men

who

wereirregular n

attendance and uneven in

their abilities.

The

ranking

taff

members,

n

the

other

hand,

found

t

necessary

to

devote considerable ime

to translating he

diplomaticdocu-

ments

whichwere ent to them.26

Althoughthe Institute

first oncentrated n

the Dutch lan-

guage

as a vehiclefor nstruction, iththe

opening f Japan the

way was also opened for

the acquisition of

works in English,

23

Cf.

KATO, op.

cit.,

page 87.

4

Cf.

NUMATA, op.

cit.,

pages

65-66.

25

The

official eports

of the

Dutch

niaval

training

detachment

given

in

VAN DER

CHIJS,

op. cit., pages 461, 480, and Pompe

VAN MEERDERVOORT's

account of his in-

struction, p.

cit.,

I,

pages 161

ff.,

llustrate

ome of

these

problems.

Of

the two

cases,

the

medical

instructor,

hose

studentswere

not

as close

to

the seats

of

poweras

were

those

who

sought

the

latest

military

wisdom,had

the

easier time

of

it.

2

Cf.

HARA, op. cit.,

page

38,

and

KATO,

Ioc.

cit.




17/32

582

MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

French,

and

German.

The most

pressing

diplomatic

probleins

were

with

English-speaking

ountries. The

first

embassy

to

America n 1860 brought ack to Japana largenumber fworks

in

English,

and

embassiesto

Europe

in

the

years

that

followed

did

likewisewith

European works. n addition

o

the

use of

works

in

other

Western

anguages,

the

subject

matter broadened

to

include

works

on

industrial

roblems

ffecting

machinery,

melt-

ing,

and

the like.

As this

happened,

the

nature of

the

Bansho

Shirabesho

began to

change, and

in

1863,

in

response

to a

me-

morial

from

he

director,ts

name

was

changed

to

Kaiseijo.

It

nowofferednstructionn Dutch, English,French,German, nd

Russian,

as well as

in

a

variety

of

"

useful

arts." The

narrow

translation

unction

ow

behind

hem,

he

first

okugawa

scholars

to

be

sent

abroad

leftfor

he

Netherlands.

Inevitably,

the

effort

o

control

foreign

earningwas

to fail.

When

British

merchants

n

Nagasaki were

able

to

sell

ships

to

feudal

ords,

here

was

little

hope

of

preventing

hem

from

elling

books.

And as

the

subject

matter

nd

the

books

gained

n

num-

berand complexity,hesingle

nstitution

f

the

Kaiseijo no

longer

sufficed o

do

the

work

of

instruction

nd

translation.

Out of

it

came to

Numazu

Military

chool

n

1869-the

first

fthe

modern

military

cademies-and

the

several

ines

of

educational

nstitu-

tions

which

became

Tokyo

University.

The

Ueno collection,n

contents

nd

seals,

documents

his

transition

nto the

early

years

of

the

Meiji

era.

II. The

Library

Provision

f

a

library

or he

nstitute

began

overa

year

before

it

opened.

The

shogunate

orderedthe

Bureau

of

Astronomy,

which

had

previously

njoyed

a

near-monopoly

n

government-

supported

translation

projects,

to

transfer ts

holdings

to the

newly

created

institute, nd

it

also

directed

the

Momijiyama

$K III

Library,

nother

hogunal

epository

which

ater

became

theNaikakuBunko 1iJU9P&J),o surrendertsholdingsnWest-

ern

works.

Many of

the

fiefs

lso

contributed

works

from

heir

holdings.

In

the

Ueno

collection

fficial

eals

can be

used to

trace

and




18/32

NEW MATERIALS FOR

INTELLECTUAL

HISTORY OF JAPAN

583

date

many

of

the

books. Thus,

of

the some

3,500

volumes,

bout

one-third ear seals which

dentify

hem

as

having belonged

to

the line of institutionswhich derivedfromthe Bansho Shira-

besho.

Of these, many

can

be

dated

through

he

sequence of

names

whichthe Institute

bore. Y6gakusho,

for

nstance,

dates

a

volume as transferreduring he period of less

than

a

year

in

1855

duringwhichthis name was used.27The

Momijiyama

col-

lection,whose

holdings

n

the 1840's numbered, ccording

o

one

source,

over two hundred volumes, s represented

n

the

Ueno

collectionby fifty-one

olumes. The

Astronomy ureau,

whiose

totalholdings re notdefinitely nown, ontributed eventy-nine

volumes of the books

now in Ueno. Both categories nclude

many books of considerable

ge and chiefly

ntiquarian nterest.

The real bulk of the

Ueno collection ame

into Japan in the

years

afterthese inter-libraryransfers ad

taken place. Some

books

are

stamped with

the year of entry.

The

number so

stampedfor

he ate 1850's rises teadily; t flags

during he years

of

uncertaintyttending he

rule and

assassination f i Naosuke

ADW:P (1815-1860), and then resumeswithgreatervigor n

the

1860's. For the most

part,

the volumes

dealing

with

non-

scientific

ubjects eemto have entered uring he

ast halfdecade

of the

shogunate, ndicating either a shift

n emphasis or

a

lesseningof fear of

subversion. Details of importmethods are

not

fullyknown, or could

theybe in view of thegreater acilities

for

orderingwhich the

shogunateenjoyed afterthe Dutch mo-

nopoly

at Deshima was

broken. But alreadyduring he closing

years of that monopoly

orders for books

were increasing n

number.By the middleof

1859 the Bansho

Shirabeshohad some

600

volumes n

its library,

nd a recentwork states that during

1860

Westernworks otalling ,648 volumes

were ordered.28

27

Cf.

"

Catalogue,"

page

7,

the

section

by

ASAKURA.

28ITAZAWA

Takeo

7

Nippon to

Oranda

E]

*:

5

2

'

Y

[Japan

nd

Holland],

(Tokyo,

1955)

page

182,

gives

this

last

figure;

VAN

DER

CHIJS,

op.

cit.,

page 433, gives the books orderedfor1854: a handbookfortheoretical nd practical

knowledge of

steam-driven

nd

other

machinery

by

J. H.

HARTE;

a

three-volume

account

of

Napoleon's

campaign n

Russia

by

General

DE SEGUR; a

work

by

DER

SPEK

OSBREEN

on

sailing

ships;

VAN

LOON

on

shipbuilding,

ogether

with a

set

of

illustra-

tions;

VAN

LooN

on

sailmaking;

LE

COMTE

on

navigation

for

trade

and

sailing;

and




19/32

584

MARIUS B.

JANSEN

As the commercial

reatieswith

the Western

owers

came

into

effect

n

1859,

the

Bansho Shirabesho

was

assigned

the

super-

vision of all books entering apan. Fromthispointa Nagasaki

stamp

also

appears

on

many

of

the

books.

Regulations

at

port

cities

provided

hat

two

copies

of each book

should be

submitted

to

the

officials, ho

in

turn forwarded hem

to

the

Institute

for

inspection

and, presumably,

torage.

Thus, proper safeguards

were taken

against

the

import

of materialwhich

might

ubvert

established

political

and

religious

aboos. It

is therefore

ot

sur-

prising

hat a

careful

heck of

the

Ueno

collectionformaterials

whichmightbear on religion urnsup nothingmoredangerous

than

an

astronomy ntitled

Description

of

the Maker's

Works.29

The

cataloguing system n

which

the

books

were

originally

filed

has been retained

by the

Ueno

librarians,

nd

it

provides

footnote o the

development f library

cience

n

Japan as well

as an

insight

nto

contemporarydeas on

the branches

f

earning.

The books from

Holland

posed

problemswhich

the

early cus-

todians

could not

answerfrom

heir xperiencewith

Chineseand

Japanesecollections. t would seem that the initialdisarrayof

the

books

became

systematized, o its

present

extent,during

1862,when

he name

was changed o

Yosho

ff-VX

hirabesho.The

comments

which

follow elate to that

part of the

Ueno collection

whichdates

from

hatperiod.

1, 2: Jisho

P

("

Dictionaries").

The

thirty-sevenorks n

eighty-seven olumes

n this

category nclude not

only

anguage

dictionaries, ut

dictionaries or

specialized needs like construc-

tion and

technology s well.

Seals

show that nine

works in

twenty-six

olumes

came from he

earlier

ibraries. Amongthe

dictionaries

he

famous

CHOMEL s to be found.

The most

im-

KuYCK

and

OVERSTRATEN'S

two

volumes

on

artillery,

ith

translation fa

Germanwork

by

VON

HELDEN

SARNOWSKI on

marksmanship

with

pistols

and

guns.

But as

imports

grew

the order

ist

gave

way

in part

to

free

enterprise,nd

by

1861

VON

SIEBOLD

could

regret

hat

the

import

of

Dutch

books was

dominated

by

money

rather

than

service;

he

thought

that

too

many old,

dated

books and

new,

overly

difficult

works

were

coming n: cf.

VON SIEBOLD,

Open Brievenuit Japan (Deshima, 1861). page 22.

29

Cf.

VAN

DER

CHUIJS,

op.

cit.,

p.

513,

for

the

text

of an

ordinance

distributed n

Nagasaki

in

1859:

"European

books

and

pictures

may also

be sold

in

the

market

or

directly,

ut,

mark

well

Two

copies

of

each

newly-imported

ork

shall be

bought

by the

finance

fficials."




20/32

NEW MATERIALS

FOR INTELLECTUAL

HISTORY OF JAPAN

585

portant author

is

P. WEILAND,whose Handwoordenboek

voor de

Spellingder Hollandsche Taal (1812), Kunstwoordenboek

1846),

and othercompilationswere much soughtand used by Dutch

scholars in

late Tokugawa days. (WEILAND

also

figures promi-

nently

n

order ists given the Dutch at Deshima.) Also present

is the

Dutch-French

dictionary f Francois

HALMA

(first ub-

lished

n

1710)

which

became the basis for two Dutch-Japanese

dictionaries: he Edo

and Nagasaki Haruma of 1796 and 1833,

respectively.From the Nagasaki versionwas developed a third

dictionary

one in

1855-1858. Items like the rare dictionariesn

English gave theBansho Shirabesho ts chief ttraction ormen

like

FUKUZAMWA ukichi J-OHR' (1835-1901) when the ports,

after

he openingof Japan, turnedout to be populated by mer-

chants who

did not speak Dutch.30 The second section of dic-

tionaries, robably an overflow, onsistsof ten works n twelve

volumes.

3:

Bunsokut

_JUI

"

Grammar nd Language"). The twenty-

nine

items in

as many volumes include, n addition to Dutch,

works n Frenchand Malay, as well as P.

MARIN's

GrootNeder--

duitsch n

Fransch Woordenboek 1730).

4:

Kyftri

4

("

Science") . These eighteen tems n twenty-

three

volumes, ncludingfive works transferred romearlier i-

braries,

reat

a

variety

f

topics

n

natural

science.

5:

Bunri

35 Mf

(" Chemistry")

The

sixteen

items

totaling

twenty-one

olumes nclude a

variety

of

scientific

ubjects.

The

most-usedvolumesbear titles ikeP. J.

KASTELEIJN,

Chernische

Oefeningen

oor

de Beminnaarsder

Scheikunst

n't

Algemeen

n

de

A

potheken,

abriekanten n

Trafickanten

n't

Bijzonder 1785)

and J.

GIRARDIN,

Scheikunde

voor

de

Beschaafden

Stand en het

Fabrijkwezen (1851),

whose

designation

" for

the

Cultured

30

Cf.

The

Autobiography of

Fukuzawa

Yukichi,

translated

by

Eiichi

KIYOOKA

(Tokyo,

1948), p.

108:

"By good luck

[

learned

that in the

government

chool of

foreign

ulture,

known

as

Bansho

Shirabesho, here were

many dictionaries.

To

have

access to thesebooks, had to become a bona fide student. But since it was an insti-

tution of the central

government,

t

would

not admit

any

member of

outside

clans

without

much

formality.

had

to

go

to

the highest

official f

my

clan

in Yedo

and

get his seal

on

my petition."

But

FUKUZAWA left again when he foundthat they

would

not let

him take

the

dictionary ut

of the library.




21/32

586

MARIUS

B.

JANSEN

Class"

nmay

ell have served

to

reassure

he

samubrai

who

delved

therein.

6: Sanjutsu 1fiq (" Arithmetic). Although hiscategory on-

tains

only fourteen tems

in

as

many volumes,

these

volumes,

whichwere

recognized

s

being

essential

to

almost

all

the

other

faculties,bear signs

of heavy

use.

Some,

like

I.

R.

SCHMIDT,

Beginselen

der

Differentiaal

n

IntegraalRekening,

en

Gebruike

van

de

Kadetten der

Koninglijke

Artillerie

n

Geneeschool

te

Delft

(18292),

were

clearly

dismantled

or division

among

trans-

lators and later rebound n Japanese

style.

7: Temqnon

WX-t

" Astronomy) . Nineteen tems n twenty-

seven volumes

make up this

division,

nd

of

them

eighteen

vol-

umes

camne rom he earlier ibraries. Of

the items transferred

from ther ibraries, he

Astronomie f LALANDE

first ublished

in

1771, Dutch

translation n 1775), whichwas translated nto

Japanese

n

1803,

is

most

famous. Other volumes treat

general

principles f

astronomy,while

the nineteenth-century

orks n-

clude morespecialized

works ike

those

by

F.

KAISER

devoted to

theHalleyand Encke cometspublishedn 1835 and 1838. Fifteen

almanacs for

Netherlands ndies between the

years 1807

and

1844,

n

additionto

seamen's

almanacs published

n

Batavia and

Amsterdam

n the

1830's

and

1840's, give

evidenceof continuous

importof these

items. Mentionshould also be

made of a work

midway between astronomy nd

social science,

N.

STRUYCK,

Vervolg

van

de

Beschryving

er

Staatsterren,

n nader ontdek-

kingen omtrentden Staat van't Menscheljk Geslagt benevens

eenige

sterreklundige,ardrykskundigen andere

aanmerkingen

(1753), which ought o take a

statistical pproach

to population,

and

compiled hartsof married

ouples,baptisms,

wins, omets,

and

other elated

phenomena.The Japanese

ranslators estricted

themselves

o thesections n

astronomy.

8: Chiri

JtfIfl

" Geography").

Twenty-seven

tems

onsisting

of

sixty-six olumes,many

of them

heavily used,

make this

one

of the most mportant ectionsofthe library.Geographyed to

knowledge

f the

strengths

f the

European

states

and the

course

of international

elations,

nd it

was

of

central

mportance o the

Japanese.

Nineteenth-centuryublications eem

particularly ell




22/32

NEW MATERIALS

FOR

INTELLECTUAL HISTORY

OF

JAPAN 587

represented,

s are the

Dutch

translations f Johann

HUBNER'S

many

eighteenth-century

orkswhichhad such

a great

nfluence

on the Japanesescholarswho translated nd popularizedthem.

Among

he authors

f these

Dutch

"

geographies,

esides he

Ger-

man

HIBNER,

are

such names

as

JamesTucKEY

(1819), Johann

Gunther

riedrich

ANNABICH

(1843),

and John

GREEN

1747).

9: Kiden

`0`{W

"

History nd

Biography

).

The

twenty-three

titles

in

sixty-one

volumes include

political,

military,

and

natural

history.

Among

these

are an

1851

translation

f

MA-

CAULAY

in

three

volumes; 1744

account

by

Johannes

ROEDELER,

Oude en nietwe staat van't RussischeofMoskovischekeizerryk,

which erved

as basis

for everal accounts of Russia in

Japanese;

an 1854

translation

of

S.

G.

GOODRICH,U. S.

Consul

in

Paris,

Les

Etats-Unis;

and a

history

f wars in

Europe

since

1792

whose

translator, . H.

BROUWER, neglected to

identify

he

German

author.

Netherlands

history

s

of

course

represented,

s

in J.

BossCHA,Neerlands

Heldendaded te

Land van

de

vroegste

ijden

af

tot

in onze

dagen

(1845, 5

volumes).

Finally,

one findshere

some of the works of

CLAUSEWITZ

devoted to the Italian cam-

paigns

of

1796 and the

Russian

campaign

of

1812,

these

two

issued

by

the

Netherlands

military

cademy

at

Breda.

10:

Kokai

tX

"

Navigation ).

Thesesixteen tems

n twenty-

seven

voluimes

reatpractical

problems

whichhad to be

met once

the decision

was

made to buy

shipsand get

instructors

rom he

Netherlands.

Undoubtedlymany

works remained n

Nagasaki,

where hefirstnstruction as centered.

11:

Seiji

JitM

(" Government")

These

elevenvolumesderive

for he

most

part

from

hedays

of

the

Kaiseijo.

They treat civil

law,

court

systems, nd,

incongruously,

orest

management.This

does not seem

to

have

been

a

section

whichwas

given

veryhigh

priority.An

itemthat might

have

interestedhogunal

scholars

was

a

translation of a

work

by

the

American,

Henry

DRUCKLEY,

whichreceivedfirst

rize

from n

anti-c