[Plan of the port and city of Nagasaki]

AN EXTRAORDINARY RARE AND EARLY JAPANESE MANUSCRIPT PLAN OF NAGASAKI

A detailed manuscript plan of the navigation into Nagasaki, the town, its layout and surrounding areas, orientated to the North West, names in Japanese Katakana and classical Chinese, signed in lower right corner "Chokenemon".

The earliest printed map of Nagasaki, according to Melvin McGovern's list (Imago Mundi Vol.15, 1960) is a plan engraved by Hassendo and published by Hayishi Jizaemon of Kyoto in 1745. The first dated map was published in Nagasaki in 1752.

This manuscript map predates all printed maps and shows a detailed layout of the town and streets, with street names and individual houses named, the valleys extending behind the town, on the waterfront, Dejima island (the artificial island built for the Portuguese, and since occupied by the Dutch East India Company), southwest of the Dejima, the Tojin district, is clearly shown with small buildings and blue roofs, where the Chinese lived.

The plan clearly marks the Shorikisha, the largest Shinto shrine and nearby the police station and Yakusho, (the administration building supervising foreigners and overseas trade), as well as numerous Buddhist temples and several rice warehouses.

A color scale at the lower margins shows seven colors, grey for the lands of the feudal lord, yellow Shimabara land, violet Omura family land, blue for water, red for roads, dark yellow for rice fields and white for the city center.

In the harbor, the plan shows two Dutch trading ships and several local vessels. In those days the Dutch sent out only 2 ships on a yearly basis to Nagasaki. The printed maps are all of a later date and are showing, therefore, more ships.

Nagasaki was a small fishing village in the 16th century but grew to be one of the most important cities in Japan by the late 17th century. The Dejima was built in 1634-36 for the Portuguese traders, who were expelled in 1639, and their place was taken by the Dutch V.O.C. trading out of Batavia. The profits of this only foreign trading port in Japan brought considerable wealth to the city. It was also a place where European ideas began to infiltrate Japanese society in terms of medicine and science.

Due to the Dutch presence; Japan learned many aspects of the scientific and technological revolution occurring in Europe at that time, helping the country build up the beginnings of a theoretical and technological scientific base, which helps to explain Japan's success in its radical and speedy modernization following the opening of the country to foreign trade in 1854.

Rangaku, literally "Dutch Learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima.

• More items relating to the Dutch in Japan and Rangaku