During Haganaar’s second visit, the Dutch were called sharply to account for having presumed to sell their silk at a higher rate than that asked by the Portuguese, and a price was prescribed, which they were not to exceed. Being deputed to visit Yedo, on the business of Nuyts’ release, Haganaar proceeded thither by sea, and took lodgings at the house of a Japanese bonze, who was the usual host of the Dutch. The agency of the lord of Hirado and of his secretary was employed with several of the imperial counsellors, but owing, as it would seem, to a deficiency of presents, without success. Caron arranged this matter more successfully the next year. From Yedo to Ōsaka Haganaar travelled by land, and from Ōsaka by water to Hirado, where, during his absence, thirteen or fourteen persons had suffered death because they belonged to Catholic families. He notes that the Japanese whale fishery for the season of 1636 resulted in the capture of two hundred and seventy-four whales; which, however, were much smaller and less fat than the Greenland whales, and were taken more for food than oil. Shortly after his return to Hirado, news came of an order from court that all the Portuguese half-castes—that is, descendants of Portuguese by Japanese women—should be shipped off with their wives and children to Macao.
Returning to Japan a third time, in 1637,—in the seventh Dutch ship which arrived that year,—Haganaar heard that Admiral Weddell was at Nagasaki with four richly laden English ships. They had been refused entrance into Macao, and had come thence to Japan, but could not obtain permission to trade, nor even to land. Six Portuguese galliots had also arrived from Macao with full cargoes of rich silks, which were sold, however, at little profit. Yet they were reported to have carried back, in return, two thousand six hundred chests of silver, or more than three millions of dollars.
To relieve the necessities of the Dutch governor of Formosa, who was engaged in hostilities with the natives, and had been obliged to borrow of Chinese traders, at the rate of three per cent a month, Haganaar was despatched thither with four ships and four hundred and fifty chests of silver, of which two hundred had been borrowed at Miyako of Japanese capitalists, at twenty-four per cent per annum. The following year he returned to Holland, where he soon after printed his voyages, and along with them the answers made by Francis Caron to a series of questions which had been submitted to him by the director of the Company, and which throw not a little light upon the condition of Japan at this time.
Caron, born in Holland of French parents, had originally gone to Japan quite young, Kämpfer says, as cook of a Dutch ship. Bad treatment caused him to quit the ship in Japan, where he was presently taken into the service of the Dutch factory, and taught reading, writing, and accounts. He gave evidence of remarkable abilities, and rose in time to the head of the establishment. He spoke the language fluently, had married a Japanese wife, and from the liberty of intercourse then allowed, and his long residence in the country, enjoyed means of information which no European has since possessed.
In describing the political state of Japan, Caron gives the names, residences, and revenues of thirty-two princes, that is, rulers of one or more provinces (spoken of in the earlier relations as kings), of whom the prince of Kaga, who was also ruler of two other provinces, had a revenue of one hundred and nineteen mankoku, and the others revenues varying from seventy to eighteen mankoku. He adds the mimes, residences, and incomes of one hundred and seven other lords, twenty of whom had revenues of from fifteen to seven mankoku, and the others of from six to two mankoku. Another list contains the names of forty-one lords, with revenues of from one to two mankoku; and in a fourth list he enumerates sixteen lords attached to the imperial court, of whom the first four had from fifteen to nine mankoku, and the others from six to one mankoku. The total revenues of these one hundred and ninety-six great nobles amounted to nineteen thousand three hundred and forty-five mankoku, exclusive of nine thousand mankoku of imperial revenue, of which four thousand
Dutch Candelabrum at Nikkō
were employed in the maintenance of the court, and the remainder in the support of the imperial guard, all of whom were nobles, many of them children of the concubines of the emperors and great princes, and excluded on that account from the prospect of succession[118]. Thus the total annual revenues of the great landed proprietors of Japan amounted to twenty-eight million three hundred and forty-five thousand koku of rice, equal to about ninety million cwt., or one hundred and thirty-three million five hundred thousand bushels; nor is it probable that in this respect there has been much change from that time to this[119]. Caron gives as the current value of the koku, or, as he calls it, cokien, ten guilders (or four dollars), which would make the mankoku equal to one hundred thousand florins (forty thousand dollars), or what the Dutch called a ton of gold. The prince of Satsuma, who was lord also of four other provinces, is put down in the above lists at sixty-four mankoku, the prince of Hizen at thirty-six, and the lord of Hirado at six[120].
These revenues arose in part from mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead, from timber, hemp, cotton, and silk, and from fisheries; but chiefly from the rice and other crops. There were no taxes or duties in Japan, except ground rents for lands and houses, payable in produce or money and in personal services. All these nobles had residences at Yedo, in the precinct of the imperial palace, in which their children resided as hostages for their fidelity. For each thousand koku of revenue these lords furnished on demand twenty foot-soldiers and two horsemen, and maintained them during the campaign, exclusive of the necessary servants and camp followers. The whole of their quotas, or of the feudal militia of Japan, thus amounted to three hundred and sixty-eight thousand foot and thirty-eight thousand eight hundred horse, in addition to a standing army of one hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse, maintained by the emperor from his own revenues, as garrisons and guards. The princes, however, prided themselves on keeping up many more troops than their regular quotas. To every five men there was an officer. Five of these sections composed a platoon, which had its commander. Two platoons made a company, which had its captain. Five of these companies, of fifty privates and thirteen officers, composed a battalion of two hundred and fifty rank and file, with its special officer; and ten battalions, a division of two thousand five hundred men. The civil division was much the same. Every five houses had an inspector, who kept a register of all births and deaths, and every street its magistrate and watch.
Though the revenues of the nobles were great, their expenses were still more so. They were obliged to pass six months at the imperial court; those of the northern and eastern provinces during one half the year, those of the southern and western provinces during the other half. They travelled in great state, some of them with not less than four or five thousand men in their suite, and, on their arrival and departure, gave great entertainments. The prince of Hirado, though one of the lesser class, was always attended in his journeys by at least three hundred men, and entertained in his two houses at Yedo more than a thousand persons. What with their households, the clothing of their followers, their women, of whom they entertained a great number, their children,—the prince of Mito, the emperor’s uncle, had fifty-four boys, and daughters still more numerous,—presents and festivals, their expenses generally exceeded their incomes; and, besides, they were often required to furnish workmen, at the demand of the emperor, for building new castles, temples, or anything he might undertake. The honor of a visit from the emperor was very highly esteemed. He seldom paid more than one to the same house. No expense was spared, and years were spent in preparations, which often ruined those who enjoyed this honor. The visit made by the emperor to the Dairi at Miyako, once in seven years, was a still more magnificent affair.