Japan

by Walter G. Dickson

The Japanese are proud of and delight in the beautiful scenery of their country; and every one who has opportunity, including nearly all the inhabitants, male and female, makes a walking tour at some period of his life over the country, visiting the more remarkable temples, which are generally placed in favorable sites amid woods, and surrounded by fine forest-trees, the immediate precincts being kept with the most scrupulous care and nicety of gardening. Nowhere are the temples more magnificent or the scenery finer than about Miako; and it had been for long the custom for the Emperor to go out and visit some one of the temples in the neighborhood of Miako, and offer worship. In the year 1722 a day was set apart in spring, and again in autumn, on which the whole court should annually go out on a sort of gigantic picnic—the Emperor drawn in a car by oxen, and accompanied by all the Koongays—when they visit some of the temples most renowned for their sanctity or for the beauty of the grounds. This procession is called Miyuki or Gokowo. There are two gardens adjoining the palace in Miako, Shoongakuji and Katsura, which are said to be most exquisitely laid out and kept in beautiful order. The gardeners who have the charge of these gardens belong to a class or sect known as Gayra, a people who live apart by themselves in a few villages in the neighborhood of the capital. They are said to have kept themselves apart in customs and religion for many generations. In religion, they say there is but one God, and that all men below the Emperor are equal. They, as Quakers with us, will not use terms of respect to other men, such as “kudasare,” or call men by titles, as “sama,” similar to “esquire”; saying that they only adhere to old customs in so doing. They are themselves respected as being of old and pure descent, and their children are often selected by Koongays for adoption. They principally follow the occupation of gardeners, or that of breeders of horses.

In the year 1639, the Portuguese and Spaniards having been expelled, and the Dutch factory alone left at Hirado, the commissioner was ordered to remove his people and offices to the small factory on Desima, “the Outer Island,” at the head of the inlet of Nagasaki, and trade was prohibited at all other places in Japan, and to any other nation, with the exception of the Chinese.

In connection with the Dutch and their position on these seas, the pirate commonly known as Coxinga is worthy of notice. Koku seng ya, as he is known in Japanese history, was the son of a Chinese, Ching tsing lung (Tayshi rio in Japanese), by a Japanese woman. The father was for many years, as pirate and admiral, the terror of the Chinese seas. His son succeeded him in his former capacity, and reduced the coasts of China to such a state of terror and devastation, that an order was given, as a desperate remedy, that every person should remove into the interior to a distance of twelve miles from the shore, leaving the cities to decay and the fields to waste. In 1647 Coxinga went over to Japan, and offered his services to, or asked the assistance of, the government in an attack he meditated upon China; but his application was refused. He seems to have again applied to the government in 1658, when he turned his attention to the island of Formosa. A large number of Japanese converts had fled to this island, and the Dutch had built one or two forts with the view of protecting a trade which they hoped might grow up with China. In 1662 Coxinga attacked and captured the fort Zelandia, putting to death nearly all the Dutch soldiers, missionaries, and their wives and families. Only a few men and some of the young women were not killed. A curious but melancholy sigh is wafted over from this long-forgotten remnant of Dutch Christianity and civilization in a letter which was brought to Japan about the year 1711 by the captain of an English vessel who had touched at Formosa on his way out; and as the letter comes through a Japanese channel, there is no reason to doubt its authenticity. The captain, in answer to interrogations, says, “There is no war in Tonay [Formosa] now, and we have no trade there. The Dutch head man asked me to give the following letter to the Dutch commissioners in Nagasaki: ‘Please ask Japan to help us; we are now shut up as in a prison, and every day we weep. The names of the Dutch in Tonay are [here the names are given in Japanese]. I hear that this English vessel is going hence to Japan; therefore we take the opportunity of sending this letter to you. The Tonay country was seized many years ago; but we are still alive, but we are in a most miserable state. Please help us to return to our country. We pray you to speak to the Kogee [Kubosama].

“‘Signed by the head man Yohang Hoorohooro, and two others.

“‘There are ten women and several children here.’”

Nicolas Verburgh seems to have been the name of the officer in command of the fort at the time of its capture in 1662, and the signature, as written by a Japanese, closely corresponds to the pronunciation of the name, and Yohang may have been his son John. From the tenor of the letter it seems hardly possible to doubt but that these were some of the survivors of the Dutch captured in 1662; and if so, it is curious to have such a fact coming to light through Japanese informants, and melancholy to think of such a tedious captivity lightened up after fifty years by the hope of once more revisiting their home, and being redeemed from their never-ending misery.

The name of this English ship is not given, but native history tells us that the captain brought with him an exact copy of the treaty or letter signed by Iyeyas, traced upon paper, and expressed a wish to communicate with the Shiogoon at Yedo. A Dutch interpreter was sent to see if there were any Portuguese on board. The guns and muskets were taken ashore. There were eighty-four of a crew on board. The captain’s name was Sayemon Terohoo (Simon Drew?). The ship was 114 feet long by 27 broad. Then follows a list of articles on board—ammunition, which was taken charge of by the Japanese: Gunpowder, 35 tubs; balls, 660; leaden bullets, 2 tubs; iron bullets, 1 tub; small stone bullets, 8 tubs; matchlocks, 47; flint muskets, 23; spears, 24; swords, 339.

There were on board, as presents for the Shiogoon, “one fine English musket, double-barreled, 3 feet 3 inches in length; four muskets with very intricate and finely-made locks, besides eight others which cannot be used, but are very well made; and four molds for making balls.”

The cargo consisted of cotton, woolen and cotton cloth, furs, fragrant wood, chintz, scented water, quicksilver, looking glasses, tin, silk, crape, etc. The captain was interrogated as to his religion, as to the Portuguese, and as to a change he had made in the national flag which he sailed under, which he explained by saying that he was told the Japanese did not like the cross.

The Dutch had carried on their trade at the island of Hirado, where an extensive land-locked bay is pointed out as the harbor. They were ordered in 1639 to leave that port, and in future to resort to Nagasaki, where a small island, which was afterward connected by a bridge with the town, was appointed them as a place of residence and for trade, being about the same size as the factories at Canton occupied by foreigners till 1856.