Nagasaki

In the harbour of Nagasaki lays a small fan-shaped island called Dejima. There are other spellings of it, but it played a significant part in the Dutch-Japnese trading history.


In 1543 a storm-blown Portuguese merchant ship arrived on the shores of Japan seeking shelter. Six years later Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary, landed in Kagoshima. The Portuguese moved around seeking a better shelter of this hostile coastline.

In 1570 daimyo Ōmura Sumitada embraced the Catholic faith choosing Bartholomeu as his new Christian name. This Reformation opened the door for the Portuguese to develop Nagasaki as a trading post and this places the controlling power in the hands of the Jesuit. The Portuguese also held the monopoly of the China silk trade through their trading post in Macau.

By 1634, Shogun Lemitsu, uncomfortable with the spread of Christianity ordered the construction of the artificial island. The island in the harbour was to accommodate the Portuguese traders living in Nagasaki among the locals. After an uprising of the predominantly Christian population, the Tokugawa government expelled all Europeans, except the Dutch employees of the VOC, the Dutch East India Company.

Since 1609, the VOC had a trading post on the island of Hirado and were allowed to trade freely with the Shogun’s grant of a trading pass. The Dutch restrained themselves from political and religious involvements and they were the only ones exempted from expulsion.

in 1638, the harsh  Sakoku, or closed door policy, was placed by the Tokugawa shogunate.

In the now vacated Dejima island and the removal of the Portuguese, the economy of Nagasaki suffered. The VOC were forced to move from Hirado to Dejima.

In 1641, only Chinese and Dutch ships were permitted and the only entry into Japan was through Nagasaki harbour.