tmp_new materials for the intellectual history of nineteenth-century japan
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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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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unpublished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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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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NEW MATERIALS FOR
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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
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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."
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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.
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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
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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
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