「外番通書」におけるベトナムと徳川家康の最初の通信

This paper was prepared for my final oral presentation as part of completion of the Inter-University Center program in intensive Japanese. I regret that the PowerPoint presentation that went along with the text has been lost, but the documents concerned are not too difficult to find.

The paper concerns the first remaining extant communications between Vietnam and Japan, namely a 1601 letter written by Nguyen Hoang, lord of southern Viet Nam (variously called Quang Nam, Cochinchina, Dang Trong, or by a number of other names) to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who would become shogun of Japan two years later. This letter and Ieyasu's reply, are reproduced and commented upon in the "Gaiban Tsūsho", a compilation of Japanese diplomatic documents assembled by Kondō Jūzō in the early 19th century, and it is those versions of the documents, as well as Jūzō's commentary, upon which this paper was based.

While the letter concerns primarily a shipwrecked Japanese captain, Shirahama Kenki, referred to as a pirate in other sources, it is widely believed by scholars that this shipwreck (and possible acts of piracy not mentioned in the letter) was taken simply as an excuse to initiate relations between the two countries. Further complicating the matter is the fact that the tone and content of the letter seem to indicate that Nguyen seeks to re-establish relations, i.e. that there were prior communications between the two states, though Jūzō indicates this to be the first ever letter exchanged.

Visions of Ryukyu (Gregory Smits) Book Review

Unpublished academic-style book review of "Visions of Ryukyu" by Gregory Smits, written for a Masters' level historiography course in Japanese Modernity taken at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Visions of Ryukyu is one of the few books widely available in English covering the history of the early modern Ryukyu Kingdom. It claims as its intention to address differing views of Ryukyu's identity through the writings of several prominent Ryukyuan thinkers. In that, for the most part, it succeeds, providing one of the only extensive glimpses into Ryukyuan intellectual history available in English, and probably the most thorough and detailed English-language source on the biographies and writings of Shō Shōken, Tei Junsoku, and Sai On.

It fails, however, to address the most glaring and obvious aspect of Ryukyuan identity in this period, namely that of Ryukyu's position vis-a-vis China and Japan, its identity as a vassal state and a tributary state, and the extent to which it might be considered independent. Perhaps these writers did not address those issues; Smits' work focuses more exclusively on domestic issues of how Ryukyuan domestic policy ought to be conducted, based on the thinkers' respective pro-Chinese or pro-Japanese views, etc.

Literature Review - Ryukyu Kingdom

Unpublished brief literature review, written for a Masters' level historiography course in Japanese Modernity taken at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

A brief, academic literature review evaluating the extent of English-language sources on the early modern Ryukyu Kingdom, primarily focusing upon sources which address the details of the history of Ryukyu's relationships with China & Japan (specifically Satsuma province), and its pseudo-independence.

Works discussed include:

Kerr, George H. (2000). Okinawa: The History of an Island People. Boston: Tuttle Publishing. (revised ed.)

Matsuda, Mitsugu (2001). The Government of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, 1609-1872. Gushikawa, Okinawa: Yui Publishing Co.

Ravina, Mark. “State-Building and Political Economy in Early-Modern Japan,” Journal of Asian Studies 54.4 (1995)

Sakai, Robert (1968). “The Consolidation of Power in Satsuma-han.” Studies in the Institutional History of Early Modern Japan. (John W. Hall & Marius Jansen eds.) Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Smits, Gregory (1999). Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Toby, Ronald. "Rescuing the Nation from History," Monumenta Nipponica 56.2 (2001).

Toby, Ronald (1984). State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Seals of Red, Letters of Gold: Japanese Relations with Southeast Asia in the 17th Century

Unpublished dissertation written towards completion of MA Japanese Studies at School of Oriental and African Studies

Portrayals of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate are frequently characterized by descriptions of a country which, out of fear of Christian influence, closed its doors to the world . Indeed, for over two hundred years, from the 1630s until 1853, Japanese diplomatic and economic relations with the outside world were heavily regulated and restricted. The shogunate's key goals in instituting these policies have been described by some scholars as being the elimination of the subversive threat of Catholicism and the enforcement of a shogunal monopoly on foreign trade, through the complete cessation of Japanese overseas travel, along with other measures . However, this explanation, like those which have come before it, fails to fully account for the cessation of foreign relations with various Asian polities, and of all direct trade with Southeast Asia. How does fear of Western or Christian influence, and a desire for greater shogunal wealth, translate into action being taken against direct trade and friendly relations with the polities of Southeast Asia?

Trends in scholarship over the last several decades have turned away from the Eurocentric view of Japan's relations in this period, reviving an awareness of the importance of Asian contacts. It is now argued that the shogunate's policies of maritime restrictions derived from keen understandings and  extensive information regarding the dispositions of its various potential trading partners, rather than purely from ignorance, fear, or isolationism . Nevertheless, most treatments of Japanese trade in this period continue to focus on relations with China, Korea, and the Dutch East India Company, omitting almost entirely any reference to the polities of Southeast Asia. This poses a considerable obstacle to a greater understanding of the full picture of Japan's trade and diplomacy in this period. In this paper, I seek to begin to rectify this problem, through an exploration of the complex narrative of Japanese commercial and diplomatic contact with Southeast Asia, and of the impact of domestic events in the region upon international relations and trade. I focus in particular upon Japanese trade and relations with the Southeast Asian polities of Ayutthaya and Quang Nam, across the span of the 17th century.

That the late 1630s represent a watershed in the history of Japanese foreign involvement is no exaggeration. Patterns of formal relations, trade, and overseas travel changed dramatically over a period of only a few years, setting in place conditions which would last over two hundred years. However, it is important to realize that the policies instituted at this time did not result solely from shogunal politics, Chinese domestic affairs, and attitudes towards Western influence. It is clear from the evidence that these concerns were not the only causes of a blanket policy applied across Japan's relations with all of East and Southeast Asia. Rather, domestic events within the individual polities of Southeast Asia, and diplomatic incidents between these polities and Japan, had great impact as well, the chief example being seen in the aftermath of the 1629-1630 succession disputes in Ayutthaya.

Japanese living and working in the Nihonmachi of Southeast Asia also played important roles in the diplomatic and economic relations of their host nations with Japan and other powers, and local politics likewise had incredible impacts upon these developments, completely divorced from wider concerns of a Sinocentric or Japanocentric East Asian regional order. Succession disputes in Ayutthaya, wars between the Nguyen and the Trinh, between the Nguyen and Cambodia, and between Ayutthaya and Burma were complex events which all brought significant change to the region and, by extension, to relations and trade with Japan; in addition, in many cases, the Japanese role in such events is far from negligible.

Shogunal policymakers rarely if ever conflated the affairs and conditions of foreign polities into a single matter as many scholars of the East Asian regional order and maritime trade networks do today. Though the records at Nagasaki refer to all Southeast Asian vessels under the general category of tōsen, or “Chinese ships”, officials, bureaucrats, and merchants were not blind to the important differences between the polities and peoples with which they interacted. In order to gain a truer understanding of the complexity and extent of Japanese trade and foreign relations in this period, we too must consider all the actors involved, the Siamese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Ryukyuans, and others, not only the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, and Dutch.