ABSTRACT
In the eighteenth century Japan was a closed country. Since 1639 all Japanese had been forbidden to leave Japan, and foreigners were excluded from the country in order to keep out the poison of Christianity. Only one group of foreigners were made exceptions to this isolation policy: the Dutch traders, who were seen not to be trying to spread Christianity. These traders were confined to Nagasaki, but made an annual visit to Edo (today’s Tokyo) to pay homage to the ruler, the Shogun. A few Japanese were deputed to translate for the Dutch traders, but even they were forbidden to learn to write or read Dutch. There was thus a very limited amount of contact between a very few Japanese and a small number of Dutch traders, mostly just on the annual visit to Edo, when the Dutchmen, and particularly the surgeons on their ships, were questioned at their hotel on medical matters by some inquisitive Japanese.
