Volume 1

The history of Japan giving an account of the antient and present state and government of that empire; of its ... minerals, trees ... animals ... and fishes; of the chronology ... of the emperors ... of the customs and manufactures of the natives, and of their trade ... with the Dutch and Chinese. Together with a description of the Kingdom of Siam / Written in High Dutch by E. Kæmpfer ... and translated from his original manuscript, never before printed, by J. G. Scheuchzer ... With the life of the author. And an introduction. To which is added, part of a journal of a voyage to Japan, made by the English in ... 1673.

  • Kaempfer, Engelbert, 1651-1716.
Date:
1728
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of Japan giving an account of the antient and present state and government of that empire; of its ... minerals, trees ... animals ... and fishes; of the chronology ... of the emperors ... of the customs and manufactures of the natives, and of their trade ... with the Dutch and Chinese. Together with a description of the Kingdom of Siam / Written in High Dutch by E. Kæmpfer ... and translated from his original manuscript, never before printed, by J. G. Scheuchzer ... With the life of the author. And an introduction. To which is added, part of a journal of a voyage to Japan, made by the English in ... 1673. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Author s PREFACE. • • It was by the gracious leave, and under the prote&ion of this honourable Company, that 1 have often obtain’d my end in the Indies, and have had the fatisfa&ion at laft to fee the remote Empire of Japan, and the Court of its powerful Monarch. ’1 is the prefent ftate of this Court and Empire, which I herewith offer to the publick, before my other works, which 1 have lately promifed in the Preface to my Amoenitates Exotic<*. I can allure the Reader, that both my defcription and reprefentations of things, though perhaps lefs elegant and perfeCI, are yet ftriCT ly agreeable to truth, and without ernbellifhments, fuch as they occurred to me. I mud own, that as to the more private af¬ fairs of the Empire, I could not procure full and ample infor¬ mations enough: It is known, how difficult a matter it is for a foreigner to do it in any Country, and I found by experience, that it is much more fo in Japan. Ever fince the Roman Catho- lick Religion hath been extirpated, the Dutch and Chinefe Mer¬ chants in a manner imprifon’d, and the whole Empire (hut up to all Commerce and communication with foreign nations, the natives muft be extreamly cautious and referved in their -be¬ haviour with regard to thofe foreigners, who are permitted to trade and are tolerated among them. Thofe in particular who are more immediately concerned with our affairs, are all obliged, by a folemn oath, not to difcourfe with us, nor to difcover any thing to us, of the condition of their Country, the Religions therein eftablifhed, the private tranfa&ions at Court and in the Empire, and other things, and they are fo far neceffitated to be upon their guard, as by the fame oath they are tied down to watch and to betray one another. For a farther confirma¬ tion, this oath is renew’d to them every year. In fo low a con¬ dition is at prefent the credit of foreigners in Japan : The Dutch, who are fuffer’d to trade there, have found it by long expe¬ rience, and are of opinion, that it is impoffible for them to pro¬ cure any information concerning the prefent condition of the Empire, forafmuch as they have neither proper opportunities, nor liberty enough for it, as M. Cleyer, who was himfelf Di¬ rector of our trade there, and our Ambaffiador to the Emperor’s Court, complains in a letter to the learned Scheffer. The diffi¬ culties,