Nihonmachi
Encyclopedia
For modern-day Japanese communities, see Japantown
.
is a term used to refer to historical Japanese communities in Southeast
and East Asia
. The term has come to also be applied to several modern-day communities, though most of these are called simply "Japantown
", in imitation of the common term "Chinatown
".
The Japanese had been active on the seas and across the region for centuries, traveling for commercial, political, religious and other reasons. The 16th century, however, saw a dramatic increase in such travel and activity. The internal strife of the Sengoku period
caused a great many people, primarily samurai
, commoner merchants, and Christian refugees
to seek their fortunes across the seas. Many of the samurai who fled Japan around this time were those who stood on the losing sides of various major conflicts; some were ronin
, some veterans of the Japanese invasions of Korea or of various other major conflicts. As Toyotomi Hideyoshi
and later the Tokugawa shoguns
issued repeated bans on Christianity, many fled the country; a significant portion of those settled in Catholic Manila.
As a result of the Ming dynasty
's ban
on direct Sino-Japanese trade or travel, the various lands of Southeast Asia became the primary destinations. Beginning in 1567, the ban was lifted for trade and contact in Southeast Asia, and many traders who would otherwise have been deemed pirates
for their violation of the ban were thus able to engage in legal activity, though trade and travel directly between China and Japan remained illegal. These factors combined with a number of others to create a vibrant trading scene across East and Southeast Asia, a period which Southeast Asian historian Anthony Reid
has dubbed "the Age of Commerce."
Japanese abroad worked in a myriad of roles, though most were merchants, mercenaries, sailors, soldiers, servants, or manual laborers of various sorts. The establishment of the red seal ships
system by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the 1590s, and its continuation under Tokugawa Ieyasu
in the early decades of the 17th century caused this trade and overseas activity to reach a climax and enter a golden age. Through these maritime adventurers and overseas communities, Japanese entrepôt
trade in Southeast Asia thrived. Many of the more active ports came to have a port master, or head of the Japanese community; this port master, called syahbandar in Malay and Indonesia, oversaw the activities of the residents of the Nihonmachi, served as a liaison between the community and the local authorities, and played an important role in coordinating the port's trade with non-resident Japanese traders who came to the port.
For roughly three decades, Japanese communities across Southeast Asia thrived. This came to an end, however, in the 1630s, as the Tokugawa shogunate
began to impose maritime restrictions
; in 1635, Japanese were banned from travelling abroad, and from returning to Japan from overseas. Some of these Southeast Asian Nihonmachi survived through the end of the 17th century. Japan's foreign trade was now handled exclusively by Chinese, Dutch, and Southeast Asian ships, but Japanese living abroad continued to play important commercial roles, and in some cases to exert considerable influence upon the economies of a number of ports. Still, by the end of the 17th century, the lack of influx of new Japanese immigrants led these communities to either disappear through assimilation into the peoples of their new homes, or to die out entirely.
in the Dutch East Indies
, Hội An
in Nguyễn southern Viet Nam, Manila
in the Spanish-controlled Philippines
, and Phnom Penh
in Cambodia
. The largest, and perhaps most famous, Nihonmachi of the period was that in the Siamese port city and royal capital of Ayutthaya
, whose head, Yamada Nagamasa
, bore prominent posts and titles in the royal court. Yamada led an army of 700 Japanese, and took part in suppressing rebellions, civil wars, and succession disputes; he was also allowed to control monopolies over particular goods, such as deerskin, and was given at least nominal governorship of a few provinces at various points.
On the other end of the spectrum, though the port of Tonkin
in northern Vietnam played an important role in the region's silk trade, the local Trinh authorities actively discouraged the formation of a Nihonmachi there. This is believed to have largely been the result of concerns over the martial nature of the Japanese in the region (many were samurai serving as pirates and mercenaries), and over the shipments of weapons and munitions from Japan to Siam and southern Vietnam. In order to avoid potential violence within their chief port, the Trịnh Lords sought to avoid any significant permanent Japanese presence, though many notable and prominent Japanese merchants did frequently make port there.
Ayutthaya (not far from present-day Bangkok Thailand) is said to have had a Japanese population of 1500 individuals at the climax of the community's size and strength, in the 1620s. The kingdom only began trading with Japan around 1570, though it had been actively engaged in commerce with the kingdom of Ryūkyū
a short distance to Japan's south, for over one hundred years. This time also marked the beginning of the Japanese community in Ayutthaya, among the most distant ports from Japan with which the Japanese traded in the early modern period. Japanese "adventurers", mostly ronin
fleeing Japan and seeking their fortunes overseas, were welcomed by the kings of Ayutthaya, and more than a few were employed by the royal government as bodyguards, soldiers, and in other capacities. The kingdom engaged frequently in conflict with Burma
, and many of these samurai soldiers served the court in battle. The kings also engaged in formal relations with the Tokugawa shoguns, receiving shipments of arms and munitions among many other trade items. By the 1620s, Japan was Ayutthaya's most major trading partner, as over twenty Japanese merchant houses, along with many independent adventurers and traders, engaged in commercial shipping between Ayutthaya and Nagasaki every year.
Trade and relations between Japan and Ayutthaya were quite friendly and strong for roughly sixty years, until a series of political scandals in 1630 led to the shogunate formally severing ties with the kingdom. Following the death of King Songtham
, the throne was seized by Prasat Thong
in a violent coup. As part of this scheme, Prasat Thong arranged for the head of the Nihonmachi, Yamada Nagamasa, who also served in prominent roles in court and as head of a contingent of royal Japanese bodyguards, to be killed. Fearing retribution from the Japanese community, the new king burnt down the Nihonmachi, expelling or killing most of the residents. Many Japanese fled to Cambodia, and a number returned several years later having been granted amnesty by the king. The shogunate, regarding Prasat Thong as an usurper and a pretender to the throne, severed ties with the kingdom. Trade continued aboard Chinese and Dutch ships, and, though formal relations were not resumed following the ascension of King Narai
to the throne in 1657, an event in which the Japanese community played a not insignificant part, the royal court's involvement in trade with Japan did resume.
The Nihonmachi recovered for a time, playing an important role in managing aspects of the Japanese trade at the port, and lasting through the end of the 17th century before becoming assimilated into the Siamese population and disappearing. Much of the city was destroyed when it was taken by the Burmese in 1767, and very little by way of intact buildings or other large, noticeable remnants remains today of the Nihonmachi. A formal marker, placed in modern times, denotes the site, which has been the subject of some archaeological research, and which has been visited by both the current Emperor of Japan
, HIM Akihito
, and his predecessor HIM Hirohito
.
, was the largest port in early modern Vietnam. The Japanese community there was quite small, consisting of only a few tens of households, in contrast both to the Japanese community of other cities such as Ayutthaya, and to the Chinese population of Hội An, which numbered in the thousands. Even so, the Japanese in the Nihonmachi of Hội An exerted a powerful influence upon the affairs of the trading port, the Japanese demand for silk being so great that the comings and goings of Japanese merchant ships every year caused dramatic cyclical shifts in market prices. On average, more than ten Japanese ships visited the port every year during the period of the "red seal ships", that is, between roughly 1590 and 1635; this represented fully a quarter of all Japanese maritime economic activity, more than that of any other individual port.
For several months every year, when the trade winds allowed Chinese and Japanese ships to arrive, a vibrant marketplace would appear in the port, and Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese merchants engaged in trading a wide variety of goods. Among other factors which contributed to its prosperity, Hội An was well-placed to serve as a neutral port where Chinese and Japanese could trade without violating the Ming hai jin ban. During the rest of the year, members of the Japanese community in the port city prepared for the market by gathering goods from Chinese and Vietnamese merchants according to the particular demands of the Japan-based merchants who would be arriving with the ships.
The first Dutch
merchants arrived in the port in 1633, and were greeted by the head of the Nihonmachi. Though the shogunate would impose maritime restrictions in 1635, banning direct Japanese involvement in overseas trade, Dutch records indicate that for the few years which the Dutch and Japanese coexisted in Hội An, the Japanese completely dominated the port's economy. Even after 1635, Japanese were hesitant to deal with the Dutch, buying silks from the Chinese in such volume that the Dutch merchants were rarely able to purchase the amounts they desired, and had to face significantly higher prices resulting from the drastically reduced supply.
Over the course of the 17th century, the Japanese community in Hội An gradually shrank and disappeared, assimilated into the Vietnamese community. Intermarriage not only within the Nihonmachi, but between notable Japanese merchant families and the Nguyễn noble family, is indicated by contemporary records, grave markers, and various forms of anecdotal evidence. The descendants of several of these merchant families still hold today as heirlooms objects relating the families' connections to Vietnam.
Hội An today is a small and relatively unassuming city, its port having long since silted up, leading to a sharp decline in its economic prosperity and significance. The precise location of the Nihonmachi within the city remains unknown, though scholars continue to explore the subject, using both contemporary records and archaeological findings. The so-called "Japanese bridge", also known as Lai Vien Kieu ("Bridge of Friends from Afar"), remains one of the city's most famous sites and serves as a reminder of the Japanese community that once thrived there. Conventional wisdom seems to indicate that this bridge marks the entrance to the Nihonmachi's main street; however, the observation that the bridge is not constructed in a Japanese style has led a number of scholars to discount this idea.
Japantown
is a common name for official Japanese communities in big cities outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo, or Nihonmachi , the first two being common names for the Japanese communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.-North America:Japantowns were...
.
is a term used to refer to historical Japanese communities in Southeast
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
. The term has come to also be applied to several modern-day communities, though most of these are called simply "Japantown
Japantown
is a common name for official Japanese communities in big cities outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo, or Nihonmachi , the first two being common names for the Japanese communities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively.-North America:Japantowns were...
", in imitation of the common term "Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
".
History
For a brief period in the 16th-17th centuries, Japanese overseas activity and presence in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the region boomed. Sizeable Japanese communities, known as Nihonmachi, could be found in many of the major ports and political centers of the region, where they exerted significant political and economic influence.The Japanese had been active on the seas and across the region for centuries, traveling for commercial, political, religious and other reasons. The 16th century, however, saw a dramatic increase in such travel and activity. The internal strife of the Sengoku period
Sengoku period
The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...
caused a great many people, primarily samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
, commoner merchants, and Christian refugees
Kirishitan
, from Portuguese cristão, referred to Roman Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used as a historiographic term for Roman Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. Christian missionaries were known as bateren or iruman...
to seek their fortunes across the seas. Many of the samurai who fled Japan around this time were those who stood on the losing sides of various major conflicts; some were ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
, some veterans of the Japanese invasions of Korea or of various other major conflicts. As Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
and later the Tokugawa shoguns
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
issued repeated bans on Christianity, many fled the country; a significant portion of those settled in Catholic Manila.
As a result of the Ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
's ban
Hai jin
The Hǎi Jìn order was a ban on maritime activities imposed during China's Ming Dynasty and again at the time of the Qing Dynasty. Intended to curb piracy, the ban proved ineffective for that purpose...
on direct Sino-Japanese trade or travel, the various lands of Southeast Asia became the primary destinations. Beginning in 1567, the ban was lifted for trade and contact in Southeast Asia, and many traders who would otherwise have been deemed pirates
Wokou
Wokou , which literally translates as "Japanese pirates" in English, were pirates of varying origins who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century onwards...
for their violation of the ban were thus able to engage in legal activity, though trade and travel directly between China and Japan remained illegal. These factors combined with a number of others to create a vibrant trading scene across East and Southeast Asia, a period which Southeast Asian historian Anthony Reid
Anthony Reid
Anthony Reid is a British auto racing driver, born on 17 May 1957 in Glasgow, Scotland. Although Scottish he now lives in England.-Formula cars:...
has dubbed "the Age of Commerce."
Japanese abroad worked in a myriad of roles, though most were merchants, mercenaries, sailors, soldiers, servants, or manual laborers of various sorts. The establishment of the red seal ships
Red seal ships
were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century...
system by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the 1590s, and its continuation under Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
in the early decades of the 17th century caused this trade and overseas activity to reach a climax and enter a golden age. Through these maritime adventurers and overseas communities, Japanese entrepôt
Entrepôt
An entrepôt is a trading post where merchandise can be imported and exported without paying import duties, often at a profit. This profit is possible because of trade conditions, for example, the reluctance of ships to travel the entire length of a long trading route, and selling to the entrepôt...
trade in Southeast Asia thrived. Many of the more active ports came to have a port master, or head of the Japanese community; this port master, called syahbandar in Malay and Indonesia, oversaw the activities of the residents of the Nihonmachi, served as a liaison between the community and the local authorities, and played an important role in coordinating the port's trade with non-resident Japanese traders who came to the port.
For roughly three decades, Japanese communities across Southeast Asia thrived. This came to an end, however, in the 1630s, as the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
began to impose maritime restrictions
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
; in 1635, Japanese were banned from travelling abroad, and from returning to Japan from overseas. Some of these Southeast Asian Nihonmachi survived through the end of the 17th century. Japan's foreign trade was now handled exclusively by Chinese, Dutch, and Southeast Asian ships, but Japanese living abroad continued to play important commercial roles, and in some cases to exert considerable influence upon the economies of a number of ports. Still, by the end of the 17th century, the lack of influx of new Japanese immigrants led these communities to either disappear through assimilation into the peoples of their new homes, or to die out entirely.
The Communities
During this brief but vibrant period, Japanese communities (Nihonmachi) existed in many of the major ports and political centers of the region, including BataviaJakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, Hội An
Hoi An
Hội An , or rarely Faifo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is located in Quang Nam province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants...
in Nguyễn southern Viet Nam, Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
in the Spanish-controlled Philippines
History of the Philippines (1521–1898)
This article covers the history of the Philippines from the arrival of European explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, up to the end of Spanish rule in 1898.-Spanish expeditions and conquest:...
, and Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
in Cambodia
Dark ages of Cambodia
The Dark Ages of Cambodia, covers the history of Cambodia from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, a period of continued decline and territorial loss. Cambodia enjoyed a brief period of prosperity during the sixteenth century because its kings, who built their capitals in the region southeast...
. The largest, and perhaps most famous, Nihonmachi of the period was that in the Siamese port city and royal capital of Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya kingdom
Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...
, whose head, Yamada Nagamasa
Yamada Nagamasa
was a Japanese adventurer who gained considerable influence in Ayutthaya kingdom at the beginning of the 17th century and became the governor of the Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand....
, bore prominent posts and titles in the royal court. Yamada led an army of 700 Japanese, and took part in suppressing rebellions, civil wars, and succession disputes; he was also allowed to control monopolies over particular goods, such as deerskin, and was given at least nominal governorship of a few provinces at various points.
On the other end of the spectrum, though the port of Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
in northern Vietnam played an important role in the region's silk trade, the local Trinh authorities actively discouraged the formation of a Nihonmachi there. This is believed to have largely been the result of concerns over the martial nature of the Japanese in the region (many were samurai serving as pirates and mercenaries), and over the shipments of weapons and munitions from Japan to Siam and southern Vietnam. In order to avoid potential violence within their chief port, the Trịnh Lords sought to avoid any significant permanent Japanese presence, though many notable and prominent Japanese merchants did frequently make port there.
Ayutthaya
bangkokAyutthaya (not far from present-day Bangkok Thailand) is said to have had a Japanese population of 1500 individuals at the climax of the community's size and strength, in the 1620s. The kingdom only began trading with Japan around 1570, though it had been actively engaged in commerce with the kingdom of Ryūkyū
Ryukyu Kingdom
The Ryūkyū Kingdom was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan...
a short distance to Japan's south, for over one hundred years. This time also marked the beginning of the Japanese community in Ayutthaya, among the most distant ports from Japan with which the Japanese traded in the early modern period. Japanese "adventurers", mostly ronin
Ronin
A or rounin was a Bushi with no lord or master during the feudal period of Japan. A samurai became masterless from the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or privilege....
fleeing Japan and seeking their fortunes overseas, were welcomed by the kings of Ayutthaya, and more than a few were employed by the royal government as bodyguards, soldiers, and in other capacities. The kingdom engaged frequently in conflict with Burma
Toungoo Dynasty
The Toungoo Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Burma from the mid-16th century to 1752. Its early kings Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung succeeded in reunifying the Pagan Empire for the first time since 1287, and in incorporating the Shan States for the first time...
, and many of these samurai soldiers served the court in battle. The kings also engaged in formal relations with the Tokugawa shoguns, receiving shipments of arms and munitions among many other trade items. By the 1620s, Japan was Ayutthaya's most major trading partner, as over twenty Japanese merchant houses, along with many independent adventurers and traders, engaged in commercial shipping between Ayutthaya and Nagasaki every year.
Trade and relations between Japan and Ayutthaya were quite friendly and strong for roughly sixty years, until a series of political scandals in 1630 led to the shogunate formally severing ties with the kingdom. Following the death of King Songtham
Songtham
Somdet Phra Boromma Trailokanat Songtham was the King of Ayutthaya from 1611 to 1628 of the House of Sukhōday. His reign was marked as prosperity after the First Fall of Ayutthaya and saw the commencement of trade with foreign nations especially the Dutch and the Japanese...
, the throne was seized by Prasat Thong
Prasat Thong
King Prasat Thong was the first king of Prasat Thong dynasty, the 4th dynasty of Ayutthaya kingdom. He was the Defense minister of King Songtham....
in a violent coup. As part of this scheme, Prasat Thong arranged for the head of the Nihonmachi, Yamada Nagamasa, who also served in prominent roles in court and as head of a contingent of royal Japanese bodyguards, to be killed. Fearing retribution from the Japanese community, the new king burnt down the Nihonmachi, expelling or killing most of the residents. Many Japanese fled to Cambodia, and a number returned several years later having been granted amnesty by the king. The shogunate, regarding Prasat Thong as an usurper and a pretender to the throne, severed ties with the kingdom. Trade continued aboard Chinese and Dutch ships, and, though formal relations were not resumed following the ascension of King Narai
Narai
Somdet Phra Narai or Somdet Phra Ramathibodi III was the king of Ayutthaya from 1656 to 1688 and arguably the most famous Ayutthayan king. His reign was the most prosperous during the Ayutthaya period and saw the great commercial and diplomatic activities with foreign nations including the...
to the throne in 1657, an event in which the Japanese community played a not insignificant part, the royal court's involvement in trade with Japan did resume.
The Nihonmachi recovered for a time, playing an important role in managing aspects of the Japanese trade at the port, and lasting through the end of the 17th century before becoming assimilated into the Siamese population and disappearing. Much of the city was destroyed when it was taken by the Burmese in 1767, and very little by way of intact buildings or other large, noticeable remnants remains today of the Nihonmachi. A formal marker, placed in modern times, denotes the site, which has been the subject of some archaeological research, and which has been visited by both the current Emperor of Japan
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
, HIM Akihito
Akihito
is the current , the 125th emperor of his line according to Japan's traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989.-Name:In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his given name, but rather is referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" which may be shortened to . In...
, and his predecessor HIM Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
.
Hội An
Hội An, located a short distance from Da NangDa Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
, was the largest port in early modern Vietnam. The Japanese community there was quite small, consisting of only a few tens of households, in contrast both to the Japanese community of other cities such as Ayutthaya, and to the Chinese population of Hội An, which numbered in the thousands. Even so, the Japanese in the Nihonmachi of Hội An exerted a powerful influence upon the affairs of the trading port, the Japanese demand for silk being so great that the comings and goings of Japanese merchant ships every year caused dramatic cyclical shifts in market prices. On average, more than ten Japanese ships visited the port every year during the period of the "red seal ships", that is, between roughly 1590 and 1635; this represented fully a quarter of all Japanese maritime economic activity, more than that of any other individual port.
For several months every year, when the trade winds allowed Chinese and Japanese ships to arrive, a vibrant marketplace would appear in the port, and Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese merchants engaged in trading a wide variety of goods. Among other factors which contributed to its prosperity, Hội An was well-placed to serve as a neutral port where Chinese and Japanese could trade without violating the Ming hai jin ban. During the rest of the year, members of the Japanese community in the port city prepared for the market by gathering goods from Chinese and Vietnamese merchants according to the particular demands of the Japan-based merchants who would be arriving with the ships.
The first Dutch
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
merchants arrived in the port in 1633, and were greeted by the head of the Nihonmachi. Though the shogunate would impose maritime restrictions in 1635, banning direct Japanese involvement in overseas trade, Dutch records indicate that for the few years which the Dutch and Japanese coexisted in Hội An, the Japanese completely dominated the port's economy. Even after 1635, Japanese were hesitant to deal with the Dutch, buying silks from the Chinese in such volume that the Dutch merchants were rarely able to purchase the amounts they desired, and had to face significantly higher prices resulting from the drastically reduced supply.
Over the course of the 17th century, the Japanese community in Hội An gradually shrank and disappeared, assimilated into the Vietnamese community. Intermarriage not only within the Nihonmachi, but between notable Japanese merchant families and the Nguyễn noble family, is indicated by contemporary records, grave markers, and various forms of anecdotal evidence. The descendants of several of these merchant families still hold today as heirlooms objects relating the families' connections to Vietnam.
Hội An today is a small and relatively unassuming city, its port having long since silted up, leading to a sharp decline in its economic prosperity and significance. The precise location of the Nihonmachi within the city remains unknown, though scholars continue to explore the subject, using both contemporary records and archaeological findings. The so-called "Japanese bridge", also known as Lai Vien Kieu ("Bridge of Friends from Afar"), remains one of the city's most famous sites and serves as a reminder of the Japanese community that once thrived there. Conventional wisdom seems to indicate that this bridge marks the entrance to the Nihonmachi's main street; however, the observation that the bridge is not constructed in a Japanese style has led a number of scholars to discount this idea.