Illustrations of Japan


The Dutch-language book Bijzonderheden over Japan, behelzende een verslag van de huwelijks plechtigheden, begrafenissen en feesten der Japanezen, de gedenkschriften der laatste Japansche keizers, en andere merkwaardigheden nopens dat rij. Uit het Engelsch, met gekleurde platen naar Japansche originelen is about Japanese history, customs and ceremonies during the Tokugawa period observed by Dutch senior official in the VOC Isaac Titsingh, published in 1824 in The Hague by Wed. J.Allart. It was based on the English book Illustrations of Japan; consisting of Private Memoirs and Anecdotes of the reigning dynasty of The Djogouns, or Sovereigns of Japan; a description of the Feasts and Ceremonies observed throughout the year at their Court; and of the Ceremonies customary at Marriages and Funerals: to which are subjoined, observations on the legal suicide of the Japanese, remarks on their poetry, an explanation of their mode of reckoning time, particulars respecting the Dosia powder, the preface of a work by Confoutzee on filial piety, published two years before in 1822 by R. Ackermann in London.

About the book

The book recounts the observations of Isaac Titsingh during his stay in Dejima from 1779 to 1784 in his position as Dutch East India Company senior official. During his stay in Japan, Titsingh had the project of an overall collection on Japanese history, culture and civilization in mind. This project should be his life work and accomplishment. Therefore, he collected and translated data and wrote essays for his collection. In his perception this collection was important in order to show and present the high degree of sophistication of the Japanese people and the importance of the Japanese states, which the Europeans should be informed about. In addition, he also possessed enough and vital material, which would add to the otherwise lack of material on Japan in the 18th century.
Titsingh wished to have his collection published in three European languages, important to him: Dutch, French and English, the language which was important for the scientific, natural and modern sciences in the 18th century. He planned to have his book divided into two parts, the first one being a history of Japan, including biographies of the dairis and complemented with biographies on the shōguns of the then-reigning Tokugawa clan, and about the Japanese culture, conditions and customs. This part would consist of a discussion on an individuals life cycle and occasions, including marriage and death, as birth is not a special occasion in Buddhism in Japan.

Within this scope he wanted to only include original sources in translations by himself into the collection, as he believed this would distinguish his work from other Japanese travel accounts and stories. Nevertheless, after he left Japan he did not have any access to more complimentary texts and lacked the help of Chinese and Japanese translators. As a consequence it took Titsingh an enormous amount of time to translate the sources and he could only edit some manuscripts or polish over, due to the lack of his fluentness in Japanese.
In 1812 his collection was still not published and after his death, his two friends Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat and Heinrich Julius von Klaproth, who were both fluent in Chinese and von Klaproth in Japanese, sorted out the remains of his manuscripts and published his work posthumously. This Remusat-Klaproth edition was published in 1820 under the title of Memoires et anecdotes sur la dynastie regnante des djogouns. This posthumous work collection was a clear success and therefore an English edition was published in 1822 by Frederic Shoberl, a well-known journalist and translator as Illustrations of Japan. As the original Dutch manuscript by Titsingh was lost, a new Dutch translation was created based on the English edition in 1824-25.
Therefore, other editions of the book include:
stayed in the Dutch trading post of Dejima from 1779 to 1784 in the position as a VOC senior official. In this time period the only Europeans that were allowed to embark in Japan, were VOC vessels in Nagasaki. He ran the VOC trading station as a chief negotiator of trade between the Japanese and the VOC merchants and officer. Titsingh's goal was to become an “authority on the country” during his time in Japan.
Isaac Titsingh was born in Amsterdam to a family of well-known surgeons. He joined the VOC in 1765 and embarked to Batavia in this year. After becoming a Freemason and was positioned as an 'opperhoofd' in the Japanese factory of the VOC in Dejima he went to Japan in 1779. Titsingh had a Doctorate degree in law and medicine, was a graduate from Leiden University and was one of the most educated Dutchmen that went to Japan in the position as a chief officer of the VOC.

Themes and contents

In the book, Titsingh covers the following themes:
The first part of the book describes the history of Japan, feasts and ceremonies at the court, the procedures of legal suicide, Japanese poetry and division of the year as well as coins and weights of the Japanese. In addition, a very detailed description of the factory of the Dutch and Chinese in Nagasaki is included.
The chapter Private Memoirs of the Shoguns is focusing on the several shōguns, their lives and rule. It contains an extensive amount of biographies and histories on the individual shōguns and their families.
The second chapter, on feasts and ceremonies, describes for each month of the year a certain festival or ceremony the shōgun celebrates. Moreover, other great festivals of the Japanese are discussed such as the feast of lamps or lanterns.
The chapter on legal suicide depicts the procedures of legal suicide of the Japanese.
The chapter on Japanese poetry translates some parts of Japanese poetry into English and gives a small account on the details and characteristics.
The chapter on the division of the year among the Japanese depicts the counting of the days, months and seasons as well as Chinese zodiacs in tables.
The essay on the weights and coins of the Japanese show the values and counting of the Japanese in numbers and conversions of weights and coins.
The description of plans of the Dutch and Chinese factories include the history of these two and describe the conditions and positions of certain buildings, the islands and the area.

Part Two

The second part of the book is focusing on customs and cultural events of the Japanese.
The chapters Description of the Marriage Ceremonies and the Japanese, Description of Marriage Ceremonies of Farmers, Artisans and Tradesmen and Japanese Words in the Description of the Marriage are concerned about the procedures, gifts, pieces of furniture and arrangements of a typical Japanese wedding during the Tokugawa era. Moreover, there are some illustrations depicting the marriage procedures and explanations of these marriage depiction plates. Japanese words important to the wedding ceremonies procedure descriptions are translated and explained.
The chapters Description of the Funerals of the Japanese, Description of Ceremonies practiced in Japan at Funerals and Funerals Festivals of the Japanese describe the procedures of funerals and the festivals, which are practiced to honour the gods on these ceremonies. Funeral arrangements and roles during the ceremony are explained and procedures and special instruments used in the funeral ceremonies depicted.
The two remaining essays Account of Dosia Powder and Note on the Works of Confoutzee depict the peculiarities and functions of the Dosia Powder that is used in Japanese funerals as observed by Titsingh, and selected works and principles of Confucius, collected and translated by the former.

Reception

Contemporary reviews