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| Hendrik
Doeff (1777-1835) |
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Hendrik
Doeff won more trust from the Japanese than any other director
of the Dejima factory. Doeff arrived in Japan in 1799 and
assumed the position of director in 1803, but his tenure
here was complicated by the annexation of the Netherlands
by France at the time. Not a single Dutch ship sailed to
Nagasaki from 1810 to 1817, and to make things worse, the
"Phaeton" Incident and the attempted takeover
of Dejima by the British took place during this period.
Doeff nevertheless
managed to weather these difficulties and to defend the
Dejima factory, and he won honors from both the Dutch government
and the Tokugawa Shogunate. |
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| Jan
C. Blomhoff (1779-1853) |
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Jan
C. Blomhoff came to Dejima in 1809 as a warehouse foreman
and served under Hendrik Doeff until 1813. He returned
to the Netherlands but came back to Nagasaki again in 1817,
this time with his wife, son and servants in tow. Blomhoff
participated twice in the director’s regular journey
to Edo and left his impressions to posterity in his diary
of the journey. |
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| Engelbert
Kaempfer (1651-1716) |
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After
studying philosophy, botany and medicine at universities
around Europe, Kaempfer gained employment as an embassy
clerk and later as a ship’s physician with the Dutch
East India Company. He came to Japan in 1690 and stayed
for two years, participating twice in the Dutch director’s
regular journey to Edo. After his return to Europe he wrote “A
History of Japan,” a groundbreaking work with detailed
information on the history, religions, political system,
customs and trade practices of this country. Kaempfer stands
with Thunberg and Siebold as a pioneer in research on Japan. |
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| Charles
P. Thunberg (1743-1828) |
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Thunberg
became a Dutch East India Company physician in the hope
of collecting indigenous plants at the Cape of Good Hope
and Japan. He arrived in Nagasaki in 1775 and participated
in the Dutch director’s journey to Edo the following
year, collecting specimens along the way and actively exchanging
information with Japanese students of Western science.
After returning to Europe he wrote several books introducing
the native wildlife of Japan. |
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| Philipp
F. von Siebold (1796-1866) |
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Siebold
arrived in Japan in 1823 hoping to conduct scientific research
on Japan. Granted permission to open a clinic and school
in a Nagasaki suburb, he taught medicine, zoology and botany
to a large number of Japanese students and made a significant
contribution to the study of Western science in this country.
His romance with the Japanese courtesan Sonogi (Kusumoto
Taki) resulted in the birth of a daughter named Kusumoto
Ine who went on to become the first woman practitioner
of Western medicine in Japan. |
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| Motoki
Ryoei (1735-1794) and Motoki
Shoei (1767-1822)
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Motoki
Ryoei
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Motoki
Shoei |
| Motoki
Ryoei is famous for introducing the Copernican theory to
Japan and for writing and translating a large number of
works on subjects such as astronomy and geography. His
son Shoei, at the behest of the Shogunate, began studies
of the English language at the age of 43 with his fellow
interpreters and went on to compile Japan’s first
English dictionary. He also studied French and compiled
a dictionary of that language. |
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| Yoshio
Kogyu (1724-1800) |
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A
native of Nagasaki, Yoshio Kogyu became a student interpreter
at the age of 14, rose to the position of head interpreter
at 25, and went on to serve in this position for more than
50 years. His expertise extended from linguistics to astronomy,
geography and Western medicine. After studying under Thunberg,
he established the Yoshio School of Surgery, instructed
a large number of prominent students and made significant
contributions to the development of Western science in
Japan. |
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