Chinese in Nagasaki

Under the maritime restrictions imposed by the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1630s, which would remain in force until the Bakumatsu Period (1850s), the only foreigners permitted to trade at the port of Nagasaki were the Dutch and the Chinese.

There were essentially two categories of Chinese resident in Nagasaki in the Edo Period. Those who were seen as being aligned with China, chiefly including merchants who were based in China and came to Nagasaki primarily, or solely, to engage in trade, were restricted to a district known as the Tôjin yashiki, or "Chinese mansions," but were, like the Dutch, who were similarly confined to Dejima, allowed to leave Japan and to come back. Though initially permitted to travel more freely and to live in the regular Japanese sections of the town, these Chinese merchants were restricted to the Tôjin yashiki beginning in 1689 as a response to rises in smuggling.

Meanwhile, those seen as "resident Chinese," who were not traveling merchants but were more permanently resident in Japan, were permitted more freedom to inter-mingle with Japanese society, and to travel more freely across Japan; however, like the Japanese themselves, these "resident Chinese" were forbidden from leaving the country.

Like the Dutch, the Chinese were assigned a certain type or class of courtesans who specialized in serving foreigners. However, while these courtesans were permitted to stay overnight on Dejima, they were not permitted to do so in the Tôjin yashiki.