Nagasaki interpreters
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Edo period Nagasaki was served by two categories of interpreters. The Oranda tsûji (Holland interpreters) specialized in the translation & interpretation of Dutch, while a category of Tô tsûji ("Chinese" interpreters) included not only those specializing in Chinese, but also those responsible for interactions with people from a variety of other Asian countries/regions, including Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India.
The first head of the Chinese interpreters was Feng Hui, appointed in 1604. Positions as interpreters were often passed down hereditarily, and official interpreters' students often included their direct relatives.
References
- Marius Jansen, China in the Tokugawa World, Harvard University Press (1992), 13-14.
