Changes

Representatives of the Company journeyed to [[Edo]] to pay their respects to the [[Shogun]] once every few years. Originally, from [[1633]] until [[1789]], they made this journey every year; from [[1790]] onwards, the journey was made only once every five years. This change in the frequency of the missions coincided with similar efforts to reduce the costs of receiving [[Korean embassies to Edo]]; from 1790 onwards, the VOC was to send three men, not four, and to bring only half as much gifts for the shogun and for other officials.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 106.</ref>

Representatives of the Company journeyed to [[Edo]] to pay their respects to the [[Shogun]] once every few years. Originally, from [[1633]] until [[1789]], they made this journey every year; from [[1790]] onwards, the journey was made only once every five years. This change in the frequency of the missions coincided with similar efforts to reduce the costs of receiving [[Korean embassies to Edo]]; from 1790 onwards, the VOC was to send three men, not four, and to bring only half as much gifts for the shogun and for other officials.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 106.</ref>

As their visit was considered one strongly associated with trade purposes, and indeed as the shogunate extending the courtesy or privilege of allowing them to visit Edo, the VOC representatives were not received as "guests" in the same sort of formal ceremonial receptions (''chisô''<!--馳走-->) that [[Korean embassies to Edo|Korean]] and [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo|Ryukyuan]] envoys were.<ref>[[Kurushima Hiroshi]], presentation at "[http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan]" symposium, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 11 Feb 2013.</ref>; the Dutch, for their part, are said to have seen the affair as simply a matter of protocol which they needed to perform in order to be permitted to maintain their special relationship and trade access.<ref>Hellyer, 45.</ref>

As their visit was considered one strongly associated with trade purposes, and indeed as the shogunate extending the courtesy or privilege of allowing them to visit Edo, the VOC representatives were not received as "guests" in the same sort of formal ceremonial receptions (''chisô''<!--馳走-->) that Korean and [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo|Ryukyuan]] envoys were.<ref>[[Kurushima Hiroshi]], presentation at "[http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan]" symposium, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 11 Feb 2013.</ref>; the Dutch, for their part, are said to have seen the affair as simply a matter of protocol which they needed to perform in order to be permitted to maintain their special relationship and trade access.<ref>Hellyer, 45.</ref>

When they did receive an audience with the shogun, they were permitted to approach no further than the outer veranda outside the ''Ôhiroma'', rather than being formally received within the audience hall. On at least one occasion, [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]] arranged a series of informal audiences with the VOC representatives, assigning officials to lead the Dutch deeper into the palace, where their exotic appearances could be witnessed by the women of the palace, and others (all hidden behind blinds or screens), as a source of humor. The Dutch were also recieved in an unofficial audience at that time at the mansion of the [[Yanagisawa clan]], where Tsunayoshi himself observed from behind a blind, completely unseen himself.<ref>Anne Walthall, "Hiding the shoguns: Secrecy and the nature of political authority in Tokugawa Japan," in Bernard Scheid and Mark Teeuwen (eds.) ''The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion'', Routledge (2006), 341-342. </ref> On occasion, the VOC representatives presented the Shogun with exotic animals, such as [[elephants]] or [[camels]], which stirred up great popular interest, but these animals rarely lasted very long.

When they did receive an audience with the shogun, they were permitted to approach no further than the outer veranda outside the ''Ôhiroma'', rather than being formally received within the audience hall. On at least one occasion, [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]] arranged a series of informal audiences with the VOC representatives, assigning officials to lead the Dutch deeper into the palace, where their exotic appearances could be witnessed by the women of the palace, and others (all hidden behind blinds or screens), as a source of humor. The Dutch were also recieved in an unofficial audience at that time at the mansion of the [[Yanagisawa clan]], where Tsunayoshi himself observed from behind a blind, completely unseen himself.<ref>Anne Walthall, "Hiding the shoguns: Secrecy and the nature of political authority in Tokugawa Japan," in Bernard Scheid and Mark Teeuwen (eds.) ''The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion'', Routledge (2006), 341-342. </ref> On occasion, the VOC representatives presented the Shogun with exotic animals, such as [[elephants]] or [[camels]], which stirred up great popular interest, but these animals rarely lasted very long.

The company struggled in the 1790s through the 1810s, in part due to the involvement of the Dutch Republic in the French Revolutionary Wars, resulting in no Dutch ships appearing in Nagasaki in [[1791]] or [[1796]]. In attempts to maintain its position, the VOC began hiring foreign ships to carry its goods, for example hiring the American ship ''Franklin'', which arrived in Nagasaki in place of a Dutch ship in [[1799]].<ref>Hellyer, 108.</ref> That same year, however, the Company went bankrupt, and was dissolved the following year, becoming nationalized. Dutch activities in the Far East after 1800 were more directly driven by the Dutch national government, and continued to heavily employ American and Western European chartered ships until [[1816]], when the Kingdom of the Netherlands regained Java from the British (who had taken it in [[1811]]) and otherwise regained some general stability.<ref>Hellyer, 133.</ref>

The company struggled in the 1790s through the 1810s, in part due to the involvement of the Dutch Republic in the French Revolutionary Wars, resulting in no Dutch ships appearing in Nagasaki in [[1791]] or [[1796]]. In attempts to maintain its position, the VOC began hiring foreign ships to carry its goods, for example hiring the American ship ''Franklin'', which arrived in Nagasaki in place of a Dutch ship in [[1799]].<ref>Hellyer, 108.</ref> That same year, however, the Company went bankrupt, and was dissolved the following year, becoming nationalized. Dutch activities in the Far East after 1800 were more directly driven by the Dutch national government, and continued to heavily employ American and Western European chartered ships until [[1816]], when the Kingdom of the Netherlands regained Java from the British (who had taken it in [[1811]]) and otherwise regained some general stability.<ref>Hellyer, 133.</ref>

==Dutch Factors==

==Dutch Factors==