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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> [[Englebert Kaempfer]] recorded that when he served as a member of this VOC delegation in the 1690s, the Dutch were treated less like respected envoys, and more like bizarre aliens, as a spectacle and a source of amusement. The Dutchmen were made to stand, walk, talk, and even kiss one another, simply for the entertainment of the samurai onlookers, who found everything the Dutchmen did fascinating or absurd. By the 1790s, however, C.R. Boxer writes there had been a shift, and the ''opperhoofd'' began to be treated more akin to ''daimyô'', or foreign envoys.<ref>Gary Leupp, ''Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900'', A&C Black (2003), 88-89.</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.

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> [[Englebert Kaempfer]] recorded that when he served as a member of this VOC delegation in the 1690s, the Dutch were treated less like respected envoys, and more like bizarre aliens, as a spectacle and a source of amusement. The Dutchmen were made to stand, walk, talk, and even kiss one another, simply for the entertainment of the samurai onlookers, who found everything the Dutchmen did fascinating or absurd. By the 1790s, however, C.R. Boxer writes there had been a shift, and the ''opperhoofd'' began to be treated more akin to ''daimyô'', or foreign envoys.<ref>Gary Leupp, ''Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900'', A&C Black (2003), 88-89.</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 large part due to the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The Dutch homeland was conquered by France in [[1794]], becoming a client-state known as the Republic of Batavia, and losing much of its overseas holdings to Britain. The governor of the Dutch East Indies sided with France against the British at first, but the islands later fell to the British, from [[1811]] to [[1816]]. As a result of these developments, there were quite a few years in the 1780s-1810s that no Dutch ships appeared at Nagasaki, leading to a serious decline in Japanese intelligence regarding events in Europe and elsewhere in the world. For example, the Japanese did not learn of the French Revolution until five years after it occurred, and were kept in the dark for a time as to the fate of the Dutch East Indies.<ref>Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), ''Escape from Impasse'', International House of Japan (2006), 25-26.</ref> 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><ref>The VOC hired American ships in [[1797]], [[1798]], 1799, [[1806]], and [[1807]], a ship from Bremen in 1806, one from Denmark in 1807, and one from Bengal in [[1813]]. They sent no ships at all in [[1782]], [[1796]], [[1808]], [[1810]]-[[1812]], or [[1815]]-1816. Mitani, 25-26.</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 and otherwise regained some general stability.<ref>Hellyer, 133.</ref>

The company struggled in the 1790s through the 1810s, in large part due to the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The Dutch homeland was conquered by France in [[1794]], becoming a client-state known as the Republic of Batavia, and losing much of its overseas holdings to Britain. The governor of the Dutch East Indies sided with France against the British at first, but the islands later fell to the British, from [[1811]] to [[1816]]. In the meantime, the Company went bankrupt in [[1795]], but was taken over by the Dutch state, which continued the Company's operations.<ref>Viallé, 72.</ref> As a result of these developments, there were quite a few years in the 1780s-1810s that no Dutch ships appeared at Nagasaki, leading to a serious decline in Japanese intelligence regarding events in Europe and elsewhere in the world. For example, the Japanese did not learn of the French Revolution until five years after it occurred, and were kept in the dark for a time as to the fate of the Dutch East Indies.<ref>Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), ''Escape from Impasse'', International House of Japan (2006), 25-26.</ref> 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><ref>The VOC hired American ships in [[1797]], [[1798]], 1799, [[1806]], and [[1807]], a ship from Bremen in 1806, one from Denmark in 1807, and one from Bengal in [[1813]]. They sent no ships at all in [[1782]], [[1796]], [[1808]], [[1810]]-[[1812]], or [[1815]]-1816. Mitani, 25-26.</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 and otherwise regained some general stability.<ref>Hellyer, 133.</ref>

In [[1844]], H.H.F. Coops, acting as a special ambassador from the Netherlands, arrived in Nagasaki and delivered a letter from King Willem II, addressed to the "King of Japan." It discussed the [[Opium War]], and advised the shogunate, in order to avoid a similar fate, to open up diplomatic and trade relations with other European powers. The following year, the VOC factor received a reply not from the shogun, but from the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'', stating that in accordance with "ancestral laws" or "ancient precedent," Japan maintained only trade relations (''tsûhô'') with the Netherlands and China, and diplomatic relations (''tsûshin'') with only [[Joseon|Korea]] and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]]; as a result, the reply explained, not only was opening diplomatic relations with other nations out of the question, but further the Dutch should avoid any further attempts to engage in formal diplomatic communications with the shogunate themselves. This may have been the first time that an official shogunate document noted a distinction between ''tsûshin'' and ''tsûhô'', and in the nature of relations with these four named polities.<ref>Mitani, 52-53.</ref>

In [[1844]], H.H.F. Coops, acting as a special ambassador from the Netherlands, arrived in Nagasaki and delivered a letter from King Willem II, addressed to the "King of Japan." It discussed the [[Opium War]], and advised the shogunate, in order to avoid a similar fate, to open up diplomatic and trade relations with other European powers. The following year, the VOC factor received a reply not from the shogun, but from the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'', stating that in accordance with "ancestral laws" or "ancient precedent," Japan maintained only trade relations (''tsûhô'') with the Netherlands and China, and diplomatic relations (''tsûshin'') with only [[Joseon|Korea]] and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]]; as a result, the reply explained, not only was opening diplomatic relations with other nations out of the question, but further the Dutch should avoid any further attempts to engage in formal diplomatic communications with the shogunate themselves. This may have been the first time that an official shogunate document noted a distinction between ''tsûshin'' and ''tsûhô'', and in the nature of relations with these four named polities.<ref>Mitani, 52-53.</ref>