Changes

Originally, the Dutch generally left [[Nagasaki]] in December (on the Western calendar), and arrived in Edo in February. However, as fires were more frequent in the winter, when nearly everyone made use of open braziers or other sources of flame to keep warm, the Dutch visit was pushed back to March, and then to April, in an effort to avoid having them present in the city when a great fire struck. Such fires destroyed the Nagasaki-ya in 1657, 1658, and 1659, as well as a number of times both earlier and later; the Dutch arrival in April coincided more closely with the blooming of the [[sakura|cherry blossoms]], which then came to be associated with the Dutch visitors in poetry and images.

Originally, the Dutch generally left [[Nagasaki]] in December (on the Western calendar), and arrived in Edo in February. However, as fires were more frequent in the winter, when nearly everyone made use of open braziers or other sources of flame to keep warm, the Dutch visit was pushed back to March, and then to April, in an effort to avoid having them present in the city when a great fire struck. Such fires destroyed the Nagasaki-ya in 1657, 1658, and 1659, as well as a number of times both earlier and later; the Dutch arrival in April coincided more closely with the blooming of the [[sakura|cherry blossoms]], which then came to be associated with the Dutch visitors in poetry and images.

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