Lecture: The Iconography of Ships and the Problem of ‘Isolation’ in the Later Edo Period

Drawing of Japanese boat with the mast down (from Kaempfer’s Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed)

The Tokugawa regime foreswore ocean-going ships early in the 17th century. International trade was thus entirely in the hands of foreigners, mostly Chinese and Dutch, but these merchants were of course working for their own, not the shogunate’s, advantage. In the 1780s, the Tokugawa therefore determined to construct a fleet. This is a forgotten but fascinating moment. Their huge dilemma was how these ships should look. They could not be too visibly outlandish, but at the same time a Japanese-style vessel would not stay afloat in high seas. They compromised and produced a prototype, the ‘Ship of the Three Countries’ (Sangoku-maru). It sank.