The Red Haired People

In this step, we have turned the inrō around, revealing quite a surprise. In fact, on this side and across the five compartments, we see a red-haired man wearing a blue and red coat, pants with a beautiful floral motif, stockings and black shoes. The man is European, but he is not Portuguese: he is a Dutch man, depicted in the traditional way, as we can see by comparing it with other artworks from the time. As we have seen in the previous steps of this story, the Portuguese had been trading with the Japanese since the middle of the 16th century. It wasn’t long before merchants in the Netherlands wished to trade in the archipelago as well, and so in 1598 a fleet of seven Dutch vessels took sail to Japan. Only one ship, the Liefde, led by Captain Jacob Quackernaeck, made it to Usuki Bay successfully, but it was enough to establish trading connections. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was established with the aim to promote trade in the Dutch East Indies and to conclude trade treaties with overseas powers. In 1609, the first Dutch envoys went to meet with the Japanese shōgun, the military ruler, Tokugawa Yeyasu, who granted them the right to sail to Japan and to trade. In Japan, Dutch people came to be referred to as the “kōmōjin” (紅毛人): the red-haired people.

When Tokugawa Yeyasu decided to expel the Portuguese, contact with other foreigners was banned as well, but an exception was given to Dutch and Chinese merchants. While the “red-haired people” were allowed to keep trading, from 1641 they were limited to staying on the island of Deshima, which became their residence and trading post. Sources: Willem van Gulik, The Dutch in Nagasaki - 19th century Japanese Prints, Stichting Terra Incognita, Amsterdam, 1998