The Japanese collections

Dissatisfied with the religious activities of foreigners, the Japanese authorities closed off Japan to all foreign presence in the year 1640. The only nations to be excluded from this measure were the Chinese and the Dutch, who, according to the Japanese, had no religion but their greed. Until 1853, Dutch merchants were the only Europeans to set foot on Japanese soil. They kept a trading post on the man-made island of Deshima in the Bay of Nagasaki. For more than two centuries the tiny Dutch settlement acted as Japan's window on the world. Modern European medical and technical science trickled into Japan through Dutch textbooks, translated by Japanese interpreters. Conversely, Japanese books and artefacts reached Europe together with the yearly cargoes of porcelain and silk.

Philipp Franz von Siebold

Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), a native of Würzburg, Germany, enlisted as a physician in the service of the Netherlands East Indies Army with the express purpose of studying Japanese culture and society. In 1823 he arrived at Deshima and started collecting books, artefacts, botanical and ethnographical specimens and maps. Especially this latter activity aroused the suspicion of the Japanese, resulting in his banishment in 1829. The entire collection was sold to William III, King of the Netherlands, who in turn donated it to the State. This collection is preserved at Leiden:

• Botanical specimens: Hortus Botanicus and Herbarium of Leiden University, with a newly created Japanese garden in commemoration of Von Siebold
• Natural science: Museum Naturalis, Leiden
• Ethnographical collection and prints: National Museum of Ethnography, Leiden
• Books and maps: Leiden University Library

Von Siebold returned to Japan only after its forcible opening by commander Perry, and brought together a second collection, which was shipped to Amsterdam. Thwarted in his ambition to become Dutch envoy at Edo (Tokyo), Von Siebold left the Netherlands for his native Germany, taking this second collection with him. Von Siebold's private papers are preserved at the Ruhr-Universität (Bochum); parts of his collection are at the Japan-Institut (Berlin), the family archives of the Brandenstein-Zeppelin family at Burg-Brandenstein, and the Japanologisches Seminar (Bonn).

Japanese collections at Leiden University Library

The Leiden University Library contains specimens from the Jesuit Press, dating from before their expulsion from Japan, and about a thousand Japanese manuscripts and block-printed works dating from the 17th to the 19th century, partly hand-coloured and ranging in subject from the Dutch dictionaries prepared by Japanese interpreters to volumes of classical poetry, drawings of fish and waterfowl and detailed topographical maps of old Edo. Most of them are unique.

In 1896, the collection was described by L. Serrurier in his Bibliothèque Japonaise: catalogue raisonné des livres et des manuscrits japonais enrégistrés à la Bibliothèque de l'Université de Leyde, Leiden.

A hundred years later, H. Kerlen recatalogued the entire collection together with other minor collections in the Netherlands in his Catalogue of pre-Meiji Japanese books and maps in public collections in the Netherlands, Amsterdam, 1996.

Practical information

The Japanese collection can be examined by visitors at the Oriental Reading Room. Please send enquiries on the collection to Dr. J.J. Witkam (email), curator and head of the Department. General information on opening hours, reproduction prices for slides, microfilms etcetera can be obtained from Mr. H. van de Velde (email).

Recent publications

• Beukers, H., W. van Gulik, Y. Matsumoto, The mission of Hippocrates in Japan: the contribution of Philipp Franz von Siebold Amsterdam, 1997.
• Dettmer, H.A., V. Eschbach-Szabo, Acta Sieboldiana. Wiesbaden, 1986-... (Veröffentlichungen des Ostasien-Instituts der Ruhr-Universität Bochum).
• Henker, M., Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866): ein Bayer als Mittler zwischen Japan und Europa. München, 1993.
• Kure, Shûzô, Fr. M. Trautz, Hartmut Walravens , Philipp Franz von Siebold: Leben und Werk. 2nd., enl. ed., München, 1996.
• Velde, H. van de, Van hout tot steen: de assimilatie van Hollandse wetenschap in het Japan van vòòr 1853 in een tentoonstelling van Japanse boeken in de Universiteitsbibliotheek. Leiden, 1994 (Exhibition catalogue).
• Yôroppa ni neburu Nihon no takara: Shîboruto korekushon = Japanese treasures dormant in Europe: Von Siebold collection. Tokyo, 1990

Other useful addresses

• The study of Japan at Leiden University is concentrated at the Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea (email-address)
• The faculty of Arts, departments of Chinese and Japanese, maintain a large image bank called East Asia Vision (authorised access only)
• For fun: Visit the Homepage of Huis ten Bosch at Nagasaki, a life-size replica of the landmarks of the Netherlands, with information on Von Siebold.