AN INTRODUCTION

By the Translator

IT would be needless to say anything by way of Apology for the publication of the following History of Japan. There is something, in all Books of Travels, both useful and entertaining to men of all ranks and professions. And as to this History in particular, if the Author had not already, by a former performance of his, (entituled Amoenitates Exoticae, and publish’d at Lemgow in 1712) convinced the world of his learning, judgment and integrity, its own curiosity and intrinsick worth, the remoteness of the Country, which is therein so particularly described, and which hath been hitherto but little known, together with the many vexatious difficulties, the Author had to struggle with in the pursuit of his enquiries, as hath been hinted by him in his Preface, and will appear throughout the whole work, would sufficiently recommend it to a favourable reception. The High German Original lay, in a manner, ready for the Press, when the Amoenitates were printed, and it was promised in the Preface, that it would be speedily publish’d, but his necessary attendance on the practise of Physick, particularly in the Count de Lippe’s Family, to whom he was Physician in ordinary, with a multiplicity of other business, the want of good engravers, and probably of encouragement too, delay’d its appearing, till at least his sickness and death put an [xlviii] entire stop to this and some other intended works of his, the fruit of many years indefatigable pains and industry. Sir Hans Sloane hearing of Dr. Kaempfer’s death, and having otherwise found by his Inaugural Theses, and his Amoenitates Exoticae, that he must have collected and brought with him into Europe many natural and artificial curiosities, desired Dr. Steigerthal, his Majesty’s chief Physician, in one of his journies to Hanover, to enquire what was become of them. This Gentleman was so obliging, as to go to Lemgow himself, and being told that they were to be disposed of, he immediately inftormed Sir Hans of, who thereupon purchased them for a considerable sum of money, together with all his drawings and manuscript memoirs: And it is owing to his care and generous assistance, that this History of Japan, the original High German manuscript of which was bought at the same time, is now first published in English. It was upon his intimation, which deservedly hath with me the weight of a command, that I undertook to translate it, a Gentleman of better abilities, who intended to do it, having been called abroad, and employ’d in affairs of a different nature. And I went about it with more chearfulness, as out of his known communicative disposition, and unwearied endeavours to promote all useful, and in particular natural knowledge, he was pleased not only to grant me the use of his Library, which I may venture to call the completest in its kind in Europe, but likewise to give me leave to copy out of his invaluable treasures of curiosities in nature and art, what would serve to illustrate and embellish it, for which, and the many other marks of the favour and friendship he hath honoured me with, ever since my arrival in this Country, I take this opportunity gratefully to return my sincerest acknowledgments. My design, in this Introduction, is, in a short survey of this present work, to point out some of its peculiar excellencies, and to illustrate the whole with a tew additional remarks, tending to clear up some doubtful points from the latest discoveries. and to explain others, [xlix] which have been hitherto but slightly, if at all, touched upon. As the translation and publication of this History led me into farther searches concerning the Empire of Japan, and put me upon enquiring what other authors have wrote on this subject, I thought that it would not be unacceptable, nor altogether useless, to publish a list of them, with some observations, I made upon perusal, on the character, translations and several editions of the most considerable: I have had the satisfaction to find, upon the strictest search, that there was nothing of moment wanting in the Library of Sir Hans Sloane: And it will appear by the completeness of this catalogue, what an immense charge and trouble the worthy Possessor must have been at, to bring together, from all parts of the world, so extensive a collection of Books of Physick, Natural History and Travels, and of what an advantage it would be to the learned world, to see some account of them in print, of which he was pleased to give us some hopes in the Introduction to the second volume of his Natural History of Jamaica.

This History of Japan was by the Author divided into five Books. At the beginning of the first Book is an account of his voyage from Batavia to Siam, and from thence to Japan, together with a short description of the Kingdom of Siam. One would imagine, after the many and prolix accounts of the Kingdom of Siam, published (on occasion of that memorable Embassy, which was sent from thence into France in 1684, and was return’d by two others from France to Siam) by de L’Isle, F. Tachard, the Abbot de Choisy, Nicolas Gervaise, and the two Ambassadors sent thither by the King of France, the Marquess de Chaumont, and Monsieur de la Loubere, not to mention many preceding writers, that there should have been little or nothing left to be taken notice of by other Travellers: But the observations of Dr. Kaempfer shew, that the subject was far from being exhausted. His narrative of the late revolution in Siam, and the fall and execution of the famous Constantin Faulcon, for some [l] time Prime Minister to the King, hath several circumstances entirely new, and others very much differing from the accounts given by the French writers, particularly F. D’Orleans (who wrote the life of M. Constance) and it may deserve some credit, as the French, by being expelled the Country, were incapacitated to give a good account of what happen’d, and as he himself arrived there not long after this remarkable event, when as yet it was fresh in every body’s memory. He hath made many pertinent remarks on the Religion, Customs, Chronology of the Siamites, and hath observed, in less than a month’s stay, several things even in and about the Capital, which escaped the attention of other Travellers before him. The Pyramid Pukathon, and the Courts of Berklam’s Temples, which he hath so accurately described and figured, are instances of this.

The History of Japan begins with a Geographical Description of that Empire, deliver’d in two Chapters, and taken out of their own authors, so far as it relates to the number of Provinces, or Counties, the particular districts they are divided into, and the Revenues of each Province. It hath been very much doubted by some of the latest Geographers, whether or no the Empire of Japan is contiguous to the neighbouring Country of Jesso, as the Japanese call it, and consequently, whether it is to be reckon’d among the Islands or Peninsula’s. Monsieur de l’Isle, a Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and Geographer to the King of France, seem’d rather inclined to think that it is contiguous to Jesso, and hath given the reasons of his conjectures in a Letter, which was publish’d in the third volume of the Recueil des Voyages au Nord, (p. 32.) It will not be amiss, on this occasion, to offer some observations which will serve to clear up this doubt, and to shew that it actually is an Island. And in the first place it must be observed, that Monsieur de l’Isle lays the greatest stress of his Conjectures on the uncertainty, which the Japanese themselves are in, about the antiquity of their Empire [li] with a neighbouring continent, and some passages taken out of a Letter of F. Luis de Froes, and the memorable Embassies of the Dutch to the Emperors of Japan, wherein it is positively asserted, that they are contiguous. He doth not disown, but that all the Maps of the Japanese Empire, made since its discovery in 1542, particularly those of Texeira, Cosmographer to the King of Portugal, and of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Author of the Arcano det Mare, with some others sent from China and Japan, concurring to make an Island of it, are of no small weight to make one think that it is one, the rather, as this opinion is farther supported by most accounts from those parts. As to what he quotes out of Tavernier, of a ship, which, he affirms, in the third volume of his Travels, to have sailed all round Japan, that indeed might be easily given up, though never so positively asserted. That Author, himself scarce able to read or write, and obliged to borrow the Pen of another man to write the account of his Travels, was too superficial in his description even of those Countries, where he hath been, and too apt, not only to take things upon trust at first hand, but afterwards also to confide too much to his memory, to be any ways depended on: And in his account of that ship, (whereby it is plain, he meant the Breskens and Castrecoom fitted out by the Dutch East India Company, and purposely sent upon discovery of the Country of Jesso in 1643) he hath made, whether misinform’d himself, or willing to misinform others, too many unaccountable blunders, to deserve the least credit. But without having recourse, to what might be gather’d for or against the opinion of M. de l’Isle, either from the Maps or Writings of preceding authors, though I believe he hath even there by much the minority on his side,. this matter is put out of all doubt, by the Maps of the Empire of Japan made by the natives, and by the latest discoveries of the Russians. The Japanese, in all their maps, represent their Empire as consisting of very many Islands, great and small. the largest whereof. which is by them called [lii] Nipon, is entirely separate from a neighbouring Northern Country, which they call Jesogasima, or the Island Jeso, and which is in all probability, the very same, which F. Hieronymus ab Angelis went into from Japan, and which in his second account he affirms to be an Island, contrary to what he kad advanced in the first. Some maps place between Japan and Jesogasima another small Island called Matsumai. Several of these maps, which were brought out of the Country by Dr. Kaempfer himself, and which I have follow’d in the map annexed to this History, at least, where I was wanting in better memoirs, are now in the hands of Sir Hans Sloane, and another was several years ago engraved by the learned Mr. Reland out of the collection of M. Benjamin Dutry. I must own, that these maps, for accuracy and preciseness, fall far short of our European ones, the Eastern Geographers being not skilled enough in Mathematicks and Astronomy for that: But it cannot be supposed, with regard to the Japanese in particular, that being so fully apprized, as they are, of the largeness) extent and division of Osiu, the most Northern Province of their Empire, and one of the most populous, they should be ignorant, whether or how far t is wash’d by the Sea, and where it borders upon other Countries or Provinces. That there is a streight, which separates the most Northern Coasts of Japan from a neighbouring Continent, is farther confirm’d by the latest discoveries of the Russians. It is but of late years, that the Russian Court hath been apprized of the largeness of Siberia, and the Great Tartary, and their vast extent Eastwards. For a long while their knowledge was in a manner bound by the River Oby, which discharees itself into the streights of Weigats, and on which stands Tobolskoi, the Capital of Siberia, and the usual place of banishment for State-Criminals. When Dr. Kaempfer was at Moscow, they had then already received some better memoirs, but they were as yet kept very secret ’Twas from these, and later informations, that M. de Witsen made. some time after his larve map of Russio [liii] and the Great Tartary, which goes a good way beyond the Rivers Jenisea and Lena, and which was afterwards corrected in several places, and abridged, by Mr. Isbrand Ides, in his Voyage to China. But by the latest discoveries, particularly that of the Country of Kamchatka, which was made but a few years ago, it appears, that the Russian Empire, in largeness and extent, far surpasseth any as yet known, not even the dominions of the Emperor of China excepted, though that Monarch is possess’d of a considerable part of the Great Tartary, and that it borders upon the Kingdoms of Sweden and Poland, the Turkish Empire, the Kingdom of Persia, the Turkestaan and Bulgarian Tartaries, and the Dominions of the Emperor of China, may that further Eastward it reaches down almost as far as the Islands of Japan. But it is not my design here to enter into a description of the Russian Empire, and I shall confine myself to the Country of Kamschatka, as the Russians call it, a draught of which I have added to my Map of Japan (v. Vol. III. Fig. 162) as I found it represented in a large Map of the Russian Empire, made according to the latest informations, the Russian Court had from those parts, and publish’d in Holland but a few months since. This Country seems to be the very same with that, which the Japanese call Oku-Jeso, or Upper-Jeso, and of which they know little more, but that there is such a Country. According to the best accounts, the Russians are as yet able to give, it is a Peninsula, seated between 150 and 170 Degrees of Longitude, and 41 and 60 of Latitude, Northward of Japan. Northward it is contiguous to Siberia, running up almost as far as Cape Suetoinos, which is the furthermost Cape of Siberia to the North-East, but to the East, South and West it is wash’d by the Sea. It is inhabited by different nations, whereof those, who live about the middle, pay contribution to the Russians, but others living more North, particularly the Olutorski, as they are called in this map, are their profess’d enemies. The Kurilski as the Russians call them, who inhabit the most Southern [liv] part, being also more civilized than the rest, are by them supposed to be Colonies of the Japanese, and so far as the accounts of the Japanese may be depended on, they are subject to the Emperor of Japan, and govern’d, undeN his authority, by a Prince, who commonly resides at Matsumai, and who repairs once a year, as do all other Princes of the Empire of Japan, to Jedo, to pay homage to the Emperor. The Commerce between Siberia and Kamchatka is carried on two different ways. Some go over the Gulph of Kamchatka, which runs up between it, and the Great Tartary and Siberia, near fifty-eight Degrees of Latitude, and they commonly pass it from I ama, where the Russians have begun to build large Ships, to Pristan, a Town built by them in Kamchatka, and inhabited by a Russian Colony. But those inhabitants of Siberia, who live about the River Lena, and along the Icy Ocean, commonly come with their Ships round Cape Suetoinos, and this they do to avoid falling into the hands of the Tschalatzki, and Tschutzki, two fierce and barbarous nations, possess’d of the North-East point of Siberia, and great enemies to the Russians. By this account, which I have taken from the curious remarks upon a Genealogical History of the Tartars, lately publish’d, it appears, I. That Asia is not contiguous to America to the North-East, but that there is a passage out of the Icy Sea into the Indian Ocean, and that consequently it would be possible for Ships to sail from Europe across the Icy Ocean, and from thence along the Country of Jesso or Kamchatka, and the Eastern Coasts of Japan to the Indies, were it not for the huge mow1tains of Ice continually floating in those frozen Seas, even in the midst of Summer, but much more for the scarce ever melting Ice in the Streights of Weigats, whereby the passage through these Streights is render’d absolutely impracticable, at all times of the year. 2. That there is a Streight which separates the Country of Kamchatka from Japan. According to the accounts of the Russians, there are several small Islands in these Streights, the [lv] largest whereof is in a map of Kamchatka, published some years ago by J. B. Homann, call’d Matmanska, and is probably the same with Matsumai in some Japanese maps. And this I think sufficient to shew, for what reasons I have in the map of Japan, annexed to this History, made an island of it.

From the Geographical description of the Empire of Japan, Dr. Kaempfer proceeds to take into his consideration the original descent of the natives, which he traces up to the confusion of Tongues at Babel, supposing, that upon the Babylonians being dispersed all over the world the first Japanese also went to settle in that part, which was allotted by Providence for the future abode of themselves and their posterity. He confutes the opinion of those, who pretend, that the Japanese are only a Colony of the Chinese. His arguments are drawn chiefly from the many and those very material differences in the Language, Religion, Customs, way of Life, and inclinations of both Nations, and certainly, considering the warlike humour and activity of the Japanese, and the effeminate slothfillness of the Chinese, one would rather take the former to be of Tartarian extraction The Reverend F. Couplet, who, for his deep insight into the Histories of the Chinese, may be allowed a competent Judge, is of the same opinion, as appears by his Introduction to the Philosophy of Confusius, (publish’d at Paris in 1687) p, LXX. and he enforces it by a remarkable passage he met with in the annals of the Chinese, whereby it appears, that in the reign of Uu Ye, (the 25th Monarch of the Family of Xam, being the second Family of the Emperors of China) who came to the throne in the year before Christ 1196, (that is, upwards of 500 years before the foundation of the Japanese Monarchy) the barbarous Nations to the North of China, (that is, the Tartars) being grown too numerous, several Colonies were detach’d to people the Islands lying in the Eastern Ocean. But whatever Nation the Japanese are descended from, the Conjectures of Dr. Kaempfer. for as such only he delivers [lvi] them, are certainly valuable, as they led him to make many curious and uncommon remarks, tending to the improvement of Geography, or relating to the History and Languages of several Nations. Mean while, that there should be nothing wanting on this subject, he hath acquainted the Reader with the visibly fabulous traditions of the Japanese themselves about their original descent.

He concludes the first Book with the Natural History of the Metals and Minerals, Plants, Trees, Animals, Birds, Insects, Fishes and Shells of Japan. It were to be wish’d, his observations, on this head, had been more numerous and extensive, though if it be consider’d, what difficulties he laboured under, it is rather surprizing, that he was able to go so far. He had indeed by him the description and figures of some hundred curious Plants, which he observed in Japan, having had his hands less tied for Botanical searches, but he reserved them for another work. His observations on the Tea, on the Paper manufactures of the Japanese, of the Moxa, of the Acupunctura, or Needle-pricking, and of Ambergrease, which were printed in the Amoenitates Exoticae, belonging likewise to the Natural History of Japan, I have translated them, and they are inserted in the Appendix to this work.

Although the Japanese Monarchy was founded long after the Chinese, the first Emperor of Japan having begw to reign in the year before Christ 660, yet the Japanese, led by a vanity, which they have in common with most Eastern nations, boast of a greater antiquity, than even the Chinese, and begin their Annals, with two Successions of Deities, supposed to have governed their Country many millions of years ago. As affairs now stand in Japan, there are properly two Emperors, an Ecclesiastical and a Secular. For many Centuries the Ecclesiastical Monarchs were possess’d of an absolute and unlimited authority both in Church and State affairs, and it is an instance, I believe, not to be parallel�d, that the Imperial Diadem continued in one family for upwards of two thousand years: Even although in Succession of time, the Crown [lvii] Generals wrested the Government of Secular affairs entirely out of their hands, yet their rank and splendor their ancient title and magnificent way of life, their authority in Church affairs, and one very considerable prerogative of the supreme Power, the granting of titles and honours, were left entire. The History of these Princes, during a Succession of CXIV of them, who reigned from the year before Christ 660, to the year 1690, taken out of their own Annals, together with some remarks on their Court, and on the Chronology of the Japanese, necessary to make it intelligible, is the chief subject of the second Book of this History of Japan, and indeed not the least considerable, no attempt of this kind having ever been made, though I find it mention’d in F. Couplet, that the Chronological Tables of the Japanese Monarchy, printed in Chinese characters, were, in his time, in the Library of the King of France, and that its beginning was therein likewise fixed to the year before Christ 660. At the end of the second Book is a list of the Secular Monarchs, from Joritomo to Tsinajos, who was possess’d of the Throne, when the Author was in Japan.

The Religions now flourishing, or tolerated, in Japan, that in partlcular, which was of old established in the Country, and which very materially differs from the rest, are described, in the third Book, with that accuracy, which is observable throughout the Author’s works.

In the fourth Book the Reader will find a complete and accurate description of Nagasaki, the only place in Japan now open to foreigners, nay indeed to the Dutch and Chinese only, of its situation, its present state and government, its remarkable buildings, the advantageous or burthensome condition of its Inhabitants, with an account of the trade and commerce of the Portugueze, Dutch and Chinese, consider’d in their several periods, the fall and expulsion of the former, and the confinement and hardships of the latter.

The fifth and last Book contains an ample account of the observations made by the author in his two Journies [lviii] to the Emperor’s Court in 1690 and 1691, together with some preliminary remarks on the manner of travelling in Japan, and the remarkable objects Travellers meet wit; on the road.

What I have translated out of the Amoenitates Exoticae, and inserted into the Appendix to this work, hath been already touched upon, so far as it regards the Natural History of Japan. In the sixth and last piece, the author maintains a singular paradox, and illustrates’ it with the Example of the Japanese Empire, that a Country may be happier, and in a more flourishing condition, when shut up and kept from all commerce and communication with foreign Countries, than if it was open to the same.

It doth not seem probable, that the ancients had any knowledge of the Islands of Japan, at least not before, nor in the time of Ptolemy, who flourish’d under Trajan, Adrian, and Antoninus Pius, at Alexandria, a celebrated School of Learning, and one of the most eminent trading Towns in the Roman Empire, nay a great Mart even for Indian Commodities, and who, by correcting the works of Strabo, Pliny, Pomponius Mela, Marinus of Tyr, and other Geographers before him, and by reducing all the parts of the world then known to proper degrees of Longitude and Latitude, hath set Geography in the strongest light, it was then as yet capable to receive. This Author mentions the Countries of the Seres and Sinae (doubtless the Empire of China, perhaps with part of the Great Tartary to the North, and the Kingdoms of Tunquin and Cochinchina to the South) as the furthermost part of Asia, Eastwards, known in his days, and saith expresly, that the Seres were limited to the East, and the Sinae both to the East and South, by [Greek word], an unknown Country, which seems to imply, that then they did not so much as know, that China was bounded to the East by the Indian Ocean, and that consequently they’must have been entirely unacquainted with whatever Countries, or Islands, have been since discovered beyond the Eastern Coasts of this Empire. [lix] I am not ignorant, that some of Ptolemy’s Commentators have thought otherwise, and certainly there was a large field left for conjectures, as he hath mentioned and nanaed many Islands lying in the Indian Ocean, the situation whereof he hath not ascertain’d, and indeed was not ablc to do it, with desirable accuracy. Monsieur de l’Isle, to instance in no more, hath paid a very great compliment to the ancient Geographers, in his map of those parts of the world, which he supposes, were known to them. He imagines that the Insulae Maniolae, which Ptolemy says were inhabited by Antropophagi) Cannibals, are the Philippine Islands, the chief whereof is called Manilhas’ to this day, that the three Insulae Satyrorum are the Islands of Japan, that by the Sinus Magnus must be understood the Bay of Tonquin, and by the Terra Incognita (mentioned in the Fourth Chapter of the Seventh Book of his Geography) the Country of Jesso, or Kamchatka, as the Russians call it, which remained an unknown Country till within these few years last past. I should have been very willing to submit to so good an authority, in a point too, the decision whereof at best depends upon little more than conjectures, but that, upon consulting the original text of Ptolemy, it seem’d to me, that this system is too inconsistent with the positions of places, as laid down by this celebrated Geographer, to admit of any reconciliation, making even the necessary allowances for the Infant State of Geography in those days. The Insulae Maniolae, for instance, are placed by Ptolemy 15 Degrees Westwards of the Aurea Chersonesus which is agreed on all hands to be the Peninsula of Malacca, and upwards of twenty of the Sinus Magnus: the three Insule Satyrorum, opposite to the Sinus Magnus and both these Islands to the South of the Aequinoctial Line, which makes it highly improbable, if not absolutely impossible, that they should be either the Philippine Islands, or the Islands of Japan.

Marco Polo, who lived at the close of the thirteenth Century, and was descended of a noble family at Venices, [lx] is beyond doubt the first European writer, who makes certain mention of the Islands of Japan. His account of the Eastern Countries, in the main, is tolerably, good, and beyond what could be naturally expected from those dark ages wherein he lived. ’Tis true, he had many excellent opportunities, and such as few Travellers meet with, to make himself master of his subject. He set out on his Travels about the year of Christ 1275, when he was but eighteen or nineteen years of age. He was conducted into Tartary and China by Nicholas his Father, and Matthew his Uncle, two experienced Travellers, who had been in those Countries before. He understood, if we believe what he says himself, the four several Languages, spoke in the Dominions of the then reigning Tartarian Monarch Cublai, and lived seventeen years in the service of this Prince, who, although he invaded and conquered China, bears yet even in the Annals of the Chinese, the Character of a prudent and magnanimous Prince, and a munificent encourager of learning. He had several considerable employments at his Court, and was frequently sent, with Commissions of importance, to many distant parts of his Empire. He went into Tartary and China by land, and returning, which no European had done before him, by the way of the East-Indies, he came back to Constantinople, and from thence to Venice, about the year 1295. As to Japan in particular, which he speaks of in the third Book of his account of the Eastern Countries, he calls it Zipangri. This word bears a near affinity to Nipon, the name of the largest of the several Islands composing the Empire of Japan, which is by the inhabitants of Tonquin, and the Southern Provinces of China, pronounced, to this day, Sijpon, or Zipon He owns indeed, that he had not been in the Country himself, and pleads this as an excuse for the shortness, and perhaps the imperfections of his description However, there are many particularities mentioned by him, which the very latest accounts from those parts confirm to be true, as for instance, the trade, which the inhabitants of Mangi, [lxi] (perhaps Tonquin) a Province of South China, carried on with the Japanese, the great wealth of the Island, particularly in Gold and Pearls, the Monarchical Government, the Colour, Stature, and Religion of the Natives, the multitude of smaller Islands, which enconlpass the great Island Zipangri, and which he says, the Sailors, in his time, computed to be 7440 in number. There is one remarkable event mentioned by Marco Polo, which it would be neglect in me to pass over in silence, both as it bears a near affinity to the subject of this present History, and as it proves, in a very strong manner, the veracity of this writer: This is an expedition undertaken into Japan during the author’s abode in China. The ambitious Tartarian Monarch, not satisfied with having made himself master of the mighty Empire of China, but being informed of the wealth and riches of the neighbouring Island Zipangri, resolved to add that also to his other, though great and numerous conquests, in order to which a formidable fleet was sent over with a considerable army on board, under the command of two renowned Generals, Abatan and Nonsachum. The Annals, both of the Chinese and Japanese, take notice of this expedition. F. Couplet, in his Chronological Tables of the Chinese Monarchy refers it under the reign of the Emperor Xicu, who founded the family of Yven, being the 20th family of the Emperors of China, and compleated the conquest of that Empire in the 17th year of the 67th Chinese Cyclus, or the year of Christ 1281, near 4000 years from the foundatlon of that monarchy, and who is the very same Cublai, at whose Court Marco Polo had lived many years. In the Annals of the Japanese it is mention’d under the reign of Govda, the XCth Emperor of Japan, who came to the Crown in the year of Christ 1275, 1935 years from the foundation of the Japanese Empire. There is indeed some difference between these several Accounts, with regard to the circumstances of this expedition, and in partlcular to the strength of the Tartarian fleet and army, which the Japanese, as victors are wont to magnify, [lxii] say was composed of 4000 sail, and 240000 men. But they all agree, that it proved unsuccessful. F. Couplet, who barely mentions it, is entirely silent about the use of the ill success. The Japanese, in their Annals, thankfully ascribe it to the powerful protection of their Gods, who enraged at this signal insult offered them by the Tartars, excited a most furious tempest, whereby their ships were sunk, and their numerous army totally destroy’d, that but few escaped to bring back the tidings of this melancholy defeat to China. Marco Polo confirms the dreadful effects of this storm, and moreover adds, that the dissensions and misunderstandings which arose between the two Tartar Generals, was one of the chief causes of the ill success they met with, and of the loss even of what they had already made themselves masters of. Not long after the return of Marco Polo into Europe, the Republick of Venice falling at variance with that of Genoa, he was honour’d with the command of a Galley. The Venetian fleet was commanded by Andrea Dandola, Procurator of S. Marc, and that of the Genoese by Lampa Doria. Marco Polo, in defence of his Country, discharged his duty with courage and resolution, bravely advancing against the enemy, but the Venetian fleet being worsted, he was taken Prisoner himself, and carried to Genoa, where for his personal qualities, and the knowledge and experience he had acquired in foreign Countries, he was very honourably treated. ’Twas there that a Genoese Nobleman, whose name is lost to posterity, wrote the account of his Travels, and his observations on the Eastern Countries, from his own mouth, and in Latin, sometime about the year 1298. A little while after it was translated into Italian, but the Latin original being soon become extremely scarce, Franciscus Pipinus, of Bologna, a Fryar, made a new translation of it, which is printed in Johan. Huttichii novus orbis Regionum, pubtish’d at Basil in 1532, and afterwards in 1555, but is withal so ill done, and so widely difering from the original, that Giovanni Battista Ramusio, having recover’d one of the first Italian [lxiii] Copies, thought it would be of service to the Publick, to print it in that Language, as he hath done in the second volume of his valuable collection of Voyages and Travels, with an addition of many curious remarks on the family of Marc Paul, and his adventures after his return to Venice. In 1671, another Latin Edition of this Author was published at Cologn, by Andreas Mullerus, with several various lections from a manuscript in the Library of the Elector of Brandenburg, and some curious remarks of his Own. Before I dismiss this celebrated Traveller, upon whom, I am afraid, I have sensibly dwelt too long, it may not be amiss to observe, that three Maps of the Eastern Countries, composed chiefly from his account and observations, are extant in that rare and famous edition of Ptolemy’s Geography, which was published at Lyons in 1535, by Michael Villanovanus, or Michael Servetus, who was atterwards burnt at Geneva as an Atheist.

From the time of Marco Polo, through the ignorance and darkness of those ages, this important discovery lay neglected, nay indeed all his writings in a manner buried in oblivion, for near two hundred years, till upon the restoration of learning, and the invention of the art of Printing, they were, together with many other curious and valuable Manuscripts, brought to light: Very advantageously for the publick and himself, they fell into the hands ot Christopher Columbus, that immortal discoverer of the Western World. He had long meditated that great design, influenced by a variety of things, which made him probably conclude, that there must be Westwards of Europe a Country then as yet undiscover’d, and filll of well-grounded hopes, he had made application for Ships and Money, though for some time in vain, at the Courts of several European Princes, and amongst others that of Henry VII. of England, till at last he was equipp’d by Isabella, Wife to Ferdinand King of Spain, who pawned her Jewels to fit him out. It is very much for the honour of Marco Polo, that his writings, and ill particular his account of the Island Zipangri, at least supported Columbus [lxiv] in his hopes and conjectures. The wealth and riches, which Marco Polo saith, that Island was famous for even in his days, made an attempt of that kind worth undertaking, and supposing (though erroneously, as appear’d by later discoveries) that the Empire of China lay fifteeen hours Eastward of Europe, and consequently Zipangri still more, it was but natural for him to conclude, that the way thither must be shorter sailing Westwards from Europe, than by going Eastwards all round Africa. Perhaps also he might have received some hints from a Sea Chart, and a Map of the World, which it is said Marco Polo brought with him into Eburope, and wherein were represented many Countries in the East-Indies, which were afterwards discover’d by the Portugueze. The success of this enterprize of Columbus none of my Readers can be ignorant of, and I will only add, that these several considerations abovemention’d made so strong an impression on his mind, that when he landed at Hispaniola, he thought it was the very Zipangri of Marco Polo.

Mean while a new world was adding to the Monarchy of Spain, by the discovery and conquest of America, the Portugueze on their side, enlarged their dominions as successfully in the East Indies. The discovery of Japan, though it was but accidental, is one of many, the honour of which is due to that Nation. It is not indeed agreed on all hands, what year that discovery was made, some authors bringing it as high as the year 1535,others to 1542, others to 1543, and some still lower. In this uncertainty of opinions, that of Diego do Couto, the celebrated continuator of Joan de Barros his Decades, seems to me to deserve most credit. That Gentleman, who was Historiographer to Philip II. King of Spain and Portugal, and spent the best part of his Life in the Indies, had in his custody the Archives of Goa, whence he collected the Materials for that great Work of his, of the discoveries, conquests, and remarkable actions of the Portugueze in the Indies, which he brings down to the end of the sixteenth Century. This Author informs us (Decada [lxv] quinta da Asia, printed at Lisbon 1612, f. p 183) that in the year 1542, when Martinus Alfonsus de Sousa was Viceroy of the East Indies, three Portugueze, Antonius da Mota, Franciscus Zeimoto, and Antonius Peixota, whose nanles well deserved to be transmitted to posterity, were cast thither in a storm, on board a Junk laden with hides, and bound from Siam to China.

The Portugueze, where-ever they came to settle in the Indies, either by Conquest or Treaties, turn’d their thoughts and utmost endeavours chiefly to two things, the increase of their Trade and the propazation of the Gospel, and I believe it may be asserted, that they met no where with so sudden and unexpected a success in both, as they did in the Empire of Japan. As to the first, indeed, the flourishing condition of their Trade, and the immense wealth they got by it, their own writers are in great measure silent about, perhaps for fear of discovering so valuable a branch of commerce to other Nations: but the latter, the propagation of the Gospel, was thought too worthy, too deserving a subiect, not to be enlarged upon in a variety of relations still extant, wherein its early foundation, its surprizing progress, the persecutions raised against it, the fervor of the new Converts, their unparalleled constancy and resolution, and the final extirpation of Christianity, effected by no less means than a cruel butchery of all those, who would not renounce it, are consider’d in all their wide extent, and most minute circumstances.

This leads me to the List I proposed to give of what Authors I met with in the Library of the worthy Sir Hans Sloane, relating either to the Ecclesiastical, Political, or Natural History of Japan.

Among the Ecclesiastical writers, the Letters of the Jesuits deserve to be first mention’d. It is well known that these Fathers are order’d once a year to send to their General an account of what passed in their Missions; their Letters, although they turn chiefly upon religious Matters, their progress in the conversion of Indifels, the [lxvi] difficulties they meet with, pretended Miracles, and the like, yet many Remarks are thrown in relating to the Condition, Government, Religion, and Natural History of the Countries, where they are stationed, together with the Manners and Customs of the Natives, and the like. As to those Letters which were sent from Japan, and which I shall here confine myself to, many of them were first printed separately, but afterwards collected together. To mention all the separate Editions or Translations, would be too tedious, and in the end needless.

The first Collection was published at Louvain in 1569 (in two Vol. Octavo) together with some Letters from other parts of the East-Indies, and a Preface of Hannardus de Gameren, wherein he discourses of the rise and progress of the Society of Jesus in general, and the occasion of S. Francis Xaviers going to the Indies, and afterwards to Japan, in particular. This Edition was followed by another in 1570, wherein the Preface of Gameren was omitted, but some new Letters added.

The next Collection is that of Petrus Maffeus, which was first printed at Paris, (1572, Octavo) together with Emanuelis Acostae Historia rerum i Societate Jesu in India gestarum ad annum 1568. It was afterwards printed separately at Cologn, 1574, Octavo. This Edition is divided into five Books, and contains all the Letters relating to the affairs of Tapan, which were sent from thence from the year 1548, when S. Francis Xaviers went thither from Goa, to the year 1565, with a Specimen of the Japanese Characters, at the latter end, being the grant of a Church made to the Jesuits by the Prince of Bungo. It was again reprinted at Cologn 1589, Folio, together with his Historia Rerum Indicarum, and his Life of Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus. This last Edition is divided only into four Books, and hath been augmented with several Letters, which bring down the aSatrs of Japan to the year 1573. The Letters of Aloisius Froes, Gaspar Villela, Melchior Nunnez. & [lxvii] Organtinus of Brixia, are the most curious and entertaining in the Collection of Maffeus.

The Collection made by Johannes Hayus, a Native of Scotland, is next to be considered. It was printed at Antwerp 1605, Octavo, by the following Title, De Rebus Japonicis, Indicis & Peruanis Epistolae Recentiores. It begins with a long Letter of Aloisius de Froes, dated at Bungo May 25. 1577, and comes down to the latter end of the year 1601. It runs through a variety of remarkable events, which make it highly worthy the perusal of the curious. The Church of Japan in a most flourishing condition, even amidst the beginnings of a dreadful persecution, some of the Princes of the Empire of Japan not only converted to the Christian Faith, but paying homage to the Pope at Rome by a solemn Embassy, the life, remarkable actions, and death of Taicosama, that illustrious Prince, who from a low servile condition of life, by his own merit and excellent conduct, raised himself to the Empire of Japan, his war with the Coraeans, the reception and success of an Embassy, which was sent to him upon that account by the Emperor of China, the tragical death of Quabacondono, bis only nephew, whom he had already appointed to be his Successor, and the Revolution, which happened in Japan, upon the death of this great Monarch, are some of the most considerable. There are many separate accounts extant of these and some other things, which happened in Japan in that space of time, but as they are all contained in this Collection, I shall avoid troubling the Reader with a particular account of them, and only beg leave to add a word or two concerning that memorable Embassy above-mentioned, which was sent to Rome by some Princes of the Japanese Empire in 1585, and which was something so unexpected and unusual, that the Eyes of all Europe were then turned upon it.

Most accounts of this Embassy, which were printed in several parts of Europe, contain little else, but a narrative of its reception at Rome, and the several audiences, [lxviii] the Ambassadors had of Gregory XIII. who died soon after their arrival, and of Sixtus V. his Successor. It will suffice to mention the two following, as the most ample and extensive.

Relationi della venuta degli Ambasciatori Giaponesi a Roma, sino alla partita di Lisbona. Con le accoglienze fatte loro da tutti i Principi Christiani, per dove sono passati. Raccolte da Gu1do Gualtieri, Roma 1586, Octavo. This work contains, besides a short description of the Empire of Japan, an account of the voyage of the Ambassadors into Europe, and of what happened to them during their stay there, untill their departure from Lisbon.

De Missione Legatorum Japonensium ad Romanam Curiam, rebusque in Europa ac toto Itinere animadversis, Dialogus, ex Ephemeride ipsorum Legatorum collectus, & in Linguam Latinam versus ab Eduardo de Sande, Societatis Jesu Sacerdote. In Macaensi partu Sinici Regni, in domo Societatis Jesu, cum facultate ordinarii 8r superiorum, anno 1590, Quarto. This rare and curious Treatise, which was printed at Macao in China, both in Latin and Japanese, lays open, at once, the state of Europe and the Indies, as it was at that time. The Jesuits proud of the success of this Embassy, which was entirely a work of theirs, intended that the Japanese should be informed, as it were, by the Ambassadors themselves, of the favourable reception they had met with in Europe, and the remarkable things they had seen in their voyage and return. And certainly it contains as complete an account, as it was then possible to give, of the state of Europe, its largeness and division, its government Monarchical, Aristocratical, or Democratical: Of the pomp and magnificence of the European Princes, the splendor of their Court, their riches and power: Of the manners, customs, and way of life of the nobles and inferior sort of people: Of the flourishing condition of trade and commerce: Of the way of carrying on war in Europe, both by Sea and Land: Of the principal Towns in Europe, particularly of Lisbon, Evora, Villaviziosa, Madrid, Pisa, Florence, [lxix] Rome, Naples, Padua, Verona, Mantua, Cremona, Milan, Genoa, being the places which the Ambassadors themselves had passed through, and where they had been shewn, in the most ample manner, what was curious and remarkable: Of the power and authority of the Pope at Rome, the magnificence of his Court, the ceremonies observed upon his demise and burial, as also upon the election of a Rew Pope, the splendor of his Coronation, the pomp of his going to take Possession of the Church of S. John de Lateran: Of the power and grandeur of Philip II. then King of Spain, and the largeness of his dominions in Europe and both the Indies: Of the Republick of Venice the nature of its government, the situation, riches an antiquity of that Town and Commonwealth: Of the numerous conquests and discoveries of the Portugueze in the Indies: Of several Countries in the Indies, particularly the Empire of China; and a variety of other things, too many to be here mentioned. It was wrote by way of Dialogues, wherein the Ambassadors Mancius and Michael, their two companions Martinus and Tulian, Leo, a brother of the .Prince of Arima, and Linus, a brother of the Prince of Omura, are introduced as Interlocutors. The author hath not omitted, in proper places, to give some account of the Empire of Japan itseff, and particularly to compare the manners and customs of that (tountry with those of Europe. In short, were the whole work now reprinted, I do not doubt, but that it would yet meet with a favourable reception.

But to proceed. There are many Letters of the Jesuits, subsequent to the several Collections mentioned above, and many other writers on the same subject, a list whereof is hereby subjoined, ranged as nearly as possible in the order of time, in which the things, they treat of, happened.

Relation del Martyrio, que seys Padres descalcos Franciscos, tres hermannos de la Compania de Jesus, y decisete Japones Christianos padecieron en Japon. Por F. Juan de Sancta Maria. Madrid 1601, 8 vo. The Franciscans, whose Martyrdom is described in this account [lxviii] the Ambassadors had of Gregory XIII. who died soon after their arrival, and of Sixtus V. his Successor. It will suffice to mention the two following, as the most ample and extensive.

Relationi della venuta degli Ambasciatori Giaponesi a Roma, sino alla partita di Lisbona. Con le accoglienze fatte loro da tutti i Principi Christiani, per dove sono passati. Raccolte da Guido Gualtieri, Roma 1586, Octavo. This work contains, besides a short description of the Empire of Japan, an account of the voyage of the Ambassadors into Europe, and of what happened to them during their stay there, untill their departure from Lisbon.

De Missione Legatorum Japonensium ad Romanam Curiam, rebusque in Europa ac toto Itinere animadversis, Dialogus, ex Ephemeride ipsorum Legatorum collectus, & in Linguam Latinam versus ab Eduardo de Sande, Societatis Jesu Sacerdote. In Macaensi partu Sinici Regni, in domo Societatis Jesu, cum facultate ordinarii & superiorum, anno 1590, Quarto. This rare and curious Treatise, which was printed at Macao in China, both in Latin and Japanese, lays open, at once, the state of Europe and the Indies, as it was at that time. The Jesuits proud of the success of this Embassy, which was entirely a work of theirs, intended that the Japanese should be informed, as it were, by the Ambassadors themselves, of the favourable reception they had met with in Europe, and the remarkable things they had seen in their voyage and return. And certainly it contains as complete an account, as it was then possible to give, of the state of Europe, its largeness and division, its government Monarchical, Aristocratical, or Democratical: Of the pomp and magnificence of the European Princes, the splendor of their Court, their riches and power: Of the manners, customs, and way of life of the nobles and inferior sort of people: Of the flourishing condition of trade and commerce: Of the way of carrying on war in Europe, both by Sea and Land: Of the principal Towns in Europe, particularly of Lisbon, Evora, Villaviziosa, Madrid, Pisa, Florence, [lxx] were sent Ambassadors from the Governor of Manilhas to the Emperor Taico, and by him received and treated as such, but having afterwards, contrary to his repeated commands, continued openly and without reserve to preach at Miaco, they were sentenced to be executed at Nagasaki, as disturbers of the publick tranquillity, together with three Jesuits and seventeen Japanese, who had been all taken up for the same cause.

Historia de las Islas del Archipelago y Reinos della gran China, Tartaria, Cochinchina, Malaca, Siam, Camboxa, y Japan, y delo Succedido en ellos a los Religiosos descalcos de la orden del Seraphico Padre san Francisco de la Provincia de san Gregorio de las Philippinas. Par F. Marcello de Ribadeneyra. Barcelona 1601, 4 to. Only the fourth, fifth and sixth Book of this History, relate to the affairs of the Church of Japan, and ln particular to the execution of the Franciscans abovementioned.

Historia de las Missiones, que han hecho los Religiosos de la Compania de Jesus, para predicar el Sancto Evangelio en 1a India oriental, y en los Reinos della China, y Japon. Primera y segunda parte. Por el P. Luis de Guzman. Alcala 1601, fol. The fifth and sixth Book of the first volume, and the whole second volume of this History, contain a very ample and circumstantial account of the affairs of the Church of Japan, from its foundation by S. Francis Xavier, to the end of the sixteenth Century.

Relacion annual de las cosas, que han hecho los Padres de la Compania de Jesus en la India Oriental y Japon en los annos de 1600 y 1601, y del progresso de la Conversion y Christiandad de aquellas partes. Valladolid 1604, 8 vo. This is a continuation of F. Luis Guzman his History of the Church affairs in China and Japan. It was first wrote in Portugueze by F. Ferdinand Guerreiro, and translated into Spanish by F. Antony Collaco.

Tre Lettere annue degli anni 1603, 1604, 1605 & parte del 1606, mandate dal R. P. Francisco Pasio, [lxxi] Blogna 1690. These three Letters are of F. Johannes Rodericus Giron.

Literae Japonicae Anni 1606, Chinenses Anni 1606 & 1607, illae a R. P. Joh. Rodriguez, hae R. P. Matthaeo Riccio Soc. Jesu transmissae ad C1. Aquavivam, Latinaeredditae à Rhetoribus Collegii S. J. Antwerpiae1611, 8 vo.

Literae Japoniae annorum 1609 & 1610. Ex Italicis Latinae factae ab Andrea Schotto. Antwerpiae 1615, 8 vo.

Histoire des Choses les plus memorables avenues tant ez Indes orientales, qu’autres pais de la decouverte de Portugais, en l’establissement & progrez de la Foy Catholique, & principalement de ce que les Relizieux de la Compagnie de Jesus y ont fait & endure pour la mesme fin, depuis qu’ils y sont entrez, jusquez a l’an 1600, par Pierre du Jarric, Tolosain, de la mesme Compaznie, 1. partie. Bourdeaux 1608, 4 to. This History, which relates to all the Eastern Countries in general, was compiled chiefly from the Letters of the Jesuits, the Life and Letters of S. Francis Xavier, as published by F. Tursellin, the Writings of Maffeus, Acosta, Guzman, Joannes de Lucena, iFernandus Guerreiro, and others. The second Volume was published at Bourdeaux 1610, 4 to. and the Third, which comes down to the Year 1610, at the same place, 16I4, 4 to. The whole History was afterwards translated into Latin by Matthias Martinez, and published at Cologn 1615, 8 vo.

Rei Christianse apud Japonios Commentarius, ex Literis annuis Soc. Jesu, Annorum 1609, 10, 11, & 12. Collectus a Nicolao Trigaultio. Augustae Vindelicorum. 1615. 8 vo.

Relacion del successo, que tuvo nuestra santa fe’ en los Reinos de Japon desde el anno 1612, haste el anno de 1615, imperando Cubosama, Compuesta por el P. Luys Pineyro. S. J. Madrid. 1617. At the latter end of this account, which was taken from the Letters of the Jesuits in Japan to F. Mutio Vitelleschi, then general of the order, is a List of all persons that were executed in Japan for the Christian Religion, from the year 1564 to 1615: as [lxxii] also of all the Colleges, Schools, and Convents, which were taken from the Jesuits during the Persecution, amounting in all to 73.

A brief relation of the Persecution lately made against the Catholick Christians in the Kingdom of Japan. Divided into two Books. Taken out of the annual Letters of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, and other authentical informations, translated into English by W. W. London. 1619. 8 vo. This relates chiefly to what passed in the year 1619.

Historia y Relacion del Japon desde el anno 1612, hasta el de 1615. Por el P. Pedro Morejon. S. J. Lisboa 1615, 4 to.

Historia del Regno di Voxu del Giapone, dell’ antichita, nobilta e valore del suo Re Idate Masamune, delli favori, ch’a fatti alla Christianita, e desiderio che tiene d’esser Christiano, e dell’ aumento di nostra santa fede in quelle parti, e dell’ Ambasciata, che ha inviata alla santita di N. S. Papa Paolo V. e delli suoi successi, con altre varie cose; fatta par il Dottor Scipione Amati, Romano, Interprete e Historico dell’ Ambasciata. Roma 1618, 4 to. This was a second Embassy from Japan to Rome. It was sent by Idate Masamune, Prince of Voxu, that is, Osju, the most Northern Province of the Empire of Japan, and F. Ludovicus Sotelo, a Franciscan, was at the head of it. They went into Europe by the way of the West-Indies, and were admitted to an audience of the Pope on the 3d of November 16I 5. As to a more circumstantial account, the Reader is referred to the work itself.

Lettere annue del Giapone, China, Goa, Aethiopia al Generale della Compagnia di Giesu, scritte dalli padri dell’ istessa Compagnia nell’ anni, 1615, 16, 17, 18, 19. Volgarizate dal P. Lorenzo delle Pozze. Milano 1621, 8 vo.

Historia y Relacion de los succedidos en los Reinos de Japon y China desde el anno 1615, hasta el de 1619. Por el P. Pedro Morejon. S. J. Lisboa 1621, 4 to.

De Christianis apud Japonios triumphis, sive de gravissima ibidem contra Christi fidem persecutione exorta ab [lxxiii] anno 1612, usque ad annum 1620. libri V. Auctore P. Nicolao Trigaultio. Cum M. Raderi auctario & Icnibus Sadelerianis. Monachii 1623, 4 to.

Histoire de ce qui s’est passè au Japon, tiree des Lettres escrites es annees 1619, 1620, & 1621. Traduite de l’Italien par le P. Pierre Morin. Paris 1625, 8 vo. At the latter end of this History there is an account of the Country of Jesso, by F. Hieronymus ab Angelis, who was there in 1621, being a Letter wrote by him from Matsumai, wherein he asserts, that although in a former account of his he had denied it to be an Island, yet upon later observations, and the best information the Natives were able to give him, he had thought fit to alter his opinion, that to his own certain knowledge it borders upon the Sea on the East, South and West, and that to the North the Currents ran so strongly, as made him conclude, that there also it must be washed by it.

Histoire de ce qui s’est passè es Royaumes du Japon & de la Chine, tiree des Lettres escrites es annees 1621 & 22. Traduite de l’Italien en Francois par Jean Baptiste de Machault. Paris 1627, 8 vo.

Vita P. Caroli Spinolae pro Christiana Religione in Japonia mortui. Italicè scripta a R. P. Fabio Ambrosio Spinola. S. J. Latine reddita a P. Hermanno Hugone. S. J. Antwerpiae 1630, 8 vo. F. Charles Spinola was burnt alive in Japan, on the tenth of September 1622.

Historia Ecclesiastica de los successos de la Christiandad de Japan desde el de 1602, que entro en el la orden de Predicadores, hasta el de 1620. Compuesto por el P. F. Jacinto Orfanel, de la misma orden. Y annadida hasta el fin del anno de 1620. Por el P. F. Diego Collado. Madrid 1633, fol. This work relates chiefly to the Missions of Fathers of the Order of S. Dominic in Japan, as doth also, in good measure, the following, which brings down the affairs of their Missions in the Philippine Islands, Japan and China, from the year 1582 to 1637.

Historia de la Provincia del S. Rosario de la orden de Predicadores en Philippinas, Japon y China, por Don [lxxiv] Fray Viego Aduarte, Obispo della nueva Segovia. Annadida por el P. F. Domingo Goncalez. En Manila en el Collegio de S. Thomas, 1640, fol.

Relation verdadera y breve de la persecution y Martyrios, que padecieron por la confession de nuestra S. Fé Catholica en Japon, quinze Religiosos de la Provincia de S. Gregorio de los descalcos del orden de S. Francisco, de las Islas Philippinas, y otros muchos Martyres Religiosos de otras religiones, y seculares de diferentes estados, todos los quales padecieron en Japon desde el anno de 1613, hasta el de 1624. Por el P. Diego de San Francisco. Manila 1625, 8 vo. At the latter end of this small Tract are, Acta audientiae a S. D. N. Paulo V. Pontifice opt max. Regis Voxu Japoni legatis Romae die 3 Nov. 1615 in palatio Apostolico exhibitae.

Literae annuae e Japonia, anni 1624. ex Italico in Latinum translatae. Dilingae 1628, 8 vo.

Histoire Ecclesiastique des Isles & Royaumes de Japon par le R. P. Francois Solier. Paris 1627, 4 to. This is a general History of the Church of Japan, and in a Chronological order, from its foundation to the year 1624.

Narratio persecutionis adversus Christianos excitatae ln variis Japoniae Regnis, annis 1628, 29, 30. Ex Italito Latine reddita a Joh. Bollando. Antwerpiae, 1635. 8 vo.

Historie der Martelaaren die in Japan om de Roomsche Catholiicke Religie, schrickeliicke ende onverdraagelycke piinen geleedeen heben, ofte ghedoodt ziin. Bechreeven door Reyer Giisbertz. The Author of this short History which is commonly printed with F. Caron’s History of Japan, lived for some time at Nagasaki in the service of the Dutch East-India Company, and was an eye witness to most of the facts, which he therein discourses of, and which happen’d from the year 1622 to 1629.

Relatione della Provincia del Giapone scritta dal P. Antonio Francesco Cardim. Roma 1643, 8 vo. The State of the Christian Religion in Japan, Tonquin, Cochinchina, Siam, Cambodia, Laos, and the Island Haynan, the [lxxv] Embassy, which was sent by the Portugueze Government of Macao to the Emperor of Japan, ln the year 1640, in order to get, if possible, the act of the expulsion of the Portugueze repeal’d, the barbarous reception of the Ambassadors, and the cruel execution of their Persons and whole Retinue, (thirteen only of the lowest rank excepted, who were sent back to Macao) on the 3d of August 1640, are the chief Subject of this relation.

Tractatus in quo agitur de Japoniorum Religione; de Christanae Religione; lntroductione in ea loca; de ejusdem extirpatione. Adjuncta est de diversa diversarum gentium totius Telluris religione brevis informatio. Auctore Bernardo Varenio, M. D. Amstelodami 1649, 12 mo. This is only an Abstract of the most material things the Author met with in Maffeus, some of the Letters of the Jesuits, the account of Reyer Giisbertz and Francis Caron, reduced under certain heads.

Dell’ Istoria della Compagnia di Giesu, l’Asia, descritta dal P. Daniello Bartoli, Parte I. & II. Roma 1660. f. The first part of this general History of the Society of Jesus, brings down the affairs of their Missions into Japan and other parts of Asia, from the first Voyage to the Indies of S. Fr. Xawvier, whither he set out in 1540 to the year 1569. The second is wholly confined to the Church of Japan, giving a general and compleat History thereof, from the year 1569, through the reigns of the Japanese Emperors Nobunanga, Taicosama, Daifusama, or as he was also called Ongoschiosama, and Xongunsama, to its final abolition under the reign of Toxungosama in the year 1540, when the Portugueze also were expelled the Country.

Histoire de l’Eglise du Japon, par M. l’Abbe de T. Paris 1689, 4 to. 2 Vols. this is the History of the Church of Japan of F. Solier, put into better French, enlarged from several other Memoirs, and continued to the death of the Emperor Toxogunsama, which happened in 1658. It was wrote by F. Crasset a Jesuit, whose name was prefixed to the second Edition. An English [lxxvi] Translation, by an unknown Hand, was printed at London 1707, in 2 Vols. 4 to.

The Dutch having not only used the trade to Japan as early as the year 1609, but having enjoy’d it exclusive of all European Nations ever since 1640, it is but natural to expect more ample and satisfactory accounts from their Writers, whom I proceed now to take into consideration.

John Hughes Linschooten (Linscotanus) is the first I meet with. He was a native of Enkhuysen, and went into the Indies with Vincent Fonseca, Archbishop of Goa, in 1583, some time before the establishment of the Dutch East India Company. It would be foreign to my purpose to mention all the differing editions and translations of his Travels, I will only observe, that they make out the second, third, and fourth parts of de Bry’s India Orientalis, and that B. Paludanus, a noted Physician at Enkhuysen, hath added some remarks, particularly on those things which relate to Natural History. His account of Japan, which is but short, and not without considerable mistakes, goes no farther, than the informations, the Portugueze at Goa, were then able, or willing to give him.

In another work, entituled Le Grand Routier de Mer, which is by some likewise ascribed to Linschooten, there are many curious, and doubtless then very useful, observations, relating as well to the Navigation to the Indies in general, as in particular to that of Japan, to wit, An Account of a Voyage from Liampon in China to Japan, with a description of the Coasts ot Bungo, Miaco, Cacay, and tbe Island Toca: The Course from Lampacon in China to Japan, and the Island Firando: The Voyage of a Portugueze Pilot from Macao to Japan, and the Province Bungo: Another description of the Course from Macao along the Coasts of China to the Island of Firando, and the harbour of Umbra (Omura) in Japan: A Voyage from Macao to Japan, the Island Cabexuma, and the harbour of Languesaque (Nagasaki): The Voyage of Francis Pays, a Portugueze from Macao to Japan, in 1585: Directions how to discover Meaxume and how [lxxvii] to enter the harbour of Nagasaki: Several Voyages from Nagasaki to Macao in 1584, 1585, and 1586: A Voyage from Firando to Macao.

The account of Japan by Francis Caron, wbo was Director of the Dutch Trade there, is in proportion to its shortness, beyond question one of the best extant, though not altogether without mistakes. It was written originally in Low Dutch, by way of answer to several questions proposed to him by M. Lucas, then Director General of the Dutch East India Company. It was afterwards translated into most European Languages. The English translation, by Capt. Roger Manley, was printed at London 1663, 8 vo. Some account of this author’s life and character hath already been given by Dr. Kaempfer, Vol. II. p. 220 of this History. Henry Hagenaer, who had made a Voyage to Japan himself, made some additions to this account, which M. Caron, upon his return into Europe publickly disavow’d, and communicated a true copy of his work to Melchizedec Thevenot, who translated and published it, with a short Preface, in the first Volume of his Relations de divers Voyages curieux, qui n’ont point eté publiez. The following pieces, as relating to the same subject, are extant with most editions of F. Caron’s History of Japan. 1. The remarks of Hagenaer. 2. An Account of those, who suffered for the faith of Christ from 1622 to 1629, by Reyer Giisberts, (of which above.) 3. A description of the pompous reception of the secular Monarch of Japan at Miaco, on the 25th of October 1626, when that Prince went to see the Dairi, or Ecclesiastical Hereditary Emperor. Written by Conrad Crammer, then the Dutch East India Company’s Ambassador to the Emperor’s Court, and himself present at this Solemnity. 4. A Letter from the Director General of the Dutch East India Company to the Directors thereof in Europe, touching the trade to Japan. 5. A short account of the vast profit and advantages, the Dutch East India Company would acquire, if they were possess’d of the trade to China, by Leonart Camps. In the High Dutch Translation, [lxxviii] which was printed at Nurnberg 1663, 8 vo. there have been farther added, 1. A Map of the :Empire of Japan, wherein it is represented as contiguous to Jesso. 2. Some additional remarks of John James Mercklin, relating chiefly to the affairs of the Dutch after M. Caron’s time, and in particular to the hardships they were obliged to undergo after the expulsion of the Portugueze. 3. The Travels of the said Mercklin, who served the Dutch East India Company in quality of Surgeon from 1644 to 1653, and was himself tor some time in Japan.

The account of M. Caron was again reprinted, from Thevenotes edition, in the third Volume ot the Recueil de Voyages au Nord, printed at Amsterdam 1715, 8 vo. and the following pieces added: 1. A Letter of M. de l’Isle, touching the question, Whether or no Japan be an Island? (This question hath been amply discussed at the beginning of this Introduction.) 2. An account of the discovery of the Country of Jesso, or Eso, situated to the North of Japan, which was made by the Ship Castrecoom in 1643. 3. The Map of Japan, published by M. Reland, contracted. 4. A description of the Eastern Tartary, by F. Martini, wherein, among other Provinces, some account hath been given of the Country of Jesso. 5. Some observations relating to the original descent of the Japanese. 6. Some memoirs touching the establishment of a Trade to Japan. Written, by order of M. Colbert, by M. Caron. Together with a copy of the Instructions to be given to the said M. Caron, who was to be sent in quality of Ambassador from the King of France to the Emperors of China and Japan, and the King’s Letters to these two Monarchs, which are dated in the 24th year of his reign, that is, 1667. (Dr. Kaempfer, Vol. II. p. 220 of this History, hath given the reasons, for which M. Caron did not only quit the Service of the Dutch East India Company, but betray one of the most valuable branches of their commerce, as the trade to Japan then was, to other powers.) 7. The orders of the Emperor of Japan, touching the exclusion of the Portugueze [lxxix] from his dominions for ever. 8. An account of what happened at Formosa, when as yet in the hands of the Dutch East-India Company, between Peter Nuyts, Governor of that Island, and some Japanese, who had been unjustly detained by him. (This account differs in some things from that given by Dr. Kaempfer, Vol. III. p. 308 of the Appendix to this History.) 9. An Historical account of the sudden demolition of the Dutch East-India Company’s new built Warehouse at Firando in 1640.

Descriptio Regni Japoniae, cum quibusdam affinis materiae, ex variis Autoribus collecta, & in ordinem redacta, per Bernhardum Varenium, M. D. Amstelodami 1629, 12 mo. This is only an abridgment of the most material things the Author met with in several of the abovementioned writers, and particularly in Marco Polo, the Letters of the Jesuits, Linschooten, Giisbertz, and Caron, reduced under certain heads.

The memorable Embassies of the Dutch to the Emperors of Japan, wherewith I shall conclude this list of the Dutch writers, were written originally in Low Dutch by Arnoldus Montanus, and publish’d at Amsterdam 1669, fol. They were soon after translated into English, and published by John Ogilby, by the following Titel Atlas Japannensis; being remarkable Addresses, by way of Embassy, from the East-India Company of the United Provinces to the Emperor of Japan, containing a description of their several Territories, Cities, Temples and Fortresses; their Religions, Laws and Customs; their prodigious Wealth and gorgeous Habits; the nature of their Soil, Plants, Beasts, Hills, Rivers and Fountains, with the Character of the ancient and modern Japanners. Collected out of their several Writings and Journals by Arnoldus Montanus. Englished and adorned with above a hundred several Sculptures, by John Ogilby, Esq.; London 1670, fol. The French Edition was published at Amsterdam 1680, fol. with some additions and alterations. The same Cuts served for the three Editions. This work doth by no means answer, neither the expence [lxxx] bestowed on the impression, nor the promises made in the very Title-page, nor doth it deserve the favourable reception it hath met with. It is full of large digressions, often altogether foreign to the purpose, and although it was pretended to have been collected from the Journals and Memoirs of the Ambassadors themselves, yet, I believe, it will be found, upon perusal, that if it was cleared, of what the Author hath barely, and without any order, transcribed from the Letters of the Jesuits, and most of those other writers mentioned in the preceding Catalogue, the rest would be reduced to a few Sheets. But what is most material, most of the Cuts, which are the greatest embellishments, and, as it were, the Soul of performances of this kind, do greatly deviate from truth, representing things not as they were, but as the Painter fancied them to be. For as to the descriptive part, it must be owned, that the Author hath laid the publick under some obligations, by bringing together into one Volume, what could then be said on the subject, and was dispersed in many.

Besides the Portugueze and Dutch, the English also were once possessed of the Trade to Japan, though they lost it again in a few years, for what reasons is not known. Their Factory was set up at Firando, under the care of Capt. John Saris, who went to Japan by the way of the Molucca’s, in the Clove, one of the three Ships (the Hector, the Thomas, and the Clove) fitted out by the East-India Company in 1611, for their eighth voyage to the Indies. Capt. Saris upon his arrival in Japan, which was in June 1613, repaired forthwith to the Court of the Emperor Ongoschiosama, who then resided at Surunga, and was admitted to an audience of that Monarch on the 8.th of September, of whom he obtained ample privileges, very honourable to the British Nation, whose fame had already reached these remote parts of the world and exceedingly advantageous to the East-India Company, one of which, and certainly not the least considerable was, that they should have leave to set out upon discovery [lxxxi] of the Country of Jedso, or any other part in or about the Empire of Japan, a privilege, which the Portugueze, even at the time of their highest interest with the Japanese, were not able to procure on any terms whatever. The good success Capt. Saris met with in his Negotiations at the Imperial Court, was owing, in great measure, to the assistance of one William Adams, a Kentish man, who had been formerly in the service of the Dutch, and was chief Pilot to a fleet of five Sails sent to the East-Indies, through the Streights of Magellan, under the Command of Jaques Mahay, in 1598. The event of this voyage, the stranding of the Ship, on board which Adams was, upon the Coasts of Bungo, and his adventures in Japan, where he got into great favour with the Emperor, may be seen at large in Purchase his Pilgrims, (Vol I. p. 126) as set forth by himself in two Letters written from Japan, one of which is dated October 22, 1611, The same Author hath given us (p. 334 & seq. of the first Volume of his Pilgrims) not only a general account of the aforesaid eighth voyage, made by order, and for the East-India Company, but likewise a more particular narrative of the voyage of Capt. Saris to Japan, of his journey to the Court of the Japanese Emperor, and his transactions there, together with the observations he made during his stay in Japan, and the settlement of a Factory at Firando, the whole out of his own Journals. Upon the departure of Capt. Saris for Europe, one Richard Cocks, a Merchant, was left at Firando, with eight Englishmen, three Interpreters and two Servants. Several Letters of this Richard Cocks, and others, have been printed by Purchase (p. 395 & seq. of the said first Volume of his Pilgrims.) wherein an account is given of what passed at Firando after Capt. Saris was gone to the Emperor’s Court, as also of later occurrencies there after his departure for England, from the year 1614 to 1620. There is nothing else in Purchase relating to Japan, but a short Letter of one Arthur Hatch a Minister, then lately returned from thence, dated at Wingham in Kent, Nov. 25. 1621, wherein there are [lxxxii] several very pertinent remarks on the Government of the Japanese Empire, and the state of affairs at that time.

There was likewise a short account of Japan printed in Swedish (Wiisingsborgh 1667, 40) by Oloff Erichson Willman, together with the voyages of Nils Matson into Asia and Africa, the voyage of the said Willman to the East-Indies, China and Japan, and an account of a journey through Muscovy into China.

The Natural History of Japan, and the State of Physick in that Country, have never been professedly treated of by any writer. Besides what Dr. Kaempfer hath done himself, and which I have already touched upon in my account of his Life, and in some parts of this Introduction, the following performances of Cleyer and Ten Rhyne, are the only one tending this way, that came to my Knowledge.

Specimen Medicinae Sinicae, sive Opuscula Medica ad mentem Sinensium; continens, I. De Pulsibus Libros quatuor e Sinico translatos. II. Tractatus de pulsibus ab erudito Europaeo collectos. III. Fragmentum OperisMedici ibidem ab eruditoEuropaeo conscripti. IV Excerpta Literis eruditi Europaei in China. V. Schemata ad meliorem praecedentium intellegentiam. VI De Indiciis morborumn ex Linguae coloribus & affectionibus. Cum Figuris aeneis & ligneis. Edidit Andreas Cleyer, Hasso-Casselanus U. M. Licentiatus, Soc. Ind. in Nova Batavia Archiater; Pharmacop. Director & Chirurg. Ephorus. Francoforti 1682, 4 to. This curious work, though it relates properly speaking to the Physick of the Chinese, yet it deserves to be referr’d to Japan, as the State of Physick is nearly the same in that Country as it is in China. The Figures also agree in great measure, with those of an Anatomical Treatise of the Japanese, now in the hands of Sir Hans Sloane.

Excerpta ex observationibus Japonicis, Physicis, &c. Wilhelmi Ten Rhyne, De Frutice Thee. This curious account of the Tea was printed by Jacobus Breynius his in Centuria prima Exoticarum aliarumque minus cognitaruna Plantarum. Gedani 1678. fol. The same Author [lxxxiii] hath also given us (p. 2 of his Centuria) an Account of the Camphire Tree growing in Japan, chiefly from the observations of the said Ten Rhyne, who sent him a Branch of it. (Ten Rhyne in the Title to the Excerpta abovementioned, is wrongly called Physician, Botanist and Chymist to the Emperor off Japan, where he was only, like Dr. Kaempfer, Physician to the Dutch Factory and Embassy.

Wilhelmi ten Rhyne, M. D. Dissertatio de Arthritide: Mantissa schematica de acupunctura, & Orationes tres I. De Chymiae ac Botaniae antiquitate & dignitate. II. De Physiognomia. III. De Monstris singula ipsius autoris notis illustrata. Londini, 1683. This dissertation of the Gout was written chiefly with regard to the cure of this distemper by the Moxa, which had been very much recommended by Hermannus Bushovius, a Minister of the Gospel at Batavia. To the Mantissa Schematica have been added three Schemes, shewing what parts of the human body are to be burnt with the Moxa, according to the Chinese and Japanese, and likewise a figure of the needle, which the Japanese make use of in the Acupunctura.

As to the Language of the Japanese, the knowledge whereof one should have thought a thing of the utmost consequence, not only to those, who used the trade to Japan, but chiefly to the Jesuits and other religious Persons, employ’d in propagating of the Gospel, who could not flatter themselves with any hopes of success unless enabled, by a competent skill therein, to converse and discourse with the Natives, it may appear strange, that so little hath been done to facilitate the understanding of it. There is indeed a specimen of the Characters at the latter end of the second edition of Maffeus his collection of Letters, (v. p. lxvi. of this Introduction) and another in Purchase, being a copy of the Privileges granted by the Emperor Ongoschiosama to the English, but they mere intended rather for curiosity than use. F. Didacus Collado, a Franciscan, is the only one who published, a [lxxxiv] Grammar of the Japanese Language: as also a Dictionary, in Latin, Spanlsh, and Japanese, in two volumes, and likewise, the way of examining a Japanese in the auricular confession, all which were printed at Rome, 1632, 4 to. at the expence of the congregation de propaganda fide, but the Japanese words, in all these works, are expressed only in Latin Characters.

Besides what is to be met with in several places of this History of Japan, relating to the Language of the Country, I have added (Vol. III. Fig. 161) three Alphabets of the simple Characters, and some specimens of the compound ones. But of this, more in my Explanation of the said Table, to which I refer the Reader.

Before I quit this subject, it will not be improper to add a list of the Japanese writers themselves: I have met with the Titles of some in Dr. Kaempfer’s manuscript memoirs, but far the greater part, (which I have marked with a *) were brought by him into Europe, and are now in the valuable collection of Sir Hans Sloane.

* Nippon Odaiki. The Annals of the Japanese, giving an account of their origin and remarkable actions, of the succession of all the Emperors of Japan from Sinmu to our days, and of what passed in every one’s reign.

* Nippon Okaitsu, in the literal sense, an adumbration of the great things of Japan, is of a kin to the foregoing work, and relates likewise to the heroic and remarkable actions of the Japanese from the Foundation of their Empire. (An abstract of the principal things, contained in these two works, hath been given in the second Book of this History of Japan.

Tai Fee ki. An account of the war between the families of Feki and Gendsi, which lasted forty years, and ended with the extirpation of the Feki family. It is a large work, divided into four score parts, which are commonly bound up in forty Volumes.

Feeki mono Gattari: A Discourse of the affairs of the Feeki’s, which turns upon the same subject with the last.

* Osacca mono Gattari: A Discourse of the affairs of [lxxxv] Osacca. This is all ample account of the intestine wars, which arose in Japan, upon the demise of Taicosama, between the Counsellors of state appointed by that Monarch, and Ongoschiosama, whom he had made Tutor to Fide Jori, his only Son and Heir, of the celebrated siege of the Castle of Osacca by Ongoschiosama, the taking of that Castle, the untimely end of Fide Jori, and the manner of Ongoschiosama’s seizing the Crown of Japan upon Fide Jori’s death. This Ongoschiosama is the sarme Ermperor, who granted the liberty of trading to Japan both to the English and Dutch.

* Simabaraki, or Simabaragasen, an account of the war at Simabara. The rebellion of the Christians of Arima, who retired to the number of 37000, into a Castle upOn the Gulph of Simabara, the siege and surrender of this Castle, and the unparallel’d butchery of the besieged whereby the Christian Religion was totally abolish’d in Japan, are the subject of this discourse. Amongst many other writings of Dr. Kaempfer, now in possession of Sir Hans Sloane, is a translation of these two works.

The History of Abino Sime, Son of the Emperor Abino-Jassima.

Sin dai ki. A History of all the Gods of the Japanese, as they were of old worshipped in the Country.

Tensinki. A particular History of the life and heroic actions of Tensin, who is the chief of the Sintos Gods of the Japanese.

Nippon Idsumi no kuni Oojasijro, that is, the wars of the Gods in Oojasijro in the Province Idsumi.

* Dai fanja Firamitz. A Treatise of all the Gods worshipped by the Budsdoists.

Sikki moku. The Laws and Constitutions of the Japanese Empire.

Kiusaj. A Treatise of the civil Customs and Ceremonies of the Japanese.

Soogakf. A Treatise containing the precepts of morals, as taught and practised by the Siutoists, or Philosophers of the Japanese: It is divided into five parts. [lxxxvi]

Fsontsjo O in fisi, that is, in the literal sense, the artifice of the Shadow of the Japanese Cherry-Tree. It is a Treatise of the art of goverming by Itakura Suwono Cami, Governor of Miaco, who in the decline of his life retired from business, and wrote this Book under a large CherryTree in his Garden, whence also he hath borrowed that Title.

Tsure dsurè Iosijdano Kenko, that is, the Solitudes of Iosijdanokenko, who was once a Soldier in the Emperor’s service, but retired afterwards into a Convent, and turned Monk. It is a Collection of moral Sentences, very conducive to regulate the behaviour of mankind in various scenes of life.

Faku nin Isju, that is, the verses of an hundred men. It is a Book of Poetry, composed by an hundred persons of the Court of the Ecclesiastical Hereditary Emperor, every one of whom furnished his quota.

Kojogun. A Treatise of the Government of Japan.

* Nipponki. An account of the most remarkable things to be met with in the Empire of Japan.

* Sitzi Jossu. A Geographical description of the Empire of Japan, translated in Chap. V. of the first Book of this History of Japan.

*Isje mono Gattari. A discourse of the affairs of Isje, by Nariside, a Person of the Ecclesiastical Hereditary Emperor his Court.

* A description of the Court of the Dairi, or Ecclesiastical Hereditary Emperor of Japan, together with one hundred different dresses of the Persons composing that Court.

* Jedo Kagami. A description of the Court of the Secular Monarch at Jedo, with a list of all the Officers, and their Revenues.

Sikki. A Chinese Chronicle, containing a description of the most remarkable occurrencies in the Empire of China.

Mannengojomi, that is, an almanack for ten thousand years, wherein it hath been calculated, what days are [lxxxvii] fortunate or unfortunate, according to the influence of the Coelestial Signs.

* Dsiookivi. An Almanack. They are commonly eight Inches in heighth, and five feet in length

* Osasjo. A Treatise of the Elements, Worlds, Heavens, Stars, Comets, Meteors, &c.

* Kinmodsui. A Japanese Herbal, wherein are the figures of near five hundred Plants and Trees growing in Japan, with their names and uses. This Work is divided into eight Books, and the Plants are done after the same manner, as I have represented the Tea in a corner of Fig. 138.

A Book of the Quadrupeds of Japan, with the figures of upwards of sixty, done after the same manner, and of the same size, with the Chimerical ones in Figs. 25-32 of this History, which I have copied out of this Book.

* A Book of Birds, containing near fourscore Birds, done after the same manner.

* Two Books, containing near an hundred figures of Fishes, Crabs, Shells, Snakes, Lizards, Frogs, Insects, and the like, all done after the same manner. I have engraved some of the most remarkable in Figs. 39-71 of this History.

* An Anatomical Treatise, containing the figures of several external and internal parts of the human body, not very different from those of the Chinese, engraved in Dr. Cleyer’s Medicina Sinensis.

* A Book of Minerals, Stones, Corals, and other curiosities.

* Two Books of their Habits, Head-dresses, Gowns, &c.

* Several Books, containing the figures of upwards of 400 Instruments, Arms, Houshold-goods, of the Japanese, several of which 1have engraved in Figs. 76, 77, 113-115, 122-126, to facilitate the understanding of some passages in this History.

* Kennei Tsioofo ki Mokurokf. Instructions for [lxxxviii] families, relating to what is to be known or done in a family.

* Two Books relating to the way of Building of the Japanese, wherein are represented several of their Castles, Temples, Houses, Gardens, Roads, Wells, Hedges, and the like.

* A Book relating to Agriculture, containing the figures of all the Instruments used in Japan for Ploughing, Tilling, &c.

* Dodsutski. Several Road-books for the use of Travellers, giving an account of the distances of places, the prices of Victuals, and Carriage, and the like, with many figures of the Buildings, and other remarkable things to be seen on the Road.

*Three Books of Heraldry, containing the Coats of Arms of the Emperor of .Japan, as also of the Princes and Noblemen of the Empire, together with the Pikes, and other Badges and Ensigns of Authority, which are usually carried before them. I have engraved several of these in the Frontispiece, (Fig. 1 and in Figs. 100-104.)

* A Dictionary, containing five thousand Ssin, Common, Taf, and Sso Characters: some specimens of which are to be seen in Fig. 161, in the two last Columns to the left.

* Several Copy-books, shewing the various figures of their Characters, simple and compound.

* A map of the whole world, according to the Japanese. It is two Feet broad, and four Feet three Inches long.

* Several Maps of the Empire of Japan, of two Feet, three Inches in breadth, and six Feet and a half in length.

*�@A Map of the Empire of China, divided into its several Provinces of four Feet in length and as many in breadth.

* A ground-plot of Jedo, the Capital City and Residence of the secular Emperor, of four Feet and a half in length, and as many in breadth, contracted in Fig. 120 of this History.

* A ground-plot of Miaco, the Residence of the [lxxxix] Ecclesiastical Hereditary Monarch, five Feet and a half long, and four Feet broad, contracted in Fig. 116 of this History.

* A Map of the Town of Nagasaki, and the neighbouring Country, four Feet eleven Inclles long, and two Feet two Inches broad, contracted in Fig. 78.

* A Ground-plot of the Town of Osacca, of three Feet in length, and two Feet eight Inches in breadth.

* A particular Map of the Road from Nagasaki to Osacca, with the representations of the Rivers, Bridges, Towns, Castles, Temples, &c. in a Roll, twenty Feet long, and eleven Inches broad.

* Another Map of the Road from Osacca to Jedo after the same manner, and of the same length and breadth.

* Views of the most celebrated Temples, Castles, and other Buildings of the Japanese, to the number of fifty, done by the Natives, in water colours, all of the same size and make with those engraved in Figs. 74, 75, 130 and 131, which I have copied out of this very collection.

Having thus gone through what I proposed to treat of in this Introduction, it may now at last be reasonably expected, that I should say something on my own behalf: I am very sensible, that this performance is far from being without Faults, in excuse of which, although I could alledge several things, yet I will rather rely on the candour of my readers, in hopes, that the difficulties, which inevitably attend the translating of a work of this kind, and which were not a little encreased by something very intricate and obscure in the author’s stile, together with the consideration, that I was to translate into a Languate which is not my mother tongue, will be a means to soften the censures of some, and that the pains, I have been at in many other respects, will make amends with more impartial judges, for what imperfections still remain. What I chiefly aimed at, was to express the sense of the author, in as clear and intelligible a manner, as was not inconsistent with the nature of the subject, and the genius [xc] of the English 1anguage; and being conscious of my own insufficiency, I have, for a farther satisfaction, desired some of my friends to peruse my translation, and to correct what they found very much amiss therein. As to the Cuts, but very few were left finished by the Author: All the rest I have drawn with my own hand, either from his unfinished originals, or from the prints and drawings of the Japanese, in the Collection of Sir Hans Sloane and if they should appear to some to fall short in point of elegance, though even as to that I have taken all possible care, I have the satisfaction at least, that I can vouch for the truth and accuracy of them, and their conformity with the originals. But there is one thing, which I cannot forbear taking notice of, before I conclude, and that is, that the Author hath repeated, in some places, what he had already mentioned in others I intended at first to leave out all these repetitions, but upon second thoughts, and for some other reasons, I resolved to give the whole History, as it had been delivered to me: the rather, as the said repetitions, which the Reader is desired candidly to excuse, are in the end not altogether useless, both as they serve to refresh the memory, and to give, in some places, a more ample explanation of such things as were but occasionally touched upon in others.

May 1. 1727