Walking the Edo Sanpu: Nagasaki to Tokyo in Dutch Footsteps

by William de Lange

For more than two and a half centuries Dutch merchants in Japan were confined to the fan-shaped island of Dejima in the Bay of Nagasaki. Only once a year were they allowed to leave their golden cage to embark on the Edo Sanpu, a 1000-mile journey to present-day Tokyo in order to pay their respects to the shōgun, Japan's absolute ruler.

Four of them - Engelbert Kaempfer, Philipp Franz von Siebold, Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, and Frederik van Overmeer Fischer - recorded their experience. They describe a country where rivers still run their natural course, and beeches glimmer with gold dust. It is a country filled with beauty everywhere: towering pagodas, exquisite shrines, magnificent temples, opulent palaces, and imposing castles. Populating this captivating landscape is a modest yet idiosyncratic people, a people that never cease to fascinate.

Now, almost two centuries after the Edo Sanpu's last chroniclers set out on their long and arduous journey, author and Dutchman William de Lange treads in their footsteps to compare notes.

247 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2024

About the author

William de lange is the author of books, ebooks and apps on Japan's traditional culture, from history, samurai culture, to arts & crafts, and language dictionaries.

Bio: William de lange was born in 1964 in Naarden, the Netherlands to Dutch and English parents. In the late 1980s, he aborted his English studies to embark on a journey that eventually led him to Japan, where he supported himself by making traditional Japanese scrolls and writing articles for the Japan Times Weekly. Following his graduation from Leiden University in 1994, he lived in Japan for the remaining decade, studying the art of Japanese fencing under Akita Moriji sensei, eighth dan master of the Shinkage-ryu. Since then he has written a large number of books on Japanese history and culture, including a highly acclaimed biography of Miyamoto Musashi. He is currently working on a history of the Yagyu clan.

William de Lange lives and works in the Netherlands and loves to travel, enjoying good food and wine with the love of his life.

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at a bit of Dutch and Japanese history. I was amazed that the author walked the entire route (or took a boat) that the Dutch officials (the only foreigners allowed in Japan for over 200 years) used to take to go from Nagasaki (Dejima) to Tokyo (Edo) to see the shōgun during the 17th to 19th centuries.

The author travels to many of the stops they would have made and finds out if there is still anything there. He includes numerous quotes from four different men who made the trip at some point, which is so interesting. He also includes a lot of photos as well as historical prints, where you can really see the stark difference between the old Japan and the new.

One note is that it could have used a bit more editing as I found some confusing mistakes (mostly spelling or incorrect words) as well as the author arbitrarily using metric or imperial units for distances (I would have preferred sticking to metric and adding imperial in brackets). That being said, it didn't detract from the wonderful content.

It's also just physically a nice book - the pages are thick and the cover is good quality. I also really like the typeface.

The author has a sense of humour and also has some political views mentioned in the book. Overall, I enjoyed this read a lot while being able to take into account his position as a 21st century Dutch/British man who has spent a lot of time in Japan.

I highly recommend this for anyone interested in Japanese and Dutch history. I'm looking forward to reading more by this knowledgeable author.