The development of France–Japan relations in the 19th century coincided with Japan's opening to the Western world, following two centuries of seclusion under the "Sakoku" system and France's expansionist policy in Asia. The two countries became very important partners from the second half of the 19th century in the military, economic, legal and artistic fields. The Bakufu modernized its army through the assistance of French military missions (Jules Brunet), and Japan later relied on France for several aspects of its modernization, particularly the development of a shipbuilding industry during the early years of the Imperial Japanese Navy (Emile Bertin), and the development of a legal code. France also derived part of its modern artistic inspiration from Japanese art, essentially through Japonism and its influence on Impressionism, and almost completely relied on Japan for its prosperous silk industry.
Context
Japan had had numerous contacts with the West during the Nanban trade period in the second half of the 16th and the early 17th century. During that period, the first contacts between the French and the Japanese occurred when the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga landed in the southern French city of Saint-Tropez in 1615.Marcouin, Francis and Keiko Omoto. Quand le Japon s'ouvrit au monde. Paris: Découvertes Gallimard, 1990. . Page 23 and pages 114–116 François Caron, son of French Huguenot refugees to the Netherlands, who entered the Dutch East India Company, and became the first person of French origin to set foot in Japan in 1619.References :- "Si on peut dire de lui qu'il était français, il est probablement le seul français qui ait visité le Japon sous l'ancien régime." Diderot; le XVIIIe siecle en Europe et au Japon, Colloque franco-japonais ... – Page 222 by Hisayasu Nakagawa – 1988 – "En 1635 ce fut le tour de François Caron, sur lequel nous voudrions nous arrêter un moment, ... comme le premier Français venu au Japon et à Edo." Histoire de Tokyo – Page 67 by Noël Nouët – Tokyo (Japan) – 1961 – 261 pages – "A titre de premier représentant de notre langue au Japon, cet homme méritait ici une petite place" (Bulletin de la Maison franco-japonaise by Maison franco-japonaise (Tokyo, Japan) – Japan – 1927 Page 127) He stayed in Japan for 20 years, where he became a Director for the company.
This period of contact ended with the persecution of the Christian faith in Japan, leading to a near-total closure of the country to foreign interaction. In 1636, Guillaume Courtet, a French Dominican priest, penetrated into Japan clandestinely, against the 1613 interdiction of Christianity. He was caught, tortured, and died in Nagasaki on September 29, 1637.Omoto, p.23Polak 2001, p.13
Diffusion of French learning to Japan
During its period of self-imposed isolation (Sakoku), Japan acquired a tremendous amount of scientific knowledge from the West, through the process of Rangaku, in the 18th and especially the 19th century. Typically, Dutch traders in the Dejima quarter of Nagasaki would bring to the Japanese some of the latest books about Western sciences, which would be analysed and translated by the Japanese. It is widely thought that Japan had an early start towards industrialization through this medium. French scientific knowledge was transmitted to Japan through this medium.
The first flight of a hot air balloon by the brothers Montgolfier in France in 1783, was reported less than four years later by the Dutch in Dejima, and published in the 1787 Sayings of the Dutch. The new technology was demonstrated in 1805, almost twenty years later, when the Swiss Johann Caspar Horner and the Prussian Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, two scientists of the Krusenstern mission that also brought the Russian ambassador Nikolai Rezanov to Japan, made a hot air balloon out of Japanese paper (washi), and made a demonstration in front of about 30 Japanese delegates.Ivan Federovich Kruzenshtern. "Voyage round the world in the years 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806, on orders of his Imperial Majesty Alexander the First, on the vessels Nadezhda and Neva".Polak 2005, p.78 Hot air balloons would mainly remain curiosities, becoming the object of numerous experiments and popular depictions, until the development of military usages during the early Meiji era.
Historical events, such as the life of Napoleon, were relayed by the Dutch and were published in contemporary Japanese books. Characteristically, some historical facts could be presented exactly (the imprisonment of Napoleon "in the African island of Saint Helena"), while others could be incorrect (such as the anachronistic depiction of the British guards wearing 16th century cuirasses and weapons.Perrin, p.88-89
In 1840, the Rangaku scholar Udagawa Yōan reported for the first time in details the findings and theories of Lavoisier in Japan. Accordingly, Udagawa also made numerous scientific experiments and created new scientific terms, which are still in current use in modern scientific Japanese, like , , , and .
The Rangaku scholar Takeda Ayasaburō built the fortresses of Goryokaku and Benten Daiba between 1854 and 1866, using Dutch books on military architecture describing the fortification of the French architect Vauban.
Education in the French language started in 1808 in Nagasaki, when the Dutch Hendrik Doeff started to teach French to Japanese interpreters. The need to learn French was identified when threatening letters were sent by the Russian government in this language.Omoto, p.34
First modern contacts (1844–1864)
First contacts with Okinawa (1844)
After nearly two centuries of strictly enforced seclusion, various contacts occurred from the middle of the 19th century as France was trying to expand its influence in Asia. After the signature of the Treaty of Nanking by Great Britain in 1842, both France and the United States tried to increase their efforts in the Orient.
The first contacts occurred with the Ryūkyū Kingdom (modern Okinawa), a vassal of the Japanese fief of Satsuma since 1609. In 1844, a French naval expedition under Captain Fornier-Duplan onboard Alcmène visited Okinawa on April 28, 1844. Trade was denied, but Father Forcade was left behind with a Chinese translator, named Auguste Ko.Polak 2001, p.15 Forcade and Ko remained in the Ameku Shogen-ji Temple near the port Tomari, Naha city under strict surveillance, only able to learn the Japanese language from monks. After a period of one year, on May 1, 1846, the French ship Sabine, commanded by Guérin, arrived, soon followed by La Victorieuse, commanded by Charles Rigault de Genouilly, and Cléopâtre, under Admiral Cécille. They came with the news that Pope Gregory XVI had nominated Forcade as Bishop of Samos and Vicar Apostolic of Japan.The Dublin Review, Nicholas Patrick Wiseman Cécille offered to make the kingdom into a French protectorate, but his offer was rejected; the only concession he obtained was the kingdom permitting two French missionaries to stay.Polak 2001, p.19
Forcade and Ko were picked up to be used as translators in Japan, and father Leturdu was left in Tomari, soon joined by Father Mathieu Adnet. On July 24, 1846, Admiral Cécille arrived in Nagasaki, but failed in his negotiations and was denied landing, and Bishop Forcade never set foot in mainland Japan.Religion in Japan: Arrows to Heaven and Earth by Peter Francis Kornicki, James McMullen (1996) Cambridge University Press, , p.162 The Ryu-Kyu court in Naha complained in early 1847 about the presence of the French missionaries, who had to be removed in 1848.
France would have no further contacts with Okinawa for the next 7 years, until news came that Commodore Perry had obtained an agreement with the islands on July 11, 1854, following his treaty with Japan. A French cruiser arrived in Shimoda in early 1855 while the USS Powhatan was still there with the ratified treaty, but was denied contacts as a formal agreement did not exist between France and Japan.A history of Japan, Vol.3 James Murdoch p.613 France sent an embassy under Rear-Admiral Cécille onboard La Virginie in order to obtain similar advantages to those of other Western powers. A convention was signed on November 24, 1855.
Contacts with mainland Japan (1858)
During the 19th century, numerous attempts by Western countries were made (other than by the Dutch, who already had a trade post in Dejima) to open trade and diplomatic relations with Japan. France made such an attempt in 1846 with the visit of Admiral Cécille to Nagasaki, but he was denied landing.
A Frenchman by the name of Charles Delprat is known to have lived in Nagasaki since about 1853, as a licensee to the Dutch trade. He was able to advise the initial French diplomatic efforts by Baron Gros in Japan. He strongly recommended against Catholic prozelitism and was influential in suppressing such intentions among French diplomats. He also presented a picture of Japan as a country which had little to learn from the West: "In studying closely the customs, the institutions, the laws of the Japanese, one concludes by asking oneself if their civilization, entirely appropriate to their country, has anything to envy in ours, or that of the United States."Sims, p.11
The formal opening of diplomatic relations with Japan however started with the American Commodore Perry in 1852–1854, when Perry threatened to bomb Edo or blockade the country.Vié, p.99 He obtained the signature of the Convention of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854. Soon, the 1858 Chinese defeat in the Anglo-French expedition to China further gave a concrete example of Western strength to Japanese leadership.
In 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan was signed in Edo on October 9, 1858, by Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros, the commander of the French expedition in China, opening diplomatic relations between the two countries.Polak 2001, p.29 He was assisted by Charles de Chassiron and Alfred de Moges. In 1859, Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt arrived and became the first French representative in Japan. A French Consulate was opened that year at the Temple of Saikai-ji, in Mita, Edo, at the same time as an American Consulate was established at the Temple of Zenpuku-ji, and a British Consulate at the Temple of Tōzen-ji.
The first trilingual Japanese dictionary incorporating French was written in 1854 by Murakami Eishun, and the first large Franco-Japanese dictionary was published in 1864. The French language was taught by Mermet de Cachon in Hakodate in 1859, or by Léon Dury in Nagasaki between 1863 and 1873. Léon Dury, who was also French Consul in Nagasaki, taught to about 50 students every year, among whom were future politicians such as Inoue Kowashi or Saionji Kinmochi.
Development of trade relations
The opening of contacts between France and Japan coincided with a series biological catastrophes in Europe, as the silk industry, in which France had a leading role centered on the city of Lyon, was devastated with the appearance of various silkworm pandemics from Spain: the "tacherie" or "muscardine", the "pébrine" and the "flacherie".Polak 2001, p.27 From 1855, France already was forced to import 61% of its raw silks. This increased to 84% in 1860. The silkworm from Japan Antheraea yamamai proved to be the only ones capable to resist to the European illnesses and were imported to France.Medzini, p.52-53 Japanese raw silk also proved to be of the best quality on the world market.
Foreign silk traders started to settle in the harbour of Yokohama, and silk trade developed. In 1859, Louis Bourret, who already had been active in China, establishes in branch office in Yokohama for silk trade. From 1860, silk traders from Lyon are recorded in Yokohama, from where they immediately dispatched raw silk and silk worm eggs to France. For this early trade they relied on British shipping, and shipments transited through London to reach Lyon. As of 1862, 12 French people were installed in Yokohama, of whom 10 were traders.