Dutch as the language of science and technology in Japan: theBangosenlexical works

The Dutch language played a significant but changing role in Japan over the two centuries of the Sakoku Period (ca. 1642-1863). Isolationist policies meant that contact with the West was virtually restricted to a tiny Dutch trading post in Nagasaki. Initially, a guild of interpreters was given the task to master the spoken language in order to facilitate communication with the Dutchmen, but as time passed, a growing awareness of the technological and scientific advances in the west created a broader demand for more sophisticated language skills. Discussed here is a learning manual in two incarnations: Bangosen, published at the end of the 18th century, and Kaisei Zoho bangosen, which appeared half a century later – six years before the arrival of Perry’s ‘black ships’ in Tokyo Bay. As such they provide us with two ‘snapshots’ taken fifty years apart, giving us an idea of the evolution of Dutch language skills as well as of awareness of things Western, as Japan moved towards the inevitable opening of its borders.