Uchikura & Co., LLC

A Bridge Between Japan and the West

 

During Japan’s Edo Period, when the country maintained strict limits on contact with the outside world, one European became an important bridge between Japan and the West.

 

Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German physician and naturalist working for the Dutch, arrived at Dejima in Nagasaki in 1823.

 

He brought Western medical and scientific knowledge to Japan and taught Japanese doctors and scholars at his school, Narutaki-juku. But the exchange did not travel in only one direction.

 

Siebold carefully studied Japan as well.

 

He collected information about Japanese plants, animals, geography, medicine, customs, and everyday life. His research later helped Europeans better understand a country that was still largely closed to them.

 

But his time in Japan ended dramatically.

 

In 1828, Japanese authorities discovered that Siebold possessed detailed maps of Japan and other materials that foreigners were prohibited from taking out of the country. The incident became known as the Siebold Incident. He was investigated, ordered to leave Japan, and banned from returning.

 

More than 30 years later, after Japan began opening to the world, he was permitted to return in 1859.

 

Siebold’s importance was not simply that he brought Western knowledge to Japan.

 

He also brought knowledge of Japan to the West.

 

At a time when the two worlds had very limited contact, Siebold helped knowledge travel in both directions.

 

Sometimes the most important bridge between cultures is not trade or diplomacy.

 

It is curiosity.