#MD67
1863
Quarto (ca. 24,5x16,5 cm or 9 ½ x 6 ½ in). 6 double-ply leaves: [t.p.], [9] pp. of text; text eight to twelve vertical lines. Brown ink on rice paper, text in scribal hand, leaves sewn together with a string. Outer leaves slightly soiled and with mild creases, a wormhole on the lower margins of the first three leaves not affecting the text, overall a very good manuscript.
Early interesting Japanese manuscript report on a British shipwreck, which took place in 1863 off the coast of southern Honshu Island. The event dates back to the Bakumatsu period in Japanese history, marked by Japan’s gradual transition from the Tokugawa shogunate's isolationist sakoku policy to the westernized Meiji Empire. The official report, written in secretarial hand, describes the circumstances of the wreck of the coast of Okayama prefecture, with the names of seven sailors who perished and the survivors. The document was likely compiled to be sent to the authorities in Edo to get instructions on the further course of action, since the Ansei Treaties of 1858 (including the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce from August 26, 1858) forbade Japanese warlords from executing foreigners who were shipwrecked on their coasts. Overall, an important original source on the history of early interactions between Western sailors and Japanese authorities after the end of the country’s over 200-year period of international isolation.
