“Focusing on the Overseas Chinese in Seventeenth Century Nagasaki: The Role of the Totsuji in the Light of the Early Tokugawa Foreign Policy”

The research focuses on the important role attended by the Chinese interpreters (Totsuji) in the 17th Century Nagasaki. The Chinese interpreters were in fact the key-intermediators of the Japanese international sea-trade network of the early Tokugawa Bakufu. The Totsuji also played an essential role between the Overseas Chinese of Nagasaki and the Japanese authorities, keeping under control the Chinese Communities, and at the same time acting as Chinese representatives toward the Nagasaki bugyo. The structure of the Nagasaki Totsuji Office was very complex and represented the extremly developed and detailed maritime connections of the 17th Century Tokugawa Japan.