Dejima Zu

Dejima, or Deshima, was a small fan-shaped artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki, Japan. During the Edo period (1615-1868), Dejima was the only place in which foreign traders were allowed to conduct business with Japan. It was originally built for Portuguese traders but was later used by the Dutch East India Company. In 1858, when Japan concluded the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States, Dejima’s role as the only port of entry for the West was over. The island was expanded by reclaiming land, and it was merged into Nagasaki, thus obscuring the island’s original borders. Since 1922, the site has been designated a national historical monument. As part of recent efforts to improve preservation at the Dejima site, Nagasaki City has published an extensive collection of over three hundred maps, drawings, and paintings of old Dejima in this Japanese-language book, 出島図 : その景観と変遷. For art historians, this collection offers a window on the past. In these images, boats from long ago sail into port, a turkey struts about the Dutch compound, and street maps detail the residences of the little fan-shaped island.