In 1633, the shōgun decreed that all foreigners be kicked out of Japan (or done away with in more unsavory ways), and for the next three hundred years, the only contact the people of Japan had with the rest of the world was through the Dutch traders who were allowed to bring in one shipload of foreign goods per year.
These exotic creatures were confined to the island of Dejima, and while select Japanese citizens were allowed to come and go, the traders were only allowed to cross to Nagasaki once a year, when they made their annual trek to the capital city to offer tribute to the shōgun.
As you can imagine, catching sight of these strange beings kindled intense curiosity in ordinary citizens. Always looking for the next big opportunity, entrepreneurial woodblock artists took a break from painting the top courtesans, sumo wrestlers and actors of the day, and trekked across the Dejima bridge to sketch the outlandish appearance and customs practiced by the foreign barbarians. Needless to say, they made a killing.
Here’s what Japanese people thought foreigners were like…
Foreigners have spooky blue eyes
Foreigners have big noses
Foreigners have frighteningly large teeth (which they are not ashamed to display) and thick fur growing on strange parts of their faces
Foreigners’ hair is orange, like a fox
Foreigners wear strange articles on their heads at all times
and carry baffling items, like parasols too small to be useful and sticks they don’t need for walking
How do foreigners live?
Foreigners sit like this
Foreigners put burning tobacco right in their mouths and smoke it without even putting it in a pipe first
Foreigners eat from big communal dishes heaped with food, and every course is crowded onto the table all at once
Big hunks of animals are cut up right at the table, while some foreigners play musical instruments
Foreigners drink a lot while eating, toss their empty sake containers onto the floor, and wear their outside shoes right into the house
Foreigners have strange ideas of entertainment
and use their horses for unseemly purposes
even though their horses are much prettier than they are
Whenever music is played, foreigners can’t resist “dancing”
and might leap up to do so even if they are in the middle of eating
No surprise, their banquet manners leave much to be desired
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Will this be your new favorite mystery too?
“The Samurai’s Octopus…will keep you guessing—and turning pages—all the way to the end. I couldn’t put it down!”
—Susan Spann, author of the Hiro Hattori mysteries
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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