Hendrik Doeff | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byCharles Howard Hodges,c. 1817–1822 | |
| Opperhoofd ofDejima trading post | |
| In office 14 November 1803 – 6 December 1817 | |
| Monarchs | Louis I(1806–1810) Louis II(1810) William I(from 1813) |
| Preceded by | Willem Wardenaar |
| Succeeded by | Jan Cock Blomhoff |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 December 1777 Amsterdam,Dutch Republic |
| Died | 19 October 1835 Amsterdam,Netherlands |
Hendrik Doeff (2 December 1777 – 19 October 1835) was the Dutch commissioner in theDejima trading post inNagasaki,Japan, during the first years of the 19th century.
Doeff was born inAmsterdam. As a young man, he sailed to Japan as a scribe for theDutch East India Company. He became chief of the Dejima post in 1803, succeedingWillem Wardenaar, who was Director from 1800 to 1803. Doeff remained in Japan until 1817, whenJan Cock Blomhoff succeeded him. AfterBritain captured theDutch East Indies in 1811, Dejima became the only place in the world flying theDutch flag. The Netherlands was restored in 1814, and Doeff was later decorated for his loyalty and courage.
Doeff wrote a Dutch-Japanese dictionary, and a memoir of his experiences in Japan, titledRecollections of Japan. He was notable for his strong activity in maintaining the Dutch trade monopoly in Japan. He is the firstwesterner known to have writtenhaiku, two of which have been found in Japanese publications from the period of his stay in Japan.[1][2] One of his haiku:
After the French had annexed theBatavian Republic in 1806 andNapoleon I had begun to use its resources againstGreat Britain,Royal Navy ships started to capture Dutchmerchant shipping. In 1808,HMSPhaeton, under the command of CaptainFleetwood Pellew, enteredNagasaki's harbour to ambush some Dutch trading ships that were expected to arrive shortly.[3]
ThePhaeton entered the harbour on 14 October surreptitiously under a Dutch flag. As was the custom, Dutch representatives from Dejima rowed out to welcome the visiting ship, but as they approached,Phaeton lowered a tender to capture the Dutch representatives, while their Japanese escorts jumped into the sea and swam back to land. ThePhaeton, holding the Dutch representatives hostage, demanded that supplies (water, food, fuel) be delivered to her in exchange for their return. Because the harbor cannon defenses were both old and poorly maintained, the meager Japanese forces in Nagasaki were seriously outgunned and unable to intervene.[3]
At the time, it was theSaga clan's turn to uphold the policy ofsakoku in Nagasaki, but they had economized by stationing only 100 troops there, instead of the 1,000 men officially required for the station. The Nagasaki Magistrate,Matsudaira Genpei, immediately ordered troops fromKyūshū. The Japanese mobilized a force of 8,000samurai and 40 ships to confront thePhaeton, but it would take them a few days to arrive. In the meantime, the Nagasaki Magistrate provided supplies to the British, and the Dutch representatives were released.[3]
ThePhaeton left two days later on 17 October, before the arrival of Japanese reinforcements, and after the crew had learned that the Dutch trading ships would not be coming that year. They also left a letter for Doeff.[3] The Nagasaki Magistrate, Matsudaira, took responsibility by committing suicide byseppuku. FollowingPhaeton's visit, theBakufu reinforced coastal defenses and promulgated a law prohibiting foreigners coming ashore, on pain of death (1825-1842,Muninen-uchikowashi-rei). The Bakufu also requested that official interpreters learn English and Russian, departing from their prior focus on Dutch studies. In 1814, the Dutch interpreterMotoki Shozaemon produced the first English-Japanese dictionary (6,000 words).
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