Who could cross Dejima’s bridge? A closer look at Japan’s “closed country”
Trade continued, but movement was not free. A small island in Nagasaki helps us ask what overseas contact actually meant in Edo-period Japan.
Read the article →JAPAN, THROUGH HISTORY
A little curiosity.
A wider world.
Discover Japan’s past through people, art and the questions we ask of history. A thoughtful starting point for readers around the world—and learners in Japan.
Hello, I’m Hana.
Let’s look beyond a familiar story. Who made the source, and what can it really tell us?
Hana is a fictional guide, represented by an original illustration. She is a device for asking good questions, not a real person.
The reading room
Who made an Utamaro print? Four jobs behind one image
An artist’s name alone could not produce a woodblock print. Fine outlines and overlapping colours reveal a collaboration among publisher, designer, carver and printer.
Read the article →Why was a lord’s journey such a big operation? Unpacking sankin-kōtai
Behind a ceremonial procession stood people preparing, carrying and keeping things running at home.
Read the article →A mountain smaller than the wave: reading Hokusai through the boats
After the great wave, look for a small mountain and the people in the boats. Separate what the image shows, what the catalogue records, and what a viewer interprets.
Read the article →How we write
- Separate what the sources say from how historians interpret it, and label each.
- Name who made the source, for whom, and what is missing.
- Show where explanations differ, cite the evidence, and make uncertainty clear.
- We do not treat a whole nation as one view, and we do not amplify denialism or hate.
Sources
Every article ends with its sources and the date we last checked them. Artworks are described as artworks, not photographs.