Katana and Overseas Trade: How Edo-Period Japanese Swords Were Treasured Abroad

Edo-period Japan is often described using the term "sakoku" (national isolation), but this does not mean that all foreign relations were completely severed. The shogunate limited trading posts to four locations—Nagasaki, Tsushima, Satsuma, and Matsumae—and maintained overseas connections under controlled management. Within this limited circuit, Japanese swords also crossed the sea, making their existence known overseas through diplomatic ceremonies and the hands of foreign intellectuals. This article traces, within the scope of confirmed historical facts, how Japanese swords from the Edo period were treated abroad and through what routes they became known.

Limited Windows Under Sakoku—Nagasaki, Tsushima, Satsuma, and Matsumae

By the Edo shogunate's foreign policy, established during the Kanyei era (1630s), Japanese people's free overseas travel and the arrival of foreign ships were strictly restricted. However, this was not complete isolation, and diplomatic relations continued through the following four windows.

• Nagasaki: Trade with the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Qing (China)
• Tsushima domain: Diplomacy and trade with Chosŏn (Joseon Korea)
• Satsuma domain: Relations with the Ryukyu Kingdom
• Matsumae domain: Trade with Ezo (Ainu)

These windows were official channels strictly managed by the shogunate, and the handling of martial implements such as Japanese swords was also placed within this management system. The free export of swords and blades as commodities was not fundamentally envisioned, and most swords that crossed the sea were carried out in different contexts—as diplomatic ceremonial gifts or through personal collecting efforts, as will be discussed later.

Swords as Diplomatic Ceremony—The Chosŏn Embassy and Shogunal House Gift Exchange

During the Edo period, large diplomatic missions called the "Chosŏn Embassy" frequently visited Japan from Korea on occasions such as the succession of a shogun. In this diplomacy conducted under the mediation of the Tsushima domain, it became customary for the two countries to exchange ritual gifts, and weapons including swords and craft items were sometimes presented from the shogunal house to the Korean side, or vice versa. These gift exchanges were not purely commercial transactions but part of diplomatic ceremonies demonstrating the friendship and formality between the two nations, suggesting that Japanese swords were recognized as "worthy gifts to present." The fact that swords functioned not merely as weapons but as diplomatic gifts embodying Japanese technique and aesthetic sensibility is an important clue for understanding the international positioning of bladed weapons during this era.

The Dutch Trading Post at Dejima and Interest in Swords

The Dutch trading post at Dejima in Nagasaki was nearly the only window connecting Europe and Japan throughout the period of sakoku. Dutch employees at the trading post and their associates maintained strong interest in Japanese customs, craftsmanship, and nature, and sometimes brought Japanese goods back with them upon returning home. Swords and blades were subject to particularly strict shogunal control, and their free export was not permitted, but information about swords and blades as records and reference materials, as well as related items obtained in limited quantities, became a factor in heightening interest among European intellectuals in Japan. The accumulation of such thin, thread-like contacts gradually laid the groundwork for Japanese sword culture to be discussed in Europe in later ages.

Kaempfer and von Siebold—Japanese Records Transmitted to Europe

Engelbert Kaempfer, a German physician who resided at the Dejima trading post (staying in Japan around 1690–1692 during the Genroku era), is known as a figure who, through his posthumously published History of Japan, brought detailed information about Japanese society and culture to Europe of that time. The Japanese-related materials he collected were later incorporated into part of the collection that formed the foundation of the British Museum, playing a role in making the existence of Japan widely known to Europe's intellectual circles.

Later in the late Edo period, Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German physician who also resided at Dejima, is known for energetically collecting Japanese nature, culture, and craft items. The vast collection that von Siebold brought back is still housed in institutions such as the National Museum of Ethnology (Leiden) in the Netherlands, and continues to be consulted today as an important collection of materials for Japanese studies. Such collection and documentation activities by resident foreigners demonstrate that, even under the constraints of sakoku, sustained intellectual interest in Japanese martial implements and craftsmanship among overseas scholars persisted unbroken.

The Opening of Ports at the End of the Edo Period and the Budding of Expansion Overseas

Following Perry's arrival in 1853 and the opening of ports by the Ansei Treaties with five powers in 1858, contact between Japan and the foreign world entered the most intensive stage throughout the Edo period. Many foreigners came and went at open ports such as Nagasaki, Yokohama, and Hakodate, and interest in Japanese craft items and martial implements increased markedly. The contact points that emerged during these final years of the Edo period may be seen as a running start toward the major flow in which, following the Meiji Restoration and the dissolution of the samurai class, many swords and blades flowed into the market and were collected by Western diplomats, military officers, and merchants. It can be said that the accumulation of overseas contact maintained, albeit in limited form, throughout the Edo period prepared the ground for the spread of international interest in Japanese swords in the ages that followed.

Conclusion

Even under the controlled system of sakoku, Japanese swords gradually made their existence known overseas as diplomatic gift-giving items or through the collecting and documentation activities of resident foreigners. The gift exchanges surrounding the Chosŏn Embassy, the interest shown by those connected to the Dutch trading post at Dejima, and the records and collections brought back by Kaempfer and von Siebold—all of these are clues that tell of the international context in which Japanese swords were placed during the Edo period. At TOUKENZA, while taking into account this historical background, you can view the Japanese swords on display in our online catalog. We invite you to search for a particular sword that interests you from our blade list, and to contact us freely through the inquiry form for details.