著者

ル・ルー ブレンダン

出版者

Institute for Cultural Interaction Studies, Kansai University

雑誌

文化交渉における画期と創造-歴史世界と現代を通じて考える-

巻号頁・発行日

pp.113-137, 2011-03-31

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The so-called «Ansei Five-Power Treaties» signed in 1858 madepossible for US, Russian, Dutch, English and French nationals to livein the open ports of Japan. As a consequence, missionaries alsobegan to arrive there, and among them were the two fi rst Frenchmissionaries to live in Mainland Japan, father Girard in Edo andKanagawa (arrived 6 Sept. 1859) and father Mermet in Hakodate(arrived 25 Nov. 1859).Born in Sept. 1828, Mermet entered the seminary of the ParisForeign Missions in 1852, and after having been ordained, he left forJapan on 25 Aug. 1854. From February 1855, he stayed in theRyûkyû Islands in order to learn Japanese, but he had to go back toHong-Kong in October 1856. Nevertheless, when he arrived inHakodate, Mermet, who had also taken part as Baron Gros'interpreter in the negotiations for the fi rst Japanese-French treatyin October 1858, already had a deep knowledge of Japan and of theJapanese language. He then stayed in Hakodate until the summer of1863, but as the propagation of Christianity was still forbidden inJapan from the spring of 1864, he had to engage into many otheractivities. After having returned to France for a short time, Mermet wasengaged as interpreter by Roches, the second French Minister inJapan from the spring 1864. During the two years and a half thathe served at the French legation, he again took part in a widerange of activities. The one that we wish to talk about in thisarticle is the role that Mermet played during the negotiations forthe first Italian-Japanese treaty, which took place between july and september 1866.