著者

和田 正彦

出版者

Japan Society for Southeast Asian Studies

雑誌

東南アジア -歴史と文化- (ISSN:03869040)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1980, no.9, pp.24-50, 1980-02-25 (Released:2010-03-16)

---

There were, in the Tokugawa period, offices of interpreters called To-tsuji (Lit. Interpreters of Chinese). Within this category were two divisions; To-tuji To-kata (Interpreters of Chinese) and To-tsuji Shokoku-kata or Ikokutsuji (Interpreters of other Asian Languages). To-tsuji Shokoku-sata or Ikokutsuji included Tonkin-tsuji (Interpreters of Vietnamese), ..... The latter consisted of the Tonkin-tsuji (Interpretes of Vietnamese), Shamro-tsuji (Interpreters for Siamese), Mouru-tsuji (Interpreters of a language used in the Mughals) and Ruson-tsuji (Interpreters of a language used in Luzon under Spanish). This paper traces the history of the Ikoku-tsuji from its establishment to its abolition.It must be pointed out that both divisions, namely To-tsuji Tokata and Ikoku-tsuji were theoretically equal in status, yet, in fact, the latter was regarded as lower than the former. This is clearly shown in the difference in their pay-scales. The discrepancy in their actual position resulted from the differnces in their business. The To-tsuji To-kata was much more important than the Ikoku-tsuji not only because of the fact that only one or two vesseles which came to Nagasaki were from countries other than China, but also, because the To-tsuji To-kata played at the same time the role of commercial agents having discretionary powers of foreign trade. On the other hand the Ikoku-tsuji were no more than interpreters. It should be also taken into account that the To-tsuji To-kata were either Chinese living in Nagasaki or their descendants so that they easily got on good terms with Chinese merchants coming to Nagaski for trade. On the contrary among the Ikoku-tsuji, only the Gi family held the office hereditarily.As the number of vessels requiring Ikoku-tsuji dwindled, the work of the Ikoku-tsuji was gradually transfered to the sections of To-tsuji To-kata or Oranda Tsuji (Interpreters for Dutch). They held only the nominal position through hereditary until the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The position of Ikoku-tsuji was, nevertheless, necesary to the Tokugawa Shogunate. Because of its policy of seclusion, the Shogunate had to be ready to receive and handle exclusively such vessels.It is be worthy of special note that there were some Japanese who studied languages of South and Southeast Asia, wrote the books of vocabulary and conversation of these languages despite it being the age of seclusion.