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The Shogun’s Silver Telescope : God, Art, and Money in the English Quest for Japan, 1600-1625

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著者等
Timon Screech(著)
出版社
Oxford University Press

内容の紹介

The East India Company, founded in London in 1600, was the world’s biggest trading organization until the twentieth century. It was originally a spice trading organization, and its existence was precarious in its early years. But its governors soon began to think bigger. A decade after its foundation, they started to plan voyages to more adventurous places, notably Japan. Japan had silver, was cold in winter, and had no sheep, so was a perfect market for England’s main export, woollen cloth. The Company planned to add to its spice-runs, sailing back and forth to Japan, exchanging wool for silver. This could be done quickly and easily, over the top of Russia – or so the maps of the day suggested (these same maps also showed Japan twenty times too large, about the size of India).

Knowing the Spanish and Portuguese had got there before them, the Company prepared a special present to impress and win over their Japanese hosts. They chose as their first gift a silver telescope. The expedition carrying the telescope departed in 1611, and the Shogun was finally presented with the telescope in the name of King James I in 1613. It was the first telescope ever to leave Europe, and the first made as a presentation item. Before this voyage had even returned, the Company had dispatched another with an equally stunning cargo: nearly a hundred oil paintings.

This is the story of these two extraordinary cargoes: what they meant for the fortunes of the Company, what the choice of them says about the seventeenth century England from which they came, and what effect they had on the quizzical Asian rulers to whom they were given. (出版社HPより引用)

著者のコメント

Timon Screech(東京外国語大学 大学院国際日本学研究院 元特別招へい教授)
I am delighted that these two books appeared while I am in Japan and still attached to TUFS. It is appropriate, because both were written thanks to the wonderful double period I had as a visiting researcher at TUFS. During that time I enjoyed the university’s fine facilities and had the leisure to complete both projects. I will remain at TUFS until summer 2021, now on an unpaid post, working on my next book. I would like to express my deep thanks and appreciation to all at TUFS who have made these three stays possible.


  • Timon Screech プロフィール
    招へい期間:
    【国際日本学研究院 外国人研究者】2020年9月~2021年9月
    【CAASユニット 特別招へい教授】2020年2月~2020年9月
    【CAASユニット 特別招へい教授】2017年4月~2017年9月
  • Oxford University Press
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