Jagatara-Bumi - Jagatara-Bumi

These letters were written from Jakarta in the early Edo period by Japanese people and mixed-race Japanese children who were banned from returning home or expelled due to the isolationist policy. As more Japanese people moved overseas, the number of Japanese people moving to various parts of the South Seas increased, but in 1635 (Kan'ei 12), the Edo Shogunate strictly prohibited Japanese people from traveling overseas and returning home, so they communicated and traded with their home countries by Chinese and Dutch ships, but this was also prohibited from around 1640. Children of mixed race with Europeans and their mothers were also expelled overseas. Jakarta, which was under Dutch rule at the time, was called Batavia and called Jagatara in Japan, and there were quite a few Japanese people living there as well. The name Jagatara Oharu is well known because Nishikawa Joken embellished the story and included it in the Nagasaki Yawasou.

Later, as the isolationist system was established and Christian missionaries' infiltration was cut off, the shogunate relaxed communication between the Japanese living in Batavia and their home country from around 1655 (Meireki 1), so that Japanese people could communicate with relatives and acquaintances in their home country, sending them money and ordering necessary items. Today, five letters written by Japanese-Japanese children, including Cornelia, and other Japanese residents of the area, are preserved as Jagatara letters at the Hirado Tourist Museum in Nagasaki Prefecture, and they tell us a glimpse of the lives of Japanese residents in the Dutch community at that time.

[Eiichi Kato]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸初期、鎖国政策により帰国を禁ぜられたり追放された日本人、日系混血児らがジャカルタより故国にあてた手紙。日本人の海外進出により南洋各地に移住する日本人が増加したが、江戸幕府は1635年（寛永12）に日本人の海外渡航と帰国を厳禁したので、彼らは中国船やオランダ船に託して故国との交信や取引を行っていたが、これも1640年ごろから禁止された。また、ヨーロッパ人との混血児とその母親も海外に追放された。当時オランダが領有していたジャカルタはバタビアとよばれ、日本ではジャガタラと称したが、同地にもかなりの日本人が居住していた。ジャガタラお春の名は、西川如見(じょけん)が潤色して『長崎夜話草』に載せたためよく知られる。

　その後、鎖国体制が整備し、キリシタン宣教師潜入の途も絶たれるにつれ、幕府は1655年（明暦1）ごろからバタビア居住の日本人の故国との交信を緩和したので、彼らは故国の親戚(しんせき)知人らと音信を交わし、金品を送り所用の物品を注文した。今日、長崎県平戸(ひらど)観光資料館には、日系混血児コルネリヤら同地の日系市民が故国にあてた書簡(しょかん)5通がジャガタラ文として伝えられ、当時のオランダ人社会における日系市民の生活の一斑(いっぱん)を伝えている。

［加藤榮一］

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