FRANÇOIS CARON AND HIS DESCRIPTION OF JAPAN卡隆和他的《日本的描述》
Detlef Haberland's article examines the historical relevance of François Caron's account, published in the Dutch Republic under the title *Beschrijvinghe van het machtigh Coninckrijck Iapan* (1645; translation/description associated with a broader work attributed to the chronicler), for understandin...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
October 2008
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40028/3637 |
| Summary: | Detlef Haberland's article examines the historical relevance of François Caron's account, published in the Dutch Republic under the title *Beschrijvinghe van het machtigh Coninckrijck Iapan* (1645; translation/description associated with a broader work attributed to the chronicler), for understanding the European reception of Japan in the seventeenth century. The central contribution lies in situating Caron's text as an "intermediary" testimony between images still marked by the fabulous imaginary of earlier voyages and the subsequent turn toward more systematic and scientific approaches to Japan. Methodologically, the author reads the work as a product of multiple layers of observation—Caron's own experiences during voyages and commercial/diplomatic contacts with foreign agents and institutions—while simultaneously articulating the European "angle" of interpretation (Europe of the Thirty Years' War, confessional conflicts, and the persistence of traditional hierarchies) with the chronicler's descriptive strategies.
As findings, Haberland argues that, despite its formal sobriety and lack of stylistic pretensions, Caron's description offers valuable material for capturing the political and cultural dynamics of Tokugawa-period Japan, functioning as a decisive step in the consolidation of "complete otherness" within the European xenological repertoire, and preceding the milestone represented by Engelbert Kaempfer. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |