For, having built,
not indeed with brick and mortar, but by means of edict and law, both
open and secret, a great wall of exclusion more powerful than that of
China's, it was necessary that there should be a port-hole, for both
sally and exit, and a slit for vigilant scrutiny of any attempt to force
seclusion or violate the frontier. Hence, the Hollanders were allowed to
have a small place of residence in front of a large city and at the head
of a land-locked harbor. There, the foreigners being isolated and under
strict guard, the government could have, as it were, a nerve which
touched the distant nations, and could also, as with a telescope, sweep
the horizon for signs of danger.

So, in 1640, the Hollanders were ordered to evacuate Hirado, and occupy
the little "outer island" called Deshima, in front of the city of
Nagasaki, and connected therewith by a bridge. Any ships entering this
hill-girdled harbor, it was believed, could be easily managed by the
military resources possessed by the government. Vessels were allowed
yearly to bring the news from abroad and exchange the products of Japan
for those of Europe. The English, who had in 1617 opened a trade and
conducted a factory for some years,[1] were unable to compete with the
Dutch, and about 1624, after having lost in the venture forty thousand
pounds sterling, withdrew entirely from the Japanese trade. The Dutch
were thus left without a rival from Christendom.

Japan ceased her former trade and communications with the Philippine
Islands, Annam, Siam, the Spice Islands and India,[2] and begun to
restrict trade and communication with Korea and China. The Koreans, who
were considered as vassals, or semi-vassals, came to Japan to present
their congratulations on the accession of each new Sh[=o]gun; and some
small trade was done at Fusan under the superintendence of the daimi[=o]
of Tsushima. Even this relation with Korea was rather one of
watchfulness. It sprang from the pride of a victor rather than from any
desire to maintain relations with the rest of the world. As for China,
the communication with her was astonishingly little, only a few junks
crossing yearly between Nankin and Nagasaki; so that, with the exception
of one slit in their tower of observation, the Japanese became well
isolated from the human family.

This system of exclusion was accompanied by an equally vigorous policy
of inclusiveness. It was deliberately determined to keep the people from
goi