Japan and Britain, 1613: Parallels and Exchanges
Key information
- Date
- to
- Time
-
5:00 PM to 9:00 AM
- Venue
- Russell Square: College Buildings
About this event
The conference will address the history of Japan and Britain in and around the year 1613. Both countries were undergoing massive cultural, religious and political transformations at the time, and it is instructive to look at their respective systems of restructuring and recreation in parallel and comparatively.
Moreover, Japan and Britain directly encountered each other for the first time in 1613, with arrival of the English East India Company, bearing letters and gifts from King James for the Shogun. The conference will therefore also address issues of encounter and communication.
The event takes place on the exact 400th anniversary, for it was on 19 September 1613 that the English received reciprocal presents from the Shogun (which are extant), and on 21st that they departed Edo with great rejoicing. This conference is a major element in Japan400, a series of commemorations scheduled for across the UK and Japan to mark this landmark year.
Programme*
Date/Time | Description |
---|---|
Thursday, 19 September, Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS | |
18.30 – 20.00 |
KEYNOTE LECTURE & RECEPTIONCaptain John Saris and the First British Voyage to Japan , Richmond Barbour (Oregon State University) |
Friday, 20 September, Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS | |
09.00 – 09.20 | Registration |
09.20 – 09.30 | Welcome: Timon Screech |
09.30 |
PANEL ONE: Britain in MotionChair: Professor Miles Ogborn (Queen Mary’s, University of London)
|
11.00 – 11.30 | Break |
11.30 – 12.00 | ‘Wonders rudely described’: Richard Cocks, English merchant and intelligencer in Japan , Samuli Kaislaniemi (University of Helsinki) |
12.00 – 12.30 | The Men of the English Factory at Hirado , Margaret Makepeace (The British Library) |
12.30 – 13.00 | Discussion |
13.00 – 14.00 | Break |
14.00 |
PANEL TWO: Foreign Relations in JapanChair: Richard Bowring (Cambridge University)
|
15.30 – 16.00 | Break |
16.00 - 16.30 |
PANEL THREE: Further EncountersChair: Alain Strathern (Oxford University)
|
17.00 – 18.00 | Discussion |
Saturday 21 September, Conference Centre, The British Library | |
09.30 |
PANEL FOUR: Openness and ContainmentChair: Tim Clark (The British Museum)
|
11.00 – 11.30 | Break |
11.30 – 12.00 | Vessels of Trade: Porcelain as Commodity in Early 17th-century Japan , Nicole Rousmaniere (The British Museum) |
12.00 – 12.30 | Culture Wars in Japan's Age of Unification: Collecting, Gift Exchange, and Falconry in the Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Morgan Pitelka (UNC, Chapel Hill) |
12.30 – 13.30 | Discussion |
* Please note that small changes may be made to the programme between now and September.
Abstracts
Organiser: Japan Research Centre, Centres & Programmes Office
Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk
Contact Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4893/2