Diplomatic writings 外蕃通書: The old texts of Vietnam-Japan relations

Abstract

  Diplomatic Writings外蕃通書 (also known as 外蕃書翰, which literally means “pappers and ink of diplomacy”) is a collection of diplomatic texts between Tokugawa Bakufu and the representatives of neibouring nations such as Korea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Those writings were exchanged from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century, during which the Edo period had reached its half and the Trinh and Nguyen families of Vietnam were fighting against each other. The writings were collected and edited by Kondo Juzo 近藤 重蔵 (also known as Kondo Morishige 守重) (1771 - 1892), who was a scholar and vassal of Tokugawa Bakufu. Diplomatic Writings consists of 27 volumes, including a volume for the content list. Diplomatic writings with Vietnam were sorted in the section named “An Nam Nation Writings” 安南國書. The collection was composed from 1808 to 1819, presented in traditional Chinese, ancient Japanese, and Katakana. The “An Nam Nation Writings” section consists of writings from Bakufu Tokugawa to Lord Nguyen in the South of Vietnam and Lord Trinh in the North of Vietnam, and vice versa, discussing diplomacy, commerce, and protections for Japanese citizens commercing in Vietnam. This is one in the oldest writing collection about Vietnam-Japan relations. This article introduces and studies the section “An Nam Nation Writings” in Diplomatic Writings.