Pieter van der Aa was a Dutch publisher specialising in atlases, maps and luxuriously illustrated volumes aimed at the general public. This work, part of his monumental 66-volume Galerie Agréable du Monde, is a collection of plates showing panoramic views of cities, maps, scenes of everyday life and depictions of religious customs, illustrating Japan as it was known to Europeans in the early eighteenth century.

By the time this work was published, Dutch traders had been, for around a century, the only Europeans permitted to trade with Japan, following the expulsion of Spanish and Portuguese missionaries and traders. Merchants at the factory at Deshima were constantly supervised by Japanese officials and not permitted to leave the island, except during the annual procession of the factor (chief agent) to pay homage to the shōgun. Reports of these processions, received from accounts such as Kaempfer’s History of Japan, caused bemusement in Europe, and illustrations published by Van der Aa likely helped people to visualise these events, albeit in an exaggerated, exoticised form.

Text adapted from Japan: Courts and Culture (2020)