Burials on the island of Yokoshima

In 1638, the English and Dutch Cemeteries in Hirado were destroyed as a result of the increasing persecution of Christians. Outward symbols of Christianity were broken and traces eradicated. Not long after the destruction of the cemetery, two members of the trading post died. Graves were dug for them on what was known as the 'companies' island'. According to the descriptions, this small island, called Yokoshima, lay just outside the bay off Hirado. The island was used by the VOC for cattle and possibly also for other matters.

The problem is, however, that there are two islands with the same name in the vicinity. The elongated island lying slightly to the east of Hirado is most likely to be the island in question. In September 1638, assistant merchant Daniel Reiniersz died and he, too, was buried with full honours on the island. Another two graves were added to the aforementioned three in 1640. On 14 January of that year, Hans Andriesz was buried there, together with the Japanese woman with whom he was caught committing adultery. Both were condemned to death and buried on the island. The five graves were not given grave crosses, although a later source indicates that there were graves of ‘blauwen arduyn ende diverse van ordinairie steen opgemetzelt (blue stone and various ones of ordinary stone masonry)’.

Increasing persecution

In fact, the construction of a new brick warehouse in 1638 sounded the end of the trading post in Hirado. In those years, Christians were being increasingly persecuted in Japan, particularly after a revolt against the Shogunate took place. It also seemed as though the Portuguese would be forbidden from coming to Japan any longer. In 1640, 61 Portuguese were beheaded as an example of the Japanese intentions. At the end of 1640, it became apparent that the VOC's coat of arms built into the warehouse, along with the year of construction, was reason for the Japanese to have the new buildings demolished. Not long afterwards, the Dutch were told that they were also deemed Christians and that they had to move their trading activities to Nagasaki. In March 1641, the living quarters also had to be demolished. In mid-1641, there was little left of the Hirado trading post and the first ship to Japan that year took its cargo to Nagasaki. The man-made Japanese island of Dejima, on which the Portuguese had previously been located, was assigned to the Dutch.

The journal of the first chief factor of Dejima, Maximiliaan Le Maire, describes how he orders those remaining on Hirado to demolish the buildings. Flatboats containing building materials, rubble and other remains of the trading post and the chief factors' homes then arrive in Nagasaki regularly but the cemetery on Hirado is no longer mentioned. On 9 March 1642, chief factor Van Elseracq noted that he passed the island of Yokoshima on his homeward voyage from Edo. He observed that they found all the graves, one of blue stone and various (others?) of ordinary stone, destroyed. It is unlikely that Van Elseracq disembarked on the island because he talks about 'passing' it so the gravestones must have been visible from passing ships. The exact location of the cemetery has become lost over the years. There are a number of possibilities on the southern side of the island and there is a pile of stones at the top of the island that could possibly cover a grave but this might merely be intended as a beacon. An oranda bochi (foreign cemetery) is supposed to have been located somewhere else on the island but it has been removed by local residents. This was not necessarily a Dutch grave, because many foreigners' graves were called oranda bochi.

Nowadays, there is no trace left of the cemeteries either at Hirado or on the island of Yokoshima. However, the municipality of Hirado hopes that the location of the two Dutch cemeteries, at the trading post and on the island of Yokoshima, will eventually be found. Excavations are carried out regularly and were scheduled for 2017, as well. During these activities, a skeleton was found that had been buried in a Western manner and was therefore very probably a foreigner and possibly a European from the 17th century. The results of DNA tests should clarify this.

References

• Mulder, W.Z.; Hollanders in Hirado. 1597-1641, Haarlem 1980
• Thompson, Edward Maunde, Sir; Diary of Richard Cocks, cape-merchant in the English factory in Japan, 1615-1622, met correspondentie, gepubliceerd 1883.
• Blussé, Leonard en Cynthia Viallé; The Deshima dagregisters, Volume XI, 1641-1650, Leiden 2001
• Miyanaga, Takashi; Brief notes concerning Dutch Gravestones in Japan. – the names of Dutchmen buried in the graveyards of Japanese temples and in foreign cemeteries in Japan (A.D. 1621 – 1982), Tokyo 1988.
• Paul, H.; Nederlanders in Japan 1600-1854. De VOC op Desjima, Weesp 1984
• Valentyn, Francois; Beschryvinge van den Handel en Vaart der Nederlanderen op Japan, Negende boek, Dordrecht/Amsterdam 1726.
• Ijzerman, J.W.; Dirk Gerritsz Pomp alias Dirck Gerritsz China de eerste Nederlander die China en Japan bezocht (1544-1604) zijn reis en verblijf in Zuid-Amerika, Den Haag, 1915
• Massarella, D. en I.K. Tyler; The Japonian Charters. The English and Dutch Shuinjο̄. In: ‘Monumenta Nipponica’ Vol. 45, No. 2 (Summer, 1990), pp. 189-205