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is a city in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It occupies an island connected to the larger island of Kyūshū by the Hirado Bridge.
During the Sengoku and early Edo Periods, Hirado was a major center of foreign trade, especially with the Ming Dynasty of China and the Dutch, who established a trading factory there on September 20th, 1609, under the direction of Jacob Groenewegen and with the help of William Adams.
This commercial station on Hirado was built, maintained and operated by the Dutch East India Company (the ''Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie'' or ''VOC'').
Decades later, the Tokugawa Shogunate forced the reluctant but compliant traders to relocate to Dejima, an island in the present-day city of Nagasaki. The last VOC ''Opperhoofd'' or ''Kapitan'' at Hirado and the first one at Dejima was François Caron, who oversaw the transfer in 1641.
Also during the Edo period, Hirado was the seat of the Hirado Han; and their Hirado Castle is today an historical and architectural landmark on the island.
As of November 1, 2006, the city had an estimated population of 39,053. The total area of the municipality is 235.60 km².

Contents

History

Famous men in Hirado History

Places of Interest in Hirado

Notes

References

External links

History

At its maximum, the 17th century Dutch trading center covered the whole area of present-day Sakikata Park.^[1]
In 1637 and in 1639, stone warehouses were constructed, and the Dutch builders incorporated these dates into the stonework. However, the Tokugawa shogunate disapproved of the use of any Christian Era year dates, and therefore demanded the immediate destruction of these two structures.^[2]
This example of Dutch failure to comply with strict ''sakoku'' practices was then used as one of the Shogunate's plausible rationales for forcing the Dutch traders to abandon Hirado for the more constricting confines of Dejima in Nagasaki harbor.^[2] However, modern research has led scholars to say, "This was actually an excuse for the shogunate to take the Dutch trade away from the Hirado clan."^[2] This strategic decision was to produce significant unanticipated consequences for Hirado, for Nagasaki, and for Japan.

★ January 1 1955-The modern city was founded.

★ October 1, 2005-The modern city merged with the towns of Tabira, Ikitsuki, and the village of Oshima to form the new city of Hirado.

Famous men in Hirado History

The Taiwanese national hero and Ming general Koxinga (1624–1662) and the Japanese diplomat Inagaki Manjiro (1861–1908) were born in Hirado.
William Adams (1564–1620), the English navigator, died there.

Places of Interest in Hirado

Notes

1. Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog. (2000). ''A Very Unique Collection of Historical Significance: The Kapitan (the Dutch Chief) Colection from the Edo Period -- The Dutch Fascination with Japan,'' p.206.
2. Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog, p. 207.
3. Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog, p. 207.
4. Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog, p. 207.

References

★ Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog. (2000). ''A Very Unique Collection of Historical Significance: The Kapitan (the Dutch Chief) Colection from the Edo Period -- The Dutch Fascination with Japan.'' Catalog of "400th Anniversary Exhibition Regarding Relations between Japan and the Netherlands," a joint-project of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, the City of Nagasaki, the National Museum of Ethnology, the National Natuurhistorisch Museum" and the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in Leiden, the Netherlands. Tokyo.

External links

★ Hirado official website in Japanese

★ American Friendship Doll at Hirado Kindergarten