Philipp Franz von Siebold and The Opening of Japan: A Re-Evaluation

By Herbert Plutschow

Global Oriental, 2007
ISBN 978-1-950246-20-5

Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Philipp Franz von Siebold is much admired and revered in Japan as one of the three great interpreters of Japan to the West during Japan's years of "seclusion." He was a meticulous scholar and his books about Japan mainly in German were an important source of information about Japan for the Americans and other powers in their efforts to "open" Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century. His role in these efforts is the focus of Plutschow's study.

Plutschow's book begins with a brief account of Siebold's first period in Japan from 1823-29 including his visit to Edo and his subsequent arrest and expulsion. After a summary of his achievements as a scholar Plutschow devotes a major part of his book to a discussion of the influence which Siebold had, through his correspondence, on the Dutch, Russian and above all on the American efforts to open Japan. He then describes Siebold's second visit to Japan from 1859 until his second expulsion in 1861. The next chapter deals with Siebold's subsequent attempts to influence the Russian and French governments in relation to Japan. Finally Plutschow recounts what happened to Siebold's daughter by his Japanese wife and his two sons born to his German wife.

While Plutschow does his best to defend Siebold, his picture of Siebold is of an unattractive personality. His egoism, vanity and arrogance were prominent features and there is no indication that he had any sense of humour. He was also a womaniser; both his Japanese and German wives were neglected and he took a Japanese mistress on his second visit. Siebold's interest in and sympathy with Japan were genuine even if he allowed himself to think that he alone understood Japan. He regarded himself as the Europe's greatest, indeed only, expert on Japan. Unfortunately his judgements about what was good for Japan were sometimes mistaken. Siebold "actively sought, not a Westernized Japan, but a continuation of Japan's feudal institutions, which he believed constituted the foundation of 'this happy country.'" (page 34)

Plutschow has had access to correspondence between Siebold and members of the American and Russian expeditions to Japan and with the government of the Netherlands which show that his advice was sought if not always followed. Plutschow says (page 101) that Siebold gave advice to the British government and that he met Lord Palmerston and Queen Victoria in 1851, but that "no details are known." If such meetings took place it seems most unlikely that no trace could be found in the National Archives or in Queen Victoria's papers. The author is of course right in asserting that no one country, let alone one individual, can claim the kudos for opening Japan. This was an historical process with multiple facets.

The author has clearly worked hard on the Siebold papers. Unfortunately he has not studied fully the papers which explain the background to some of the events he describes. He does not seem to be aware of the various accounts, including my own, of the attack on the British legation at Tozenji in Edo in 1861, of the Namamugi incident in the same year, the British attack on Kagoshima and the joint operations to reopen the Shimonoseki straits in 1862. There are a number of unfortunate misprints such as John Russel for Lord John Russell, Colonel Neal for Lt Col Neale etc. He is also wrong to refer to England when he means Britain and he makes a number of historically questionable assertions such as that [page 198] "the parley [the negotiations following the Namamugi incident] eventually led to British support of the pro-imperial, anti-shogunal faction in Japanese politics." These errors and omissions sadly detract from a book which throws some interesting new light on Siebold and on the opening of Japan.