Japan was isolated almost completely from the West for more than two hundred years, from 1641 to 1854. One of the first Westerners to penetrate that barrier and reveal fundamental information about the country – and the Far East in general – was Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866), a doctor from Würzburg in Germany. He spent the period 1823 to 1829 on the small island of Dejima, a Dutch trading post in Nagasaki that was then the only point of contact between Japan and the West. Full of ambition, Siebold was sent from the Dutch East Indies to Japan with the task of gathering as much information as possible about the country, its geography, its people, religion, customs and traditional costumes. The ultimate aim was to use this information to boost Dutch trade. Working with Japanese artists including Kawahara Keiga and Hokusai, Siebold embarked on an unprecedented visual and scientific project, culminating in the book Nippon. In this publication of Nippon, we give Siebold’s work a new lease of life that lets us understand the Japan he saw. This edition includes all the original prints, with a commentary on the most compelling images. The introduction discusses the unique relationship between Japan and the Netherlands, Siebold’s life, his work on Dejima and the historical significance of Nippon. The thematic essays and image keys point out striking details and interesting stories, all with a view to achieving once again what Siebold sought to do all those years ago: let readers marvel at the incredible beauty of Japan.

This publication is the result of a collaboration with Leiden University Libraries. The editors are Kuniko Forrer and Matthi Forrer. Kuniko is a book historian and an authority on the Dutch language who has worked at Japan Museum Siebold Huis since 2012. She has a doctorate in Dutch literature and book studies. Matthi is an art historian and authority on Japan, and the first person appointed to the Siebold professorship at Leiden University. He is currently a senior researcher on the Japanese and Korean collection at Leiden’s Wereldmuseum. The editors share their love for Japan, and Siebold’s Nippon in particular, from the perspectives of their distinct specialist fields.