Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek
At the time of his activity in Japan, he assisted Emperor Meiji and his government as a councillor in negotiations with Western states. He was a representative, envoy and plenipotentiary minister of various European states and, due to his relationship with Meiji, the Japanese government and his knowledge of the state, played a central role in negotiations and the conclusion of treaties between Japan, which was opening up to the West, and the various Western states,[4][3] as a result, they were able to conclude numerous profitable commercial contracts.[5] Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was also an avid chronicler and photographer of Japanese social change at the time of the Meiji Restoration.
Biography
Family
Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was born at Amsterdam on 28 August 1833 as a son of
- Jkvr. Anna Carolina de Graeff (1871–1966)
- Jhr. Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff (1872–1957), statesman and diplomat
- Jhr. Géorg de Graeff (1873–1954), Inspector of Public Health in Zeeland and North Holland, Chairman of the Remonstrant Brotherhood; Lidia married Christine Adelaide Dijckmeester (1883-1971), whose son Jhr. Dirk Georg de Graeff made a great career as a manager, banker and at the Dutch royal court
- Jhr. Jacob de Graeff (1875–1963), in 1914 Deputy director of the Deli brewery in Amsterdam[8]
- Carolina Frederika Christina de Graeff (1877–1879), died young
- Jhr. Cornelis de Graeff (1881–1956), Commissioner of the Department of Foreign Policy; married Jkvr. Susanna Ignatia Caroline Elisabeth Loudon (1884-1957)
A Historic Lineage
Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek had a very long ancestral lineage, including some of the most prominent persons of the
Career in Japan
Consul and Consul General
When De Graeff went to the Dutch Indies in 1853 he added 'van Polsbroek' to his name, probably to discern himself from his brother
Successful western diplomat
When Switzerland also sent a representative to Japan in 1863/64,
On June 25, 1866, Great Britain, the USA, France and the Netherlands signed a convention on the import and export of goods with Japan. De Graeff van Polsbroek signed the contract for the Netherlands.
Cooperation with Emperor Meiji
In 1868 De Graeff van Polsbroek became (titular) Resident Minister of The Netherlands in Japan. He ended his career as a diplomat in 1870 by refusing an appointment in Peking. On March 23, 1868, De Graeff van Polsbroek and the French Minister-Resident
De Graeff van Polsbroek played a central role in establishing the political and economic relations between the Scandinavian states of Denmark and Sweden-Norway and Japan.[29] Due to his good relationship with Meiji and the Japanese government, he was able to commission and in the name[30] of Charles XV of Sweden-Norway on November 11, 1868[31] concluded a trade agreement, the so-called "Verdrag van Yokohama" ("Vänskaps-, handels- och sjöfartstraktat") between Sweden-Norway, Denmark and Japan.[32][33] This treaty opened Hakodate, Yokohama, Nagasaki, Kobe and Osaka to trade for Swedish and Norwegian traders (Article 3). He also gave Sweden-Norway the opportunity to send consuls to the newly opened ports, where they were given the right, through consular jurisdiction, to exercise jurisdiction over the Swedes and Norwegians present there. In the following year De Graeff van Polsbroek was the first western diplomat, who presented his credentials to Meiji in his new capital Tokyo.[34]
Journal
Between 1850 and 1870, at a time when Japan was modernizing and moving significantly closer to the West through Emperor Meiji, De Graeff van Polsbroek wrote numerous diaries, published under the name Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek 1857-1870; belevenissen van een Nederlands diplomaat in het negentiende eeuwse Japan.[35] Some of the illustrations contained therein were drawn by himself.[36] His work is a valuable document for researching the turning point in Japan.[37]
Afterwards
On leave in The Netherlands in 1870, when he was ordered by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to
Dirk de Graeff died on 27 June 1916 at The Hague.
Notes
- ^ a b From Dejima to Tokyo. Deep die. What is a Consul General? (This study is the first complete history of Dutch diplomatic locations in Japan. It has been commissioned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo)
- ^ Aardig anders: Japanners in Nederland, by Harriet Kroon (2014)
- ^ a b c d e "From Dejima to Tokyo. Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (This study is the first complete history of Dutch diplomatic locations in Japan. It has been commissioned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo)". Archived from the original on 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ a b c Het geheugen van Nederland
- ^ a b "Bainbridge's Auctions Blog. Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek". Archived from the original on 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
- ^ Nederland’s Patriciaat jaargang 2 (1911)
- ^ De Nederlandsche leeuw: Maandblad van het Koninklijk Genealogisch-Heraldiek Genootschap, books 1895-1900, p 142 (XVI. edition, 1898)
- ^ a b c d Nederlands adelsboek 1914, p 16
- ^ De Graeff van Polsbroek im bergmeester
- ^ a b c De Nederlandsche leeuw: Maandblad van het Koninklijk Genealogisch-Heraldiek Genootschap, books 1895-1900, p 143 (XVI. edition, 1898)
- ^ Whittaker and Clayton: pp. 31–2 for the art, Gleissner for the furniture and yacht. The yacht was the gift of the Dutch East India Company, according to Liverpool Museums (with model) Archived 2010-07-29 at the Wayback Machine, or the City of Amsterdam according to other sources.
- ^ a b 14th Annual Conference of the EBHA 2010: "Business beyond the Firm". The Centre for Business History, University of Glasgow (Saturday 28 August). Session 4B: Business and political action: ‘The business of consuls; consuls and businessmen’, by Ferry de Goeyd (p 28 to 32)
- ^ Yokohama Horse Racing Museum
- ^ a b Consuls and the Institutions of Global Capitalism, 1783–1914; by Ferry de Goey, p 75 (2015)
- ^ Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 1857-1870: belevenissen van een Nederlands diplomaat in het negentiende eeuwse Japan, von Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, p 47f, Verlag Van Gorcum, 1987
- ^ Die preussische Expedition nach Ost-Asien, nach amtlichen Quellen, book 2, p 153 (1866)
- ^ From Dejima to Tokyo. Places 4. Edo-Tokyo (This study is the first complete history of Dutch diplomatic locations in Japan. It has been commissioned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo) (en)
- ^ Bundesblatt / Schweiz, p 24
- ^ a b c Le Japon illustré, book 1, p 372, by Aimé Humbert (1870)
- ^ Die diplomatischen Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Japan 1854-1868, p 208, by Holmer Stahncke
- ^ The Directory & Chronicle for China, Japan, Corea, Indo-China, Seite 137 (1894)
- ^ The American Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the year 1867, book 7, p 418 (1868)
- ^ Denmark in Japan. History of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
- ^ Zeitschrift des Vereins für hamburgische Geschichte, book 35, p14/15
- ^ Emperor of Japan: Meiji and his world, 1852-1912, p 133. Donald Keene
- ^ a b The last Samurai: japanische Geschichtsdarstellung im populären Kinofilm, p 90 och 91. Daniel Scherer (2009)
- ^ Berlin, Marienstraße 23, by Bärbel Reetz (2021)
- ^ Documents and letters in the National Archives at The Hague, Foreign Affairs No. 3141-3147; Consular Archives of Nagasaki and Yokohama 1860-1869)
- ^ Developing the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership. An analysis of European Union member states’ relations with Japan (Toshiba International foundation, 2022), p 196
- ^ Treaties and Conventions Between the Empire of Japan and Other Powers, p 667 (1884)
- ^ Sweden, Japan, and the Long Second World War: 1931-1945, by Pascal Lottaz, Ingemar Ottosson (2021)
- ^ Google Buchsuche: Hōki bunrui taizen, Band 23
- ^ From Dejima to Tokyo. Places, 3. Kanagawa-Yokohama (This study is the first complete history of Dutch diplomatic locations in Japan. It has been commissioned by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo)
- ^ Painting in the Meiji shrine at Tokyo
- ^ Antiqbook[dead link]
- ^ Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 1857-1870: belevenissen van een Nederlands diplomaat in het negentiende eeuwse Japan, by Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, Verlag Van Gorcum, 1987 (141 pages)
- ^ Puster Verlag. Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen
- ^ National Archive The Hague, Archive of the Netherlands Trading Society
- ^ The Iwakura-Mission. Non-Japanese involved with the Iwakura Mission
- ^ Diaries of Sir Ernest Satow, 1906-1911, by Ian Ruxton (ed.), p 97 (2019)
External links
Literature
- Graeff van Polsbroek, Dirk de (1987), Journaal van Jonkheer Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, 1857-1870: Belevenissen van een Nederlands diplomaat in het negentiende eeuwse Japan. (ingeleid en geannoteerd door Herman J. Moeshart) Assen, Van Gorcum, ISBN 90-232-2257-1
- Graeff van Polsbroek, Dirk de, "Aanval in de Japansche wateren op de Nederlandsche stoomkorvet Medusa". Koloniale Jaarboeken, vol. jrg. 3.
- Edström, Bert, en Lars Vargö, red. Sverige och Japan: Diplomatiska dokument från tre sekler. Stockholm: Utrikesdepartementet, 2000.
- Ottosson, Ingemar: Svensk frihandelsimperialism: Det ojämlika fördraget med Japan 1868-1896, uit Historisk tidskrift, nummer 2 (1997), p 199–223
- Dr H.J. Moeshart, A List of Names of Foreigners in Japan in Bakumatsu and early Meiji (1850-1900) (Amsterdam 2010) p 102.
- Dr. H.J. Moeshart 'Dirk de Graeff and the Opening of Japan' (Batavian Lion International, Amsterdam, 2018).