Designed to complement his similar work on China, this book was compiled by Arnoldus Montanus from records of Jesuit missions to Japan in 1649 and 1661. It was published by Jan Van Meurs for the Dutch East India Company. Van Meurs received permission to publish both Dutch and French editions in 1664, but the Dutch edition did not appear until 1669, followed shortly by German and English translations using Van Meurs' plates.
In the present edition, the frontispiece and four of the original large plates were recut, and many of the text illustrations are reversed or mirrored. This edition is the first to include the plate of Fort Zeelandia in Taiwan. Montanus' work amounts to a comprehensive history of all aspects of Japan as it was then understood by the West, containing "more first-hand information about Japan than any other post-1650 publication" (Lach).
The work primarily focuses on Japanese politics, culture, religion, and military affairs. Montanus provides descriptions of various Western attempts to make contact with Japan, particularly focusing on the Dutch East India Company (VOC) embassies. The account of the Dutch 'Blokovius-Frisium embassy' is based on previously unpublished material, and other VOC embassies described include those of Zacharias Wagenaer in 1657 and Henry Indyk in 1661.
Montanus' topographical information is extensive for the time, including descriptions of the towns of Nagasaki, Hirado, Osaka, Sakai, Kyoto, Shizuoka, and Edo, as well as the mysterious 'boiling waters of Singok'. The sociology of Japan is detailed, with accounts of Japanese customs (bath-houses, wrestling, gardens), endeavors (whaling, wine-making), and mores (including crime and punishment with accounts of murder, the burning of widows, blood-baths, and various tortures).
The magnificent maps, plans, and illustrations cover Japanese costume, cities, flora and fauna, religious ceremonies, and military techniques. They include a plan of Nagasaki, large folding views of Miako and Edo, a scene of the destruction wrought by an earthquake at Edo, action portraits of samurai, an illustration of a religious ceremony at the temple at Beelden, formal meetings between western ambassadors and the Japanese Imperial Court, and a plate showing the Emperor's throne.
Pagination: [8], 227; [9], 146, [6] pages. Complete.