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Page 78 text:
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The island of Hirado is located approximately twenty miles north of Sasebo and the area is twenty miles long and five miles wide. The city of Hirado QPopulation 33,000j, after whiCh the island is named, was the first port opened to foreign trade in the middle of the sixteenth century. ln the ancient days Hirado was on the route to mainland Asia. Hirado literally means a flat open door in Japanese. History tells us this port was filled with excitement and activities with mission ships sailing to and from China and Korea more than a thousand years ago. Then came the Matsuura Family, who reigned over the Saikai area for the Western Sea of Japanj. They showed their remark- able power and cunningness as Wako or Japanese pirates. ln the battles against the Taira Clan and the Minamoto Clan, they displayed their power, and later won fame by defeating the enemy in the Mongolian Invasion. A few hundred years later, the family grew very powerful and started to have an interest in trading abroad. They went far off to the southern islands and to the China Sea. The port of Hirado became the home of a rich and powerful pirate fleet. The first European ship arrived in Hirado in 1550 which was followed by many other ships in later years. The first ship carried Saint Francis Xavier who started the spread of Catholicism in Japan. The name of this small port became internationally well- known as more and more ships headed for Hirado. These forerun- ners were followed by the Dutch and the British. Hirado was at the height of prosperity, tasting the fruit of international fame and fortune, when they founded their factories here. ln 1609, a branch office of the Dutch East India Company was established in Hirado. At first the trading began in two ordinary houses, howev- er, as time went on, about seventy houses were rebuilt to make room for the residence of the trading firm director, the ware- houses and quarters for the Dutch tradesmen who were self- supporting in the little Dutch community. Matsudaira Nobutsuna, the Deputy Commander of the Edo QTokyoJ Feudal Government visited Hirado. The people of Hirado rejoiced at the visit by the great warrior. The Dutch. too, celebrat- ed the occasion with a salute of guns. But Nobutsuna, who observed the accurate firing of the cannons, feared the close tie between the Hirado Matsuura Family and the Dutch, lest they turn against the Tokugawa Shogunate fthe military ruler in Ja- pan 1600 - 18681. Therefore, he ordered the transfer of the Dutch trading firm from Hirado to Nagasaki which was then the poses- sion of feudal government. Also during this time came the enforcement of the Edict pro- hibiting Christianity. All foreigners were moved to Nagasaki by' the policy of Seclusion by the Government and Hirado fell into a rapid decline as an important rading center.
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