is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in

Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...

, Japan. The part historically named Hirado is located on

Hirado Island (also previously named Hiranoshima and Firando Island) is the 4th largest island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Its coasts are washed by Sea of Japan. The entire island and the part of the nearby Kyushu mainland is administered as part of Hirado city. ...

. With recent mergers, the city's boundaries have expanded, and Hirado now occupies parts of the main island of Kyushu. The components are connected by the Hirado Bridge. As of March 1, 2017, the city has an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 31,192 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

of 130 persons per km². The total area is .

History

Hirado has been a port of call for ships between the

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

n mainland and Japan since the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

. During the Kamakura and

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

s, the local Matsuura clan held the rights to trade with Korea and with Song-dynasty China. During the

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various ...

and early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

s, Hirado's role as a center of

foreign trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

increased, especially ''

vis-à-vis Vis-à-vis may refer to: * Vis-à-vis, a French expression in English, literally "face to face (with)", meaning in comparison with or in relation to * ''Vis-à-vis'' (album), by Karol Mikloš, 2002 * Vis-à-vis (carriage), a type of horse-drawn ...

'' Ming-dynasty China and the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC). The Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543; after the

Battle of Fukuda Bay The in 1565 was the first recorded naval battle between Europeans (the Portuguese) and the Japanese. A flotilla of samurai under the '' daimyō'' Matsura Takanobu attacked two Portuguese trade vessels that had shunned Matsura's port in Hirado ...

in 1561 the Portuguese stayed for a few more years until they settled in the city of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

in 1571. The English and Dutch initially reached Japan at the beginning of the 17th century. The first step in the profitable Dutch-Japanese trading relationship was the Shōgun's grant of a trading pass (''handelspas'') in 1609. In 1613, the British ship '' Clove'' arrived in Japan and its Captain

John Saris John Saris () was chief merchant on the first English voyage to Japan, which left London in 1611. He stopped at Yemen, missing India (which he had originally intended to visit) and going on to Java, which had the sole permanent English trading sta ...

was able to gain the shogunate's permission to establish in Hirado a commercial house of the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. However, the company soon came to consider this outpost to be unprofitable, especially due to their inability to obtain Japanese

raw silk Raw Silk was an American dance band, which originated in New York. History Raw Silk first signed to West End Records, which was once a popular garage label, where they recorded moderate hits. Their songs were remixed by post-disco/ R&B produ ...

for import to China. Therefore, the British closed their factory in 1623, voluntarily leaving the Dutch as the sole European presence. At its maximum extent, the Dutch trading center covered the whole area of present-day Sakikata Park. In 1637 and in 1639, stone warehouses were constructed, and the Dutch builders incorporated these dates into the stonework. However, the Tokugawa shogunate disapproved of the use of any Christian year dates, and therefore demanded the immediate destruction of these two structures.Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog, p. 207. This failure to comply with strict '' sakoku'' practices was then used as one of the Shogunate's rationales for forcing the Dutch traders to abandon Hirado for the more constricting confines of

Dejima , in the 17th century also called Tsukishima ( 築島, "built island"), was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1854). For 220 years, i ...

, a small artificial island in the present-day city of

. The last VOC ''

Opperhoofd ''Opperhoofd'' is a Dutch word (plural ''opperhoofden'') that literally translates to "upper-head", meaning "supreme headman". The Danish equivalent ''overhoved'', which is derived from a Danish pronunciation of the Dutch or Low German word, is a ...

'' or ''Kapitan'' at Hirado and the first one at Dejima was

François Caron François Caron (1600–1673) was a French Huguenot refugee to the Netherlands who served the Dutch East India Company (''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie'' or VOC) for 30 years, rising from cook's mate to the director-general at Batavia (Ja ...

, who oversaw the transfer in 1641. However, modern research indicated that this incident might actually have been an excuse for the Shogunate to take the Dutch trade away from the Hirado clan. The stone warehouse from 1639 that was torn down was reconstructed back to its original form in 2011. During the Edo period, Hirado was the seat of the

Hirado Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Nagasaki Prefecture.

. Hirado Castle is today a historical and architectural landmark. The island was the namesake of IJN cruiser ''Hirado''. The modern city was founded on January 1, 1955. The city expanded by merging on October 1, 2005, with the neighboring towns of Tabira, Ikitsuki, and the village of Ōshima. The local economy is dominated by agriculture, fishing and food processing.

Climate

Hirado has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

:''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is much higher in the summer, although the relatively low latitude and its coastal location the city receives snow in small quantities but enough to "mark" the winter every year despite being in 33 ° N receives intrusions from the Arctic cold of the

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

air combined with the humidity of the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

Notable residents

* William Adams (1564–1620): Miura Anjin (三浦按針: "the pilot of Miura"), an English navigator, was the model for the character of

John Blackthorne John Blackthorne is the hero of James Clavell's 1975 novel ''Shōgun'', and is loosely based on the life of the 17th-century English navigator William Adams, who was the first Englishman to visit Japan. The character also appears in the 1980 TV ...

in James Clavell's novel ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...

'' (1975). Died in Hirado. *

Camillus Costanzo Camillus Costanzo SJ ( Bovalino Superiore, 1571 – Hirado, Japan 15 September 1622) was an Italian soldier, law student and Jesuit missionary in Japan. When he was burned alive in 1622, he became a Roman Catholic martyr.Society of Jesus web sit ...

(1571–1622): Italian Jesuit martyr. Burnt alive in Hirado. *

Willem Verstegen Willem Verstegen (c. 1612 – 1659) was a merchant in service of the Dutch East India Company and VOC Opperhoofden in Japan, chief trader of factory in Dejima. Life Willem Verstegen was born around 1612 in Vlissingen, Netherlands. In 1629, ...

(1612–1659) :merchant of the

Tagawa Matsu Tagawa Matsu (田川マツ; 1601–1647) or Weng-shi (翁氏), was the mother of Koxinga, daughter of Tagawa Shichizaemon ( 田川七左衛門), a vassal of Hirado Domain. She was a Japanese who lived most of her life in the coastal town of Hirado, ...

(1601–1646): wife of

Zheng Zhilong Zheng Zhilong, Marquis of Tong'an and Nan'an (; April 16, 1604 – November 24, 1661), baptismal name Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, was a Chinese admiral, merchant, military general, pirate, and politician of the late Ming dynasty who later defec ...

, mother of

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...

and Shichizaemon *

(1604–1661): Chinese merchant and pirate, father of Koxinga *

(1624–1662): hero in mainland China,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

general. Born in Hirado. * Shichizaemon: second son of Tagawa Matsu *

Inagaki Manjiro is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Inagaki Chusei (1897–1922), Japanese painter *Goro Inagaki (born 1973), Japanese singer and musician *Hiroshi Inagaki (1905–1980), Japanese filmmaker *Jitsuo Inagaki (1928–200 ...

(1861–1908): Diplomat. Born in Hirado. * Ryusaku Yanagimoto (1894–1942): captain of the ''Sōryū'' in the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Kazuya Maekawa is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. His son Daiya Maekawa is also footballer. Club career Maekawa was educated at and played for Hirado High School. After graduating in 1986, he joined Japan Soccer League ...

(1968–): former football player and current coach

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Hirado has one

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

in Japan and one sister city and one friendship city outside Japan. * Zentsūji,

Kagawa may refer to: * , the smallest prefecture of Japan by area, located on the island of Shikoku * , a district in Kagawa Prefecture * , a town located in Kagawa District * , train station in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture * Kagawa (surname) Kagawa (w ...

, Japan (sister city) * Nan'an,

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

, China (friendship city) *

Noordwijk Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the former municipality of Noordwij ...

, South Holland, Netherlands (sister city) (used to be with

Noordwijkerhout Noordwijkerhout () is a town and former municipality in the western part of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The town is currently part of the municipality of Noordwijk and lies in the bulb-growing region (the Duin- en Bollenstre ...

, which lost its municipal status in 2019 when it merged with Noordwijk)

Gallery

File:HiradoCastle3.jpg, Hirado Castle File:Map of the bay of Hirado.jpg,

Topographical map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historic ...

of the bay of Hirado in 1621 File:HiradoCastle2.jpg, View of Hirado bay from Hirado castle, 2006 File:HiradoOhashi.jpg, The Hirado Bridge connects the mainland city to the island. Built in 1977. File:East meets west in hirado.jpg, Komyo Temple (''foreground''), Zuiun Temple (''centre''), and St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church. File:Hirado Dutch Trading Post 01.jpg, Hirado Dutch Trading Post

Notes

References

* de Winter, Michiel. (2006)
"''VOC in Japan: Betrekkingen tussen Hollanders en Japanners in de Edo-periode, tussen 1602-1795''"
("VOC in Japan: Relations between the Dutch and Japanese in the Edo-period, between 1602-1795"). * Edo-Tokyo Museum exhibition catalog. (2000). ''A Very Unique Collection of Historical Significance: The Kapitan (the Dutch Chief) Collection from the Edo Period—The Dutch Fascination with Japan.'' Catalog of "400th Anniversary Exhibition Regarding Relations between Japan and the Netherlands", a joint-project of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, the City of Nagasaki, the National Museum of Ethnology, the National Natuurhistorisch Museum" and the National Herbarium of the Netherlands in Leiden, the Netherlands. Tokyo. * Satow, Ernest Mason, ed. (1900). ''The Voyage of Captain John Saris to Japan, 1613.'' London: Hakluyt Societ
..Link to digitized version from the collection of the University of California

External links

Hirado City official website

The Dutch Trading Post in Hirado

Hirado City Tourism Association
* {{Authority control Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture