Dutch Trading Post in Hirado

The background and development of the reconstruction

- The reconstruction of the warehouse was first proposed in the 1988 Preservation and Management Plan after more effort was put into the research of historical sources and excavations.

- From 1993 onwards, research was mainly based on historical documents in Dutch. At this stage the accounting books of the Dutch Trading Post in Hirado were discovered and were consequently translated into Japanese.

- From 1995 till 1998 the Dutch architects de Kat & Vis were asked to make a blueprint for reconstruction and a maquette based on the accounting books and Dutch historical documents.

- Through the excavations that were carried out between 1987 and 2001, the foundation of the walls, the front staircase etc, were found in addition to many materials such as roof tiles from which the exact location and the basic measurements could be deducted.

- In 1996 the Specialist Executive Committee for Reconstruction of the Dutch Trading Post was established, which includes historians, archeologists and architects, to study the remaining details. The Basic Development Plan Study Group was set up as well which led to the Plan for Reconstruction in March 1998. Later, in 2002, the Utilization Committee and the Display Items Research Committee were set up to respectively produce the Preservation, Maintenance, and Utilization Plan as well as the Basic Plan for Displays.

- In 2002 and 2003 studies were done on the reconstruction research and the translation of the accounting books by historical architects to raise the level of accuracy of the supporting documents on which the reconstruction plans were based. Dutch specialists were also involved in this process.

Studies for the reconstruction

The plans for reconstruction are based on studies of excavation details, written documents, old drawings and similar period buildings elsewhere. However the historical documents were very limited in their scope and therefore a long period of time was necessary to complete the final plans.
Many specialists, such as historical architects, architects and historians as well as Dutch specialist were involved in this process.

Primary resources related to the 1639 warehouse

Results of excavations:
This is the most important information for the reconstruction. The foundation stones of the pillars, the foundation of the stone walls and the central front staircase were all excavated. Building materials such as parts of the wall stones and tiles were unearthed.

Written documents:
Bookkeeping of the Dutch Trading Post - In the Dutch National Archives the bookkeeping books have been preserved and contain detailed information about imports of the used materials, such as the costs, the type, measurements and number of items and the amount of carpenters and plasterers that worked on the construction.

Diary of the head of the Dutch Trading Post - In the official logs that were kept by the head of the Dutch Trading Post, we can find comments about the looks of the warehouse and about the construction works. It also states the reason of destruction by the Japanese Shogunate shortly after completion.

Japanese documents - These documents describe the appearance and the scale of the warehouse as well as the reason for destruction. They tell us a lot about how the Japanese people of the time saw the warehouse.

Paintings and drawings:
There are a number of illustrations such as `de Logie op Firando` by Montanus and the `Map of Hirado in 1621` that remain today, but there are no detailed paintings.

Similar buildings:
Buildings from the same time period can be found in the Netherlands and Jakarta, Indonesia, and have been used as a reference for aspects such as the outer appearance of the building.