Nagasaki bugyō (長崎奉行) were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan.
[1] Conventional interpretations have construed these Japanese titles as "commissioner", "overseer" or "governor".
This bakufu title identifies an official responsible for administration of the port of Nagasaki, including the Chinese and Dutch settlements located there.
[2] The numbers of men holding the title concurrently would vary during the years of this period.
[1] Other duties of the Nagasaki bugyō included monitoring news and scientific developments in the West as information became available in the course of trade.
A bird's-eye view of Nagasaki harbor as published in the
Illustrated London News
(March 23, 1853). In the center – the fan-shape of the Dutch traders' Dejima island compound and the Chinese compound is shown just to the left, separated from each other by narrow stretch of water.
Bakufu
supervision of these foreigners was under the control of the Nagasaki
bugyō
.
The Chinese traders at Nagasaki were confined to a walled compound (
Tōjin yashiki
) which was located in the same vicinity as Dejima island; and the activities of the Chinese, though less strictly controlled than the Dutch, were closely monitored by the Nagasaki
bugyō
.
Edo-era boundaries of
Dejima
island (outlined in red) within the modern city of Nagasaki. What happened on this tiny piece of land became the central focus of attention for each of the serial Nagasaki
bugyō
. The post-
Pacific War
city enveloped and surrounded the former island; and a portion of the former island was demolished to widen the riverside transportation artery at the top of the picture. This photograph is taken from a sign posted at Dejima in 2004, showing the reconstruction work as Dutch-era buildings were in the process of being recreated one-by-one based upon old pictures and models. This revival of interest in Dejima re-animates the need to know more about the Nagasaki administrators -- their work, their problems, their lives.
