長崎における阿蘭陀通詞に関する考察

―地役人としての立ち位置とその評価をめぐって―

抄録

This paper discusses issues regarding the position and their contribution of Dutch-Japanese interpreters based in Nagasaki during the Edo period. The position interpreters held under the feudal system was different from the position of modern interpreters: Interpreters were, in essence, town officials, reporting to the Nagasaki magistrate’s office. Their inquisitive minds and intellectual curiosity played a role in the rise of Western learning in Japan. However, there are many criticisms of the interpreters in the existing literature indicating that the contributions they made are relatively small. Because ethics, professional missions among interpreters at the time were different from today, it is not appropriate to judge their words and deeds based on today’s values. That said, what happens when individuals serving as interpreters were made into tools of national politics? Studying the practices of interpreters at the time is meaningful in terms of reconsidering the practices of today’s interpreters.