Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Sources: Japan

Outside knowledge of Japan was sparse in 1726, with foreign contact limited to the Portuguese and then the Dutch, and even that was closely regulated. The English had a trade mission briefly around 1600, from which a few sketchy accounts were included in Pvrchas - his Pilgrimes (see Adams and Cocks).

Engelbert Kaempfer, a Dutch physician, published a long treatise on Japan based on his visit there, not published in English until 1727, the year after Swift published the Travels. Researchers (see Gulliver's Travels and Japan) can show parallels between Kaempfer's book and Gulliver's account, and subsequently speculate whether Swift had advance access to the translation.

Japan also may have supplied Swift with material for other segments of the Travels, through Kaempfer or other sources. One I find particularly compelling is the "Literary Engine" described and illustrated in Part III, during the visit to the Academy of Lagado. Not only does it resemble the Japanese table of kana (a phonetic "alphabet") in general, but researchers (Gulliver's Travels And Japan, chapter III) have found a surprising correlation between many of Swift's characters and individual kana. Early reports of Japan's Ainu people as hairy subhumans may have furnished Swift with a source for the Yahoos and a Japanese fable about an island ruled by horses may have been one of the sources for the Houyhnhnms.

Speculation as to Swift's sources -- what he knew and what he used -- is not likely to ever rise above slim evidence and strong opinions among a handful of researchers. For the average reader the finepoints of this debate probably add nothing to the appreciation or enjoyment of the Travels. On the other hand, references to Japan, and its possible use as a model or source for Gulliver's "remote nations of the world," can serve as a reminder of the European world view of 250 years ago. In a time when you can buy sushi in Kansas and Kentucky Fried Chicken in Tokyo, it is useful to be reminded that once there were continents still to be discovered, the globe was yet a mystery, and 'remote nations' meant something.

Gulliver in Japan

Dussinger, John A.

"'Christian' vs. 'Hollander': Swift's Satire on the Dutch East Indies Traders," Notes and Queries, 13 (1966), p. 209-212.

Gulliver's Travels And Japan: A New Reading by Maurice Johnson, Kitagaki Muneharu, and Philip Williams. Kyoto : Amherst House, Doshisha University, 1977. Series: Moonlight series ; no. 4.

Sherbo, Arthur.

"Swift and Travel Literature," Modern Language Studies, ix (Fall 1979), p. 114-27.

Napier, Elizabeth R.

"Swift's 'Trampling upon the Crucifix' Parallel," Notes and Queries, 26(1979), p. 544-48.

Napier, Elizabeth R.

"Swift, Kaempfer, and Psalmanaazaar: Further Remarks on 'Trampling upon the Crucifix'," Notes and Queries, 28 (226) no. 3. (June 1981), p. 226.

Real, Hermann J.

Swift's 'Trampling upon the Crucifix' Once More," Notes and Queries, 30 (228) no. 6. (1983), p. 513-514.

Dussinger, John A.

"Gulliver in Japan: Another Possible Source," Notes and Queries, 39:237(Dec 1992), p. 464-7.

European Visitors to 1700

Adams, Will [Miura Anjin]
Adams, a pilot of a Dutch ship, became the first Englishman of record to visit Japan. Little is actually known of Adams's stay in Japan, but he appears to have come to some high status. He remained in Japan until his death. Adams's tale has been retold in several fictional accounts, including the novel and miniseries Shogun.

A Brief History of William Adams

Blaker, Richard, 1893-1940.
The needle-watcher. London : W. Heinemann, [1932].
fictional retelling of Adams's story

Dalton, William, 1821-1875.
Will Adams, the first Englishman in Japan. A romantic biography. By William Dalton. London, A.W. Bennett, 1861.

Rogers, Philip G.
The first Englishman in Japan; the story of Will Adams. Foreword by Edmund Blunden. London, Harvill Press [1956].

Scherer, James A. B. (James Augustin Brown), 1870-1944.
Pilot and Shogun; a story of old Japan. [Tokyo] The Hokuseido Press, 1935.

Tames, Richard.
Servant of the shogun : being the true story of William Adams, pilot and samurai, the first Englishman in Japan. New York : St. Martin's Press, 1987.

Veith, Ilza.
Englishman or Samurai? : the story of Will Adams. Lawrence, Kan. : Coronado Press, 1981.

William Adams, the Pilot-Major of Gillingham, the First Englishman who discovered Japan. Gillingham : Mackays, 1934.

Cocks, Richard, d. 1624.

Diary of Richard Cocks, 1615-1622 : diary kept by the head of the English factory in Japan / [edited by The Historiographical Institute, The University of Tokyo]. Tokyo : The Institute, 1978-1980.

Diary of Richard Cocks, cape-merchant in the English factory in Japan 1615-1622, with correspondence. ed. by Edward Maunde Thompson. London: printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1883.

Kaempfer, Engelbert (1651-1713)

The history of Japan, giving an account of the ancient and present state and government of that empire; of its temples, palaces, castles and other buildings; of its metals, minerals, trees, plants, animals, birds and fishes; of the chronology and succession of the emperors, ecclesiastical and secular; of the original descent, religions, customs, and manufactures of the natives, and of their trade and commerce with the Dutch and Chinese. Together with a description of the kingdom of Siam. Written in High-Dutch by Engelbertus Kampfer ... and translated from his original manuscript, never before printed, by J. G. Scheuchzer ... With the life of the author, and an introduction. London, The translator, 1727.

2 v. XLV pl. (part fold.; incl. maps, plans) 35 cm.


Engelbert Kaempfer Forum
History of the Empire of Japan trans. J.G. Scheuchzer, 1726.

Gulliver's Travels And Japan: A New Reading by Maurice Johnson, Kitagaki Muneharu, and Philip Williams. Kyoto : Amherst House, Doshisha University, 1977. Series: Moonlight series ; no. 4.

Japanese Kana Chart from the Netherlands information about and reproduction of Kaempfer's rendering of Japanese "alphabet," a possible source for Swift's "literary engine."

Polo, Marco, 1254-1323?

Account of Japan and Java: description of the island of Chipangu and the Great Kaan's despatch of a host agains it. 1298

Rodrigues, Joao, 1558-1633.

This island of Japon: Joao Rodrigues' account of 16th-century Japan. Translated and edited by Michael Cooper. Tokyo, New York; Kodansha International [1973].

Cooper, Michael, 1930-
Rodrigues the interpreter; an early Jesuit in Japan and China. [1st ed.] New York, Weatherhill [1974]

Other Sources