bert feringa                                         painter

 In 1863 the Tokugawa government sent a delegation students to the Netherlands (Leiden). The students were (samurai) navy officers (including 2 doctors), petty officers and some craftsmen. The  government had placed an order for the construction of a war vessel in the Netherlands and the mission of the delegation was to monitor the construction of the war vessel Kayo Maru and  to acquire Western knowledge on various fields. The leader of the delegation was Uchida Tsunejiro ( Masao) (see right).When they arrived in Leiden  in samurai dress- and haircut  the Japanese attracted much attention. The students had a reasonable command of the Dutch language and  spent almost 3 years in Holland.  Uchida Tsunejiro and his officers lived in the The Hague. The doctors went to Amsterdam to study  medicine. The technicians stayed in Leiden. Despite initial opposition of the delegationleader Uchida, after some time the Japanese  decided to adapt themselves to Western customs with regard to clothes and haircut. During his stay in Holland Uchida collected Dutch oil- and waterpaintings.  In 1866  the  Kaiyo Maru sailed with a Dutch captain and crew to Japan. Uchida and his men embarked as passengers on board of  the warvessel. So it is very likely  that the collection of Dutch paintings travelled with the Kaiyo Maru to Japan.