page_title: France–Japan relations (19th century)
section_title: Contacts with mainland Japan (1858)
hierarchical_section_title: France–Japan relations (19th century) / First modern contacts (1844–1864) / Contacts with mainland Japan (1858)
caption_attribution_description: Léon Dury And Students in Nagasaki (1860s)
context_page_description: The development of France-Japan relations in the 19th century coincided with Japan's opening to the Western world, following two centuries of seclusion under the "Sakoku" system and France's expansionist policy in Asia. The two countries became very important partners from the second half of the 19th century in the military, economic, legal and artistic fields. The Bakufu modernized its army through the assistance of French military missions, and Japan later relied on France for several aspects of its modernization, particularly the development of a shipbuilding industry during the early years of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the development of a Legal code. France also derived part of its modern artistic inspiration from Japanese art, essentially through Japonism and its influence on Impressionism, and almost completely relied on Japan for its prosperous silk industry
context_section_description: During the 19th century, numerous attempts by Western countries were made (other than by the Dutch, who already had a trade post in Dejima) to open trade and diplomatic relations with Japan. France made such an attempt in 1846 with the visit of Admiral Cécille to Nagasaki, but he was denied landing.
  A Frenchman by the name of Charles Delprat is known to have lived in Nagasaki since about 1853, as a licensee to the Dutch trade. He was able to advise the initial French diplomatic efforts by Baron Gros in Japan. He strongly recommended against Catholic prozelitism and was influential in suppressing such intentions among French diplomats. He also presented a picture of Japan as a country which had little to learn from the West: "In studying closely the customs, the institutions, the laws of the Japanese, one concludes by asking oneself if their civilization, entirely appropriate to their country, has anything to envy in ours, or that of the United States."
  The formal opening of diplomatic relations with Japan however started with the American Commodore Perry in 1852–1854, when Perry threatened to bomb Edo or blockade the country. He obtained the signature of the Convention of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854. Soon, the 1858 Chinese defeat in the Anglo-French expedition to China further gave a concrete example of Western strength to Japanese leadership.
  In 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan was signed in Edo on October 9, 1858, by Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros, the commander of the French expedition in China, opening diplomatic relations between the two countries. He was assisted by Charles de Chassiron and Alfred de Moges. In 1859, Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt arrived and became the first French representative in Japan. A French Consulate was opened that year at the Temple of Saikai-ji, in Mita, Edo, at the same time as an American Consulate was established at the Temple of Zenpuku-ji, and a British Consulate at the Temple of Tōzen-ji.
  The first trilingual Japanese dictionary incorporating French was written in 1854 by Murakami Eishun, and the first large Franco-Japanese dictionary was published in 1864. The French language was taught by Mermet de Cachon in Hakodate in 1859, or by Léon Dury in Nagasaki between 1863 and 1873. Léon Dury, who was also French Consul in Nagasaki, taught to about 50 students every year, among whom were future politicians such as Inoue Kowashi or Saionji Kinmochi.
caption: Léon Dury with his students in Nagasaki (1860s).[15]
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