Niigata Research Trip June 2022 Part 1

This June (2022) I had the pleasure of visiting Niigata on a research trip of about 24 hours (I spent the next day in Yokohama).

The main purpose of the visit was to go through local archives to find materials related to the history of Niigata during the treaty port era including both primary sources and the work of local historians which is often published in local history journals which are only available in local libraries/museums. I found some of the former and plenty of the later at both the "Honpoto" Central Library ほんぽーと 新潟市立中央図書館 and the Niigata City History Museum's 新潟市歴史博物館みなとぴあ reference room. I also tried to look into the connections of Niigata merchants with Hakodate and Ezochi (Hokkaido and Karafuto) in general. There was plenty of materials on these topics and I managed to get copies of a lot of the secondary materials.

 Niigata City History Museum's 新潟市歴史博物館みなとぴあ 

Verdict: interesting building and museum, reference room well stocked and staff very helpful allowing me to get on with my task and they even put me in touch with a leading historian of Niigata as a treaty port. Thanks very much!

"Honpoto" Central Library ほんぽーと 新潟市立中央図書館

Verdict: well stocked collection on local history, endless paperwork and unhelpful staff when it comes to photocopying materials. They took about 30 minutes to check my photocopying of about 20 pages.

This was my first time in Niigata and the visit completes my "bucket list" task of visiting all former Japanese treaty ports. In truth Niigata had a very limited role as a treaty port, opened in Nov. 1868 it never had a foreign settlement as such and only a few foreign merchants (interestingly mostly German) resided there. The port infrastructure and natural features made it difficult for larger western-style ships to access the port. Trade was essentially limited to rice exports in years of famine in China but that is not to say Niigata was not an active port in domestic trade. I suspect the resident foreign merchants were also active in this domestic trade.

Besides the archival work I also had a chance before opening hours and during the reference
rooms lunch hour to see how the treaty port era was being incorporated (some of it quite recently it seems) in the city's heritage and tourist sites.

Former Niigata Customs Building  旧新潟税関庁舎 built in 1869 and thus probably the oldest surviving custom house in Japan.

Shoraku-ji  勝楽寺 which once housed the British consulate in Niigata

A monument erected in 2019 to mark the location of the former German consulate. 

The block the consulate was located on is now, as is so much these days, a car park (see below).

Overall this was an enjoyable (if lightning) visit and I may have to return at some point. I plan to post a little more on it later.