Diplomatic Protocol of the Tokugawa Shogunate: With a Focus on Continuity from Early Modern Inter-Asiatic Exchages to late Edo Western Diplomacy

本项目旨在阐明德川幕府官员在幕府接待西方外交官时是如何准备礼仪礼仪的。我查阅了日本和国外的第一手资料，并参考了现有的关于武士阶级的各种仪式的研究，以及当时不同的文化元素，如烹饪和服装，这些都是正式仪式的组成部分。从最初的德川幕府接待韩国使节的经历出发，逐步形成的1857 ~ 1867年的外交礼令的全貌已经掌握。”尽管这十年的外交礼仪在明治政府的外交实践西化之前发挥了重要作用，但在学术研究中，它在很大程度上被忽视了。这个项目的结果将鼓励重新考虑更广泛的日本外交的连续性/非连续性。

This project aimed at elucidating how the Tokugawa shogunate officials prepared the ceremonial protocol for the shogun to receive Western diplomats in the bakumatsu period. I looked into Japanese and foreign primary sources, and also referred to the existing studies on various rites of the samurai class as well as on different cultural elements of the time, such as cuisine and clothes, of which an official ceremony was composed.I have reached to grasp the overall picture of the diplomatic protocol, valid between 1857 and 1867, which was developed step by step, in the beginning based on the Tokugawa shogunate's experiences of receiving Korean envoys. The diplomatic protocol of this decade had largely been overlooked in the academic studies, in spite of its importance as functioned prior to the Westernisation of diplomatic practices under the Meiji government. The results of this project would encourage reconsideration of continuity/discontinuity of broader Japanese diplomacy.