Le Palais Imperial de Iedo [Imperial Palace Tokio]

Very decorative view of the Imperial Palace at Tokio.
From : Montanus A., Ambassades Mémorables De La Compagnie Des Indes Orientales Des Provinces Unies Vers Les Empereurs Du Japon. Amsterdam: Jacob De Meurs, 1680.
This work is a rich compilation of descriptions of emissaries of the Dutch East India Company and their encounters with natives and Portuguese, devoted strictly to Japan, its land and its people. The fine large plates show spectacular views of the cities of Edo (Tokyo), Osaka, Kyoto and the Dutch trading settlement Deshima. This detailed, highly illustrated monumental work on Japan was compiled by the Dutch minister Arnold Montanus. He based his work on journals from the Dutch East India Company Embassy of 1649 which had pretended to be "an official embassy from the Dutch government rather than from the VOC"

The book describes a.o. two VOC missions of. Andr. Frisius to the Emperor of Japan in 1649 and 1661. Arnoldus Montanus (1625-1683) was a Dutch missionary and editor of the present book. The work describes 'Japanese history... from the rise of Oda Nobunaga to the early years of the Tokugawa bakufu as seen through the eyes of European visitors to the country, and provide a glimpse of the manners and customs of the various regions... Material is drawn from sources ranging from records of the Dutch East India Company to the writing of Spanish and Portuguese missionaries' (Nipponalia, VIII).
From 1641 the Dutch were the only foreigners allowed to trade with Japan, although subject to rigid restrictions outside the VOC outpost on Dejima island.
They had to renew permission to trade with Japan annually, for which they sent a delegation from Dejima to the Shogun in Yedo. Montanus based the present work on the unpublished reports of these journeys, from the VOC archives. Montanus also digresses onto the subjects of Japanese religion, history and natural history.

Reference: Cordier. Bibl. Japonica, p. 385; Landwehr (VOC), 525.