Research

The German trading company L. Kniffler & Co. was founded in Nagasaki in 1859. It was the largest German trading house in Japan in the 19th century and one of the first Euro-American trading houses to settle in Japan after the isolation policy was abondoned. The business correspondence of L. Kniffler & Co. comprises 156 letters in German, English, French and Dutch, which various business partners in Asia and Europe sent to L. Kniffler & Co. between 1859 and 1876. The letters have been made searchable by keywords such as sender, description of goods, company names, places etc. in order to enable targeted academic work with the sources.