Dutch Slope

Art & Architecture Beautiful Scenery

Dutch Slope, or Hollander Slope, in Higashiyamate-cho of Nagasaki City is a stone-paved hill lined by a number of Western-style buildings. The structures include Higashi Yamate Kou No. 13 Hall, which was used as residence building during the mid-Meiji period and as the French consulate from the early to mid-Showa period; Higashi Yamate No. 12 Hall, which was a consulate and missionary residence and has been labeled a National Important Cultural Property; Japan's first all-girls school, Kwassui Gakuin; and the Seven Higashi-Yamate Western-style Houses, which were constructed during the mid-Meiji period.
It's said that the origin of the name Dutch Slope, also sometimes referred to as Hollander Slope, is because the people of Nagasaki once referred to any and all non-Asians as Dutchmen or Hollanders. This is likely because Dejima was the only window for foreign trade during the Edo period when Japan's borders where closed, leading a large number of Dutch people to settle there. The end of the Edo period saw the reopening of Japan's borders, at which time people from many different countries came to the port in Nagasaki, and a foreign settlement was established. However, non-Asians were still referred to as Dutchmen, and the hills in the foreign settlement were called "the slopes the Dutchmen use," eventually shorted to "Dutch Slope." The present-day Dutch Slope refers only to the hill from Kwassui Gakuin to Higashi Yamate No. 12 Hall and the hill in front of Jokoin.

Photograph provided by Nagasaki Prefecture Convention and Tourism Association

Spot Name
Dutch Slope
Postal Code
〒850--0911
Address
Higashiyamatemachi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
Telephone Number
095-822-8888
Keywords
Art & Architecture,Beautiful Scenery