John Saris

Who was John Saris?

John Saris was the captain of the first English voyage to Japan, in 1613, on board the Clove. As chief factor of the British East India Company's trading post in Java, Saris' mission was primarily one of seeking trade. Saris had started his career under command Henry Middleton on the company's second voyage to Asia.

Note that while the more famous William Adams was the first Englishman in Japan, William Adams arrived in the country in April 1600, not on an English ship, but as the navigator of the Dutch ship Liefde. Saris received much aid from Adams, who had become the shogun's advisor on foreign affairs. As result, Saris was able to meet with the retired shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and his son, the Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada. The shogun promised Saris extensive trade benefits for the English, and suggested, along with Adams, the port of Uraga as a strategic point of access to Edo Bay. But Saris decided to place the English trade factory far from the Shogun's capital in Hirado, in Kyūshū, Japan's southernmost island.

At the end of 1613, Saris left Japan for England, never to return to the Far East.