十七世紀中期，東亞海域上大家最耳熟能詳的人物莫過於是鄭成功。鄭成功不僅在東亞海域上佔有一席之地，在台灣也被多數人認為是「開臺聖王」。對於他種種的相關事蹟各有不同的記載與描述，有人認為鄭成功為初到臺灣的首位漢人。然而在鄭成功之前臺灣沒有漢人到來，對於此點筆者對其保留懷疑的態度。臺灣地處要塞，與中國的距離又近，在當時海上貿易頗為興盛的時代，此說較不太可能。 關於鄭成功與其父鄭芝龍的研究著述頗豐，但對於鄭芝龍以前的東亞海上勢力卻是較少著墨，李旦與顏思齊二人即是一例。李旦與顏思齊在十七世紀初期的東亞海域上佔有一席之地，然而在現今學界對於二人的看法不一，有學者主張李旦與顏思齊因其事業版圖及遭遇等等相似，因此認為兩人為同一人；但也有學者主張兩人從籍貫到死亡地點時間等等均不相同；因此主張李旦與顏思齊為不同人。對於此兩種截然不同之說法，筆者對此產生了好奇。是由於不同史料所導致不同的說法，還是相同的史料，卻佐以不同的說法，產生相反的結果，這些都是筆者的疑問。 因此本文蒐集了至今學者對於李旦及顏思齊的看法及理由為何，重新審慎檢視，並輔以不少的日文史料及西文史料，也羅列了不少臺灣在地傳說，希望從各方面的資料中，對於二人間的爭議，能有一個較為全面的認識與再探討。

From 1613 to 1623, the English East India Company (EIC) maintained a trading post at Hirado, Japan. This trading post was one of the first that the EIC established, and because England was far from the empire it would one day become, Company members had to adjust to local customs and respect the laws of Japan in order to conduct business there. Among the many adaptations the EIC factors underwent, frequent visits to the Tokugawa shogun’s court were required of the EIC. This thesis will investigate the EIC’s journeys to the shogun’s court as well as its time at court to study the way in which the English interacted with the Japanese and conformed to Japanese society. This thesis will also discuss practices of gift giving in which the English participated. This study uses the diary of Richard Cocks, the head of the Hirado trading post, to focus on the period between 1615 and 1622. Alison Games’s concept of “cosmopolitanism” and Sanjay Subrahmanyam’s concept of “connected histories” frame this study to demonstrate how England’s and the EIC’s relatively weak status at the beginning of the seventeenth century required EIC members to assimilate into Japanese society. The EIC’s experiences while traveling through Japan, visiting the shogun’s court, and exchanging gifts emphasized the power difference between the EIC and the Tokugawa shogunate and other high-ranking Japanese. The policies the shogunate enforced to strengthen its authority and prevent rebellions also required the EIC to demonstrate their subservience to the shogun’s power, which affected the Company’s ability to trade. Since the English did not hold the authority to make demands of the shogun, they were forced to abide by the laws and customs of the land, which only further served to emphasize their subordinate position to the shogunate.