 During this period of seclusion, Titsingh is believed to have been the first Freemason in Japan.In this highly controlled context, the traders became the sole official conduit for trade and for scientific-cultural exchanges between Europe and Japan.The VOC "Opperhoofd" was accorded the status of a tributary of the "shōgun"; Titsingh twice had to pay an obligatory annual visit of homage to the "shōgun" in Edo.