Mathew Perry and the Perry Expedition
Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794-1858) was a distinguished Naval officer known for his strict discipline and courage. In 1852 Congress and the American President, Millard Filmore, appointed Perry to lead the expedition to Japan to open diplomatic and trade relations with Japan. The Perry Expedition, as it came to be known, was to have three purposes: to ensure good treatment of American castaways in Japan; to secure the opening of one or more ports for supplies and fuel for American ships; and, third, to open one or more ports for trade. Perry was also instructed to gather information on Japan and to survey Japanese coastal waters.

Perry quickly realized that this would be a historic mission. He studied as much as possible about Japan. He also gathered people to join him on his mission. He asked recently arrived German painter William Heine to become the expedition's official artist. Interested in the new and experimental field of photography, he convinced Eliphalet M. Brown, an able young daguerreotypist, to join the expedition as its official photographer. The State Department provided him with the agricultural specialist and botanist, Dr. James Morrow. Convinced that he needed an Asia expert, he hired the China scholar, S. Wells Williams, who had been to Japan with the Morrison in 1837, as Japanese interpreter.

After assembling his staff and ships, Perry made his way to Japan by way of China and the Ryukyu islands, stopping off in Okinawa, on the way. Perry brought four ships into Edo Bay and anchored them off Uraga on July 8, 1853. Unlike his predecessor Biddle [click to section of text above titled A], Perry refused to allow his vessels to be surrounded by Japanese boats. He also refused to negotiate with anyone who was not of the highest rank. After presenting his credentials and the letter from the American President with great pomp and ceremony, Perry left Japan promising to return in a year for Japan's answer.

Perry returned to Japan in February of 1854 for Japan's official answer. This time he brought with him ten vessels: three steam ships, four sloops, and three supply ships. This was a quarter of the U.S. Navy of this time. Perry's "black ships" with their modern cannon made it quite clear to the Japanese that resistance was no longer possible. The Japanese knew that the city of Edo was dependent on coastal shipping for its daily food supplies and that the American fleet could stop the flow of goods, thereby creating panic in Edo, the Shogunal capital. Perry was highly skillful as a diplomat and succeeded in negotiating the treaty of "Friendship and Amity" between the U.S. and Japan, also called the Kanagawa Treaty. By signing the Kanagawa Treaty, the Japanese agreed to: 1) open the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American ships; 2) provide supplies to these vessels; 3) treat shipwrecked sailors well in Japan, and 4) establish an American consulate in Shimoda and exchange consular officials between the United States and Japan. This treaty was signed with great ceremony on March 31, 1854.

After the official negotiations were completed there was much celebration. The Americans presented the Japanese with a variety of gifts that included a miniature steam locomotive, a telegraph apparatus with lines, modern fire-fighting equipment, various agricultural tools, arms (including Colt six shooters), and many books about the United States. As the banquets aboard Perry's flagship showed, the Japanese needed no lessons in merriment. Both Americans and Japanese liked to dance and drink. The Japanese responded with entertainment and gifts of their own. Among the entertainment they provided for the Americans was a Sumo wrestling match. To this the Americans countered with a "minstrel show."

When all the celebrating was finished and Perry's second in command, Captain Henry Adams, speeded home with the signed treaty, Perry took the remainder of his squadron to Shimoda to survey the harbor, study its shore, and record the site where the future American consulate would be located in Japan. It was during this phase of the expedition that the Japanese artist made the Black Ship Scroll paintings that follow. Unfortunately we do not know who that artist was. There are at least two copies, or versions, of these paintings. There may have been more, for pictures of Westerners soon became very popular. These paintings were passed from town to town in Japan as curiosity about the American visit and the West quickly spread.

The Black Ship Scroll paintings show a true people to people exchange that took place when Perry was in Shimoda in 1854. This direct and personal contact was quite different from the official pomp and ceremony of the treaty negotiations. In these scenes we encounter everyday people examining each other with good will and humor. These paintings constitute a charming chapter in the first American encounter with Japan. They express the curiosity and wonder of two societies getting to know each other better. This mutual curiosity continues to this day. I invite you to join me on a tour of the Black Ships Scrolls.

Japan Before Perry's Arrival

Why the Perry Expedition Was Sent