• About
• Images
• Writings
• People
• Research & Teaching

Trading Umbrellas [Scroll 3]

Benjamin Boas, Brown '05

The third panel depicted American soldiers meeting the Japanese in probably one of the first non-official interactions between Japanese and Americans, samurai and soldiers enjoyably interacted with each other, despite the fact that most Japanese people had never seen a Caucasian. The Americans and Japanese in the foreground examined each others' umbrellas and clothing while a Japanese in the lower right gives an American a flower. The Americans, ostensibly, were less reserved than the Japanese, as there were American soldiers joking around in the building in the center of the scroll and one American even playfully threatened a samurai with his gun as he covers his laughter with his other hand.

This sociability of the two peoples led to many exchanges of gifts both official and not. The soldier to the right of the center looked like he is trading his umbrella for a Japanese parasol. Although there was only one official instance in which a parasol was officially given to Perry1, this type of barter was a common part of Japanese-American interactions according to Heine, the ships artist and Statler, who described Perry's second voyage, both of who list several examples of gift exchanges, but no actual encounters with Japanese currency. Heine wrote that he saw "...not one Japanese coin.", this type of barter was a common part of Japanese-American interactions according to Heine, the ships artist and Statler, who described Perry's second voyage, both of who list several examples of gift exchanges, but no actual encounters with Japanese currency. Heine wrote that he saw "...not one Japanese coin."2 While Statler remarked that there was a reluctance to sell things to Americans at any price, and American money was only valued at about a third of its true value.3

This image depicted the interaction between the Japanese and Americans as amicable. Although comparatively, when Perry sailed to Shimoda, Americans reported that Japanese soldiers followed the Americans wherever they went, and that the town was deserted since authorities ordered the people to flee.4 Perhaps in Edo, there was not enough time to issue such an order since the scene appeared friendly and lively. Possibly the natives' curiosity which accumulated after so many years of isolation, was simply overcame any official order. The blue of the American soldiers' uniforms made them stand out from the drab colors of the rest of the scroll, reflecting the fascination of the artist and other Japanese pictured with the Americans.

There are no women depicted in this (or any) scroll image, which may have been a decision of the Japanese artist, but could also be because the women were afraid of the Americans or because Japanese men prevented them from showing themselves. Several sailors on the ship expressed frustration at not being able to meet any pretty Japanese girls.

 

References

1. Chang-Su Houchins, Artifacts of Diplomacy, (Washington: Smithsonian Press, 1995), 84.
2. William Heine, With Press to Japan trans. and ed. Frederic Trautmann (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990), 105.
3. Oliver Satler, The Black Ship Scroll: An Account of the Perry expedition at Shimoda in 1854 and the Lively Beginnings of People-to-People Relations between Japan & American Based on Contemporary Records, (Tokyo : Weatherhill, c1963), 19.
4. Ibid., 19.