Perry In Japan

What Did They Think Behind the Gears? [Scroll 6]

Yamamura Hitoshi, The University of Tokyo (Spring 2009)

[The gears]

This picture depicts that American visitors showed a couple of big gears to Japanese people. These gears were used in steam engines. At the time, some 50 years had already passed since steam engines were invented and used practically in America and England. Moreover, it was possible that the trading ships from the Netherlands had brought some kind of steam-powered equipment to Japan. If Japanese had been interested in new technologies, they could have been introduced this invention. However, this picture shows that Japanese were not interested in the gears and were not even astonished at the new technology. The reason is that there was political tendency in Japan at the time that did not welcome new technologies.

Judging from the clothes they are wearing, all of the Japanese men in this picture are government officials. Two Japanese men on the left side of the gears are not looking at gears, seven Japanese on the right side have serious look, and especially a man with yellow hat looks somehow angry. Only three men behind the gears seem to be talking about them. In other words, few Japanese men seem to look at or to pay attention to the gears. There are two possible reasons for their seeming lack of interest.

First, Japanese officers did not tend to trust foreigners quickly. There was international reason. Westerners could not bring their new technologies freely because the Japanese government strongly regulated western ships from entering into ports. Trading ships from foreign countries were permitted to enter only into Uraga port. In particular, the government did not want Christian missionaries to propagate Christianity to Japanese people and to bring Christian items mixed with other trade goods. Japanese commoners did not think all Christians suspicious and they were friendly to Europeans before the Edo era. But in early Edo period, the government decided they were dangerous people who looked down on Japanese traditional religion and Buddhism. Moreover, some European merchants traded a lot of goods, especially raw silk, without considering consequences. It led the prices to suddenly rise. In addition, it is said that some merchants abducted women and children as slaves. They were sold mainly to South America, which were European colonies. There were many reasons for regulation of entry of the ships. However, the decisive reason was that certain government officers got information from a merchant that Christianization was a way of colonization. According to this information, the Europeans had some local people of high standing to become Christians, and they were directed to rise in rebellion against the nation (Iwao, 2005). These acts and the ideas made Japanese government angry and stereotype that all Europeans propagating Christian religion were dangerous elements for Japan. Christian religion itself is not technology, but many new European items were checked in detail and everything that was illegal was confiscated. This is why government prevented most of them from entering Japan through the period.

If they had rejected only Christianity, new technologies which did were not related to Christianity should have been introduced in Japan or at least interested the Japanese. But these officers in the picture do not seem to be interested in the gears. There is the other strong reason why they were so.

There was a domestic reason for lack of in new technologies and invention. In the Edo period, Japanese people could not invent or use new things freely because of a law called "Shinnki-Gohatto," which prevented them from inventing new commercial ideas and technologies. The law restrained luxury items because the purpose was forcing people not to live too luxuriously. The law was a part of official notices that directed them to live frugally in preparation for famines which often hit common people's lives, and officers who worked in local government called Han not to buy too many luxury items because of their tight financial situations. Of course, though the law prevented people from inventing, it is true that Japanese people invented many things. For example, Hiraga Gennai invented a hand-operated electric generator, and since his inventions were so advanced but not practical, his inventions got mixed reviews. But many of such inventions were not for sale but for hobbies, and the government did not permit them to sell to others, especially luxury things such as clothes, sweets, mechanical dolls. The exception to the law was local specialties which were important for the local governments. Therefore, even if Western technologies were imported, they could not spread.

Therefore, because of the domestic and international reasons, western technologies often seemed to be suspicious for Japanese government officers. The event in this picture was not an exception. These Japanese officers had stereotypes that Western visitors would be dangerous and that new technologies were illegal. Since these officers could not judge American visitors' purpose immediately, they did not think the gears as an offer of friendship.

References

Douryokusen no Rekishi [history of powerboats] (2009/07/11).
Oromorufu no Kouchu Nisshi [Oromorufu's log of a space voyage] (2009/07/11).
"Mibun Souou" ni Kitei Sareta Shisso na Seikatsu [the plane lives directed as "suitable to their means"] (2009/07/11).