Black Ships - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Black Ships was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.

In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa

Goa

Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...

to Nagasaki

Nagasaki

is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...

. The large carrack

Carrack

A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese , and later by the Spanish, to explore and...

s engaged in this trade had the hull painted black with pitch

Pitch (resin)

Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...

, and the term came to represent all western vessels. In 1639, after suppressing a rebellion blamed on the Christian influence, the ruling Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

retreated into an isolationist policy, the Sakoku

Sakoku

was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...

. During this “locked state,” contact with Japan by Westerners was restricted to Dejima

Dejima

was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...

island at Nagasaki

Nagasaki

.

In 1844, William II of the Netherlands

William II of the Netherlands

William II was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg from 7 October 1840 until his death in 1849.- Early life and education :...

urged Japan to open, but was rejected. On July 8, 1853, the U.S. Navy with four warships steamed into the bay at Edo, requesting that Japan open to trade with the West. Their arrival marked the reopening of the country after more than two hundred years of self-imposed isolation.

In particular, Kurofune refers to Mississippi

USS Mississippi (1841)

USS Mississippi, a paddle frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to bear that name. She was named for the Mississippi River. Her sister ship was . Her keel was laid down by the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1839; built under the personal supervision of Commodore Matthew Perry. She was...

, Plymouth

USS Plymouth (1844)

USS Plymouth was a sloop-of-war constructed and commissioned just prior to the Mexican-American War. She was heavily gunned, and traveled to Japan as part of Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s effort to force Japan to open her ports to international trade...

, Saratoga

USS Saratoga (1842)

USS Saratoga, a sloop-of-war, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Battle of Saratoga of the American Revolutionary War. Her keel was laid down in the summer of 1841 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard...

, and Susquehanna

USS Susquehanna (1847)

USS Susquehanna, a sidewheel steam frigate, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for a river which rises in Lake Otsego in central New York and flows across Pennsylvania and the northeast corner of Maryland to empty into the Chesapeake Bay.Her keel was laid down by the New York...

, that arrived on July 14, 1853 at Uraga

Uraga

is a subdivision of the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the south eastern side of the Miura Peninsula, at the northern end of the Uraga Channel, at the entrance of Tokyo Bay.-History:...

Harbor (part of present-day Yokosuka

Yokosuka, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 419,067 and a population density of 4,160 people per km². It covered an area of 100.62 km²...

) in Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

under the command of United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Commodore

Commodore (USN)

Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard and a current honorary title in the U.S. Navy with an intricate history. Because the U.S. Congress was originally unwilling to authorize more than four ranks until 1862, considerable importance...

Matthew Perry. Black refers to the black color of the older sailing vessels, and the black smoke from the coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

-fired power plants of the American ships. In this sense, the Kurofune became a symbol of the ending of isolation.

First kurofune ships: nau do trato

In 1543 Portuguese traders arrived in Japan initiating the first contacts with the West. Soon they established a trade route linking their headquarters in Goa

Goa

, via Malacca

Malacca

Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...

to Nagasaki

Nagasaki

. Large carracks engaged in the flourishing "Nanban trade

Nanban trade

The or the in Japanese history extends from the arrival of the first Europeans to Japan in 1543, to their near-total exclusion from the archipelago in 1614, under the promulgation of the "Sakoku" Seclusion Edicts.- Etymology :...

", introducing modern firearms to Japan, arquebuses, a major innovation of the Sengoku period

Sengoku period

The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...

a time of intense internal warfare, and also refined sugar, optics and other inventions. Later, they engaged in triangular trade

Triangular trade

Triangular trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come...

, exchanging silver from Japan with silk from China via Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

.

Large carrack

Carrack

s of 1200 to 1600 tons - named nau

Nau

Nau or NAU may refer to:*Nau , an outdoor apparel company*Northern Arizona University*North American Union*National American University*National Aviation University *Lepidium oleraceum, a plant endemic to New Zealand...

do trato, silver naus, and China's naus by the Portuguese - engaged in this trade had the hull painted black with pitch

Pitch

Pitch may refer to:* Pitch , a viscous substance produced by plants or formed from petroleum* Pitch * sales pitch** elevator pitch, a very short sales pitch such as that made during an elevator ride* Pitch accent-Music and acoustics:...

, and the term came to name all western vessels. The name was inscribed in the Nippo Jisho

Nippo Jisho

The Nippo Jisho or Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam was a Japanese to Portuguese dictionary published in Nagasaki, Japan in 1603. It contains entries for 32,293 Japanese words in Portuguese. Only four copies of the original 1603 edition exist...

, the first western Japanese dictionary compiled in 1603.

In 1549 missionary Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...

started a Jesuit mission in Japan. Christianity spread, mingled with the new trade, making some 300,000 converts among peasants and some daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

(warlords). In 1637 the Shimabara Rebellion

Shimabara Rebellion

The was an uprising largely involving Japanese peasants, most of them Catholic Christians, in 1637–1638 during the Edo period.It was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule...

blamed on the Christian influence was suppressed. Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries faced progressively tighter restrictions, and were confined to the island of Dejima

Dejima

before being expelled in 1639.

The Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

retreated back into a policy of isolationism

Isolationism

Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...

, the Sakoku

Sakoku

(鎖国?, "locked country") forbidding contact with most outside countries. Only a limited-scale trade and diplomatic relations with China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, the Ryukyu Islands

Ryukyu Kingdom

The Ryūkyū Kingdom was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan...

and the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

was maintained. The Sakoku

Sakoku

policy remained in effect until 1853 with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and the opening of Japan.

Gunboat diplomacy

Commodore Perry's superior military force was a factor in negotiating a treaty allowing American trade

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

with Japan, thus effectively ending the period of more than 200 years in which trading with Japan had been permitted to the Dutch

Netherlands

and Chinese

China

exclusively.

The following year, at the Convention of Kanagawa

Convention of Kanagawa

On March 31, 1854, the or was concluded between Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy and the Tokugawa shogunate.-Treaty of Peace and Amity :...

, Perry returned with eight ships and was presented by the shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

's officials with the "Treaty of Peace and Amity", establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States. Within five years, Japan had signed similar treaties with other western countries

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858.

The surprise and confusion these ships inspired are described in this famous kyoka (a humorous poem similar to the 5-line waka

Waka (poetry)

Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

泰平の	Taihei no
眠りを覚ます	Nemuri o samasu
上喜撰	Jōkisen
たった四杯で	Tatta shihai de
夜も眠れず	Yoru mo nemurezu

This poem is a complex set of pun

Pun

The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...

s (in Japanese, kakekotoba
Kakekotoba
A or pivot word is a rhetorical device used in the Japanese poetic form waka. This trope uses the phonetic reading of a grouping of kanji to suggest several interpretations: first on the literal level , then on subsidiary homophonic levels...

or "pivot words"). Taihei (泰平) means "tranquil"; Jōkisen (上喜撰) is the name of a costly brand of green tea

Green tea

Green tea is made solely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures throughout Asia. It has recently become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally...

containing large amounts of caffeine

Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...

; and shihai (四杯) means "four cups", so a literal translation of the poem is:

Awoken from sleep

of a peaceful quiet world

by Jokisen tea;

with only four cups of it

one can't sleep even at night.

However, there is an alternate translation, based on the pivot words. Taihei can refer to the "Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

" (太平); jōkisen also means "steam-powered ships" (蒸気船); and shihai also means "four vessels". The poem, therefore, has a hidden meaning:

The steam-powered ships

break the halcyon slumber

of the Pacific;

a mere four boats are enough

to make us lose sleep at night.

'Black Ships' (Kurofune) is also the title of the first Japanese Opera, composed by Kosaku Yamada

Kosaku Yamada

was a Japanese composer and conductor.In many Western reference books his name is given as Kósçak Yamada. During his music study in the Imperial German capital of Berlin from 1910-13 he hated the times when people laughed at him because his "normal" transliteration of his first name "Kosaku"...

, "based on the story of Tojin Okichi, a geisha

Geisha

, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...

caught up in the turmoil that swept Japan in the waning years of the Tokugawa shogunate" and premiered in 1940.

External links

Black Ship Festival celebrating the arrival of the Blackships and the opening of Japan to the world.
New National Theatre Tokyo
Opera Japonica

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

First kurofune ships: nau do trato

Gunboat diplomacy

See Also

See also

External links