Japanese Literature
9/13/2010 8:44:00 PM
History
 1500 – Lords are fighting for control of Japan
 1600 – Tokugawa Ieyasu becomes Shogun
o makes daimyo pay for expensive shrines
o makes Edo (Tokyo) capital
o brings in lords families’ to stay in Edo
 1635 – Tokugawa Iemitsu decrees ‘Closed country edict’
 1853 – Matthew Perry’s 4 ‘Black Ships’ arrive in Edo Bay
 1855 – Huge Earthquake (caused by catfish…who also brought
wealth)
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1500-1868 - Emperor: not a warrior, figurehead, just born into
empire
1860: Send ship of Japanese to finalize treaty in America
1868 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last shogun, abdicates to emperor
Meiji, emperor powerful again
1945 – World War 2, Japan surrenders, emperor figurehead again
Vocabulary
 Shogun – barbarian-expelling generalissimo/military dictator
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Bakafu – ‘tent government’, shogun lead government
Daimyo – lord/noble, head of a family
Saikoku - closed country policy
Samurai – knights that fight for lords, lowest nobility rank
According to…
Samuel Wells Williams (missionary on a merchant ship):
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Japanese are:
o Hostile to foreigners, with reason
Goal: spread Christianity
Aaron Haight Palmer (Businessman)
 Japanese are:
o Vigorous, energetic
o Powerful
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o Curious about Westerners
o The most ‘European’ Asians
o Non-Japanese: sneaky, not open-minded
Goal: Treaty and Trade – money
Rai Sanyo
 Americans are:
o Red-haired
o Meat eaters
o Ponderous, ungraceful
Aizawa Seishisai
 Americans are:
o Use Christianity to corrupt Japan
o Simpletons
o The Way – Confucius teachings
1. How accurate are these depictions in their portrayal of Americans? Of
Japanese (if any)?
2. What positive or negative biases might affect the way Americans and
Japanese are depicted in these illustrations?
3. Who would have been the likely audience for each?
4. Does the date in which the illustration first appeared seem to have any
effect on the accuracy of inaccuracy of its depictions of Americans?
106-116, 133-37
Picture 1
 Not accurate
 Negative bias from Japanese on ‘weak’ Americans
 Audience: Japanese
 1854, when Perry just came
Picture 2
 Not accurate, completely fiction
 bias from Japanese, strong military
 Audience: Japanese
 1854, Perry just arrived
Comic 3
 Slightly accurate in opinions, not in the fact America doesn’t have
enough food
 Not too bias, just shows opinions
 Audience: Japanese
 1855, treaties being negotiated
Comic 4
 Inaccurate, Japanese women sleeping with Americans for profit
 Bias from the Japanese, corrupting their women
 Audience: Japanese
 1854
Story 5
 Possibly accurate
 Both sides
 Audience: both
 1854
Picture 6
 Accurate
 Bias for the Americans
 Audience: Japanese
 1863
Picture 7
 Inaccurate
 Bias for Japanese
 Audience: Japanese
 1861
What Americans Want
 Open up trade (ports)
 Right to proselytize
 Right to buy supplies/resupply/repair
 Fair treatment and repatriation for American sailors
Why Japan Agreed
 Gunboat Diplomacy
 Fear of technological superiority
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Curiosity/Desire to learn
Profit
Know your enemy
Treaty Ports
 Yokohama – most important, major center for trade with Americans