The Mission of Commodore Perry to Japan in 1854 (BM 2013,3002.1 63)

Painting, handscroll. Pictorial record of US Commodore Matthew Perry's second visit to Japan in 1854. Ink, colour, gold and silver pigment on paper. Double paulownia wood storage box, with handwritten document detailing the contents of the scroll (‘explanation of the picture scroll’, emaki setsumeisho 絵巻説明書).

The sequence of scenes depicted in the scroll is as follows:
1. Scenes of the massed formations of the troops of the Kokura fief of Lord Ogasawara and Matsushiro fief of Lord Sanada, who were charged with protecting Edo bay and providing security for Perry’s visit.
2. The cordoned security area and treaty house prepared on the shore at Yokohama, ready to receive the Americans.
3. Nine detailed sketches of the US ships, with small Japanese boats approaching to board the USS Powhatan.
4. The Americans landing at Yokohama in 27 barges.
5. The funeral procession for crewmember Robert Williams who had recently died and a picture of his gravestone.
6. A lively banquet scene in which the five Japanese negotiators (with their backs to the viewer) entertain Perry and his officers to dinner. The five Japanese are (from the right):
Hayashi Fukusai 林復斎, the chief Shogunal negotiator and head of the Confucian Academy (daigaku no kami)
Ido Satohiro 井戸覚弘, Edo City Magistrate (Edo machi bugyō)
Izawa Masayoshi 伊沢政義, Uraga Magistrate
Udono Kyūō, 鵜殿鳩翁, Inspector General (ōmetsuke)
Matsuzaki Ryūrō 松崎柳浪, a direct retainer (hatamoto) of the Shogun
7. Formations and drills by the US marines, accompanied by a military band.
8. A minstrel show performed for the Japanese onboard the Powhatan by a troupe of blacked-up sailors called the ‘Ethiopians’.
9. A detailed rendition of the brass and other musical instruments used by the military band.
10. Gifts of British coins, buttons and umbrellas, apparently given to the artist Hibata.
11. The quarter-size steam engine, carriage and track that was the main official gift from the Americans.
12. Encounters between US officers and two of the Sumo wrestlers, Ko-Yanagi and Kagami-Iwa, who performed bouts to entertain the Americans.
13. Front and back views of various officers and crew members posing in their different attire. Stokers are included, two of them maybe African-Americans?
14. An official US artist, perhaps William Heine?
15. The Chinese interpreter Luo Sen.
16. Head and shoulder portraits in roundels of the six of the main members of the US delegation:
Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858)
Commander Henry A. Adams (1800-1869)
Samuel Wells Williams (1812-1884), translator
Anton Portman (dates unknown), Dutch translator
Oliver Hazard Perry II (dates unknown), son of Commodore Perry who worked as his secretary

Captain Joel Abbott (1793-1855)