BLACK SHIPS IN EDO BAY: A KAWARABAN CHRONICLE OF PERRY’S 1854 RETURN].

豆州相州武州上総下総房州海陸御固御場所付. [Zushū Sōshū Bushū Kazusa Shimousa Bōshū kairiku okatame onbasho zuke].
[Defence Layouts in Zu Region, Sō Region, Bu Region, Kazusa Region, Shimousa Region and Bō Region].

[Japan]. (Circa 1854). Stock ID #221083

Black and white wood block print on three joined sheets, 36.3 x 92.7cm. Some small holes professionally repaired with washi, a little soiling and some light staining in one section near the lower margin.

This rare and visually arresting kawaraban records the second arrival of Commodore Perry and his fleet in 1854, when negotiations with the Tokugawa bakufu culminated in the Convention of Kanagawa. Produced for rapid circulation, the sheet brings together cartography, reportage and imaginative illustration to convey unfolding events to a broad Edo readership.

The wide-format print is arranged in three panels. The right panel lists the feudal lords charged with coastal defence, identifying their assigned positions and displaying their family crests. It presents a striking impression of the scale of mobilisation, claiming that over 580,000 troops were assembled to protect Edo. The emphasis on names, domains and heraldry underscores the bakufu’s attempt to project order and preparedness in the face of foreign pressure.


The central panel depicts an American landing party parading before a steam-powered warship rendered with careful attention to its rigging. The procession is led by two sailors playing musical instruments, followed by a standard-bearer carrying a striped flag with a single star, and others armed with bayonets. Several men raise military insignia, while the commanding officer, almost certainly intended to represent Commodore Matthew Perry, advances beneath a parasol borne by an attendant. All figures wear boots, a detail that would have marked them as distinctly foreign, yet their uniforms, especially those of the officers, are imaginatively interpreted and bear a closer resemblance to Chinese official dress than to contemporary Western naval attire. Such visual hybridity reveals both the novelty of the encounter and the limits of first-hand knowledge available to the artist.

The left panel provides a pictorial map of Edo Bay, showing five American vessels entering the harbour. Defensive positions are clearly marked, with the names, ranks and crests of the responsible lords carefully indicated. The combination of map, military tableau and administrative listing transforms the kawaraban into both a news-sheet and a visual document of political theatre, reflecting contemporary anxieties and the dramatic reshaping of Japan’s foreign relations on the eve of the treaty era.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 221083.

Price: $2,975.00 AU

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