AFTER THE TREATY WAS SIGNED, the Commodore and members of his staff were invited to tour nearby villages. Perry was annoyed when he realized that as soon as he approached a settlement the streets were practically deserted and the women were ordered indoors. When he mentioned his displeasure, Yenosuke, his escort and interpreter, apologized by saying that the ladies were too modest to be seen by strangers. Perry refused to believe this. Yenosuke then promised that at the next village women would be told not to avoid the foreigners. After that, crowds including females filled the streets, happy to gawk at the strange-looking Americans.
Perry and his escorts were entertained at the home of a village mayor, where they were served the traditional tea, cakes, and saki. Barefoot women wearing something that the Commodore thought looked more like nightgowns than dresses waited on them. The women remained on their knees crawling from one guest to another and bowing their heads to the floor as they offered refreshments. Perry was delighted with the hospitality, but he did not appreciate the ladies’ smiles. Their gums and teeth were painted black, a custom that had been fashionable for a thousand years. Not only married women, but also courtiers blackened their teeth for beauty’s sake. The sailors called the black-teethed ladies “walking ink bottles.”1
Dr. James Morrow
courtesy of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, gift of Mrs. Walter F. Dillingham in memory of Alice Perry Grew, 1960
Other members of the American squadron were allowed to take walks around Yokohama. Interpreter Williams accompanied his close friend Dr. James Morrow, the official “agriculturalist” for the Perry Expedition. The men meandered through the countryside collecting flowers and plants. They also waded along the shore for shelled creatures and seaweeds. When Williams encountered near-naked fishermen digging for clams, he was shocked by their nudity and declared that these heathens needed “the gospel of purity and love.”2
A few of the sailors on shore leave used white paint to scrawl their names on rocks. The graffiti caused a great deal of commotion when it was discovered. The Japanese did not know what the strange signs meant. One man, posing as a scholar, announced that the writing was a poem to nature written in ancient Chinese hieroglyphics. Another self-appointed wise man deciphered the letters as pictographs that said “In the Year of the First Tiger [1854] since it was his birthday he could not but stop. King Hatan [the American ruler] therefore gave up commencing war on that day.”3
A Birthday Cruise
In the Year of the First Tiger (1854) on his sixtieth birthday (April 10), Commodore Perry determined to go as near to Edo as the depth of water would allow. The steamships Powhatan and Mississippi set sail. Japanese interpreters who had come aboard to say goodbye went into a panic. They begged Perry not to approach the capital city. His Black Ships would create chaos in Edo, and as a result the interpreters and commissioners would suffer disgrace. All of them would be obligated to commit suicide.
As the ships steamed ahead, Yenosuke exclaimed that when a planned salute was fired off Edo he would throw himself into a cannon’s mouth. Another interpreter handed his robe and long sword to one of the crew, saying that he had no further use for them. With great composure, he prepared to disembowel himself with his short sword. This was to be done at the very moment an anchor was lowered.
Perry ordered his ships to turn back, for “though some-what incredulous as to the necessity of their performing hara-kiri on themselves,” he wrote, “I thought it better policy not to proceed.”4 The ships sailed near Edo, and with the aid of a telescope Perry could see its rooftops and its canvas “dungaree forts.” The Japanese interpreters were so relieved that they were able to enjoy a luncheon party in the Commodore’s cabin.
Although he never entered Edo, Perry was satisfied with his excursion. He concluded that “the city of Edo can be destroyed by a few steamers of very light draft, and carrying guns of the heaviest caliber.”5 It was a happy birthday, with no hara-kiri to mar the occasion.