Black ships

The black ships of Commodore Perry, 1854

Black ships ( 黒 船 роф Kurofune ) is the name given to European and American ships that arrived in Japan between the 18th and 19th centuries.

In a narrow sense, this name is used in relation to the following ships of the US Navy :

• USS Mississippi (1841);
• USS Plymouth (1844);
• USS Saratoga (1842);
• USS Susquehanna (1847).

who arrived July 14, 1853 in the harbor of Uraga (part of modern Yokosuki ) in Kanagawa Prefecture , Japan, under the command of US Commodore Matthew Perry . ^[1] The word "black" here refers to the black color of the hulls of old-built sailing ships and to the black color of coal smoke from the pipes of steamers using coal as fuel.

Commodore-led Perry, a combination of warships became a significant factor in the negotiations and subsequent signing of a trade agreement between Japan and the United States, thus effectively completing more than two hundred years during which Japan traded only with China and the Netherlands .

The following year, during the conclusion of the Kanagawa treaty , Perry returned with seven warships and, threatened by shelling, Edo forced the shogun to sign the Peace and Friendship Treaty , which established diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States . Over the next five years, Japan signed similar agreements with Russia , France, and Britain . The Harris Treaty was signed in the USA on July 29, 1858 .

This famous kyoka (a humorous poem similar to a five-line waka ) describes the surprise and confusion caused by these ships:

Commodore Perry's fleet during his second visit to Japan 1854 .

A poem is a set of puns ( e.g., as an ecotoba or “key, basic words”). Taihei ( 泰 平 ) - "calm"; jo: kisen ( 上 喜 撰 ) - a variety of expensive green tea containing a large proportion of caffeine ; shihai ( 四 杯 ) - “four cups”.

Literal translation of the poem:

Awakened from sleep

peaceful quiet world

jokisen tea;

only four of his cups

Do not fall asleep even at night.

However, this is a translation option based on the basic meaning of the words. Keywords can be written with other hieroglyphs, so that they retain the sound, but change the meaning. For example, taihei can be written as 太平 , which means " Pacific Ocean "; the word " steam ship " 蒸 気 船 is pronounced like jo: kisen ; shihai means four ships. Thus, the poem has a hidden meaning:

Pacific

disturbed a serene dream

Steamboats;

just four ships are enough

so that we do not sleep at night.