Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan

Front matter

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Prefatory Note

Prompted in a great degree by feelings of personal friendship for Commodore Perry, the compiler of the following pages yielded to his earnest request, enforced as it was by that of other friends, and consented to undertake the task of preparing this Narrative of the United States' Expedition to Japan.

And here it is proper to mention, that among the expressed motives which induced the Commander of the Expedition to desire the execution of the work by other hands than his own, none seemed more prominent than this consideration ; that, as the facts here embodied were to be gathered not merely from the pages of his own journal, but from those also of several of his officers as well as from their official reports to him, he thought it better to confide the compilation to a disinterested third party, who might weave the various materials into a connected narrative of all the important events, uninfluenced by that partiality for his own words or acts, from which, owing to the infirmities of human nature the most honest and best of men are not always entirely exempt.

As the sole object on the part of the Commander was to afibrd to his government and countrymen the most ample account he could of what had been done by himself, his officers, and men — as

IV PEEFATORYNOTE.

in tliis respect lie had nothing to conceal, as lie wished to present truly all of interest that had been observed either by himself or others, and to do justice to the deserving officers who had so effectually sustained him in his plans for carrying out a new, delicate, and arduous work — he deemed it best to place in the hands of the compiler, without reserve, all the materials in his possession, whether from his own pen, or furnished by the labor of others, and to request nothing more than that the preparation of the work might be conducted in a spirit conformable to the ends and wishes just expressed.

The materials were abundant and varied. Beside the manuscript journal of the Commodore, in three large folios, and his official correspondence ; the journals of his secretary and other officers, the diaries of the fleet captain and flag-lieutenants, the official reports of gentlemen detailed for special duties, and the public documents connected with the Expedition, were all placed in the hands of the writer. Of these, the Commodore's journal and official correspondence form much the larger part.*

The work to be performed was that of a compiler merely. With no responsibility as to the facts related, the writer believed his appropriate duty to be simply to weave into a connected narrative all of interest or importance that could be gathered from these various materials, and to present, in chronological order, the incidents of the Expedition. Eminently suggestive as were many

* The Commodore, unwilling to appropriate what may belong to others, desires here to acknowledge the use of the journals of the Captain of the fleet, Commander Adams, of the flag-lieutenants, Mr. Contee and Mr. Bent, those of Purser Harris, Mr. Perry, (Commodore's secretary,) Mr. Bayard Taylor and Chaplain Jones ; the reports of Captains Abbot, Buchanan, and Adams, Commandants Boyle, Kelly, and Glasson, Chaplain Jones, Mr. Williams, Chinese interpreter, and Doctors Green and Fahs ; the services of Mr. Portman, Dutch interpreter, and of the artists, Mr. W. Heine and Mr. E. Brown, jr. In the hydrographical department he would specially acknowledge the accurate and laborious work of Lieutenants W. L. Maury and S. Bent. Nor would he pass by without notice minor contributions from any under his command ; to all he would render due credit and thanks.

PREFATORY NOTE. V

portions of the story, the compiler felt that it was his business to deal with the facts only, and spare the reader the infliction of his reflections on them.

The book, therefore, is but little encumbered with the writer's observations or conjectures on the incidents related. Where a momentary digression from the story does occur, the remarks it embodies are generally those of the Commodore himself In many instances, the language of the Narrative is a verbatim copy from his journal. Wherever it was possible thus to use his manuscript, it was done, as being the course most likely to avoid error. Every word of the work was read to the Commodore in manuscript, and received his correction before it went into the printer's hands ; every proof sheet also was read by him before it was sent back to the press.

In order to expedite the preparation and publication of the work as much as possible, and place it at an early period in the hands of Congress ; as the labor was that of compilation only, the present writer, with the approbation of Commodore Perry, availed himself of the kindness of a competent literary gentleman,"* who assisted him in the work of comparing the various journals, documents, &c., arranging chronologically the incidents gathered from all sources, and presenting them in a connected form. Some portions of the story were also, in the first instance, sketched by this gentleman, and after undergoing the revision of the present writer, were incorporated by him into the Narrative, and then submitted to the Commodore for his correction and suggestions. Some of the descriptions of scenery were thus prepared, as well as portions of the Narrative relating to the two visits to Japan. By means of this valuable aid, the whole story was written out in less than a twelvemonth from the time its publication was ordered by Congress ; a result which would otherwise have been unattainable. The compiler makes this statement, not only to acknowledge the kindness

* Robert Tomes, Esq., M.D.

VI PREFATORY NOTE.

of a friend, but also to guard himself against the suspicion of being willing to appropriate, without recognition, the labors of another.

As to the Narrative itself, the highest ambition of the writer was to tell the story, if he could, in such manner as would not only present a true picture, but also keep alive the interest of the reader ; his wish was to make a book that might furnish information without being wearisome. If in this he has succeeded, he has attained all to which he aspired. If he has not, he has only to say that he will feel more of regret than surprise.

In some instances he may be thought to be needlessly minute, and especially in describing the pageantry of receptions, entertainments, &c. In this matter he felt obliged to consult something beside his own taste merely ; he was looking to the natural curiosity of his countrymen to know every particular of the story, and therefore preferred to tell too much rather than too little. Beside, the pageantry was often an important part of the history of the negotiation itself, with a people so ceremonious as the Japanese.

Nor did the compiler hesitate to use freely the materials placed before him in the shape of journals, &c., even though the substance of some portions of them is already in the hands of the public. They were originally prepared for just such use as is here made of them ; the report was designed to teU the incidents of the whole story from beginning to end ; and the compiler was directed simply to use the materials that had been furnished him. It was not for him to omit facts because others had already related them.

In but one respect did he venture to exercise any discretion. His duty required that he should teU all that occurred from the moment the Mississippi left the Capes of the Chesapeake. As, however, the chief interest of the Expedition was to be found in events that occurred in China, Lew Chew, the Bonin Islands, and Japan, he endeavored to make as brief as duty would permit the incidents of the earlier part of the outward voyage, sensible that but little new remained to be said in passing over a track so often traversed and so well known by intelligent Europeans and

PKEFATORYNOTE. Vll

Americans. Still lie believes lie has omitted nothing whicli his materials furnished, that is likely to interest the general reader.

The Narrative here presented of the Japan Expedition has been prepared under my supervision and at my request, from materials furnished by me, and is authentic. I present it as my official report, and am alone responsible for the statement of facts it contains.

M. C. PEEKY, Late Commander-in-chief of the United States Expedition to the China Seas and Japan.

f ftor at tilt ^mtkxi of t^t

COMMUNICATING, m COMPLIANCE WITH A RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE,

REPOET OF COMMODORE M. C. PERRY,

NAVAL EXPEDITION TO JAPAN.

January 22, 1855.— Ordered to be printed, and that 5,000 additional copies be printed ; five hundred of

■which for the use of Commodore Perry.

January 29, 185b.— Ordered, That 500 copies be for the use of the Navy Department

Navy Department, August 28, 1855.

Sir : In compliance -n-itli tlie resolution of the Senate of the United States, passed on the 22d January last, calling upon the Secretary of the Navy " to conamunicate to the Senate a copy of the report of Commodore Perry of the Naval Expedition to Japan," I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of the letter of Commodore Perry to the Department transmitting the manuscript, &c., of said report.

I am, sir, very respectfully.

Your obedient servant,

J. C. DOBBIN.

AsBURY DiCKiNS, Esq.,

Secretary of the Senate of the United States, Washington, D. C.

New York, A ugust 27, 1855.

Sir : In compliance with a resolution of the United States Senate, hearing date January 22, 1855, calling upon the Secretary of the Navy "to communicate to the Senate a copy of the report of Commodore Perry of the Naval Expedition to Japan, and that the same, with the maps, charts, and drawings, be printed," I have now the honor of transmitting the manuscript of said report, together with drawings, maps, charts, &c., illustrative of the same. With great respect I am, sir,

Your most obedient servant,

M. C. PERRY.

Hon. J. C. Dobbin,

Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C.

Introduction

IE WED in any of its aspects, the Empire of Japan has long presented to the thoughtful mind an object of uncommon interest.

And this interest has been greatly increased by the mystery with which, for the last two centuries, an exclusive policy has sought to surround the institutions of this remarkable country. The curiosity of Christendom has been on the alert ; and the several votaries of various pursuits have naturally longed to add more to the little that is known of this self-isolated Kingdom.

The political inquirer, for instance, has wished to study in detail the form of government, the administration of laws, and the domestic institutions, under which a nation systematically prohibiting intercourse with the rest of the world has attained to a state of civilization, refinement, and intelligence, the mere glimpses of which so strongly invite further investigation.

The student of physical geography, aware how much national characteristics are formed or modified by peculiarities of physical structure in every country, would fain know more of the lands and the seas, the mountains and the rivers, the forests and the fields, which fall within the limits of this almost terra incognita.

The naturalist asks, what is its geology, what are its flora and fauna ? The navigator seeks to find out its rocks and shoals, its winds and currents, its coasts and harbors.

The man of commerce asks to be told of its products and its trade, its skill in manufactures, the commodities it needs, and the returns it can supply.

The ethnologist is curious to pry into the physical appearance of its inhabitants ; to dig, if possible, from its language the fossil remains of long buried history ; and in the afl&liation of its people to supply, perchance, a gap in the story of man's early wanderings over the globe.

The scholar asks to be introduced to its literature that he may contemplate in historians, poets, and dramatists, (for Japan has them all,) a picture of the national mind.

The Christian desires to know the varied phases of their superstition and idolatry ; and longs for the dawn of that day when a purer faith and more enlightened worship shall bring them within the circle of Christendom.

Amid such a diversity of pursuits as we have enumerated, a common interest unites all in a common sympathy ; and hence, the divine and the philosopher, the navigator and the naturalist, the man of business and the man of letters, have alike joined in a desire for the thorough exploration of a field at once so extensive and so inviting.

With so much to allure, it is not at all wonderful that the attempt to explore should have been repeatedly made. Scarce a maritime nation in the civilized world has been wanting in effort. The Portuguese, Spaniards, Dutch, English, French, and Russians, have each in turn, sought to establish commercial relations with Japan. The Portuguese and English have both so far succeeded, that, but for themselves, they might permanently have retained their positions. The first were expelled ; the latter voluntarily abandoned the field. The Dutch alone, of all Christian nations, were allowed to remain for purposes of traffic, and they purchased the privilege at the price of national humiliation and personal imprisonment, for which all the profits of gainful barter off*er but an inadequate compensation.

Limited, however, as have been their sources of information, it is to the Dutch chiefly that the world, until within a very recent period, has been indebted for the knowledge it has had of the Japanese. Nor is that knowledge quite as circumscribed as has sometimes been supposed. Ksempfer, Thunberg, Titsingh, Doeff, Fischer, Meylan, Siebold, and others, have certainly told us something about Japan. But they could not tell us all it is desirable to know. All were connected with the factory at Dezima, and were watched, of course, with suspicious jealousy. Their only opportunities for seeing anything beyond the town of Nagasaki were afibrded at their periodical visits to the court ; and Kaempfer, the first in the list, has so fully related all that an European could learn from this source, that very little has been added to our stock of knowledge by his successors, with the single exception of Siebold. He has collected new facts and materials, and the result of his observations and researches has been given to the world in his

INTKODUCTIOK. O

" Nippon, Archiv sur Beschreibung von Japan,''^ (Nippon, an Archive toward the Description of Japan.) While, therefore, it is not quite correct to say that the civilized world knows nothing of Japan, it may truly be asserted that what is known is very much less than what is unknown.

Notwithstanding, however, the national efforts at exploration to which we have alluded, it was reserved for our own, the youngest of the nations, to break down at last the barriers with which this singular people had surrounded themselves ; and to be the first, in modern times, to establish with them a treaty of friendship and trade which (already copied as far as was possible by other governments) is to form, as we hope, the initiatory step in the introduction of Japan into the circle of commercial nations.

May we not be permitted here to add that it seems not altogether inappropriate that the United States should be the instrument of breaking down these barriers, and of opening Japan to the rest of the world.

When, in 1295, Marco Polo returned to Venice from his long sojourn in Asia, he spake to Europeans, among other marvels which shocked their credulity, but which have since been fully verified, of the existence of a large island off the coast of Cathay, (China,) which he called Zipangu. That island is the modern Nippon of the Japanese Kingdom. He told, also, the story of the indomitable courage of the people of Zipangu, and related how they had successively resisted the armies of the powerful Kublai Khan, the conquerors, at that day, of all Asia, and the terror of Europe. He laid before them the maps which he had made and brought home, with an inscription written upon the shore-line of the Yellow sea: " There is a great island to the easty Years rolled on; Marco Polo's written story and maps had found their way to Genoa, and probably had been forgotten. At length, in the sixteenth century, they fell into the hands of a man who did not cast them idly by ; that man was Christopher Columbus, whose strong mind was then travelling to the overruling conviction of his life that there must be, to the westward of Europe, great bodies of land at that time utterly unknown. It was Marco Polo's map, and his statements concerning Zipangu particularly, which confirmed his conjectures ; and when he sailed, it was Zipangu, or, as the Italian manuscript of Marco Polo had it, Cipango, on which he hoped and expected to find the termination of his voyage. Accordingly, (as we know,) when he landed on Cuba he believed that he had reached the goal of his long cherished hopes. He knew not that a continent barred his way between Europe and Zipangu ; nor that still further westward, beyond that continent a mighty ocean rolled its waters, which must be traversed before Zipangu could be reached.

But though not destined himself to find and open Japan to Christendom, it has so happened, in the order of Providence, that on the continent which he discovered, and which barred his way to the land he sought, has grown up a nation which has performed a part of his contemplated work, and fulb INTRODUCTION.

filled a portion, at least, of the plan which lured him westward ; a nation which, if it did not discover Zipangu, has, we trust, been the instrument of bringing it into full and free communication with the rest of the world; a nation which has, as it were, taken the end of the thread which, on the shores of America, broke in the hands of Columbus, and fastening it again to the ball of destiny, has rolled it onward until, as it has unwound itself, it has led the native and civilized inhabitants of the land discovered by the great G-enoese to plant their feet on the far distant region of his search, and thus fulfil his wish to bring Zipangu within the influence of European civilization.

It is the story of the American entrance in Japan that we propose to relate ; and it is hoped it will aid in the better understanding of the narrative, as well as show what additions, if any, have been made to our previous knowledge, briefly to present, in a rapid sketch, the outlines of such information as the world possessed before the American expedition left our shores. On this work we now enter.

Section I

There can be no doubt that Japan was unknown to the G-reeks and Romans, and that it was first brought to the knowledge of the European world by the celebrated traveller, Marco Polo. His family was Venetian, and devoted to commercial pursuits. In the year 1275, at the age of eighteen, he accompanied his father and uncle into Asia on mercantile business ; and there, mastering the languages of Tartary, on the return of his relatives to Europe, he remained, and entered into the service of Kublai Khan, the then reigning monarch. In this situation he continued for seventeen years. Possessed of a good mind, he was a close observer of what he saw around him, and rendered the most important services, both military and diplomatic, to the monarch, with whom he became not merely a favorite, but in some degree a necessity. At length, in 1295, after an absence of some twenty years, he returned to Venice, and was the first European traveller who made known the existence of Japan to the inhabitants of the west. He had not visited it in person, (as he is careful to state,) but he had traversed the greater part of China, and had there heard what he related concerning Japan. We may remark, in passing, that his statements of what he had seen and heard so far surpassed the experience and knowledge of his countrymen that he shared the fate of some modern travellers, and was not believed. Nothing, however, is more sure than that modern research has impressed with the character of truth all that he related on his personal observation, and much of that which he gathered from the statements of others. He, as we have already said, called Japan Zipangu ; it was the name which he had heard in China. The Japanese themselves call their country Dai Nippon^ which means " Great Nippon." As to the origin of the latter word, it is a compound of two others ; nitsu, " the sun," audpon or f on, " origin;" these, according to the Japanese rule of combination, become Nippon or Nifon, signifying " origin of the sun ; " in other words, the East. In the Chinese language, Nippon, by the usual change of pronunciation, becomes Jih-pun, to which Koue is added, meaning " country " or " Kingdom." The whole Chinese word, Jih-pun-houe, therefore, is, in English, " Kingdom of the origin of the sun," or "Eastern Kingdom." The reader will readily perceive how, on the lips of an European, the name would become Zi-pangu. We thus have the derivation, Nippon, Jih-pun, Japan.

As to the extent of the Kingdom : it consists of a great number of islands, said to be 3,850, lying off the eastern coast of Asia, and spread over that part of the ocean which extends from the 129th to the 146th degree of east longitude from Greenwich, and is between the 31st and 46th degrees of north latitude. The chain to which they belong may be traced on the map from the Loo-Choo islands to the southern extremity of Kamtschatka, and from this latter peninsula, through the Kurile islands, to the promontory of Alaska, on our own continent. They are in the line of that immense circle of volcanic development which surrounds the shores of the Pacific from Tierra del Fuego around to the Moluccas.

The Kingdom is divided into Japan proper and the dependent islands. The first-named division consists of the three large islands, Kiu-siu, Sitkokf, and Nippon, and the whole Empire contains about 160,000 square miles. Of many of the islands we know nothing. Their coasts are so difficult of access, and shallow seas and channels, with sunken rocks and dangerous whirlpools, added to winds as variable as they are violent, have interposed most serious obstacles to nautical exploration, so that we have yet much to learn of the navigation of the waters around the islands of Japan.

Those of which we have as yet most information are Kiu-siu, Nippon, and Yesso, or Jesso. On the first of these is the town of Nagasaki, and this is the port to which the Dutch have been most rigorously confined, in all their commercial transactions, for two hundred years. Indeed, they have not been permitted to live within the town itself, but have been literally imprisoned on a very small island in the harbor, called Dezima, where they have been most closely watched, and many rigid restrictions have been imposed on their intercourse with the people. Under certain circumstances, they have been at times permitted to go into the town, but not to remain for any long period, nor have they ever been allowed to explore the island.

Their opportunities, therefore, except in the case of Siebold, have been very limited for acquiring, from personal observation, a knowledge of anything on the island of Kiu-siu beyond what they could see from their prison.

As to Nippon, on which is Yeddo, the capital of the kingdom, they have had the opportunity of seeing more. This has resulted from the fact that periodical visits, with presents, have been made to the Emperor at the capital by the chief Dutch commissioner at the factory on Dezima ; and on these visits he has been accompanied by his physician and a small number of his subordinate officers. It is, therefore, to the chief commissioners and their medical attendants that we Lave been indebted for all we have beeru told since the establishment of commercial relations with the Dutch. Titsingh, DoefF, Fischer, Meylan, were all chiefs of the factory, while Ksempfer, Thunberg and Siebold have all been the physicians. These visits were formerly annual, latterly they have been less frequent, and a more jealous surveillance has been exercised over the European travellers. Still they have evaded restrictions as far as possible, have seen all they could, and told all they saw. But they were, of necessity, obliged to gather much of what they relate from the information of the Japanese ; how far it is to be considered as in all respects accurate neither they nor we are able to say. Yet the Dutch residents undoubtedly knew for themselves more about the island of Nippon than they did concerning Kiu-siu, in one of the harbors of which was their prison.

As to Yesso, or Jesso, it is confessedly very imperfectly known. One of its ports is Matsmai, and here Captain Golownin, of the Russian navy, was kept as a prisoner for two years. In an effort which he made to escape, he wandered over a part of the island ; but as he was not seeking on this excursion materials for description, nor studying at his leisure the habits of the people, his statements are, as might be expected, altogether unsatisfactory, and yet we have none better from an European eye-witness. Kaempfer, Thunberg, and Siebold are our most valuable sources of information since the days of the Dutch commerce.

At an earlier period, and before Japanese jealousy of foreign influence had prompted them to adopt their system of exclusion, the opportunity was far more favorable for the acquisition of information by the personal observation of strangers. The Portuguese missionaries and some early English navigators, therefore, afford us on some points a knowledge such as no European during the last two hundred years could possibly have procured.

Of the physical aspect of these principal islands former writers give different accounts. Thunberg represents them as composed of a succession of mountains, hills, and valleys, while Kaempfer says that he travelled over several plains of considerable exent. The country is undoubtedly very hilly, and in general the hills come down near to the seashore, leaving but narrow strips of land between the water and their bases ; it is, however, not improbable that level plains of some extent may be found in the interior. The hills, however, are not sterile; and covered, as most of them seem to be, with the fruits of cultivation up to their summits, bear witness alike to the numbers and industry of the population. Mountains, however, are to be found as well as hills, nor is it surprising that some of them should be volcanic.

Westward of the bay of Yeddo rises to the height of some twelve thousand feet the Fudsi Jamma, with its summit whitened by perpetual snow ; it was once an active volcano. The northern part of Nippon also is known to be traversed by a chain of mountains, from which rise several isolated peaks, the craters, in some instances, of extinct volcanoes, while others, still burning, are to be seen on the islands scattered in the gulfs of Corea and Yeddo.

In such a country the rivers cannot probably be long ; while the rapidity of their currents indicates that their sources must be considerably elevated. It is said that over some of them no bridges can be built, as none would resist the force of the stream fed by the waters of the mountain torrents. Some of the rivers, however, are navigable by small boats for several miles from the sea into the interior. The Japanese, from the nature and position of their country, ought to be a maritime people ; they can have but few natural facilities for inland trade. Their ingenuity and industry have, however, been taxed to open modes of communication with the interior; roads and bridges have been constructed, and in some instances canals have been made to unite their rivers and lakes.

Of the climate of Japan it is not possible to speak with much certainty. In the southern part of the Kingdom it is said to be not unlike that of England. Some winters are remarkably mild, without any frost or snow, though generally such is not the case ; when however these occur, they last but for a few days. The heat in summer is said to average 98° of Fahrenheit at Nagasaki. This, which would otherwise be excessive, is much moderated by the breeze which, in the day time, blows from the south, and at night from the east. There is what the Japanese call satJcasi, or the rainy season, in June and July ; by this, however, it is only meant that the rains are then most abundant ; for, in point of fact, they are frequent all the year round, and the weather appears to be variable. No part of the ocean is subject to heavier gales than the sea around Japan, and the hurricanes are terrific ; fogs also are, as might be expected, very prevalent ; thunder storms are common, and earthquakes have more than once destroyed a great part of the most populous towns. Kempfer remarked, also, that water-spouts were of very frequent occurrence in the seas around Japan. Yet, notwithstanding all these things, the country cannot, we think, be deemed insalubrious; for the Japanese are in general a healthful people, and the country is very thickly inhabited.