Lesson Six

Black Ships & Samurai, Lesson 06

Cultural Encounters: Case Study through Sport

Introduction
This activity uses a high-interest topic—sumo—as an initial vehicle for considering the cross-cultural perspectives of Americans and Japanese who came into contact in an official capacity during the Perry expedition’s stay in Japan. Students first compare how a form of Japanese sport and entertainment—the demonstration of Japanese sumo wrestling—was experienced and recorded through both written accounts and artistic renderings. In so doing, they analyze the power of written and visual records in conveying a sense of the experience to audiences and consider the differences in perception and emphasis by Japanese and American recorders of the event. Students then examine the visual record left by Japanese artists to find evidence of American customs that captured similar surprise and interest.

National History Standards

Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, students will be better able to:

    1. Discuss elements of cross-cultural perception and experience, including the many ways that an event can be experienced and perceived.
    2. Consider the impact that numerous “lenses”—personal, societal, cultural—may have on how an event is framed and recorded.
    3. Compare and contrast different modes of historical recording, in this case written vs. visual texts.
    4. Analyze the significant role that a narrator—whether a writer or an artist—plays in molding an account of an event based on his or her own perspective and selection of subjects and details.

Materials
    • Black Ships & Samurai online access for all students
    • Sumo account excerpt from the Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, available on the Web site or printed and copied for students in advance
    • Images of the sumo demonstration match in the Essay: “Encounters: Facing West” section of the unit
    • Access to the Black Ship Scroll within the Black Ships & Samurai unit
    • Handout 06-A, available on the Web site or printed and copied for students in advance

Procedure
1. Introduce this activity briefly by asking students if they have ever been surprised by a cross-cultural encounter—for example, when visiting another country or even visiting the home of a friend who had different family customs. What was their reaction to such an encounter? Explain that, of course, the Americans and Japanese who encountered each other for the first time had many such surprises, since they knew little about the other country. Also explain that each country made a point of trying to introduce aspects of their own country and culture, about which they were extremely proud, to the other group. Thus, the Black Ships & Samurai unit details the gifts that each country gave to the other, various banquets, and several cultural performances conducted for the benefit of the other group. In this activity, students will examine how one such effort to educate one group about the other—a sumo demonstration—was recorded at the time.

Ask students why they think the Japanese would have selected sumo for a cultural demonstration for their American guests. Students who know something about this traditional sport might answer that it was a very old and revered sport that reflected cultural and religious values. Students might also volunteer that the Japanese might have wanted to demonstrate the power and strength of the sumo wrestlers. Entertain all serious responses and legitimate hypotheses.

2. Explain that students are going to look at a minimum of two versions of how the sumo demonstration for the Perry expedition was recorded. First they will read the written account, included in the official record of the Perry expedition. The other accounts will be artistic renderings of the sumo match, made by both American and Japanese artists. Students will compare the power of the written and visual accounts in recording the event. In looking at how American and Japanese recordings of the event may have differed, students will also consider the impact that personal and cultural “lenses” may have on how an event is framed and recorded.

3. Distribute Handout 06-A, which will direct students through the Web-based activities of this lesson, and the Sumo Account Excerpt from the official narrative of the Perry expedition.

Adapted from a lesson by Scott Allen, Boulder Valley Schools, Colorado.

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