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Gokakoku ijin Yokohama jōriku no zu Title: Picture of the Landing of Foreigners of the Five Nations in Yokohama Artist: Yoshikazu (fl. ca. 1850-70) 1861:11 Format: Woodblock print Medium: Ink and color on paper Dimensions: triptych: 37 x75 cm (14 9/16 x29 9/16 in.) Source: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Along the Yokohama waterfront, known to the Western residents as the Bund, are soldiers and civilians of the five treaty nations. Each group is marked with a flag and a label identifying each country in Japanese; reading counterclockwise from the lower left are Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Russia, and America. Two Chinese, whose presence as compradors was vital to commerce in Yokohama, appear in the foreground. Several Western ships and single-masted Japanese coastal vessels fill the harbor. The largest, to the right, has furled sails striped like American flags, a sure indication that the artist had little firsthand knowledge of Western ships. Yoshikazu's print is one of the earliest to depict military troops of the Five Nations in Yokohama. This scene is clearly an imaginative fabrication since in 1861 no occasion would have arisen for a friendly assembly of military units from the Western treaty nations. [Adapted from Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan] Visualizing Cultures image number: Y0092 Keywords: Yokohama, Westerners, "Five Nations," soldiers, weaponry, animals, Russia, Russians,United States, Americans, Great Britain, British, Netherlands, Dutch, France, French, ships, Chinese, animals, flags, military, musical instruments, parade, horseback riding |
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