American Navy lieutenant commander Adams entered Shimoda aboard the steamship Powhatan. What he carried was the ratification document (the document by which a state formally certifies an agreement) of the Kanagawa Treaty. Word reached the magistrate’s office that a black ship’s silhouette had been seen offshore, and the ship soon entered the harbor. The two Shimoda magistrates sent only a brief report to Edo that a single foreign ship had been seen.
According to Tokutomi Sohō, Adams left Edo Bay aboard the Saratoga on April 4. He then arrived in Washington on July 12. The treaty was passed from the President to the Senate (one house of the American Congress) and was approved unanimously. He left New York on September 30 and reached Hong Kong on January 1. By order of Commodore Abbot he headed for Shimoda, and it is said that 9 months and 22 days passed between the signing and his return.
On December 23, during his absence, a great earthquake struck the coast of Japan, and the damage to Shimoda was especially severe. Even so, an American account is cited saying that people worked on without lamenting. The seabed of the harbor had been swept clear of soil and sand, leaving nothing but rocks. The shops remained in ruins, but a temple was repaired and a market was opened there, where the officers went to buy goods. It is said that the officers walked freely through the village, with no one following to watch them.
In exchanging the ratification documents, the Japanese side raised two objections. One concerned the deadline, over whether it would be acceptable to act early within the 18 months. After receiving an explanation of the meaning of the wording, the Japanese side withdrew the objection. The magistrate’s private letter records that the other side insisted strongly. It also requested that the Japanese-language text of the treaty be sent to Edo quickly.
The other objection concerned the signature, for the other side demanded the shogun’s name. The Japanese side wished to settle the matter with an official’s signature, but it was decided that both the shogun and the senior councilor (a high office of the shogunate) would sign. On February 21 the documents were formally exchanged, the Japanese flag was raised at the bow, and 17 celebratory guns were fired. The following day, February 22, the Powhatan left Shimoda, and that day happened to be Washington’s birthday. During that time Adams received visits from officials and was reunited with the same faces who had been present when the treaty was concluded.
This article shows the course of events from the formal ratification of the treaty to its return to Japan. It also reveals the back-and-forth in Shimoda over a single word and a single signature, as well as the exchanges between the town and its people after the earthquake.
A summary made from the body of this article. Names and dates are checked against the body. The text below follows the source text; every sentence can be traced to its source.
Off Izu Shimoda, beyond Mikomoto Island, a single dark ship’s silhouette appeared.OriginalOriginal
“A foreign vessel has been sighted” ―― the report that a single foreign ship had been seen reached the magistrate’s office around the middle of the hour of the sheep.Original
Shortly after, around the end of the hour of the sheep, the ship came straight into the harbor.OriginalOriginal
The Shimoda magistrates Izawa Mimasaka no kami and Tsuzuki Suruga no kami had a constable from the reception office stand by, and sent out a construction officer, a junior inspector, and an interpreter.Original
According to the harbor pilot, it was an American steamship named the Powhatan.OriginalOriginal
應接與力御普先刻御屆申上候亞米利加蒸氣船壹艘當港入津つけならびにつうしさしつかはしあひたゞさせさふらふところ請役御小人目付並通詞差遣爲相糺候處
Open the original page at the National Diet Library“We report this matter first without delay” ―― the two magistrates wrote to Edo to report this much for the time being.Original
It was a short report, written at a stage when nothing else was yet known.OriginalOriginal
A Journey of Three Months and Twenty-Seven Days
Aboard the Powhatan was Navy Commander Adams.Original
According to what Sohō writes, Adams left Edo Bay aboard the Saratoga carrying a copy of the Kanagawa Treaty on April 4, 1854, that is, in Ansei 1.Original
He arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii, on May 1, took the first available ship to San Francisco, went by way of Panama, and reached Washington on July 12.Original
It had been three months and eight days since he left Japan.Original
The treaty was submitted by the President to the Senate, and the Senate promptly ratified it unanimously.Original
Adams departed New York on September 30 carrying the instrument of ratification, crossed the Atlantic, passed through England, took an overland route, and reached Hong Kong on January 1, 1855.Original
Commodore Abbot put him aboard the Powhatan and ordered him to head for Shimoda at once.Original
From the signing of the treaty through ratification to his return to Japan, nine months and twenty-two days were required, Sohō notes, giving the figures in sequence.Original
In the Shimoda magistrate’s report, this sequence of events is condensed as follows.Original
Adams had left Washington three months earlier, taken passage on a British steamship to China, transferred there to the present ship, left Hong Kong ten days earlier, and entered the harbor today.Original
The crew numbered over three hundred.OriginalOriginal
提督アボツトは、ポーハタン號ゆ、もて、彼を乘せて直ちに下田に向ふ可く命じた。斯くて彼は條約批准交換の全權員として、一八五五年一月二十六日下田に到著した。
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryShimoda After the Earthquake
What Adams saw at Shimoda was a transformed land.OriginalOriginal
During his absence, on December 23, 1854, a great earthquake had struck the entire coast of Japan.Original
Edo too suffered damage, but Shimoda’s damage was especially severe.OriginalOriginal
Even so, Sohō quotes from an American account.Original
The Japanese did not sit and lament their misfortune; showing no sign of despair, everyone worked manfully at their tasks.Original
By the time the Powhatan entered the harbor, everyone was said to be busy clearing away damage and rebuilding.OriginalOriginal
ポーハタン號が著港したる際には、損害の取り除けやら、ゞ下田港灣の外形は、何等の變再建築やらにて、何れも忙がしく從事してゐた。
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe outward shape of the harbor itself was unchanged.Original
However, all the sand and soil on the sea floor where anchors were dropped had been washed away entirely, leaving nothing but rock on the seabed.Original
It is said that only through the power of steam were they able to avoid colliding with the rocks.OriginalOriginal
Every shop had been damaged and none had recovered.Original
Even so, a temple was repaired and a market was opened, and fine goods from towns in the interior, beginning with Edo, were laid out for sale.Original
The officers were not only invited to the market but were asked to buy, and each obtained goods to his own liking.OriginalOriginal
Walks Without Surveillance
Compared with the previous time, the Japanese had become far more familiar and friendly.OriginalOriginal
The officers walked about the countryside without any hindrance, visited villages, and were welcomed wherever they went.Original
It seemed that the practice of surveillance had been abolished, for there was no one watching or following them ―― so Sohō reports from the American account.OriginalOriginal
The people of Shimoda told Adams that they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of trading ships from America.Original
The Shimoda magistrate, who was also one of the commissioners who had concluded the treaty, is said to have quietly told Adams that if America would choose a consul and have him reside at Shimoda, it would be a great pleasure.OriginalOriginal
而して下田奉行-條約を締粘したる委員の一人-はアダ3ニムスに向て若し米國にて領事を選定し、下田に來り住するを得しめなば、彼は頗る快心の事である旨を、私かに告げた。
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Japanese wanted books written in English.Original
Especially medical books and works on science.Original
The officers gave them many valuable books.OriginalOriginal
Adams himself said he had agreed to this, and remarked that he had felt “somewhat ashamed” in doing so.OriginalOriginal
The Dispute Over the Deadline and the Exchange of the Treaty Documents
At the time of the exchange of ratifications, the Japanese side raised two objections.OriginalOriginal
According to the American account that Sohō quotes, these were not raised in order to avoid keeping their promise.Original
They were matters of wording, arising rather from the fact that the Japanese side interpreted the treaty’s language carefully and held deep respect for the ceremony.OriginalOriginal
The first objection concerned the deadline.Original
The Japanese text of the treaty read “within eighteen months,” and the American text also read within eighteen months.Original
The Americans took the discrepancy to have arisen from the ignorance of the Japanese translators.Original
Once the meaning of the word “within” was explained, the Japanese side good-naturedly withdrew their objection.OriginalOriginal
Yet what the Japanese side did behind the scenes is recorded in the Shimoda magistrate’s internal correspondence.Original
They had intended to exchange the treaty documents after eighteen months had passed from March, but the other side “insisted strongly,” saying that the treaty stated it should be done as early as possible within the eighteen months.Original
They therefore consulted also with the Russian reception officers, and sent Moriyama Einosuke, accompanied by a squad leader and an interpreter, to the American ship.Original
However, the American side had not brought with them either the Japanese-text treaty handed over from Japan in the summer or the Dutch-text version, and produced only the English one.Original
That, they said, would not serve as proof.Original
They urgently requested Edo to send without exception the Japanese texts of the treaty and its appendix that had been submitted in the sixth month by Hayashi Daigaku no kami and others.OriginalOriginal
彼等の有する條約文面には、十八個月後とあつた。我等(米人)のには十八個月內とあつた。然も漢文、和蘭文の飜譯には、何れも英文同樣十八個月內とあり、而して英文が原文であるから、日本文もこれから飜譯したるものであつた
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryEven the hour when the letter was finished is recorded.Original
“The sixteenth day of the twelfth month, the latter part of the hour of the dog,” that is, nine o’clock at night.OriginalOriginal
The Emperor’s Own Signature
The second objection concerned the signature.Original
When asked to have the Emperor ―― meaning the shogun ―― personally sign the Japanese text of the treaty to be given to the American government, the Japanese side said the following.Original
The Emperor never signs any document at all; that is done by the senior councilors.Original
The treaty document brought to be handed over to Japan bore the signatures of the President and the Secretary of State.Original
In the end, it was arranged that both the Emperor and the senior councilors would sign together, and it was carried out accordingly.Original
In the Japanese records, this matter appears from the opposite side.Original
Since the closing text of the appendix stated that the delegation of authority to anyone was at their discretion, they asked, “would it not be acceptable for the officials to affix their seals?”Original
And they pressed the point, saying, “we wish to have the matter settled with the seals of the reception officers.”Original
The other side wanted the shogun’s signature; this side wished to settle the matter with the signatures of the reception officers.Original
Sohō draws this contrast.OriginalOriginal
覺ろくばつぶん亞墨利加より、十八ヶ月過、約條書差越候節答は附錄末文〔參照六〕に誰に委任ある共意之儘可存と有之間、御役人調印に而も可然哉と存候
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryFebruary 22, Washington’s Birthday
Then the day of the exchange arrived.OriginalOriginal
On February 21, as soon as the treaty documents were formally exchanged, the Japanese flag was raised at the bow of the Powhatan, and seventeen salutes were fired.OriginalOriginal
二月二十一日此の如くして條約書が、正式に交換せられたるや否や、ン號の船首には日本の國旗が揭揚せられ、十七發の祝砲は發たれた
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe following day, February 22, the Powhatan departed Shimoda.Original
That day fell on Washington’s birthday.Original
A new friendship with Japan, hoped to be lasting, is thus linked, at least in its date, with the name of Washington ―― so the American account concludes.OriginalOriginal
After setting out this summary, Sohō offers the following comment.OriginalOriginal
Coming as Old Acquaintances
In the intervals of the exchange, whenever he had no business ashore, Adams received visits almost daily from the deputy magistrate and other high officials.OriginalOriginal
These meetings are said to have been like friendly talks between old friends.Original
Indeed, several of them truly were old acquaintances.Original
The Shimoda magistrate Izawa Mimasaka no kami had been one of the commissioners who concluded the treaty, and Moriyama Einosuke, the interpreter who had helped translate the treaty, had also been promoted and had come to Shimoda.Original
The other commissioners of the treaty had also come for the exchange of ratifications, so Adams was spared the feeling of being among strangers.OriginalOriginal
下田奉行伊澤美作守は、條約締結の委員の一人であつた。條約の飜譯に就て我等(米人)を幇助したる、我等の舊友、通譯官森山榮之助(原註、彼は英語に通じた)も、當然昇進して、下田に來てゐた。
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryAdams saw that the Japanese had learned on their own how to operate the model steam engine once presented to them by the President.Original
They could also operate the lifeboat.Original
Only the workings of the telegraph, they said, remained difficult.OriginalOriginal
The first report, which arrived on December 9, said only that a ship had been sighted.Original
Then, over more than two months, letters went back and forth over a single word about the deadline and a single stroke of a signature, and on Washington’s birthday a single ship departed.Original
There was the envoy returning entrusted with a name said to endure forever in history, and there was the magistrate who had raced his brush at the end of the hour of the dog to have the Japanese-text treaty sent from Edo.Original
It was the same harbor, the same winter.Original
| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 32: The Conclusion of the Kanagawa Treaty (1935). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 1223901 |
| Checked against | Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 1 (1940). PID 1046665 |
| Dates and names | 13 dates and 3 names in the text were compared with 481 entries in the Ishin shiryō kōyō. |
| English gates | 89 of 89 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
| Summary | 26 sentences checked against the body. |
This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 32: The Conclusion of the Kanagawa Treaty. Tokutomi Sohō’s views are those of the 1920s and 1930s and may differ from current scholarship. The source text is a century old and may differ from current scholarship.
