How did four black ships force Japan to open?
Commodore Perry told Japan he would bring 100 ships, more than the whole US Navy then had.
▶ Start the storyFour black ships forced Japan to open through a mixture of firepower and . Commodore Matthew Perry's expedition, which the Japanese remember as the "Arrival of the Black Ships", was sent by the United States to force an end to Japan's 220-year-old policy of and to open its ports to American trade, through if necessary. Earlier visitors had failed: between 1790 and 1853, at least twenty-seven American ships visited Japan and were turned away. This time Perry carried "full and discretionary powers", including the possible use of force.
He reached Uraga, at the entrance to Edo Bay, on 8 July 1853, with four vessels, including the black-hulled steamer Mississippi. He steamed past the Japanese lines towards Edo, aimed his guns at Uraga, and fired blank shots from his 73 cannons, claiming it was a salute for American Independence Day. Perry refused to meet low-ranking officials, because he carried a letter from the US president. The local reported to the shogun that his defences were totally inadequate to repel the Americans by force.
Japan's government, meanwhile, was paralyzed by the shogun's illness and political indecision. Perry left, promising to return, and came back in February 1854 with eight vessels and 1,600 men. When the talks stalled, he lost his temper and threatened to bring 100 ships within 20 days, more than the US Navy actually had. On 31 March 1854, Perry signed the Convention of Kanagawa, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American ships.
100 ships
The "black ships" did not conquer Japan, but they ended a 220-year-old policy of within a year, and they exposed how weak the shogunate looked.
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Recap
Four black steamships, 73 cannons and a bluff were enough to open Japan, because the shogunate could not answer them.
💡 A trick to remember it · Four black ships, one big bluff: a door the shogunate had guarded for two centuries swung open in two visits.
Surprising fact · Perry bluffed with a threat of 100 ships, more than the US Navy had, and the shogunate's decision to poll the daimyo made it look weak.
Connects to
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- 🚪 Why did Japan close itself off from the world for two centuries?
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- ⚓ Was the Opium War really about opium, or about something bigger?
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- Tokugawa ieyasu
Sources (1)
No source, no claim. Every fact in this lesson (19 claims) cites at least one of these.