The flags of the five treaty nations are juxtaposed against vessels from each of these nations:

This print reveals much about the foreigners as seen by the Japanese.

Sadahide The Observer:
Sunday

A brass band parades along the waterfront past a merchant’s residence.

The middle of the print depicts themes related to the foreign settlers, including oddities as seen by the Japanese. For example, meat was rarely eaten in this Buddhist country; only warriors rode horseback; and only pipes were used for smoking.

France... Russia... United States... Great Britain... ...and the Netherlands.

More than 150 figures appear in this representation of the five nations on parade—in 1861, Yokohama’s international community would have been no larger.

Goat for wool & meat...woman on horseback... horse-drawn carriages...Chinese interpreters and servants... cigarettes... ...and servants from other nations, like India.

Prints are gifts of Ambassador William and Florence Leonhart, reproduced courtesy
of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.

“Yokohama Boomtown” Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2008 Visualizing Cultures
A Project of Professors John W. Dower and Shigeru Miyagawa

Based on the catalogue of the 1990 exhibition at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Yokohama: Prints from 19th-Century Japan,
by Ann Yonemura. © 1990 Smithsonian Institution

On viewing images from the historical record: click here.

Design and production by Ellen Sebring, Scott Shunk, and Andrew Burstein