Steamships and Samurai: How The Perry Expedition Shattered Feudal Japan

On July 8th, 1853, four American warships, commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, steamed into Edo Bay, Japan. He had been given a mandate to end the Japanese policy of isolation and open up the country to American trade. Perry wasted no time and immediately turned his guns on the vulnerable capital and began firing blanks as a show of force. Despite being surrounded by dozens of small guard ships, Perry was not dissuaded. He informed the Japanese that any attempt to board his ships would be repulsed with force.

This event is known as the Opening of Japan in the West and as Kurofune Raikō, the Arrival of the Black Ships, in Japan. The appearance of Perry, with his four warships and countless cannon, sent Feudal Japan into a political spiral that would lead to the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and usher in the Japanese Empire. Ironically, while Perry was ultimately successful in opening Japan to foreign trade, he also created the state that would go on to terrorize Asia and the Pacific less than a century later.

Perry was given ample leeway to engage in gunboat diplomacy to force the Japanese to the negotiating table. The Americans were trying their hand at a tactic that was, at this point, tried and true by other European powers. Show up with superior technology, intimidate a local population, sow political instability, and then exploit the results for influence and profit.

Perry's expedition would be met with initial success, but it led to a cascade of events that no one could foresee.

The Weakness of the Shogunate Exposed

By the time that Perry arrived in Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate had been in power for over two centuries. They had managed to tame Japan's infamous political chaos and rule largely unopposed for nearly 250 years. Part of the reason for their success was the Tokugawa policy of complete isolation and the banning of all foreign traders and investors.

The shogun at the time was Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyoshi, who was deathly ill. Perry made it very clear that he had the means and the will to blow the Japanese capital of Edo to high heaven if his demands were not met. Perry only lingered in Japan for a week during his first expedition, but his point was well received.

Just days after Perry's departure for China on July 17th, the shogun died, and the authority passed to his son Tokugawa Iesada. Iesada was seen as physically and emotionally weak, and those fears would be confirmed when Perry returned in 1854.

The Americans came back, as promised, a year later and demanded that the Japanese sign the Convention of Kanagawa. The Convention of Kanagawa opened two ports to American traders, Shimoda and Hakodate, effectively ending the Japanese policy of isolation.

The Tokugawa Shogunate was initially popular because it put an end to meddling by European powers in Japan, such as the Portuguese. Being forced to sign the Convention of Kanagawa immediately reminded the Japanese of these days, which were deeply unpopular. This connection, combined with the weakness of Tokugawa Iesada, led to a strong and immediate backlash in Japan.

The Unequal Treaties

In 1858, the initial treaties signed by the Americans were expanded to include nearly every other European power, including France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Russia. These treaties would become known as the Unequal Treaties because they ceded nearly all trade control to the Europeans, which wreaked havoc on the Japanese economy. The appearance of new goods and bushels of foreign currency upended the careful feudal system that had been cultivated for hundreds of years under isolation. It was a complete embarrassment for the Shogunate.

It wasn't long before European trading posts appeared on Japanese soil, and, like in other places such as India, these trading posts quickly started to expand and seize tariff rights and lands for themselves. This was seen as unacceptable to many Japanese, especially hardliners.

Discontent began to brew, and it wasn't long before full-blown revolutions began to break out across Japan.

The Fall of the Shogunate and the Rise of Imperial Japan

While the shogun had ruled with supreme authority in Japan for over two hundred years, the imperial throne and emperor were still present at the time. The shogunate had stripped the imperial house of its authority but was allowed to exist as a figurehead. With the shogunate showing increasing weakness and the inability to deal with modern threats, many people decided to back the emperor in a bid to return him to power. This is what ultimately kicked off the Meiji Restoration.

Facing foreign threats, internal threats, and now a new revolutionary force, the Tokugawa Shogunate ultimately folded. The shogunate was too weak and disjointed to adequately deal with all of the multiplying threats — which was the point that the revolutionaries were trying to make. The shogun was outdated and too feeble to rule in the modern world.

The shogunate came to an end in 1857, and the last of the armies loyal to the shogun were defeated in 1858. This ushered in the rise of Imperial Japan.

The Emperor of Japan announces to the sovereigns of all foreign countries and to their subjects that permission has been granted to the Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu to return the governing power in accordance with his own request. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country. Consequently, the title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Taikun, in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs. It is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement.

With the onset of the Meiji Restoration, Japan threw off the mantle of feudalism that it had been cloaked in for centuries. The quiet secluded life that the Japanese had been content to lead was shattered and the pieces swept up and tossed aside. A way of life that had been in place for generations was undone in a mere decade after the arrival of Matthew Perry in 1853.

Instead of creating a fractured state that would be easy to control and exploit, Commodore Perry and the United States inadvertently pushed Japan into coalescing into an international power. The Japanese wholeheartedly supported the new imperial regime, and they embarked on a rapid process of modernization, which shocked the world.

Less than 40 years after taking power, the Imperial Japanese would defeat Russia in a stunning war in 1905. (The defeat at the hands of the Japanese led to uprisings within Russia.) Then, just a decade later, the Japanese joined the Allies in World War I and officially entered the world stage through the League of Nations. In 1941, less than a century after Perry arrived in Edo Bay, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the United States that started a war that would ultimately push both nations to the brink.

Japan proved to be immune to international bullying, and it refused to be colonized.

Conclusion

Commodore Perry died in 1858 from complications relating to his alcoholism. He died long before he could see the results of his actions. Yet, Perry's gungho attitude toward gunboat diplomacy and his heavy handed tactics led to the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the rise of Imperial Japan. Instead of gaining a pliable ally that could be easily exploited and colonized, the United States ultimately ended up creating its greatest geopolitical foe.

Feudal Japan died with the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the chain of events that led to its demise can be traced directly back to Commodore Perry's expedition in 1853. Sure, there were cracks forming beforehand, and it is unclear how long Japan could have feasibly lived in isolation, but Perry's untimely arrival kicked off a series of events that no one could accurately predict ahead of time.