“The rear of the building is appropriated to the family. Here the domestic operations are all carried on; here the family take their meals in the day; here, on the same mats, do they sleep at night; receiving visitors and dressing the children are also done here, and sometimes the cooking too. Usually this latter household task is performed in the porch in the rear, or in an out-house, so that the inmates are not so much annoyed with smoke as they are in Hakodate. No arrangements for warming the dwelling are to be found, except that of hand-braziers placed in the middle of the room with lighted charcoal, around which the family gather. In most of the houses there is a garret, reached by a ladder,—a dark and small apartment, where some goods can be stored, or servants can be lodged. There is not a house in the town whose occupants have arranged this attic with windows and stairways to make it a pleasant room; a few such were, however, seen near the capital, at Kanagawa, and in its vicinity.
“The roofs of all the best buildings are hipped, and covered with bluish tiling, each tile being about eight inches square, shaped somewhat like a wedge; the thick side is so made that, when laid on the rafters, it laps sideways over the thin edge of the adjoining tile in the next row, and thus forms gutters somewhat like the Chinese roofs. They are washed in alternate rows of white and blue, which, with the checkered walls, imparts a lively aspect, and contrasts pleasantly with the more numerous dingy thatched roofs. The thatched roofs are made of a species of Arundo, grown and prepared for this purpose, and answering admirably as a cheap and light covering to the wooden tenements occupied by most of the people. It is matted into a compact mass eighteen inches thick, as it is laid on, and then the surface and the sides are neatly sheared. The ridge-pole is protected by laying the thatch over a row of hoops that enclose it enough to overlap the edges on both slopes, and prevent the rain finding entrance. One cannot feel surprise at the ravages fires make in Japanese towns, where the least wind must blow the flame upon such straw coverings, which, like a tinder-box, would ignite at the first spark. Wires are stretched along the ridges of some of the tiled roofs in Shimoda to prevent birds from resting on the houses.
“In the rear yards, attached to a large number of the dwellings, are out-houses, and sometimes, as in the lodging-houses, additional sleeping-rooms. Kitchen-gardens are not unfrequently seen, and more rarely fancy fish-ponds, dwarfed trees, and even stone carvings. A family shrine, made like a miniature house, containing images of penates and lares, is met with in most of the yards. Only a few of them are adorned with large trees, and still fewer of them exhibit marks of care or taste, presenting in this respect an observable contrast to the neatness of the houses. High hedges or stone walls separate these yards when they are contiguous, but the depth of the lots is usually insufficient to allow room for both the opposite dwellings the luxury of a garden.
“There is not much variety in the structure of the various buildings in Shimoda, and their general appearance denotes little enterprise or wealth. The paper windows and doors, not a few of them dirty and covered with writing, or torn by children to take a peep inside, impart a monotonous aspect to the streets. Dyers’, carpenters’, blacksmiths’, stone-cutters’, and some other shops, have latticed fronts to admit more light, which are elevated above the observation of persons passing by. In front of those dwellings occupied by officials, a white cotton curtain, three feet wide, is stretched along the whole length of the porch, having the coat of arms of the occupant painted on it in black; the names of the principal lodgers are also stuck on the door-posts. Signs are mostly written on the doors, as the windows are drawn aside during the day; but only a portion of the shops have any. Lodging-houses, barbers’ shops, restaurants, or tea-houses, apothecaries, and a few others, are almost always indicated by signs. One dealer in crockery and lackered ware has the sign of a celebrated medicine placed on a high pole, and, the more to attract attention, has written the name in foreign letters. As in China, placards for medicines were the most conspicuous of all, but none are pasted upon blank walls; all are suspended in the shops. However, no dwelling or shop is left unprotected from the ill-usage of malignant spirits, every one having a written or printed charm or picture (sometimes a score or more) over the door to defend the inmates from evil.”
In the interval between Commodore Perry’s first and second visits to the bay of Yedo, Nagasaki was visited by a Russian squadron. On the 7th of September, 1854, just before the last visit of the “Mississippi” and “Susquehanna” to Shimoda, a British squadron of three steamers and a frigate arrived at Nagasaki under Admiral Sterling. These British vessels, which found the annual Dutch trading-ship, two large Chinese junks, also a Dutch steamer, lying in the harbor, encountered the usual reception, being served with notices, surrounded with boats, and denied liberty to land. At length, however, after a deal of negotiation and threats to proceed to Yedo, it was agreed to furnish supplies, tea, rice, pigs, etc., and to receive payment through the Dutch. On the 15th the admiral landed, and was conducted in state to the governor’s house. The guard-boats were withdrawn, and the men were allowed to land on an island to recreate themselves. Other interviews followed, presents were interchanged, and, on the 19th, the squadron left. These particulars are drawn from the published letter of a medical officer on board, who describes the supplies furnished as very good, and the Japanese soy as cheap and nice, but who does not seem to have relished the sake, which he likens in taste to acetate of ammonia water.
The American war-steamer “Powhatan” visited Shimoda February 21, 1855, to complete the exchange of ratification, which done, she sailed again two days after. The town of Shimoda was found in a state of desolation and ruin, from the effects of a disastrous earthquake, on the 23d of December previous, in which the Russian frigate “Diana,” then lying in the harbor to complete the pending negotiations, was so damaged as to have sunk in attempting to make a neighboring port for repairs. Ōsaka and Yedo were reported to have suffered severely, and Yedo still more from a subsequent fire.
[See also “Matthew Calbraith Perry” (Griffis) and the Official Report of Commodore Perry’s Expedition.—Edr.]
CHAPTER XLVI
New Dutch Treaty—Mr. Harris, American Consul at Shimoda—His Convention with the Japanese—His Journey to Yedo—Second Visit to Yedo—Conditional Treaty—British Treaty—French and Russian Treaties—Japanese Embassies to the United States, A.D. 1854-1860.
The success of the Americans in forming a treaty with Japan led to negotiations on the part of the Dutch, by which the narrow privileges enjoyed by that nation were considerably extended. By this treaty, which was signed January 30, 1856, the ports open to the Americans were opened also to the Dutch. They were allowed to exercise their religion, and to bring their wives and children to Japan. They were authorized to trade directly with Japanese merchants, and to hold free intercourse at Deshima with other foreigners. They, in their turn, undertook to supply the Japanese with a war steamer, and to give them instruction in naval matters.