Henry Regan: The Bar-Perry-an

Broadsheet portrait of Perry

Various Japanese artists portrayed commodore Perry in many fashions but almost every depiction possesses a certain style of clever and deliberate propaganda. This portrayal of Perry was done by an unknown Japanese artist, but still utilizes many of the pointed messages that characterized Japanese feelings about western culture. The title above the image reads, “A true likeness of the commanding officer from the Republic of North America”[1] but one with any knowledge of Perry must question the validity of that statement.

The clipping seen above was circulated in a kawaraban, a traditional news publication in Japan, and would broadcast the headline stories of the country.[2] In this specific image, a Japanese artist drew Commodore Perry with a moustache, a common theme in Japanese portraits of Perry. Why was this extra hair included when, as Dower displays in side-by-side photos, Perry was a cleanly shaven individual? Dower continues to explain that this was a 17th century strategy to continue the theme of the barbarian Westerners.[3] Although not seen in this specific picture, Dower describes that, “On rare occasion, the commodore’s hairy visage was transparently barbaric and even demonic—as if the American emissary were truly one of the legendary demons or devils (oni and akuma) that old folktales spoke about as dwelling across the seas.”[4] Although Perry never sported a moustache like the one in the image above, the majority of the Japanese people could not have know about the deceitful inclusion and had been trained through propaganda that this was the Western norm.

“Barbarians” as the Japanese would describe them had been trying to make contact with Japan long before Perry. In an 1825 piece as part of the New Theses, the Japanese tried to warn their people about the danger of these barbarians. In the article they believe that Westerners “will settle for nothing less than subjugating the rules of all nations and conscripting all peoples into their ranks.”[5] These barbarians are believed to be not only hairy, but also quite violent with the most malicious intents. Commodore Perry is not simply pictured in a traditional fashion but with a sheathed sword in his hand. Perry displays the characteristics of an angered and violent man in the drawing. His lips are pursed, his eyes are determined, and his hand is clenching his weapon ready to draw at any moment.

Perry is also fitted with what Dower describes as a, “strange brimless cap”.[6] Perry is meant to seem incredibly foreign, violent, and dangerous. The Westerners are the modern-day demons that have come to take over the land and overthrow the norms of society. In the New Theses, it warns, “nurturing barbarians within our Middle Kingdom will trigger disturbances throughout the realm”.[7] The Japanese artists wanted to convince their fellow citizens that the Americans were there to destroy life, as the Japanese knew it. Their depictions of the Westerners played off traditional folklore and nightmares of demons and barbarians to rally the nation together. Commodore Perry received this Japanese propaganda treatment in very fitting fashion.

Henry Regan