1860 Sadahide View of Treaty Port Yokohama, Japan in Six Sheets

This is a masterful c. 1860 six-panel composite view of Yokohama produced by Sadahide (貞秀), one of the great ukiyo-e artists of the late Edo period and early Meiji. The view depicts Yokohama shortly following its opening to foreign trade, a development that would have dramatic consequences for both Yokohama and Japan.

A Closer Look

This view is composed of six standard sized ukiyo-e sheets that combine to form a large view of Yokohama. The view is oriented towards the northeast, illustrating the bustling town just after its opening as a treaty port. The distinctive foreign quarters, built around factories (warehouses) of traders from various nations, had not yet taken shape. Nonetheless, the foreign presence is already apparent in the ships anchored in the harbor, and in the collection of structures at bottom-right connected by a walkway with the main settlement. This was the Miyozaki Quarter (港崎遊廓), a pleasure (prostitution) quarter for foreign traders that burned in the fire of 1866. Afterwards, the pleasure quarter relocated, and the Miyozaki Quarter was reconstructed as Yokohama Park, which it remains today. Some remnants of the pleasure quarter, such as stone lanterns, that survived the fire are still present.

As Yokohama suffered several large fires over the years, including as a result of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and American firebombing during World War II, little of the original treaty port remains. Therefore, many of the buildings built in a European or hybrid architectural style, such as the Port Opening Memorial Hall, the Red Brick Warehouse (a former customs house), and the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History, date from the late 19th and early 20th century and have required reconstruction.

At left is a temple dating to the 12th or 13th century that was dedicated to Benzaiten (弁才天), a fascinating deity characteristic of Japan's syncretic religious context, who served as the town's protector. This complex did not survive the fires and upheavals over Yokohama's modern history, nor the state's control and reformulation of Shinto as a state religion in the Meiji Era. However, a small shrine related to the one illustrated here exists today further to the east on the Motomachi Shopping Street (元町商店街). In the years after this map's publication, an equestrian field and a school for English were built near the Benzaiten temple, reflecting the growing foreign influence in Yokohama. Today, this area is home to Yokohama City Hall and Sakuragichō Station.

Yokohama – Japan's Gateway to the Outside World

Sadahide is most closely associated with Yokohama-e (橫濱繪), a ukiyo-e genre which he largely defined, depicting foreigners and the cultural interactions between Japan and the outside world. Although Japan had reluctantly signed a 'Treaty of Peace and Amity' with the United States in 1854, opening the door for greater foreign presence and influence, the terms were quite vague until a subsequent treaty, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (also known as the Harris Treaty), signed in 1858, opened Japanese ports to foreign trade. Other foreign powers piled into Japan to sign similar treaties stipulating rights for their nationals to trade and reside in certain ports. The most important of these 'treaty ports' were Nagasaki and Yokohama, the former having been a major port for centuries, the latter much less so.

The foreign powers demanded a port near Edo (Tokyo), understanding that the capital itself was not an option. Yokohama was primarily chosen because the most obvious choice, Kanagawa-juku (神奈川宿), a nearby coastal station on the Tōkaidō, was opposed by the Shogun. Much like Shanghai in China, Yokohama grew rapidly and became the main conduit for the exchange of people, goods, and ideas between Japan and the outside world.

Artists, Sadahide chief among them, rushed to depict the new visitors, who were regarded with both curiosity and revulsion, but in either case were an object of keen interest throughout Japan. Aside from Western traders, Chinese merchants and workers also resided in Yokohama, establishing an important Chinese community, still the largest Chinatown in Japan.

As the city itself was a product of the treaty port system, Yokohama was quick to embrace foreign technology, and Japan's first major rail line was opened from Yokohama to Edo (by then renamed Tokyo) in 1872. Eventually, Yokohama would grow to swallow up Kanagawa-juku and other nearby towns, becoming the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan.

Publication History and Census

This view was engraved by Sadahide, whose signature is present on each individual sheet (as either 貞秀 or 五雲亭貞秀), and published by Tsujiokaya Bunsuke (辻岡屋文助) in Edo. It is dated to the first year of the Man'en reign (万延元), that is, 1860. This view is cataloged among the holdings of three institutions, Waseda University, the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan), and Ritsumeikan University, and is very scarce to the market.