Posted on: Sunday, November 30, 2003

Samurai encounter black ships at EWC

Advertiser Staff

On July 8, 1853, four foreign warships entered the harbor at Uraga under a cloud of black smoke, effectively signaling the end of Japan's 200-year isolation.

The ships — two coal-burning steamships towing two sloops — were under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry, a dour and imperious American gunboat diplomat charged with establishing relations between the two countries. A second visit by Perry a year later yielded a treaty that opened two ports to foreign vessels.

Today a revelatory new exhibit, "Black Ships and Samurai," developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors John Dower and Shigeru Miyagawa, opens at the East-West Center Gallery, offering O'ahu audiences a variety of perspectives on the historic first encounter.

Dower won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for "Embracing Defeat," a study of Japan after World War II.

Miyagawa, a prize-winning educator known for his work in educational technology, will conduct a lecture on Perry's arrival in Japan, 2 p.m. Saturday at the gallery.

The exhibit, on tour through 2003 in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the event, juxtaposes image reproductions from artists in Japan and the United States. Included are reproductions of works such as James Evans' heroic 1853 oil painting "Com. Perry Carrying the Gospel of God to the Heathen," and a 30-foot horizontal scroll by Japanese artists digitally displayed on a large-scale plasma screen, chronicling, somewhat comically, the arrival of the Americans.

For movie buffs, the exhibit can provide some "prequel"-type background for the new Tom Cruse vehicle, "The Last Samurai," set some 23 years after Perry's arrival.

"Black Ships and Samurai" is more than that. The exhibit is based on the illustrated text Dower and Miyagawa developed for the first unit of their course "Visualizing Cultures." The course materials are also available free on the Web at the "Visualizing Cultures" site (www.ellensebring.com/newport) using MIT's innovative OpenCourseWare.

The free exhibit runs through Dec. 7. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.