Source 19.3: The Debate: A Sumo Wrestler and a Foreigner

The debate about Japan’s response to Perry’s demands not only engaged political and intellectual elites, but found expression as well in the popular media of woodblock prints. In 1861, such a print showed a Japanese sumo wrestler tossing a boastful French competitor. The inscription reads: “Hershan, wrestler without peer, comes from Calais in France, a part of Europe. He has traveled to the countries of the world, and nowhere has he been defeated. He is very boastful and came to our country to Yokohama and asked for a match. To the glory of Japan, a Japanese sumo wrestler threw him to the ground.”2

Questions to consider as you examine the source:

A Sumo Wrestler and a Foreigner

image
A Sumo Wrestler and a ForeignerYoshiku Utagawa (1833–1904), Sumo Wrestler Tossing a Foreigner, 1st month, 1861. Polychrome woodblock print; inks and colors on paper. Image: 14-1/4 × 9-3/8 in. (36.2 × 23.8 cm.). Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005 (2007.49.225). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA/Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Image source: Art Resource, NY

Notes

  1. M. William Steele, Alternative Narratives in Modern Japanese History (London: Routledge, 2003), 29.