Devotations in the Great Temple Simoda

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of complete lithograph

There were 9 Buddhist temples and one Sintoo (Shinto) temple in Simoda at the time of Perry's visit. While not stated in the Narrative, this appears to be the "Rio-shen-zhi" temple which was the largest of the Buddhist temples in Simoda at the time of the visit. Commodore Perry and his officers were quartered in the facilities that were a part of this temple.

Commodore Perry visited the newly opened port of Simoda on the 18th of April, 1854. He remained there until the 9th of May. This particular excursion resulted in a total of 15 lithographs, which is approximately 17% of all the lithographs in the Narrative. It appears that Commodore Perry was very much impressed with Simoda and found many aspects of it to represent typical facets of Japanese culture and life. These were recorded in paintings by Heine.

The Narrative described Simoda as a town of approximately 1,000 houses and 7,000 inhabitants located on a small island near the mouth Yedo Bay. While the town appeared to the expedition members to be impoverished and lacking significant trading facilities, they were impressed with its beauty and cleanliness.

Simoda related lithographs.

401   Shimoda from Vandalia Bluff
403   Bridge of cut-stone, Simoda
404   Japanese woman, Simoda
405   Mother and child, Simoda--from a daguerreotype
406   Temple of Hat-chi-man-ya-chu-ro
407   Devotions in great temple, Simoda
408   Buddhist priest, Simoda, in costume
409   Buddhist priest, Simoda--likeness
410   Bell-house, Simoda--daguerreotype
411   Mariner's temple, Simoda
414   Japanese rice-mill, Simoda
417   Kura-Kawa-Kakei, prefect of Simoda--daguerreotype
418   Japanese woman--daguerreotype
425   Simoda, from the American grave yard
426   Japanese funeral, Simoda

The titles/lettering read:

• From nature by W. Heine
• Lith of Sarony & Co. New York
• DEVOTIONS IN THE GREAT TEMPLE SIMODA

Condition. The lithograph has moderate text foxing and is centered up.

Landscape Format

Page Size (cm): 28.6 x 22.1

Image Size (cm): Width-23.8, Height-16.6 Dia 29.1