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Samurai Visit to Manhattan Commemorated in New Museum Exhibition

By DNAinfo Staff on June 25, 2010 6:56am  | Updated on June 25, 2010 7:16am

By Jennifer Glickel

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

EAST HARLEM — It was 1860 and the city was abuzz with excitement as more than 70 sword-wielding samurai chose New York City as the place to make Japan's first diplomatic visit to the United States.

“Samurai in New York,” The Museum of the City of New York’s latest exhibition, honors the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese delegation to Manhattan, which was received with a host of lavish balls and parades.

“This was a time in New York’s history when it was really starting to flex its muscles as a major city in the world,” said Kathleen Benson, project director at the MCNY.

“New York was very good at putting on large civic celebrations and they outdid themselves for the arrival of the Japanese delegation,” she said.

The MCNY show exhibits rare photographs and newspaper articles documenting the samurai’s two-week visit, as well as a variety of objects that tell the story of the trip from the Japanese point of view.

The mission reached New York in June of 1860 after touring through Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. When the samurai reached Manhattan a parade was held in their honor on Broadway, where a reported half a million New Yorkers came out to welcome the group, including poet Walt Whitman, who wrote 99-line poem in honor of the occasion.

During their two-week stay the city did all it could to impress the Japanese and show them the modernized American way of life, from hosting huge parties to organizing tours of City Hall, Trinity Church, and industrial sites, like a sugar refinery.

“The zest with which the entire Embassy, from the prince down to the cooks, enjoyed the festivities of the grand ball, necessitated a day of rest,” the New York Times reported on June 27, 1860.

At a time when the newspaper referred to its city as “the great Metropolis of the New World,” the atmosphere of enthusiasm and celebration with which the Japanese were welcomed wasn’t simply for the foreigners’ benefit.

“The Japanese visit brought a definite sense of cosmopolitanism to New York,” Benson said. “So many of the celebratory aspects of what was reported to be honoring the Japanese delegation was really honoring New York itself as well. In a lot of the photos of the grand ball, you can barely even see any Japanese people. It’s all about the women and their dresses and the chandeliers.”

Nevertheless, New Yorkers were fascinated with the Japanese delegation, who were constantly surrounded by curious onlookers and reporters.

“The subordinate officers continue their shopping excursions, and throughout yesterday, as during every day of their stay in the City, their presence in some of the principal stores could be noted by the crowds peering in at the doors and windows,” the Times wrote.

The trip ultimately was judged a success, as Western industrialization strongly influenced and changed that of Japan during the Meiji Restoration in the years after the visit.

“The effect went both ways,” Benson said. “When you think about it there’s a lot of Japanese influence in our lives now – anime, karaoke bars, sushi, and so many of our electronics are made in Japan.”

“Samurai in New York” opens Friday at the Museum of the City of New York and runs through October 11. The museum is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street.