Tokugawa Japan · 1853-1868

Black ships: Japan opens up

For over 200 years Japan has kept most foreigners out. Then, in 1853, American steam warships sail into Edo Bay and demand trade. Students follow the "black ships" and see how fifteen years of crisis ended the rule of the shoguns.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1853
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

For over 200 years Japan has kept most foreigners out. Then, in 1853, American steam warships sail into Edo Bay and demand trade. Students follow the "black ships" and see how fifteen years of crisis ended the rule of the shoguns.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain Japan's policy of limited contact with foreigners and the role of the Dutch at Dejima.
  • Describe Commodore Perry's visits of 1853-1854 and the treaties that followed.
  • Explain how the crisis led to the fall of the shogunate in 1867-1868.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1853

Japan's islands

Open the map in 1853 and zoom in on Japan. Find the four main islands, Edo (Tokyo), Kyoto and Nagasaki. Where did the shogun rule, and where did the emperor live?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1853

Across the Pacific

Zoom out over the Pacific. Steamships needed coal along the way. Why would the United States want ports in Japan for ships sailing between California and China?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1853

Edo Bay

Zoom in on Edo Bay. Find Uraga at its entrance and Yokohama, a fishing village that became a treaty port in 1859. Why did Perry anchor so close to the shogun's capital?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Japan let only Dutch and Chinese traders into Nagasaki. Why might a government want to limit foreign contact?
  2. Perry's steam warships could move without wind. How might they have looked to people who had never seen one?
  3. The shogun asked the daimyo (lords) for advice in 1853. Why was that a sign of weakness?
  4. The treaty of 1858 let foreigners be tried in their own courts in Japan. Why did many Japanese find that humiliating?
  5. Some samurai attacked foreigners after 1858. Why would people turn against their own government's treaties?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Tokugawa Ieyasu in Rule History: he founded the shogunate that ruled Japan until 1867. Discuss: which of his decisions helped keep Japan at peace for over 250 years, and why could his system not cope with the black ships?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.