Black Ships

In 1639, after suppressing a rebellion blamed on the influence of Christian thought, the ruling Tokugawa shogunate retreated into an isolationist policy, the Sakoku.

The sight of the four ships entering Edo Bay, belching black smoke and able to move with no need of wind, deeply frightened the Japanese.

[8] Perry ignored the official requests that he move to Nagasaki—the licensed port for external trade—and threatened to attack Edo and burn it to the ground if he was not allowed to land.

[9] The following year, at the Convention of Kanagawa, Perry returned with a fleet of eight of the fearsome Black Ships, to demonstrate the power of the United States navy, and to lend weight to his announcement that he would not leave again, until he had a treaty.

Perry refused certain conditions of the treaty but agreed to defer their resolution to a later time, and finally establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States.

Taihei (泰平) means 'tranquil'; Jōkisen (上喜撰) is the name of a costly brand of very strong green tea; and shihai (四杯) means 'four cups', so a literal translation of the poem is: Awoken from sleep of a peaceful quiet world by Jokisen tea; with only four cups of it one can't sleep even at night.

The poem, therefore, has a hidden meaning: Breaking the halcyon slumber of the Pacific; The steam-powered ships, a mere four boats are enough to make us lose sleep at night.

Kurofune ("The Black Ships") is also the title of the first Japanese opera, composed by Kosaku Yamada and premiering in 1940, "based on the story of Tojin Okichi, a geisha caught up in the turmoil that swept Japan in the waning years of the Tokugawa shogunate".