Japanese Funeral at Simoda

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of complete lithograph

The artist, Heine, drew this picture of a Japanese funeral in Shimoda. The funeral procession is lead by priests. In his memoirs, Heine commented that "These gentlemen, like the clergy of other lands, seem to regard gluttony, drink and depravity as prerogatives of office. Frequently I witnessed the consequences of their passion for saki. Nor do they marry but delight in surrounding themselves with boys."

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.

The titles/lettering read:

• From Nature by Heine


• Lith of Sarony & Co. N. YORK


• JAPANESE FUNERAL AT SIMODA

Bottom edge (binding edge) is ragged. Plate is toned evenly overall (sightly more than normal) and has text foxing on image area and back.

Paper thickness is 9.9mm.

Landscape Format

Page Size (cm): 29.4x22.7cm

Image Size (cm): Width-23.7, Height-16.5, Dia 28.9