1861

Sales Room in the Foreign Mercantile Firm in Yokohama

Japanese, c. 1807 - 1873

The major Japanese commodities for international trade were raw silk and tea; other exports included fish and vegetable oils, copper, lacquerware, porcelain, and fans. Basic imports from the West included cotton yarn and cloth, woolen fabrics, iron products, sugar, tobacco, clocks and watches, glass, and wines and liquors. In this crowded scene of a Western merchant's business, Sadahide records his keen observations of the new commercial transactions. At right, merchants bargain with Japanese tradesmen, both parties gesturing to aid their efforts to communicate because knowledge of each other's languages was severely limited. Sadahide also made note of the left-to-right horizontal writing practice of the Western gentleman in the center foreground-a radically different approach from the Japanese, who write in vertical columns from right to left.