Morrison's Incident

Japanese drawing of the Morrison, anchored in front of Uraga in 1837. The Morrison incident, Morison-gō Jiken, is the name given to the 1837 incident where Morrison, an American merchant ship led by merchant Charles W. King, was moved away from isolationist Japan to cannon fire base. The event was carried out in accordance with the Edict to Repel Foreign Ships of 1825. History

In addition to its commercial intentions, the ship was attempting to repatriate seven Japanese shipwrecked people who had been picked up in Macao. Among them was Yamamoto Otokichi, later known to build bridges between the culture of Japan and the rest of the world. He also carried Christian missionaries like Samuel Wells Williams.

The nature of the mission was known a year after the incident, raising criticism of the edict.

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