Kurofune is a musical trip and a visionary journey that carries the listener back namely to the 16th and 17th centuries, between Europe and Japan. Kurofune is a Japanese word that means Black Ships. It’s the name given to the Western ships sailing to Japan in the time between the 16th and 19th century.

Kurofune particularly refers to four American ships that arrived in the middle of the 19th century in Japan, under the command of M. Perry. Their arrival in 1853 marked the reopening of the country after more than two hundred years of self-imposed isolation, because from 1639 to 1853 Japan was closed to all Westerners who could only stay on a little island called Dejima in the Nagasaki harbour. During this era of the “locked state” which in Japanese is called Sakoku, there were mainly Dutch traders confined to Dejima Island. In this sense, the Kurofune became a symbol of the ending of isolation.

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