 The arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry's "Black Ships" in 1853 caused the Japanese to abandon their "archaic" martial arts and use western firepower.Martial arts were considered outdated and part of Japan's feudal history, and schools deemphasized traditional martial arts.Interest in martial arts was raised again in 1873 by Sakakibara Kenkichi, a proud man of hatamoto status who was disturbed by the loss of traditional swordsmanship and martial arts.