Shimoda from the American Graveyard by Wilhelm Heine is a lithograph depicting a coastal scene at Shimoda, Japan. In the foreground, a group of figures, including both Western and Japanese individuals, are gathered near gravestones, with a cluster of traditional Japanese buildings and a shoreline visible to the right. The middle ground features calm water with several sailing ships at anchor, while dramatic, mountainous terrain rises in the background under a sky with scattered clouds.

The work is rendered in monochrome tones, with careful attention to detail in the figures, architecture, and landscape, characteristic of mid-19th-century lithographic technique. This lithograph belongs to a broader context of visual documentation produced during Commodore Perry’s expedition to Japan in 1853–1854, a period marking the opening of Japan to Western contact after centuries of limited foreign access. Wilhelm Heine was an artist attached to the expedition, and his works often recorded significant locations and events encountered by the American delegation. The documented source for this image is Lot-9211-5, and it is held courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The date associated with this record is 2017-10-06, reflecting its cataloguing or digitization rather than its creation.