Enomoto the true last Samurai no.3

Chapter II

Takeaki Enomoto’s Background

A Brief Presentation of Japanese History

around the end of the Edo Era

The main flow of overthrowing the Tokugawa Bakufu is

described briefly from Perry’s arrival in Japan till 1867,

when the Tokugawa Bakufu is destroyed.

The opening of Japan’s door by the Western Powers and

the Unequal Treaties

Since 1603 when the Tokugawa Bakufu started, the Tokugawa Bakufu

had closed its doors to the West ,except China and Holland. Although

in the first half of seventeenth century, Japan stood abreast with the

Occident technologically, rapid scientific and technological progress

during the Industrial Revolution had made the Western countries

incomparably stronger in military and economic power by the

nineteenth century.
The Industrial revolution needed oil as an energy resource and had

caused western Countries to encourage the whaling industry. All the

western countries were interested and concerned about the

treatment of sailors shipwrecked on Japan’s shores since their

whaling vessels were active off its coasts.

The American government eventually decided to try to force the

doors open. For this purpose, Commodore Matthew C. Perry came to

Japan with steam vessels and left Japan with the promise that he

would return early the next year to receive a reply.
The Japanese were appalled by the size and the number of guns of

the American black ships. The government split into two factions:

conservatives who advocated resistance to the foreigners and

realists who saw that Japan could do nothing but bow to the

American demands.

Under the threatening guns of the American ships, the Bakufu had no

choice but to sign a treaty with the USA under the strong leadership

of the chief daimyo, Naosuke Ii* who was the chief minister of the

Bakufu.

Ii attempted to crush opposition by forcing the Imperial court to

give its assent and placing the leading opposition daimyo under

house arrest. Another group ,largely from Mito, although they were

one of the major related Tokugawa domains, assassinated Ii. After his

death, the Bakufu’s control over the country rapidly disintegrated.
In some domains, extremist Samurai gained control over the local
administrations and attempted to use the power of their domains to

influence national policies.
Gradually their movements became openly revolutionary against the
Tokugawa. Two leading but rival domains in these efforts were

Choshu and Satsuma. Through the efforts of Ryoma Sakamoto,* who

was a samurai freed from the Tosa domain, Choshu and Satsuma

were allied as in opposition to the Bakufu.

Here is an account of the last years of the Bakufu:
1853:Commodore Matthew Perry arrives at Uraga to deliver US

president Millard Fillmore’s message and to request that Japan be

opened to trade. The next year, he revisits Japan to conclude a

peace treaty.
1858: Naosuke Ii becomes chief minister(Tairo),and he signs a

Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and U.S.A.

Then he also signs similar treaties with Holland, Russia, England and

France without permission by the Emperor. At the same time,

in order to sign these treaties, he carries out the mass execution of

Ansei, killing opposition people such as Shoin Yoshida*, Sanai

Hashimoto* and another samurai in the Mito domain who supports

Nariaki Tokugawa* and Yoshinobu*. In total 7 people killed and

70 people imprisoned, sowing the seeds for anti-Bakufu movements

in the future.
1860,January:Katsu Kaishu and his staff cross the Pacific on board

the Kanrin-maru, Yukichi Fukuzawa accompanies the Japanese

mission to U.S.A.: 100 people including Katsu and Fukuzawa go to

America on an American battle ship and the Kanrinnmaru, one of the

warships the Bakufu possesses.
They come back to Japan in May after meeting the American

president and observing America closely. They use the Kanrinmaru

to go to America because Katsu from Nagasaki Naval Training

Center strongly insists that a Japanese battle ship should be

dispatched. It is significant that Japanese can cross the Pacific on

their own although it is said that Katsu gets terrible motion sickness
on the ship. However, Takeaki Enomoto is not on the ship.

March: Naosuke Ii is assassinated by Mito samurais in protest

against the mass execution outside of Sakurada Gate while Katsu

and others are in America. Following this incident, Japan’s feudal

government moves into a period of confusion. Kouzuke Oguri*,

who is the chief executive of the Bakufu government, employs

innovative policy instruments such as strengthening Army and

Naval forces, construction of a modern shipyard and

encouragement of modernization by capitalism and industry

after he gets back from America. However, his policies are not

successful because of radical opposition movements led by

anti-foreigner factions.
1861,15 January: Senior Councilor(Rojyu) Nobumasa Ando is

attacked. Following this incident, he steps down from his post as

the chief councilor.
In February, Russian battle ships take over Tsushima. Japan’s

feudal government manages to drive them out with help from

the British. Due to this event, anti-foreigners factions are

mobilized and trust towards the Tokugawa government worsens.

November: the Shogunate decides to send some people with

three steam engine battleships to study foreign affairs. However,

the same year, the Civil War breaks out in America.

Therefore America is not be able to accept them and refuses the

request from Japan.

1862, August: the Namamugi incident occurs in Kanagawa,

where some samurai in the daimyo line of the Satsuma domain

kill some British who offend the daimyo by riding on their horses

crossing the street in front of the Daimyo.
The Namamugi incident escalates into a major international

incident and it is the starting point of downfall of the Shogunate

authority.

The Edo Shogunate reforms its administration and selects

talented people for national defense. Katsu is one of them and

he becomes a commissioner of battleships. He makes

suggestions about Naval proceedings at the Shogunate

conference. The details are as follows.
＊The first priority should be getting talented human resources

rather than the maintenance of battleships. Katsu believes that

true national defense can be done by people who are intelligent

enough to be able to negotiate on an equal level with foreigners,

even though Japan has only a few battleships.
＊It is important for the nation to unite and work on national

defense. Katsu basically supported the opinion to open up Japan.

October: The Saneomi Sanjyo*, Anegakouji Kintomo* and some

others come down to Edo. They press the Shogun to carry on

the Jyoi (a policy to exclude foreigners) and hand in an imperial

prescript to create a new military unit.

December: The Shogun decides to go to Kyoto. Katsu sails to

Osaka as an advance guard of the Shogun and works hard to

guard the Shogun. Around the same time, Kyoto anti-foreigner

factions make disturbances against the Shogun’s plan to open

the country. At the same time, the British Navy holds a

demonstration in Kanagawa to protest the Namamugi incident.
Sakamoto Ryoma meets and talks with Katsu. Sakamoto intends

to kill Katsu at first, but he is dissuaded by Katsu and becomes

his disciple. As those incidents show, both the Shogunate and the

Imperial court consider Katsu as an important person.

In 1863: Shogun Iemochi* goes to Kyoto and gets a imperial

prescript directly from the Emperor Komei. The prescript is

“Strive to authorize Barbarian Subduing Generalissimo and

exclude foreigners”. Shogun Iemochi pledges the Imperial

court to work to exclude foreigners. However he gets into a

difficult situation between excluding foreigners and accepting

requests from France and Britain, which had asked to be paid

compensation for the Namamugi incident.
September 1863: Katsu has an interview with Saigo and after

that he meets with Saigo often. From then on, Katsu’s

movements become anti-shogunate.
Naturally, the Bakufu are disquieted by him.
October 10th: He gets fired. At the same time Kobe military

training center dismisses him. Katsu himself becomes

increasingly anti-shogunate.


Confrontation between French and U.K. desires, and

the battle between the Bakufu and the powerful clans:

The relationship between the Bakufu and France gets closer

due to the first war between Edo-Bakufu and the Choshu

domain.
In 1865, the Bakufu asks Roche, the French ambassador to

open a new ironworks in Yokohama and an arsenal in Yokosuka.
・Opened a new French language school in Yokohama

(by Roche’s request).
・Opened a new business firm with the French in Brussels.
The relationship between Satsuma and the England:
To buy guns and battleship from English merchants.
To send Tomoatsu Godai*, Terashima*, and Arinori Mori*

to England to study.
Choshu domain: to get close to England, and to buy weapons

and machines. Choshu clan makes three chief retainers commit

seppuku. This incident is called Kinmon-no-hen. After the

incident, the clan is led by Zokuron-ha (conservatives) who

display allegiance to the Shogunate.

(p. 4)