5.7 Edo Period 1854 – 1867: Foreign crisis, sonnō jōi, and End of Tokugawa
Perry returned in February 1854, and with ten ships to create more pressure. On March 8, 1854, the Convention of Kanagawa or Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed by Perry and Daigaku-no-kami Hayashi Akira.
Perry left thinking that the agreement had been made with imperial representatives. However, this was not the case and the opening of Japan instigated a national debate of an unprecedented nature, involving Japanese from the highest strata of society to the lowest.
Hotta Masayoshi (1810-1864) led a committee to make recommendations about opening ports to the Americans resulting in the Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858 or the Harris Treaty, named after American Consul Townsend Harris. After this, Japan was forced to sign other such treaties with the Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain, and France. These “unequal treaties” were to be a sore point with Japan’s relations with the West up to the 20th Century.
After Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858 Hotta lost support of several daimyō. Hotta sought imperial support. He traveled to Kyoto but found Emperor Kōmei aligned with the jōi faction.
The Emperor Kōmei (1831-1867) was incensed about the Western incursions. Kōmei had never met a foreigner and knew little about them but did not like them. In order to get a consensus, Bakufu delegations consulted with Emperor Kōmei. The consultations worked out well for Kōmei. The shogunate now needed legitimacy of the emperor. The public image of the ascendance of the emperor was defined in the visit and reception of Shogun Iemochi to Emperor Kōmei in Kyoto, which was publicly seen in their pilgrimage to the Kamo shrine with the emperor in the lead and the shogun following. In 1863 Kōmei issued his “Order to expel barbarians” While toothless, it caught on with the popular imagination.
The movement exalting the emperor and opposing foreigners was called sonnō jōi (“Revere the Emperor; Expel the Barbarians”). Aizawa Seishisai introduced the term sonnō jōi in Shinron. Sonnō jōi became the rallying cry for Tokugawa opponents in the 1850s and 1860s.
The shishi or ishin shishi (“men of high purpose”) appeared during the final years of the Edo Period. An early leader was Yoshida Shōin, who started an ishin shishi school. Some were very violent such as The Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu, who were assassins. (The word hitokiri means man slayer or man cutter.) There were so many assassinations in Kyoto that the bakufu formed the Shinsengumi to restore law and order in 1863.
While the shishi are linked with the sonnō joi movement, their relationship with the West is complicated. The Chōshū Five was a prime example. Chōshū was very interested in acquiring Western military technology and knowledge. It sent five promising students to England in 1863. The knowledge they brought back helped turn Chōshū into a great military power.
There was much violence against foreigners and those who dealt with them. The Secretary to the American mission was murdered. Attacks were made on the British Legation, the American Legation, and people associated with foreigners. The British finally demanded an indemnity of £ 100,000 from the regime and bombarded Shimonoseki and Kagoshima.
In 1864, a sonnō jōi rebellion occurred in the Mito Domain. It took a force of 10,000 under Tokugawa Yoshinobu to subdue it. Also in 1864, Chōshū rebels attempted to take control of the Emperor at the Imperial Palace. Yoshinobu, as commander of the imperial palace’s defense defeated the rebels. After bloody reprisals, the First Chōshū Expedition was launched.
The First Chōshū Expedition was welcomed by the Satsuma Domain as an opportunity to attack its traditional enemy, Chōshū. However Sakamoto Ryōma, who dreamed of a modern democratic Japan, brokered a peace and a secret alliance between Satsuma and Chōshū. Saigō Takamori of Satsuma, called “the last true samurai,” proposed to avoid fighting and instead capture the leaders responsible for the rebellion, which avoided further bloodshed. This signaled new cooperation between Chōshū and Satsuma.
In 1866, the Bakufu initiated a second attack, the Second Chōshū Expedition, which resulted in a defeat of the Bakufu forces by the modernized Chōshū forces. After Shogun Iemochi died, the new shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, negotiated a ceasefire.
Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837 –1913) was the 15th and last Tokugawa shogun. Yoshinobu prevailed in battle and initiated projects to strengthen the shogunate, but that was not enough. Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa formed an alliance to counter what they feared was the “Rebirth of Ieyasu.” The Tosa faction offered a moderate proposal where Yoshinobu would resign as shogun, but preside over a new national governing council. Yoshinobu, already fearing assassination if he did not make concessions, imagined that he would continue as the first among equals.
On November 9, 1867, Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor, formally returning governing power to the Emperor, thus ending the Tokugawa shogunate de jure.
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