Emperor Kōmei
Emperor Kōmei (1831 – 1867) was the 121st emperor of Japan. Kōmei reigned from 1846 through 1867, the final years of the Edo Period.
Kōmei is best known for his opposition to the entry of Western powers to Japan.
Kōmei’s personal name was Osahito. He was the fourth son of Emperor Ninkō and his consort Fujiwara-no-Tsuneko. He acceded to the throne after the death of Ninkō.
Kōmei’s principal consort was Kujō Asako. Asako was Kujō Hisatada’s daughter. Of their six children, only Crown Prince Mutsuhito, later Emperor Meiji was to survive childhood. After Kōmei’s death in 1867, Asako was given the title Empress Eishō by Emperor Meiji.
In July 1853, Adm. Perry, USN, entered Edo Bay in the Black Ships and made demands that Japan open to foreigners. His forces returned in 1854 and the Convention of Kanagawa was signed. A more extensive treaty, The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States, the Harris Treaty was signed in 1858 granting much greater rights to the Americans. Treaties with other foreign powers followed.
The Americans came at a bad time for the Tokugawa shogunate. Japan had had a period of natural disasters and social discontent. Over the years the shogunate had become weaker and less effective. Shogun Ieyoshi died shortly after Perry landed and he was replaced by the weak and sickly Tokugawa Iesada. Members of the kuge aristocracy (the class that dominated the Imperial Court in Kyoto) starting to meddle in national political policy by meeting directly with members of various feudal domains. The Tokugawa regime was losing its grip over the country and attempted unity by consulting various daimyo and the emperor.
The Emperor Kōmei was incensed about the Western incursions. Kōmei had never met a foreigner and knew little about them but did not like them. He only had symbolic power, but in a battle of opinion, symbols can be important. To get a consensus and legitimacy through the emperor, Daigaku-no-kami Hayashi Akira took a bakufu delegation for advice from Emperor Kōmei about dealing with the foreign powers. During the Tokugawa regime, the bakufu had never consulted an emperor. Later Hayashi went to Kyoto to explain to Kōmei the terms of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858. Kōmei was not pleased with the treaty but did acquiesce when he realized that there was no alternative. The consultations worked out well for Kōmei, whose status was elevated, and he began to assert himself.
The chief minister Ii Naosuke attempted to end opposition by the Ansei Purge, but it was evident that something had to be done to unify the country. The bakufu wanted an alliance to strengthen Japan. They came up with kōbu gattai (Union of the Imperial Court and the Shogunate), a policy designed to bring together the Tokugawa shogunate, certain major feudal domains, and the imperial court. It called for a marriage between Kōmei’s younger half-sister, Imperial Princess Kazu-no-Miya Chikako (1846 – 1877), to Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi. The powerful daimyō rōjū Andō Nobumasa and Kuze Hirochika pushed hard for this arrangement.
In 1851, Kazu-no-Miya Chikako was engaged to Prince Arisugawa Taruhito. Initially she refused kōbu gattai and Emperor Kōmei sided with her stating that she was already engaged and refused to leave Kyoto, further stating that like other women in Japan, she could not be compelled to marry anyone she did not wish to marry.
Kōmei threated to abdicate the throne, sending Kazu-no-Miya to a monastery, which would force the shogunate to choose another candidate for the marriage. However, there was much support by members of their family and several prominent kuge to the marriage and Kazu-no-Miya did not want to be the cause of her brother’s abdication and her going to a monastery. Kōmei agreed under the conditions that the shogunate repudiate the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and return to isolationist policies, work out a strategy to improve the livelihood of artisans unable to compete with cheap imports, and that Kazu-no-Miya be allowed to live her accustomed life and to be able to visit Kyoto on certain occasions. Emperor Kōmei made his sister a naishinnō (imperial princess).
The marriage was strongly opposed by proponents of the Sonnō jōi movement, who sought to overthrow the shogunate and restore political power to the emperor, as well as by some major daimyō. Despite this opposition, the marriage took place in 1862. This marriage lasted only four years for Tokugawa Iemochi died in 1866.
Apparently Kazu-no-Miya ended up getting along with Iemochi and in later years, her mother-in-law as well. Her financé Prince Arisugawa Taruhito had an honorable career in the military. As for the individuals pushing the marriage, Ii Naosuke was assassinated and there was an attempted assassination on Andō Nobumasa, who was later forced from government. She was renamed Lady Seikan’in-no-miya after she took the tonsure as a widow.
Kazu-no-Miya Chikako was the great-great-great aunt of Emperor Akihito, who reigned from 1989 to 2019.
The “Order to Expel Barbarians”
Kōmei began to get involved with state matters. In 1863, he issued his edict “Order to expel barbarians.” Though the bakufu did not intend to enforce it, they offered no opposition. Many Japanese took this as a call for action and attacked many foreigners as well as shogunate supporters. This led to British military retaliation that showed Japan’s military weakness.
The public image of the ascendance of the emperor was defined in the visit and reception of Shogun Iemochi to Emperor Kōmei in Kyoto in 1863, which was publicly seen in their pilgrimage to the Kamo shrine with the emperor in the lead and the shogun following.
In 1867, Kōmei died in a smallpox pandemic. Over the years, he had been in good health and his sudden death at an early age gave rise to theories that he had been murdered either by the bakufu or radicals.
He was succeeded by Emperor Meiji, who ushered in the Meiji Restoration.