While the Shogun Still Breathed ―― On the Fifth Day of the Seventh Month of Ansei 5 (1858), Ii Naosuke’s Disposition of Owari, Mito, and Echizen

The Ōoku at nine-half at night on the third day of the seventh month

Ii Naosuke entered the castle at his usual hour, and his departure that day extended to nine-half at night, 1 a.m.Original
The reason was that the beriberi of the shogun Tokugawa Iesada had worsened.Original
“The shogun’s beriberi condition is such that he is not recovering” — meaning the shogun’s beriberi was severe and he was not improving.Original
That night, the great elder and the senior councilors were summoned to the bedchamber of the Ōoku.Original
The next day, the fourth, the same faces were again summoned to the Ōoku.Original
The matter conveyed there was not an inquiry after illness.Original
The retirement and house confinement of Tokugawa Yoshikumi, the house confinement of Tokugawa Nariaki, and the retirement and house confinement of Matsudaira Yoshinaga.Original
Here Tokutomi Sohō reads the character of Ii Naosuke.Original
His immediate concern, Sohō writes, was neither foreign affairs nor Kyoto, but the “extermination of the so-called plotters.”Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that the fundamental spirit of this lay not in the manner of Abe Masahiro, who had aimed at national unity, but in the single point of pushing through his own way to the end.OriginalOriginal

The Ii side viewed Tokugawa Nariaki as the ringleader

Tokugawa Nariaki is said to have said, “Today I shall surely make Kamon no kami cut his belly.”Original
This amounts to saying that today, of all days, he would make Ii Naosuke commit seppuku.Original
On that occasion, Tayasu Yoshiyori is said to have declared as follows.Original
Matsudaira Yoshinaga was his own younger brother, but until now he had not thought him such a villain.Original
It was disloyal, conduct beyond words.Original
He asked that severe punishment be ordered.Original
Tokutomi Sohō states that from this one document it can be seen that the Ii side regarded Tokugawa Nariaki as the sole ringleader of everything.OriginalOriginal

Kuze Hirochika, sleepless through the night

At dawn on the fifth day of the seventh month.Original
The steward Utsugi Kagetoshi was summoned, and Kuze Hirochika, coming out to the barred entrance, ordered him to read a letter.Original
Its content was a recommendation for postponement.Original
Kuze wrote that if the worst were to happen, since Tokugawa Yoshitomi was young a guardian would have to be appointed, and that in any case the matter should be put off for today.Original
And at the end.Original
“Though I gave my assent yesterday, to raise objections today is, in every respect, most regrettable” — meaning that though he had agreed yesterday, to now raise objections today was truly regrettable.Original
He also emphasized that he was by no means in agreement with the other side.Original
Tokutomi Sohō supposes that Kuze, who had once been pressed by Ii into agreeing, reconsidered, realized the impropriety, and wrote this after a sleepless night.Original
Ii’s reply was short.Original
He stated that since the shogun was gravely ill, if things were left as they were and the worst happened, it would become the “basis of great disorder” — the root of great disorder — and that this was precisely why the order had been issued; and he dismissed such a message as a “misunderstanding.”OriginalOriginal

Utsugi Kagetoshi makes the rounds of the senior councilors

Ii moved quickly.Original
Once at the castle it would become a matter of deliberation, and it would be troublesome if anyone were to side with Kuze.OriginalOriginal

So he gave orders to Utsugi Kagetoshi.Original
First to Manabe Akikatsu, second to Ōta Dōjun, third to Matsudaira Noriyasu.Original
Visit them in this order, he said.OriginalOriginal

Manabe Akikatsu immediately cleared the room and met with him.Original
Having glanced over the letter, he replied that if left as it was it would become the root of great disorder, that private notice had already been given to each of the offices concerned, that it would be a grave matter if delay allowed it to leak to the other side, and that upon entering the castle an official document must be issued and the matter settled today, even if it went into the night, or it would be a grave matter.OriginalOriginal

Ōta also agreed.Original
Moreover, even before Utsugi arrived, Ōta had received from Kuze a letter excusing himself from attendance on grounds of illness, and had just sent word urging him to come to the castle regardless.OriginalOriginal

Ōta’s words have been recorded.Original
Utsugi also reported that, since the hour had grown late, he had not gone on to Matsudaira Noriyasu.OriginalOriginal

The disposition of retirement for Tokugawa Yoshikumi

That day, Ii Naosuke remained in the castle until eight-half at night, 3 a.m.Original
It was as though he had spent a full day and night within the castle.Original
The disposition thus pronounced upon Tokugawa Yoshikumi was that he retire, take up residence at the Toyama mansion, and quietly conduct himself with restraint.Original
The succession of the Owari house went to Matsudaira Yoshichika.Original
It was added that all meetings with close relatives and all exchange of correspondence were strictly forbidden, and that this must be firmly conveyed to the chief retainers.Original
To begin with, Tokugawa Yoshikumi could hardly be called a member of Tokugawa Nariaki’s faction.Original
He had not readily responded even to Matsudaira Yoshinaga’s solicitation to support Hitotsubashi.Original
He was a man who had come from the Takasu domain to succeed to the Owari house, and it is said there were those who remarked, “Lord Owari’s only strength is his skill in Chinese-style calligraphy.”Original
Even so, he had the pride of the Owari house, had views of his own, and on matters of foreign policy shared common ground with Nariaki.Original
The view was that if the Owari house simply reformed its attitude going forward, no further trouble seemed likely.Original
Yet on the fifth day of the seventh month came this disposition.Original
Tokutomi Sohō asks whether Owari had not been caught up as an accessory to Mito, whether it was not out of a sense that it would be unfair to punish only Mito and not extend it to Owari.Original
In any case, the retirement of Tokugawa Yoshikumi was utterly unexpected, he writes.OriginalOriginal

The arrival of the shogunal envoy and news of house confinement

As for the situation on the Mito side, the notes of Kayane Yasushi are detailed.Original
A document was passed on from Yokoyama Jinzaemon, who was attached to the castle.Original
Tokugawa Nariaki found it suspicious that the Owari chief retainer was missing from it.Original
Having seen the document, Nariaki and Tokugawa Yoshiatsu said that since the three related lords—Matsudaira Yoritane, Matsudaira Yorinobu, and Matsudaira Yorinawa—together with Hosokawa Narimori and Niwa Nagakuni were appearing, this must mean they were going to strike them.Original
At the fourth watch, Takeda Shuri returned and presented the document he had been given.Original
It was a shogunate order for the confinement of the Owari lord.Original
While everyone was grieving, another report came from the castle liaison.Original
It was said that, besides the related lord serving as shogunal envoy, senior inspector Ikeda Harima no kami would also be accompanying him.Original
For a senior inspector to come had not happened even at the time of Nariaki’s shogunal reprimand in the fifth month of Kōka 1 (1844), and it sounded almost like an inquest.Original
No answer emerged even after the discussion was exhausted.Original
So it was decided that they would meet Matsudaira Yorinobu privately to sound him out, and then receive the envoy.Original
Nariaki did not meet him; Yoshiatsu went out instead.Original
Depending on the content, it might not be acceptable—the discussion had reached that point when the envoy arrived.Original
It is said that Matsudaira Yoritane, midway through, pleaded a stomachache and returned to his own residence.Original
There were three documents.Original
The chief councilor Okada Shinano no kami and Takeda Shuri received them, reported to the two lords, wrote down the reply, and handed it over.Original
“By this time it was already past the fifth watch.”Original
Dawn was about to break.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that, since a senior inspector was accompanying him, they had worried that seppuku might be ordered, but they were probably relieved to learn it was only confinement at the Komagome residence.Original
The following day, the sixth.Original
The Komagome residence was badly damaged, and they wanted to request a delay before moving in, but it was difficult to petition directly.Original
So they had Matsudaira Yorinobu stop by on his way to the castle and asked him.Original
But he said it would be difficult to bring the matter before the senior councilors.Original
Kayane Yasushi writes that he saw him off in the inner chambers of the Matsu Palace, and closes with the words “I could not bear the sorrow.”Original
These are words meaning that his feelings were unbearable.Original
On the same sixth day, Tokugawa Yoshiatsu was also barred from attending the castle.Original
Yoshiatsu wished to petition for retirement, but was strongly remonstrated with by his retainers and gave up the idea.OriginalOriginal

“To confine a related domain without proof of guilt”

Who bore responsibility for the punishment?Original
The Mito side’s records state as follows.Original
The shogun’s illness struck suddenly on the first day of the seventh month, and by the second and third days he was already near death.Original
A shogun who was frail and reticent even in ordinary times could not possibly have judged the rightness of such a major punishment while suffering the agony of life and death.Original
The responsibility for the unilateral decision must be attributed to Ii Naosuke.OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō agrees, saying that no one could object to this argument.Original
What was called the shogun’s wish was nothing more than Ii’s wish announced in the shogun’s name.OriginalOriginal

Among the councilors, Ōta Dōjun too seems to have initially been an objector.Original
“To confine a related domain without proof of guilt—what of the troubles that will follow?” That is, if a related domain were confined without evidence, what was to be done about the calamity that would follow?Original
Ii answered as follows.Original
If Kyoto were investigated, there would certainly be evidence of guilt; if there were none, he himself would bear the responsibility.Original
Ōta could not contest this.OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō raises the suspicion that this crafty Ōta may have deliberately objected in the council chamber the previous day in order to make Ii bear the responsibility.Original
But the conclusion does not change.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that whether the councilors as a whole agreed or objected, the man responsible was Ii Naosuke himself—and on this one point, the views of the Mito side and the Ii side unexpectedly coincide.OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō suggests that such caution arose because Ii himself deeply feared something.OriginalOriginal

Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu was ordered to refrain from attending the castle.Original
He was told to refrain from attending the castle for the time being nonetheless.OriginalOriginal

The three men misled by spies

The sixth day of the seventh month was, compared to the previous day, again a day of many events.OriginalOriginal

Junior councilor Honda Yasukata was dismissed from his post.Original
Ishiko Masahira, an attendant, was discharged from service and placed under retirement and confinement.Original
The inner physician Oka Rekisen’in was likewise discharged from service and placed under retirement and confinement.Original
His son Oka Ryōsetsu was granted a stipend of two hundred fifty bales of rice and placed in the Kobushin corps.OriginalOriginal

Oka’s offense was said to be that he had misdiagnosed the shogun’s illness.Original
Honda was a man who had enjoyed Tokugawa Ieyoshi’s favor and served close to him for several decades, and who had been promoted to junior councilor under the Hotta administration.Original
Ishiko had held various offices and was reputed for his ability; on the recommendation of Matsudaira Tadakata, he moved from the Hitotsubashi tutorship to become an attendant.Original
It is said that all of them were men Ii disliked.OriginalOriginal

On the third day of the seventh month, upon Iesada’s illness, Totsuka Seikai, Itō Genboku, Tōda Chōan, and Aoki Shuntai were summoned and appointed physicians in attendance, each granted two hundred bales and thirty portions.Original
Subsequently Takeuchi Gendō and Itō Kansai were also summoned.Original
Oka Rekisen’in had at first diagnosed the illness as a colic.Original
At the morning audience on the sixth, he was asked whether it would be all right for the shogun to go out to the outer hall that day, and he answered that there would be no problem.Original
It is said that in the outer hall the illness suddenly flared up, and he fell into a critical state.OriginalOriginal

Regarding the punishment of these three men, Tokutomi Sohō quotes Katsu Kaishū’s “Thorns on the Wall.”OriginalOriginal

Katsu added the following to this.
There were those who slandered two or three people, suspicion bred phantoms, and in the end it brought disorder to the state.Original
I wish this to serve as a warning for later generations, so I cannot bear to discard this small, unseemly record.OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō confirms Katsu’s position.Original
At the time, Katsu was engaged in the navy that the shogunate was establishing, and had absolutely no connection to the political disputes.Original
Even on the question of the succession, he was not of the Hitotsubashi faction.Original
He was a person with no risk of favoring the Mito faction too much.Original
That Katsu says the following.
Tokutomi Sohō holds that how greatly Ii was misled by the reports of his agents was something outsiders equally regretted, and that this was rather the beginning of his errors.OriginalOriginal

If I Do Not Control Him

Whether Shogun Iesada’s death occurred on the fourth or the sixth day, and whether the imperial letter from Kyoto arrived on the fourth or the sixth day —Original
the accounts of the Mito side and the Ii side differ.Original
But Tokutomi Sohō dismisses this as not a major issue.OriginalOriginal

Ii’s motive for punishing his relatives was not necessarily due to the content of the imperial letter.Original
At the very least, he must have recognized the need to carry out these punishments even before the shogun’s death, Sohō says.OriginalOriginal

And he says the following.
Ii resolved that he and the Mito faction could never coexist.Original
If I do not control him, he will surely control me.
Assuming this, he took the initiative and controlled the other side first.OriginalOriginal

The castle, its lamps still lit until half past the eighth hour of the night.Original
In the evening, Tokugawa Nariaki, dressed in formal attire, moves to Komagome.OriginalOriginal

Between the side that controlled and the side that was controlled, which spent more sleepless nights?

This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 39: The Administration of Ii Naosuke. Tokutomi Sohō’s views are those of the 1920s and 1930s and may differ from current scholarship. The source text is a century old and may differ from current scholarship.