Tokugawa Nariaki of Mito, captured and placed under confinement, laid drafts of two letters before his retainers. The two were identical in content, differing only in the fineness of their wording and the strength of their tone.
The first draft follows this logic: leaving Ii Naosuke and Manabe alone would not serve the Tokugawa house. It writes that those who side with them are enemies of the Tokugawa house, and that this equally makes them enemies of the imperial court. It states that they should be struck down, and goes so far as to write of sending men out to seek reinforcements. Tokutomi Sohō writes that the shogunate had suppressed the emperor’s order of the 8th month of the previous year, and that Mito too bore blame for having left the matter alone.
It also turns on the senior councilors, asking why they merely watched, and pressed for the two men to be driven out quickly. Nariaki adds that if sent in this way, 8 or 9 times out of 10 the two would withdraw without the letter even needing to be circulated. He even laid out plans for sending one chief retainer up to Kyoto in thanks once they withdrew. Sohō judges this too convenient a forecast, and describes Ii as a rigid man who, once he had decided something, would not move.
The reason it was not sent was that the time had not yet come. The treaty had already been ordered; circulating it now would not move the daimyo, and it would be like issuing a receipt after the fact. The view was that under the great elder’s authority, the senior councilors would not give weight to Mito either. The opinion paper of Toyoda Hikojirō, dated the 19th day of the 6th month, warns against the person of Ii himself. It argues that no one can tell what he might scheme once foreign pressure eases, and urges that the daimyo should be bound together.
The steward Kuki Naojirō prepared a draft text to be presented to the shogunate in the name of Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, for when the opportunity should come. But this too came with the condition that they wait. Nariaki too thought that speaking of it would let it spread, and named Takahashi Taichirō and Kaneko Magojirō as likely to leak it. Those same Takahashi and Kaneko were acting elsewhere. Kabayama Sanen’s diary records a morning on which he heard from a man of Mito that the plan to strike down Ii had been fixed for the middle of the following month.
Sohō takes the view that the two had discussed direct action with men of will from Satsuma. On the 27th day of the 8th month, the former chief retainer Ajima Tatewaki was ordered to disembowel himself, Chinone Iyo no suke and Ukai Kichizaemon were condemned to death, and the latter’s child Ukai Kōkichi had his head exposed to public view. Nariaki was ordered into perpetual confinement at Mito, and his child Tokugawa Yoshinobu was ordered into retirement, departing Edo on the 1st day of the 9th month. Through the intervention of the junior councilor Andō Nobuyuki, the men at Yawata were moved, and the shogunate issued a stern notice that this was no more than a change of place. And the letters were never sent to anyone.
From the drafts of the two unsent letters to the punishment of Mito, this can be followed through Toyoda Hikojirō’s opinion paper, Kabayama Sanen’s diary, and Tokutomi Sohō’s assessment.
Tokugawa Nariaki’s Two Draft Texts
Tokugawa Nariaki, while under house confinement, placed two draft texts before his retainers.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that the steward Kuki Naojirō and the chief oku-yūhitsu Harada Hachibei joined them there.OriginalOriginal
The two drafts shared the same intent; the only differences lay in the detail of the wording and the strength of tone.Original
The spirit of the first draft, for example, was expressed as follows.OriginalOriginal
“If the tyrannical faction of Ii and Manabe is left as it is, it will not serve the House of Tokugawa.”Original
It continues: “Those who side with the tyrannical faction are enemies of the House of Tokugawa, and enemies of the House of Tokugawa are indeed enemies of the Imperial Court.”Original
In other words, those who join the faction are enemies of the House of Tokugawa, and enemies of the House of Tokugawa are enemies of the Imperial Court.Original
Therefore, it says, “they should be punished and destroyed” — they must be struck down.Original
It even goes so far as to state that reinforcements should be requested and sent.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet Library“In Eight or Nine Cases Out of Ten There Will Be No Need Even to Circulate It”
In the eighth month of the previous year, an imperial edict had been handed down to Mito.Original
Although there was an imperial directive that it be circulated to all the domains, the shogunate had suppressed it.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that although the Imperial Court had trusted Mito and bestowed the imperial edict upon it, the shogunate’s suppression of it was of course improper, but Mito, too, which had left matters as they were, could not escape responsibility.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryIt was, he says, utterly unspeakable.OriginalOriginal
The criticism was also directed at the senior councilors.Original
Tōshōgū had established the three branch houses and the related houses precisely so that they might offer dissenting views to the shogunate — why, then, were the senior councilors merely looking on?Original
Ii and Manabe should be dismissed at once.OriginalOriginal
Nariaki appended a note to this draft.Original
“If this is sent as stated, in eight or nine cases out of ten there will be no need even to circulate it, and Ii and Manabe will withdraw.”Original
This was his forecast: if such a message were sent, in eight or nine cases out of ten Ii and Manabe would withdraw without its even having to be circulated.Original
He even laid out the plan that, once they withdrew, a chief retainer would immediately be sent up to the capital as a courtesy, to deliver word orally to a court liaison.OriginalOriginal
Tokutomi Sohō concludes that this was convenient for Nariaki, but the world does not move so conveniently.Original
Whatever Ii’s faults, he was not a man who, once resolved, could easily be moved.Original
Tokutomi Sohō assesses that he, too, was in his own way a man of iron will.OriginalOriginal
Wariness of Ii Naosuke and Waiting for an Opportunity
The draft remained merely a draft.Original
In a word, it was probably, as he puts it, “because the time was not right.”OriginalOriginal
水戶齊昭の勅諚囘逹に關する意見は、その儘案文として殘るのみであつた
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe treaty had already been proclaimed; even if the edict were circulated now, the lords would not respond; it had missed its moment, like, as the phrase goes, “a document submitted too late.”Original
He states that it would also do the Imperial Court no good.OriginalOriginal
As long as the great elder’s power remained so overwhelming, even if a letter were sent to the senior councilors, they, cowed by his authority, could hardly be expected to give weight to Mito.OriginalOriginal
Toyoda Hikojirō’s memorandum of opinion, dated the nineteenth day of the sixth month, warns against the very person of Ii Naosuke.Original
If so, Ii’s cunning schemes had continued for a long time; his was, as the phrase goes, “a nature utterly stubborn and malicious,” a disposition that would push through his own designs no matter what.Original
One could never be at ease, he says, for fear that he might erupt at any time.
As long as the foreign barbarians ran rampant, treachery could probably not be carried out boldly, but once that threat eased even a little, there was no telling what schemes the band of villains might devise.Original
Toyoda therefore urged that the lords be united in alliance and that, as he put it, “a marvelous plan appearing and vanishing like gods and demons” — a stratagem of unpredictable movement — be devised.OriginalOriginal
Kuki Naojirō was more practical, drafting, in the name of Tokugawa Yoshiatsu, a text to be sent to the shogunate before circulation, for use once the opportunity came.OriginalOriginal
This draft, too, however, was conditional on being delivered, as the phrase goes, “while awaiting the opportunity.”Original
When would that opportunity come?OriginalOriginal
Nariaki’s Pains and the Movements of the Two Men
Nariaki himself held the same view.Original
If it were spoken of, he said, it would spread at once.Original
And he named names.Original
Takahashi Taichirō and Kaneko Magojirō were apt to let things slip, and if it leaked out it would be a serious matter.Original
He also wrote that he did not inform Ōba so that the retainers would not split into two factions.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that Nariaki’s pains, too, deserved sympathetic understanding.OriginalOriginal
But that very Takahashi Taichirō and Kaneko Magojirō were, elsewhere, already in motion.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Farewell Cups at the Murataya in Samezu
Tokutomi Sohō says that the diary of Kabayama Sanen, one of the committed men of Satsuma, hints slightly at the delicate circumstances.OriginalOriginal
Afterward, at a teahouse on Mita-dōri, he also met men from Mito, some of them for the first time, and heard of the urgent situation of the Mito domain.OriginalOriginal
Tokutomi Sohō surmises that, whereas Nariaki sought to remove Ii by written document, his retainers Kaneko and Takahashi, holding that there was no way but direct action, consulted with the committed men of Satsuma.Original
It is not clear which side first proposed it and which agreed, but there is no doubt that the meeting of the committed men of Mito and Satsuma agreed on this one point.OriginalOriginal
されば水戶齊昭は、書付にて、井伊大老を除かんとしたるも、接行動にて除くの外なしとて、て協議したるものであらう
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryKabayama Sanen, having completed his term of duty in Edo, came to the day of his scheduled return to his home domain.Original
That morning Hori Nakazaemon came and told him.Original
Just now a man from Mito had come, saying, “The plan to strike down Ii has at last been fixed for the middle of next month.”OriginalOriginal
At dusk he left Edo and stayed the night at Shinagawa.Original
Kabayama writes, “Facing an urgent matter, our parting from one another was full of feeling.”Original
This means that, with a pressing event at hand, the parting was deeply felt.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that one can vividly imagine the feelings with which they poured farewell cups for each other at the wine house.OriginalOriginal
On the night of the thirteenth day of the eighth month, Hori Chūzaemon and four men, including one calling himself Miyoshi Kan of the Satake retainers, stayed at an inn in Shinagawa post station.Original
Tokutomi Sohō reveals that this Miyoshi Kan was an alias of the Mito domain retainer Seki Tetsunosuke.Original
What they discussed, he says, would be pointless to inquire into.OriginalOriginal
From Yawata to Koganei, from Koganei to Shikakura
Tokutomi Sohō writes that the eighth month of Ansei 6 was a great unlucky year for Mito.Original
On the twenty-seventh day of the eighth month, the former chief retainer Ajima Tatewaki was ordered to commit seppuku, the retainers Chinone Iyo no suke and Ukai Kichizaemon were sentenced to death, and the latter’s son Kōkichi had his head displayed.Original
At the same time Tokugawa Nariaki was ordered into permanent confinement at the Mito residence, and his son Tokugawa Yoshinobu was ordered into retirement.OriginalOriginal
Nariaki departed the Komagome residence on the first day of the ninth month.Original
That day the wind and rain were bleak, and the autumn air was desolate.Original
Humming, “If it should clear and autumn come round again, once more I shall love the moon over Musashino,” he departed, and arrived in Mito on the fourth day of the ninth month.OriginalOriginal
On the following day, the twenty-eighth of the eighth month, the junior councilor Andō Nobuyuki was ordered to intervene in the administration of the Mito domain.Original
On the eighth day of the ninth month, Andō came to the Mito residence in Koishikawa and first ordered those encamped at Yawata to disperse.Original
Kaneko Magojirō, Takahashi Taichirō, and Nomura Inosuke went to Yawata and worked to get them to withdraw, but rather than letting them return to Mito, they moved them to Koganei station.OriginalOriginal
On the twenty-first day of the ninth month, the shogunate summoned the steward of the Mito residence and sternly admonished him.Original
“This is merely a change of place, and is of no use whatsoever.”Original
That is to say, merely changing the place had no meaning at all.Original
Within three days they must withdraw without fail; if they were late, they would be swiftly seized, it said.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that the people of Mito would have no refuge if they came to be regarded in the same light as a revolt of the Ezo people.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryOn the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the Mito chief retainer reported that at dawn that day all had been made to withdraw and sent down to their home domain.Original
On the last day of the ninth month, the shogunate lifted Tokugawa Yoshiatsu’s house confinement and permitted him to attend the castle.OriginalOriginal
But Kaneko Magojirō had moved half of the Mito men remaining at Koganei to Shikakura.Original
It was a place in Niihari district, Hitachi province, along Lake Kasumigaura, with access by boat, suited to responding quickly as circumstances required.OriginalOriginal
The teahouse at Katamachi
Before long, the shishi of Mito and Satsuma schemed to send Seki Tetsunosuke and Takasaki Itarō up to Kyoto, to secretly petition the court and obtain imperial sanction before carrying out their plan.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that this idea came mainly from Takahashi Taichirō.Original
At a gathering at a teahouse in Katamachi, Edo, Takahashi said:Original
This undertaking is an unprecedented great affair, and must proceed by righteous and open means; first the purpose of the righteous uprising to slay the traitors should be reported to Kyoto and an imperial rescript requested, and only afterward should it be carried out.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThat letter was never sent to anyone.OriginalOriginal
| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 43: The Sakurada Incident (1940). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 1228574 |
| Checked against | Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 3. PID 1041909 |
| Dates and names | All 9 dates in the text exist in the calendar for their year, and the Western years given alongside them agree. Of the 11 people named in the text, 9 also appear in Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 3. |
| English gates | 87 of 87 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 43: The Sakurada Incident. 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.
