There Was Truly Lamentation over Tyrannical Rule ―― the Imperial Letter and Rewards Bestowed after the Tonsuring of the Four Lords in the Fifth Month of Ansei 6 (1859)

Negotiations over the petition for the tonsuring of the four lords

It was a strip of a formal letter, wrapped in Mino paper.Original
A note explains that it conveyed a private command.Original

The text was short.Original
“Yesterday, the petition for the tonsuring of the four lords, the Taikō and the others, was granted as requested.”Original
It continues: “Beyond this, there should be no further confusion, and it is hoped that the retainers will remain unharmed.”Original
A phrase was added explaining that the sovereign wished that no further disturbances should arise, and that no harm should come to his retainers.OriginalOriginal

A reply came later from the shoshidai.Original
It stated, “Now, above all, let there be harmony between court and shogunate, and unity between high and low in governance,” and closed with, “though it is presumptuous to say so, may it set the sovereign’s mind at ease.”OriginalOriginal

With this single exchange, the negotiations between the court and the shogunate concerning the four lords “reached, for the moment, a conclusion,” Tokutomi Sohō writes.Original
But that was only on paper.Original
Both the side that petitioned and the side that granted it were, Sohō observes, acting “against their true wishes.”Original
The four who petitioned had been forced by pressure from the warrior house, and the sovereign who granted it had likewise been forced by that same pressure.Original
Even if one says, “they sought benevolence and obtained benevolence,” there was no way they could feel either relief or satisfaction — this is Sohō’s assessment.OriginalOriginal

A lacquered writing box, and the words “how sad”

A maki-e lacquered writing box for lecture texts.Original
Inside were two sets of tobacco pouches woven with silver thread, two pieces of gold, a set of three nested pottery bowls, and a set of sake cups.OriginalOriginal

For Konoe: a black-lacquered maki-e writing box containing one tobacco pouch, one paperweight, a set of three nested pottery bowls and a sake cup, and one piece of gold.Original
For Takatsukasa: one tobacco pouch, one piece of gold, a pair of paperweights, and one pottery paste container.Original
For Sanjō: one piece of gold, a tobacco pouch, and a paperweight.Original
It is said that all of these were given so that they might, as the phrase “to divert from illness” suggests, serve as a comfort during sickness, in accordance with the sovereign’s wish.OriginalOriginal

The names taken after tonsuring have also been recorded.Original
The Taikō took the name Sessan.Original
Konoe took the name Suizan.Original
Takatsukasa took the name Zuiraku.Original
Sanjō took the name Tankū.Original
A report was submitted by the court councilor, and the sovereign heard it.Original
Furthermore, through a lady-in-waiting’s formal letter, three bolts of silk and two pieces of gold were given to each.OriginalOriginal

“How sad — from now on I am to be called Nyūdō Jugō.”Original
It is a sad thing, he wrote, that from this day he would be called Nyūdō Jugō.Original
These two words, “how sad,” were by no means confined to Nakayama’s heart alone, Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal

In the entry for the third day of the fifth month, Nakayama goes further with his brush.Original
Konoe Tadahiro and Sanjō Sanetsumu: “though they had exerted their utmost loyalty and sincerity, misfortune instead befell them.”Original
That is to say, though they had especially exhausted their loyalty and sincerity, disaster instead came upon them.Original
“One must doubt whether the gods truly watch over us.”Original
He even writes that it makes him want to doubt whether the gods are truly watching.
Nakayama writes that since this spring he had resolved, with a readiness to give up his life, to turn his humble thoughts to the matter, and that he had gone three times uninvited to Naitō Bungo no kami to argue the case, but in the end it was of no use.Original
Sohō remarks that in this he seems to hear “the voice of Nakayama’s own indignant grief.”OriginalOriginal

Ii Naosuke’s tyrannical power and the imperial letter

Originally it was his son Sanjō Sanetomi who was to be summoned, but since illness prevented him from attending court, a family member, Kawabata, was sent in his place.OriginalOriginal

What Kawabata brought was a writing box still sealed.Original
Sanjō washed his hands and rinsed his mouth before breaking the seal.Original
Inside was an imperial letter, that is, a document in the sovereign’s own hand.Original
Though it was overwhelming, “the depth of the sovereign’s grace, to be handed down to descendants” — he copied it out so as to pass it on to his descendants, as Sanjō’s diary of his seclusion records.OriginalOriginal

A copy of that imperial letter appears in Sohō’s original text.Original
Since last spring, he had given various considerations for the sake of the state regarding foreign affairs, and his loyal spirit had been outstanding, yet it seems some arrangement inconvenient to Kantō had arisen, and unexpectedly it became the misfortune of the four lords.Original
Though he had sent word many times in various ways, it was strictly asserted with military authority and was not accepted, the sovereign writes.Original
And: “Though it is said to be a military command, that loyal retainers should come to such a state is truly a matter for the deepest lamentation.”Original
Though it is called a warrior house’s command, that loyal retainers should instead come to such a state is truly the height of lamentation, he wrote.OriginalOriginal

As for the gift, it reads, “though it is so slight as to make one blush, I send it nonetheless.”Original
“This is done only to console your troubled heart for a while, and as a token to express my own feelings.”Original
It was done, he says, in order to console the troubles of a little while, and merely as a token to express his own feelings.Original
At the end it read: “And when a good season comes again, I will wait single-mindedly for the chance to meet.”Original
It closed with the words that, should a good time come again, he would wait solely for the day they could meet.OriginalOriginal

This imperial letter, Sohō says, was granted not only to Sanjō but to each of the lords who had taken the tonsure.Original
And he states, “having read it with reverence, I have no words to offer.”Original
Reading this, one should come to grasp just how far Ii Naosuke and his faction wielded their tyrannical power, to the point of forcing the sovereign to utter such words, Sohō writes.Original
The sweeping away of the four senior officials from the sovereign’s side and their harsh punishment was not the work of local officials, but was clearly directed from Edo, and the one in command was Ii Naosuke.Original
Those who discuss Ii’s merits and faults must never forget this single fact — this is Sohō’s judgment.OriginalOriginal

Tankū’s receipt, and the long iris

Sanjō Sanetsumu wrote a letter of receipt that same day.Original
He signed it “Tankū.”Original
“I am utterly overwhelmed; so grateful am I for your gracious thought that I cannot hold back my tears of gratitude.”Original
He wrote that he was utterly overwhelmed, and that he could not hold back his tears at the graciousness of the imperial thought.
However, since this was a confidential matter, he did not give his reply orally; instead he sealed it, placed it in a document box, and asked Tominokōji Hironao, the Junior Assistant Minister of Central Affairs, to present it on his behalf.Original
The imperial letter itself was also returned, in accordance with the Emperor’s wish.OriginalOriginal

That same day, at the hour of the boar, around ten o’clock at night.Original
A messenger came from the head family, bringing a gift along with a formal letter issued by a court lady.Original
“These twenty ryō of gold and three bolts of silk are hereby bestowed.”Original
Since the tonsure had been completed, twenty ryō of gold and three bolts of silk were bestowed.Original
Sanjō wrote, “Tears of gratitude fell in streams, impossible to hold back, and wet my sleeves.”Original
Tears fell in many streaks without stopping and soaked his sleeves, he wrote.Original
Then he paid reverence to the gods, the Buddha, and his ancestors, and expressed his gratitude for the Emperor’s benevolence.OriginalOriginal

Sanjō was ill and confined to his bed.Original
“As an omen that a parent’s future may be long, shall I not pull the long roots of the iris?”Original
This is a poem wishing that the father’s future would be long, likening it to pulling the long roots of the iris.Original
Sanjō replied.Original
“Even today, like the crane by the marsh thinking of its child, I know the long bond of the iris.”Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes, “Such a father has such a child, and such a child has such a father.”OriginalOriginal

Rewards at the Conclusion of the Foreign Affair

Once the tonsuring of the four had been settled, the Emperor, marking the conclusion of the “foreign affair,” bestowed rewards upon the court officials in attendance.Original
Tokutomi Sohō says that the Emperor yielded to the bakufu’s coercion because there was a condition that the old law of national seclusion would be restored.OriginalOriginal

The details of the rewards recorded in the Nagahashi no Tsubone-ki are minute.Original
To the Sochinomiya, Imperial Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, twenty sheets of silver.Original
To the seven officials serving as court councilors and court liaisons—Koga Takemichi, Tokudaiji Kinito, Nakayama Tadayasu, Uramatsu Yasumitsu, Ōgimachisanjō Sanenaru, Hirohashi Mitsushige, and Bōjō Toshikatsu—two pieces of gold each.Original
Among them, Koga, Nakayama, and Ōgimachisanjō—three men—were separately given, “in the utmost secrecy, by the Emperor’s own hand,” two pieces of gold placed in a silver-thread tsuzureori paper case, bestowed personally and in strict confidence.OriginalOriginal

To Asukai Masanori, newly appointed as a court councilor, ten ryō of gold.Original
To the eighty-four court nobles who had taken part in the assembly, two ryō of gold each.Original
To the six court nobles who had separately submitted petitions, five hundred hiki each.Original
To the fifty-two hikurōdo who had taken part in the assembly, thirty ryō.Original
To the one hundred ninety-two court nobles on duty, two hundred hiki each.Original
To Hachijō Takasuke, five hundred hiki.Original
To Madenokōji Masafusa, a former court liaison, twenty ryō of gold; the same to Ōhara Shigetomi, Chigusa Arifumi, Iwakura Tomomi, and Tominokōji Hironao.Original
The Nagahashi no Tsubone-ki records that the funds came from five thousand ryō out of the ten thousand ryō presented by the Kantō at the time of the fire in Kaei 7 (1854).OriginalOriginal

Regarding the foreign affair since the previous spring, various pronouncements were made stating that the Emperor was “deeply moved”—profoundly impressed—by the sincere loyalty shown by Koga, Nakayama, and Ōgimachisanjō, and it was said that a reward would soon be granted.Original
Nakayama wrote, “Truly, the sagely Emperor’s thoughtful consideration moved me to tears.”Original
He wrote that he was truly overcome with tears at the sagely Emperor’s heart.Original
Tokutomi Sohō explains that Nakayama was the father of Nakayama Yoshiko, the birth mother of Sachinomiya, later the Meiji Emperor, and that Koga at the time held the post of chief literary secretary to the Emperor.OriginalOriginal

“A Brief Postponement,” and a Sigh of Lament

The previous spring, Hotta Masayoshi had come to the capital and made his report, but it was difficult to permit matters to proceed as in the provisional treaty, and there were also doubts about the Kantō’s handling of affairs.Original
“It was reported that, solely through the union of court and bakufu, the foreign barbarians should be kept at a distance, the old laws of the realm restored, and the Emperor made to feel at ease.”Original
For now, the Emperor’s intention was to wait a while and observe the Kantō’s handling of affairs and the state of the world, so each person should remain calm and composed, it was said.OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō interprets this as meaning that the Emperor endured everything, sacrificing all else, solely for the sake of this one report—that the old law of national seclusion should be restored.Original
If so, Tokutomi Sohō writes, the bakufu itself bore a heavy responsibility for this endurance.OriginalOriginal

To Ōhara, a cautionary private message was also attached.Original
His loyal service was commendable, but it was said, “should matters fail to be accomplished, it would instead cause the loss of the Emperor’s brilliance, so one should understand this well and consider the trend of the times.”Original
The point was that if matters were not accomplished, it would instead damage the Emperor’s brilliance, so one should understand this thoroughly and consider the times.OriginalOriginal

The Emperor spoke at length about the foreign affair.Original
“Since last autumn, doubts about the Kantō have piled up one upon another, and even in trivial matters there has been oppressive misrule, truly a cause for lament.”Original
Nakayama records that since the previous autumn, doubts about the Kantō had accumulated, and that the Emperor had truly lamented the oppressive misrule that extended even to trivial matters.Original
And in recognition of Nakayama’s sincere loyalty, the Emperor personally bestowed upon him a wrapped gift.Original
Inside the paper case were two gold coins, a pair of tobacco pouches, a pipe case, and a folding fan.Original
Nakayama repeatedly declined, saying it was too much, but was told that the Emperor’s mind was made up, and in the end he accepted it with reverence.Original
“Unexpectedly to receive the imperial favor once more, I am overwhelmed with awe and moved to tears.”Original
He wrote that, unexpectedly receiving the imperial favor once again, it was more than he deserved, and he wept.OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō writes that the phrase “truly a cause for lament over the oppressive misrule” “depicts the Emperor’s inner heart without leaving anything to be desired.”Original
The Emperor was not only dissatisfied with the methods of the Ii faction, but could not feel at ease either.Original
On one hand there was the assurance that his sacred will would be upheld, while on the other his close attendants were being pressured by force.Original
Tokutomi Sohō’s conclusion is that this is why there was “a brief postponement.”OriginalOriginal

“I earnestly await the day when we may meet.”Original
One might also wonder just how many people in Kyoto at the time read that single line, which said only that she was waiting earnestly for the day they could meet.Original

This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 41: The Ansei Purge, part 2. 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.