In the 2nd month of Ansei 5 (1858), Ii Naosuke was appointed great elder, the highest office, above senior councilor. Just after noon on the previous day, Yakushiji Motozane, head of foot soldiers, a shogunate office, visited the Ii residence. He is said to have offered a sealed letter, saying he wished to convey a matter of great importance concerning his lord without going through anyone else.
Ii sent others away and met with him, and the talk lasted several hours. He is said to have been in tears the whole time. It ended around 4 in the afternoon, rice with hot water was served, and Yakushiji, greatly pleased that his wish had been fulfilled, went home. A secret conversation of about 4 hours. Tokutomi Sohō sees this as proof, for better or worse, that the situation was pressing.
Tokutomi Sohō writes that the Ii family had originally been of a lineage that produced great elders, so wishing for the post was not an unreasonable desire. He says it was not merely to fill a quota, but that there was a burning ambition. To overturn from its roots the movement centered on Tokugawa Nariaki. Tokutomi Sohō states that he apparently believed it was also his mission to thwart the scheme to bring Tokugawa Yoshinobu into the castle with Nariaki as his guardian. Tokutomi Sohō’s view is that the starting point was to reject the Hitotsubashi house, and the endpoint was to install Yoshitomi.
Senior councilor Matsudaira Tadakata scolded those who offered opinions about the successor, calling it a forced imposition by an organized faction. So the Hitotsubashi faction pushed for Matsudaira Yoshinaga to be made an assistant, and cited the precedent that whenever an assistant post was created, a great elder was also appointed. The calculation was that Ii could be put forward just to make up the numbers, and Tokutomi Sohō sees this plan as having been turned around and used in reverse. Meanwhile, in the Ōoku, Honjuin, the shogun’s birth mother, had it said that she would die on the spot if Yoshinobu became the successor. Hiraoka Michihiro, an attendant, kept in contact with Utahashi, who had raised the shogun, and Matsudaira Tadakata secretly approved as well.
Nagano Yoshikoto wrote reports on the situation in Kyoto, saying that gaining popularity first was essential. Around 5:30 in the afternoon, a letter jointly signed by the senior councilors arrived from senior councilor Naitō Nobuchika. When the castle messenger Tomita Gonbei made quiet inquiries, it turned out that Ii was to be appointed great elder, a matter said to be entirely sudden. Ii said he was overwhelmed to receive such a great responsibility at this time, and answered that he would devote all his strength to the post. The day meant for welcoming a son-in-law became the day of his appointment as great elder, and the Ii residence was in great confusion that night.
When Ii entered the council chamber, he declined once before accepting after being ordered again. Tokutomi Sohō sees this as a performance arranged in advance, a device to make the office weigh even more heavily. He then took the seat above the senior councilors, and from that day joined in the conduct of government affairs. Tokutomi Sohō states that since previous great elders had only made decisions in a separate room, this was exceptional, and this alone startled the senior councilors. After leaving, he expressed his thanks to Honjuin and others together with Wakisaka Yasuori, and the first day of his administration came to an end.
From the 4-hour secret conversation to the seating arrangement on the day of his appointment, all this can be followed through the record of Utsugi Kagetoshi, the account of oku-yūhitsu Hara Yajūrō, the letters of Nagano Yoshikoto, the account transmitted in the Bakufu Suibōron, and Tokutomi Sohō’s view.
It was just past noon.Original
A visitor came to the Ii residence.Original
Yakushiji Motozane, head of foot soldiers.Original
Onoda Koichirō, the guest reception officer, came out to receive him.Original
He said he wished to report a matter of great importance concerning the lord, that it could not be conveyed through an intermediary, and asked for a direct audience, presenting a sealed letter.Original
This was a visit to report a matter of grave importance to his lord, something that could not be spoken through another person.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryIi Naosuke cleared the room of others and met him.Original
The secret conversation lasted several hours.Original
Throughout, he was in tears.Original
It ended around the seventh hour, about four in the afternoon, and rice in hot water was served.Original
Yakushiji, saying he had achieved his true purpose, withdrew in great joy.Original
He said he had fulfilled his long-cherished wish.OriginalOriginal
The secret conversation lasted about four hours.Original
Tokutomi Sohō sees this as evidence that the situation, for better or worse, had grown urgent.Original
The following day, Ii Naosuke was appointed great elder.OriginalOriginal
Lineage and a Burning Ambition
The Ii house was, from the outset, a lineage that produced great elders.Original
It goes without saying that father and son, Naomasa and Naotaka, served the Tokugawa house in its early days.Original
From Genroku through Hōei and Shōtoku, Ii Naonaka served as great elder; in Tenmei, Ii Naoyuki; and in Tenpō, Ii Naoaki — each held the post of great elder in turn.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that therefore, even if Naosuke desired to become great elder, it was “by no means an unreasonable ambition.”OriginalOriginal
However, Tokutomi Sohō says that Naosuke did not seek the post of great elder merely to fill a vacancy in numbers.Original
In both foreign affairs and domestic governance, he probably had no positive or constructive statecraft to offer.Original
Yet he had one burning ambition.Original
In the words of his faction, it was “the extermination of the conspirators.”Original
To put it more plainly, it meant Mito.Original
To overturn from its very roots and sweep away the conspiracy centered on Tokugawa Nariaki.Original
To deal a blow to the scheme by which Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu would be installed in the Western Citadel, allowing Nariaki, as the shogun’s natural father, to exercise real power as guardian.Original
Tokutomi Sohō states that Naosuke seems to have come to regard this as his mission.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryBacking Kishū was the starting point, and excluding Hitotsubashi was the destination.Original
Ii was the reverse: excluding Hitotsubashi was the starting point, and backing Kishū was the destination.Original
Even if Yoshinobu and Yoshitomi had exchanged positions, and Yoshinobu had been the shogun’s close relative, Ii would probably not have sided with the Hitotsubashi faction.OriginalOriginal
The Letter at Warabi Station and Honjuin’s Purification
The appointment of Ii was probably not something that arose suddenly at this time.Original
Tokutomi Sohō sees it as “a scheme long and carefully arranged” that surfaced on this occasion.OriginalOriginal
On the Hitotsubashi side, Toki Yorimune, Udono Nagatoshi, Mizuno Tadanori, and Nagai Naoyuki had been urging the senior councilors to decide on the heir.Original
But the senior councilor Matsudaira Tadakata scolded those who proposed an heir as acting out of “factional scheming,” and denounced them as men plotting deposition and installation.Original
The Hitotsubashi faction then put forward Matsudaira Yoshinaga as assistant, seeking to use Yoshinaga to turn the court’s deliberations around.Original
There was precedent that when an assistant was appointed, a great elder was also appointed.Original
In the exchange between Fujimori Taiga and the inspector Komai Sakyō, it is recorded: “Kamon no kami should be put forward merely to fill the numbers.”Original
The idea was simply to put forward Ii, Kamon no kami, to round out the numbers.Original
Tokutomi Sohō suggests that this proposal may instead have been made use of by the Kishū faction.OriginalOriginal
But the Ōoku was different.Original
Honjuin, the shogun’s birth mother, let it be known that if Yoshinobu became the adopted heir, she would “kill herself on the spot.”Original
She meant that she would take her own life immediately.Original
According to a letter from Onoshima, senior lady-in-waiting of Satsuma, when the shogun’s consort Atsuhime spoke directly to the shogun, he listened well, but Honjuin firmly opposed it.Original
The letter says that this was done as though “possessed by a fox,” and that the fox was likely Utahashi, who had raised the shogun.Original
It is said that Utahashi single-mindedly feared that if Yoshinobu were settled upon, the shogun’s own light would be extinguished.OriginalOriginal
At this point, Hiraoka Michihiro, an attendant, made contact with Utahashi, and Matsudaira Tadakata secretly gave his support.Original
The Mito side reports that when Matsudaira Tadakata was reappointed, Ii once sent thirty pieces of gold to congratulate him.Original
Nakane Yukie, a close retainer of Yoshinaga, recorded that he had heard from a man named Ogawa Tamizō that Tadakata had not accepted this and had returned it.Original
Did he accept it, or did he return it?
In either case, Tokutomi Sohō says, it cannot be disputed that there was a tacit understanding between Ii and Tadakata.OriginalOriginal
Nagano Yoshikoto had reported the situation in Kyoto to Ii in a letter dated the thirteenth day of the fourth month.Original
He further wrote: “It is essential first to secure popular support.”Original
He was urging that it was important first to win over popular sentiment.Original
Tokutomi Sohō describes it as the prey drawing near the edge of the net.OriginalOriginal
乃ち安政五年四月十三日附、一橋を將軍に、紀を西丸へ、御家(井伊家)を御大老にして、關東にて御承引無之候はゞ、一致して强奏にても可仕と、寄評議も有之由。との京都の事情を報じてゐる
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Formal Letter at the Half-Past-Fifth Hour
Having finished the secret conversation, Ii summoned his steward, Utsugi Kagetoshi.Original
Ii immediately wrote a letter, ordered it sent to Matsudaira Tadakata, and went into the inner chambers.OriginalOriginal
It was around the half-past-fifth hour, about half past five in the afternoon.Original
A letter of appointment signed jointly by the senior councilors arrived from the senior councilor Naitō Nobuchika.Original
Ii called Utsugi to the corridor gate and asked what business it concerned.Original
Utsugi answered that it was probably either entry into the council chamber or an appointment to office.Original
He also said he had had Yamamoto Denpachirō look into precedents.OriginalOriginal
Presently the castle messenger Tomita Gonbei returned.Original
Having asked the oku-yūhitsu Katō Sōbei privately, he learned that Ii was to be appointed to the office of great elder.Original
There had been no sign of it at all until that day, and it was said to be sudden.OriginalOriginal
Ii said, “At such a time, to bear so great a charge is truly awesome.”Original
That is, he meant that to be given so great a duty at such a time was overwhelming.Original
Ii answered that he would serve with utmost devotion, sparing no effort.Original
When Utsugi said that once the realm returned to peace he should resign promptly, Ii said, “What manner of promise is this, made so soon?”Original
He was laughing at how hasty a promise it was.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that one can imagine how deeply satisfied lord and retainer were at the fulfillment of this great wish.OriginalOriginal
That night, the Ii residence was in great confusion.Original
The day that was to have welcomed a son-in-law became instead the day of his appointment as great elder.OriginalOriginal
Utsugi later added that he had heard that a proposal had been raised to make Yoshinaga great elder, but that the shogun, astonished, had said there was no reason to pass over Hikone in favor of Echizen, whether by lineage or by character, so the matter was hastily settled.Original
As to how far this can be believed, Tokutomi Sohō presents it only tentatively, “as one account.”OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryBefore the Tatami Mats Had Warmed
Accompanied by the senior councilors, he entered the council chamber.Original
Hotta and Matsudaira Tadakata pressed him at length to decline, but he would not listen.Original
Through the attendant Hiraoka Michihiro he submitted his declination, and when, by the shogun’s wish, the order was given a second time, he finally accepted.Original
Tokutomi Sohō says that this initial declination was probably a prearranged performance.Original
It was, he says, a device to make the office of great elder weigh even more heavily.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryIi took his seat at “the topmost place above the senior councilors” and from that very day joined in deliberations.Original
He sat above the senior councilors and heard matters of government that same day.Original
The written order stated, “Hereafter in the conduct of duties, without regard to prior precedent, attend the castle frequently.”Original
The meaning was that henceforth, regardless of precedent, he should attend the castle often, and when matters were announced with the senior councilors assembled, he should be present among them.Original
Formerly, the great elder did not remain in the council chamber but had a separate chamber assigned, merely granting approval to the proposals of the senior councilors.Original
From that very day, Ii occupied the foremost seat in the council chamber.Original
Tokutomi Sohō remarks that this was so exceptional that this single act alone would have been enough to take the senior councilors’ breath away.OriginalOriginal
The Bakufu Suibōron records that Ii had from the start made it a condition of accepting the post of great elder that he be allowed to attend the council chamber and conduct the business of chief minister.Original
Tokutomi Sohō, while calling this too speculative, says it can be proven that he put it into practice on the very day of his appointment.OriginalOriginal
The oku-yūhitsu Hara Yajūrō told Tomita Gonbei the following.Original
He said that before the tatami mat he had sat on had even warmed, Ii had already voiced an objection.OriginalOriginal
After withdrawing, Ii went with Wakisaka Yasuori to the Ohiroshiki and paid his respects to Honjuin and others.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that thus ended “the first day of Ii’s administration, of the greatest importance in the history of Japan’s Restoration.”OriginalOriginal
“Merely Making Up the Numbers”
Iwase said that it seemed there would be a general notice tomorrow after consultation with the Gosanke, and that the appointment of a great elder seemed to be taking shape.Original
But he added, “Even if someone like Hikone is appointed, he is a man no better than a child, so there is nothing to fear from him.”Original
Tokutomi Sohō judges this a great blunder on Iwase’s part.Original
Having already been thrown into confusion by underestimating the situation in Kyoto, he says, Iwase again misjudged Ii lightly.OriginalOriginal
The senior councilors answered, “That man is merely there to make up the numbers.”Original
That is, they meant he was there only to fill a quota.Original
Tokutomi Sohō says this cannot be dismissed as mere excuse-making.Original
He suggests that the senior councilors probably intended to make Ii into “the one who bears ultimate responsibility.”OriginalOriginal
It is said that the great elder made the stale argument that, among the ports named in the treaty, those within the home provinces must be stopped or the imperial will could not be satisfied, and that when Iwase argued the merits and drawbacks, he fell silent.Original
The shogunate officials regarded Ii as a mediocre man.Original
They said they were astonished that he had become great elder, a man with no fame and no record of policy proposals.Original
That same evening, Udono Nagatoshi invited Nakane Yukie and told him that the senior councilors’ strength was not enough to sustain matters, that the great elder inspired no confidence either, and that their group wished to see Yoshinaga hold the reins of government.OriginalOriginal
扨大老の申さるには、條約の中畿內の湊は、言新らし氣に言はるゝ故、岩肥州其利害得失を辯論せられしかさる事ならんには、爲んかたなしと閉口に及ばれ
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryA child, ignorant, merely making up the numbers.Original
Everyone underestimated Ii.Original
Tokutomi Sohō surmises that Matsudaira Tadakata too, judging Ii easy to handle, had schemed to give Ii the name of great elder while keeping the actual conduct of shogunate government for himself.Original
Yet before the tatami mat he sat on had even warmed, Ii had already occupied the foremost seat in the council chamber.Original
“You have mistaken our lord’s heroism for a woman’s,” said Nagano Yoshikoto.Original
That is, he meant that they had regarded the lord’s heroic bearing as though it were womanish.Original
Might it not be that Ii, four hours later, received the letter of appointment without the least surprise?Original
| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 39: The Administration of Ii Naosuke (1935). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 1223976 |
| Checked against | Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 2. PID 1046669 |
| Dates and names | The text has 1 dates, but they have not been checked against the calendar. None of them gives a Japanese era year in the text, so there is no year to check them against. Of the 12 people named in the text, 9 also appear in Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 2. |
| English gates | 116 of 116 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
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.
