We will not borrow a fire ship ―― Kawaji Toshiakira’s visit to the Russian ship and delivery of the reply letter, in the twelfth month of Kaei 6 (1853)

Deliberation on adding a fire ship to the accompanying vessels

Clear skies.

The topic under discussion concerned events two days later.Original
On the previous day, the fourteenth, the Russian envoy was entertained at the Nagasaki West Magistrate’s Office.Original
After the meal, the magistrate of Nagasaki and others took their seats, and “the interpreters worked greatly” — that is, the interpreters worked hard — and the gathering broke up after four in the afternoon.Original
Kawaji writes that even on the way back, music sounded from the ship, and colorful flags were attached to the three bridges “like Tanabata bamboo.”OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō writes that it was “originally an ordinary, uniform ceremony” and should not have caused any trouble.Original
But at the time, “because mutual understanding between the two sides was lacking,” although consent had been given for the sake of appearances, when it actually came to going to the other side’s ship, they had to gather at Tsutsui’s lodging and deliberate.Original
Kuroda Nagahiro, lord of Chikuzen Province, appeared at that gathering on another matter.OriginalOriginal

Nagahiro said:Original
The Russian ship dries its sails every day, and appears ready to depart at any time.Original
The recent handling of matters is “very suspicious” — extremely suspicious.Original
When someone said that even if the officials boarded there was no cause for worry, since they had their own troops, Nagahiro shook his head.Original
Western ships are fast.Original
Once they get underway, cannons can hardly catch up.Original
“Nineteen retainers who are prepared to die willingly” should be brought along among Kawaji’s retainers, and one fire ship loaded with gunpowder should be added to the accompanying vessels.Original
If something happens, they would set it alight and all charge in together.Original
At that time, regarding the officials too, “please set fire without hesitation” — that is, please set the fire regardless.OriginalOriginal

Life lasts only one day

After Nagahiro left, Kawaji spoke up.Original
“Mino no kami’s remarks are reasonable.”Original
Nagahiro’s argument is reasonable.Original
But even though burning the Russian ship and striking down the officials’ enemy on the spot would be welcome, that would be, “as far as the shogunate is concerned, unfitting, since it would newly create an enemy in a great power.”Original
It would create a new enemy of a great power for the shogunate, and this is unfitting.Original
Kawaji said that, in the end, this comes about because no one wishes to die.OriginalOriginal

And Kawaji’s memoir continues as follows.Original
“As for myself, Saemon no jō, since I was ordered to this duty, I have thought of my life as lasting only a single day.”Original
He thinks that, since being ordered to this duty, his life lasts only a single day.Original
If on the seventeenth the Russians act violently, Arao, being an inspector, should observe the outcome and report to the senior councilor.Original
Tsutsui, being of “exceptionally advanced age,” should be sent back.Original
“If I, Saemon no jō, alone remain on the Russian ship and am taken to their country, I will persuade their emperor and act for the good of our country.”Original
If he alone remains on the Russian ship and is taken to that country, he will persuade the emperor and do his utmost for the sake of the country.Original
Having declared this, he summoned Nagahiro’s chief retainer and conveyed his refusal of the offer of retainers and a fire ship.OriginalOriginal

Here a dispute arose.
The two persons recorded in the reply letter as “two senior officials” are Tsutsui and Kawaji.Original
If these two men were seized by the Russians and taken to their country, it would be “a matter concerning the dignity of our nation, and must never be allowed” — because it concerns the national polity, it must never be permitted.Original
They asked that Tameya alone be sent as the representative.Original
Kawaji rejected this, saying “this is an insincerity unlike Tameya’s usual self.”Original
It is an insincerity unlike Tameya.Original
He asked whether sending a subordinate would uphold his own “way of the warrior.”Original
Tsutsui said:Original
Having once been relieved of his post, he had been employed again in his old age up to this point, so “I do not at all begrudge giving up my life. I shall go.”Original
Koga Kin’ichirō also said:Original
Since everyone speaks this way, he could not remain behind alone: “I, Kin’ichirō, shall surely go.”OriginalOriginal

“Arguing like this has no end” — there was no end to the dispute.Original
So they first sent a letter to test the Russian side, and the reply was favorable.Original
Kawaji further had the interpreter Moriyama Einosuke make a secret inquiry.Original
There was not the slightest problem.Original
Even so, Kawaji writes that Einosuke appeared to be resolved that, if he had misjudged the matter, he would, as an apology, “leap at the envoy first and take the lead.”Original
A letter arrived from Nagahiro addressed directly to the four men, saying he would come in person the next morning to talk with Kawaji.Original
The gathering broke up at “the hour of nine at night,” that is, midnight.OriginalOriginal

The ship in the telescope

The sixteenth, clear skies.Original
Nagahiro came at seven in the morning.Original
Since this concerned a journey, Kawaji showed him directly into the sitting room and presented the host’s ceremonial noshi.Original
After exchanging views on coastal defense for a while, Kawaji expressed his thanks for the previous day’s offer to lend retainers, stated his own assessment, and declined it.Original
Kawaji said that if by any chance an incident occurred, Nagahiro should act strictly according to the shogunate’s directive — “whether crushing the ship or whatever else, please act exactly according to your duty” — and that he had no objection to this.Original
Nagahiro said, “I am filled with admiration for such devoted loyalty,” and departed.OriginalOriginal

Toward evening, another letter arrived from Nagahiro.Original
Today, while watching the movements of the Russian ship through a telescope, it was observed that the ship had moved “about twenty chō” closer to shore, and there was a great deal of cleaning going on aboard.Original
“Truly this must be the intention of an invitation. No other purpose is evident.”Original
It is truly the intent of an invitation.Original
No other purpose is evident.Original
Still, they said they would bring along many retainers, and without calling it a guard for the ship, would go to the lower residence near the Russian ship, and would watch over the party’s ship unseen all day long, so they should feel at ease.Original
“In that letter, deep kindness was manifest” — in that letter deep and kind intent had been shown, Kawaji noted.OriginalOriginal

Seen from today, the above account is something that “hardly deserves even a laugh,” but Tokutomi Sohō says that at the time it was not necessarily unreasonable.Original
In any case, Tokutomi Sohō remarks that it was “truly fortunate” for the shogunate that among its officials there was one such as Kawaji, an official of the utmost sense of responsibility.OriginalOriginal

The Five-Colored Mat

The seventeenth day, clear weather.Original
They all assembled at eleven in the morning.Original
They wore layered formal robes with crested garments.Original
It was built in two stories, hung with curtains of scarlet crepe, and Tsutsui’s and Kawaji’s bows, guns, ship banners, paired spears, and standard were displayed, along with Arao’s and Koga’s spears and the bows and guns of Hosokawa’s ship crew.Original
A ship bearing the scarlet crepe crested curtain of the Nagasaki magistrate’s office also accompanied them, and it was lively with drums and stern-beat rhythms.Original
The guard posts and camps of Kuroda and Nabeshima, and the camp of Ōmura, all hung curtains, and Kawaji writes, “Within the harbor of Nagasaki, it was a sight to astonish the eyes.”OriginalOriginal

As the ship drew near, the Russian ship welcomed them with music.Original
Kawaji adds in a note that firing a salute is a Western custom, but it is forbidden in Japan.Original
A five-colored mat was laid on the ladder, and lower-ranking officers came out even below it, while the senior officers welcomed them on board.Original
The ship was built in three stories.Original
The envoy himself guided them, showing them everything, even down to the place where weapons were stored.Original
On the ladder, the senior officers took Tsutsui’s hand and helped him down.Original
“It was as though they lacked only removing his shoes” — such was their courtesy, all but taking off his shoes and putting them back on for him.OriginalOriginal

On the upper deck there was a separate second story; for the envoy there was a chair, and for Tsutsui and the others a floor was built and covered with splendid matting resembling flower-woven rugs, and tea was served, and they were shown the ranks of large and small cannon.Original
When that was done, they showed something like a curtain dyed with the ship banners of Japan and Russia arranged side by side, saying, “This is how closely we regard Japan.”Original
On the lower deck there were hanging glass lanterns.Original
The area around the pillars was covered with tin, and in something like a mirror about seven sun wide, a thin candle with a single wick was lit.Original
Kawaji notes in detail that because the wick was thin, the wax burned down little, and because it was reflected in the mirror, the light was good.Original
Along the ship’s rail there were a great many iron cannon, with iron bars laid across like vertical stripes, and between them cannonballs were “arranged like chestnuts,” with people walking back and forth above them.OriginalOriginal

The envoy’s chamber, with its stacked books, was “extraordinarily grand,” about the size of fifteen mats, and had a large glass window.Original
On either side hung portraits of the Emperor, the Prince, and the second son.Original
Kawaji attempts an explanation: if a person faces the mirror that captures images, that figure remains fixed in the mirror without vanishing, and this is due to some chemical.Original
The wine served at the banquet was French grape wine.Original
Even drinking much of it, one grew little drunk, and it wore off quickly.
The idea of not spending something as practical as rice on mere amusement was “most interesting.”Original
There was also heated wine, and at the end a sweet, fragrant liquor resembling awamori was served.Original
The dishes served were especially numerous — “the skill of their hospitality was truly astonishing.”OriginalOriginal

Toward evening, though urged to stay, they pressed to return.
The envoy saw them off as far as the boarding point, and when they came out on the top of the third story, everyone drew their swords, beat drums, and sent them off with music.Original
The lower-ranking officers lined up without a gap in three or four rows along the yards of the three masts, and watched them off from afar.Original
Originally they had intended to board the steamship as well, but as dusk was falling, “mindful of others’ feelings,” they hurried back.Original
After about ten chō, lanterns were lit.Original
That day, Nagahiro, calling it an outing, stayed at the lower residence, watching the ship the whole time through a telescope.Original
Kawaji had heard that Nabeshima’s ship crew had secretly hidden ships loaded with cannon here and there, making real preparations in secret.OriginalOriginal

A Lecture on the Sword

The gifts were displayed aboard the ship, and everyone was shown around to see them.Original
From Tsutsui came a writing-paper and inkstone box lacquered with a design of peonies and butterflies, five-colored formal paper, and a set of three sword fittings, large and small.Original
From Kawaji came an inrō lacquered with a design of Mount Fuji, with a cord fastener and netsuke of cherry blossoms.Original
Attached to it was the poem, “Look upon the form of the mountain of the Imperial land, ruled forever by the divine grandchild.”Original
On two wide trays were images of a man in court cap and robe and a man on horseback.Original
Three black-lacquered sake cups.Original
On the feet was a design of cranes; since red is a foreign color, it was not used, and black lacquer was used instead.OriginalOriginal

And also one sword, two shaku six sun long, broad and layered.Original
The hilt collar, guard, and ornaments were all in gold lacquer with a cherry blossom design, and the scabbard too bore a cherry blossom design in mother-of-pearl.Original
The signature read “Made by Jirō Tarō Naokatsu,” carved with the words “Sword worn by Kawaji Saemon no jō.”Original
Kawaji, through an interpreter, gave a lecture on it.Original
If one tried cutting a person with this sword, three people lined up could be cleanly cut through the torso, and even a cartwheel axle could be cut like a melon.Original
He said not to think it too heavy to wield — he himself swung a sword twice as heavy some three thousand times a day, so a sword like this felt to him “like handling a stalk of hemp.”Original
Asked how one tested it on a person, he had them answer that one cuts the corpse of an executed criminal, which in Japan is called “tameshi.”Original
Westerners, since they do not train in this way, likely could not cut so well, but they could surely cut off an arm or a leg.Original
He said that carrying a sword of such sharpness is the ordinary custom in Japan.Original
From Arao came a picture of the fifty-three stations and a writing-paper and inkstone box, and from Koga came ten painted candles and two inkstone-box lids.Original
The Russian side showed unusual delight.OriginalOriginal

Sohō writes that this memoir, though “of no great consequence to the overall situation,” faithfully records the manner and the truth of the negotiations between the two sides.Original
“One with discerning eyes will, through such trifling accounts, all the more grasp the circumstances of the time.”Original
That is to say, those with an eye for it would read the situation of the time all the more clearly from such minor accounts.OriginalOriginal

Thirty to fifty years, in the reply letter

On the eighteenth, it was clear.Original
Before ten in the morning they assembled, summoned the Russian envoys to the West Magistrate’s Office, and handed over the senior councilors’ reply letter.Original
The address read “To His Excellency Putyatin, Grand Chancellor of Great Russia,” it was signed by the six senior councilors Abe Masahiro, Makino Tadamasa, Matsudaira Noriyasu, Matsudaira Tadamasu, Kuze Hirochika, and Naitō Nobuchika, and it was dated the fifteenth day of the tenth month of Kaei 6 (1853).Original
Sohō notes that the fair copy was not ready in time for Tsutsui and the others’ departure from Edo on the last day of the tenth month, and that it was received en route, which shows how much trouble the shogunate had taken over it.OriginalOriginal

The reply letter said the following.Original
There was no doubt that the present envoy’s mission arose from goodwill.Original
As for the matter of the boundary, it would be investigated by the border domains, and a senior official would be dispatched to meet and deliberate together so as to bring it to a unified resolution.Original
As for trade, there was a strict prohibition handed down from the ancestors’ laws.Original
However, given “the changing circumstances within the world at present,” the trend toward trade was growing daily, and the Americans too had come asking to open markets.Original
“It could not be helped that some three to five years would be spent on this.”Original
For now, two senior officials would be sent to Nagasaki, it said.Original
Sohō writes that for the Russian envoy this was “words not worth the wait.”Original
If everything was to be settled only after three to five years, then the very purpose of having gone to the trouble of dispatching a special envoy would “come to almost nothing at all,” it said.OriginalOriginal

The reply letter was handed over still sealed, and a separate true copy was also given.Original
To the envoy and the deputy, cotton cloth and red-and-white damask silk were given; to the whole party, one hundred bales of five-to bags of rice and twenty pigs.Original
The meal consisted of three soups and nine dishes, with floral decorations.Original
The following day, since the Chinese text alone was said to be insufficiently clear, a Dutch translation was requested, and the interpreters Nishi Kichibei and Moriyama Einosuke translated it and delivered it.Original
On the nineteenth, the four men sent a report to the senior councilors in Edo.Original
It states that the Russian envoy at first said that he would set sail unless the officials came to their ship, but that they persuaded him to submit, telling him, “regardless of the proprieties of our court, to speak of setting sail is by no means a proper way of proceeding,” meaning that to propose departure without regard for Japan’s ceremonial protocol was not an acceptable proposition.Original
It records that aboard the ship on the seventeenth, “the courtesies shown were unexpectedly respectful, and every kindness was extended in hospitality.”Original
And in closing it adds one remark: “as the disposition of the foreigners is cunning and sly,” it is quite uncertain whether full negotiations could be carried out with them.OriginalOriginal

Kawaji, who had refused to have the ship burned and boarded it saying his life was forfeit for but a day, saw inside the ship cannonballs lined up like chestnut stones, a portrait of the Emperor, and French wine.Original
Words did not pass between them.Original
Yet Kawaji notes in his own annotation that if they spent even thirty days together in one place, most things would surely become understood, for “human feeling changes not at all, and it must be the same in every land.”Original
Human feeling does not change in the least, and it must be the same in whatever country, he wrote.Original
It was that very same hand which, the following day, presented the reply letter reading “three to five years” while still sealed.Original
On the way back, when after about ten blocks the lanterns were lit, how did the port of Nagasaki appear to Kawaji’s eyes?Original

This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, Perry’s Arrival and Its Time. 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.