Shimazu Nariakira’s Patience ―― The Takasaki Collapse and the Blood-Stained Undergarment

The eighteenth day of the twelfth month of Kaei 1 (1848).Original
Zusho Shōzaemon, who had held sole control over the finances of the Satsuma domain for many years, vomited blood and died.OriginalOriginal

The following year, there is a letter that the heir apparent Shimazu Nariakira sent back to his retainer Nomura Dennojō, dated the twenty-ninth day of the first month of Kaei 2.Original
It means that Zusho’s close attendants must have felt as though heaven and earth had been overturned.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes in a note that she was the daughter of Waya of Meguro Bridge, and that she had thrown herself into despair over Nikaidō’s downfall.OriginalOriginal

The death of one old retainer.Original
The suicide by drowning of one woman.Original
From this point, the internal strife of Satsuma suddenly began to move.OriginalOriginal

Two Wise Lords

Tokutomi Sohō lines up and evaluates the daimyo of the great domains before Perry’s arrival.Original
The first who could be called a wise lord was Tokugawa Nariaki.Original
The one who was untiring in both literary and martial pursuits was Nabeshima Narimasa.Original
The one who, though young, was seen as promising was Matsudaira Yoshinaga.Original
And the one whose reputation for wisdom was highest of all was Shimazu Nariakira, the heir apparent of Satsuma.OriginalOriginal

Abe Masahiro, the senior councilor, devoted all his effort and mind to winning over the daimyo of the powerful domains one by one.Original
His alliance with Tokugawa Nariaki was one example.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that Abe had heard of Nariakira’s character early on and approached him as well.OriginalOriginal

But the strife in Satsuma was different in nature from that in Mito.Original
Factional struggle was entangled with a succession dispute within the house, making it an even more difficult problem.Original
Had Nariakira and Nariaki exchanged roles, the factional struggle in Mito would probably have been nearly settled by Nariakira’s hand.Original
And the calamity in Satsuma might have come, under Nariaki’s hand, to “washing blood with blood.”OriginalOriginal

Nariakira, being of “generous and magnanimous” character, endured well, schemed well, waited well, concealed himself well, and bore well.Original
Even so, Tokutomi Sohō considers that without Abe Masahiro, Nariakira’s difficulties would have been even greater.OriginalOriginal

The Fifty-Odd Years of the Shigehide Era

Why was Satsuma so difficult?Original
Tokutomi Sohō explains from the history of the domain’s governance.OriginalOriginal

Shimazu Shigehide succeeded to the family headship at age eleven in Hōreki 5, and died at age eighty-nine in Tenpō 4.Original
Even excluding the ten years before and after, the middle fifty-odd years may well be called the era of Shigehide.Original
His child Narinobu succeeded at age fifteen and retired at age thirty-seven.Original
The events of that period are nothing other than the “Kinshiroku Collapse.”Original
His grandson Narioki succeeded at age nineteen in Bunka 6, but governance remained in the hands of his grandfather Shigehide.Original
Only after Shigehide’s death did direct rule finally begin.Original
At that time Narioki was forty-three, and his child Nariakira was twenty-five.OriginalOriginal

But the real power over finances, regardless of whether Shigehide lived or died, had come to rest with Zusho Shōzaemon.Original
Tokutomi Sohō says that while Zusho lived, the governance of Satsuma was almost entirely Zusho’s governance.OriginalOriginal

Zusho monopolized Narioki’s favor and traveled back and forth between Edo and Kagoshima every year.Original
And seeing Nariakira’s brilliance, he came to fear him.Original
Nariakira too, as an onlooker, must have seen the flaws in Zusho’s work.Original
On one side was a young, sharp, and enterprising youth.Original
On the other was an old man full of past successes and intoxicated with present good fortune.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that it was unavoidable that the two could not get along.OriginalOriginal

Whether Zusho was in league with Lady Oyura (of the Okada family), Narioki’s favored concubine, is not clear.Original
But Tokutomi Sohō declares it certain that Zusho spoke ill of Nariakira to his father.Original
Nariakira had had Western books translated and instruments purchased and sent, in order to open up learning in Western gunnery, geography, and products in his domain.Original
The Zusho faction denounced this as being “fixated on Western habits” and “useless extravagance.”Original
They whispered to his father that Nariakira had the air of his great-great-grandfather Shigehide, and that if he indulged in extravagance, the house, which was just beginning to recover, would be endangered.OriginalOriginal

Tokutomi Sohō does not necessarily see this as slander.Original
He suggests that Zusho probably truly believed it himself.Original
“How can a swallow or sparrow know the ambitions of a great swan?”Original
Tokutomi Sohō closes with these words, meaning that small birds cannot understand the ambitions of great birds.OriginalOriginal

“A Matter of Great Worry Within”

The party of righteousness suspected that Lady Oyura had schemed by every means to make her own son Hisamitsu the successor to Narioki.Original
Nariakira’s children were born and then died.Original
The manner of their deaths also appeared suspicious to the eyes of the party of righteousness.OriginalOriginal

There is a letter dated the sixteenth day of the fifth month of Kaei 2, sent by Yamada Ichirōzaemon to his fellow partisan Yoshii Shichirōemon.Original
He writes that although it was a blessing that a third son (in fact the fourth son, Hironosuke) had been born in Edo, “it is said that Morinoshin too has again fallen into a strange illness.”Original
This means that Morinoshin too was said to have shown a strange illness.Original
Morinoshin died young on the fourth day of the tenth month of Kaei 3.Original
Yamada continues, “I cannot sleep peacefully day or night, wondering whether those traitors ought to be struck down soon.”Original
This means: should those traitors be struck down soon? Day and night, he could not sleep.Original

In Nariakira’s own letter of the first month of Kaei 2, he wrote that on the surface things had improved at the mansion, but “as for the inner quarters, I am greatly worried.”Original
Because the inner quarters worried him, he wrote, “I earnestly ask that devising a way to drive out the wicked woman be made the first priority.”Original
He was asking that a scheme be devised, above all, to remove that woman.OriginalOriginal

According to the same letter, it would be easy to order the retired lord’s retirement by shogunal command, but that would injure Narioki’s feelings.Original
Tokutomi Sohō says this was “indirect fire” aimed at Narioki.OriginalOriginal

Nariakira, who showed no sign of breaking down even while seated as if on needles, was no ordinary man.OriginalOriginal

“Endure until next year”

In Kaei 2, Nariakira had turned forty.Original
Though praised throughout the realm as a man of wisdom, he remained heir apparent still.Original
Though he himself could endure it, the men of the Righteous Party who wished to see him installed could not.OriginalOriginal

Nariakira knew this.Original
In a letter to Murano Den’nojō dated the twenty-ninth day of the ninth month of Kaei 2, he wrote as follows.Original
Kondō was single-minded by nature and gave little thought to consequences, so he asked that there be no rash behavior.OriginalOriginal

Of the chief retainer Ikariyama Shōsō (Shimazu Shōsō) too, he said, unlike Zusho, “he is not someone deserving of such hatred.”Original
He was not, he said, so hateful a person.
Even so, Kondō, being “single-minded at heart,” would not likely agree.Original
So he wrote, “please tell him, without making it obvious, to endure until next year.”Original
He asked that it be conveyed indirectly that he should bear with it until the following year.OriginalOriginal

Sohō comments that Nariakira was not a hero boasting of a common man’s courage.Original
Nariakira, sweating with anxiety, soothed them again and again.OriginalOriginal

Betrayal and a cruel execution

But the plan collapsed.Original
One of the men of resolve, Higo Heikurō, coaxed his comrade Yoshii Shichinojō into revealing the details, and informed the authorities.Original
Tajima Ichisuke also betrayed them, reporting to the attendant Ijūin Taira.Original
Sohō records that Ijūin, having ingratiated himself with Lady Oyura, was one of those who conspired with Ikariyama Shōsō and Yoshitoshi Naka to work against Nariakira.Original
They blew the affair up out of all proportion.Original
They claimed the men had slandered the government at their gatherings, that the rites performed at the Hanakura teahouse to subdue foreign enemies were malicious, and that there was a plot to kill the chief retainer Shimazu Shōsō and the guard captain Yoshitoshi Naka.Original
On these charges, on the sixth day of the twelfth month of Kaei 2, six men including Kondō Ryūzaemon, Yamada Ichirōzaemon, and Takasaki Gorōemon were sentenced to dismissal and exile to a distant island, but were secretly told to take their own lives and made to commit ritual suicide.Original
Under Satsuma’s rules, depending on the wording of the summons to the deliberative office, one had to commit ritual suicide before midnight of that very day.Original
If one was late, there were times when an inspector would come and wait at the gate.Original
The affair flared up again on the fourth day of the third month of the following year, Kaei 3.Original
This was because a letter Yamada had sent to the Kyoto merchant Shioya Kanbei, and Takasaki’s diary, fell into the authorities’ hands.Original
It was decided that the corpse would be exposed and crucified, and that Kondō would be executed by the saw.Original
On the fourth day of the third month, the unit commander Akayama Yukie, Nomura Kihachirō, Nakamura Kaemon, and Yoshii Shichinojō committed ritual suicide.Original
Yoshii was twenty-five years old.Original
In total, more than forty people were punished.Original
Ōkubo Toshimichi’s father, Ōkubo Jiemon, was also among those dismissed and exiled.Original
It cannot be denied that the Righteous Party had left an opening for the opposing faction to exploit.Original
But Sohō writes that the cruelty of the punishments was beyond words.OriginalOriginal

Bring some sweet sake

Sohō calls the death of Akayama Yukie especially tragic.OriginalOriginal

Akayama was the second son of the Hioki branch of the Shimazu clan, and of the castle warden Shimazu Hisakaze.Original
Sincere and possessed of good judgment, people expected great things of him in the future.Original
When he was sentenced to lifelong exile and secretly told to take his own life, Akayama calmly bid farewell to his mother.Original
A man of resolve facing death must keep his mind calm, he said.Original
Not a drop of sake should be drunk, he said.Original
He asked that sweet sake be brought instead.OriginalOriginal

He asked Saigō Kichibei to serve as his second.Original
Kichibei had served the Hioki house as a purveyor since his father’s generation.Original
When it was over, Kichibei received the blood-stained undergarment and took it home.Original
Turning to his son Kichinosuke, he lamented, “There is nothing so wretched as being a samurai. I give you this keepsake.”Original
Kichinosuke was eighteen.Original
It is said he wept the whole night through, clutching the undergarment.OriginalOriginal

Arimura Niemon had just returned from a distant province and was spared punishment.Original
But though he held the office of investigating magistrate, he had not been informed of the decision, and when he pressed a senior official about it, he was stripped of his post.Original
The next day, he sent his son Shunsai to Takasaki Gorōemon’s house, but Takasaki had already taken his own life.Original
Nakamura Chūzaemon said, “I shall be granted death this evening,” and asked that word be sent to his father to exercise self-restraint and fulfill his aspirations.Original
That night, indeed, Nakamura was granted death.Original
Ōkubo Jiemon said with a smile that he had received a secret order asking him to request exile for himself, and remarked how strange it was.OriginalOriginal

The tens of thousands of men and women within the castle town seemed to lose all spirit, and there was “a scene of autumn wind and setting sun.”Original
Autumn wind, the view of the setting sun.
It was as desolate as that, Tokutomi Sohō quotes.OriginalOriginal

Shimazu Nariakira finally succeeded to the family headship on the eighth day of the second month of Kaei 4 (1851).Original
But until then, he had to watch this bloodshed as a bystander.Original
“How deeply painful this must have been,” Tokutomi Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal

That letter, in which the man called a wise lord wrote telling them to endure until the next year.Original
Many of those who read it died before the next year came.Original
Nariakira’s patience may have been built upon their blood.
The weight of the undergarment that the eighteen-year-old boy held through the night can also be read as speaking to this.OriginalOriginal

This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, The Situation before Perry’s Arrival. 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.