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 for many years held sole control over the finances of the Satsuma domain, coughed up blood and died.OriginalOriginal

The following year, there is a letter dated the twenty-ninth day of the first month of Kaei 2, which the heir apparent Shimazu Nariakira sent in reply to his retainer Nomura Dennojō.Original
It means that Zusho’s close aides must have been shaken to their very core.Original
She was the daughter of the Waya house at Meguro Bridge, and Sohō notes that she had thrown herself into despair over Nikaidō’s downfall.OriginalOriginal

The death of one aged retainer.Original
The drowning of one woman.Original
From here, the internal strife of Satsuma suddenly began to move.OriginalOriginal

Two Wise Lords

Sohō lines up the daimyo of the great domains before Perry’s arrival and evaluates them.Original
The first who could be called a wise lord was Tokugawa Nariaki.Original
The one who never neglected both letters and arms was Nabeshima Narimasa.Original
The one seen as promising despite his youth was Matsudaira Yoshinaga.Original
And the one with the highest reputation for wisdom of all was the heir apparent of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira.OriginalOriginal

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

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

Nariakira was “generous and magnanimous,” skilled at enduring, at scheming, at waiting, at concealing himself, and at bearing hardship.Original
Even so, Sohō judges that without Abe Masahiro, Nariakira’s difficulties would have been even greater.OriginalOriginal

The Fifty-Odd Years of Shigehide’s Era

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

Shimazu Shigehide inherited the family headship at the age of eleven in Hōreki 5, and died at the age of eighty-nine in Tenpō 4.Original
Even excluding the ten years at either end, the middle fifty-odd years may well be called Shigehide’s era.Original
His son Narinobu inherited at fifteen and retired at thirty-seven.Original
The only notable event during that time was the “Kinshiroku Collapse.”Original
His grandson Narioki inherited at the age of nineteen in Bunka 6, but political power 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 son Nariakira was twenty-five.OriginalOriginal

But real financial authority, whether or not Shigehide was alive, had come to rest with Zusho Shōzaemon.Original
Sohō says that as long as 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 observed the flaws in Zusho’s work.Original
On one side was a young man, sharp and eager, full of enterprise.Original
On the other was an old man, sated with past success and intoxicated by present fortune.Original
Sohō writes that it was unavoidable that the two could not be reconciled.OriginalOriginal

Whether Zusho was allied with Narioki’s favored concubine Lady Oyura (of the Okada family) is not clear in detail.Original
But Sohō declares it certain that Zusho spoke ill of Nariakira to his father.Original
Nariakira had foreign books translated and had instruments purchased and sent, in order to open up in the domain the study of Western gunnery, geography, and products.Original
Zusho’s faction denounced this as being “fixated on foreign 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 had only just begun to recover, would be endangered.OriginalOriginal

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
Sohō closes with these words, meaning that small birds cannot understand the ambitions of great ones.OriginalOriginal

“The Inner Chambers Are a Matter of Great Concern”

The party of righteousness suspected that Lady Oyura was scheming by every means to make her own son Hisamitsu Narioki’s successor.Original
Nariakira’s children were born only to die.Original
The manner of their deaths also appeared suspicious in the eyes of the party of righteousness.OriginalOriginal

There is a letter dated the sixteenth day of the fifth month of Kaei 2, which Yamada Ichirōzaemon sent to his fellow member Yoshii Shichirōemon.Original
It says that although the birth of a third son (in fact the fourth son, Hironosuke) in Edo was welcome, it was reported that Morinoshin too had “again fallen into a strange affliction.”Original
This means that Morinoshin too had reportedly developed some odd illness.Original
Morinoshin died young on the fourth day of the tenth month of Kaei 3.Original
Yamada goes on to write, “I can hardly sleep by day or by night, wondering whether those traitors ought to be struck down at once.”Original
It means that he could not sleep, day or night, wondering whether those traitors should soon be put to death.Original

Even in Nariakira’s own letter from the first month of Kaei 2, he writes that while the household’s outward affairs had improved somewhat, “the inner quarters are a great worry.”Original
Because the inner quarters were a worry, he wrote: “I ask above all that you devote your best efforts to devising a way to drive out the wicked woman.”Original
He was asking, first and foremost, for a scheme to remove that woman.OriginalOriginal

According to the same letter, it would be easy to order Narioki’s retirement by shogunal command, but that would hurt Narioki’s feelings.Original
Sohō writes that this amounted to “indirect fire” against Narioki.OriginalOriginal

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

“Endure until next year”

In Kaei 2, Nariakira turned forty.Original
Though praised throughout the realm for his wisdom, he remained heir apparent still.Original
Though he himself could endure it, the members 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 is single-minded by nature and gives little thought to consequences, so he asked that Kondō be kept from any rash behavior.OriginalOriginal

Of the chief retainer Ikariyama Shōsō (Shimazu Shōsō) too, he said that, unlike Zusho, “he is not a man deserving of such hatred.”Original
He was not, he said, so deserving of hatred.
Even so, Kondō, being “single-minded at heart,” would not accept this.Original
So he wrote: “Please tell him, without making it obvious, to endure until next year.”Original
He asked that Kondō be told, discreetly, to bear with it until next year.OriginalOriginal

Sohō remarks that Nariakira was not a bold man who took pride in the courage of a common soldier.Original
With sweaty palms, Nariakira soothed them again and again.OriginalOriginal

Betrayal and Merciless Executions

But the plan collapsed.Original
Higo Heikurō, one of the sympathizers, coaxed the circumstances out of his comrade Yoshii Shichinojō and reported them secretly to the authorities.Original
Tajima Ichisuke also betrayed them, informing the attendant Ijūin Taira.Original
Sohō records that Ijūin was one of those who ingratiated himself with Lady Oyura and joined with Ikariyama Shōsō and Yoshitoshi Naka to plot against Nariakira.Original
They blew the affair out of all proportion.Original
They claimed that at meetings the men had slandered the government, that the rites performed at the Hanakura teahouse to subdue an alien enemy were malicious, and that there was a plot to kill the chief retainer Shimazu Shōsō, the guard captain Yoshitoshi Naka, and others.Original
Making such charges, on the sixth day of the twelfth month of Kaei 2 they ordered Kondō Ryūzaemon, Yamada Ichirōzaemon, Takasaki Gorōemon, and three others, six men in all, dismissed and exiled to a distant island, while secretly conveying that they should take their own lives, and had them commit seppuku.Original
Under Satsuma protocol, depending on the wording of the summons to the Hyōjōsho, a man had to commit seppuku before midnight of the date given.Original
If he was late, an official to examine the corpse might already be waiting at his gate.Original
The affair flared up again on the fourth day of the third month of Kaei 3, the following year.Original
This was because a letter Yamada had sent to Shioya Kanbei, a townsman of Kyoto, and Takasaki’s diary fell into the hands of the authorities.Original
It was decided that the bodies would be exposed on crosses, and that Kondō would be subjected to the punishment of being sawn to death.Original
On the fourth day of the third month, the unit commander Akayama Yukie, along with Nomura Kihachirō, Nakamura Kaemon, and Yoshii Shichinojō, committed seppuku.Original
Yoshii was twenty-five years old.Original
In all, more than forty people were punished.Original
Ōkubo Toshimichi’s father, Ōkubo Jiemon, was among those dismissed and exiled.Original
It cannot be denied that the Righteous Party had left openings which the opposing faction exploited.Original
But Sohō writes that the cruelty of the punishments was beyond words.OriginalOriginal

Bring Sweet Sake

Sohō calls the death of Akayama Yukie especially tragic.OriginalOriginal

Akayama was the second son of Shimazu Hisakaze, the castle warden and chief retainer of the Hioki branch of the Shimazu family.Original
Sincere and possessed of good judgment, he was expected by others to become a man of great stature in the future.Original
When sentenced to lifelong exile and secretly informed that he should take his own life, Akayama calmly bid farewell to his mother.Original
A shishi facing death must keep his mind composed, he said.Original
He said not a drop of sake should be drunk.Original
He asked instead that sweet sake be brought to him.OriginalOriginal

He asked Saigō Kichibei to serve as his second.Original
Kichibei, as a purveyor, had served the Hioki family 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 that nothing was so wretched as being a samurai, and gave him this keepsake.Original
Kichinosuke was eighteen.Original
It is said that he held the undergarment and wept through the night.OriginalOriginal

Arimura Niemon had just returned from a distant province and was spared punishment.Original
But he pressed the senior councilor over why, although he held the office of investigating magistrate, he had not been informed of the punishments, and as a result he was stripped of his post.Original
The next day, when he sent his son Shunsai to Takasaki Gorōemon’s house, Takasaki had already taken his own life.Original
Nakamura Chūzaemon said, “This evening I will surely be granted death,” and asked that word be sent to his father to remain composed and fulfill his aspirations.Original
That night, Nakamura was indeed granted death.Original
Ōkubo Jiemon smiled and said that he had received a secret order to request exile for himself, and asked whether that was not strange.OriginalOriginal

The tens of thousands of men and women in the castle town seemed to lose heart, and there was “a look of autumn wind and setting sun.”Original
The autumn wind, the view of the setting sun.
It was as desolate as that, 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 no choice but to stand by and watch this bloodshed.Original
“How bitter this must have been for him,” Tokutomi Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal

The letter that the man known as a wise lord had sent, telling them to endure until the following year.Original
Many of those who read it died before that following 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 seems to speak of exactly 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.