Russian envoy Putyatin entered Nagasaki on the 17th day of the 7th month of Kaei 6 (1853). While waiting for a reply from Edo, the inspector Ōi Saburōsuke went out to the Russian ship offshore. What he conveyed was the news that the shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi had died. Tokutomi Sohō writes that he sees this as a pretext for putting off the reply.
According to Sohō, the shogunate’s chronic ailment lay in postponing matters. In the magistrate of Nagasaki’s document dated the 3rd day of the 9th month, the range of the launch’s movements gradually expanded. When stopped, they threatened to go around to Uraga instead. The magistrate got them to agree not to go inside the guard station, not to land, and not to survey.
The document dated the 22nd day of the 9th month was even more urgent. They repeatedly insisted that if landing were not permitted, they would go to Uraga. The magistrate replied that, since it was a national prohibition, he could not permit it without first asking Edo. Even after being told of the shogun’s death on the 16th, the envoy said he would not set sail until a reply came from the senior councilors. Sohō, while acknowledging the magistrate’s hardships, comments that he was fully occupied just fending them off.
According to Russian records, they were told of Ieyoshi’s death on the 19th day of the 9th month. Putyatin had Lieutenant Colonel Posyet press them over the slowness of the reply. Their argument was that Nagasaki was surely meant to be a place for dealing with foreigners. Mourning had been declared on the 22nd day of the 7th month, and by the meeting on the 19th day of the 8th month the Japanese side should already have known. He wrote that rather than wait 3 or 4 months, if talks did not go through he would negotiate directly in Edo at once.
Edo had no clear policy toward Russia. On the 3rd day of the 8th month, Abe Masahiro decided that the state letter would be accepted, and the reply conveyed through the Dutch kapitan. But on the 5th day of the 8th month he revised this, saying that if they wished to wait for a reply, the ships should be kept in port. Sohō views the shogunate’s attention as directed more toward the American ships at Uraga than toward the Russian ships at Nagasaki. Meanwhile, Sendai domain retainer Ōtsuki Heiji submitted to finance magistrate Kawaji Toshiakira a memorandum arguing for allying with a strong Russia.
On the 8th day of the 10th month, the shogunate appointed Kawaji Toshiakira finance magistrate in charge of finances, and gave Tsutsui Masanori the rank of senior inspector. Inspector Arao Narimasa and Confucian scholar Koga Kin’ichirō also joined. But at Nagasaki, on the 17th day of the 10th month a signal went up that they would head around to Edo, and on the 23rd the fleet departed. 3 months spent in vain at Nagasaki. Learning in Shanghai of the outbreak of war with Britain and France, Putyatin headed once more to Nagasaki in early the 12th month.
What happened during the 3 months of waiting for a reply can be traced through both the magistrate of Nagasaki’s documents and Russian records.
The inspector Ōi Saburōsuke went out to sea.Original
His destination was the Russian ship moored inside the harbor.Original
There was only one thing he had to convey.
It was the death of the shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi.OriginalOriginal
The Russian envoy Putyatin entered Nagasaki on the seventeenth day of the seventh month.Original
Nearly a month had passed since then.Original
A reply from Edo had still not come.Original
What was delivered in its place was news of the shogun’s mourning.OriginalOriginal
Tokutomi Sohō writes that this errand was one method of “using the shogun’s death as a pretext to delay the reply.”Original
That is to say, they used the shogun’s death as a reason to postpone their answer.Original
A small boat carried death in place of an answer.Original
One could read the three months of this chapter as condensed into this single scene.Original
又た養生の爲め、短艇にて、附近を乘り廻さんことを請うたから、制限的に之を許したら、漸次其の範圍が廣くなりて、之を制すれば浦賀に向ふ可しと聲言すとある
Open the original page at the National Diet Library“The Shogunate’s Chronic Ailment Lies in Delay”
“The shogunate’s chronic ailment lies in delay,” Tokutomi Sohō writes.Original
This means that the shogunate’s persistent affliction was to put things off.Original
“Nothing can be settled quickly” ―― that is, nothing was ever resolved promptly.Original
This condition is reflected in the reports submitted by the magistrate of Nagasaki, and Tokutomi Sohō quotes two of them, dated the third day of the ninth month and the twenty-second day of the ninth month.Original
The main ship had at first been moored near Takahoko Island, but fearing wind and waves, the Russians requested to move it into the harbor.Original
Since space was limited, the main ship was placed outside Kōzaki, and the two other vessels inside.Original
The gun batteries at Inasazaki and Iwasemichi were transferred from the jurisdiction of the intendant Takagi Sakuemon to the guard units of the two houses.Original
The problem was the “battera,” that is, the small boats.Original
Once permission was granted for their use around the main ship, the scope expanded, with the Russians next claiming it was for “exercise and health.”Original
When restrained, they said, “We shall go around to Uraga.”Original
This was a threat to go to Uraga.Original
The magistrate finally managed to get them to agree to terms: they would not enter within the two guard posts, would stay offshore only within sight of the guard boats, and would not land or conduct surveys.Original
The report of the twenty-second day of the ninth month is even more urgent.Original
“They repeatedly insist that landing be permitted, and that otherwise they will go to Uraga.”Original
It says that the Russians kept repeating this demand: permit us to land, or else we will go to Uraga.Original
The magistrate replied, “As this is a matter of national prohibition, it cannot be permitted without first inquiring of Edo.”Original
That is, since it was forbidden by the country’s law, permission could not be granted without first consulting Edo.Original
Thus, on the sixteenth, an inspector was sent to announce the shogun’s death.Original
But the envoy said, “Until we receive the reply from the senior councilors, we cannot set sail.”Original
That is, they could not depart until they knew the senior councilors’ answer.Original
This time they asked to be allowed to land in order to repair the ship.Original
The magistrate told them, “Should you land without authorization, you will of course be driven off, and may even be cut down or seized.”Original
That is, unauthorized landing would naturally result in being driven away, and even in being cut down or captured.Original
And at the end it states, “If the days are prolonged, various troubles will surely arise, and we are deeply concerned.”Original
That is, if time dragged on, various difficulties would emerge, and they were deeply worried.Original
Tokutomi Sohō comments, “This is the officials’ usual manner, and even now it is utterly laughable,” but adds, “yet one must sympathize with their pains.”Original
The magistrate’s posture was “like one chasing flies off a meal,” and “with this, it seems impossible even to dream that they could negotiate with foreigners and settle the great designs of the nation.”Original
That is, those on the scene were fully occupied just driving the Russians off.OriginalOriginal
就中上陸之儀は、最初渡來之砌より申立居、書簡御返答急速に相達不申候ては、長く滯船に罷在候義運動不宜、性命に拘り及難義候故、上陸差免候樣、左も無之ば、浦賀へ相參候趣、再々申立候に付
Open the original page at the National Diet Library“A Place Set Up Merely to Deceive Foreigners”
How did the Russian side view this same scene?Original
According to Russian records, they were informed of Ieyoshi’s death on the nineteenth day of the ninth month.Original
Putyatin had Lieutenant Colonel Posyet press the matter.Original
Why had no swift reply come from Edo?OriginalOriginal
“Nagasaki, after all, is merely a place set up to deceive foreigners.”Original
Being in the western corner of Japan, far from the capital, negotiations with the center would inevitably be slow.Original
It must be your government’s true intention that the foreigners grow weary and leave.OriginalOriginal
The shogun’s mourning was announced on the twenty-second day of the seventh month.Original
It was about three weeks from Edo to Nagasaki.Original
At the meeting on the nineteenth day of the eighth month, the Japanese officials surely already knew.Original
Why, then, had they deliberately concealed it until now?OriginalOriginal
江戶より長崎への道程は、約三週間なれば、八月十九日會見の際には、日本官吏は、當然此事を知る可きである
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe letter of renewed demand, which Tokutomi Sohō quotes at the outset while noting it is his “own rough translation,” carries the same tone.Original
“If, as at present, we must remain in Nagasaki for three or four months waiting for a reply, we shall only waste several months in vain.”Original
That is, staying in Nagasaki for three or four months as they were now doing, waiting for an answer, would merely waste several months for nothing.Original
“If matters cannot be settled here, we shall go at once to Edo to negotiate.”Original
That is, if things could not be resolved, they would go straight to Edo to negotiate.Original
Tokutomi Sohō reads this as “a spur applied against the shogunate’s procrastination.”OriginalOriginal
The Third and Fifth Days of the Eighth Month
So what was happening in Edo?Original
“To speak the truth, the shogunate at that time had no firm policy toward Russia,” Sohō writes.Original
What was written there were the words, “As for the repeated foreign ships, we are truly troubled.”Original
It says that the repeated arrivals of foreign ships were causing genuine worry.Original
It continues, “If you have any thoughts on this matter, we beg you to tell us.”Original
On the third day of the eighth month, Abe Masahiro handed a document to the three magistrates, the senior and junior inspectors, and the coastal defense officers.Original
The state letter would be received.Original
As for the reply, it was decided that “since it will be conveyed through the Dutch kapitan, they should be told to set sail.”Original
The reply would be conveyed through the Dutch kapitan, so the Russians should be told to depart, it said.Original
However, on the fifth day of the eighth month, this was corrected.Original
Urging departure before even seeing the state letter would be “truly improper,” that is, it would not sit well.Original
It was revised so that if they wished to hear Edo’s reply, the ship should be kept waiting, and the letter should be sent to Edo with all speed.Original
Sohō sums up the background in one phrase.Original
The shogunate “was more preoccupied with the American ship that had come to Uraga than with the Russian ship that had come to Nagasaki.”Original
The American ship that had just left Uraga was troubling the shogunate’s mind more than the Russian ship then anchored at Nagasaki.OriginalOriginal
此度魯西亞より持來り候書翰の儀、文化度彼國使節船渡來の節申渡置候通、御國法に於て難請取筋には候得共、無餘儀申立之趣も有之に付前文の趣、能々申諭候上、書翰請受差越可申候
Open the original page at the National Diet LibrarySuspicion and Pro-Russian Sentiment
Views on Russia were split into two.Original
On one side there was “Japan’s fear of Russia.”Original
Sohō writes that the disturbances in the north from the Kansei era through the Bunka and Bunsei eras were “a nightmare for the whole of Japan, high and low, which had been sleeping soundly in a peaceful world.”Original
This means a nightmare for a Japan at peaceful rest.Original
The reason no action had been taken since the refusal of Rezanov in the Bunka era was probably exhaustion dating from the time of Bonaparte.Original
That Russia should now offer assistance seemed suspicious.Original
“Is this not a scheme to plunder by taking advantage of that weakness?”Original
It was asked whether this was not a plot to seize the opportunity and plunder.Original
The American side wrote that if Japan and America went to war, Russia would side with Japan, use that trust to gain a foothold, and eventually scheme to swallow up the whole country.Original
On the other side, there were voices saying Japan should ally with Russia to check America.Original
This was Ōtsuki Heiji, a domain retainer of Sendai, also known as Bankei.Original
On the twentieth day of the ninth month, he submitted a memorandum of opinion to the finance magistrate Kawaji Toshiakira.Original
From the fifth year of Kansei, over sixty-one years, through Rezanov’s visit in the first year of Bunka, there had been three arrivals.Original
“Once we have made the mighty Russia our ally…”Original
There was almost no opinion calling for outright expulsion.OriginalOriginal
若し水師提督彼理が不幸にして平和的の談判に失敗し、日本人と武力的交鬪に及ぶに際せば、露人は其地に在りて、仲裁を事とせず、日本側の味方として、日本を援助し、而して若し成功せば、其の信用の刹那に乘じ、靜かに日本帝國の或る部分に立脚地を占め、適當の時に其の全國を併呑するの素地を作るの企謀であつた
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Eighth Day of the Tenth Month, Edo
The Russian envoy gradually revealed his “true hard-line colors.”Original
He declared that if no senior councilor or someone of equal rank came, he would go to Edo himself.Original
The demand was not for trade alone.Original
It was also for the setting of a northern boundary.Original
Sohō views this as something the shogunate “found ultimately impossible to avoid.”OriginalOriginal
そは露國使節の要求は、通商のみでなく、北方に於ける境堺設定でありて、此には幕府も到底囘避し難き事情あるが爲めであつた
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryOn the eighth day of the tenth month, the shogunate decided on representatives for the senior councilors.Original
Kawaji Toshiakira was appointed finance magistrate in charge of finances, and Tsutsui Masanori was given the rank of senior inspector.Original
Inspector Arao Narimasa and Confucian scholar Koga Kin’ichirō joined them.Original
Both men were given the qualifications and treatment of senior officials.OriginalOriginal
Three Months
In Nagasaki, the ships had begun moving before the decision was made.Original
On the fourth day of the tenth month, a supply ship that had gone to Shanghai returned, loaded with letters, newspapers, and provisions.Original
Sohō surmises that it was through this that they learned of the tense relations between Russia and Britain and France in Europe.Original
On the fifteenth day of the tenth month, the Bringer, which had been sailing north, returned to Nagasaki.Original
On the seventeenth day of the tenth month, a signal went up indicating they would sail around to Edo.Original
On the nineteenth, the Russian ship furled its flag.Original
The magistrate of Nagasaki announced that four high officials would be sent from Edo, but could not give a date of arrival.Original
On the twenty-third, the Russian ship left Nagasaki.Original
Counting from its entry into port on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, “three months had been spent idly at Nagasaki.”Original
The fleet dropped anchor off Woosung, and on the twelfth day of the eleventh month arrived at Shanghai.Original
There, Putyatin heard, on the fifth day of the twelfth month by the Russian calendar, that peace with Britain and France had broken down.Original
War would begin the following March.Original
Both the fifty-two-gun frigate and the twenty-gun corvette had the advantage over the British ships, but their deep draft prevented them from entering Shanghai.Original
In early December, the fleet again headed for Nagasaki.Original
This time Putyatin set a deadline.Original
If no high official came within three days, he would go to Edo.Original
Sohō writes that the magistrate of Nagasaki, “not knowing such internal circumstances,” could only try to placate the Russian envoy.Original
The shogunate could face the matter only by buying time.Original
Putyatin was pressed for time.Original
One side used the shogun’s death as a pretext, while the other counted the days of war raging in Europe.Original
Posyet’s words, “a place set up in order to deceive foreigners,” and Sohō’s diagnosis, “the chronic ailment lies in delay,” may point to the same port.Original
Who, in the end, was it that had been making them wait?OriginalOriginal
十九日に至り、露艦が其旗を捲くと見て、長崎奉行は、人を露艦に派し、江戶より露使へ面會の爲め、特に四人の大官を派する旨を告げた。されど其の到著日を示さず
Open the original page at the National Diet Library| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, Perry’s Arrival and Its Time (1929). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 3431222 |
| Checked against | Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 1 (1937). PID 1046665 |
| Dates and names | The text has 19 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 9 people named in the text, 8 also appear in Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 1. |
| English gates | 124 of 124 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
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.
