The former minister of state, Sanjō Sanetsumu, hid himself in a private house in Yodo in the first month of Ansei 6 (1859). At around ten o’clock at night on the 9th day of the first month, the one who knocked on the door was his retainer, Irie Suruga no kami. It was a message saying there was an urgent matter.
What Irie brought was news that the Takatsukasa father and child would shave their heads and become monks. The heir, Major General Sanjō Sanetomi, deliberately did not come, in order to avoid suspicion. Before this, there had been a turning point. As a mark of special favor, the emperor had bestowed a genuine sword. Tokutomi Sohō writes that for the Ii side, which needed the court’s permission, nothing could have been more convenient than this.
Having taken what needed to be taken, next came the turn to sweep clean those around the emperor. Nagano Shuzen and others thought it necessary to establish the crime and make the person concerned admit it. Tokutomi Sohō records that Manabe had no choice but to accept this. Many had already been sent to Edo, and only the court nobles of the imperial court remained. Sanetsumu’s diary for the 3rd day of the first month records that officials came to examine the documents of his house.
The same day’s diary entry also recorded a rumor that Tokugawa Nariaki was hiding in the Takatsukasa house. It is said that warrior-house men forced their way in and pressed that if he were being hidden, they would break in and search. Nariaki had been confined to his residence at Komagome in Edo since the 5th day of the 7th month of Ansei 5. Tokutomi Sohō writes that he could not possibly have been in Kyoto, but the rumor itself showed people’s unease. The account Irie gave on the night of the 9th was also complicated.
When Sanetomi confirmed it with the Takatsukasa house, it was certain, and when Konoe asked the regent, he was advised that it would be best to petition soon. Sanetsumu instructed Irie to submit a petition to become a monk to the regent the following morning. He also told him to submit the petition following precedent, matching its wording with those of Konoe and Takatsukasa. He also heard that Muraoka, the senior lady-in-waiting of the Konoe house, had been summoned and detained at the office just as the men had been. Sanetsumu wrote down that the regent, who had refused to intercede, was the height of disloyalty.
Sanetsumu himself had made up his mind at the end of the previous year, after receiving hints from the shoshidai side. On the 10th day of the first month, 4 petitions were submitted. Tokutomi Sohō writes that while taking the form of acting on one’s own initiative, these were in fact responses to the Ii side’s demands. The emperor, in a letter to Regent Kujō, asked that suspicions be resolved quickly, but Manabe, when consulted, submitted an opinion stating that the petitions should be granted as requested. Tokutomi Sohō asks whether the true instigators were Ii Naosuke and Nagano Shuzen, and whether Sanetsumu had mistaken the one he resented.
The days from Sanjō Sanetsumu’s hiding in Yodo to his petition to become a monk can be traced through his own “Diary of Seclusion,” the letter the emperor gave to Regent Kujō, Manabe’s petition, and Utsugi’s letter.
The Ninth Day of the First Month, the Hour of the Boar
It was around ten o’clock at night on the ninth day of the first month of Ansei 6 (1859).Original
Someone knocked at the door of a commoner’s house in Yodo.Original
The master of the house was the former Minister of the Interior, Sanjō Sanetsumu.Original
He had been hiding in this house since the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the previous year.Original
The one who entered was his retainer, Irie Suruga no kami.Original
He said, “I have come because there is an urgent matter” — he had come on urgent business.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibrarySanetsumu’s heir, Captain Sanjō Sanetomi, should properly have come himself.Original
But, “to avoid suspicion, he delayed” — he had deliberately avoided coming, so as to escape suspicion.Original
From this single phrase one can imagine the frantic haste of that night, Tokutomi Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal
What Irie brought was news that Takatsukasa and his son would take the tonsure.OriginalOriginal
The Genuine Sword
Before that news, there had been a turning point.Original
After all matters had been settled, in addition to the customary gift, “by special imperial favor, a genuine sword was bestowed” — a real sword had been granted as a mark of extraordinary regard.OriginalOriginal
Tokutomi Sohō regards this as, for the Ii side which needed the court’s consent, “there could have been no more fortunate turn of events than this.”OriginalOriginal
From the emperor, what needed to be obtained had been obtained.Original
Next was to purge those around the emperor.Original
There was no disagreement over the purge itself, Tokutomi Sohō records.OriginalOriginal
There were, however, two views.Original
Nagano Shuzen and others thought that while retirement was only natural, “in order to make clear what was right and what was wrong,” their guilt must be corrected — that they must themselves admit their guilt and show real proof of repentance.Original
Manabe had no choice but to accept the opinion of Nagano and the others, Tokutomi Sohō relates.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryNot only the masterless men, but also the shodaibu of the court nobles of the Righteous Faction and other persons under suspicion were being sent one after another to Edo in bamboo palanquins.Original
What remained were only the court nobles of the Righteous Faction, Tokutomi Sohō counts.OriginalOriginal
Sanetsumu’s “Diary of Seclusion” for the third day of the first month.Original
A constable came to inspect the documents in the house, but because preparations had already been made, it is said that he took away only a few papers.Original
Niwa was one who had gone down to Edo and mixed with men of Mito, and Tokutomi Sohō says that his being investigated was, if anything, overdue.Original
Likewise the shodaibu Tomita Oribe had reported his return to Kyoto and was awaiting a summons.OriginalOriginal
The diary entry for the same day also records a strange rumor.Original
On suspicion that Tokugawa Nariaki had fled and was hiding at the Takatsukasa residence, fourteen or fifteen warriors pushed their way to the Takatsukasa mansion and demanded that if he were being hidden, they would force their way in and search.Original
The household replied that there was certainly no such thing, and that if they doubted it they should search the house, and the warriors are said to have withdrawn.OriginalOriginal
Nariaki had been confined to his residence at Komagome in Edo since the fifth day of the seventh month of Ansei 5.Original
He could not possibly have been at the Takatsukasa residence in Kyoto, Tokutomi Sohō dismisses it flatly.Original
But he also writes that the very spreading of such a rumor suggests how anxious and unsettled people’s minds had become.OriginalOriginal
That day Sanetsumu worried over where the documents of the household were, noting that they were locked and stored in a carrying chest, and pondered whether they should be put away in the storehouse.Original
Truly, the extremity of such harsh governance is fearsome and lamentable, he wrote.OriginalOriginal
Avoiding Suspicion, Sending Someone Instead
The account Irie gave on the night of the ninth was a complicated one.OriginalOriginal
Sanetomi was startled and sent Irie to the Takatsukasa house to have the steward Aoki confirm it, and it proved to be true.OriginalOriginal
When Konoe asked the regent again, he was told that in ordinary circumstances resignation would be stopped, but given the gravity of this matter, “it would be best to submit the request promptly” — it would be better to petition early, since delay might bring severe orders from the Kantō.OriginalOriginal
Tadahiro intended to write as his reason for resignation, “there had been certain miscalculations” — that there had been a misjudgment.Original
The regent hinted that this would not do, and that he should simply give illness as the reason.OriginalOriginal
Sanetomi had intended to report all this to his father himself, but sent Irie in his place to avoid suspicion.Original
Sanetsumu instructed Irie that the next morning Sanetomi should have his steward convey to the regent his request to take the tonsure, that a petition should be submitted to the court liaison to the shogunate as precedent required, and that the wording should not differ from that of Konoe and Takatsukasa.Original
A note in the diary reads, “in the present state of affairs, principle cannot be argued” — meaning that in the current climate, matters of right and wrong could not be debated.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryIrie also reported one more thing: that Muraoka, a senior lady-in-waiting of the Konoe house, had been summoned to the city magistrate’s office.Original
On the grounds that she was a relative of Ukai, the rusui of Mito, “she was detained at the office just as a man would be” — she was held there just as a male suspect would be.Original
The Konoe house asked the regent to intervene, but was refused, on the grounds that he could not speak on this matter.Original
Sanetsumu wrote down, “the regent’s intentions are the utmost disloyalty, hateful and lamentable” — that the regent’s true feelings were utterly disloyal, hateful and lamentable.OriginalOriginal
Four Petitions and One Imperial Letter
Sanetsumu himself had already resolved to take the tonsure at the end of the previous year.Original
This was because the shoshidai side, through Reizei Tamechika, had hinted that he should decide his own course of action.Original
He was once dissuaded by members of his family, and persuaded further by the court councilor Ōgimachi-Sanjō, but once the two offices and the retired regent had decided, he resolved that, “there is nothing to do but follow the course of the two offices” — that he had no choice but to follow their lead.OriginalOriginal
Irie set out for Kyoto on the night of the ninth, between the hours of the ox and the tiger, that is, between two and four in the morning.OriginalOriginal
今夜(安政六年正月九日の夜)量不可遲滯之間、急申丑寅(午前二時-四時の間)之間發途
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryOn the tenth day of the first month, four petitions were submitted.Original
They were not voluntary, but took the form of being voluntary, in response to the Ii side’s demands, Tokutomi Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal
How deeply this turn of events pained the emperor’s heart can be seen by reading the imperial letter granted to Regent Kujō, Tokutomi Sohō says.Original
The imperial letter begins by saying that since he had replied on the last day of the twelfth month of the previous year that “the ice in his heart had melted” — that his misgivings had dissolved — his single wish was to unite with the Kantō and keep the barbarian peoples at bay.Original
Why then should the ministers of the left and right and the former Minister of the Interior Sanjō petition to resign their offices and take the tonsure?Original
They had merely been concerned over a blemish upon the sacred land, and had harbored not the slightest disloyal intent toward the shogun.Original
It concludes, “set other matters aside” — put the past behind, swiftly dispel the suspicion, and let the regent arrange for the ministers to promptly return to their duties.OriginalOriginal
Once union of court and shogunate had been decided, there should be no estrangement toward the Kantō.Original
Let the past bury the past.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that the emperor’s wishes were entirely reasonable.OriginalOriginal
One step short of Jōkyū
Regent Kujō could not act alone.Original
He consulted Manabe through Sakai, the shoshidai, and Manabe submitted a memorandum.Original
It said that their contrite request to resign office and take holy orders was “a most commendable matter,” and since it was commendable, it would be best to grant the petition as made.Original
Tokutomi Sohō says this directly contradicted the intent of the imperial letter.OriginalOriginal
The four attached documents set out the charges against each person individually.Original
Against Takatsukasa Masamichi were cited: that his wife Tokuko was the elder sister of Tokugawa Nariaki; that he had mediated a private petition from a Mito retainer through Kobayashi Minbu by invoking the imperial will; and that he had brought Takahashi Hyōbu’s “Account of Strange Things in the Eastern Warrior Lands” before the emperor’s eyes.Original
Of Sanjō Sanetsumu it was written that, having listened to the arguments of retainers from Mito and Echizen and of drifting men, he had “on the contrary received it as all the more reasonable,” accepting the proposal to dispatch an imperial envoy.Original
Tokutomi Sohō adds that the “imperial envoy” referred to the plan to send Sanetsumu himself down to Edo to convey the imperial command directly to the shogun, and that “Echizen” meant Hashimoto Sanai, who had met Sanetsumu through an introduction from the Yamauchi house in the third month of Ansei 5 (1858).OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryWhen Ukai Kōkichi carried the imperial edict to Edo and reported it to Nariaki at Komagome, did Nariaki not rather show surprise and bewilderment?Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that to assume a lord knew every task his retainers performed was “far too arbitrary a conjecture.”Original
Through the tinted lens of the Ii side, it was simply assumed that every wicked scheme had sprung from Nariaki’s own mind alone.OriginalOriginal
If this line of reasoning were carried further, it would reach a point where something would have to be said even against the emperor himself.Original
This was because the movement in Kyoto had begun above with the emperor himself and ended below with masterless men.OriginalOriginal
Pressure from the Ii side for resignation and retirement
The emperor still shielded his various retainers.Original
The Ii side would not accept this, and matters reached the stage of an official inquiry sent from Edo.OriginalOriginal
It stated that to let them go on serving as before would compromise the discipline of the imperial palace, and so each man should be made to petition on his own for resignation or retirement on the pretext of illness, and his petition should be granted as made — this was to be conveyed to the regent in confidence.Original
A postscript recorded that Manabe had said not to let this opportunity slip by, that Tayasu Yoshiyori had also been consulted, that for now it should remain a confidential matter within the imperial palace alone, and that once the overall inquiry was settled, a public announcement might follow.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryA draft was produced by adding Regent Kujō’s opinion to this official document.Original
Inner Minister Ichijō had his thirty-day suspension from duty commuted to self-imposed seclusion, citing the inconvenience surrounding his transfer.Original
Nijō Nariyuki had “originally many errors of judgment,” but his fifty-day confinement was likewise changed to self-imposed seclusion.Original
Major Counselor Konoe, being young, had his offense judged “ultimately a crime in name only,” and was placed in seclusion.Original
Former Major Counselor Madenokōji had his retirement changed to confinement.Original
Major Captain of the Right Koga, having had a change of heart midway and now serving diligently in his duties, had his resignation changed to seclusion.Original
Middle Counselor Ōgimachi-Sanjō was to resign as he had requested, the draft continued.OriginalOriginal
A month earlier, Sanetsumu at Yodo had railed at the regent as “the height of disloyalty.”Original
Tokutomi Sohō observes that the shoshidai pushed responsibility onto the regent, and the regent pushed it onto the shoshidai, each yielding it to the other.Original
But Tokutomi Sohō concludes that the true instigators were neither Kujō nor Sakai, but Ii Naosuke and Nagano Shuzen, and that the two of them were no more than “those who carried out the script written by the Ii side.”Original
Behind the regent’s urging lay a letter from Utsugi dated the eleventh day of the first month, which had pressed him to act.Original
Sakai’s investigation was “feeble,” and it was said that if it were seen as lenient, great harm would result.OriginalOriginal
Beside a locked trunk, Sanetsumu, hearing the sound of knocking at the door in the dead of night, may have mistaken the one person he should have resented.
| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 41: The Ansei Purge, part 2 (1940). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 1228553 |
| Checked against | Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 3. PID 1041909 |
| Dates and names | All 3 dates in the text exist in the calendar for their year, and the Western years given alongside them agree. Of the 11 people named in the text, 10 also appear in Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 3. |
| English gates | 95 of 95 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 41: The Ansei Purge, part 2. 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.
