Sanjō Sanetsumu, a senior court official, was one of the four people who had requested to become a monk. In the 5th month of Ansei 6 (1859), that request was granted, and a letter and gifts were bestowed by the emperor. His name after becoming a monk was Tankū.
The day before, the fact that the four people’s requests had been granted was conveyed to the shogunate side through an informal notice. It was accompanied by the emperor’s wish that no further disorder should occur and that his subjects should not be harmed. A reply came from the shoshidai (the office the shogunate placed in Kyoto) calling for government in which the court and the shogunate became one. Tokutomi Sohō writes that this brought the negotiations to a pause for the time being, but that neither the side that had requested it nor the side that had granted it did so willingly.
The gifts included a tobacco case in a lacquered box, gold, pottery, and sake cups. It is said that this was meant as a thoughtful gesture to lift his spirits during his illness. Since his child Sanjō Sanetomi could not go to the palace because of illness, Kawabata, a member of the family, went as messenger to Sanjō Sanetsumu. When the still-sealed box was opened, inside was a letter written in the emperor’s own hand.
The letter said that a loyal subject who had served the country since last spring had met with unexpected hardship. It also said that although representations had been made many times, they had been overridden by the power of the warrior houses, and that this was regrettable. It closed by saying that though the gifts were few and it was embarrassing, they were sent as a token of his feelings, and that he wished to meet him when a good season came. Tokutomi Sohō writes that this letter was given to all those who had become monks, and concludes that the whole series of measures was directed by Ii Naosuke. Sanjō Sanetsumu wrote a letter of thanks that same day, and the letter itself was returned in accordance with the emperor’s wish.
That same day, around 10 o’clock at night, 20 ryō of gold and 3 bolts of silk arrived, and Sanjō Sanetsumu recorded that his tears would not stop. On his sickbed, he exchanged poems with his child Sanjō Sanetomi, entrusting his father’s long life to the roots of the iris.
When the matter of the four people was settled, the emperor, as a close to the matter concerning foreign countries, gave gold and silver to many of his subjects. Koga Takemichi, Nakayama Tadayasu, and Ōgimachisanjō Sanenaru were each separately given gifts by his own hand. Nakayama Tadayasu recorded his suspicion of the shogunate dating from the previous autumn and his lament over violent government that extended even to trivial matters. Tokutomi Sohō writes that the emperor endured everything for the sake of a promise to restore the old laws of the country, and had watched the situation for a while.
What was given after the punishments and what the emperor wrote can be followed from the text of the emperor’s own letter and from Tokutomi Sohō’s commentary in Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 41: The Ansei Purge, part 2.
Negotiations over the four lords’ petition for tonsure
A cut sheet of formal paper, wrapped in Mino paper.Original
A note states that it conveys a private command.Original
The text is short.Original
“Yesterday, it was decreed that the petitions for tonsure of the four lords, from the Taikō down, be granted as requested.”Original
It continues, “Hereafter, so that no further confusion arises, His Majesty wishes that his subjects remain unharmed.”Original
A phrase was added stating that, so that no further disturbance would occur and so that his subjects would not be harmed, this was His Majesty’s thinking.OriginalOriginal
A reply came later from the shoshidai.Original
It stated, “Now, above all, let there be governance in which court and shogunate are united and high and low are in accord,” and closed with, “though it be presumptuous, may His Majesty’s mind be set at ease.”OriginalOriginal
With this single exchange, the negotiations between the court and the shogunate over the four lords “first reached a pause,” Tokutomi Sohō writes.Original
But that was only a matter on paper.Original
Both the side that petitioned and the side that granted it were, Sohō observes, acting “against their true wishes.”Original
The four who had been forced by warrior pressure to petition, and the sovereign who had been forced by warrior pressure to grant it.Original
Even if one says “they sought benevolence and obtained benevolence,” Sohō’s view is that they could have felt neither relief nor satisfaction.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryA lacquered writing box, and “How sad”
A lacquered writing box for lectures.Original
Inside were two sets of tobacco pouches woven with silver thread, two pieces of gold, a set of three nested ceramic pieces, and a set of sake cups.OriginalOriginal
To Konoe were given a black-lacquered writing box containing one tobacco pouch, one paperweight, a set of three nested ceramic pieces and sake cups, and one piece of gold.Original
To Takatsukasa were given one tobacco pouch, one piece of gold, a pair of paperweights, and one ceramic paste container.Original
To Sanjō were given one piece of gold, a tobacco pouch, and a paperweight.Original
Each was said to be given, “so that it might serve to distract from his illness,” as an expression of the sovereign’s consideration.OriginalOriginal
The names taken after tonsure are also recorded.Original
The Taikō took the name Sessan.Original
Konoe took the name Suizan.Original
Takatsukasa took the name Zuiraku.Original
Sanjō took the name Tankū.Original
A report was submitted by the court councilor, and His Majesty heard it.Original
Furthermore, through a lady-in-waiting’s formal letter, three bolts of silk and two pieces of gold were given to each.OriginalOriginal
“How sad—that from now on I am to be called Nyūdō Jugō.”Original
It is a sad thing, he wrote, that from this day he would be called Nyūdō Jugō.Original
These two characters, “how sad,” were by no means confined to Nakayama’s heart alone, Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal
In the entry for the third day of the fifth month, Nakayama writes further.Original
Konoe Tadahiro and Sanjō Sanetsumu, it is written, “having especially exhausted their sincere loyalty, calamity instead fell upon themselves.”Original
That is, though they had especially exhausted their sincere loyalty, misfortune had instead befallen them.Original
“One must doubt whether the gods truly watch over us.”Original
He goes so far as to write that one is made to doubt whether the gods are truly watching.
Nakayama himself writes, “since this spring I have turned my humble thoughts with the resolve to cast away my life,” and that he had gone three times to press his case with Naitō Bungo no kami, but in the end it had been of no avail.Original
Sohō remarks that in this one seems to hear “the voice of Nakayama’s own indignant grief.”OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryIi Naosuke’s tyranny and the imperial letter
Originally his child, Sanjō Sanetomi, was to have been summoned, but as he was unable to attend the court due to illness, a family member, Kawabata, was sent in his place.OriginalOriginal
What Kawabata brought was a writing box still sealed.Original
Sanjō washed his hands and rinsed his mouth before breaking the seal.Original
Inside was an imperial letter, that is, a document in the sovereign’s own hand.Original
Though it was overwhelming, Sanjō’s diary of his seclusion records that he copied it out “to hand down the depth of the sovereign’s grace to his descendants,” in order to pass it on to his descendants.OriginalOriginal
A copy of that imperial letter is included in Sohō’s source text.Original
Since last spring, he had given various considerations for the sake of the nation regarding foreign affairs, and his loyal spirit had been outstanding, yet because of some hindrance arranged in Kantō, it unexpectedly became a difficulty for the four lords.Original
Though many representations had been made repeatedly, they were sternly rejected by the authority of the warrior house, and consent was not given, the sovereign writes.Original
And, “though it is called the warrior house’s command, that loyal subjects should instead come to such a state is truly the height of lamentation.”Original
Though it is called the command of the warrior house, that loyal subjects should instead come to such a pass is, he writes, truly the height of lamentation.OriginalOriginal
As for the gift, it says, “though it is so slight as to make one blush, I send it nonetheless.”Original
“This is merely to console your troubled heart for a while, and as a token to express what is in my own mind.”Original
It is done, he says, in order to console the troubled heart for a while, and merely as a token to express what is in his own mind.Original
At the end it reads, “and again, should a good season come, I shall wait single-mindedly for the day we may meet.”Original
It closed by saying that, should a good time come again, he would wait solely for the day they could meet.OriginalOriginal
This imperial letter, Sohō says, was bestowed not only upon Sanjō but upon each of the lords who had taken tonsure.Original
And he states, “having read it with reverence, I find no words to offer in reply.”Original
Reading this, one should be able to grasp how much tyranny Ii Naosuke and his faction had exercised, to the point of driving the sovereign to utter such words, Sohō writes.Original
The sweeping away of the four senior officials from the sovereign’s side and their severe punishment was not the work of local officials, but was clearly directed from Edo, and the one who commanded it was Ii Naosuke.Original
Sohō’s judgment is that those who discuss Ii’s merits and faults must never forget this one fact.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryTankū’s letter of receipt, and the long iris
Sanjō Sanetsumu wrote a letter of receipt that same day.Original
He signed it “Tankū.”Original
“I am simply overwhelmed with awe; the graciousness of your thoughts is such that I cannot hold back tears of gratitude, and I remain in reverent awe.”Original
He states that he is simply overwhelmed with awe, and that he cannot hold back his tears at the graciousness of the emperor’s heart.
However, since this was a confidential matter, he did not give his reply orally; instead he sealed it, placed it in a document box, and asked Tominokōji Hironao, the Nakatsukasa no Taifu, to present it on his behalf.Original
The imperial letter itself was also returned in accordance with the emperor’s wishes.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryOn the same day, at the hour of the Boar, around ten o’clock at night.Original
A messenger came from the main house, bringing gifts along with a nyōbō hōsho.Original
“Twenty ryō of gold and three bolts of silk are hereby bestowed.”Original
This meant that, since the tonsure had been completed, twenty ryō of gold and three bolts of silk were being bestowed.Original
Sanjō writes, “Tears fell in streams, impossible to hold back, wetting my sleeves.”Original
Tears flowed in streaks without stopping, soaking his sleeves, he writes.Original
He then paid reverence to the gods, Buddha, and his ancestors, and gave thanks for the emperor’s grace.OriginalOriginal
Sanjō was ill and confined to bed.Original
“As a sign that a parent’s future may be long, shall I not pull the long roots of the iris?”Original
This is a poem wishing that the father’s future be long, likening it to pulling the long roots of the iris.Original
Sanjō replied.Original
“The crane of the marsh, thinking of its child, today more than ever knows the long bond of the iris.”Original
Sohō writes, “Such a father has such a child; such a child has such a father.”OriginalOriginal
Rewards at the Conclusion of the Foreign Affair
Once the tonsuring of the four had been settled, the emperor, marking the conclusion of the “foreign affair,” bestowed rewards on the officials serving at court.Original
Sohō says that the reason the emperor yielded to the shogunate’s coercion was that there was a condition of returning to the old law of national seclusion.OriginalOriginal
The breakdown of the rewards recorded in the Nagahashi no Tsubone-ki is detailed.Original
To Sochinomiya, Imperial Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, twenty sheets of silver.Original
To the seven officials serving as court councilors and court liaisons—Koga Takemichi, Tokudaiji Kinito, Nakayama Tadayasu, Uramatsu Yasumitsu, Ōgimachisanjō Sanenaru, Hirohashi Mitsushige, and Bōjō Toshikatsu—two pieces of gold each.Original
Among them, Koga, Nakayama, and Ōgimachisanjō were separately given, “in the utmost secrecy, by the emperor’s own hand,” two pieces of gold placed inside a paper case woven with silver thread.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryTo Asukai Masanori, newly appointed as court councilor, ten ryō of gold.Original
To the eighty-four court nobles who had joined the assembly, two ryō of gold each.Original
To the six court nobles who had separately submitted petitions, five hundred hiki each.Original
To the fifty-two hikurōdo who had joined the assembly, thirty ryō.Original
To the hundred ninety-two court nobles on duty, two hundred hiki each.Original
To Hachijō Takasuke, five hundred hiki.Original
To the former court liaison Madenokōji Masafusa, twenty ryō of gold; the same to Ōhara Shigetomi, Chigusa Arifumi, Iwakura Tomomi, and Tominokōji Hironao.Original
The Nagahashi no Tsubone-ki records that the source of these funds was five thousand ryō out of the ten thousand ryō presented by the Kantō at the time of the fire of Kaei 7 (1854).OriginalOriginal
Regarding the foreign affair since last spring, various pronouncements stated that the emperor was “deeply moved,” having been profoundly impressed that Koga, Nakayama, and Ōgimachisanjō had exerted their utmost loyalty, and it was said that a reward would be granted soon.Original
Nakayama writes, “Truly, the sage emperor’s benevolent thoughts moved me to tears.”Original
He says that he was truly overcome with tears at the sage emperor’s heart.Original
Sohō explains that Nakayama was the father of Nakayama Yoshiko, the birth mother of Sachinomiya, later Emperor Meiji, and that Koga at the time held the post of chief secretary for literary affairs to the emperor.OriginalOriginal
“A Brief Postponement,” and a Sigh of Lament
Last spring, Hotta Masayoshi had come to the capital and reported to the throne, but it was difficult to permit matters to proceed as in the provisional treaty, and there were also doubts about the Kantō’s handling of affairs.Original
“It was reported that, solely through the union of court and shogunate, the foreign barbarians should be kept at a distance, the old laws of the realm restored, and that measures should be taken so that the emperor’s mind might be set at ease.”Original
For now, the emperor’s intention was to wait a while and observe both the Kantō’s measures and the state of the world, and so each person was to remain calm and composed.OriginalOriginal
Sohō reads this as meaning that the emperor endured everything, sacrificing all, solely for the sake of this one report—to restore the old law of national seclusion.Original
If so, Sohō writes, the shogunate itself bore a heavy responsibility for this endurance.OriginalOriginal
A private warning was also added for Ōhara.Original
His loyal service was commendable, but the warning stated: “Should matters fail to be accomplished, it would rather diminish the emperor’s brilliance; one must understand this well and consider the trends of the times.”Original
It meant that, should matters fail, it would rather harm the emperor’s brilliance, so one must understand this thoroughly and consider the times.OriginalOriginal
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Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe emperor spoke at length about the foreign affair.Original
“Since last autumn, doubts about the Kantō have piled up one upon another, and even in trivial matters, the tyrannical governance has truly been a cause for lament.”Original
Nakayama records that, since last autumn, doubts about the Kantō had piled up, and the tyrannical governance extending even to trivial matters had truly been a cause for lament.Original
The emperor then praised Nakayama’s sincere loyalty and personally bestowed a package upon him.Original
Inside the paper case were two gold coins, a pair of tobacco pouches, a pipe case, and a folding fan.Original
Nakayama repeatedly declined, saying it was too much, but was told that the emperor’s mind was set, and in the end he accepted it with reverence.Original
“Unexpectedly to receive again the emperor’s gracious edict—I am overwhelmed with awe beyond my station, and moved to tears.”Original
He writes that, unexpectedly receiving the gracious edict once more, it was beyond his station, and he wept.OriginalOriginal
Sohō writes that the phrase “the tyrannical governance has truly been a cause for lament” depicts the emperor’s inner feelings “without leaving anything to regret.”Original
The emperor was not only dissatisfied with the methods of the Ii faction, but also could not feel at ease.Original
On one hand, there was the assurance that his sacred will would be upheld; on the other, his close attendants were being pressured by force.Original
That is why there was “a brief postponement”—this is Sohō’s conclusion.OriginalOriginal
“I earnestly await the time of our meeting.”Original
One might also wonder just how many people in Kyoto at the time actually read that single line, which said only that the writer waited earnestly for the day they could meet.Original
| 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 | The text has 1 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 11 people named in the text, 8 also appear in Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 3. |
| English gates | 121 of 121 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.
