To Tokugawa Yoshinobu, head of the Hitotsubashi house, a chief retainer who had returned from Edo Castle presented a single document. It was news that on the 22nd day of the 6th month of Ansei 5 (1858), a treaty had been concluded with the United States without waiting for the emperor’s permission. Yoshinobu’s face changed color, and he asked the chief retainers whether it was permissible to defy the emperor’s command.
Yoshinobu told them to summon the great elder and the senior councilors to his mansion, saying that if they could not come, he would go to the castle himself the next morning. The chief retainers hesitated, and conveyed the matter to the great elder through Hiraoka Tanba no kami, who served close to the shogun. It is said that Mizuno Tadanori, chief retainer of the Tayasu house, drew close to Yoshinobu and whispered that he should use this opportunity to remove the great elder. Tokutomi Sohō’s view is that there was no need to pour more oil on the 22-year-old Yoshinobu.
Before recounting this visit to the castle, Sohō sets out a matter concerning the recommendation of a capable man. The plan was to install Yoshinobu as the shogun’s proxy and place Yoshinaga above him in government as an assistant. Sohō writes that the path to producing a shogun from the Hitotsubashi house had narrowed, and all hope had come to rest on Yoshinaga’s recommendation alone. The one seen as an obstacle was the senior councilor Matsudaira Tadakata. Sohō also holds, however, that there was no way the great elder Ii Naosuke would accept this plan.
On the 23rd day of the 6th month, Yoshinobu went to the castle together with Tayasu Yoshiyori and faced Ii, whom he was meeting for the first time. After offering words of thanks for his efforts, Yoshinobu pressed him on whether he had known of the treaty’s signing. Ii bowed his head and only repeated that he was overwhelmed with awe, giving no clear answer. When pressed further, he let slip that he had at first refused but had agreed under pressure from the majority. Sohō suggests that, fended off by this repeated show of awe, Yoshinobu must have felt the fight go out of him.
The talk turned to the shogun’s successor, and Ii admitted that it had been decided in favor of the lord of Kishū. When Yoshinobu said he was relieved, Ii responded with pleasure that he was grateful. Ii, in turn, asked about the succession to the Kishū house and suggested to Yoshinobu whether he himself might have an interest in it. Yoshinobu rejected this as out of the question, and Sohō sees this as his refusal to be drawn in. According to the record of what Ii told his steward Utsugi Rokunojō, the exchange was passed off with laughter.
After the great elder withdrew, the senior councilor Kuze Hirochika began to say that there had been unavoidable circumstances. Yoshinobu cut him off and pressed him on where and how many British and French warships had come. On hearing that none had yet come, Yoshinobu demanded whether they meant to defy the emperor’s command out of fear of ships not even in sight. The senior councilor Naitō Nobuchika also fell silent, and Manabe Akikatsu did nothing but weep. In the end, the matter was settled when Manabe and Ōta discussed sending an envoy to Kyoto.
The day on which Ii was pressed hard can be followed through the Sakumu Kiji, the Sekimukai Hikki, and the writings of Nakane Yukie and Utsugi Rokunojō.
Yoshinobu’s Censure of the Violation of the Imperial Command and Mizuno’s Counsel
The twenty-second day of the sixth month of Ansei 5 (1858).Original
A chief retainer of the Hitotsubashi house, having withdrawn from Edo Castle, returned to the residence and presented his lord with a written notice.Original
It was a notification that the shogunate had signed the treaty with the United States without waiting for imperial sanction.OriginalOriginal
Tokugawa Yoshinobu’s color changed as he read the notice through.Original
At this point, it was no longer a time to stand by in silence.Original
Yoshinobu put a question to his chief retainers.Original
“Is a violation of the imperial command something that may be, or something that must not be?”Original
That is, whether it was permissible or impermissible to defy the imperial command.OriginalOriginal
此時又掃部頭に「御養君はもはや定まらせられしや」と尋りたるに「紀公と內定したり」と答ふる故「そはめでたき事なり」といひしに、州の跡には思召あらせられずや」といひしが、予は唯「ふふん」とのみいひて何とも答へざりき
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryWhen the chief retainer answered that no one in the realm could defy the imperial command, Yoshinobu said:Original
If you too think so, then there is nothing more to discuss.Original
Go to the castle now and convey that the great elder and the senior councilors should come together to this residence.Original
If they are too occupied with business to come, then he himself would go to the castle the following morning.OriginalOriginal
The chief retainers hesitated.Original
Sohō notes that this fierce manner is recorded in the *Sakumu Kiji*.OriginalOriginal
Fearing to speak directly to the great elder, the chief retainer consulted with the attendant Hiraoka Tanba no kami.Original
Tanba, likewise startled, informed the great elder before he withdrew.Original
It is said that “the great elder himself was struck with astonishment.”OriginalOriginal
What draws Sohō’s attention is Mizuno Tadanori, the attached chief retainer of the Tayasu house, whom Yoshinobu summoned.Original
Mizuno is said to have drawn close to Yoshinobu’s knee and spoken in a lowered voice.Original
Tomorrow is a chance that will not come again; if, while at it, you break and dismiss the great elder, it will be the greatest fortune in the realm, he said.Original
To the twenty-two-year-old Yoshinobu, hot-blooded and impetuous, there was hardly any need to pour on more oil like this.Original
Yoshinobu is said to have told Enshirō that he found Mizuno “truly a delightful man.”OriginalOriginal
The Last Card Called “Recommending the Worthy”
Before recounting this visit to the castle, Sohō sets down the matter of “recommending the worthy.”OriginalOriginal
It was a plan understood by tacit agreement among the like-minded daimyo and shishi.Original
Yoshinobu would be placed in the Nishinomaru and made to carry out the shogun’s duties as his deputy.Original
At the same time, Yoshinaga would be placed above the administration as an aide.Original
In this way the Edo government would be strengthened, and it would honor the court and face the foreign threat.Original
On this point, both the exclusionist faction and the opening-of-the-country faction held the same view, Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal
However, the effort to install Hitotsubashi grew gradually more difficult.Original
Two courses of action remained.
One was for the court, when consulted about an heir, to designate the person’s name itself.Original
If that could not be hoped for, the other was to promptly recommend Yoshinaga as aide and, through him, bring about the installation of Hitotsubashi.Original
Since the former held no prospect, Sohō records that “every path, in its thousand mountains and ten thousand ravines, converged upon the single matter of recommending Yoshinaga.”Original
That is, every current of the time flowed toward this one point—the recommendation of Yoshinaga.OriginalOriginal
The obstacle was the senior councilor Matsudaira Tadakata.Original
In a letter sent to Yoshinaga on the twenty-third day of the sixth month by Iwase Tadanari of the opening-of-the-country faction, Tadakata’s dismissal was called “the one matter of washing away the paulownia,” and it was written that “after this, the one matter of recommending the worthy is the great and urgent business of all matters at present.”Original
According to Yoshinaga’s close retainer Nakane Yukie, Date Munenari, Tōtōmi no kami, had already recommended Yoshinaga for the post of great elder, but the reply was that it would be difficult to bring about unless Tadakata were first removed.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryIt seems that the intent, therefore, was to put forward this matter of recommending the worthy, Sohō reports.OriginalOriginal
But Sohō judges that there was no way Ii, once installed as great elder, would consent to make Yoshinaga an aide.Original
It would be building a roof upon a roof.OriginalOriginal
Nothing but “I Beg Your Pardon”
Yoshinobu went to the castle together with Tayasu Yoshiyori.Original
The two met separately with the officials in charge, and Yoshinobu first faced Ii Naosuke.Original
Sohō writes that the two men were meeting for the first time.OriginalOriginal
廿三日には共に同じく登城して、面々を詰責す可しとのことであつたが、田安慶賴も、よ決行することゝなつた
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryYoshinobu first offered words of appreciation for his labors.Original
He said it was a great trouble indeed to have taken on the post of great elder at so difficult a time, and that he found Ii’s loyal service reassuring.Original
Ii, his face showing pleasure, answered that he was resolved to serve with all his might.OriginalOriginal
From there Yoshinobu pressed in.Original
Had this signing of the provisional treaty been done with his knowledge?Original
Bowing low, Ii answered, “I beg your pardon.”Original
That is, “I am deeply sorry.”
Was it the shogun’s own judgment, done after consultation, or was it the wish of the senior councilors?Original
Without raising his head, Ii only repeated words of apology and gave no clear answer either way.OriginalOriginal
Yoshinobu pressed further.Original
Surely you yourself did not consent to it, and was it not arranged by the two men, Hotta Masayoshi and Matsudaira Tadakata, who had gone to the capital to seek imperial sanction?Original
Yoshinobu pressed still closer.Original
Even though Hotta had gone to the capital and an imperial reply had been given, did this not amount to the shogun’s violation of the imperial command?Original
Ii answered.Original
“At first I refused, but being outnumbered I had no choice and in the end I agreed.”Original
At first he refused, but pressed by numbers he had no choice but to consent, he said.Original
“Even Ii, for all his craft, could not help but speak his true mind,” Tokutomi Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal
What was done could not now be undone.Original
But how could a matter that amounted to defying the imperial command be reported to the throne by way of a relay dispatch?Original
It would also amount to treating the court lightly.Original
Yoshinobu said that someone must go up to Kyoto at once and apologize on the shogun’s behalf, or the matter would not be settled.Original
Ii answered that one of their own would go up to Kyoto at once to apologize, and asked that everything up to now be forgiven, again and again.OriginalOriginal
Tokutomi Sohō judges this “wholly like pushing an arm against a noren curtain.”Original
Ii, being crafty, disposed of the whole matter smoothly by simply professing contrition, and Yoshinobu too must have felt the fight go out of him, he says.OriginalOriginal
The Settlement of the Heir Question and the Invitation to the Kishū House
The talk turned to the question of the shogunal heir.Original
Ii did not answer when asked who had been decided upon.
When Yoshinobu asked whether it had finally been settled on the lord of Kishū, Ii answered, “Indeed so.”Original
That is correct, he said.Original
There had been various rumors in the world about the heir, and he himself had been worried, feeling implicated, but now he was relieved.Original
It was said the heir was young, but if you, as great elder, assisted him, what could be lacking, Yoshinobu said.OriginalOriginal
“Truly Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu was rich in fine words,” Tokutomi writes.Original
Nor could this be equated with his father Nariaki’s declining words, that “the matter of Yoshinobu as heir, I beg most earnestly to be excused from,” he adds.Original
It is Tokutomi’s view that Yoshinobu, though intelligent, was no man of courage, and had never truly wished to throw himself into difficult straits.OriginalOriginal
Ii’s expression changed, and with a face full of joy he said, “Truly this is a most gratifying relief.”Original
He was truly grateful and relieved, he said.Original
Yoshinobu urged that, now it was decided, it should be announced as soon as possible, even tomorrow, to settle the doubts of the realm.Original
Ii counted on his fingers and answered that tomorrow was a day of abstinence, so perhaps the day after.Original
The shogunate had planned to make the announcement around the eighteenth day of the sixth month, but the reply from Kyoto was delayed; that reply, dated the eighth day of the sixth month, was brought out to the office chamber by the inner secretary Shiga Kinpachirō on the twenty-third.OriginalOriginal
When Yoshinobu next asked about the succession to the Kishū house, Ii seemed at a loss, and after a while, with a faint smile, said, “Do you yourself have no thoughts on it?”Original
Did he have no idea of his own, Ii asked, offering to see to it.Original
Yoshinobu rebuffed this, saying, “That is an outrageous thing to say.”Original
He had circumstances that made it hard to leave the Hitotsubashi house, and had even firmly declined the heir’s position; the Kishū house was not something he had ever thought of, he said.OriginalOriginal
“Ii too was no ordinary man; at this point he tried at once to take Hitotsubashi alive,” Tokutomi writes.Original
But Yoshinobu was not one to be taken in by such talk, he adds.OriginalOriginal
但だ慶喜もさるもの、決して井伊の斯る口車に、浮かと乘る者ではなかつた。
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryYoshinobu answered that he had no objection either way, and Ii, pleased, said he was thinking of leaving things as they were, since removing it would cause trouble for many people.Original
This conversation was passed from Yoshinobu to Enshirō, and from Enshirō to Nakane Yukie, who wrote it down; there may be some additions or omissions, but on the whole it should be credible, Tokutomi Sohō notes.OriginalOriginal
Ships That Could Not Even Be Seen
When the great elder withdrew, all the senior councilors came before Yoshinobu.Original
Ōta, Manabe, and Matsudaira Noriyasu sat in the upper seats but said nothing.Original
Senior councilor Kuze Hirochika spoke up, saying, “For that there were unavoidable reasons.”Original
There were circumstances that could not be helped, he said.OriginalOriginal
Yoshinobu cut him off.Original
“Now then, Yamato no kami, what do you mean by unavoidable? You surely mean the several tens of warships of England and France. Where have those warships come, and to where?”Original
Where had those warships come, and how many tens of them were to be seen, he asked.Original
When Kuze answered that they had not yet arrived, Yoshinobu said this.Original
If fifty or a hundred ships came bearing down, and it came to close fighting, and many commanders fell in battle, and it seemed the castle might fall in the next engagement, then that would be the time to say it was unavoidable.Original
To be deceived by the words of persuaders, to fear ships that could not even be seen, and thereby act against the imperial command—how could that be excused?OriginalOriginal
五十艘も、百艘も、運拙くして大將分も數多討死に及び、此上一戰に及びなば、に落入るべきかと思ふ計りになりなば、其時こそ餘義なくとも申べけれ
Open the original page at the National Diet Library“This was indeed a thoroughly upright and proper argument,” Tokutomi comments.Original
The senior councilors themselves, he adds, had neither examined the matter of the unavoidable circumstances sufficiently nor possessed adequate knowledge of it.OriginalOriginal
Yoshinobu pressed further, asking whether it was the shogun’s own judgment, or the councilors’ own handling of the matter, that since the time of the deity of Tōshōgū the court had been revered, yet now in the present age, out of fear of the barbarians’ empty threats, the imperial command was being defied.Original
Kuze had not a word to say.Original
“That very tone was just like Nariaki of Mito’s,” Tokutomi Sohō writes.OriginalOriginal
Senior councilor Naitō Nobuchika interposed, saying that the matter had been handled after inquiry, owing to the severe representations of the coastal defense officers.Original
Yoshinobu said this.Original
If it was handled after inquiry, then it was they themselves who were placing the crime of defying the imperial command upon the shogun.Original
Should the title of Barbarian-Subduing Generalissimo be revoked, what excuse would they offer then?OriginalOriginal
Both Kuze and Naitō fell silent, and the mood of the room turned cold.Original
Manabe Akikatsu, it is said, had done nothing from the start but shed tears, for some reason.Original
Eventually Manabe turned to Ōta and said that, since this was their first day in office, they could say nothing, but perhaps they should deliberate on sending an envoy to Kyoto, and Ōta agreed to this.OriginalOriginal
Manabe and Ōta were men who had just joined the senior councilors that very day, the twenty-third, Tokutomi notes.Original
That, in place of Tadakata and Hotta, who bore the fault of the treaty, men with no prior involvement at all were appointed—whether by design or without thought on Ii’s part is hard to fathom—but it was by no means a blunder, he adds.OriginalOriginal
Two Records
One is the Sekimukai Hikki, in which Yoshinobu himself spoke of these events in later years.Original
It is not true that Ii tried to summon the great elder and the senior councilors to his residence, but it is true that he sharply rebuked Ii within the castle for the failure of reporting the unauthorized signing to the throne using only a relayed shogunal letter.Original
When asked whether he had any thoughts about succeeding to Kishū, he answered only with “hmph.”OriginalOriginal
Regarding Ii, he recalled: “Kamon no kami was a man rich in decisiveness but lacking in wisdom.”Original
He had decisiveness but little wisdom, and had something of an arrogant air, looking down on others, Yoshinobu recalled.Original
His body was corpulent and he always held himself bent backward, which may be why he appeared that way.Original
Records from Ii’s side also survive.Original
This is what Ii told his steward Utsugi Rokunojō.OriginalOriginal
And the content of the meeting is summed up in the four characters “iroiro godan no ue.”Original
When asked about the succession of the Kishū house and told that he should enter it, Yoshinobu replied, “It is a great domain; if someone like myself were to go there, it would never settle.”Original
Because it was a great domain, he said, things would not be settled even if someone like himself went there.Original
And Ii “laughed it off.”Original
He is said to have simply laughed and let it pass.
Tokutomi Sohō writes that this shows Ii did not hold favorable feelings toward Yoshinobu.OriginalOriginal
There is also a record of the meeting by Tayasu Yoshiyori.Original
It was a meeting full of flattery and fawning.Original
“If Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu had been made to listen to this, what would he have said?”OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe same day, within the same castle.Original
On one side sat a shield of humble deference; on the other, greetings of the utmost delight.Original
Of the words the twenty-two-year-old Yoshinobu pressed upon him one after another, perhaps it can be read that all that remained on Ii’s side were four characters and a single laugh.Original
| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 39: The Administration of Ii Naosuke (1935). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 1223976 |
| Checked against | Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 2. PID 1046669 |
| Dates and names | All 4 dates in the text exist in the calendar for their year, and the Western years given alongside them agree. Of the 13 people named in the text, 11 also appear in Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 2. |
| English gates | 139 of 139 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, vol. 39: The Administration of Ii Naosuke. 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.
