Fujita Tōko, who was living quietly in Mito, wrote a long letter on the 5th day of the 12th month of Kōka 4 (1848). It was addressed to Takahashi Taichirō, but the person he wanted to read it was Tokugawa Nariaki. The title was Kokoro no Ato. It begins by saying that since a person’s life is like the morning dew, he was entrusting it as if it were his last testament. Tokutomi Sohō writes that this was an indirect shot.
The story goes back to the Tenpō era. Yuuki Toraju was a talented youth of good family, appointed a page at the age of 16 in Tenpō 4. Tokutomi Sohō relates that outwardly he was humble to others, while inwardly he stored up schemes. In the first month of Tenpō 11, at 23, he became head page; in the ninth month of the same year, junior councilor; and by the third month of Tenpō 13, he was at the center of domain government. Toraju recommended his associates for key posts, and his faction grew to rival that of Fujita and Toda.
Nariaki was originally a man put forward by the Fujita faction. Even so, Tokutomi Sohō sees a tendency for him to favor Toraju more heavily. Before long, Nariaki was severely blamed, and both Tōko and Toda Ginjirō were found guilty and confined. Toraju alone received no blame at all. Nariaki’s child Tsuruchiyo succeeded to the house at 13, and domain government passed into the hands of Toraju’s associates.
Nariaki had his confinement lifted in the 12th month of that same year. However, he was not permitted to take part in politics. That same month, Nariaki sent a letter to Abe Masahiro demanding the punishment of 16 men, but Abe did not act. Takahashi himself wrote down the methods used in the effort to clear his lord’s innocence. Takahashi consulted with the inner physicians and approached Anekōji, who was deeply trusted by Tokugawa Ieyoshi.
Nariaki warned him not to give even a speck of dust as a gift. Takahashi replied that there was no reason not to give medicine to a sick parent. Tokutomi Sohō also introduces the remark that what a retainer does need not reach his lord’s ears. The five articles of the letter were: to keep close to the head of the house, Yoshiatsu, and not to grow distant from the three branch families. It further urged winning the hearts of old families such as Nakayama Nobumori, and warned against meddling in the shogunate’s politics.
The fifth was to bear no grudge against one’s lord, to blame no one, and to remain modest. Tōko saw the origin of the conflict in the way scholarly factions had been called parties. If everyone is regarded as an enemy, he said, the resentment will be left to one’s descendants. Tokutomi Sohō judged that Nariaki possessed strong self-confidence along with a rare degree of bitterness and suspicion. Tōko died in the Ansei earthquake, and Takahashi later became the ringleader who struck down Ii Naosuke at Sakurada Gate.
One can follow what Tōko entrusted to the five articles he wrote as if it were his last testament, in the letter Kokoro no Ato, together with Tokutomi Sohō’s commentary on it.
The Fifth Day of the Twelfth Month of Kōka 4 (1847), Written at Takekuma
Fujita Tōko was living in quiet retirement at Takekuma in Mito.OriginalOriginal
That autumn, his comrade Kanai Kin’emon died of illness.OriginalOriginal
He must have thought that he too did not have long to live.OriginalOriginal
On the fifth day of the twelfth month, he sent a long letter to Takahashi Taichirō.Original
Its title was “Traces of the Heart.”Original
At the opening he wrote as follows.Original
“Human life is from the outset like the morning dew” ―― a person’s life is like the morning dew, and should anything happen, he would have no way to pour out what was in his heart, which would not be his true wish; therefore he was setting it down here and entrusting it to Takahashi as though it were his last testament.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe letter was addressed to Takahashi, but the person he wished to have read it was someone else.Original
It was a document meant to be presented to Tokugawa Nariaki through Takahashi.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes, “It was, so to speak, indirect fire.”OriginalOriginal
A Page at Sixteen, a Junior Councilor at Twenty-Three
The story goes back to the Tenpō era.OriginalOriginal
Yuuki Toraju.Original
In Tenpō 4 (1833), at the age of sixteen, he was summoned as a page, a brilliant talent from a house of established lineage.Original
Tokutomi Sohō relates that outwardly he was humble and deferential to others, while inwardly he kept in reserve a wide range of stratagems.Original
Nariaki’s trust in him was extraordinary.OriginalOriginal
或時惣太夫(戶村)、杉山邦之介にいへるは、東湖人材の名世に高けれど、おのれは左は思はず、たとへば、結城寅壽姦惡の業ありとも、東湖もまた樞要の地にありながら、君上の禍を救ひ得ることもせで、今となりて寅壽をば罪したりとて、東湖も又善を盡したりとは言ふべからず、といひしに、杉山、東湖にいたりて、戶村は姦黨たること疑ひなし、その故はかゝる論ありし、といへば、東湖それ故にこそ偏頗の事をないひそ、と常にいふなれ
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryIn the first month of Tenpō 11 (1840), at twenty-three, he became head page.Original
In the ninth month of that year he became junior councilor.Original
In the fourth month of Tenpō 12 (1841), he was appointed to the office of financial reform.Original
In the third month of Tenpō 13 (1842), he advanced to the seat of head of the great council, was ordered to serve as an official purveyor, and was assigned a constable-samurai.Original
At a stroke, he became a chief councilor.OriginalOriginal
Toraju recommended his comrade Yoshino Hideomi as steward, and Yokoyama Chūbei and Tomobe Shōsuke as head pages.Original
At the same time, he drew to himself the discontented retainers of the old established houses.Original
It is said that he covertly confronted the Fujita and Toda faction, and his power came close to surpassing theirs.OriginalOriginal
Nariaki was originally a man raised up by the Fujita faction.Original
Yet Tokutomi Sohō observes that in this period Nariaki had, if anything, a tendency to rely more heavily on Toraju.OriginalOriginal
Nariaki’s Confinement and the Turn in Domain Politics
For this, Nariaki received a severe reprimand.Original
Fujita Tōko, of course, as well as Toda Ginjirō and Imai Kin’emon, were found guilty and confined.Original
Yet Yuuki Toraju alone received no reprimand at all.Original
The situation in Mito changed completely.Original
Nariaki’s child Tsuruchiyo, at thirteen, succeeded to the fief.Original
The three related branch houses of Takamatsu, Moriyama, and Fuchū were ordered to serve as guardians.Original
Toraju, as a gesture toward public opinion, was relieved of his post as chief councilor and reassigned to outer duties, but domain governance fell into the hands of his faction.Original
The young Yoshiatsu, too, was in their grasp.Original
Nariaki had his confinement lifted in the twelfth month of that year.Original
But he was not permitted to take part in domain governance.Original
From his residence at Komagome, he could only look on from the sidelines.Original
Toraju remained behind the scenes as the mastermind, while his ally Okitsu Kurōdo stood in front as chief councilor.Original
His faction, including Yatabe Unpachi and Obane Heizō, occupied the key posts.Original
In the twelfth month of that year, Nariaki sent a letter to Abe Masahiro, requesting the punishment of the sixteen men, including Okitsu, whom he called a “wicked faction” ―― though this was as seen from Nariaki’s point of view.Original
Abe did not act at once.OriginalOriginal
同年十二月、書を閣老阿部正弘に送りて、結城興津、其他十六人の奸黨-齊昭の目から見て-を黜罰せんことを請うたが
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryBribery, and Words That Rejected Bribery
In the second month of Kōka 3 (1846), Matsudaira Shinnosuke, a member of the Mito ruling family and lord of Nagakura, went up to Edo and went to the Kishū residence to appeal Nariaki’s grievance.Original
But this was turned against him.Original
The Fujita faction was regarded as instigators or accomplices, and many of them were confined at Nakamachi in Mito.Original
How the campaign to clear Nariaki’s name was carried out, Takahashi himself recorded.Original
Takahashi conspired with the inner physicians Saka Yūgen and his son Gen’eki, Itō Sōeki, Motoyasu Sōen, and the inner secretary Nagano Ijūrō, and approached Anekōji, the senior lady-in-waiting who alone held the favor and trust of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi.Original
Anekōji was the daughter of Hashimoto Middle Counselor Sanemasa, and the younger sister of Hana no i, a senior lady-in-waiting in Mito.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that bribery must have come before all else.Original
And Takahashi’s own account is vivid.Original
It is said that Nariaki, on hearing of this, admonished them.Original
“Not even a speck of dust is to be sent” ―― do not give so much as a speck of dust.Original
To petition with bribes for one who had suffered a false charge through the shogunate’s own lack of discernment was bitter to him; even should he be ordered into retirement for generations to come, their true wish was only to devote themselves loyally to the imperial court and the shogunate, he said.Original
In response, Takahashi said:Original
“When parents are ill, there is no reason not to give them medicine” ―― if a parent falls ill, there is no principle that forbids giving medicine.Original
If there is any medicine at all that might help, one wishes to treat them by whatever means, however elaborate.Original
That, he said, was the feeling of a loyal retainer, and could not be helped.Original
Therefore, what he did as a retainer he would “in no way bring to your lordship’s ears” ―― since it would not be reported to him, Nariaki need not think it bitter ―― so Takahashi said.Original
“This is the true motive behind the movement of Mito’s lord and retainers,” Sohō declares flatly.Original
And he adds that this movement apparently had an unexpectedly strong effect.OriginalOriginal
幕の御不明にて寃罪蒙之儀、右を賄賂にて歎願抔申は、苦々敷事也。ちり一本たり共遣し不申樣致度、此上此通り眼もなき世の中にては、代々若隱居被仰付候共、我等の素願は、天朝公邊への忠節を勵申之故、對天地一毫も恥不申事故、我家あらん限りは、此心得たるべし
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Five Articles of “Kokoro no Ato”
The eldest son, Tanenori, was granted five hundred koku and placed among the middle-ranking retainers.Original
This dealt a great blow to the Yuuki faction.Original
“Kokoro no Ato” was written at the end of that year.Original
It consists of five articles.Original
The first is to associate closely with the head of the house, Yoshiatsu.Original
In a noble household, residences are separate and attendants are separate, so respect tends to outweigh affection, easily leading to estrangement.Original
He states that there are no few examples, past and present, of petty men and women exploiting this to drive people apart.Original
He hears that Nariaki has not been visiting Koishikawa lately, and argues that this is “the greatest calamity for the state,” a misfortune beyond which there is none.Original
The second is not to grow distant from the three branch houses.Original
The third is to win over the hearts of the old families, beginning with Nakayama Nobumori.Original
Here Fujita Tōko diagnoses the origin of Mito’s turmoil as stemming from “the naming of academic factions as parties.”Original
He explains that it was brewed from the moment academic schools were labeled as factions.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet Library“Are There Not Simply Many Mean Men?”
The argument of this third article is thought to be the core of this testament.OriginalOriginal
Tōko lists the names of Sakakibara Awaji no kami and Akabayashi Hachirōzaemon, who were punished in Bunsei 12, and Nukata Kyūbei, Koyama Koshirō, Itō Tonomo, and Okazaki Jirōbei, who were punished in Tenpō 10.Original
If one investigates in detail the households of rank above hoi, “eight or nine out of ten” are connected by kinship ties.Original
Worse still, he says, there were even demands that Takeda Hikokurō and Yoshinari Mataemon, who had appealed against false charges, be given severe punishment.OriginalOriginal
Of Yuuki Toraju, he declares as follows.OriginalOriginal
Sohō adds that Tōko himself was one of the chief figures among these “others.”Original
In a letter Nariaki gave to Kuki Hisataka, it is also recorded that Toraju had, four or five times, declared “Tōko” — meaning Fujita Tōko — to be no different from Fujii Montayū.OriginalOriginal
そは齊昭が、其臣久木久敬に與へたる書翰中に、昨年冬秋(天保十四年?)の頃、用席にて、しては、申候は、『藤虎』は用心可致、我等(齊昭)を駒込へ押込申候て、自分執政に成り、自分の派を引立候、藤井同斷(紋太夫)の者のよし、四五度咄有之候得共、右樣の人とも不存候故、可然挨拶致居候へども、外にて承り候へば、二十四儀、我等を駒込へ押こめ、目上の人を却、我等申付候役人を退け、自分派に入かへ、舊家の人に無之候ては、重役に不罷成儀
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryAnd Tōko rejected the very division between righteousness and treachery.Original
Zealous young men, out of indignation, lump officials together and call them all treacherous, but to attach such labels within the same household is “an improper thing even in passing.”Original
By his own eyes, he says, there are not so many who deserve to be called treacherous men; “are there not simply many of what Confucius called mean men?” — that is, the petty men Confucius spoke of.Original
He says that scheming out of attachment to office and stipend is like a dog or rat biting a person to save itself, a mentality both pitiable and laughable.OriginalOriginal
If one regards this man as treacherous and that man as treacherous, the ranks of the mean men’s faction will only grow.Original
Not only the persons themselves but their descendants for generations will split into factions and form parties, becoming “a great harm to the state for all ages.”OriginalOriginal
In China, once one leaves office people scatter, but in our country, generation after generation, families live in the same land, serve the same lord, and through marriage kinsmen dwell together in the same place.Original
If the distinction between righteous and treacherous is loudly proclaimed, the resulting resentment will remain among descendants and never vanish — Sohō reports that Tōko always said this.OriginalOriginal
Medicine That Did Not Take Effect
The fourth article is an admonition not to interfere in the affairs of the shogunate’s government.OriginalOriginal
Nariaki had corresponded with the senior councilors, submitting proposals on matters ranging from physicians wearing their hair unbound, to the firing of cannons within residences, to changing the site for receiving Korean envoys to Tsushima.Original
He says that Nariaki was kept at a distance because he blamed Mizuno Tadakuni too harshly, and that Abe Masahiro, while not as cruel as Tadakuni, is not known to be a man of great magnanimity either.OriginalOriginal
The fifth article.Original
“Do not bear resentment against your lord, do not blame others, and preserve humility” — do not resent your lord, do not fault others, keep to humility.Original
Leave the clearing of false charges to the efforts of dedicated men, both oneself and others, and reflect upon oneself, he says.OriginalOriginal
Tōko further touches upon the temperament of the bannermen.Original
“If one speaks by invoking the authority of the shogunate to the fullest, they change their attitude at once” — if one speaks while asserting the authority of the shogunate, attitudes flip completely, and this is true of both Kawaji Toshiakira and Egawa Hidetatsu alike, he says.OriginalOriginal
Regarding the affair of the Kōshin year, he reflected on his own conduct as well.Original
He writes that Nariaki’s wife Yoshiko’s petition to return to her home domain was “a matter touching the shogunate’s foremost regulation,” something that touched upon the fundamental laws of the shogunate, that it would be called excessive even by later generations throughout the realm, and that his own guilt, having handled that matter at the time, could not be escaped.OriginalOriginal
一體甲辰(齊昭幕譴を得たる一件)之事、幕府御無理は不及申候へ共、今更相考候得ば、先年の御政事向も、種々手順相違仕り、本末緩急之次第、取失ひ候事も有之、是は皆役人どもの不行屆にて、實に奉恐入候儀、尤外の事は手順等相違仕候と申迄に候へ共、君夫人(齊昭夫人吉子)御下向御願の一條に至候而は、幕府第一の規格に觸候事にて、其節は五六年の御暇、押付に被仰出候を殘念に存じ、且は北地(蝦夷地經營請願の一件)御成就の御手順と申所に泥み、御願に取計候へ共、此一條のみは、天下後世に至り候而も、あまり成事と可奉存、愚臣の罪無所遁、扨々恐入候仕合に奉存候
Open the original page at the National Diet LibrarySohō remarked that if one reads this testament, the circumstances between the shogunate and Mito, the friction between Mito’s two factions, and the strengths and weaknesses of Nariaki as a person all become as clear as looking at a fingerprint.OriginalOriginal
He then continues as follows.
Nariaki had a self-confidence one might call excessive conceit, and a suspiciousness and prejudice unusually strong for a man of high rank.Original
He also had a tendency to complain and a streak of ostentation.Original
Far from having the magnanimity to repay resentment with virtue, he repaid resentment with double resentment.Original
Sohō surmises that it was perhaps his years until age thirty, spent as the unestablished young lord Keisaburō living as a dependent heir, that cultivated this character.OriginalOriginal
Medicine That Worked Too Well, and Medicine That Did Not Work
Tōko remarked of Yuuki Toraju that the medicine worked too well and brought Nariaki down.OriginalOriginal
然も東湖は結城の心事は、只だ藤田、戶田の一輩を傾け去るにあつて未だ必らずしも齊昭の身邊に及ぶ可き積りではなかつた。然るに其の結果は案外にも、齊昭致仕となつたから、彼も藥が利き過きたのに驚いたであらう
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryHow effective, then, was the medicine that Tōko himself prescribed for Nariaki?Original
Be close to Yoshiatsu, invite the three branch houses, win over the old families, do not interfere in shogunate politics, do not resent, do not blame.Original
Sohō repeatedly writes that all five “struck precisely at the root of Nariaki’s affliction.”Original
This can also be read to mean that, though it struck the mark, the medicine was perhaps never taken.Original
Tomura Sōdayū is said to have been told by Tōko that forming factions and clashing with one another did no good for the domain, and that in the end all must be united as one.Original
Sōdayū sensed that Tōko had intended to send him to Yuuki to persuade him, and resolved that if things went against his intent, he would kill Yuuki and himself together.Original
But Tōko died in the earthquake of Ansei.Original
“His effort to break the harm of factionalism has come to nothing,” Sōdayū said.OriginalOriginal
What of Takahashi Taichirō?Original
Sohō adds that this man, who had joined with the inner physicians, inner secretaries, and senior ladies-in-waiting of the Ōoku to clear Nariaki’s false charges, later became the ringleader who struck down Ii Naosuke outside Sakurada Gate.OriginalOriginal
On one side stood the lord who said not to send so much as a speck of dust, and on the other the retainer who paid no heed and acted anyway, saying that for a parent’s illness one gives medicine.OriginalOriginal
Between those two statements, perhaps forty years of Mito’s history lie hidden.
| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, The Situation before Perry’s Arrival (1929). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 3431221 |
| Checked against | Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 1 (1937). PID 1046665 |
| Dates and names | All 2 dates in the text exist in the calendar for their year, and the Western years given alongside them agree. Of the 12 people named in the text, 8 also appear in Ishin shiryō kōyō, vol. 1. |
| English gates | 122 of 122 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
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.
