People
Ii Naosuke井伊直弼
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Two Draft Texts for Circulating the Imperial Edict ―― The Letter Tokugawa Nariaki Wrote but Never Sent
Tokugawa Nariaki, while under house confinement, placed two draft texts before his retainers. Tokutomi Sohō writes that the steward Kuki Naojirō and the chief oku-yūhitsu Harada Hachibei joined them… -
Manabe Akikatsu’s Deception ―― The Document of the Kogosho and “Nothing But Lies,” Tenth Month, Ansei 5
The lower chamber of the Kogosho. Present together were the court liaisons to the shogunate, Hirohashi Mitsushige and Madenokōji Masafusa. The matter was taken up at the fifth hour of the night,… -
While the Shogun Still Breathed ―― Ii Naosuke’s Punishment of Owari and Mito on the Fifth Day of the Seventh Month of Ansei 5
Ii Naosuke went to the castle at his usual hour, and his departure that day extended to the hour of nine half at night, reaching one o'clock in the morning. The reason was that the beriberi of the… -
The Shield of “I Beg Your Pardon” ―― On the Twenty-Third Day of the Sixth Month of Ansei 5, Tokugawa Yoshinobu Confronts Ii Naosuke
The twenty-second day of the sixth month of Ansei 5 (1858). A chief retainer of the Hitotsubashi house, having withdrawn from Edo Castle, returned to the residence and presented his lord with a… -
The Three Characters “Violation of the Imperial Command” ―― Tokugawa Nariaki’s Petition and Ii Naosuke’s Reply, Sixth Month of Ansei 5 (1858)
At the Mito domain residence in Edo, Tokugawa Nariaki was making corrections to an inquiry document. It was a reply. -
The Sealed Memorial of the Third Day of the Fifth Month ―― Kawaji Toshiakira’s Memorial on the Selection of an Heir and His Demotion Three Days Later
The third day of the fifth month of Ansei 5 (1858). It was submitted to the senior councilor Hotta Masayoshi. Kawaji had been prepared for this from the outset, Tokutomi Sohō surmises. -
Ii Naosuke Becomes Great Elder ―― From the Second Month of Ansei 5 to the Twelfth Month of Ansei 5
It was just past noon. A visitor came to the Ii residence. Yakushiji Motozane, head of foot soldiers. Onoda Koichirō, the guest reception officer, came out to receive him. He said he wished to report… -
The Person at Umoregi no ya Was Waiting ―― In the Fourth Month of Ansei 5 (1858), Hotta Masayoshi’s Return to Edo and Two Difficult Problems
There, an envoy of Matsudaira Yoshinaga, the leader of the Hitotsubashi faction, caught up with him. Tokutomi Sohō writes that Yoshinaga, unable to wait for Hotta's return to Edo, had deliberately… -
The Chancellor of the Spring Breeze ―― Abe Masahiro and the Forecast of the Eleventh Month of Kaei 5
The second day of the eleventh month of Kaei 5 (1852). At the Satsuma domain residence in Edo, Shimazu Nariakira took up his brush. The letter was addressed to his younger brother Hisamitsu, who was… -
“The tyranny truly caused lamentation” ―― In the fifth month of Ansei 6 (1859), the imperial letter and gifts bestowed after the four lords’ tonsure
A cut sheet of formal paper, wrapped in Mino paper. A note states that it conveys a private command. -
Yuuki Toraju’s Sixteen Years ―― The Mito Factional Strife and the Downfall of Tokugawa Nariaki
Fujita Tōko was living in quiet retirement at Takekuma in Mito.
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