The Tokugawa of Japan

Japan Opens Up Following Commodore Perry's Arrival by Gunboat

Japan was aware of its neighbour China’s troubles, like the Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion.

Japan is to the east of China. It’s a series of islands in the Pacific Ocean mostly east of Korea and of the lands that China transferred to Russia in 1858 and 1860. Kyushu island, in Japan’s southwest, which includes the major port of Nagasaki, is almost south of Korea. And Nagasaki is closer to Shanghai than to Tokyo.

At the time of the Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion, Japan was governed by the Tokugawa shogun. This shogun period had begun in 1603 with Tokugawa Ieyasu. While Japan had an Emperor, it was Tokugawa Ieyasu and his descendants who wielded the real power in Japan as Shogun to the Emperor. Ieyasu had ended a long period of civil war and brought peace to the Japanese islands. The Emperor was merely a figurehead.

Japan was divided into a series of han or domains, with a daimyo, or lord, on top of each han. The Shogun was the leading lord and led the whole of Japan. Other daimyo and han had positions in the government, in part based on their economic or military importance and whether they had been allied with Tokugawa Ieyasu or had not supported him as he came to power.

Part of the way the Tokugawa controlled the other daimyo was by requiring them to leave their home domain every second year and live part of the time in Edo. Edo was Japan’s administrative capital (as opposed to Kyoto, which housed the Emperor and his court). Edo later became modern Tokyo. By this time, in the mid 1800’s, Edo was one of the world’s most populated cities. When a daimyo was not in Edo, he was required to leave his wife and heir there. In other words, the daimyo’s closest family members were effectively hostages during his absences.

Japan had a class-based system with a warrior class, farmer class, artisan and then merchant class. The Japanese warriors were samurai. During the long period of internal peace, the samurai were not needed for wars and instead took on a more administrative role. Others trained in martial arts or sword work, but without major battles. The samurai famously operated under the Bushido code which governed their actions and life. Bushido could be its own podcast topic. To put it simply, martial arts mastery, loyalty, sincerity and honour until death were all important elements.

Confucian principles were important in Japan and concepts of filial piety and loyalty were important. As such, the responsibility of the daimyo for his people and the loyalty of his people to the daimyo and ultimately shogun and emperor were crucial too.

The daimyo and samurai received stipends. The peasants produced rice and other agricultural crops and the artisans and merchants were beneath them, in that order. The samurai were generally divided into two castes as well. The higher-ranking administrators received greater stipends than the lower ranking soldiers who practiced martial arts.

To maintain control, the Shogunate implemented rules that prohibited Christianity, ocean going vessels, leaving Japan or returning to it. Japan officially became isolated from the world. This was meant to prevent daimyo from being able to transport large numbers of troops or weapons by water.

For more than 200 years, the only western power that was allowed to trade with Japan was Holland. The Dutch East India Company was allowed to only operate on a small fan shaped island in the harbour of Nagasaki, in the far west of Japan.

Other countries wanted to trade with Japan but were rebuffed. For instance, in 1778 and 1792, Russian ships approached the northern island, now known as Hokkaido, to trade but were refused by the local daimyo.

In 1804, a Russian ship arrived at Nagasaki with a letter from Czar Alexander I, requesting trading privileges. It was refused.

In 1808, at a time when Britain and Holland were at war during the Napoleonic period, a British warship flying a Dutch flag approached Nagasaki. The local Japanese assumed it was a Dutch merchant and approached in a small boat, including with Dutch officials. However, the British then took those Dutch officials hostage, demanded fuel and water and then left. The local Japanese were so ashamed by the incident that after issuing their report, they committed seppuku or ritual suicide through disembowelment to atone for the mistake.

In 1818, a British ship approached Edo Bay requesting trading privileges, but was refused. Whalers landed six years later in a couple of spots in Japan, causing trouble with locals. As a result, the Shogun issued a “don’t think twice” decree. Any foreign vessel that wasn’t Dutch or Chinese was to be fired upon regardless of why it was there. However, seventeen years later, in 1842, that decree was rescinded. To comply with international norms, vessels in distress were to be assisted with food, water, fuel or other necessities but warned not to land and to leave forthwith. That Japanese reform coincided with the end of the first Opium War in China.

In 1844, King Willem II of Holland sent a letter to the Shogunate advising them that isolation was no longer sustainable. The Japanese received it politely but declined to change the strict prohibitions of their ancestor.

In 1846, two American ships were turned away at Edo Bay. They requested mediation through the Dutch which sent a report to the Japanese authorities. But again, no change resulted.

The Tokugawa saw no reason to change their policies, which had kept them in power for around 250 years and replaced a period of civil war with internal peace.

Of course, they were being warned by the Dutch that times were changing, and the Japanese were being approached by other powers for trade and exchanges. But for now, Japanese policy remained strictly isolationist.

Some minor Japanese samurai were paying attention. For instance, Katsu Kaishu had done some Dutch studies in Japan. He had read on western military matters. He was interested in western style guns and since 1850 had been teaching students about those weapons in the capital. He was also manufacturing western style guns for Japanese lords. He had been researching western naval vessels. He knew that Japanese coastal fortifications could only fire about 800 metres, which was 1/3 or 1/4th the distance that western vessels could fire.

In 1852, the US Secretary of State gave instructions to Commodore Perry to lead a mission to Japan. This was 4 years after the start of the gold rush in California and two years after California became a state. Now, the US was becoming a Pacific nation with its growing port at San Francisco.

Commodore Perry’s instructions were limited. It was for permanent protection of shipwrecked Americans off the coast of Japan and provision of water, fuel etc. Given the experience of American and other traders, he was warned “not to excite a hostile feeling or a distrust of the government of the United States.”

However, Perry decided to force his will upon Japan. He arrived with two steam frigates and two sloops-of-war in Edo Bay, within view of the administrative capital. One ship had thirty or forty cannons, two had more than twenty cannons each and one had twelve. It was noted by the Japanese that the American ships could move freely without scull or oar and at great speed. They were described as “floating castles”.

At this time, the largest Japanese ships had displacements of around 100 tons, while Perry’s largest was over 2400 tons...or twenty-four times more.

Contrary to his instructions, Perry did excite the Japanese. He refused to leave for Nagasaki and presented the Japanese with two white flags for surrender to his terms. He insisted that the letter he brought be communicated.

Perry landed and a hasty ceremony took place as the letter was communicated. The American ships took soundings and documented the Bay. This was all a violation of Japanese law and an offence to the Japanese who watched. The shogunate promised a reply by next year. Perry in turn promised to return the next year with an even larger fleet to hear the response.

The shogunate was therefore in its most precarious spot in centuries. To agree to the American terms would be humiliating and show weakness. But the Japanese naval defence was out of date and to resist would almost certainly lead to a major defeat.

The Japanese leadership was well-aware of Britain’s defeat of China in the Opium War. If the Central Country, which had been the pinnacle of eastern civilization, had been unable to resist the west, then Japan’s chances looked slim.

To make matters worse, Shogun Ieyoshi died 10 days after Commodore Perry’s first expedition left. That left the Senior Council without a shogun at a time of serious discussion.

All feudal lords were summoned to Edo to solicit their views. This was without precedent. Feudal lords were not used to being invited for consultations. The Senior Council even invited written submissions from samurai.

All in all, 700 responses were received. Most wanted the American requests rejected, even at the cost of an unsuccessful war. That became known as the “Expel the Barbarians” or Joi position. A minority recommended accepting the demands. This became known as the “Open the Country” position. Mostly, this was practical, to build up the military first before ejecting the barbarians. In short, everyone wanted the barbarians expelled. They just differed on how best to do so. Most wanted war first. Some wanted to westernize first and build forces before doing so.

Katsu Kaishu, who was the samurai producing western guns and teaching about them, expressed indifference about opening the country or not. He recommended revamping the military to achieve a modern navy, lifting the prohibition on oceangoing vessels, constructing western style warships, constructing batteries with powerful cannons along the coast and training men to operate the new ships. He suggested first that a military academy teach modern principles and that the military should be opened to capable men regardless of birth rank. He wanted to exclude useless but wealthy men of noble rank. He wanted improvements in the translation of foreign texts. Translation had begun, but he considered their quality to be poor.

Within two months, the shogunate did end the prohibition on ocean going vessels. The Bakufu, another expression for the government, did build a western style ship. Two daimyo also built some for their domains.

Commodore Perry returned early, in February 1854 with 7 ships. He made it clear he would not leave without a treaty.

Most Japanese still preferred to resist. For example, Katsu Kaishu’s cousin Odani Seiichiro was chief instructor of the official military academy. He was to deliver a letter to the Americans. He secretly planned to use that as an opportunity to kill Perry. He recruited two of his students to come along to kill two of the other officers. His plan was to show Japanese resistance and to make the Americans flee in fear. But the Bakufu may have sensed something was off and replaced him at the last minute. By the end of March 1854, the Treaty of Peace and Amity was arranged by the new Shogun, ending the long period of isolation. It did not specify trade terms, but did allow American ships to purchase fuel and supplies and friendly treatment in case they were shipwrecked. Two ports were opened. One in the far north on what is now Hokkaido. One was near Edo, the administrative capital. Soon, similar treaties were signed with Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Russia.

Two Japanese samurai tried to stow away on the American ships to better learn about them. But they were found, removed and tried in Japan. They were imprisoned and one of the two died in prison within a few months. The other was eventually released and continued to study so as to better fight for Japan.

Sakuma Shozan, their teacher, who was also a teacher of Katsu Kaishu, was also incarcerated as a result. He was from Choshu, which was an area of Japan that had not supported Tokugawa Ieyasu in the early 1600s. As a result, its power was lower than those han who were long time allies of the Tokugawa. The stowaways had left a sword on the American vessel and a letter from Sakuma, which implicated him. He was imprisoned and later subject to eight years house arrest. He lectured the Bakufu officials saying that samurai should not be prosecuted for wanting to defend Japan when it was the Americans who had broken the law. He spent his time under house arrest reading and writing. In his works, he was critical of the Bakufu system of appointments based on family lineage. He argued this led to mediocrity and ineptitude among the officials.

His student Katsu Kaishu, who has already been mentioned a few times, grew up in Edo, the administrative capital and as a vassal of the Tokugawa. His family had once been peasants, but an ancestor who was blind had been able to save up enough funds as a masseur and healer to purchase the lowest level of samurai rank. As a result, his descendants, including Katsu Kaishu, were of samurai rank. Katsu’s family was quite poor and he grew up in a rough part of the city, close to brothels and the like. But he did visit the Edo castle grounds as a child and the shogun had noticed him and taken a liking to him. Katsu had played with the shogun’s son, which Katsu’s father had encouraged. Katsu had also been trained in fencing and kendo before commencing Dutch studies, where he had begun learning about the rest of the world.

Dutch studies, which meant the learning of a European language and reading foreign texts, including in astronomy, biographies and other works, was not encouraged by the Bakufu. Katsu’s studies were therefore outside of the norm or what was considered proper. But he correctly anticipated that studying western military matters would mean more to a samurai than sword work going forward. He started them in 1842, the year that China was opened through force by Great Britain following the Opium War.

When his father died, Katsu inherited a large debt. He tried to pay it off and made and sold cannons and guns to daimyo. Some imagined that he was profiteering, but he invited them to observe him and found that he worked frugally and carefully to deliver quality. One corrupt blacksmith suggested that they use inferior materials and split the savings. Katsu instead lectured him on the importance of quality to defend the country. He was a patriot, ahead of his time in recognizing Japan’s need to arm itself to protect its independence.

In 1855, Katsu was noticed by a forward-looking lord who recruited him into government service. He asked Katsu to translate Dutch books, which did not interest Katsu much. But more enticing was an inspection of coastal defences in western Japan. Shortly thereafter, he was ordered to enrol as a cadet at the new naval academy in Nagasaki.

He and about 160 Japanese cadets were trained by twenty-two Dutch officers on a ship donated by the Netherlands to the Shogun. They had duties on the ship and learned navigation, shipbuilding, surveying, mathematics, engineering and gunnery. Katsu also improved his Dutch and while he could previously read and understand it, now he could also speak it. After a year and a half, the trained cadets were replaced with new students. The experienced cadets were ordered to a new Warship Training Institute in Edo.

Katsu was asked to stay behind to help the new cadets adjust. Then, a newly purchased ship arrived that had been purchased from Holland. It was renamed the Kanrin. He captained it on a training mission up the coast with cadets, under the supervision of Dutch instructors. One time, they went west and observed Korea. Katsu was resentful that even with his experience, he was always inferior to the less experienced, but noble Kimura Yoshitake, who was head of the Naval Academy. Katsu took opportunities to take revenge when he could. When Kimura was onboard and asked Katsu why he wouldn’t venture further out to sea, Katsu then navigated forward into seas so rough that Kimura started vomiting and asked Katsu to turn back to shore.

Five years after the first treaties, foreign powers pushed for new trade treaties. The first treaties had been bad enough from the Japanese perspective, but without trade, they minimized contact between the Japanese and the foreigners. Trade would add many further exchanges and interactions. The Bakufu were in charge, but they knew that trade treaties would be unpopular.

When Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi died 10 days after Perry’s departure, he was succeeded by Tokugawa Iesada, who was childless. He was also weak and in poor health. He would die in 1858, shortly after the US Consul Townsend Harris pushed for a trade treaty. As a result, the line of succession in the Shogunate was muddied. The Shogun’s first cousin, Tokugawa Yoshitomi, daimyo of Kii, was his closest living relative. But he was only 13 years old. An alternative was Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, who was 22 years old, mature and capable. But he was more distantly related to the shogun.

Also, as the shogun was weak and ill, his senior council was really in charge and there was maneuvering among those men.

So, when the delicate issue of negotiating and signing a trade treaty was being demanded by the Americans, Japan was not governed by a strong shogun but by wannabe puppet masters. Given the unpopularity of any such treaties, it was decided that the Bakufu would ask for the Emperor’s consent to the treaties. This was not a legal requirement. The shogun was the most powerful authority. However, to build support for such an unpopular act as a foreign trade treaty, it was decided that Imperial blessing would be desirable.

Harris, as envoy of the Americans, was getting impatient for a treaty and threatened to go to Kyoto to get the Emperor to sign if the Bakufu would not sign it in Edo.

However, the Imperial Court would not readily endorse the treaty.

There was of course, tension between Open the Country and Expel the Barbarian views. The Imperial Court, inland in Kyoto away from the coast, was symphathetic to the Expel the Barbarian view. The Emperor was considered xenophobic and anti-foreigner.

Many in the Imperial Court also favoured Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu for Shogun and were positioning to have him be the next Shogun rather than a regency for the thirteen-year-old.

Also, there was now a growing Sonno-Joi movement among the populace: “Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians”.