Great Prison of Ansei (2/2)Large-scale repression by Naosuke Ii

At that time, Edo Castle had a fixed date of entry, so this climbing was called ``untimed castle climbing.'' However, despite the criticism, on June 25th, it was announced that the next shogun would be Tokugawa Yoshifuku.

Then, on July 5, Naosuke Ii criticized the untimely ascent to the castle and ordered Matsudaira Yoshinaga, Tokugawa Nariaki, Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, and Tokugawa Yoshikatsu to retire or enter into a state of self-restraint, and Tokugawa Yoshiatsu to stop ascending to the castle in the name of Iesada. This order, in which the major members of the Hitotsubashi faction completely disappeared from the political scene, was the beginning of the great Ansei period.

On July 8, Naosuke established the Foreign Bugyo, appointed Kiyonao Inoue and Tadashin Iwase, and signed commercial treaties with the Netherlands, the Russian Empire, and Great Britain in July, and with France in September, without a royal charter. These two were, so to speak, ``betrayers,'' but they were also highly capable people. Naosuke was criticized because the trade treaty was an unequal treaty with negative aspects for Japan, such as recognizing the extraterritoriality of the other country and lacking tariff autonomy.

Great Prison of Ansei ②: “The Secret Edict of Bogo” issued to the Mito Domain

Meanwhile, Emperor Komei is furious at the shogunate's response. According to the diary of a court noble at the time, he seemed to be ``very angry'' and even expressed his intention to abdicate the throne. On August 8th, after a meeting at the Imperial Court, the Emperor issued the ``Bogo no Mitsu Edict'' to the Mito Domain. The imperial reprimand was conveyed to the shogunate two days later.

The imperial reprimand first criticizes the shogunate for signing commercial treaties without imperial permission. Furthermore, there is a mention of concern for both the Mito and Owari families, who were forced into retirement or restraint as a result of their sudden ascension to the castle, and finally, in the midst of internal troubles and external troubles, the Tairo, Roju, Gosanke, Gosankyo, Gokamon, Fudai, etc. It was written that the Tokugawa clan should be despised by foreign countries and should be despised by foreign countries by having all the clans discuss the matter, regardless of their foreign status, and assisting the Tokugawa family through a ``komu-gatai'' system in which the imperial court and the shogunate were united.

The reason why it was called a ``secret edict'' is because Naotada Kujo, Kanpaku, should have issued it as a senior advisor, but he did not do so. The Kanpaku has given approval after the fact.

Normally, an imperial reprimand was first notified to the shogunate, and from there it was passed on to various domains. One reason why it was first delivered to the Mito clan is that the Mito clan, along with the Satsuma clan, continued to manipulate the Imperial Court to criticize the shogunate. However, after the sudden death of Shimazu Nariakira, who was head of Naosuke Sorai and had even planned to lead the army, in July (there were rumors that he was assassinated), the Satsuma Domain ostensibly showed an attitude of following the Shogunate. For this reason, the Imperial Court sent a secret edict to the Mito domain, which had a strong opinion of joi, and further requested that the content be conveyed from the Mito domain to the three families and other domains in a subscript.

This may mean that Emperor Komei could not trust the shogunate, which ignored him and concluded a trade treaty, and had high hopes for the Mito domain, which included Tokugawa Nariaki, one of the three Tokugawa families who advocated the removal of foreigners. It was a very unconventional move.

Great Prison of Ansei ③: Severe oppression of over 100 people

When Ii Naosuke learned of Bogo's secret edict, he became angry. The shogunate was the point of contact with the imperial court, and notifications were first passed through the shogunate before being sent to the various clans. All of a sudden, the shogunate's face was ruined. If the secret edict to the Mito domain was approved, the shogunate's system of control would collapse and its prestige would be blown away.

For this reason, Naosuke thoroughly suppressed those involved in the Bogo clan, mainly the Mito domain, as well as the Hitotsubashi faction. Tokugawa Nariaki lived in eternal seclusion, and the Mito feudal retainer's Yasushima sword was committed seppuku. Kichizaemon Ukai, the Kyoto Rusuri of the Mito Domain who was involved in receiving the secret edict, was executed, and his son, Kokichi Ukai, an assistant to the Rusui, was sentenced to prison. Kumohama Umeda, a Confucian scholar and former retainer of the Obama clan and also known as a patriot of the Sonno-joi movement, was captured as someone involved in the secret edict, and died in prison after being tortured.

Suppression targets included court nobles and members of the imperial family, as well as patriots who had plotted against the shogunate, which was revealed through secret letters from people connected to the Mito domain. As a result, more than 100 people in total were suppressed.

Among those oppressed was Hashimoto Sanai, a close aide to Matsudaira Shungaku, the lord of the Fukui domain. Sanai, who was known as an excellent person with an international sense, was supposed to be assigned to a remote island, but he was beheaded by Naosuke Ii.

Another person worth paying attention to is Shoin Yoshida of the Choshu domain. A famous thinker at the end of the Edo period, Shoin presided over the private school ``Matsukason Juku'' where famous patriots who lived through the end of the Edo period and the Meiji Restoration, such as Genzui Kusaka, Shinsaku Takasugi, and Hirobumi Ito, studied there. Shoin was considered dangerous by the shogunate due to his interaction with Umeda Kumohama, who was captured in the Great Prison of Ansei. As a result of interrogation in Edo, Shoin revealed that he had been plotting to assassinate Norikatsu Manbe, and was sentenced to death by beheading. Shoin's death had a great impact on the patriots, and eventually led them to attack the Shogunate.

And then to the incident outside Sakuradamon.

Due to the Great Prison of Ansei, Naosuke Ii received strong resentment from the opposing forces and was hated. The first of these was the Mito domain. Naosuke severely suppressed those involved in the Mito domain, and repeatedly demanded that the feudal lord, Yoshiatsu Tokugawa, return the Bogo no Mitsu edict to the shogunate. In response to this, in the Mito domain, a faction that believed the imperial edict should be communicated to all the clans and a faction that believed that the edict should be returned to the shogunate began to engage in a conflict, even resorting to the use of force.

Finally, on January 15, 1860, Naosuke threatened that if he did not return the secret edict to the shogunate by January 25, he would charge Nariaki with a crime and confiscate the Mito domain. When the warriors of the Mito clan learned of this, they trembled with anger and decided to attack Naosuke. The shogunate was also wary of the movements of the Mito clan samurai, but on March 3, 1860, Ii Naosuke was attacked near the Sakuradamon gate outside Edo Castle by a total of 18 ronin samurai from the Mito clan, and had his head beheaded. He gets hit and loses his life. He passed away at the age of 46 (passed away at the age of 44). The authority of the shogunate was lost due to the ``Sakuradamongai Incident,'' in which a senior retainer of the shogunate was murdered right in front of Edo Castle. A storm of sonno-joi rages on, and they proceed to attack the shogunate.