contributor
26,975
edits
Changes
From SamuraiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search→Chronology
Against that background, Perry's arrival in 1853 has come to be taken as a particularly striking and significant episode, and the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] signed with Perry in [[1854]] indeed marks the beginning of a significant "opening" of Japan to Western trade and Western settlement. The terms of this Convention, opening the ports of [[Hakodate]] and [[Shimoda]] to foreign trade, and allowing the stationing of permanent consuls, were quickly extended to the French, British, Dutch, and Russians as well. This Convention was signed after the shogunate formally requested advice from the ''daimyô'', a truly unprecedented move which stirred considerable concern about the shogunate's power and authority.
Against that background, Perry's arrival in 1853 has come to be taken as a particularly striking and significant episode, and the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] signed with Perry in [[1854]] indeed marks the beginning of a significant "opening" of Japan to Western trade and Western settlement. The terms of this Convention, opening the ports of [[Hakodate]] and [[Shimoda]] to foreign trade, and allowing the stationing of permanent consuls, were quickly extended to the French, British, Dutch, and Russians as well. This Convention was signed after the shogunate formally requested advice from the ''daimyô'', a truly unprecedented move which stirred considerable concern about the shogunate's power and authority.
The following year, in [[1855]], Japan signed its first-ever treaty officially declaring national borders; this was the [[Treaty of Shimoda]], signed with Russia, which declared the island of [[Urup]] and everything south of it within the Kuril Islands (as well as Hokkaidô Island) to be Japanese territory, and the remainder of the Kurils, from [[Iturup]] on north, to be Russian. The treaty left the status of Sakhalin undetermined, however.
The following year, in [[1855]], Japan signed its first-ever treaty officially declaring national borders; this was the [[Treaty of Shimoda]], signed with Russia, which declared the island of [[Iturup]] and everything south of it within the Kuril Islands (as well as Hokkaidô Island) to be Japanese territory, and the remainder of the Kurils, from [[Urup]] on north, to be Russian. The treaty left the status of Sakhalin undetermined, however.
[[Townsend Harris]], the first American consul to be stationed in Japan, arrived in [[1856]] to take up residence at Shimoda.
[[Townsend Harris]], the first American consul to be stationed in Japan, arrived in [[1856]] to take up residence at Shimoda.
The shogunate formed two counter-terrorism squads, the [[Roshigumi|Rôshigumi]] and [[Shinsengumi]], aimed at hunting down and eliminating the ''shishi'' rebels. Another raid like that at the Teradaya famously took place at the [[Ikedaya]] in Kyoto in [[1864]], just one month before a group of Chôshû activists tried to take the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]] by force. Their [[Kinmon Rebellion|rebellion]] was stopped by forces chiefly from Satsuma and Aizu domains, an example of the ways in which factional allegiances were complex and often shifting during this brief period. Chôshû domain was declared an enemy of the Court, and ships from Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the United States contributed to a [[bombardment of Shimonoseki]], Chôshû's main port city. Shogunate and allied samurai forces also launched [[First Choshu Expedition|a punitive mission against Chôshû]] the following year ([[1865]]), forcing the ''daimyô'' to round up and execute those behind the attack on the Imperial Palace, or else be stripped of his domain. He did so, but this would not prove to be the end for radicalism and violence coming out of Chôshû.
The shogunate formed two counter-terrorism squads, the [[Roshigumi|Rôshigumi]] and [[Shinsengumi]], aimed at hunting down and eliminating the ''shishi'' rebels. Another raid like that at the Teradaya famously took place at the [[Ikedaya]] in Kyoto in [[1864]], just one month before a group of Chôshû activists tried to take the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace|Imperial Palace]] by force. Their [[Kinmon Rebellion|rebellion]] was stopped by forces chiefly from Satsuma and Aizu domains, an example of the ways in which factional allegiances were complex and often shifting during this brief period. Chôshû domain was declared an enemy of the Court, and ships from Britain, France, the Netherlands, and the United States contributed to a [[bombardment of Shimonoseki]], Chôshû's main port city. Shogunate and allied samurai forces also launched [[First Choshu Expedition|a punitive mission against Chôshû]] the following year ([[1865]]), forcing the ''daimyô'' to round up and execute those behind the attack on the Imperial Palace, or else be stripped of his domain. He did so, but this would not prove to be the end for radicalism and violence coming out of Chôshû.
The reform faction within the shogunate gained strength in [[1865]] as finance & military commissioner [[Oguri Tadamasa]], with the advice of French resident minister [[Leon Roches]], began pushing for Westernization of military organization, and even floating the idea of [[abolition of the han|abolishing the domains]] and centralizing authority under a more Western-style government. He faced considerable opposition at first from conservative forces within the shogunate, but gained strong support from [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]], who became shogun in [[1866]]. Historian [[Andrew Gordon]] has even suggested that had the shogunate not fallen, under Yoshinobu it may well have adopted many of the Westernizing political reforms that the [[Meiji government]] did in reality.<ref>Gordon, 57.</ref> Such moves towards reform were not enough to save the shogunate, however, as the ''daimyô'' of Satsuma, Chôshû, and several other domains, as well as factions within those domains operating independently from their lords, were already well on their way towards consolidating power with the explicit aim of overthrowing the shogunate. The wheels were already in motion.
Rebel forces in Chôshû, including a combination samurai & peasant fighting force called the ''[[Kiheitai]]'', led by [[Takasugi Shinsaku]], seized power away from moderate leaders in Chôshû in [[1865]], and proved themselves in battle resisting shogunate forces sent for a [[First Choshu Expedition|punitive mission]] against the domain. Satsuma had been gaining strength as well, consolidating its financial situation, and working with the British to obtain Western weapons, military training, and even steamship warships. Tosa samurai & prominent pro-Imperial loyalist rebel [[Sakamoto Ryoma|Sakamoto Ryôma]] helped broker an [[Sat-Cho Alliance|alliance]] between Chôshû and Satsuma in [[1866]], and when the shogunate launched a [[Second Choshu Expedition|second punitive mission against Chôshû]] later that year, several domains, including Satsuma, refused to contribute troops.
==Fall of the Shogunate==
::''Main article: [[Meiji Restoration]]''
While Satsuma and Chôshû continued to build up their military forces, the lord of Tosa petitioned the shogun to abdicate, and to establish in his place a constitutional monarchy & representative democracy, headed by a council of lords (perhaps including a [[Tokugawa clan]] representative) and a lower house of lower-ranking samurai representatives or perhaps even commoners. Tokugawa Yoshinobu accepted this petition, and stepped down on January 3, [[1868]] (Keiô 3/12/9), less than a year after becoming shogun. The Imperial Court declared [[Osei Fukko|power restored to the Emperor]].
Forces from Satsuma, Chôshû, and a few other allied domains marched on Kyoto and Edo anyway, seizing [[Osaka]] and Kyoto through a number of conflicts including the [[battle of Toba-Fushimi]] in 1868/1-3. Edo surrendered on 4/11 with little fighting. Fighting continued, however, as Aizu and a number of other domains still loyal to the abdicated shogunate held out for another 18 months, eventually being defeated in a series of battles known as the [[Boshin War|Bôshin War]].
<center>
<center>
