Shimazu Nariakira
Shimazu Nariakira was daimyô of Satsuma han from 1851 until his death in 1858, and a prominent and influential figure in the domain's policies even prior to that, when his father Shimazu Narioki was Lord of Satsuma. Viewed retrospectively from the circumstances of the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods, Nariakira and his supporters have been characterized as "progressive" or "radical" in contrast to the "conservative" positions and policies of his father, and his faction. Nariakira is also known as the adoptive father of the famous Atsu-hime, who he married to Shogun Tokugawa Iesada in 1856.
Early life and career
Born and raised in Edo, Nariakira had a relatively weak power base in Satsuma, but was able to work more closely with both Satsuma and shogunate officials in Edo, such as the powerful rôjû Abe Masahiro, to effect certain policies or agreements. In 1846, he negotiated with Abe to implement positions and policies suggested by Satsuma advisors Godai Hidetaka and Zusho Shôzaemon for defending Ryûkyû from Western encroachment; in order to make sure these plans would be implemented, Abe had Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi place Nariakira, and not the daimyô his father, in charge of overseeing the defense of Ryûkyû.[1]
Nariakira returned to Satsuma, and began directly effecting the enhancement of coastal defenses, among other activities, to the resentment of his father's faction, including his father's chief advisor, Zusho. As a result of the tension between these two factions within the domain government, Nariakira and Zusho went about implementing their plans separately, sometimes at odds with one another, and sometimes acting redundantly, not discussing their plans with one another. Nariakira's power within the domain ebbed and waned as he and his father exchanged places, traveling between Kagoshima and Edo.[1]
Tensions between the two factions heated up as Nariakira schemed against his father. In 1848/8, he revealed to certain influential daimyô secret plans proposed by Zusho Shôzaemon, which led to Zusho committing suicide four months later, in order to protect his lord, Narioki. Meanwhile, Narioki promoted Nariakira's half-brother, Shimazu Hisamitsu, to high positions within the domain government in order to counteract Nariakira's own influence. In late 1849, hearing rumor of a plot by Nariakira to organize the assassination of Hisamitsu and his mother Yura, Narioki had around forty members of Nariakira's faction rounded up, and either exiled or forced to commit suicide.
With the support of his great-uncle Kuroda Narihiro of Fukuoka han and Date Munenari of Uwajima han, however, Nariakira was ultimately able to have Abe Masahiro pressure his father to step down as daimyô, with Nariakira succeeding him in 1851/2.[2]
As Daimyô
As daimyô, Nariakira continued his efforts towards a guarded Satsuma/Ryûkyû engagement with the Westerners. Out of a combination of motivations, likely both because he sought to expand Satsuma's commercial activities & revenues, and because he recognized the impossibility of defending Ryûkyû from Western military attacks, Nariakira encouraged Ryûkyû to allow a series of concessions to Westerners calling at Naha.
A Treaty of Amity signed by Commodore Matthew Perry and sessei (royal regent) Ôzato Chôkyô in 1854 obliged the kingdom to provide a number of types of aid or privileges to Americans calling at Okinawa, and marked the first time Ryûkyû entered into a formal treaty with a Western power.
The following year, Ryukyuan scholar-official Itarashiki Chôchû, acting within Nariakira's intentions and designs, acted as chief royal representative and interpreter, engaging with Frenchmen who arrived in Ryûkyû that year; a Treaty of Amity was signed between Ryûkyû and France at that time, granting the French free movement throughout Okinawa, and permission to establish a Catholic mission on the island.[3] When the French gifted the King of Ryûkyû with an artillery piece two years later, Nariakira ordered Itarashiki to study the object and its use.[4] In 1857/6, Dutch ships arrived in the islands as well, seeking the establishment of formal trade relations; the shogunate ordered Nariakira to strengthen the kingdom's defenses in anticipation of the Dutch arrival, but Nariakira instead instructed Ryukyuan officials to enter into negotiations, but to keep it secret, as the shogunate would surely be opposed to the competition this would represent for its own revenues from Dutch trade at Nagasaki. Documents discovered after his death revealed that Nariakira also envisioned welcoming Western trade at Unten and Amami Ôshima, with the explicit aim of competing against Nagasaki.[3]
The marriage of Nariakira's adopted daughter Atsu-hime to Shogun Tokugawa Iesada in 1856 contributed to Nariakira's influence within the shogunate; he was one of a number of figures who encouraged the selection of Tokugawa Yoshinobu as next in line to become shogun, as Iesada had yet to produce any heirs at that time. In the end, Iesada did produce an heir, Tokugawa Iemochi, who reigned as shogun from 1858 to 1866, after which Yoshinobu succeeded him.
Nariakira also took steps to acquire Western weaponry for the domain, sending Ichiki Shirô on a secret mission to Ryûkyû in 1858/1 with the objective of obtaining 1,000 rifles and a steam-powered warship from the French; this had to be kept secret from both the shogunate and from Beijing, but was so important to Nariakira that if the French were uncooperative, he planned to have a Ryukyuan official procure such equipment for him from the Dutch or British in Fuzhou. Neither of these plans were carried through, due to Nariakira's sudden death on 1858/7/16, said to have been the result of food poisoning. However, a factory complex he ordered constructed for the military and industrial strengthening of the domain was completed, ultimately, in 1865. The complex employed 1,200 men, and included reverberating furnaces, blast furnaces, a smithy, a foundry, and a glass workshop for the industrial production of porcelains, cannon, rifles, agricultural implements, and glassware.[3] Parts of the complex survive today as the Shôkoshûseikan museum, the main hall of which has been designated an Important Cultural Property.[5]
Legacy
Following Nariakira's death, his brother Shimazu Hisamitsu, acting as regent for his son, the daimyô Shimazu Tadayoshi, reversed many of Nariakira's policies, especially those pertaining to Ryûkyû, and acted in strong support of the shogunate and of samurai privilege through the Bakumatsu and into the Meiji period.
Nariakira had four biological daughters, three of whom (Teru-hime, Nori-hime, and Yasu-hime) married other members of the Shimazu clan, and one of whom, Sada-hime, married into the Konoe family of court nobles.
| Preceded by: Shimazu Narioki |
Lord of Satsuma han 1851-1858 |
Succeeded by: Shimazu Tadayoshi |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Robert Hellyer, Defining Engagement, Harvard University Press (2009), 160-161.
- ↑ Hellyer, 162.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Hellyer, 166-167.
- ↑ George Kerr, Okinawa: The History of an Island People, Revised Edition, Tuttle Publishing (2000), 344-345.
- ↑ Pamphlets available on-site at Shôkôshûseikan; Shoko Shuseikan official website (English).
