Kayama Eizaemon

• Other Names: 永孝 (Nagataka)
• Japanese: 香山栄左衛門 (Kayama Eizaemon)

Kayama Eizaemon was a Tokugawa shogunate official serving as kumi yoriki under the Uraga bugyô in 1853 when Commodore Perry and his fleet arrived at Uraga. Alongside Uraga bugyô Toda Ujiyoshi and others, Eizaemon stood up to Perry and his men, initially refusing to allow them to make port or come ashore, and refusing to engage in formal diplomatic discussions with them, directing them to instead travel to Nagasaki; ultimately, however, Kayama and the rest of the Uraga bugyôsho were forced to give in.

When Perry returned to Edo / Uraga in 1854, Kayama was among the chief figures who spoke with Perry's chief of staff Henry A. Adams, negotiating with him to have formal receptions and meetings at either Uraga or near Kanagawa-juku, ultimately succeeding in convincing the Americans to leave the inner harbor of Edo Bay.

He was reassigned on 1854/4/28 from his position as a kumi yoriki under the Uraga bugyô to a position in the Fujimi guards.

References

• Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 1 (1937), 418-419, 421, 423-424, 427, 540, 543, 545, 593.