Kurokawa Kahei

• Other Names: 雅敬 (Gakei)
• Japanese: 黒川 嘉兵衛 (Kurokawa Kahei)

Kurokawa Kahei was a Tokugawa shogunate official who played a role in interactions with foreign embassies during the Bakumatsu period.

An official in the service to the Kobushin bugyô as of 1853, Kurokawa was in that year transferred to the position of shihai kumigashira under the Uraga bugyô. In 1854/1, alongside other shogunate officials, Kurokawa met on several occasions with American chief of staff Henry A. Adams aboard the US warships anchored in Edo Bay, eventually convincing Adams that formal reception and negotiations would take place at Uraga, not Edo.

As interactions and negotiations between the shogunate and Perry's men continued into the 2nd month of 1854, Kurokawa continued to play a secondary but active role, serving as messenger to present Perry's men with Hayashi Fukusai's official credentials, and on 2/16, bringing the USS Susquehanna's chaplain, a Mr. Bittinger, back to Yokohama from Kawasaki, where he had caused some form of disturbance. Later that month, when US ships entered Shimoda harbor without authorization, Kurokawa reported this to the shogunate's reception officers (ôsetsukakari).

In the 4th month of 1854, as negotiations moved to Shimoda, Kurokawa was reassigned from Uraga bugyô shihai kumigashira to the equivalent position under the Shimoda bugyô.

On 1854/5/20, Kurokawa, alongside fellow Shimoda bugyô shihai kumigashira Isa Shinjirô, concluded negotiations with US Navy Purser (i.e. financial officer) J.C. Eldridge and his clerk William Speiden regarding coal prices and currency exchange rates.

Kurokawa was reassigned from Shimoda bugyô shihai kumigashira to the position of Hiroshiki bangashira on 1855/2/8.

In 1859, he was dismissed from his position as a yônin in service to Sei-hime and sentenced to house confinement as part of the Ansei Purges.

References

• Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 1 (1937), 513, 534, 540, 551, 556, 563, 574, 579, 604.
• Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 2 (1937), 12.