Changes

==Background==

==Background==

In [[1863]], the [[Bakufu]] recruited [[ronin]] to guard [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Iemochi|Iemochi]] on the occasion of a visit to [[Kyoto]] to meet with the [[Emperor Komei]]. This visit was a precedent breaking event—not since the founding member of the Tokugawa Bakufu, [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], had the reigning shogun gone to Kyoto to confer with a Son of Heaven. But these were difficult times for Japan, a country deep in a crisis in regards to how to respond to the perceived threat that the arrival of the Americans and the Europeans had sparked. Many Japanese, including Emperor Komei, were vehement xenophobes and wanted the “staining” foreign presence cleansed from Japan. Iemochi, as head of the military government, was being summoned to confer on how to enact the recent imperial edict calling for the expulsion of foreigners to be backed up by the use of force.  

In [[1863]], the [[Bakufu]] recruited [[ronin]] to guard [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Iemochi|Iemochi]] on the occasion of a visit to [[Kyoto]] to meet with the [[Emperor Komei]]. This visit was a precedent breaking event—not since the third Tokugawa Shogun, [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]], had the reigning shogun gone to Kyoto to confer with a Son of Heaven. Iemitsu's visit in [[1626]] was designed to impress the Imperial court with the power and wealth of the Tokugawa, forcing the [[Emperor Go-Mino ]] to come to him at [[Nijo castle]]-a far cry from Iemochi's visit, which was seen as the Shogun bowing to the Emperor. But these were difficult times for Japan, a country deep in a crisis in regards to how to respond to the perceived threat that the arrival of the Americans and the Europeans had sparked. Many Japanese, including Emperor Komei, were vehement xenophobes and wanted the “staining” foreign presence cleansed from Japan. Iemochi, as head of the military government, was being summoned to confer on how to enact the recent imperial edict calling for the expulsion of foreigners to be backed up by the use of force.  

Many samurai were outraged that the Bakufu had opened Japanese ports to the foreigners and under the slogan of [[sonno]] [[joi]] (Revere the emperor, expel the barbarians) harbored open and violent contempt for the Shogunate. Numerous assassinations, in the name of  heaven’s revenge, were carried out, culminating in the March 3, [[1860]]  killing of Bakufu Regent [[Ii Naosuke]], the architect of the [[kaikoku]] (open country) policy that led to the opening of Japan to the hated American and European powers. Komei, however, was appalled at the anti-Bakufu violence instigated by the pro-imperial extremists. He believed that it was the Bakufu alone that could save Japan from the foreign peril.  

Many samurai were outraged that the Bakufu had opened Japanese ports to the foreigners and under the slogan of [[sonno]] [[joi]] (Revere the emperor, expel the barbarians) harbored open and violent contempt for the Shogunate. Numerous assassinations, in the name of  heaven’s revenge, were carried out, culminating in the March 3, [[1860]]  killing of Bakufu Regent [[Ii Naosuke]], the architect of the [[kaikoku]] (open country) policy that led to the opening of Japan to the hated American and European powers. Komei, however, was appalled at the anti-Bakufu violence instigated by the pro-imperial extremists. He believed that it was the Bakufu alone that could save Japan from the foreign peril.