Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| *''Titles: Bungo no kami'' | | *''Titles: Bungo no kami'' |
| | | |
− | Oguri Tadamasa was a high-ranking ''[[metsuke]]'' who traveled as a member of the [[1860 Japanese Embassy to the United States|first Japanese embassy to the United States]] in [[1860]]. | + | Oguri Tadamasa was finance commissioner, and later military commissioner, in the last years of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]. |
| + | |
| + | Oguri, then holding a post as a high-ranking ''[[metsuke]]'', traveled to the United States as a member of the [[1860 Japanese Embassy to the United States|first Japanese embassy to the US]] in [[1860]]. |
| | | |
| Following his return to Japan from the US, he and inspector [[Mizoguchi Katsuyuki]] were dispatched to [[Tsushima han]] to address a situation in which a Russian ship, the ''[[Posadnik]]'', had anchored for months and refused to leave. After several weeks of meetings with no progress, the pair left. | | Following his return to Japan from the US, he and inspector [[Mizoguchi Katsuyuki]] were dispatched to [[Tsushima han]] to address a situation in which a Russian ship, the ''[[Posadnik]]'', had anchored for months and refused to leave. After several weeks of meetings with no progress, the pair left. |
| | | |
| Shortly after their return to Edo, Oguri resigned his post as magistrate for foreign affairs, and was succeeded by [[Nonoyama Kanehiro]]. | | Shortly after their return to Edo, Oguri resigned his post as magistrate for foreign affairs, and was succeeded by [[Nonoyama Kanehiro]]. |
| + | |
| + | Beginning in [[1865]], with the advice of [[Leon Roches]] (French minister resident in [[Edo]]) he led efforts to reorganize the shogunate's military after a Western model, and also suggested consideration of the possible advantages of doing away with the [[han|domains]] altogether and reorganizing the government after a Western model. Though Oguri faced considerable opposition at first from conservative elements within the shogunate, the accession of pro-reform [[Tokugawa Yoshinobu]] to the position of shogun in [[1866]] brought greater support for these plans. Historian [[Andrew Gordon]] has even argued that if the shogunate had not fallen, under Yoshinobu it may well have adopted many of the [[Meiji government|Meiji government's]] Westernizing political reforms anyway.<ref>Andrew Gordon, ''A Modern History of Japan'', Oxford University Press (2013), 57.</ref> |
| | | |
| {{stub}} | | {{stub}} |
Line 12: |
Line 16: |
| *Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 211-212. | | *Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 211-212. |
| *Gallery labels and pamphlet from exhibition "[http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/past/Samurai-in-New-York.html Samurai in New York]." Museum of the City of New York. 25 June - 7 Nov. 2010. | | *Gallery labels and pamphlet from exhibition "[http://www.mcny.org/exhibitions/past/Samurai-in-New-York.html Samurai in New York]." Museum of the City of New York. 25 June - 7 Nov. 2010. |
| + | <references/> |
| | | |
| [[Category:Samurai]] | | [[Category:Samurai]] |
| [[Category:Diplomats]] | | [[Category:Diplomats]] |
| [[Category:Bakumatsu]] | | [[Category:Bakumatsu]] |