1.
Kagoshima
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Kagoshima is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture at the south western tip of the island of Kyushu in Japan, and the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the Naples of the Eastern world for its bay location, hot climate, the city was officially founded on April 1,1889. Kagoshima Prefecture was the center of the territory of the Shimazu Clan for many centuries and it was a busy political and commercial port city throughout the medieval period and into the Edo period when it formally became the capital of the Shimazus fief, the Satsuma Domain. The official emblem is a modification of the Shimazus kamon designed to resemble the character 市, Kagoshima was also a significant center of Christian activity in Japan prior to the imposition of bans against that religion in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Kagoshima was the birthplace and scene of the last stand of Saigō Takamori, japans industrial revolution is said to have started here, stimulated by the young students train station. A statue was erected outside of the station as a tribute to them. Kagoshima was also the birthplace of Tōgō Heihachirō and he led the Grand Fleet to two startling victories in 1904 and 1905, completely destroying Russia as a naval power in the East, and thereby contributing to the failed revolution in Russia in 1905. The Japanese diplomat Sadomitsu Sakoguchi revolutionized Kagoshimas environmental economic plan with his dissertation on water pollution, the 1914 eruption of the volcano across the bay from the city spread ash throughout the municipality, but relatively little disruption ensued. On the night of June 17,1945 the 314th bombardment wing of the Army Air Corps dropped 809.6 tons of incendiary, Kagoshima was targeted because of its largely expanded naval port as well as its position as a railway terminus. A single B-29 was lost to unknown circumstances, area bombing was chosen over precision bombing because of the cloudy weather over Japan during the middle of June. The planes were forced to navigate and bomb entirely by radar, Japanese intelligence predicted that the Allied Forces would assault Kagoshima and the Ariake Bay areas of southern Kyushu to gain naval and air-bases to strike Tokyo. Kagoshima City is approximately 40 minutes from Kagoshima Airport, and features shopping districts, transportation options in the city include the Shinkansen, local train, city trams, buses, and ferries to-and-from Sakurajima. One of the best places to view the city is from the Amuran Ferris wheel atop of Amu Plaza Kagoshima, just outside the city is the early-Edo Period Sengan-en Japanese Garden. The garden was originally a villa belonging to the Shimadzu Family and is maintained by descendants today. On August 1,1934 – the Villages of Yoshino, Nakagōriu and Nishitakeda, on October 1,1950 – the Villages of Ishiki and Higashisakurajima were merged into Kagoshima. On April 29,1967 – the Cities of Kagoshima and Taniyama were merged, on November 1,2004 – the Towns of Yoshida and Sakurajima, the Towns of Matsumoto and Koriyama, and the town of Kiire were merged into Kagoshima. It is marked by cool, relatively dry winters, warm, wet springs, hot, wet summers and mild, as of 1 January 2015, Kagoshima City has an estimated population of 606,624 and a population density of 1,107.49 persons per km². The total area is 546.71 km2, according to the April 2014 issue of the Kagoshima Prefectural Summary by the Kagoshima Prefecture Department of Planning and Promotion, the population of the prefecture at large is 1,680,319
2.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
3.
Boshin War
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The war found its origins in dissatisfaction among many nobles and young samurai with the shogunates handling of foreigners following the opening of Japan during the prior decade. Increasing Western influence in the led to a decline similar to other Asian countries at the time. An alliance of western samurai, particularly the domains of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the sitting shogun, realizing the futility of his situation, abdicated political power to the emperor. Yoshinobu had hoped that by doing this, the Tokugawa house could be preserved and those loyal to the Tokugawa retreated to northern Honshū and later to Hokkaidō, where they founded the Ezo republic. Defeat at the Battle of Hakodate broke this last holdout and left the imperial rule supreme throughout the whole of Japan, around 120,000 men were mobilised during the conflict, and of these about 3,500 were killed. When the Boshin War began, Japan was already modernizing, following the course of advancement as that of the industrialized Western nations. But Japan protected its economy by rejecting Western-enforced free trade. And since those Western nations, especially the United Kingdom and France, were involved in the countrys politics. Over time, the war has been romanticized as a bloodless revolution, in 1854, Commodore Perry opened Japan to global commerce with the implied threat of force, thus initiating a period of rapid development in foreign trade and Westernization. His efforts culminated in March 1863 with his Order to expel barbarians, other attacks included the shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki. During 1864, these actions were successfully countered by armed retaliations by foreign powers, such as the British Bombardment of Kagoshima, the Shogunate further ordered a punitive expedition against Chōshū, the First Chōshū expedition, and obtained Chōshūs submission without actual fighting. Despite the bombardment of Kagoshima, the Satsuma domain had become closer to the British and was pursuing the modernization of its army, the Scottish dealer Thomas Blake Glover sold quantities of warships and guns to the southern domains. American and British military experts, usually former officers, may have directly involved in this military effort. The British ambassador Harry Smith Parkes supported the forces in a drive to establish a legitimate, unified Imperial rule in Japan. The Shogunate also was preparing for conflict by modernizing its forces. In line with Parkes designs, the British, previously the Shogunates primary partner, the Tokugawa thus came to rely mainly on French expertise, comforted by the military prestige of Napoleon III at that time, acquired through his successes in the Crimean War and the War of Italy. In 1865, Japans first modern naval arsenal was built in Yokosuka by the French engineer Léonce Verny and this in turn prompted Chōshū to form a secret alliance with Satsuma. In the summer of 1866, the Shogunate was defeated by Chōshū, in late 1866, however, first Shogun Iemochi and then Emperor Kōmei died, respectively succeeded by Yoshinobu and Emperor Meiji
4.
Satsuma Rebellion
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The Satsuma Rebellion was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration, the rebellion lasted from January 29,1877, until September of that year, when it was decisively crushed and its leader, Saigō Takamori, ended his life. Saigōs rebellion was the last and most serious of a series of armed uprisings against the new government, the modernization of the country meant the abolition of the privileged social status of the samurai class, and had undermined their financial position. Saigō was a proponent of war with Korea in the Seikanron debate of 1873. At one point, he offered to visit Korea in person, to help support and employ these men, in 1874 Saigō established a private academy in Kagoshima. Soon 132 branches were established all over the prefecture, the “training” provided was not purely academic, although the Chinese classics were taught, all students were required to take part in weapons training and instruction in tactics. The traditions of bushido and Hagakure were emphasized, Saigō also started an artillery school. Support for Saigō was so strong that Satsuma had effectively seceded from the government by the end of 1876. Word of Saigō’s academies was greeted with concern in Tokyo. In December 1876, the Meiji government sent an officer named Nakahara Hisao and 57 other men to investigate reports of subversive activities. The men were captured, and under torture, confessed that they were spies who had sent to assassinate Saigō. Fearing a rebellion, the Meiji government sent a warship to Kagoshima to remove the weapons stockpiled at the Kagoshima arsenal on January 30,1877 and this provoked open conflict, although with the elimination of samurai rice stipends in 1877, tensions were already extremely high. Outraged by the tactics,50 students from Saigō’s academy attacked the Somuta Arsenal. Over the next three days, more than 1000 students staged raids on the yards and other arsenals. Presented with this success, the greatly dismayed Saigō was reluctantly persuaded to come out of his semi-retirement to lead the rebellion against the central government. In February 1877, the Meiji government dispatched Hayashi Tomoyuki, an official with the Home Ministry with Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi in the warship Takao to ascertain the situation. After Oyama departed, a flotilla of ships filled with armed men attempted to board Takao by force. The following day, Hayashi declared to Oyama that he could not permit Kawamura to go ashore when the situation was so unsettled, and that the attack on Takao constituted an act of lèse-majesté
5.
History of Japan
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It is widely accepted that first Human habitation in the Japanese archipelago traced back to prehistoric times. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi in the first millennium BC, during this period, in the first century AD, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese Book of Han. Between the fourth century and the century, Japans many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government. The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to reign over Japan to this day, in 794, a new imperial capital was established at Heian-kyō, marking the beginning of the Heian period, which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered an age of classical Japanese culture. Japanese religious life from time and onwards was a mix of Buddhism. Over the following centuries the power of the Emperor and the imperial court gradually declined and passed to the military clans, the Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from the Genpei War of 1180–85. After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura, in 1274 and 1281, the Kamakura shogunate withstood two Mongol invasions, but in 1333 it was toppled by a rival claimant to the shogunate, ushering in the Muromachi period. During the Muromachi period regional warlords called daimyō grew in power at the expense of the shogun, eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war. Over the course of the sixteenth century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the daimyō Oda Nobunaga. After Hideyoshis death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and was appointed shogun by the Emperor, the Tokugawa shogunate, which governed from Edo, presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period. The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society, the American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 ended Japans seclusion, this in turn contributed to the fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the Emperor in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji period transformed their isolated, underdeveloped island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a world power. Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period, Japans powerful military had great autonomy, the military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China. Japans attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 led to war with the United States, Japans forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Japans unconditional surrender was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 14 August 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into a constitutional monarchy, after 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth, and became a world economic powerhouse. Since the 1990s, economic stagnation has been a major issue, an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused massive economic dislocations and a serious nuclear power disaster
6.
Meiji Restoration
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The Meiji Restoration, also known as the Meiji Ishin, Renovation, Revolution, Reform, or Renewal, was an event of change that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were Emperors before the Meiji Restoration, the events restored practical abilities, Meiji government also made education compulsory for both boys and girls at minimal fees. The goals of the government were expressed by the new emperor in the Charter Oath. The Restoration led to changes in Japans political and social structure. In Japan however, unlike China, foreign ideas were not associated with opium addiction. Figures like Shimazu Nariakira concluded that if we take the initiative, we can dominate, if we do not, we will be dominated, leading Japan to throw open its doors to foreign technology. Observing Japans response to the powers, Li Hongzhang considered Japan Chinas principal security threat as early as 1863. The word Meiji means enlightened rule and the goal was to modern advances with traditional eastern values. The main leaders of this were Itō Hirobumi, Matsukata Masayoshi, Kido Takayoshi, Itagaki Taisuke, Yamagata Aritomo, Mori Arinori, Ōkubo Toshimichi, and Yamaguchi Naoyoshi. The foundation of the Meiji restoration was the 1866 Satsuma-Chōshū Alliance between Saigō Takamori and Kido Takayoshi, leaders of the reformist elements in the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain. These two leaders supported the Emperor Kōmei and were brought together by Sakamoto Ryōma for the purpose of challenging the ruling Tokugawa shogunate, after Emperor Kōmeis death on January 30,1867, Emperor Meiji ascended the throne on February 3. This period also saw Japan change from being a society to having a market economy. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to its end on November 9,1867, when Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Shortly thereafter in January 1868, the Boshin War started with the Battle of Toba–Fushimi in which Chōshū and this forced the Emperor to strip Yoshinobu of all power, setting the stage for official restoration. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country, consequently the title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Taikun, in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs and it is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement. All Tokugawa lands were seized and placed under control, thus placing them under the prerogative of the new Meiji government. With Fuhanken sanchisei, the areas were split into three types, urban prefectures, rural prefectures and the already existing domains
7.
Edo period
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The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the countrys 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies. The shogunate was established in Edo on March 24,1603. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3,1868, instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Already powerful, Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area, after Hideyoshis death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control from the Toyotomi family. Ieyasus victory over the western daimyōs at the Battle of Sekigahara gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyō houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyōs, but his assumption of the title of shogun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada as shogun. The Toyotomi were still a significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication, in 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka. The Tokugawa period brought 250 years of stability to Japan, the political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyōs had regional authority and this represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the classes of daimyō. Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan, or related houses and they were twenty-three daimyōs on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu, the second class of the hierarchy were the fudai, or house daimyōs, rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century,145 fudai controlled such smaller han, members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the group, the tozama, former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on the peripheries of the archipelago, because the tozama were least trusted of the daimyō, they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, they also had unprecedented power over the emperor, the court, all daimyōs and the religious orders
8.
Edo
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Edo, also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. It was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868, during this period, it grew to become one of the largest cities in the world and home to an urban culture centered on the notion of a floating world. From the establishment of the Tokugawa bakufu headquarters at Edo, the became the de facto capital and center of political power. Edo grew from what had been a small, little-known fishing village in 1457 into the largest metropolis in the world with a population of 1,000,000 by 1721. Edo was repeatedly devastated by fires, with the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657 being the most disastrous, an estimated 100,000 people died in the fire. During the Edo period, there were about 100 fires mostly begun by accident, between 1600 and 1945, Edo/Tokyo was leveled every 25–50 years or so by fire, earthquakes, or war. In 1868, when the shogunate came to an end, the city was renamed Tokyo, the emperor moved his residence to Tokyo, making the city the formal capital of Japan, Keiō4, On the 17th day of the 7th month, Edo was renamed Tokyo. Keiō4, On the 27th day of the 8th month, Keiō4, On the eighth day of the ninth month, the nengō was formally changed from Keiō to Meiji and a general amnesty was granted. Meiji 2, On the 23rd day of the 10th month, ishimaru Sadatsuga was the magistrate of Edo in 1661. During the Edo period, the Shogunate appointed administrators with jurisdiction over the police, and beginning with the rule of Tokugawa Yoshimune), the machi bugyō heard criminal and civil suits, and performed other administrative functions. The city was out as a castle town around Edo Castle. Kyotos character was defined by the Imperial Court, the nobles, its Buddhist temples and its history, Osaka was the countrys commercial center. Areas further from the center were the domain of the chōnin, the area known as Shitamachi, northeast of the castle, was a center of urban culture. The ancient Buddhist temple of Sensō-ji still stands in Asakusa, marking the center of an area of traditional Shitamachi culture, some shops in the streets near the temple have existed continuously in the same location since the Edo period. The Sumida River, then called the Great River, ran along the edge of the city. The shogunates official rice-storage warehouses, other buildings and some of the citys best-known restaurants were located here. The Japan Bridge marked the center of the commercial center. Fishermen, craftsmen and other producers and retailers operated here, shippers managed ships known as tarubune to and from Osaka and other cities, bringing goods into the city or transferring them from sea routes to river barges or land routes such as the Tōkaidō
9.
Shimazu Nariakira
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Shimazu Nariakira was a Japanese feudal lord of the Edo period, the 28th in the line of Shimazu clan lords of Satsuma Domain. He was renowned as an intelligent and wise lord, and was interested in Western learning. He was enshrined after death as the Shinto kami Terukuni Daimyōjin in May 1863, Shimazu Nariakira was born at the Satsuma domains estate in Edo, on April 28,1809. He rose to power as daimyō of the domain of Satsuma only after surviving a gruesome and arduous war within his own family and domain, known as the Oyura Sōdō or the Takasaki Kuzure. He faced much opposition in Satsuma since he spent most of his life in Edo, Nariakira did not see eye to eye with his father, Shimazu Narioki, or his father’s chief advisor, Zusho Hirosato. Both Narioki and Zusho were wary of the Tokugawa shogunate, Zusho also saw many similarities in Nariakira and his grandfather, Shigehide. Shigehide also had a great interest in Dutch studies as well as scientific and industrial projects, having worked so hard to rehabilitate and strengthen the treasury of Satsuma, Zusho did not encourage Nariakira’s ambitious and costly program for a military build-up. Nariakira arrived in Satsuma to attempt to resolve the Ryūkyū crisis, as per the orders of shogunal high official Abe Masahiro, on March 8,1847, Narioki arrived in Satsuma, making Nariakira’s position, something equivalent to deputy to his father, obsolete. After essentially having the reins of power wrenched from his hands by his own father and he was placed in charge of the newly created office of military service of Satsuma in October 1847. In 1848, Narioki appointed Hisamitsu steward of Chosa District, with the responsibility of acting on behalf of the daimyō in all matters in the area. At ceremonial occasions, Hisamitsu was ordered by his father to sit at a higher than that of the deputy in charge of the daimyō of Satsuma’s castle. Narioki even went so far as to place Hisamitsu in charge of all of Satsuma whenever the daimyō chose to leave Satsuma for any reason, business or pleasure. It was apparent that Hisamitsu was being groomed to become the next daimyō, completely disregarding the fact that, by primogeniture, many of Nariakira’s followers believed Yura was the source of the subsequent deaths of his eldest children. This belief caused many of them to call for the assassination of Yura, her son Hisamitsu, and Zusho, Nariakira was able to restrain them, upon hearing of their plans for murder, Narioki began rooting out Nariakira’s supporters and ordering their deaths by seppuku. The conflict had gotten so far out of hand that Nariakira was left no choice. Abe, seeing that Nariakira was being hindered in his proceeding with the Ryūkyū crisis by his own father and family retainers, aided in getting Narioki to retire and removing Zusho. Abe first went about the task of removing Zusho, who was relied upon by Narioki. Abe’s stated purpose was a desire to discuss the Ryūkyū crisis, zusho’s devotion to Narioki pushed him to take full responsibility for the illicit trade by committing seppuku on December 18,1848
10.
Ii Naosuke
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Ii Naosuke was daimyō of Hikone and also Tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23,1858, until his death on March 24,1860. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and extraterritoriality to American citizens. He was also an enthusiastic and accomplished practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony, in the Sekishūryū style, under Ii Naosuke’s guidance, the Tokugawa shogunate navigated past a particularly difficult conflict over the succession to the ailing and childless Tokugawa Iesada. Ii Naosuke managed to coerce the Tokugawa Shogunate to the last brief resurgence of its power, Ii was assassinated in the Sakuradamon incident by a group of 17 Mito and 1 Satsuma samurai on March 24,1860. Ii Naosuke was born on November 29,1815 as the 14th son of Ii Naonaka, the daimyō of Hikone by his concubine. Since Naosuke was the 14th son, he was not in line for a prominent position and early in his life was sent to a Buddhist temple where he lived on a small stipend from his family. Fortunately for Ii, even though he was sent to the monastery, his 13 elder brothers were adopted into other families who needed an heir. Accordingly, when his father died in 1850, Ii was called back from the monastery and became the daimyo of Hikone, a fudai domain, and took the family name of Ii. As the daimyō of Hikone, Ii was one of the daimyo who were eligible for a position in the bakufu, Ii became involved in national politics, rapidly rising to lead a coalition of daimyo. In 1853 Ii put forward a proposal concerning the Japanese negotiations with Commodore Matthew C. The position of Tairō, a post traditionally held by members of the Ii family, was rarely filled, Iis promotion to the post of Tairō annoyed many of the shinpan daimyōs including Tokugawa Nariaki. As the Tairō Ii Naosuke had both prestige and power only to the Shogun, Ii also enjoyed the full backing of the fudai daimyōs. An intelligent and capable politician Ii Naosuke was determined to restore the power of the bakufu in Japanese policy making, Ii Naosuke regarded the Harris treaty, which Hotta Masayoshi had negotiated with the American envoy Townsend Harris as in Japans best interests. In accordance with the protocol he asked the three lords of the gosankyō for their views in writing. However Ii faced a problem in the form of an obstructionist policy from members of the Hitotsubashi faction led by Hitotsubashi Keikis father Tokugawa Nariaki, Ii was unwilling to sign the Harris treaty without approval from Emperor Kōmei in Kyoto. However the daimyōs of the Hitotsubashi faction were preventing him from presenting the treaty to the emperor by withholding their approval, at this time Harris started putting pressure on the shogunal officials to sign the treaty. Ii decided not to risk aggravating the Americans and on 29 July 1858, encouraged by the backing of the bakufu officials. Soon after this Ii negotiated a number of unequal treaties with the Dutch, the Russians, the British
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