Matthew C Perry played arguably the largest single role in ending Japan’s centuries of isolation from the rest of the world. When the U.S. commodore’s expedition arrived in Tokyo Bay in 1853, Japan had spent more than 200 years under government policies that almost entirely forbade any sort of contact with other nations, and upon his return to Japan a year later Perry and shogunate officials signed the Convention of Kanagawa, the treaty which led to the opening of Japan.
Of course, you can’t influence the abolishment of a government policy that’s been in place for so long without earning the ire of some powerful people, and recently discovered historical documents show just how displeased one samurai lord was with Perry’s presence in Japan, and even his continued existence on the planet.
Researchers recently discovered a set of 16 letters written by Tokugawa Nariaki, the daimyo of Mito Province (present-day Ibaraki Prefecture) and father of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japan’s final shogun. Nariaki’s letters, written between 1853 and 1855, were sent to his retainer Fujita Toko, a samurai scholar who advocated for the restoration of the emperor as the ruling figure of Japan and the expulsion of foreigners from the country.
The letters discuss specific methods for assassinating the U.S. envoys to Japan, with one section preceded by the heading “Burning the Foreigners to Death” and expanding on the subject with “If we can get them into a mansion that we’ve set up properly, we’d be able to burn them all to death at once, right?”
Another plot outlined in the letters: “Make sure their senior officers drink a lot of sake in the great hall of Edo Castle, then lop of their heads…then notify our men near Shinagawa and have them get rid of everything in their ships.”
The letters were found in the preserved home of a salt merchant in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, among a collection of roughly 10,000 historical documents.
It’s worth noting that though he was the father of Japan’s last shogun, Nariaki himself never held the position and was a prominent pro-emperor figure. Though tasked for a time with advising the shogunate on matters of coastal defense, during which he was an open advocate for strengthening Japan’s military so that it could fight against foreign forces, he was also imprisoned for beefing up his personal domain’s military might against the wishes of the shogunate. As such, his personal plotting may not necessarily have aligned with the exact desires of Japan’s official government at the time.
*Source: Yomiuri Shimbun via Livedoor News via Jin, *Britannica
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26 Comments
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Strangerland
Because (as it says in the article):
Jay
There goes the narrative that samurai were bold and noble warriors who always fought fair, loyally defended their medieval lords and hewed to a staunch unifying honor code.
Turns out they were just as capable of being as cowardly as the scummy ninja assassins they usually hired to do this sort of dirty work.
Tamarama
Nice little historical piece.
sakurasuki
That's really sneaky move and nothing really reflect bushido value, just like Japanese did during Pearl Harbor.
quercetum
Noriaki didn’t pay attention in class on Bushido. There’s always a few bad mikans in the box. Who would ever use the word always and believe in it?
Antiquesaving
Considering in those days people tended to drink a lot of light alcohol daily as water wasn't always safe and sailors drank alcohol laced drink daily for months on end.
It would have taken quite a bit more sake to get them as drunk as this guy would have needed to do the job.
Cricky
Chop, chop, chop, it’s the go to.
Desert Tortoise
The plots sound an awful lot like something one would read on certain internet discussion boards. Just saying .......
u_s__reamer
Noriaki might seem old-school, but his mind-set still shared by the Machiavellis of the world today: with their vodka and "roulette" the Russians need no lessons from a samurai to rid themselves of a troublesome midget in their midst, as we may yet witness by next spring.
momoclo
Good thing the fool's little plan never came to fruition.
Anonymous
You’ve been watching the wrong TV programs.
Jay
Quite possibly the legion of defend-at-all-costs samurai aficionados who also deny that the majority of them - including the famed Miyamoto Musashi - were, by modern metrics, practicing homosexuals.
https://www.tofugu.com/japan/gay-samurai/
Peeping_Tom
"There goes the narrative that samurai were bold and noble warriors who always fought fair, loyally defended their medieval lords and hewed to a staunch unifying honor code."
OK.
One man represents an entire class!
One black criminal means ALL blacks are criminals.
One white serial killer means ALL whites are serial killers (especially if they're Americans)!
I like your "reasoning" process.
Cricky
Less than 3% of Japanese were Samurai, 97% like today propped them up, and nothing has changed. It’s still a feudal system where if it was socially acceptable they the ruling class would still collect heads.
WA4TKG
Hence the saying: Japanese don’t “Trust” you, unless they get you drunk once and “See how you really ARE”.
Cricky
What ever happened to to the Guilitene?
NCIS Reruns
Those Mito Samurai, who espoused the concept of 尊皇攘夷 (revere the emperor and expel the barbarians) were pretty nasty pieces of work. In 1860 they assassinated Ii Naosuke, the head Tokugawa minister, after he concluded treaties with the US and European powers that opened up Yokohama and other ports. They also attacked the British legation at Takanawa. There are monuments at both these locations.
Erik Morales
I admire the pure Japanese samurai fighting against western power/tradition. Sadly after losing the war those days are long gone.
Hercolobus
Wakashudoo masters
Adam Suslak
It is Nariaki, not Noriaki.
Moderator: Thanks for pointing that out.
Speed
"Get them drunk then chop off their heads."
Sounds like it could've been written today.
Tom San
I thought that was what ninja were for.