Tokugawa – Isaac Meyer

Episode 272 – I am the Law!

On January 19, 2019

This week we cover the life and career of the legendary judge Oka Tadasuke, who rose from minor samurai to the rank of daimyo and a major position in the bakufu — only to become a legendary figure. Who is he? How did he rise so high? And what can he tell us about the role of judges and bureaucrats in Japanese society more generally?

Sources

Dening, Walter. Japan in Days of Yore.

Mansfield, Stephen. Tokyo: A Biography.

Nice, Richard W. Treasury of Law.

Angles, Jeffrey, trans. “The Execution of Ten’ichibo.” Critical Asian Studies 37, no 2 (2005), 305-321.

Images

Ooka Tadasuke, from a woodcut illustrated version of the Ooka Seidan.

Ooka Tadasuke’s grave in Kanagawa.

A monument to the former site of the Minami Machibugyosho (the place of business for the Minami Machi bugyo). It’s located outside Yurakucho Station in Tokyo.

Tokugawa Yoshimune, Ooka Tadasuke’s patron.

Toyohara Kunisada print from the illustrated Ooka Seidan. This particular case is the story of a murder solved by Ooka.

Episode 258 – The City that Never Sleeps, Part 1

By ijmeyer

On September 29, 2018

In History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts

This week, we start a look at the history of the city of Tokyo. How did the frontier fishing village of Edo go from backwater nowhere to the heart of the nation in only a few short generations?

Sources

Mansfield, Stephen. Tokyo: A Biography.

Richie, Donald. Tokyo: A View of the City.

Mansfield, Stephen. Tokyo: A Cultural History

Images

The Imperial Palace of Japan was originally Chiyoda Castle, home of the Tokugawa Shoguns. Its groundwork was laid 140 years before the arrival of the Tokugawa, by Ota Dokan, a retainer of a branch of the Uesugi clan.

Ota Dokan as depicted in a print by the late Edo woodblock artist Toyohara Chikanobu. Note Edo castle in the background.

A map of Chiyoda castle in 1636.

Edo as depicted by Hiroshige. Note the west-facing orientation towards Mt. Fuiji.

The Tsujun Bridge, an acqueduct in Kumamoto, Kyushu. It’s a good example of what the acqueduct construction of Edo would have looked like at its height.

The Tamagawa Acqueduct, depicted by Hiroshige.

A procession of firefighters (machibikeshi). C. early 1700s.

The Meireki Fire was the most devastating fire in Edo’s history — and would retain that title until the fires associated with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.

Episode 222 – The Dog Shogun

By ijmeyer

On December 17, 2017

In History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts

This week: was Japan’s 5th Tokugawa shogun really as crazy as everybody says?

Spoilers: no.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern Japan.

Bodart-Bailey, Beatrice. The Dog Shogun: The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.

A solid Japan Times article on Tsunayoshi’s reign.

Some excerpts from the Greater Learning (Da Xue/Daigaku) for the curious.

Images

Engelbert Kaempfer’s depiction of a daimyo’s retinue in Japan. Kaempfer’s depictions are some of the best non-Japanese sources for the high water mark of Edo life.

Engelbert Kaempfer’s books on Japan — like this one here — were among the first to provide Westerners with firsthand knowledge of the country. Kaempfer met Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, and thought highly of him as a ruler.

Tsunayoshi at the height of his power as the 5th shogun of the Tokugawa.

Episode 133 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 16

By ijmeyer

On January 23, 2016

In History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized

This week: the “short-lived” part of “the short-lived Ezo Republic” comes to fruition, and what is now Meiji Japan begins dealing with a new issue. Now that the Tokugawa are finally gone, what comes next?

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Drea, Edward. Japan’s Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945.

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern Japan.

Beasley, W.G. The Meiji Restoration.

Images

The CSN Stonewall Jackson/IJN Kotetsu-maru. Commissioned by the Confederacy and built by the French, this warship was never delivered to its original purchasers. Instead, the US government sold it to the Tokugawa, but refused to deliver it after the Boshin War broke out. Instead, they ended up transferring it to the new Imperial Navy, which deployed it against the Ezo Republic.

One of the ships of the Ezo Republic navy shown here having run aground after the failed attempt to seize the Kotetsu-maru.

The Battle of Hakodate.

Another view of the battle, this one from a European sketch. The Imperial fleet is shown here blockading Hakodate.

Hijikata Toshizo died on June 20, 1869; he was the last major Shinsengumi leader left fighting. Seven days later the Ezo Republic surrendered.

The Emperor’s procession to Edo, 1868. After his arrival, the city would be renamed Tokyo, a name reminiscent of the imperial capitols of China. Image courtesy of Bucknell University.

Episode 132 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 15

By ijmeyer

On January 16, 2016

In History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized

This week, we’ll cover the military campaigns of 1868. Edo will (surprisingly anticlimactically) fall, the north will rebel, and Matsudaira Katamori’s domain of Aizu will be overrun after a brutal two month siege. In the end, only the small splinter territory of the Ezo Republic will be left standing.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern Japan.

Drea, Edward. Japan’s Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945.

Goro, Shiba, Mahito Ishimitsu and Teruko Craig. Remembering Aizu.

Images

A map of the major engagements of the Boshin War. Note that the dates are different on this one; that has to do with the fact that around this point, the new government was switching away from the old lunar calendar to the Western solar calendar, creating some confusion about what events happen when.

This monument shows the site in modern Tokyo where Katsu Kaishu and Saigo Takamori sat down to negotiate the fate of the city.

The Shogitai, shown here defending their bastion at Kan’eiji, made a futile last stand against the loyalists. Saigo Takamori crushed them with his Western style artillery.

Troops from Sendai domain mobilize to fight the loyalists, June 1868.

Aizu samurai defending their domain. The one on the far left is a woman; many Aizu women took up arms to defend their home against the loyalist assault.

Pro-Tokugawa troops being shipped to Hakodate to join in Enomoto Takeaki’s rebellion.

The vessels of the Ezo Republic navy, depicted in part here, were the greatest asset of the Ezo Republic.

Episode 131 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 14

By ijmeyer

On January 9, 2016

In History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized

In early 1868, the armies of the loyalists and the Tokugawa bakufu will clash outside Kyoto. We’ll discuss the factors that led to the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, and why what was supposed to be a walk in the park for the Tokugawa turned into a complete disaster.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Totman, Conrad. The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1862-1868.

Craig, Albert. Choshu in the Meiji Restoration.

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern Japan.

Images

Omura Masujiro, the Choshu samurai next in the chain of command after the death of Takasugi Shinsaku. His lack of seniority, controversial views, and the need to bind Satsuma more fully to the alliance meant that he was not given command of the defenses of Kyoto.

Saigo Takamori would lead the defense of Kyoto. Prior to 1868, his only field experience came from the First Choshu Expedition, when he led a contingent of Satsuma troops against his future ally Choshu.

The Toba battlefield; loyalist forces held a bridge over the Uji river against Tokugawa assault.

Another view of the Toba crossing.

Yodo Castle. The decision of the lord of Yodo to defect rather than allow Tokugawa forces to enter his keep represented the first time a fudai daimyo defected from the Tokugawa cause. It would not be the last.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu fleeing Osaka, which is shown burning behind him. Yoshinobu decided to flee to Edo rather than make a stand at Osaka.

Episode 126 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 9

By ijmeyer

On November 28, 2015

In History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized

This week, we’ll move into the tumultuous events of 1863. Challenges foreign and domestic are going to upset the balance of power that has existed since the death of Ii Naosuke, and drive Japan ever closer to civil war.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Craig, Albert. Choshu in the Meiji Restoration.

Beasley, W.G. The Meiji Restoration.

Jansen, Marius. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration.

Hashimoto Mitsuru, “Collision at Namamugi.” Representations 18 (Spring, 1987).

Images

The bombardment of Kagoshima, as depicted in the Illustrated London News.

Another view of the bombardment.

The Namamugi Incident

The Satsuma representatives paying an indemnity to Choshu.

Charles Lenox Richardson after his death.

Kondo Isami, captain of the Shinsengumi.

Episode 125 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 8

By ijmeyer

On November 21, 2015

In History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized

This week, we’ll move into the messy early/mid 1860s and look at the doomed attempt to bridge the gap between the Tokugawa and the Imperial Court. We’ll also look at the situation in Kyoto, which was growing more violent by the day.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern Japan.

Beasley, W.G. The Meiji Restoration.

Totman, Conrad. “Tokugawa Yoshinobu and Kobugattai: A Study in Political Inadequacy”. Monumenta Nipponica 30, No. 4 (1975).

Images

Tokugawa Yoshinobu, though he missed out on becoming shogun in 1858, would only four years later become the influential chief advisor to the young shogun Iemochi.

A British depiction of the first shishi attack on their legation.

Laurence Oliphant chasing away his shishi attacker with a bullwhip.

In the wake of the legation attacks, the government of Tokugawa Yoshinobu went to great pains to hunt down the perpetrators. This British drawing shows one of them being executed.

The Imperial Princess Kazunomiya was supposed to marry Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi and help bind the Tokugawa to the Kyoto court. Instead, the marriage proved to be one more source of Edo-Kyoto friction.

Matsudaira Katamori, the Protector of Kyoto charged with bringing order to the city.

Episode 124 – The Fall of the Samurai, Part 8

By ijmeyer

On November 13, 2015

In History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized

This week, the turbulent politics following the death of Ii Naosuke will result in the rise of one of the most famous symbols of the late Tokugawa era: the shishi, or men of spirit. These shishi groups, radicalized by the political trials of recent years, will introduce a degree of violence to Japanese politics not seen in generations, and pave the way for a fundamental change in Japanese politics.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Jansen, Marius. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration.

Craig, Albert. Choshu in the Meiji Restoration.

Beasley, W.G. The Meiji Restoration.

Jansen, Marius. The Making of Modern Japan.

Images

Sakamoto Ryoma, a minor samurai from Tosa domain, started his political career as a devoted Shishi. However, Katsu Kaishu convinced him of the utility of foreign ideas, and instead Sakamoto began working at the bakufu’s naval training academy in Nagasaki.

Katsu Kaishu, the head of the bakufu’s naval training academy, was able not only to convince Sakamoto Ryoma not to kill him but to join him in spreading Western naval technology.

This statue of Sakamoto Ryoma in Kochi (the former capitol of Tosa) speaks to his enduring popularity. We’ll be spending a lot of time with young Sakamoto in coming weeks.

Takasugi Shinsaku, leader of the Choshu shishi, former student of Yoshida Shoin, kendoka and all around party guy.

Episode 57 – The 47 Ronin

By ijmeyer

On June 21, 2014

In History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized

This week we’re covering one of the great tales of Japanese history: 47 warriors without a master who engaged in a bloody act of vengeance in the name of their former lord. In doing so, they catapulted themselves into the pages of history and legend, and remain some of Japan’s most treasured historical figures to this day.

Listen to the episode here.

Sources

Allyn, John. The 47 Ronin Story.

Sansom, George B. A History of Japan, Vol 3 1615-1867.

Takeda, Izumo, Shoraku Namishi and Namiki Senryu. Kanadehon Chushingura. Trans. Donald Keene.