History of Asia

Bunkyu Reform by Hisamitsu Shimazu and Political Change on August 18th

1862 (2nd year of Bunkyu) Hisamitsu Shimazu, who has been appointed to the imperial court, works to promote the Kobu Gattai to the imperial court. As a result of this effort, Hisamitsu has a messenger and calls on Edo to reform the shogunate reforms.

The shogunate accepts the envoy and reforms the shogunate.

This series of reforms is Bunkyu Reform Is called.

Shogunate reform by Hisamitsu Shimazu [Bunkyu Reform]

The shogunate was punished in Ansei Purge as agreed by the envoy Matsudaira Yoshinaga Political Governor And Tokugawa (Hitotsubashi) Yoshinobu General guardianship And return to the shogunate. Also, to maintain the security of Kyoto, Kyoto Shugoshoku Place Matsudaira Katamori there Was assigned to that task.

In addition, we will put a scalpel at the root of the shogunate by putting out measures to ease the attendance change system.

This reform of Bunkyu began in the form of accepting the demands of the imperial court and the Satsuma domain of the Tozama Daimyo, but it led to the multipolarization of political abilities and eventually promoted the destruction of the shogunate.

1863 When the 14th Shogun Iemochi Joraku, who had been appointed by the command, was executed, Choshu Clan Sonno Joi The authority of the Kobu Gattai is increasing. In response to the political advancement of the Satsuma Domain, which became the lord of the Satsuma Domain, he joined the lord of the radical group and began to move the imperial court from behind.

The imperial court urged the shogunate to make a decision, May 10, 1863 However, the Choshu clan bombarded foreign ships that passed off the coast of Shimonoseki on the same day, and quickly put into action.

Political change on August 18

Emperor Komei was also a jōi scholar, but he was also worried about the radical actions of the Choshu clan. Therefore, the emperor requests the Satsuma domain and others to expel the Choshu domain to Kyo. Upon receiving this request, the two feudal lords August 18 In the early morning of the year, the soldiers were surrounded by the palace gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and the Choshu clan was successfully dismissed from the position of guarding the palace gate.

This is a coup d'etat created by the Satsuma Domain to wipe out the revered sect in collaboration with Matsudaira Katamori, who was in the position of Kyoto Shugoshoku while communicating with the Kobu Gattai lord. Political change Is called.

Due to this political change, the situation around the imperial court changed completely, and Sanjo Sanetomi et al. Seven people will be banished from Kyoto and will fall to Choshu together with the Choshu clan.

This is [ Seven Lords 】It's called.

Hisamitsu Shimazu seemed to lead the shogunate from the fall of the Choshu clan, a radical revered sect, but the world did not go well. A turning point will come to the Satsuma Domain here.

That was the Satsuei War.

Outbreak of the Satsuei War

It all started in 1862 Namamugi Incident It was the murder of a British merchant in.

In this case, the Satsuma domain did not respond to the extradition, and in July 1863 the British fleet bombarded Kagoshima with the Satsuma War. Both sides suffered considerable damage in this battle, and both became an opportunity to re-evaluate their abilities, and both sides rapidly approached in response to the movement of the debate.

Also, Hisamitsu Shimazu Proposed a new political system for daimyo to participate in the morning and curtain meetings, and launched the San'yo Kaigi. Including Hisamitsu, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Yoshinaga Matsudaira, Toyonobu Yamauchi, Date Munenari, Matsudaira Katamori It was composed of influential daimyo such as.

However, the Yokohama Chain Port Problem * Yoshinobu and Hisamitsu, who should have been the same open-minded theorists, have a fierce conflict in the meeting.

In the end, Emperor Komei was wary of the power of the Satsuma domain and sided with Yoshinobu, so the shogunate decided to block the port in the form of concessions by Hisamitsu Shimazu. However, the subsequent disagreement with Yoshinobu Tokugawa was not resolved, and the San'yo Kaigi would not function and would be dismantled.

Unfortunately, the Kobu Gattai policy promoted by the Satsuma Domain went bankrupt because the San'yo Kaigi stopped working.

* The Yokohama Port Problem is a problem about the blockage of Yokohama Port, which was requested by Emperor Komei, who was a jōi scholar, and Hisamitsu et al. Said that it was impossible to block Yokohama Port as a matter of fact. However, Yoshinobu, who was worried about the rise of Satsuma, insisted that he was an open-minded scholar.