＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・「青天を衝け」の第一話で登場した慶喜の父徳川斉昭とはどんな人物だったのか？
In the first episode of the NHK Taiga drama “Seiten wo Tsuke,” which began on February 14, 2021, there was a scene where young Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931) witnesses artillery expert Takashima Shūhan (played by Hiroshi Tamaki) being arrested as a criminal and escorted away in a prisoner’s cage (a “Karamaru cage”) by local magistrates.
This Taiga drama had a surprising opening, introducing “Japanese history” with Tokugawa Ieyasu (played by Kinya Kitaōji).
When Naoto Takenaka appeared, I mistakenly thought for a moment, “Has Toyotomi Hideyoshi appeared this time!?” but he was playing Tokugawa Nariaki, the father of Tokugawa Yoshinobu and lord of the Mito domain.
1. The Life and Personality of Tokugawa Nariaki
(1) The Personality of Tokugawa Nariaki
Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860) was the 9th lord of the Mito Domain, one of the “Three Tokugawa Houses” (Owari, Kii, and Mito), and the biological father of the 15th Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913).
His pen names were Keizan and Senryukaku, and he was a loyalist known as “Retsu-ko” (Lord of the Righteousness).
He is counted as one of the great rulers of the late Edo period who succeeded in reforming the domain’s administration, but he lost a political struggle with the Grand Elder Ii Naosuke (1815-1860) over the “Shogun Succession Problem,” was placed under permanent house arrest, and died there.
Besides his principal wife, he had nine concubines and fathered 37 children (both male and female) throughout his life, many of whom became lords of various domains or married into domain lord families.
(2) From Upbringing to Inheritance of the Family Headship
He was born in the Mito Domain’s Edo residence in Koishikawa as the third son of Tokugawa Harunori (1773-1816), the 7th lord of the Mito Domain. He studied “Mito Studies” (*) under his tutor, Aizawa Seishisai, and demonstrated his intelligence.
(*) What is Mito Studies?
Mito Studies is a school of thought and scholarship that developed in the Mito Domain during the Edo period. It was formed through the compilation of the historical work “Dai Nihon Shi” (Great History of Japan), which was started by Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628-1701), the 2nd lord of the Mito Domain.
It is characterized by a philosophy that blends Confucian thought with National Learning, History, and Shinto. In particular, from the Tenpo era onward, under the 9th lord Tokugawa Nariaki, it developed the “Sonno Joi” (Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians) ideology and became the “ideological driving force of the Meiji Restoration.”
Mito studies can be divided into “Early Mito Studies” during the time of Tokugawa Mitsukuni and “Late Mito Studies” during the time of Tokugawa Nariaki. “Late Mito Studies” was centered around Fujita Yūkoku and his sons, Fujita Tōko, Aizawa Seishisai, and Toyoda Tenkō.
Harunori had four grown-up sons. The eldest, Nariaki, was destined to become the next lord of the domain; the second eldest, Matsudaira Yorinori, was adopted into the Matsudaira family of the Takamatsu domain; and the younger brother, Matsudaira Yoriyuki, was adopted into the Matsudaira family of the Shishido domain—these arrangements were decided early on. However, the third son, Nariaki, remained a “retainer” until the age of 30.
He seems to have been kept as a “backup for Nariaki,” but it is said that Harunori had told him during his lifetime, “Even if you have the opportunity to be adopted into another family, you must not be adopted into a fudai daimyo family. If you become a fudai daimyo, you may have to side with the shogunate and rebel against the court when the imperial court and the shogunate are at odds.”
The 8th lord, Nariakira, died without designating an heir, causing some turmoil over the succession. However, a will was soon found, and in 1829, he became the 9th lord.
(3) Domain Reforms
In 1832, he married Princess Yoshiko, daughter of Prince Arisugawa Taruhito.
In domain administration, he established the domain school, Kodokan, to encourage both literary and martial arts. He suppressed the “aristocratic faction” and strived to recruit a wide range of “reformist” talent from the lower samurai class, including Fujita Toko, Aizawa Seishisai, Anjima Taito, Takeda Kounsai, and Toda Chutayu. He also introduced Western-style military equipment.
In 1837, he proposed the following four reforms:
① The principle of boundary surveys (land survey of all territories)
② The principle of local settlement (settlement of samurai in local areas)
③ The principle of schools (construction of the domain school Kodokan and local schools)
④ The principle of total rotation (abolition of the Edo permanent residence system)
Furthermore, they implemented “large-scale military training” called “Oitori-gari” (bird hunting) and established “higura” (millet granaries) for rural relief. They also advocated a “universal conscription policy” and promoted the domestic production of Western modern weapons.
They also proposed to the shogunate “development of Ezo (Hokkaido)” and “lifting the ban on the construction of large ships.” Their influence extended not only to the shogunate but throughout the entire country.
In terms of religion, they confiscated temple bells and Buddhist statues to use as materials for cannons, and removed abandoned temples and roadside Jizo statues. They also mandated the establishment of shrines in every village and transferred systems of population management, such as “ninbetsu arame” (population checks), which had previously been carried out by Buddhist monks, to Shinto priests.
This policy of “suppressing Buddhism and emphasizing Shinto” was a precursor to the “separation of Shinto and Buddhism and the destruction of Buddhist temples” in the early Meiji period.
However, in 1844, following an attack by Torii Yōzō and others, he was charged with the “volley of gunfire incident” and the “suppression of Buddhism” from the previous year. By order of the shogunate, he was forced to relinquish the family headship to his eldest son, Yoshiatsu, and was ordered to “forcefully retire” and “be placed under house arrest.”
Afterward, the Mito domain was dominated by the powerful Yuki Torahisa, but thanks to a movement for the restoration of power among the lower-ranking samurai who supported him, his house arrest was lifted in 1846, and he was allowed to participate in domain administration in 1849.
In 1847, he received a message from the 12th Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi, through Senior Councilor Abe Masahiro, that he wanted Yoshinobu to be the heir to the Hitotsubashi family, one of the three main branches of the Tokugawa family. He then had his third son, Yoshinobu, inherit the Hitotsubashi family.
(4) Participation in Shogunate Administration
In 1853, upon Commodore Perry’s arrival in Uraga, he became involved in shogunate politics as a “Coastal Defense Advisor” at the request of the chief senior councilor, Abe Masahiro. However, from the standpoint of “Mito studies,” he strongly advocated for the expulsion of foreigners.
At this time, he cast 74 cannons for the defense of Edo and presented them to the shogunate along with ammunition. He also built the Western-style warship “Asahi Maru” at Ishikawajima in Edo and presented it to the shogunate.
In 1855, he was appointed as a “Military System Reform Advisor,” but unfortunately, the Ansei Great Earthquake of the same year claimed the lives of his advisors, including Fujita Toko and Toda Chutayu. Furthermore, when Abe Masahiro died in 1857 and Hotta Masayoshi became the chief senior councilor, he became even more vehemently opposed to opening the country, leading to conflict with Ii Naosuke, who promoted opening the country.
Furthermore, during the “Shogun Succession Problem” of the 13th Shogun Tokugawa Iesada, he formed the “Hitotsubashi faction,” supporting his own son, Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, against Ii Naosuke and others who supported the “Nanki faction,” which supported Tokugawa Yoshitomi.
However, he lost this political struggle, and in 1858, Ii Naosuke became Grand Elder and signed the “Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States” without imperial sanction, and furthermore, made Yoshitomi (Iemochi) the 14th Shogun.
Meanwhile, in response to the “signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States without imperial sanction,” the Imperial Court (Emperor Komei) issued an “Imperial Edict urging the expulsion of foreigners,” also known as the “Bogo no Michoku” (*), to the Mito Domain.
(*) Contents of the Secret Imperial Edict of the Year of the Earth Horse
① Reprimand for signing the “Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States” without imperial permission, and a demand for a detailed explanation.
② An order for the three Tokugawa branch families and various domains to cooperate with the shogunate to achieve “union of the imperial court and the shogunate,” and for the shogunate to carry out shogunate reforms that promote the expulsion of foreigners.
③ A supplementary letter instructing the Mito domain to circulate the above two contents to the various domains.
For this reason, on June 24, 1858, regarding the “shogun succession issue and the signing of the treaty,” Ii Naosuke, along with his sons Yoshinobu and Yoshiatsu, his nephew Tokugawa Yoshinori (lord of the Owari domain), and Matsudaira Shungaku (lord of the Fukui domain), “entered Edo Castle without permission” to question Ii Naosuke. As a result, he was ordered to “permanently confine himself to Mito,” effectively ending his political career (Ansei Purge).
(5) The End
On August 15, 1860, he died suddenly in Mito while still under house arrest. Because this occurred shortly after the Sakuradamon Incident (*) in March of the same year, there were rumors that he had been assassinated by a Hikone domain samurai, but this was denied by the Hikone domain’s investigation at the time.
(*) The Sakuradamon Incident
This incident occurred in March 1860, outside the Sakuradamon Gate of Edo Castle, when 17 deserters from the Mito Domain and one samurai from the Satsuma Domain attacked a procession from the Hikone Domain, assassinating Grand Elder Ii Naosuke.
2. Words and Anecdotes of Tokugawa Nariaki
(1) Words
– In any matter, if there is someone who is ahead of me, I will not be ashamed to listen to them.
(2) Anecdotes
– He had a strict personality regarding manners and etiquette. When his son Yoshinobu was a child, he had bad sleeping habits, so he reportedly placed razors on either side of his pillow while he slept.
– Influenced by “Mito studies” from a young age, he strongly opposed opening the country, but he showed great interest in Western goods.
* The Mito family received 10,000 ryo in aid from the shogunate every year, but he stated, “Since the time of my ancestors, our true intention has been to live on 350,000 koku, and frugality is practiced in order to live within this koku. From now on, extravagance is strictly forbidden, and we should strive to live frugally within the koku we have been granted. As a first step, we will return the 10,000 ryo to the shogunate and dedicate ourselves to loyal service commensurate with our holdings. All officials should make a living in accordance with this principle.”
* He was known to be a great lover of meat, and when he received Omi beef as a gift from the Hikone domain, he wrote a letter of thanks in return.
* He kept dairy cows at his residence and apparently drank the milk from glass cups for health reasons.