🇯🇵日本江戶幕府倒臺實錄：德川260年統治，為何在15歲少年一句話下土崩瓦解？🔥

🇯🇵日本江戶幕府倒臺實錄：德川260年統治，為何在15歲少年一句話下土崩瓦解？🔥

. Why was Japan able to turn over? Why did China lose confidence as it fought? In the mid-19th century, both China and Japan were knocked on the door. First, the Opium War woke up China, and then the black ships knocked on the door and woke up Japan. Both sides called for reform and said they wanted to “learn from the strong points of the foreigners.” But in the end, one was torn apart, and the other became a great power . What was the difference between the two sides? When the Qing Dynasty was still fighting the Taiping Rebellion and carrying out the Westernization Movement, young Japanese samurai had already sneaked into Britain to study technology, shipbuilding, steelmaking, and military industry. Even the emperor was “invited out” to take back real power. When China was still arguing over “constitutionalism or monarchism”, Japan had already asked the daimyo to hand over their fiefs, the samurai cut their hair, and compulsory education was implemented throughout the country. However, this reform was not elegant at all. Assassinations, mutinies, and civil wars flowed like rivers. Everyone in Kyoto, Choshu, and Satsuma held rifles and shouted “Respect the King and Expel the Barbarians”, and the old regime was overthrown with a single blow. The Tokugawa shogunate collapsed step by step amid internal and external troubles . More than two hundred years of glory finally disappeared in gunpowder and iron blood. This is not simple. It was not a change of dynasty , but the disintegration of the entire old world. The end of the Japanese shogunate was not only the result of the pressure of guns and cannons, but also the fact that the times would no longer allow it to continue to linger. With the phrase “Political power returns to the emperor” , a new era is about to emerge. In today’s episode, we will first talk about the history of the demise of the Japanese shogunate. On the afternoon of February 12, 1603, Fushimi Castle in the south of Kyoto was very lively. Tokugawa Ieyasu, wearing a scarlet ceremonial robe, sat on the high platform of the castle , looking calm. After a while, a waiter ran up and bowed deeply, then shook the wooden bell in his hand and whispered that the emperor’s senior envoy had arrived . Soon after, the royal representative got off the car, and the band played music, and the atmosphere was full of excitement . The emperor walked up to the platform and handed over a commission to Tokugawa Ieyasu. From that day on, the emperor appointed Tokugawa Ieyasu as the “Shogun” , the country’s highest military leader. Ieyasu took the imperial edict with both hands and immediately prepared a feast with delicacies from land and sea. He also prepared several bags of heavy gold and silver and a heroic horse as a gift to be sent back to Kyoto. The horse was equipped with a special golden saddle with the Tokugawa family’s family emblem printed on it. The appointment of Tokugawa Ieyasu as Shogun was a major event in Japanese history. The period from 1603 to the end of 1867, when Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned power to Emperor Meiji, was called the Tokugawa Shogunate or the Tokugawa Shogunate. During the Edo Shogunate period, there were about 250 daimyo in Japan , each of whom ruled his own territory. Their castles were almost all magnificent, and many were even more magnificent than the largest castles in medieval Europe . However, no daimyo’s castle could compare to the Tokugawa family’s Fushimi Castle. The stone walls and moats of Fushimi Castle were built at great expense when Toyotomi Hideyoshi was alive. The stone walls and moats surrounded the towering main building , as well as the residences, offices, granaries and arsenals of 2,000 garrisoned samurai. These facilities were scattered among the six wide castle walls. Fushimi Castle was both a palace and a military fortress. Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed shogun at this time point in Japan. The emperor and many nobles in Kyoto were living in poverty. The emperor was like a mascot. He was respected on the surface and had to stamp and approve documents in name. In fact, he had no power at all. Everything was controlled by the shogun. Many nobles who were once prominent had to move to more simple houses or live in temples . The lives of ordinary people were even more difficult. The few landlords who could support themselves were considered lucky. Most people lived like cattle and horses . They farmed during the day and wove cloth at night. They had to repair tools and mend clothes. The houses were made of thatch and mud, and the clothes were made of patches. They lived just to survive. If there was any natural disaster this year, they would be in trouble. At this time, Japan had just crawled out of the war. The Tokugawa family The Edo Shogunate established by Tokugawa actually pressed the “pause button” for Japan. The Edo Shogunate was the third and last shogunate regime in Japanese history. After Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed as the shogun, he quickly established a national military-political integrated government. His successors, such as Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu , went a step further and integrated the military and administrative power of the country through the hereditary system and the control of land, taxation, etc., laying a solid foundation for the Edo period that lasted for more than 200 years. The rule of the Tokugawa family has two core pillars: one is the military strength that is so strong that no one can break it, and the other is the absolute despotism of the shogun. Daimyo of any level and status must submit to the shogun. Although the shogunate was aggressive , the daimyo basically did whatever they wanted in their own territory . They ordered the samurai groups around and taxed the farmers and merchants as they pleased, no matter how much or how little. They could issue their own decrees at any time as long as the daimyo thought it was necessary to impose severe punishments. Although the shogunate put a tight ring on the daimyo , compared with ordinary people, the daimyo was still a “local lord” and a “local emperor” in his own small territory . In addition to limiting and restraining local forces, the Tokugawa shogun also held the privilege of deciding Japan’s foreign relations . The earliest foreign exchanges in Japan’s history were with China and Korea. Around the 7th century AD, Japan learned from China’s Tang Dynasty. After learning the art of statecraft, Japanese nobles began to fall in love with all kinds of Chinese art and poetry. At the same time, Korea also had a great influence on Japan. Before the seventh century, Koreans helped to introduce Buddhism to Japan. A large number of Korean scribes, potters, weavers and metallurgists crossed the sea to Japan. These immigrants brought advanced technology and cultural knowledge to Japan, which played an important role in the formation of the Yamato regime at that time. It should be said that Japan and its nearest neighbor lived in peace for almost a thousand years until 1592, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi ruled . All this changed. In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the Bunroku Campaign to invade Korea and attracted the Chinese army. After being defeated by China The Japanese army retreated to the stronghold near Busan. In 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched another war. The land battle suffered heavy losses and the navy lost morale. The Japanese army had to retreat to the coastal strongholds again. In August 1598, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s death, the Japanese army withdrew to Japan . I have made three special videos about this period of history before . You can search for “Wanli Korean War” to see it. The war did not gain any benefits , but the books looted from Korea aroused the Japanese interest in Neo-Confucianism. The Imari porcelain made by the captured Korean craftsmen is still famous today. But in the final analysis, the pain caused by the war to both sides is the real disaster. Nearly one-third of Japan’s more than 100,000 troops froze to death in the severe winter of 1592 to 1593. More people or The losses of Korea were even more severe. Some were killed by the Ming coalition forces or died from exhaustion, hunger or disease. In 1593, the Japanese army set fire to Seoul. When they invaded again in 1597 , Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the massacre of all resisters , regardless of military or civilians, men, women, young or old . Almost everyone they saw was killed. After that, their noses were cut off and pickled and shipped back to Japan. Tens of thousands of creepy noses were later piled up next to Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s mausoleum, forming a considerable hill. As soon as the war ended here, Europeans also appeared . The Portuguese came, the British came, and Jesuit, Franciscan, and Dominican missionaries also came one after another to preach. It is said that there were already 300,000 Japanese who converted to Christianity. At the beginning, most Japanese warmly welcomed the Europeans . Why? Because they could obtain guns and military technology , promote trade and increase tax revenue. Some daimyo even accepted baptism and took Christian names. However, not long after, the Japanese ruling class began to doubt and dissatisfy foreign religions. These foreigners who came from Europe not only preached in Japan , but also said “believe in God, and don’t believe in anything else.” This was no small matter . In Japan, the emperor is God, the general is the boss, and you come with a foreign belief saying “only God is the greatest.” Isn’t this ruining the party? So, in 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued an unceremonious order: All Jesuit missionaries get out within 20 days! But his words were harsh, but his actions were slow. Ten years later, he finally took real action and arrested six Franciscan monks, three Jesuit priests , and 17 believers, and tied them directly to the cross in Nagasaki. The public execution was direct and violent, and the scene was extremely shocking. But the problem was: after killing people, the faith was not eradicated. The believers were still hiding in the village , and the priests were not afraid of death and continued to lurk and preach. At this time, Tokugawa Ieyasu came on the scene. Realizing the potential threat of Christianity to his rule, Tokugawa Ieyasu made up his mind and in 1614 The shogunate ordered all missionaries to get out, but many missionaries were not afraid of death and continued to preach in hiding. So the shogunate launched a major purge. In 1622, 55 Christians were executed in Nagasaki. Missionaries and believers were pursued throughout the country. By the late 1630s, it was said that more than 4,000 believers were killed. The rest could only flee to Kyushu Island and hide in some isolated villages to survive. When the third generation head of the Tokugawa family, Tokugawa Iemitsu, took over, he simply changed the ban on religion to a ban on foreigners. From 1633 From 1630 to 1639, the Japanese shogunate issued five “isolation orders” in succession, completely banning Christianity , prohibiting Japanese from leaving the country, prohibiting Portuguese ships from sailing, and strictly controlling foreign trade. During this period, the Portuguese loaded up to 20 tons of silver on large sailing ships and shipped it back to their base in Macau every year . Now they were completely helpless. The Portuguese sent envoys from Macau to Japan to restore their trade privileges , but the shogun ordered the envoys to be bled on the spot and the Portuguese ships to be burned one by one. Finally, in 1641, the shogunate issued the first The six orders only allowed the Dutch and Chinese to do business in Japan , and they could only stay on an artificial island in Nagasaki Harbor. From then on , Japan officially closed its doors and refused to see outsiders. This lockdown lasted for two hundred years. China also had a three hundred year isolation period during the Ming and Qing dynasties. If you look at it from the fundamental point of view , it is the same as the “isolation order” of the Japanese shogunate. The isolation was for self-defense. The isolation was to fool the people (ah, ah). For the Edo government of Japan at that time , isolation did not mean completely closing the door. In fact, while the shogunate shouted “isolation” , it still quietly opened a few small windows. They still received envoys from Korea and Ryukyu , and allowed local tyrants such as Satsuma, Tsushima, and Matsumae to continue to do small business with Ryukyu, Korea and the northern region. In Nagasaki, the shogunate arranged special people to keep an eye on the scene, and the trade with China and the Netherlands was carried out in an orderly manner. Nagasaki was like an exchange carefully designed by the shogunate . There was a semi-official organization with a loud name called the “Nagasaki Club”. This club was not a place for tea and wine. Its only responsibility was to make money. As long as you were a foreigner who wanted to buy Japanese If you want to sell your own goods, you have to go through them. Nagasaki’s Dejima became the main stage. Officials of the Dutch East India Company lived here all year round . As soon as the goods landed, they opened the market. The Japanese especially liked to buy silk threads, herbs, spices, sugar, and medicines. The main products they sold were copper, camphor, sulfur, swords, pottery, and lacquerware. In the late 17th century, Nagasaki’s trade volume fluctuated . The Japanese often bought more than they sold, and silver flowed out. The shogunate saw that this was not acceptable and that the flow had to be restricted. So in 1715 , a document was issued. The “New Order on Maritime Trade” was promulgated, which stipulated that a maximum of 30 Chinese merchant ships were allowed to enter Nagasaki Port each year , and the transaction volume was no more than 22.5 tons of silver, and only two Dutch merchant ships were allowed to come each year, with a maximum transaction volume of 11.3 tons. In addition to Nagasaki , business in Ryukyu was also very prosperous. This island, which is today’s Okinawa , is located in the southwest of Japan, between Taiwan and Kyushu. Originally, there were three forces in this area, namely Nanshan, Zhongshan, and Beishan . After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty by Zhu Yuanzhang, these three families successively paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty . Zhu Yuanzhang was impartial and conferred them with kingdoms, which was known as the “Three Mountains Era” in history. After another ten or twenty years, the King of Zhongshan in Ryukyu said, “The emperor should give us some Chinese people so that we can better learn Chinese culture and trade with each other. ” When Zhu Yuanzhang heard about it, he thought it was a good idea, so he issued an imperial decree to send 36 surnames of boat workers in central Fujian to pack their bags and go to Japan. After arriving in Ryukyu, these Ming Dynasty immigrants established Kume Village on a floating island near Naha Port and have since settled here. These are the “36 surnames of Fujian people.” Most of these people are navigators, scholars , or other people with special skills. Their descendants were responsible for navigation, shipbuilding , diplomatic document writing, translation, and trade with China for generations , so they had a high social status in Ryukyu. After some years, a man named Bazhi from Zhongshan Kingdom overthrew the King of Zhongshan, annexed Beishan and Nanshan, unified the main island of Okinawa, and asked the Ming Dynasty for a title. At this time, it was already the fifth year of Xuande in China. Zhu Zhanji sent a special envoy to formally recognize Bazhi’s unification of the Three Mountains and gave him the surname “Shang” and the name of the country “Ryukyu”. Since then , the first Shang Dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom was established. There is a first and a second. I won’t say much here. It should be said that Ryukyu has been under the rule of the Shang Dynasty since the 14th century until 1609, when the Satsuma Domain of Japan sent 150,000 people with the permission of the Tokugawa shogunate. 10 samurai invaded Ryukyu and captured the king, princes and ministers and took them to Kagoshima . Finally, under the negotiation of the Ming Dynasty, Satsuma released the Ryukyu monarch and ministers and forced them to sign a treaty. In name, the kingdom’s autonomy was retained, but in fact, Ryukyu became a territory of the Shimazu family, the daimyo of Satsuma. Satsuma established trade relations with the coastal areas of China through Ryukyu, and traded Chinese goods from Ryukyu back to Japan. It was not until the 1680s that the shogunate restricted Satsuma’s export of silver. Their trade gradually cooled down. But even so, Ryukyu was still an important source of sugar. Satsuma imported Ryukyu sugar cane and refined sugar and then sold them to Osaka and other major cities , still making a lot of money. there is an island called Tsushima between Kyushu, Japan and Korea. Since the 15th century, the daimyo of the So clan has maintained friendly relations with Korea and regularly sent merchant groups. After the Korean War, the Tokugawa shogunate and Seoul were reconciled through the mediation of So Yoshitomo. This trade agreement allowed So to send 20 merchant ships a year, loaded with goods to be sold to the Korean government . It also allowed Japan to set up a trading post in Busan, where they could do some “private work” with Korean merchants . This was a very happy trade. The Japanese paid gold and silver in exchange for Korean silk and Korean ginseng, and also picked up some tinplate, ox horns, pepper, hematite, and some ceramics, ink paintings and other art. This situation continued until the mid-19th century, when the old problem of silver outflow forced the shogunate to tighten and reduce trade between Tsushima Island and Korea . Looking north, Hokkaido was also very lively. The Ainu people lived in this area at the time. The Japanese called this land “Ezo”. When Tokugawa Ieyasu became the shogun, there were about 30,000 to 40,000 Ainu people. They had different languages and cultures, but they had the same way of life and material culture. Usually a dozen families formed a village. People hunted together and lived by the sea. They worshiped various phenomena in nature and believed that all things were “gods”. The rich fishing and hunting grounds in Ezo allowed the Ainu to be more than self-sufficient. Sometimes they would pass through Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands and ship the remaining furs and seafood to the Asian mainland. In the 16th century, the Japanese established trading groups one after another along the coast of the Oshima Peninsula southwest of Hokkaido, and finally the Matsumae family became the leading figures in this area. The shogunate recognized the Matsumae clan as the lord of a territory in the southern half of the peninsula and confirmed their right to control trade with the Ainu. After a long time, no one could control it. The most profitable thing was to process herring meal into fertilizer. Some Japanese merchants hired Ainu people to fish and built factories to dry and grind the herring meal into cakes. They then transported the herring meal cakes to several major islands and sold them to rice-growing villages . In the 18th century, the shogunate began to intervene in northern trade. People were delighted to find that there was a huge market for seafood in China, including shark fins, abalone, kelp, and ginseng. These were all seafood that Chinese people loved to eat. Merchants in Ezo often packed these seafood in straw bags, so these products were generally called “tawaramono”. In 1785, the Japanese shogunate established a “Taomono Club” in Nagasaki , which specialized in purchasing all kinds of marine delicacies and then reselling them to Chinese merchants. They started a good business of exchanging marine products for silver. One interesting thing about Japan in the 17th century was that society was strictly divided into four classes: samurai, farmers, workers, and merchants. The shogunate and daimyo thought about how to divide these four groups of people into smaller groups to avoid a shipwreck one day. Officials believed that as long as people were isolated from each other, they would not unite to challenge the ruling order. Let’s talk about the geographical division first. Under the emerging castle Samurai lived in their own area, merchants and craftsmen lived in another area, and farmers lived in the countryside. This was not enough. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had set an iron rule to prohibit the children of samurai from marrying other classes . Furthermore, only samurai could carry weapons. If non-samurai dared to carry a sword , they would be sent to jail in minutes. What’s more, there were different degrees of laws restricting food, clothing, housing and transportation . For example, the daimyo Maeda of Kaga Domain issued a decree in 1660 that upper-class samurai could wear 13 kinds of silk, and lower-class samurai could wear 4 kinds of silk of slightly lower grades. Merchants Like artisans, they could only wear the most common silk and cotton. Despite the ban , disobedience was common. Some rich people usually ignored the clothing regulations, paid a fine, and then continued to wear nice clothes to show off on the street. There were also restrictions on food. The rich and the samurai could eat as much as they wanted, which perfectly embodied the saying “rich people are drunk and meaty”. The worst off were the peasants. The shogunate issued a series of decrees in the 1640s to prohibit peasants from drinking alcohol and drinking tea , eating less rice, and eating more wheat, potatoes and millet. The real effect of the decree was not sure, but there were indeed many farmers who barely made ends meet on simple meals. There were also class barriers in people’s living environment. From the shogunate to the local areas, the residential style varied according to identity and economic status. Let’s talk about the samurai first . The top samurai were particular and lived in a big house with a wall and an exquisite gate outside the house. The size and decoration of the door had to be consistent with the status. Generally speaking , the number and decoration of the rooms decreased accordingly as the income and reputation of the samurai gradually decreased. The homes of merchants and craftsmen were practical. Generally, there was a shop in front and a house in the back. The front was for business, and the back was reserved for living. Most of the houses were simple and undecorated. There was a wooden floor when you entered. They would just spread a few cloth bags filled with straw when sleeping. Later, people who had the means also learned to lay tatami mats , imitating the decoration of some wealthy samurai homes. The more sophisticated ones even secretly added a second and third floor. As for the day laborers and craftsmen who had little income, the place where they lived was called “Nagaya”. It sounds long, but it is actually a row of narrow small houses. The front door leads to the dirt floor. The kitchen has a stove, a woodshed, and a wall for hanging pots. There is not much else. The real living space is only a small room of a few square meters. One person, two people, or even a whole family are crowded here. It is as stuffy as a steamer in the summer and relies on the kitchen fire for heating in the winter. There is no running water connected to each unit, and all families share a well and a toilet. What about the farmers? The house is slightly more spacious than the long house , but it depends on the family’s financial situation. Basically, the living area and the work area are clearly separated. Some work areas are used for farm work, while others are used to keep livestock. The cooking stove and the trough for washing dishes are placed together with the tools for farm work. The poorest families have a dirt floor with straw bags on it . The sleeping area and the work area are separated by something. Farmers with better lives can build a few more rooms and lay wooden floors. The family eats and spends the winter around the stove . Better ones may even have the exquisite facilities that only samurai families have. The above is about Japan in the 17th century. By the 19th century, Japan’s material welfare and living standards had improved significantly. If we look at the overall situation, for most Japanese people From 1600 to 1850, the lifestyle and living standards have changed dramatically. At this time, merchants and artisans’ families wore better clothes, ate more diverse foods, and lived in more spacious houses than their ancestors two hundred years ago. Similar situations were also obvious in rural areas. Even remote families could afford to buy different foods and clothes. Peddlers shuttled through the fields. Many villagers began to open their own grocery stores. Almost all daily necessities, from food to daily necessities, could be bought in the village . Of course, not everyone escaped the poverty line. Merchants and artisans who were incapable or unlucky were still poor. Some farmers lived in inferior houses for generations and only ate rice porridge. The samurai class faced different problems. They received an “annual salary” from the daimyo every year. The salary was usually paid in the form of rice, but the specific amount had not been raised since it was determined in the early 17th century, so most samurai did not benefit from the general improvement in living standards. The samurai class was a major pillar of the Japanese shogunate, but after the 19th century, many samurai had become impoverished. Take Kanazawa in Kaga Domain as an example. The samurai cut down the small shrubs in the courtyard and planted small plums and apples. Did they like to eat them? No, they wanted to take the fruit to the market to sell for money. Some samurai opened small workshops at home to weave straw sandals, burn lamp oil, and make umbrellas. During the New Year and other festivals, there were small toys such as clay dolls and paper tigers. People tried every possible way to generate more income. More and more samurai in towns and cities across Japan were finding their own way. In some places, the number exceeded 70%. Some started side jobs , some worked part-time in the shops of merchants and craftsmen, and some pawned the swords and armor passed down from their ancestors, sent their daughters to other people’s homes as servants , and even killed their newborn babies to avoid being limited to poverty . They were poor to the core. No matter how noble their status was, they could not solve the problem of food and clothing . The main reason why the samurai became poor was the social progress mentioned above . Merchants and craftsmen became wealthy. However, after two hundred years, the salaries of the samurai remained basically unchanged. Some daimyo even reduced their salaries to varying degrees. Jealousy and dissatisfaction just went on. In addition to poverty, the rigid system also exacerbated the resentment of low-level samurai. Family background and social status directly determined the position a samurai could hold (detailed). By the 19th century, high-ranking samurai occupied most of the important official positions, and prominent families occupied key positions. This was not the end. Worse, natural disasters and man-made disasters hit Japan head on. From 1833 to 1838, a rare “Tempo Great Famine” broke out in Japan. The exact death toll is unknown , but officials in northern Japan reported that 100,000 people died in 1836 alone. There were desolate and horrible villages everywhere, unburied corpses everywhere, and even cannibalism. Bandits were rampant, and starving people were everywhere. Some people would rather throw stones at people. They would rather kill their own children than let them starve to death. Social order had already disappeared. In this situation , protests and even riots were inevitable. In the 1830s, there were more than 400 documented peasant uprisings and urban riots throughout Japan. The most influential one took place in Osaka, led by a samurai and government official named Oshio Heihachiro, who had the dream of killing the rich to help the poor and enforcing justice. Oshio Heihachiro mobilized peasants to revolt and plunder the city. After attacking government offices and fighting for two days , they were unable to defeat the government army. The uprising failed and Oshio Heihachiro committed suicide. This wave can be said to be a reflection of both the suffering of the samurai class and the awakening of the people. During this period, there were protests in the downtown area for food, and there were people running to break the hereditary privileges. Driven by the tide of history, like China in the same period, Japanese society was heading towards a profound turmoil and change. During the entire Tenpo period (1831-1845), the Edo shogunate and some local daimyo used various tricks to ease social chaos. In 1841 , the shogunate’s chief decision-maker was Mizuno Tadakuni. Mizuno Tadakuni took a series of measures to carry out reforms , but because he acted too hastily , he not only failed to solve the problem, but also brought himself down. At this time, the Japanese shogunate was more and more like a silver-plated wax spear. It looked incompetent , but it always threatened to confiscate the daimyo’s property . Many local daimyo began to distrust the shogunate, and the people began to lose confidence in the government. “Internal troubles” were only one aspect . Foreign invasion soon arrived unexpectedly. The Russians came from the north. The Russians had already reached the southern part of the Kuril Islands and threatened to raze northern Japan to the ground if they did not agree to trade . The Japanese said, “We only do business with China and the Dutch. Go wherever you want.” The British came from the south . These people were more direct than the Russians. They directly drove warships into Nagasaki Port, kidnapped Dutch officials , and demanded food and fresh water, otherwise they would set up cannons to bombard Nagasaki. The Nagasaki governor had no choice but to do as he was told. He was so ashamed and angry that he committed suicide by taking poison. The Netherlands and Japan always had a good relationship . The Dutch submitted reports to the shogunate every year. Through these reports, Japan had completely grasped how the British controlled northern India. Opium was grown there and then shipped to Guangdong in exchange for Chinese tea, silk, and porcelain. The British’s opium sales had increased fivefold in the past 30 years. Chinese officials wanted to ban the opium trade. Then the Opium War broke out between China and Britain. The British won. Hong Kong became a colony. Five Chinese ports became open cities. Britain enjoyed a series of most-favored-nation treatment under the treaty. Britain tasted the sweetness. Other countries followed suit and signed similar treaties with China. China’s experience made the Japanese shogunate realize that the industrial progress of the West made them greedy for trade . Under the gunboats, they could only sign treaties to open ports . As a weak country, there were almost no conditions to negotiate to know what will happen next . Since the 1820s, more and more American whaling ships have appeared near the coast of Japan. After these ships depart from American ports, the voyage usually takes up to a year or even longer. The Hawaiian Islands are a transit base , but the captains prefer to go to Japanese ports for water and supplies. They want to establish formal relations with Japan , but the other side has a closed-door policy. In the 1840s, the United States obtained the coastline of California and Oregon. The idea of expanding trade with Asia became more and more urgent. At that time, Americans had already carried out bulk trade with Guangdong. The discovery of gold mines in 1849 brought California to the United States. The economy of Asia was developing rapidly. At the same time, with the completion of the transcontinental railway soon, San Francisco would become the terminal of shipping. In this case, Japan became more and more important to the United States. It was not only a potential trading partner, but also a place for ships going to China to replenish supplies and rest . It is worth mentioning that many Americans at that time not only wanted to make money in Asia , but also wanted to bring what they thought was Western civilization to China, Japan and other nations they thought were less fortunate . In 1852, the then President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, sent a maritime expedition to Japan and submitted a letter to the Japanese government. The wording was very humble, roughly saying that Japan The friendship between the two countries will last forever. The United States hopes that Japan can change its old laws to allow free trade between Japan and the United States, which will be mutually beneficial. Second, if a US ship is wrecked, Japan will be asked to lend a helping hand in a friendly and proper manner . Third, US ships frequently travel back and forth in the Pacific Ocean, and they hope to be allowed to stop in Japan to replenish coal, food and fresh water. The leader of this expedition was Commodore Matthew Perry, nicknamed “Mr. Old Bear”. He had experienced the Mexican- American War and had a cold personality. He was born in a US naval family. On June 3, 1853 , Mr. Old Bear Perry led the fleet to the entrance of Edo Bay, Japan . Six days later, Perry landed in a formal dress and handed over a secret letter from President Fillmore. He also wrote two letters in person to criticize Japan’s “isolationism”. “It’s unwise and unrealistic.” He also emphasized that the two countries should be friendly and avoid fighting if possible. He would leave Japanese waters immediately no matter what , but would come again next spring. At that time , he would bring a larger fleet to experience the Shogun ‘s response to President Fillmore. After that, Perry left with his fleet. Perry’s arrival completely confused the Shogun. If they confronted the United States head-on, their military would be weak . If they succumbed to the other party’s demands, the internal pressure would be great. The person who handled this crisis at that time was called Masahiro Abe . Masahiro Abe translated all the letters from the Americans , whether they were from the president or Perry, into Japanese and sent them to all the daimyo , asking for their opinions on whether to fight or make peace. Most people’s replies were indifferent. They suggested that the Shogunate reject the Americans’ trade requests and at the same time advised to avoid war as much as possible . It was like saying everything anyway, pretending to be a good person inside and out. A few people supported opening up the country. There were also a small number of daimyo who would rather go to war than stick to the policy of isolation. Before Abe Masahiro could wait for clear instructions from his boss, the old bear Perry had already made a comeback . On February 14, 1854, Perry’s fleet appeared in Edo Bay again. This time, there were a total of 8 warships, all of which were the most lethal in the world at that time. The arrows were on the string and had to be fired. Abe Masahiro gritted his teeth and began negotiations. The Americans brought a bunch of magical things as gifts, including a Morse telegraph and a steam locomotive that was one-quarter the size of the original. The Japanese reciprocated and arranged a lively sumo performance . The Chinese were no less enthusiastic and responded with a performance by a black band in disguise. The scene was very mixed. More than a month later, the two countries signed the “Japan-US Treaty of Kindness and Amity” in Kanagawa (later renamed Yokohama) . The content seemed mild, but it was actually of great significance. The treaty stipulated: First, both parties promised that the two countries would maintain peace forever. American ships could dock at Shimoda and Hakodate ports for supplies (Japanese side) to rescue crew members of wrecked ships. Americans could travel freely within a radius of 30 kilometers between Shimoda and Hakodate . The American consul was stationed in Shimoda. Perry had successfully completed his mission and finally returned with satisfaction. The envoys of Russia, France and Britain received him. This treaty that followed officially opened the door to Japan’s isolation that had been maintained for more than 200 years. The hulls of the ships commanded by Perry were all coated with black tar to prevent rust. These ships were called “black ships” by the Japanese at that time, so this incident was called “the arrival of the black ships” or “the black ship incident.” The signing of the subsequent “Japan-US Amity Treaty” is generally regarded as the beginning of the Bakumatsu period in Japanese history. During the Edo Shogunate period in Japan, during the decision-making process, the shogun of the shogunate had two main advisory departments. The first was the “rochu”. Generally, there were four or five seats, mainly held by middle and senior hereditary daimyo. As the shogun’s primary advisor, the elder daimyo had the right to participate in various military affairs. The aforementioned Abe Masahiro ‘s position at the time was the elder daimyo of the elder daimyo. In addition, there were “wakanoyoshi” , usually 3-5 people, held by hereditary daimyo of lower status. They were mainly responsible for handling internal affairs related to the shogun’s life and were also responsible for the training and dispatch of the guard department. After the signing of the “Japan-US Amity Treaty”, an American ambassador named Townsend Harris came. He was a down-and-out businessman from New York who had done business in China. He was a drunkard and had an arrogant personality. He kept asking Japan to sign a business contract. Would n’t he sign it? Then just wait for the United States to send another wave of black ships. After this incident became public, it triggered a big debate in the Edo political arena. One side of the debate was the xenophobic daimyo. A typical example was the then influential Mito domain’s retired lord Tokugawa Nariaki. The shogunate of the time divided the daimyo into different categories based on the closeness of their relationships. The 23 closest to the head of the Tokugawa clan were descendants of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s direct or adopted sons, collectively known as the “kin han”. Among them, the lords of Kii, Mito, and Owari formed the “Gosanke”. These were the three major collateral shoguns of the Tokugawa clan. If there were no direct heirs , the Gosanke could find someone to take their place directly. Below the kin han, there were hereditary daimyo, a total of about 150 people. Among them were direct retainers of the Tokugawa family, as well as Tokugawa Nariaki, who fought alongside Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Battle of Sekigahara . This was a relatively stubborn political veteran in the late Edo period of Japan and the father of the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu . After hearing that Abe Masahiro had signed the treaty, Tokugawa Nariaki proposed that all these Japanese negotiators should die and open up a country? What country is the best to attack? If you don’t accept it, just fight it. Using gold, silver, copper and iron to exchange for American woolen cloth and glass, this kind of trade has more harm than good. Along with the criticism of the shogunate , a young man named Yoshida Shoin gradually attracted attention. He was a low-level samurai from Choshu. He had a smart mind since he was a child and specialized in studying military science. In his early twenties, he went to Nagasaki and Edo to study. When Perry came to Japan for the second time, Yoshida Shoin sneaked onto Perry’s warship and prepared to sneak to the United States. The world is big, and he wanted to see it. But he was discovered and handed over to the Japanese authorities. He was sent back to Choshu in disgrace. However, Choshu did not treat him as a criminal , but arranged It didn’t matter that he became a teacher. Several of his students became tough guys, including Ito Hirobumi and Yamagata Aritomo. They played an important role in the Meiji Restoration. Yoshida Shoin didn’t teach stereotyped essays , but how to save the country and the people. He firmly opposed “treaties” and believed that they were traitorous acts that lost power, humiliated the country and harmed the national system. He advocated “respecting the emperor and expelling the barbarians” . What is respecting the emperor? The emperor can no longer be a mascot. The emperor should express his opinions and directly participate in political affairs . Expelling the barbarians means that the treaty must be abolished and foreigners must be driven out of Japan. Yoshida Shoin even directly accused Abe Masahiro of signing a treaty without asking the emperor. Isn’t this trampling on the national system left by our ancestors? You are not patriotic, you are treasonous! In order to reverse the situation, Yoshida Shoin called on young people with pure motives to step forward and save Japan. They could not rely on the older generation, but had to rely on a group of “patriots” to stand up against the corrupt bureaucracy, even if they had to sacrifice themselves. This set of remarks was considered too radical at the time , but no one expected that a few years later, this group of “patriots” really pushed Japan into the fast lane of history , and the passionate young man who once wanted to sneak across the border became a shining light at the end of the shogunate. Some people advocated war, and some advocated peace. In addition to the tougher factions of Tokugawa Nariaki and Yoshida Shoin, some Japanese hoped to find a more flexible way to resolve the crisis. They thought: Can we not fight? Can we learn some skills to turn the situation around? Many intellectuals submitted pamphlets and petitions to the shogunate and daimyo. These people supported the “opening of the country”. The most influential person was called Sakuma Shozan. He was a samurai from central Japan. He first studied Confucianism and then turned to Dutch studies. One theory is that he was the number one Dutch scholar in Japan at the time . Another theory is that he was an egomaniac and therefore made many enemies. Sakuma Shozan always believed that he was a “national treasure” and should leave more outstanding descendants. This guy once wrote to his disciples saying that the children who inherited my bloodline would become great, so I must have more children, so please introduce me to a child with a bigger butt. Women’s forum Gentlemen are open and honest Xiangshan prefers to speak directly. That year, as soon as the Sino-British Opium War broke out, Comrade Xiangshan could not sit still. He looked at the news of China being beaten in the newspaper. The more he read, the tighter his brows became. This was not an ordinary war. This was a lesson for all the countries in East Asia. He raised a sharp question that attracted the attention of many Japanese at the time : Why did China , a cultural model and a powerful giant that seemed to be unconquered by barbarians, lose to a small country like Britain that suddenly emerged in the war? I think the answer he gave is still worth pondering at the historical level today. He said: China was defeated by its own pride and cultural arrogance. In other words, the suffering China suffered was because its rulers exaggerated the superiority of their own culture over other cultures and therefore slandered the rise of Western science and mathematics. Sakuma Shozan wrote many articles and later proposed a slogan called “Oriental morality, Western art”. In simple terms, Confucianism was used as the foundation of society , but he did not provide a practical and effective solution for how to meet the challenge of the West. Facing Western warships and cannons , Shozan’s proposition was that in order to avoid being eliminated in this global perspective struggle , it was necessary to put down its airs and learn some real skills from the West . Not many people listened to this at the time, but later it was proved that this theory was indeed effective . The situation began to become complicated at this point in the story. Several powerful feudal lords had similar ideas to Shozan. They believed that they could not cling to the old ways of their ancestors like the Qing Dynasty and blindly shut out foreigners. It sounded good , but if a war really broke out , we would be the ones who would suffer. At this time, Abe Masahiro was ill. The old middle-ranking chief of the shogunate was first replaced by Horita Masatoshi and then by Ii Naosuke. Ii Naosuke, the lord of Hikone Domain in Omi Province, was a member of the Japanese shogunate. A person who must be mentioned in history at the end of the Ming Dynasty: As soon as Ii Naosuke came to power, news came that China was defeated in the Second Opium War. American Consul General Harris hinted that Britain might send warships to Japan next to force Japan to sign a commercial treaty. Ii Naosuke was convinced that Harris was not talking big, so on July 29, 1858, the Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce was officially signed. It is usually called the Harris Treaty. The specific details can be said to be impressive. The four ports of Kanagawa, Nagasaki, Kobe, and Niigata were opened. The two cities of Edo and Osaka were opened. Americans could live there and enjoy extraterritoriality. If they committed a crime, Japan would not be in charge. A few weeks later, Ii Naosuke concluded commercial treaties with the Netherlands, Britain, France, and Russia. The terms were almost the same , and they all included most-favored-nation treatment . As long as one country got the benefits, other countries would automatically have it . From then on, Japan’s door was completely opened, and the Edo Shogunate began to embark on a precarious downhill road from this moment on. It is said that Speaking of Ii Naosuke , he can be regarded as the most stubborn figure in the late Tokugawa shogunate. In 1858, he decided to sign the Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce without consulting the emperor or the court, and opened the country on his own. Then he signed a series of treaties with foreigners. He anticipated that someone would inevitably oppose his actions , so he took action first. In the summer of 1858 , Lord Ii launched a famous purge in Japanese history, which later generations called the “Ansei Prison”. The first to bear the brunt was Tokugawa Nariaki of Mito Domain. This nominally retired daimyo had always been a die-hard opposed to the opening of the country to trade. Ii Naosuke said, “You won’t retire?” All right, you don’t want to quit, right? I’ll help you quit . You can quit right away and I’ll even put you under house arrest . Then, a number of opposition daimyo were either forced to resign or locked up. Even those shogunate officials in Edo Castle who tried to persuade him not to be too radical and try to smooth things over were also busted. All the nobles who shouted “expel foreigners” from the emperor were sent home. That wasn’t all. Ii Naosuke also sent out spies to capture hundreds of daimyo, scholars, and students who supported the opposition . Some of them were locked up, some were exiled, and the eight most unfortunate ones were captured. They were dragged out and executed , including the particularly radical Yoshida Shoin. This guy had been singing “Respect the King and Expel the Barbarians” since the failed smuggling. The most important thing was that he was planning to assassinate the shogunate officials . As a result, he was exposed before he could do anything. He was imprisoned in Edo for a while and then beheaded. More than a year after Lord Ii signed the treaty, in March 1860, the weather was still cold and warm. The moment of history came outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle. As usual, Ii Naosuke walked out of his house and sat on the sedan chair to go to the government office. Unfortunately, He didn’t know that this seemingly ordinary journey was actually a matter of life and death. When the group arrived outside the main city gate, Sakurada Gate, they saw a group of young warriors in their twenties approaching the sedan respectfully , and then suddenly drew their swords and swarmed towards Ii Naosuke’s guards. Before the guards could react, these people had already rushed to the sedan , opened the door, stabbed Ii Naosuke , and dragged him out with the chair. In a blink of an eye, Lord Ii’s head had fallen to the ground, and blood was dripping. This bloody case was not a simple personal grudge. After investigation, it was found that these people were from One of the Mito clan was from Satsuma. To these young samurai, Ii Naosuke was a coward who kowtowed to the foreigners and was a complete traitor. The appearance of foreigners meant the demise of traditional Japanese culture. Ii Naosuke placed their mentor , the former lord of Mito clan, Tokugawa Nariaki, under house arrest. This added fuel to the fire . So, they began to carry out assassinations. As expected, all the young men died. Some were seriously injured and died on the spot, while others were captured and tortured. This assassination incident is known in history as the “Sakuradamon Incident.” The “Sakuradamon Incident” was an important turning point in Japanese history . The blow to Ii Naosuke was like a thunderclap over Edo Castle, forcing the shogunate to retreat. They began to humble themselves and raised the banner of “unity of the imperial court and the military”. They had to please the imperial court and appease the local lords. The officials arranged for the new shogun, Tokugawa Iemochi, to marry Emperor Komei’s sister Princess Wamiya. The new shogun personally led 3,000 retainers to Kyoto to discuss state affairs with the imperial court. This was the first time in the 200-year history of the Edo shogunate . It would be difficult for the shogunate to implement effective rule without relying on the emperor. In addition to the imperial court, the local lords had to extend olive branches. Those who had been punished by Ii Naosuke before would be pardoned one by one. During this period, several daimyo from various places began to try to carry out reforms in their own jurisdictions. The most typical one was Shimazu Nariakira of Satsuma Domain, who sent retainers to Nagasaki and Edo to learn from foreign experts, funded the translation of Western scientific and navigation works, and introduced Western methods to train artillery and set up a brand new The rifle team and naval academy even established a steamship shipyard in Kagoshima , as well as a smelting plant for producing modern cannons and rifles, and Western-style factories that manufactured gunpowder, glass, ceramics, farm tools, etc. The Kaga, Hizen, and Tosa domains were also not far behind, although they were smaller in scale , but they also began to promote reforms to merge the imperial court and the military. This was a major political concept at the time. The imperial court was a public domain, and the shogunate was a military domain. The two had their own intricate retainers, and most of them would die fighting alone. So everyone hit it off and vowed to tie the sacred aura of the imperial court and the actual military power of the shogunate together . Using “public + military” to renovate the political system would not only suppress the movement to respect the emperor and expel the barbarians , but also avoid the fall of the shogunate . Unfortunately, there is no perfect thing in the world. Their opposite was that after Ii Naosuke was assassinated, a group of young samurai who called themselves “patriots” shouted the slogan “expel the barbarians” and firmly opposed the merger of the imperial court and the military , and even did not hesitate to use equally fierce violence. At first, it was a small-scale attack on the streets with swords, grabbing foreigners and chopping them. The killing later developed into a series of assassinations of shogunate officials. The most significant xenophobic incident during this period was when four British people were playing in Yokohama and their mounts mistakenly entered the queue of Shimazu Hisamitsu. This was the actual ruler of Satsuma Domain after Shimazu Nariakira’s death. The samurai guards of the Shimazu family were angry at the foolish behavior of the four foreigners , so they drew their swords and hacked two people and killed one . The dead man was a businessman named Charles Richardson. Time came to 1863. The radical elements who supported the emperor and expelled the foreigners planned an extremely bold coup. They were going to attack the imperial palace with the aim of rescuing the emperor from Kyoto. Choshu Domain became the base of these “royalists”. People formed an army and launched an attack with the support of a few feudal lords. The rebels rushed into Kyoto but were defeated by the shogunate army. A fire burned down about 30,000 houses during the conflict . History always has similarities . Angry young people are often the easiest to use and the most capable of disrupting the situation. The radical behavior of the “patriots” soon attracted revenge from the shogunate and Western powers. In order to die in their place The British fleet bombarded Satsuma’s Kagoshima, including the Western-style factories introduced by Shimazu Nariakira. Most of Kagoko Harbor was burned to ashes. A year later, the shogunate led 21 daimyo and 150,000 troops to the border of Choshu, ready to attack. It was not until Choshu made amends and executed three “leading” radicals and expelled radical courtiers that the shogunate declared victory and withdrew its troops. Then the scene became even bigger. The four-nation coalition of Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands had 17 battleships. The naval guns bombarded the coastal defense facilities of the Choshu Domain , and sent troops to destroy the cannons of the Shimonoseki Fort. They also extorted a large amount of compensation . This wave of chaos temporarily defeated the temper of the people who respected the emperor and expelled the barbarians. The patriots dispersed and went back to their homes. However, the nationalism of “rather die with honor” and the radical sentiment of “the emperor is supreme” had already taken root in the hearts of samurai everywhere. After 1864, the Japanese shogunate embraced the French and received the support of the French ambassador Rosseau, so ironworks and shipyards were built one after another. The shogunate stopped pretending when more than 10,000 rifles were imported at once. It began to carry out modern military reforms and incorporated the traditional samurai into cavalry, artillery, and infantry units, preparing for a complete transformation. However, the Choshu clan was not idle either. After a civil war, the emperor-loving and anti-foreign faction came back to power . Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo and other ruthless people all came to power. On the other hand, the Satsuma clan , Shimazu Hisamitsu, had become weak and began to rely on Saigo Takamori, Ōkubo Toshimichi and other middle and lower-level young samurai . These people had long been fed up with the shogunate . The Choshu and Satsuma clans secretly followed the example of Britain and the United States and frantically bought guns and cannons. They even planned to open ports directly for business. Just when the two sides were on the verge of a showdown, the currency collapsed, prices soared, and the people were in an uproar. The people’s hearts were scattered, and the shogunate The days of the shogunate were numbered. In 1866 , there were more peasant uprisings than in all the years of the Tokugawa family combined. The society was in chaos, but the shogun Tokugawa Iemochi still launched the second expedition against Choshu. This war was no longer for justice, but for stupidity. The internal affairs were messed up, the economy collapsed, and the country fell into chaos. Not only did the people lose confidence in the shogunate, but even the “lord” of Satsuma, Shimazu Hisamitsu , had to petition the court, saying that the shogunate’s policies not only caused internal troubles but also gave foreign powers an opportunity to take advantage of it . Tokugawa Iemochi set up the headquarters for commanding the operations in Osaka, but things went beyond his expectations. Satsuma publicly refused to send troops. Earlier this year, Satsuma and Choshu The two clans had already formed a secret alliance and agreed that as long as the shogunate took action, no matter which clan was attacked , the other clan would certainly provide assistance. The other daimyo all turned a blind eye. With few soldiers, cowardly generals, and unsuccessful start, the war had only been going on for a month when Tokugawa Iemochi fell ill and died in Osaka. The shogunate army had to withdraw to Edo in disgrace. The next person to take the stage was Tokugawa Nariaki’s son, Tokugawa Yoshinobu. But at this time, the situation was no longer up to him. The patriots of the southwestern clans had been plotting for a long time to prepare for a big event. At the end of 1867 , the advance troops of the Satsuma and Choshu coalition forces began to quietly advance towards Kyoto. On the morning of January 3, 1868, the samurai of the Satsuma clan broke into the imperial palace . The court opened the door and warmly welcomed this moment, and history began. Later that day, the fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji, who had just ascended the throne, issued a stunning declaration announcing the formal abolition of the shogunate system . The position of shogun disappeared from then on , and the political power of the world officially “belonged to the emperor”. At the same time, he also announced that he would set up a brand new government to be governed by the nobles, daimyo and “talented and virtuous people” and made a four-character oath called “a hundred things, a new one”. Then the coalition forces of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa, Hizen, Kaga and other feudal domains went all the way to the south and the north and defeated the shogunate army. In May 1868 , Tokugawa Yoshinobu officially handed over Edo Castle , announcing the end of the Tokugawa shogunate that had ruled Japan for 265 years. Although the Meiji government was kind at first and pardoned the Tokugawa faction , things turned out to be a mess. It did not end there. Several feudal lords in the northeast region were still unwilling to submit. They were wary of the “new nobles” from the southwest . Small-scale resistance lasted for a whole year until the spring of 1869, when the remaining navy of the shogunate surrendered in Hakodate, Hokkaido. The “Boshin War” that swept across the country was truly over . At this point, the Tokugawa era became history. The Meiji Restoration officially debuted. The precarious Japan was about to rewrite its own history . Read history to know good and evil. Thank you for watching and listening. If you like my show, please subscribe to my channel and turn on the little bell. The shogunate era ended just like that. How did Japan rise rapidly under the leadership of the young emperor ? In the course of their history, Can’t find the reason why China was stuck in the quagmire at that time? Let’s wait for the next chapter

從「鎖國」到「開國」，從「江戶」到「京都」，幕末日本上演了權力的終極對決。
外有佩里準將的四艘戰艦強行進入江戶灣，內有長州、薩摩志士聯手抗幕，幕府在列強壓迫與內部動盪中步履蹣跚。
法國公使扶植新造船廠、藩主自強發展西法，武士部隊改組現代化軍隊，經濟崩潰、農民起義動搖國本。
最終，15歲的明治天皇一句廢將軍令，結束了260年德川政權。
這場政治、軍事與社會的多重交響，如何鋪就日本維新的道路？
立刻點擊，揭開幕末迷霧！
#日本史 #日本歷史 #幕末