Ii Naosuke — The Chief Minister Who Forced Open Japan and Fell at Sakuradamon

One man gripped the helm of a shogunate hurtling toward the opening of the country with a will of iron — the chief minister (tairō) Ii Naosuke. His resolute methods pushed the age forward, but also drew fierce resistance that led him to a tragic end.

Contents

Rise to chief minister

Ii Naosuke was born in 1815 into the family of the lords of the Hikone domain and later became its daimyo. Amid a shogunal politics shaken by the arrival of the Black Ships, he took the highest office of the shogunate, that of tairō.

To bring order to a turbulent political world, Ii sought to exercise strong leadership. But his hardline stance would soon breed serious conflict.

Signing the commerce treaty

The momentous decision Ii made as chief minister was to sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States. In 1858 he went ahead and concluded the treaty without obtaining imperial sanction.

Though the opening of the country was by then hard to avoid, proceeding without the court's permission enraged those who revered the emperor.

The Ansei Purge

As the voices of opposition rose, Ii sought to crush them by repression — the Ansei Purge. Many activists and daimyo were punished, and the Chōshū teacher Yoshida Shōin lost his life in it.

But the crackdown only inflamed the resistance further.

The Sakuradamon Incident

In 1860, Ii Naosuke was attacked and killed outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle by men enraged at his policies — the Sakuradamon Incident.

That the shogunate's highest official could be cut down in broad daylight showed the whole realm that its authority was badly shaken. Ii's death accelerated the turmoil of the Bakumatsu still further.

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The figures who lived through the same age are traced in Bakumatsu Figures.