Many Japanese people first became aware of Japan’s backwardness after the incident in 1853, when U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Uraga, near Edo, with four warships (known to the Japanese as the “Black Ships”) and used military force to pressure Japan to open its borders.
The United States used its military force to pressure Japan to open up, and the Edo Shogunate, realizing that it was militarily inferior, was forced to accept this and concluded the Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and Japan the following year. Based on this treaty, in July 1856 (Ansei 3), American Consul General Tousent Harris arrived in Shimoda.
Harris pressured Japan to conclude a trade treaty, and in 1858 (Ansei 5), the Edo Shogunate concluded the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan without the Emperor’s permission.
Following this, Japan concluded similar treaties with Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Russia. The exchange rates set for trade with these countries set the Japanese currency at an extremely low rate, causing a large outflow of gold from Japan, accelerating inflation within the country and putting pressure on the lives of ordinary people.
Meanwhile, the powerful feudal lords of Satsuma and Choshu, who had acquired the latest weaponry through trade with Western countries, called for the overthrow of the shogunate. The 15th shogun of the Edo shogunate, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, abandoned his post, but a clash ensued between the shogunate forces and the forces of Satsuma and Choshu at Toba-Fushimi, near Kyoto. The Satsuma and Choshu forces, bearing the imperial chrysanthemum crest, emerged victorious, forcing Tokugawa Yoshinobu to flee to Edo.
As the man who had aimed a bow at the Emperor’s forces, Tokugawa Yoshinobu was labeled a traitor, and a punitive force (government army) led by Prince Arisugawa Taruhito, a descendant of the 112th Emperor Reigen, as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expedition, advanced eastward along the Tokaido.
With the government forces closing in, Tokugawa Yoshinobu left Edo Castle and offered his submission at Kan’ei-ji Temple in Ueno.
The government forces were planning an all-out attack on Edo, but just before that, Katsu Kaishu of the shogunate and Saigo Takamori of the government forces met and the bloodless surrender of Edo was achieved.
Under the leadership of this new government, Japan set out on the path to becoming a modern nation.
★Minato Ward in this era
⇒Townsend Harris Monument(In 1859, it became the lodgings for Townsend Harris and his party, and the first legation of the United States. And where Harris’s interpreter, Hughes, was assassinated on his way home in 1961 and died within Zenfukuji Temple.)
⇒Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park(Statue of Prince Arisugawa Taruhito on horseback)
⇒Site of the Meeting between Saigo Takamori and Katsu Kaishu(stone monument)