The Ansei years of the Japanese calendar fall from November 1854 to March 1860, according to the European calendar. The main events of this period were the "discovery of Japan" in 1854, the signing of treaties with foreign powers in 1858, and the beginning of regular trade with European countries the following year, which resulted in a sharp deterioration in the internal political situation and an aggravation of internal strife, resulting in the Ansei Daigoku (Great Arrests of the Ansei period). As a result, these years are an extremely important stage on the road to Meiji Yishin, which is characterized by dramatic changes in the political struggle, a departure from the methods that were adopted during the rule of the Tokugawa Shoguns, and the emergence of terror and other acute forms of political rivalry. Features of the struggle within the ruling elite in the transition to a new stage are the subject of this article.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913) was lucky enough to survive the turbulent events of Meiji Yixing, but his subsequent life is so colorless and monotonous that if it were not for an audience with the Meiji Emperor, it could only be described in one phrase: a passion for hunting, photography and cycling.

The life of the last, fifteenth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty fully reflected the controversial nature of the era in which he lived. It seems to be divided into two parts-a stormy youth and a calm, I want to say, old age, but how can the tongue turn to call an old man who is barely over thirty? As eventful as the first decades of his life were, so the next nearly fifty years passed without any notable incidents worthy of mention.

The first and smaller part of his life deserves the closest attention of the historian. This man had been in the midst of a political struggle in his youth. At first, he becomes a contender for the post of shogun, then, as a result of the sharpest struggle, loses and almost loses all chances to become ruler, but the death of the main opponent again returns him to big politics and allows him to finally take the highest post in the state, but only for eight months. Nevertheless, in this short period of time, Yoshinobu manages to show himself to be an extraordinary person, but after Meiji Yixing, he was again the loser and was forced to leave active political activity.

Yoshinobu was born in 1837 in the family of the well-known head of the Mito house Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860). The House of Mito - one of the gosanke (clans of the younger sons of the founder of the Tokugawa Ieyasu dynasty) - was considered particularly close to the shogun's house. Nariaki was completely engrossed in court intrigues and often got up-

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he fell into conflicts with other powerful families and individual members of the Shogun's family.

By chance, his son Yoshinobu was destined to become a contender for the highest post. This happened after the Hitotsubashi family, in the house of the eleventh Shogun Ienari, did not have an heir. Several times children from other families were taken there, but they died. At the head of the family was supposed to have a person of noble origin, belonging to the houses of gosanke (the youngest sons of the eighth Shogun Yoshimune) or gosanke, so the choice fell in the end on the son of the disgraced at that time Nariaki.

Hitotsubashi's house was special. It was the home of one of the sons of Shogun Yoshimune, so the head of the Shogun could claim priority in choosing a shogun if he did not have any sons. That is why its representatives always enjoyed the close attention of the highest administrative officials, whose fate directly depended on the will of the shogun.

The Tokugawa Shogunate's system of succession was based on the principle of primogeniture, so the eldest sons had priority. Most shoguns were direct descendants of their fathers. The current twelfth Shogun, Ieyoshi (1793 - 1853), was the eldest son of the previous Shogun, Ienari (1773 - 1841). However, there were exceptions to this rule. Thus, Yenari himself became the eleventh shogun, without being the son of the tenth. This was only permissible in the event of the death of direct heirs. In a situation where the tenth shogun's only son died, the head of the Hitotsubashi family, i.e. Ienari, became ^the ruler .

The Hitotsubashi and do Ienari House had a special status, being created for the third of the sons by the eighth Shogun Yoshimune (1684-1751), known for his Kyoho reforms aimed at stabilizing the financial situation of the Bakufu (shogunate government). The first of Yoshimune's sons became Shogun Ieshige, the second became head of the House of Tayasu, and the third became the founder of the House of Hitotsubashi. Thirty years after Yoshimune's death, as a result of a complex intrigue, Ienari took the highest position and raised the status of his native house in the general hierarchy, placing the Hitotsubashi family name above Tayasu.

After the rise of the Hitotsubashi family, the house of Tayasu is somewhat distant from the shogun's house, but it does not completely lose the right to claim the highest post, as well as the mentioned gosanke - houses of Owari, Kii and Mito, which were founded in the XVII century by the ninth, tenth and eleventh sons of Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was between them that the main struggle broke out at the beginning of the XVIII century. before the accession to the throne of Yoshimune, after the death of the minor Shogun Ietsugu (1709 - 1716). The fight is won by the house of Kii, pushing aside the house of Owari, whose founder was the ninth son of Ieyasu, and therefore had somewhat greater rights to this post compared to Kii and another gosanke - the house of Mito. The eighth Shogun is Yoshimune of the House of Kii. However, after the creation of the houses of Yoshimune's sons, Kii lost his dominant position in the hierarchy of inheritance and for many years stopped participating in the struggle for the post of shogun.

Yoshimune, by establishing separate houses of Tayasu and Hitotsubashi for his sons and giving them preferential inheritance rights, did not eliminate the rights of Owari, Kii and Mito, although he significantly removed them from direct participation in solving inheritance problems. Therefore, when his son became the heir to the Hitotsubashi house, Nariaki, the head of the Mito house, came closer to his cherished goal: to become the father of the shogun and gain de facto control over the entire country.

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Nariaki's plans were blocked by the same Kii house, which was based on direct blood ties not only with Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tokugawa Yoshimune, but also with the eleventh Shogun Ienari. ²

Shogun Ienari is known in Japanese history for the length of his reign and the large number of children, while many shoguns experienced difficulties with the birth of an heir, Ienari had more than 50 sons and daughters, of whom about 20 reached adulthood. Therefore, he had to solve the problem of arranging his children. The Shogun's treasury was not so rich as to establish new houses, and it was decided to give children to well-known families as heirs. Two of Ienari's sons, Nariyuki (1801-1846) and Narikatsu (1820-1849), become the eleventh and twelfth heads of the House of Kii, respectively.

Nariyuki had a son, Yoshitomi (1846-1866), who was a direct descendant (grandson) of Shogun Ienari and at the same time a nephew of Shogun Ieyoshi. In 1849, after the death of Narikatsu, Yoshitomi became the thirteenth head of the House of Kii and, accordingly, the possible heir to the shogun if he had no sons. Two years earlier, in 1847, when Yoshinobu was transferred to the Hitotsubashi house, it was almost clear to the top Bakufu leaders that the then sole heir to the Ieyoshi Shogun, named Iesaki, who was then 23 years old, had serious health problems and showed no interest in marriage. In 1853, he became Shogun of Iesada (1824-1858), but no one had any doubts that sooner or later they would have to choose an heir from other houses.

In 1847, Nariaki was under house arrest, and this excluded his direct participation in determining the heir to the Hitotsubashi house. The main role was played by the head of the Roju council (senior Bakufu ministers of the Tokugawa era), Abe Masahiro. It is also clear that Shogun Ieyoshi himself paid considerable attention ^to Yoshinobu3 .

In December, 1852. Yoshinobu even participated in the crane hunt, which was usually arranged for the shogun and his heir. This indicated that Ieyoshi's intentions were serious. In addition, Nariaki's correspondence with his son contains records from that period containing discussions about the issue of inheritance. However, before his death, Ieyoshi only gave instructions to give Nariaki the post of Bakufu adviser. The decision on the issue of the heir was postponed.

During this time, the House of Kii enlisted the support of some fudai daimyos (top-ranking samurai who were part of Tokugawa Ieyasu's vassal group) from the Tamarinoma Chamber (one of the chambers of the Shogun's palace that housed the daimyos ' offices) and the female half of the Shogun's family. Ai Naosuke, who entered Bakufu politics in 1850, did not advertise his connection with the Kii house for a long time, but modern research shows that even during the period when Shogun Ieyoshi was alive, he conducted correspondence with the Kii party, which touched upon the problems of inheritance.

While the Kii party that rallied around Yoshitomi was more or less homogeneous, the Yoshinobu coalition included people who were very different in their views: Tokugawa Nariaki, who in the past did not hide his negative attitude towards trade with foreigners, Yamanouchi Yodo, Daimyo of Tosa Principality, and Prince Shimazu Nariakira of Satsuma, who believed that the development of the Japanese economy would lead to the development of the Japanese economy. Overseas trade will have a positive impact on the future of Japan. The leader of the party was Abe Masahiro, who headed the shogunal administration at that time.

It was in this struggle for the office of shogun that rival coalitions began to form, which in a few years would face off during the Meiji Yixing. The irony was that the day before Meiji Yishin Yoshinobu had become the head of the shogunate and fought a coalition that included most of his former Ansei supporters. In the meantime, they have rallied in the hope of seeing Yoshinobu as shogun.

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After the death of Ieyoshi, who had no heirs, the struggle for the post of shogun revived. The odds of the contenders - Yoshitomi and Yoshinobu - looked roughly equal. Both were representatives of the Tokugawa House and had good reasons to claim to be the heirs.

Initially, the fight developed according to the standard scenario. The Hitotsubashi Party has made a bid to make Yoshinobu the official successor of the shogun and to achieve the transfer of power to him. This tactic assumed that the struggle would unfold at the time of the transfer of power, so the parties accumulated forces in anticipation of this moment. Abe Masahiro played a key role in Hitotsubashi's party. He put a lot of effort into making Yoshinobu the heir of the Hitotsubashi house and then constantly observed Yoshinobu's actions. Abe sought to get Iesada to agree to proclaim Yoshinobu as his successor. His task was complicated by the fact that Yoshinobu was opposed by the Shogun's mother Honjuin, who enjoyed the support of the Kii party and had a strong personal dislike for Tokugawa Nariaki ^.4 Abe Masahiro found support from Shimazu Nariakira.

After his wife's death in 1850, Iesada did not have a seishitsu (official wife). Seishitsu had a huge influence in Bakufu, so many houses made great efforts to make their representatives the wife of the shogun. Shimazu Nariakira managed to achieve this with the assistance of Abe Masahiro. His relative, Atsuhime, was placed as an adopted daughter in the household of one of Kyoto's most influential aristocrats, Konoe, and in December 1856, she became seishitsu, which was to significantly strengthen the position of the Hitotsubashi party. However, the further development of events dramatically changed the situation not in favor of Yoshinobu.

On June 17, 1857, Abe Masahiro died at the age of 39. This dealt a severe blow to the positions of Yoshinobu's supporters. One of the most prominent figures in the political scene of that time passed away. Hotta Masayoshi, who took his place, did not have enough authority, and therefore could not resist the house of Kiya.

Immediately after Abe Masahiro's death, it became clear that the Hitotsubashi party's position was beginning to weaken. In less than a month, Tokugawa Nariaki was relieved of his position as Bakufu advisor. In September, Matsudaira Tadakata, who had previously clashed with Abe Masahiro, returned to the leadership of the Bakufu. The struggle for control of the Bakufu quickly turns into an argument over who should be the next shogun. The reason for this is negotiations with America. The offensive stance of American Envoy Townsend Harris, who demanded that trade negotiations be accelerated and that he be allowed to meet with the Shogun, prompted the parties to take more decisive action.

In November 1857, Harris was allowed to pay a visit to Edo. Recalling his audience with Shogun Iesada, Harris wrote:: "I stopped and made a bow. After a short pause, the head of the Taikun (shogun. - S. T.) started twitching backwards and towards his left shoulder, while he started moving his right leg at the same time. This was repeated three or four times. After that, he began to speak clearly in a pleasant and firm voice. " ⁵

During the audience, Harris presented a letter to the Shogun from President Franklin Pierce offering to sign a trade treaty. In mid-November, copies of documents brought by Harris were sent to influential daimyos asking for their views on the issues raised there. Most of the responses pointed to the need to strengthen the central government. Naturally, the issue of the heir of Shogun Iesada, a sick, childless, weak ruler, became the focus of attention.

Hitotsubashi Matsudaira Yoshinaga, who led the party, decided to abandon the previous tactics focused on the time of the transfer of power, and launch a campaign for the nomination of Yoshinobu. The Bakufu emphasized the need to bring everyone together

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of the country's armed forces under strong leadership in a sharply complicated situation. In his response to Harris ' statements, sent on November 26, 1857, to Hotta Masayoshi, Yoshinaga wrote that it was impossible to continue the policy of isolation, that it was necessary to develop foreign trade, build warships and make some internal changes, and above all to appoint a wise heir and expand the circle of people who have access to the government of the country ^.6

The latter meant that tozama daimyo (top-ranking samurai who were not part of Tokugawa Ieyasu's vassal group), such as Shimazu Nariakira or Yamanouchi Yodo, were involved in big politics in the first place, and according to the rules of the shogunate, they could not hold official positions in the Bakufu. In a letter to his advisor Hashimoto Sanai, dated November 28, 1857. Yoshinaga writes about her suggestions. They were primarily to address the issue of inheritance. Yoshinaga himself, together with Tokugawa Nariaki and Shimazu Nariaki, will determine the course of domestic policy, and Nabeshima Narimasa - foreign policy. Tokugawa Yoshikatsu was supposed to be assigned to control the situation in Kyoto, assigning Hikone to him as an assistant (that is, Yoshinaga agreed to Ai Naosuke's entry into the new management system as a sideline) ^.7

The wise heir was no doubt Yoshinobu. Matsudaira Yoshinaga doesn't mention him by name, but the other daimyo's responses are beginning to make the name quite explicit. So, Shimazu Nariakira wrote in a letter about Harris ' demands:: "For conducting trade with foreign countries, there are probably no problems... but at the same time, the unity of all is very important, so as the shogun's successor, Yoshinobu of Hitotsubashi, who has reached maturity, has talent combined with popularity, is a worthy candidate." ⁸

The majority opinion of the daimyo regarding allowing trade with foreign countries was similar to that of Shimazu Nariakira, so Hotta Masayoshi began preparing a trade treaty with America. But with the approval of the almost finished contract, great difficulties arose. Emperor Komei was one of the most consistent supporters of Yoshinobu, so the imperial court from Kyoto categorically refused to give its consent to the conclusion of the treaty. The harsh stance of the imperial court was only partly due to the widespread wariness at court about contacts with foreign Powers. His actions were primarily due to the efforts of the Hitotsubashi party, which actively sought the support of its protégé from the imperial court.

The Kii party, which by this time controlled Bakufu politics, found itself in a difficult situation: on the one hand, the pressure of foreign powers, and on the other, the tough position of the imperial court. The Kii party relied on the nomination of tairo (a post in the hierarchy of the highest officials of the shogunate with powers close to rodju) Ai Naosuke, who knew the situation in Kyoto well and had to find a way out of this situation.

Hitotsubashi's party tried to run Matsudaira Yoshinaga for Tairo, with the support of Hotta Masayoshi. But the latter had to act almost alone, moreover, he met with sharp opposition from the shogun himself and was forced to retreat. On April 23, 1858, Ai Naosuke, bypassing the usual coordination procedure, becomes tairo and the very next day orders Hotta Masayoshi to begin negotiations with Harris to postpone the signing of a trade agreement for three months, hoping to get the consent of the imperial court during this period. On May 1, the members of the Roju Council, along with Tairo Ii Naosuke, were summoned to the shogun, and the shogun announced that Yoshitomi of Kii was to be his heir. [⁹ ]

Ignorant of the internal struggles of the Bakufu, Harris continued his tactics of exerting pressure on the Shogun's government. In June, he left Naamerican without notice-

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On June 17, he sailed from the Japanese port of Shimoda and arrived at Shinagawa to announce the new defeat of China and the signing of the Treaty of Nanking. He accompanied this message with the comment that Britain and France, who have their hands free, are assembling a large fleet to put pressure on Japan by force, and Japan, in order to prevent such a development of events, is safer to sign a treaty with America as soon as possible. Of course, all this only increased tension and gave additional arguments to those who referred to the external danger to strengthen their positions.

After receiving a message about the warnings from Harris, Ai Naosuke instructed to speed up the signing of the treaty with America. This agreement was signed on June 19 aboard an American ship. Ai Naosuke used the signing of the treaty to strengthen his position in bakufu. Four days later, on June 23, 1858, Hotta Masayoshi was dismissed from the post of chairman of the Roju Council and dismissed. On the same day, he had a meeting with Yoshinobu at the castle and informed him that an official announcement of Yoshitomi's heir recognition was scheduled for the near future. This prompted Tokugawa Nariaki to retaliate.

The next day, June 24, Nariaki, along with his eldest son Yoshiatsu, accompanied by the Daimyo of the Owari Principality, Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, appeared at the shogun's castle and at a meeting with Ai Naosuke, demanded his resignation due to actions contrary to the imperial will. Ai Naosuke reacted calmly, explaining the hasty signing of the treaty as an urgent necessity, dictated by the desire to avoid the fate of China. Nariaki and his companions were forced to leave the castle with nothing.

Tokugawa Nariaki came to the shogun's castle on the day that was reserved for gosanke houses, which in itself was a serious offense by the standards of the time, so it was not surprising for contemporaries that this would be followed by punishment. The question was only to determine its severity and the time of its official announcement.

The next day, on June 25, Yoshitomi was declared the Shogun's heir, and an official ceremony was held to mark the occasion. It was not customary to announce the punishment at such a ceremony. The announcement was expected to take place in the coming days. However, it was at this time that Shogun Iesada's health began to deteriorate dramatically. If on June 25, when Yoshitomi was announced as the heir, he looked as usual, then in early July he felt unwell, and on July 3, his condition became extremely serious.

The change in the Shogun's state of health was too drastic, giving rise to various rumors about his poisoning. Charges were brought against Tokugawa Nariaki ¹⁰ . Ai Naosuke diligently searched for confirmation of this version, but could not get them. The question of poisoning remained open. There was also no medical report that the cause of death was poisoning. The documents everywhere mention only one reason - illness.

Analyzing this situation, now, after a century and a half, we can only make assumptions about this. Obviously, the rapid elimination of the shogun was much more beneficial to Ai Naosuke and House Kii than to Hitotsubashi's party. Yoshitomi's assumption of office immediately made it impossible to continue fighting for the shogunate position. If Iesada had remained in power, it would have been possible to change the decision in Yoshinobu's favor, especially since Iesada was easily influenced by the women and senior administrative officials around him.

Tokugawa Nariaki was placed under house arrest as a punishment for violating the Shogun's castle visiting rules, while Tokugawa Yoshinaga and Tokugawa Yoshikatsu were required to resign their positions as heads of their respective houses and pass them on to their heirs, and Yoshinobu and Tokugawa Yoshiatsu were banned from entering the Shogun's castle. The punishments were quite heavy, but they did not exclude the possibility of returning to political activity in the future.

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On July 6, Iesada died, and on July 5, the day before his death, the punishment of active supporters of the Hitotsubashi party was announced. For many, this proximity of dates has raised doubts that Ai Naosuke received the Shogun's sanction for these actions. Therefore, punishments couldn't completely neutralize Ai Naosuke's opponents. The latter was in no way satisfied with this situation. For more severe punishments, charges of conspiracy against the shogun were required. At first, Ai Naosuke tried to use the version about the poisoning of the Shogun ¹¹, but after it was not possible to obtain more or less convincing evidence of the Hitotsubashi party's guilt, he dealt his main blow in Kyoto, where the links between the Hitotsubashi party and the imperial court were clearly visible, which made it possible to build a conspiracy theory.

The August 1858 message from the imperial court to the House of Mito, known as the bogo-no mitteku (order from the year of the horse), served as the reason for the activation of Bakufu actions in Kyoto. The message harshly criticized the Bakufu's actions, including the unauthorized signing of a trade treaty, and called for a kobugattai (unification of the imperial aristocracy and samurai).

A team of Naosuke Ai representatives, led by Nagano Shuzen, was sent to Kyoto and launched an investigation that was followed by a broad wave of arrests. Among her first victims were Ugai Kichizaemon and Ugai Kokichi, who delivered the imperial message to Mito. The Ansei daigoku (Great Arrests of the Ansei Period) began, during which more than a hundred people were arrested and interrogated. As a result, six people were sentenced to death, several died under torture in prison, and the rest were exiled to distant islands or otherwise punished. The leaders of the Hitotsubashi party were also waiting for tougher punishments received earlier. Tokugawa Nariaki was sentenced to house arrest for life in Mito, Tokugawa Yoshinobu had to leave the post of head of the Hitotsubashi House and was also subject to house arrest.

Yoshinobu's punishment was much more severe than before. It was announced that it was accepted by the "will of the shogun". Yoshinobu had to comply with all the requirements that were prescribed by the rules of stay under house arrest: he was in a room with permanently closed windows, in which only small cracks were left, through which a narrow strip of light penetrated; he dressed in simple clothes, did not take a bath, did not cut his hair, and did not read books ^.12

So day after day passed. Meanwhile, opponents were aggressively searching for evidence of Yoshinobu's involvement in the plot. And they would certainly have found them, leaving him no chance to participate in political activities. Only the plot and murder of Ai Naosuke in March 1860 dramatically changed Yoshinobu's life and brought him back into politics.

notes

^{Tolstoguzov S. A.} 1 Tokugawa Shogunate in the first half of the 19th century and the reform years of Tempo, Moscow, 1999, p. 62.

² Ibid., p. 60.

^{Matsuura Rei.} 3 Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Tokyo, 1975. p. 16.

^{Matsuoka Hideo.} 4 Ansei no daigoku (Great Arrests of the Ansei period). 2001. P. 65. ⁵ Townsend Harris. The Complete Journal of Townsend Harris. N.Y. P. 475.

^{Kawabata Tahei.} 6 Matsudaira Shungaku. Tokyo, 1969. pp. 68-69.

^{Matsuura Rei.} 7 Edict. op. p. 39.

^{Mizuno Taiji.} 8 Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Tokyo, 1997. p. 148.

⁹ Nenpe Nihon rekishi (Chronological tables on the history of Japan). Tokyo, 1988. Vol. 5. P. 190.

¹⁰ Tokugawa shogunke soran (Overview of the Tokugawa House). Tokyo, 1988. p. 188.

^{Yoshida Tsunekichi.} 11 Ai Naosuke. Tokyo, 1963. p. 314.

^{Matsuura Rei.} 12 Edict. op. p. 55-56.

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