was a Japanese

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

intendant of the 19th century. Jansen, Hall 1989, p. 815. He was

Daikan ''Daikan'' (代官) was an official in Japan that acted on behalf of a ruling monarch or a lord at the post they had been appointed to. Since the Middle Ages, ''daikan'' were in charge of their territory and territorial tax collection. In the Edo ...

, in charge of the domains of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in Izu, Sagami and Kai Provinces during the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji governm ...

. Jansen, Hall 1989, p. 108. He took a leading role in the reinforcement of Japanese coastal defenses against Western encroachments in the 19th century.

Coastal defenses

Due to his holdings on the coast, Egawa Hidetatsu was involved in issues of coastal defences, critical to Japan at that time. He was in relations with the group of

Watanabe Kazan was a Japanese painter, scholar and statesman member of the samurai class. Biography He was born Watanabe Sadayasu in Edo (now Tokyo) to a poor samurai family, and his artistic talent was developed from an early age. His family served the ...

, and

Takano Chōei was a prominent scholar of ''Rangaku'' (western science) during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Life Chōei was born as Gotō Kyōsai, the third son of Gotō Sōsuke, a middle-ranking samurai in Mizusawa Domain of Mutsu Province in what is now pa ...

. Cullen 2003, p. 159. Reverberatory furnace of Nirayama

Egawa Hidetatsu was put in charge of establishing the defense of

Edo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

against Western intrusions in 1839, Cullen 2003, pp. 158-159. following the incident of the ''Morrison'' under

Charles W. King The of 1837 occurred when the American merchant ship, ''Morrison'' headed by Charles W. King, was driven away from "sakoku" (isolationist) Japan by cannon fire. This was carried out in accordance with the Japanese Edict to Repel Foreign Vessel ...

in 1837. In 1841, Egawa permitted the gunnery demonstrations of Takashima Shūhan to the Tokugawa Shogunate. Jansen 2002, p. 287. As early as 1842, Egawa attempted to build a furnace to cast weapons in the village of Nirayama in the

Izu Peninsula The is a large mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsula is now a part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The penins ...

. After sending a student to study the furnace which had been built in the Saga Domain, a new furnace was built which succeeded in casting cannons in 1858, after the death of Egawa. Smith 1955, p. 6. Egawa taught Western gunnery and techniques to numerous men who would later have a role in the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. Fukuzawa Kiyooka 2007, p. 340. He also advocated the conscription of farmers into the army. OdaibaView

Egawa also designed and built the battery emplacements at the entrance of Edo harbour at

Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially built in this area for defensive purposes in the 1850s. Reclaimed land offshore Shinagawa was dramatically expanded duri ...

in 1853/54, following the 1853 visit of Commodore Perry and his promise to return the following year. Watanabe 2001, p. 143. The fortifications were built to prevent the intrusion near Tokyo of the foreign ships. Knafelc 2004, p. 95. Commodore Perry would effectively stop his fleet at Uraga, southward at the entrance of

, fully prepared for hostilities if his negotiations with the Japanese failed. Takekoshi 2004, pp. 285-86. His ships were equipped with modern Paixhans shell guns, capable of bringing destruction everywhere a shell landed. Millis 1981, p. 88. Walworth 2008, p. 21.

Westernization debate

Egawa was involved in an important debate at that time, whether to adopt Western guns and methods or not. He advocated that the English had shown great superiority over the Chinese in the 1840

Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of th ...

, and that it was necessary to use their own techniques to repel them. Others, such as

Torii Yōzō A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simples ...

argued that only traditional Japanese methods should be employed and reinforced. Jansen 1995, p. 124. Egawa argued that just as

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

had been introduced from abroad, it made sense to introduce useful Western techniques.

Sakuma Shōzan sometimes called Sakuma Zōzan, was a Japanese politician and scholar of the Edo period. Biography Born Sakuma Kunitada, he was the son of a samurai and scholar and his wife , and a native of (or Shinano Province) in present day's Nagano Pref ...

was a student of a school founded by Egawa Hidetatsu. Jansen 1995, p. 127. A theoretical synthesis of "Western knowledge" and "Eastern morality" would later be accomplished by

and Yokoi Shōnan, in view of "controlling the

barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

with their own methods". Jansen 1995, pp. 126-130. At one point Egawa hired the services of

Nakahama Manjirō , also known as John Manjirō (or John Mung), was one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States and an important translator during the Opening of Japan.* Voyage to America During his early life, he lived as a simple fisherman in ...

, a Japanese

castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left as ...

who had spent 10 years in the West before returning to Japan, in order to obtain better knowledge of the West. Kawada, Nagakuni, Kitadai 2004, p. 128.

Notes

References

* - Total pages: 357 * - Total pages: 477 * - Total pages: 351 * - Total pages: 871 * - Total pages: 886 * - Total pages: 144 * - Total pages: 274 * - Total pages: 382 * - Total pages: 126 * - Total pages: 456 * - Total pages: 320 * - Total pages: 263 {{DEFAULTSORT:Egawa, Hidetatsu Samurai Meiji Restoration 19th-century Japanese people 1801 births 1855 deaths

Coastal defenses

Westernization debate

See also

Notes

References