Yokohama-Sumo-Wrestler-Defeating-a-Foreigner-1861-Ipposai-Yoshifuji

The was an edict issued by the Japanese

Emperor Kōmei was the 121st Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')孝明天皇 (121)/ref> Kōmei's reign spanned the years from 1846 through 1867, corresponding to the final years of the ...

in 1863 against the

Westernization Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...

of Japan following the opening of the country by Commodore Perry in 1854.

The order

The edict was based on widespread anti-foreign and legitimist sentiment, called the "Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians" movement. Emperor Kōmei personally agreed with such sentiments, and – breaking with centuries of imperial tradition – began to take an active role in matters of state: as opportunities arose, he fulminated against the treaties and attempted to interfere in the shogunal succession. His efforts culminated on March 11, 1863 with his "Order to expel barbarians". A deadline for the expulsion was set two months later to May 11.

Consequences

The

Shogunate , 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 ...

had no intention of enforcing the order, and the Edict inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself as well as against foreigners in Japan. The most famous incident was the firing on foreign shipping in the

Shimonoseki Strait The or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating Honshu and Kyushu, two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the strait is Shimonoseki (, which contributed "Kan" () to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu ...

off Chōshū Province as soon as the deadline was reached. Masterless samurai (''

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master' ...

'') rallied to the cause, assassinating Shogunate officials and Westerners. The killing of the English trader

Charles Lennox Richardson Charles Lennox Richardson (16 April 1834 – 14 September 1862) was a British merchant based in Shanghai who was killed in Japan during the Namamugi Incident. His middle name is spelled ''Lenox'' in census and family documents. Merchant Richards ...

is sometimes considered as a result of this policy. The Tokugawa government was required to pay an indemnity of a hundred thousand

British pound Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, an ...

s for Richardson's death.Jansen, pp. 314–315. But this turned out to be the zenith of the ''sonnō jōi'' movement, since the Western powers responded to Japanese attacks on western shipping with the

Bombardment of Shimonoseki The refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control the Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of ...

. Heavy reparations had earlier been demanded from Satsuma for the murder of Charles Lennox Richardson – the

Namamugi Incident The , also known as the Kanagawa incident and Richardson affair, was a political crisis that occurred in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the ''Bakumatsu'' on 14 September 1862. Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant, was killed by t ...

. When these were not forthcoming, a squadron of Royal Navy vessels went to the Satsuma port of

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

to coerce the

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

into paying. Instead, he opened fire on the ships from his shore batteries, and the squadron retaliated. This was later referred to, inaccurately, as the

Bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract compensation and legal justice from ''daim ...

. These incidents clearly showed that Japan was no match for Western military might, and that brutal confrontation could not be the solution. These events, however, also served to further weaken the shogunate, which appeared too powerless and compromising in its relations with Western powers. Ultimately the rebel provinces allied and overthrew the shogunate in the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

and the subsequent

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 ...

Notes

References

*''Saigō Takamori and Ōkubo Toshimichi'' (Japanese)

External links

Order to expel barbarians (Japanese)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Order To Expel Barbarians 1863 in Japan Foreign relations of the Tokugawa shogunate Xenophobia in Asia

The order

Consequences

See also

Notes

References

External links