was a Japanese

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military rulers 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, except during parts of the Kamak ...

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

Daikan ''Daikan'' (代官) was an official in ancient 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 ...

, in charge of the domains of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

in Izu, Sagami and Kai Provinces during the

Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...

. 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 ...

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

Egawa Hidetatsu was put in charge of establishing the defense of Edo Bay against Western intrusions in 1839, Cullen 2003, pp. 158-159. following the incident of the ''Morrison'' under Charles W. King in 1837. In 1841, Egawa permitted the gunnery demonstrations of

Takashima Shūhan was a Japanese samurai, ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets and the like; th ...

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 mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan, the largest of the four main islands of Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsu ...

. After sending a student to study the furnace which had been built in the

Saga Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period Tokugawa Shogunate. It encompassed most of what are now Saga and Nagasaki Prefectures and was ruled from Saga Castle in what is now the urban center of the city of Saga. It was ruled through its histo ...

, 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. 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 is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge (Tokyo), Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s. The land was dramatically expanded during the late 20th centur ...

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 Edo Bay, 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 ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

, 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, and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to travel through. ...

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, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

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

Yokoi Shōnan (born Yokoi Tokiari; September 22, 1809 – February 15, 1869) was a Bakumatsu and early Meiji period scholar and political reformer in Japan, influential around the fall of the Tokugawa bakufu. Life and career Yokoi was a ''samurai'' bor ...

, in view of "controlling the

barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

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 a Japanese samurai and translator who was one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States and an important translator during the Bakumatsu, opening of Japan.* He was a fisherman bef ...

, 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 desert island, either to evade kidnapping, captors or the world in general. A person may also be ...

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