The toad croaks
Where is it? Without a trace passed
Spring bloom …
Shuoshi
In the history of each country, there have probably been events associated with foreign invasions, which can only be called dramatic. Here the fleet of Bastard the Conqueror appeared off the coast of Britain and everyone who saw him immediately realized that this was an invasion, which would be very difficult to repel. "On the twelfth a day, Bonaparte's troops suddenly crossed the Niemen!" - is announced at a ball in the house of Shurochka Azarova in the movie "Hussar Ballad", and he is immediately stopped, because everyone understands how serious a test they will face. Well, and about June 22, 1941, you can not talk. Everyone knew that something like this would happen - cinema, radio, newspapers, for many years they had been preparing people to realize the inevitability of war, and, nevertheless, when it began, it was taken as a surprise.
The Japanese had such a quiet and measured life back in 1854. Sit under a tree and admire Fujiyama. (Artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1797-1861)
All the same happened in Japan on July 8, 1853, when on the roadstead of Suruga Bay, south of the city of Edo (today Tokyo), the ships of the American squadron of Commodore Matthews Perry suddenly appeared, among which there were two wheeled steam frigates. The Japanese immediately called them "black ships" (korofu-ne) for their black hulls and puffs of smoke erupting from the pipes. Well, the thunder of cannon shots immediately showed them that the belligerent guests were very serious.
And now let's imagine what this event meant then for Japan, on whose land for more than 200 years foreigners, one might say, were allowed … "by the piece." Only Dutch and Chinese merchants had the right to visit this country, and even those were allowed to open their offices only on the island of Desima, located in the middle of the Nagasaki Bay and nowhere else. Japan was considered the land of the "gods", its emperor was considered "divine" by nature. And suddenly some foreigners come to him on ships and do not ask, humbly lying in the dust, but demand to establish diplomatic relations with some distant, distant country overseas, and even at the same time they unequivocally hint that if they are told "no", that is, the Japanese will not go to negotiations, the aliens will answer … the bombing of Edo!
"Let's live in peace!"
Since the question was of utmost importance, the Japanese side asked for time to think. And Commodore Perry was so “generous” that he gave her not days, but several months before his next visit. And if "no", then, they say, "the guns will start talking" and invited the Japanese to his ship. Show them what they are. Meanwhile, the Japanese were well aware of how the first "Opium War" (1840 - 1842) ended for huge China, and they understood that the "overseas devils" would do the same with them. That is why, when Perry reappeared off the coast of Japan on February 13, 1854, the Japanese government did not quarrel with him, and on March 31, Yokohame signed a treaty of friendship with him (named after the principality). The result was the most favored nation treatment in trade for the United States, and several ports were opened for American ships in Japan at once, and American consulates were opened in them.
And then such "long-nosed barbarians" suddenly appeared. Japanese Woodcut of Commodore Perry, 1854 (Library of Congress)
Naturally, most of the Japanese met this agreement with the "overseas devils" or "southern barbarians" extremely hostile. And could it be otherwise, if both education and "propaganda" for centuries have been instilled in them that only they live in the "land of the gods", that it is they who are bestowed with their patronage, and all the rest … are … "barbarians." And besides, everyone understood that it was not so much the Emperor Komei who was to blame for what happened (since the emperor a priori could not be guilty of anything), but the shogun Iesada who allowed this humiliation of both the country and its people, because it was he who owned real power in Honcho is in the Divine Land.
Moreover, on such ships …
The death of the samurai clan
In his truly astonishing novel 1984, George Orwell quite rightly wrote that the ruling group of society is losing power for four reasons. She can be defeated by an external enemy, or she rules so ineptly that the masses of the people revolt in the country. It may also happen that, due to her short-sightedness, she allows a strong and disgruntled group of average people to appear, or she has lost her self-confidence and desire to rule. All these reasons are not isolated from one another; one way or another, but all four work. The ruling class that can defend itself against them holds power in its hands forever. However, the main decisive factor, according to Orwell, is the mental state of this ruling class. In the case of the samurai clan, which ruled Japan from the moment the Tokugawa family came to dominate the country, everything was exactly the same, but the main reason why the samurai lost power was their physical degeneration. Their women were too fond of cosmetics and … whitened not only the face and hands, but also the breasts, even when they were feeding babies. As a result, they licked off the whitewash containing mercury. Mercury accumulated in their bodies, and from generation to generation they became increasingly weak and lost their intellectual abilities. And the passage up to the representatives of other estates was practically closed. There were, of course, exceptions. They are always there. But in general, the samurai clan by the middle of the 19th century could no longer adequately respond to the challenges of the time.
And what was it to fight with them? Even pistols and those in Japan were fused! (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
In addition, there was one more very important circumstance. Since the internecine wars in Japan ended with the accession of the Tokugawa, most of the samurai, which constituted about 5% of the country's population, were out of work. Some of them began to engage in trade or even craft, carefully hiding that he was a samurai, since doing work was considered a shame for a warrior, many became ronin and wandered around the country, having lost all their livelihood, except perhaps alms. In the 18th century there were already more than 400,000 of them. They robbed, huddled in gangs, committed contract killings, became the leaders of peasant uprisings - that is, they turned into outlaw people outside the law. antisocial element. That is, there was a decay of the military class, in the conditions of "eternal peace" became useless to anyone. As a result, discontent in the country became widespread, only those who were part of the shogun's inner circle were satisfied.
So the idea arose and strengthened to transfer power from the hands of the shogun to the hands of the mikado, so that life would return to the "good old days." This was what the courtiers wanted, this was what the peasants wanted, who did not want to give up to 70% of the harvest, and this was also what the usurers and merchants, who owned about 60% of the country's wealth, but who had no power in it, wanted it. Even the peasants in the Tokugawa hierarchy were considered superior to them in terms of their social status, and what kind of rich man could like such an attitude towards him?
"Death to foreign barbarians!"
That is, in the middle of the 19th century in Japan, almost every third inhabitant was dissatisfied with the authorities and only needed an excuse for it to manifest itself. The unequal treaty with the United States, which many Japanese did not accept, became such an occasion. And at the same time, in the very fact of his imprisonment, people saw the powerlessness of the Tokugawa shogunate, but powerless rulers at all times and in all countries were in the habit of overthrowing and driving away. Because the people are always impressed by the action, and besides, it was simply impossible for him to explain that shogun Iesada and the head of the bakufu, Ii Naosuke, act, in general, in his, that is, the people, interests. Because a tough stance towards the West meant for Japan a war of extermination, in which not only the masses of the Japanese would die, but the country itself. Ii Naosuke understood this well, but he did not have the strength in his hands to enlighten millions of fools and disaffected. In the meantime, the bakufu concluded several more of the same unequal agreements, as a result of which, for example, it lost even the right to judge foreigners who committed a crime on its territory according to its own laws.
The long-nosed murders
Dissatisfaction in thoughts always continues with dissatisfaction in words, and words very often lead to bad consequences. In Japan, the houses of bakufu officials and those merchants who traded with foreigners began to be set on fire. Finally, on March 24, 1860, right at the entrance to the shogun's castle in Edo, the samurai of the Mito kingdom attacked Ii Naosuke and chopped off his head. It was an unheard-of scandal, since before the funeral she had to be sewn to the body, since only criminals were buried without a head. Further more. Now in Japan they began to kill "long-nosed", that is, Europeans, because of which a war with England almost began. And then it got to the point that in 1862 a detachment of samurai of the Satsuma principality entered Kyoto and demanded that the shogun transfer power to the Mikado. But the matter did not come to an uprising. First, the shogun himself was not in Kyoto, but in Edo. And secondly, the emperor did not dare to take responsibility in such a delicate matter as unleashing a civil war in his own country. There was clearly nothing for these samurai to do in the capital, and after a while they were simply taken out of the city. But the shogun took certain measures and strengthened his troops in the capital. Therefore, when, a year later, a detachment of samurai of the Cho-shu principality arrived in Kyoto, they were greeted with shots. The lull that followed these events lasted three years, right up to 1866, and all because people looked closely to see whether they were doing worse or better because of the changes taking place in the country.
Well, how do you like such an American woman who penetrated your "Land of the Gods"? Artist Utagawa Hiroshige II, 1826 - 1869, fig. 1860) (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
The situation was fueled by centuries of feudal strife. After all, the samurai of the southern principalities of Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa have been at enmity with the Tokugawa clan since their defeat at the Battle of Sekigahara and could not forgive him for their consequences and their humiliation. It is interesting that they received money for weapons and provisions from merchants and usurers who were directly interested in the development of market relations in the country. The motto was chosen corresponding to the tasks of the uprising: "Honoring the Emperor and driving out the barbarians!" However, if everyone agreed with the first part, then the second part, too, apparently, was not disputed by anyone, was the subject of serious disagreements in details. And the whole dispute concerned only one thing: how long can you make concessions to the West? Interestingly, the leaders of the rebels, just like the bakufu government, well understood that the further continuation of the policy of isolationism would ruin their country, that Japan needed modernization, which is absolutely impossible without the experience and technology of the West. Moreover, just among the samurai by that time there were already many people with education, who were primarily interested in the achievements of Europeans in the field of military art. They began to create units of Kiheitai ("unusual soldiers"), recruited from the peasants and townspeople whom they trained in European tactics. It was these units that later became the basis for the new Japanese regular army.
It was here that the main nest of the conspirators against the shogun was located. Map of Taiwan and Satsuma daimyo's domain, 1781.
However, the rebels acted separately and the shogun's army was not difficult to cope with them. But when the principalities of Satsuma and Choshu agreed on a military alliance, the Bakufu troops sent against them began to suffer defeat after defeat. And then on top of that, in July 1866, Shogun Iemochi died.
"Give up small things to win big!"
The new shogun Yoshinobu proved to be a pragmatic and responsible person. In order not to add more fuel to the fire of the civil war, he decided to negotiate with the opposition and ordered a suspension of hostilities. But the opposition stood its ground - all power in the country should belong to the emperor, "the end of the dual power." And then Yoshinobu on October 15, 1867, made a very far-sighted and wise act, which later saved his life and respect from the Japanese. He renounced the powers of the shogun and declared that only imperial power, based on the will of the entire people, guarantees Japan's rebirth and prosperity.
Shogun Yoshinobu in full dress. Photo of those years. (US Library of Congress)
On February 3, 1868, his abdication was approved by the emperor, who published the "Manifesto on the restoration of the imperial power." But the last shogun was left all his land and was empowered to lead the government during the transition period. Naturally, many radicals were not satisfied with this turn of events. They, as is very often the case, wanted a lot of everything at once, and the successive steps seemed too slow to them. As a result, a whole army of disaffected people gathered in Kyoto, led by Saigo Takamori, known for his irreconcilable position on the elimination of the Tokugawa shogunate. They demanded to deprive the former shogun of even the ghost of power, to transfer all the lands of the Tokugawa clan and the bakufu treasury to the emperor. Yoshinobu was forced to leave the city, move to Osaka, after which, waiting for spring, he moved his army to the capital. The decisive battle took place near Osaka and lasted four whole days. The shogun's forces outnumbered the emperor's supporters three times, and yet the disgraced shogun suffered a crushing defeat. This is not surprising, because his soldiers had old match guns, loaded from a muzzle, the rate of fire of which could not be compared with the rate of fire of the Spencer cartridge rifles, which were used by the soldiers of the imperial army. Yoshinobu retreated to Edo, but then surrendered anyway, since he had no choice but to commit suicide. As a result, a large-scale civil war in Japan never began!
"New guns". Artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1839 - 1892) (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
The former shogun was first exiled to the ancestral castle of Shizuoka in eastern Japan, which he was forbidden to leave. But then the ban was lifted, a small part of his land was returned, so that his income was quite decent. The rest of his life he spent in the small town of Numazu, located on the coast of Suruga Bay, where he grew tea, hunted wild boars and … was engaged in photography.
Emperor Mutsuhito.
By May 1869, the emperor's power was recognized throughout the country, and the last centers of rebellion were suppressed. As for the events of 1867 - 1869 themselves, they received the name Meiji ishin (Meiji restoration) in the history of Japan. The word Meiji ("enlightened rule") became the motto of the reign of the young emperor Mutsuhito, who took the throne in 1867 and who had the difficult task of modernizing the country.
