On Feb 21, 2006, at 1:47 PM, james wilson wrote:
> It was the Shogun that wanted to remain isolated not the
> impearealist. The shogun loses remember. Be well
>
>
> james wilson <johntwo8@...> wrote: Izo Okada another
> of the imfamous 4 hitokiri and a personal favorite. However, is it
> true that Kawakami would want Japan to be closed off? Wasn' t that
> what he was fighting aginst. Please correct me if I am incorrect.
> GOD BLESS ALL
>
>
>
>
James, Angel et al -
I would have to disagree with the above. Though the policy of
isolation was Bakufu policy, the Tokugawa government was more engaged
with and better informed of the outside world that the Imperial court
in 1853. For years they had traded with the Dutch, kept up on
developments in Europe and even sponsored schools of Western studies.
After the coming of Perry, they were loathe to trade with the West
but saw few alternatives, they chose to accomodate the Foreign powers
until they could stand on equal footing and perhaps drive them out.
(No one in Japan really wanted the Foreigners there) The Court
however, insisted that the Bakufu fulfill its mandate and immediately
drive them out. When they chose not to do so, many in the country saw
this as treason against the emperor and perhaps sensing weakness
began calling for the expulsion of Foreigners and the Restoration of
the Emperor.
Many of the most xenophobic Shishi did not live to see the
Restoration, those that did had to either adapt or be left behind. In
the end the pragmatists within the new government chose the same
policy as that of the Tokugawa; to accomodate the Foreigners, learn
all that they could from the West and then use Western technology to
drive the barbarians out. They nearly succeed, but by the time of the
Great Pacific War their dream had become so twisted, and they so
corrupt it could never last.
You are forgetting BTW, my favorite, Hitokiri Hanjiro, who later
became known as Kirino Toshiaki...
-t