If anybody was the living embodiment of Mitogaku and all of its
inherent contradictions, it had to be the retired lord of Mito
himself, Tokugawa Nariaki. Outspoken, brash, lecherous and just plain
clever, Nariaki was certainly one of the more colorful personalities
that strutted across the early Bakumatsu stage. In the
theater-in-the-round that Japanese politics devolved into as a result
of the Perry expedition, all eyes were on Nariaki, who certainly
dominated a large part of the action on center-stage. Wherever he
went, whatever he said or wrote, controversy and riotous debate
followed. He had a powerful voice that projected his message to all
corners of the empire, no doubt rankling the ears of the Bakufu and
certain powerful fudai daimyo. However, Nariaki's soliloquies on how
to remedy Japan's ills and successfully deal with the `foreign issue'
found an adoring audience among reform-minded daimyo, courtiers within
the halls of the imperial palace, and among all strata of samurai and
commoners alike. Yet just what was Tokugawa Nariaki's message?
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