Ansei Purge

The Template:Nihongo was a multi-year event during the Bakumatsu period of Japanese history, between 1858 and 1860,Template:Efn during which the Tokugawa shogunate imprisoned, executed, or exiled those who did not support its authority and foreign trade policies.<ref name=":2" /> The purge was undertaken by Ii Naosuke in opposition to Imperial Loyalists.

History

The Ansei Purge was ordered by Ii Naosuke on behalf of the bakufu faction.<ref name="cullen184">Cullen, Louis. (2003). A History of Japan, 1582–1941: Internal and External Worlds, pp. 184–188.</ref> He was the Senior Minister during the period preceding the Meiji Restoration and was part of the kōbu gattai, the movement opposed by the Revere the Emperor, Expel the Foreigner (sonnō jōi) faction.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The purge was carried out in an effort to quell opposition to trade treaties with the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> particularly under the U.S. - Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It involved the removal from power all opposition by way of imprisonment, torture or exile, and execution.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The crackdown also targeted those who opposed the succession of Tokugawa Iesada and the kōbu gattai or the policy that attempted to unite the imperial court and the shogunate.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Some of the victims included the sonno joi, the group who opposed Naosuke's appointment of Tokugawa Iemochi over Hitotsubashi Keiki, the candidate of the Mito clan,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which was one of the three branches of the Tokugawa family.

Japan descended into chaos after the purge. Elements seeking revenge, particularly radicals from Choshu and sympathizers of the victims launched widespread terrorism.<ref name=":0" /> Naosuke was also assassinated by a band of samurai and ronin from Mito.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Those who were victimized by the purge reemerged in national politics such as Hitotsubashi Keikei and Matsudaira Shungaku.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> Attacks against Westerners also increased.<ref name=":1" />

Victims

Over 100 influential people were victims of the purge.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Men were forced out of positions within the Bakufu, or from han leadership or from the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Victims of the purge included the following:

Death Penalty

• Yoshida Shōin
• Hashimoto Sanai

Permanent house arrest

• Mito Nariaki<ref>Sansom, George Bailey. (1963). A History of Japan, 1615–1867, p. 239.</ref>
• Nagai Naoyuki
• Prince Kuni Asahiko

House arrest

• Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu
• Tokugawa Yoshikatsu
• Matsudaira Shungaku<ref name="shiba227"/>
• Date Munenari<ref name="shiba227">Shiba, Ryōtarō and Eileen Katō. (2001). Drunk as a lord: samurai stories, p. 227.</ref>
• Yamauchi Yōdō<ref name="shiba227"/>
• Hotta Masayoshi

Timeline

File:SakuradaGate2.jpg

Edo Castle's Sakurada Gate (Sakurada-mon): The assassination of Ii Naosuke occurred nearby.

• 1858 (Ansei 5): Beginning of the Ansei Purge<ref name="cullen184"/>
• 1859 (Ansei 6): Arrests and investigations continuing.
• March 24, 1860 (Ansei 7, 3rd day of the 3rd month): Ii Naosuke was assassinated at the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle. This is also known as the "Sakurada-mon Incident"<ref>Cullen, p. 184.</ref>

Further reading

• Kusunoki Sei'ichirō (1991). Nihon shi omoshiro suiri: Nazo no satsujin jiken wo oe. Tokyo: Futami bunko.

External links

• National Diet Library, photograph of Sakurada-mon (1900)