英語訳
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Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (Matsudaira Nobuhisa's Succession) 422
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However, there had been various complications leading up to this point, but I consider it unnecessary to describe them in detail now. In any case, due to these circumstances, Uraga Magistrate Ido Iwamikami Hiromichi, who was in Kyoto, received shogunate orders and together with Toda Izunokami would finally meet with the American envoy. Now, regarding the manner of this meeting with the American envoy, as you already know,
**The Meeting at Kurihama**
a meeting place was established at Kurihama with quite dignified ceremony. There are indeed many things to discuss about this occasion, but since most of these matters are already well known to the world, I believe you are roughly familiar with them. Thus, after completing the exchange of the president's letter and our shogunate presenting its reply document, Perry left word that he would return again in April or May of the coming spring before departing. Perry then advanced his ships as far as off Kanagawa, leisurely conducting activities such as measuring water depth, and finally departed Uraga on the 12th, heading toward Ryukyu.
At this time, the shock among our people was extraordinary—even the senior councilors and other key shogunate officials dressed in fire-fighting attire, carried weapons, and entered the castle for all-night deliberations. Given these circumstances, this problem of American ships' arrival differed greatly in character from previous foreign vessel visits and truly prompted a great awakening regarding our country's foreign relations. It could indeed be called the origin of our country's opening, so the impact on the general population was truly extraordinary.
**Shogunate Authorities and Mito Nariaki**
I would like to add a word here about the opinions of the shogunate authorities at that time. Of course, the senior councilor at the time was Abe Isenokami Masahiro, but when Masahiro received news of the American ships entering Uraga, he first consulted with fellow senior councilor Makino Bizennokami, sought the opinions of various officials, and then privately sent a letter to Mito's Nariaki asking for his strategy. Indeed, as I mentioned before, Nariaki wielded great influence in contemporary politics, and particularly his foreign policy views were extremely hardline and commanded considerable attention throughout the realm, so listening to his opinions and consolidating them was considered the best policy at the time.
However, even Nariaki had no particular brilliant plan, and his initial response was rather vague, meaning that since his coastal defense proposals from previous years had not been accepted, there was nothing he could do now, but he would like to avoid accepting their demands.
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This was quite inconclusive, but Nariaki seemed to have struggled considerably with this, as he further proposed that if it were the shogun's command, he would come to the castle to listen to various opinions and also present his own views. So Isenokami, as if finding a boat at a crossing, immediately sought the shogun's approval, personally visited Nariaki's residence, showed him the opinion papers of various officials, and asked for his views. As a result, the shogunate council finally decided to accept the letter brought by the American envoy, so Nariaki either agreed to this, having no other strategy to implement, or at least tacitly approved it.
Thus, at least the matter of accepting the American letter was settled peacefully and Perry withdrew for the time being. However, Perry would certainly return and this time urge the opening of the country with even greater force. Now, how our country would prepare for this point remained a major problem for the future, and the shogunate was so occupied with debates over opening or closing that days were insufficient. At that time, our country's weakness was primarily the inadequacy of military preparations. This had been a long-standing issue repeatedly advocated among knowledgeable people, but the general population did not understand such matters well. So to speak, with the deep impression of examples like the annihilation of the Mongol invasions and our country never having been defeated by foreign countries in history, the common attitude was simply to boast about maintaining isolation and expelling foreigners.
However, from the perspective of those at the center of shogunate power, what caused even more acute difficulty than inadequate military preparation was indeed financial poverty, which could not be easily revealed and left them with nothing but worry. Given such internal circumstances, even if the shogunate did not have a perspective that could be called opening-country ideology, it was inevitable that foreign policy would naturally tend toward a passive and weak direction.
But one troublesome matter was indeed Mito's Nariaki. As I mentioned before, when it came to whether to accept Perry's letter or reject it, his inconclusive opinion was that perhaps there was no choice but to accept it since it could not be helped, and
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Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (Matsudaira Nobuhisa's Succession) 423