英語訳
**Margin:**
Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (The Zenith and Setbacks of the Expulsion Party) 546
**Main Text:**
For Katamori as well, having once left his domain determining Kyoto as his place to die, the prospect of suddenly leaving Kyoto now filled him with genuine regret, and this was the sentiment of all his lord and retainers alike. Particularly at that time, the court placed extremely deep trust in Katamori, and this was said to be partly the result of that trust. However, on April 11th, Lord Kuwana Matsudaira Sadataka replaced Inaba Masakuni as Kyoto Deputy (shoshidai). This Lord of Kuwana, as you know, came from the house that once produced Lord Shirakawa Rakuō, and the current head was the actual younger brother of Matsudaira Katamori. From this time, these two domains of Aizu and Kuwana worked together in handling Kyoto affairs. Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu also took on the roles of Imperial Palace Guardian and Commander-in-Chief of Settsu-Kawachi Defense on the 25th of the previous month. At this point, what could be called not so much the court-shogunate cooperation party, but rather pro-shogunate forces, suddenly came to dominate in Kyoto. However, this gradually became a source of displeasure for Satsuma domain, which was truly unavoidable.
Originally, as mentioned in the previous chapter, Satsuma domain's orientation was completely different at its foundation from that of Aizu, Kuwana and other domains. Since from the beginning there was no intention to assist the shogunate, ultimately they had temporarily allied with Aizu only due to dissatisfaction with Chōshū's domineering behavior, but seeing today's situation, they were certainly not pleased. Particularly, initially there had been court-shogunate cooperation theory within the domain, but Saigō Takamori, who in that year of Boshin had once thrown himself into Satsuma's waters together with Gessho, barely survived and was later exiled to Ōshima, was recalled at this time and employed within Satsuma, wielding tremendous influence as leader of the anti-shogunate party. Thus naturally, Satsuma domain's policy came to generate unpleasant feelings toward Aizu domain and others close to the shogunate, ultimately reaching a situation where they would inevitably have to part ways.
Now, regarding Chōshū domain - what was the situation there afterward? Since the political change of August, Bunkyū 3, they had once recalled the domain retainers who had been in Kyoto back to their province, and placed the Seven Nobles led by Sanjō Sanetomi who had fled there. They devoted themselves entirely to appealing to the court that they harbored no ill intentions, making various efforts. However, since Kyoto was in the aforementioned situation, they could hardly be
**Margin:**
Toyohashi City Mayor Ōguchi Kiroku, with his vast knowledge and inexhaustible energy, has devoted over a year to compiling the Toyohashi City History, and now as his draft nears completion
**Left Page:**
**Margin:**
This Toyohashi City Historical Discourse is published once weekly (on Tuesdays) and presented to readers of the Sanyō Newspaper
**Main Text:**
given any consideration. There were various developments afterward, but ultimately domain opinion gradually came to a boil, and finally they gathered the elite forces of Suō and Nagato provinces, with the resolve that if their appeals and petitions upon going to Kyoto were still not accepted, they would have no choice but to resort to final measures to remove the evil influences around the emperor, bring peace to the imperial mind, and simultaneously revive the great ceremony of expelling foreigners.
At this point, Chōshū retainers entered Kyoto one after another, many plotting various schemes, even causing incidents like the so-called Ikedaya Incident in Kyoto. The result was to further inflame Chōshū's indignation, leading domain elder Fukuhara Echigo and others to lead troops into Kyoto. While their stated pretext was to petition at the palace gates, in reality the atmosphere was filled with murderous intent. Given these circumstances, ultimately some incident was inevitable, so on June 27th, Genji 1, the Chōshū retainers finally assembled at their Fushimi domain residence and, with their forces magnificently arrayed, entered Kyoto and took position at Tenryū-ji temple in Saga.
At this, Guardian Katamori immediately ascended to the palace to consult the emperor's will, Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu also entered the palace, and they adopted a policy of having the domains in Kyoto urgently guard the palace gates. However, that day passed without incident, ending peacefully for the time being. But afterward, the behavior of the Chōshū retainers became increasingly violent - while ostensibly called petition, it was actually tantamount to coercion through force. Satsuma's Saigō Takamori went so far as to advocate that if the Chōshū retainers would not obey imperial commands to withdraw their troops, they should rather be pursued to uphold imperial authority.
Of course, Takamori's opinion at the time was as previously mentioned - he was secretly building his domain's strength while observing the times. His thinking was that the proper sequence was to first punish those who should be punished, and then, if alliance with them proved worthwhile, gradually implement that strategy. He believed that ultimately this would achieve the merit of overthrowing the shogunate - this seems to have been already decided in his heart at this time. This can be glimpsed in documents from that period, and if so, Takamori's foresight was truly formidable.
Given these circumstances, they finally dispatched punitive forces against the Chōshū retainers.
**Margin:**
Toyohashi City Historical Discourse (The Zenith and Setbacks of the Expulsion Party) 547