THE MIKADO'S RATIFICATION OF THE FOREIGN TREATIES
From many points of view the most interesting period in the whole history of Japan lies between 1853 and 1868, between the appearance of Commodore Perry and his black ships in the Bay of Yedo and the restoration of the Mikado as the temporal ruler of Japan. It is the period in which Japan renewed her foreign intercourse, abandoned for more than two hundred years, and came into contact with the maritime countries of Europe and America. It is the period also of the rapid decline and fall of the Shogunate and the concomitant rise of the imperial power. Within a few years the question of foreign intercourse became involved, apparently beyond extrication, with the turbulent domestic politics of the time. This was not understood by the first foreign representatives at the court of the Shogun. They emphasized the importance of foreign rights and foreign relations, but the Japanese were far more concerned with the internal struggle, at times stained with blood, between the Shogunate and the supporters of the imperial house. As long as this interrelation of foreign and domestic affairs continued, there could be little hope of peaceful intercourse, for the lives of foreigners were sacrificed to serve some political end. Fortunately the separation came before the political crisis ended in civil war but it came under circumstances which have been but little understood and the significance of the event has not been properly appreciated, even at the present day.[1] Of all the events in that period of stress and turmoil, none had a greater or more lasting import than the Mikado's sanction of the foreign treaties on the 5th of November, 1865.
The fundamental difficulty lay in the disputed powers of the Shogun. For six and a half centuries the temporal power in Japan had been exercised almost without exception by military leaders, generally holding the office of Shogun. From 1603 until 1867 this office was held by members of the Tokugawa family, beginning with the great general and administrator, Ieyasu. During his lifetime and that of his strong successors there was no question of the power of the Shogunate to determine all administrative matters without
- ↑ For a more detailed study of the period see Treat, Early Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Japan, 1853–1865.
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