Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/285

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APPENDIX

when these events occurred. The judicial trial was thenceforth known as "the great judgment of Ansei."

Note 32.—This place is now the site of a large arsenal. The beautiful park still survives and attracts many visitors, but the mansion where, forty years ago, Rekkō and his clansmen discussed the possibility of setting the narrowest limits to foreign intercourse, is now the site of a big factory, telling how completely Japan has adopted foreign civilisation.

Note 33.—The samurai that committed these acts of blood had abandoned their houses and their paid service, and devoted themselves solely to a crusade in their country's cause.

Note 34.Samurai who, as described in a previous chapter, abandoned their feudal service and became a species of knight errant for the purpose of achieving some aim, generally sanguinary.

Note 35.—Of the eighteen rōnin who assassinated Ii, one was killed in the struggle; one, who fled with the Tairō's head, was incapacitated by his hurts and committed suicide; three fell wounded; eight surrendered themselves, and only five escaped.

Note 36.—Yoshida Torajiro, announcing in a letter to his father his intention of forming a band to kill Manabe, the Shōgun's delegate to Kyōtō, said: "If I die in the attempt, death may be considered as life."

Note 37.—Foreigners settled originally at Kanagawa and subsequently moved to Yokohama, two or three miles down the bay.

Note 38.—It is just to note that their suspicion was never shared by the United States Representative, Mr. Townsend Harris. His belief in the sincerity of the Japanese officials never wavered, and when, after the murder of Mr. Heusken, which Mr. Harris must have felt more keenly than any of his colleagues, they decided to move their Legations from Yedo to Yokohama as a protest against the supposed duplicity and inefficiency of the Shōgun's officials, the American Representative remained at his post, and his declared view of the circumstances of the time showed a clearness of insight that contrasts forcibly with the ignorance of other foreigners.

Note 39.—Joint Note on the Political Situation and State

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