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Tuan Hoang Chu

ID: 20669395

HIST 450

Dr. Dylan A. Cyr

Research Essay Proposal

Topic: The Final Years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, 1853-1868

Interest:

I am curious about the factors that led the Tokugawa regime to its demise.

Relevancy:

Although the Bakumatsu era lasted for only about 15 years, I believe that this short

period is extremely important for the history of not only Japan but East Asia as a whole.

Specifically, the Japanese people at the time did not only see the Tokugawa’s feudalistic

regime gradually crumble, but they also witnessed Japan’s first steps of military

modernization which were undertaken by both the shogunate and the pro-Imperial domains.

The Tokugawa regime would be replaced by a centralized Imperial government in Tokyo,

which would continue the aforementioned modernization efforts and eventually started the

conquest of East Asia. Thus, in order to understand how the infamous Imperial Japan was

created as well as the birth of modern Japan, we have to examine the final years of the

Bakufu.

Thesis/Argument:

The fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate was a result of the regime’s declining political

authority and devastating military setbacks suffered throughout the period of 1853 to 1868.

Specifically, the political influence of the Bakufu gradually crumbled due to a drastic surge

of anti-foreigner sentiment, as well as calls for political reforms, following the arrival of

Commodore Matthew Perry, and a string of unfortunate deaths of important pro-Shogunate

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figures. Meanwhile, the anti-Tokugawa domains, in particular Satsuma and Choshu, were

able to topple the shogunate decisively on the battlefield owing to their effective cooperation,

superior military modernization efforts, and morale advantages of fighting under the Imperial

banner.

Primary Sources:

I am considering using the treaties signed between the U.S. government and the

Tokugawa Shogunate as primary sources, such as the Treaty of Kanagawa (1854). Further, I

am planning to utilize diaries of foreigners who were staying in Japan during the Bakumatsu

era. For instance, the book A Diplomat in Japan written by British diplomat Ernest Satow,

who lived in Japan from 1862 to 1883, can be a great resource for my paper. I will also use

published works of Japanese figures, such as Katsu Kaishu, who was an official of the

Shogunate and he wrote many journals on the final years of the Bakufu.

Secondary Sources:

I am considering using books written by experts on Japanese history, such as Samurai

Revolution: The Dawn of Modern Japan Seen Through the Eyes of the Shogun’s Last

Samurai by Romulus Hillborough. In addition, I intend to utilize journal articles authored by

specialists on modern Japan. For instance, the essay “Female Combatants and Japan’s Meiji

Restoration: The Case of Aizu” by Dianna E. Wright, published in the journal War in

History, provides great insight to the pro-Shogunate faction.

 Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources

Katsu, Kaishu. Bakumatsu Nikki. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1976.

Katsu Kaishu was an official working for the Tokugawa Shogunate during its final

years. Throughout the Bakumatsu period, Katsu compiled the Bakumatsu Nikki, or the

Journals from the End of the Bakufu. Volume 1 contains the regular journal of the final years

of the Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration, kept from 1862, upon the author’s appointment

as vice commissioner of warships under the shogun, until the Meiji era of 1870. Volume 2

focuses on the Boshin War, was kept separately from the regular journal, from 1867 until

1868. Katsu's recollections give fascinating insight into the mind of a Bakufu statesman

living in the final decade of the Edo era. However, his works might be biased against the

traditional ideas of the shogunate system because Katsu, although he was a vassal of the

shogun, wanted to reform the political structure of Japan and was sympathetic to the anti-

shogunate cause.

Satow, Ernest M. A Diplomat in Japan. Originally published in 1921. Cambridge University

Press, 2015.

Ernest Mason Satow was a British diplomat who lived in Japan from September 1862

to December 1882. Satow kept a diary throughout his stay in the East Asian country, and A

Diplomat in Japan is simply a later rearrangement of those diaries into a more abstract

chronological explanation of the events he was involved in at the time. Satow’s account

provides great insight into the perspective of a foreigner who was directly witnessing the

collapse of the shogunate and the modernization of Japan. However, since Satow was an

agent of a foreign power that wanted Japan to open its door to the world, his book might be

biased against the anti-foreigner faction at the time.

“Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan
(Convention of Kanagawa).” March 30, 1854. Database of Japanese Politics and
International Relations.
https://worldjpn.grips.ac.jp/documents/texts/pw/18540330.T1E.html.

On March 31, 1854, the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate signed the

Convention of Kanagawa. It was signed under the threat of gunboat diplomacy orchestrated

by U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry. The treaty essentially ended Japan's two-century-long

policy of national isolation by opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American

ships. It also safeguarded the protection of American castaways and created an American

consul's office in Japan. The treaty demonstrated how powerless the shogunate was in the

face of foreign threats and demands.

“Treaty Between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan (Japan-US
Additional Treaty, Shimoda Treaty).” June 17, 1857. Database of Japanese Politics and
International Relations.
https://worldjpn.grips.ac.jp/documents/texts/pw/18570617.T1E.html.

On June 17, 1857, the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate signed the

Shimoda Treaty. It opened the port of Nagasaki to American vessels, guaranteed that

American citizens may permanently reside at Shimoda and Hakodate, and created an

American Vice-Consulship office in Hakodate. Also, the treaty safeguarded the right of

Americans who commit crimes in Japan to be prosecuted by the American Consul and

punished in accordance with American law. The treaty demonstrated the weakened position

of the shogunate and the dramatic opening process of Japan to foreigners.

“Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States of America and the Empire of
Japan (Treaty of Amity and Commerce, Harris Treaty).” July 29, 1858. Database of
Japanese Politics and International Relations.
https://worldjpn.grips.ac.jp/documents/texts/pw/18580729.T1E.html.

On July 29, 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United

States, often known as the Harris Treaty, was signed on the deck of the USS Powhatan in Edo
Bay. It gave extraterritoriality to foreigners and opened the ports of Kanagawa and four

additional Japanese cities to trade. Further, citizens of the United States may permanently live

in any of the treaty ports mentioned. The treaty also allowed the right to freedom of religious

expression and church construction to fulfil the needs of US citizens within the bounds of

recognized foreign communities at treaty ports. The treaty revealed the shogunate’s growing

weakness as it had to accept demands that outright violated the traditional prohibitions, such

as allowing Christian churches to be built on Japanese soil.

Secondary Sources

Cullen, L. M. A History of Japan, 1582 - 1941: Internal and External Worlds. Cambridge
University Press, 2003.

L. M. Cullen argues that, far from being in gradual economic and social degradation

or political crisis before 1854, Japan was, on the whole, a thriving civilization headed by

reasonable shogunate leaders. He also demonstrates how Japan achieved exceptional success

in negotiations with the Western powers between 1853 and 1868. However, with the 1889

constitution failing to regulate the military forces and western and American interests

expanding in Asia and the Pacific in the twentieth century, Japan abandoned realism and met

its nemesis in China and the Pacific. The panoramic picture that the book gives is its strength,

but its shortcoming is the broad and questionable generalizations that this method creates.

Hillsborough, Romulus. Samurai Revolution: The Dawn of Modern Japan Seen Through the
Eyes of the Shogun’s Last Samurai. Tuttle Publishing, 2014.

Romulus Hillsborough examines the entire Bakumatsu to early Meiji period,

including the conflicting interests of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo and the Imperial Court

in Kyoto, the alliances formed by various clans across Japan, the momentous changes that led

to the Meiji Restoration, the consolidation of the new Government and its polity, and the
Satsuma Rebellion, led by Saigo Takamori. The book is mostly told from the viewpoint of

Japanese statesman and naval engineer Katsu Kaishu, with many excerpts from his published

documents. Hillsborough has successfully untangled the convoluted web of relationships

between the major players of this chaotic period in this well-researched and intriguing

narrative.

Hillsborough, Romulus. Shinsengumi: The Shogun’s Last Samurai Corps. Tuttle Publishing,
2005.

Hillsborough examines the Tokugawa Shogunate's famed elite police unit during the

Bakumatsu period. The author concentrates on the corps' two dynamic commanders, Kondo

Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, both of whom are outstanding swordsmen. The book is also a

brief history of the Bakufu's final years, which ended with the restoration of Imperial control.

Hillsborough drew heavily on Japanese original sources, including letters, diaries, journals,

interviews, and eyewitness testimonies, as well as authentic biographies and histories of the

time.

Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2002.

This massive study examines Meiji's world, and Donald Keene uses the emperor's

contemporaries' diaries and letters, as well as secondary sources, to depict major events and

important historical individuals in Japan's transition to a modern nation-state. The book

provides an enormous wealth of information about the first emperor of modern Japan, as well

as events surrounding him such as the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate, to English

readers. However, because Meiji did not keep a diary and wrote very few letters, Keene

frequently has to speculate on how the emperor must have felt at various points in his reign.
Ravina, Mark. The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori. John Wiley &
Sons, 2004.

Mark Ravina traces Saigo Takamori's life from his early days as a tax clerk in the

Satsuma domain of southwestern Japan, through his rise to national prominence as a fierce

imperial loyalist who led the anti-shogunate army to its ultimate victory, and to his final

demise as the leader of the Satsuma Rebellion revolting against the Meiji government that he

had helped to establish. This book provides great insight into the mind of the man who

militarily defeated the Tokugawa regime.

Wright, Diana E. “Female Combatants and Japan’s Meiji Restoration: The Case of Aizu.”
War in History 8, no. 4 (October 2001): 396–417.
https://doi.org/10.1177/096834450100800402.

Dianna E. Wright is an Associate Professor of History at Western Washington

University. A specialist on gender and religion in early modern Japan, Wright is especially

interested in military history and the female combatants of the Meiji Restoration. In this

study, the author addresses several overlooked elements in the history of the Boshin War, the

conflict that ushered in the Meiji Restoration in Japan. Particularly, Wright seeks to put more

light on the neglected northeastern campaign, in which Imperial forces besieged the Aizu

clan, as well as the personal stories of various female combatants from Aizu. This article

provides important insight into the perspective of a samurai domain that remained loyal to the

shogunate until the very end.