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by the Emperor, the ‘Tairo’ Ii Naosuke (one of the Princes in the Shogun’s Government), the present Count Ii’s grandfather, concluded on his own responsibility the new treaties with the United States of America, 1858, and successively with Holland, Russia, Great Britain, and France. The Emperor Komei was vehemently irritated by this action, and so were the opponents of Ii. The treaties remained, therefore, practically speaking, unratified until the Emperor was reconciled later to the giving of his formal consent.
Coincidently the selection of the Shogun’s heir was acutely discussed between the ‘Tairo’ Ii and the principal Daimyos of the Tokugawa’s family. The Emperor was again appealed to for the final decision. When the fourteenth Shogun, Iyemochi (1859–1866), succeeded to the office, it was utterly against the will of the Emperor and of a large number of Daimyos, such as the Daimyos of Mito, Owari, Yechizen, Tosa, Uwajima, etc. The Shogun and his Government now stood quite isolated, even from the Daimyos of his own family, and the cry of ‘Kinno’ (‘honour the Emperor’) became popular throughout the country. The abolition of the Shogunate was much thought of from this time (1858) among the patriots of Japan. The reconciliation between the Emperor and the Shogun seemed very difficult until the marriage of the Emperor’s sister, Her Imperial Highness the Princess Kazu-no-Miya, with the Shogun Iyemochi, which was sanctioned by the Emperor in 1861 (1st year of Bunkyu).
This marriage aimed at an alliance between the Emperor and the Shogun in order to sustain the Shogun’s power under the auspices of the Emperor, and was called ‘Kobu Gattai.’ The result of this policy was, however, to cause the immediate fall of the Shogunate.
The dawn of the Restoration broke when the Shogun’s Government became the centre of public enmity. Its failure in both internal and external politics produced the greatest dissatisfaction throughout the country. The majority of the Daimyos and the Samurais ardently longed for the restoration of the ancient state of the Emperor’s rule. The Emperor Komei and his Court also inclined to the abolishment of the Shogunate. Such Daimyos as Shimazu of Satsuma, Mori of Choshiu, Yamanouchi of Tosa, and others whose forefathers had stood upon an equal footing with Tokugawa, would no longer recognise the supremacy of the latter. All of them endeavoured to occupy an equal position with Tokugawa in the Emperor’s rule. Preparations to carry out this plan had been begun long