Sakuma Shozan, Katsu Kaishu
and Sakamoto Ryoma
Katsu Kaishu
by Romulus Hillsborough
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The binoculars through which Sakuma had watched Perry's ships were a gift from his brother-in-law and perhaps most brilliant student, Katsu Rintaro, better known to history as Katsu Kaishu. He was born in Edo in January 1823, the only son of a petty samurai of hatamoto rank. (Hatamoto, the so-called Eighty Thousand Knights of the Tokugawa, were direct retainers of the shogun, whose annual rice revenue of less than 10,000 koku did not qualify them as daimyo. A daimyo was a feudal lord. The qualification of daimyo was the possession of lands with a rice yield exceeding 10,000 koku. 1 koku = 44.8 U.S. gallons.) The Katsu household ranked near the bottom of the hatamoto class. Their annual stipend was a meager 41 koku. (Based on the official rice price in the early 1990s, 41 koku would have been equal to approximately 750,000 yen. Calculated at ¥100 = $1 in US currency, this would have given the Katsu family an annual income of a meager $7,500 in today's currency.) Kaishu's humble background defied history. Indeed, he stands among the giants of history for his role in modernizing Japan, establishing a navy, avoiding a bloody civil war in the wake of the Bakufu's collapse, and, by so doing, preserving Japan's sovereignty in the face of Western encroachment. As samurai throughout Japan ranted and raved over the Bakufu's weakness in yielding to foreign demands, the streets of Edo, Kyoto, Osaka and other cities became dangerous places for men who overtly espoused Open the Country, particularly those of the Tokugawa camp. Most men on the antiforeign side called themselves kinno-shishi (Imperial Loyalist and man of high purpose) or sonjo-shishi which basically meant the same thing, with the added meaning of Expel the Barbarians. Their ranks included renegades and assassins and some of the greatest men in Japanese history. They vowed to kill advocates of Open the Country, whom they called traitors. Among those "traitors" were Sakuma Shozan and Katsu Rintaro, whose life was constantly in danger during the fifteen years of the Bakumatsu. "Kaishu" was a pseudonym given him by Sakuma, shortly before the conclusion of the Kanagawa Treaty. The pseudonym suited Katsu perfectly. It consists of two Chinese characters: "ocean" and "ship." As previously mentioned, Katsu Kaishu was one of the founders of the Japanese navy. But he was virtually unknown until age thirty, when Perry arrived. Perry left Japan with a promise from the Bakufu to reply to the Americans' demand for a treaty in the following year. Less than one month later, the Bakufu conducted a national survey calling for a solution to the foreign menace. The Bakufu received hundreds of letters, the majority of which reflected either of two contrasting but common proposals for solving the exceedingly difficult problem. One side called for opening the country to avoid war; the other side advocated the strict preservation of the two-century-old policy of isolationism. Standing very much apart from the crowd, Katsu Rintaro always a maverick and very much his teacher's student repeated Sakuma's ideas in a letter resounding with clarity, brilliance and progressive thought. He pointed out the need for the Bakufu to abolish its ban on the construction of large ocean-going vessels and to develop a modern navy. He urged the Bakufu to trade with foreign nations to raise capital for the construction of warships; to manufacture modern guns; to reform the military according to modern Western standards; and to establish military academies. He even dared to propose that the Bakufu break age-old tradition and recruit men of ability from a wide spectrum of society, rather than limiting the navy to the sons of the social elite. Proposals All of Katsu Kaishu's proposals would be adopted by the Bakufu within a few years. For the time being, however, he remained a relatively obscure samurai in the service of the shogun, but without an official post. The Bakufu ranks were filled with men of mediocre ability who inherited their posts from their fathers, and whom Kaishu, like Sakuma, resented. But fortunately for Kaishu and indeed the future of the Japanese nation his extraordinary talents caught the attention of Okubo Ichio, one of the most farsighted Tokugawa officials in these very troubled times. Also like Sakuma, Kaishu taught military science at his own academy in Edo and received orders from feudal lords to manufacture Western-style cannon and smaller guns. To build these guns he procured the assistance of local blacksmiths. One day one of the blacksmiths visited Kaishu's home with an enormous sum of money in hand. "A gift," the blacksmith said. But Kaishu had previously discovered that the man purposely used a substandard grade of copper in order to reduce manufacturing costs. "It seems that it is your intention to bribe me," Kaishu said sharply, "and to make a profit for yourself on the cost you have saved. Take this money and buy the proper copper to manufacture better quality cannon. And never forget that these cannon are for the purpose of national defense." Okubo had first heard about Katsu Rintaro, whom he described as "no ordinary man," through hearsay about the latter's refusal to accept a bribe. Like Kaishu, Okubo advocated Open the Country. Throughout the tumultuous last years of the Bakufu, Okubo served in a number of important posts, including chief of the Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books, Nagasaki magistrate, Kyoto magistrate, commissioner of foreign affairs, commissioner of finance and keeper of Osaka Castle. Also like Kaishu, Okubo would be one of few men of the fallen regime recruited by the new imperial government, serving as governor of Tokyo and venerable elder statesman. In January 1855, a year and a half after Perry's first arrival, Kaishu was recruited into government service. In September, he sailed to Nagasaki as part of a select group to study at the new Nagasaki Naval Academy. He remained at the academy for two and a half years. The cadets studied under Dutch naval officers, for the express purpose of developing a modern navy. Kaishu was chosen as chief naval cadet for his knowledge of the Dutch language and Western military science. He received extensive training aboard the Kanrin Maru, a small, triple-masted wooden schooner that the Bakufu had purchased from the Dutch for 100,000 US dollars. With his Japanese crew, Captain Katsu, accompanied by Dutch naval officers, sailed the Kanrin Maru from Nagasaki to the Goto islands in the East China Sea, from where they headed through the Korea Strait to the Japanese island-domain of Tsushima. At Tsushima, Kaishu and two Dutch officers "were taking soundings in the northwest of Tsushima, when we came across a place where a small river emptied into the sea. It was such a beautiful sight that the three of us lowered a boat, and traveled one or two miles up the river. "[The river] wasn't very deep, and the water was so clear that for a while we could see the stones at the bottom well enough to count them." Suddenly the two Dutch officers screamed, startling Kaishu, who cast a vigilant eye toward the riverbank. Beyond the bank "was a tile-roofed house ... [and nearby] were two samurai armed with muskets aimed directly at us, ready to fire. I was startled for an instant, but immediately jumped out of the boat. I carried a horsewhip, with which I suddenly knocked the muskets out of their hands. The two samurai fled in fear. I chased them into the house, where I gave them a severe scolding." In early 1860 Katsu Kaishu captained the Kanrin Maru on the first transpacific journey in Tokugawa history. Captain Katsu and company, 96 men in all, were bound for San Francisco. Two years earlier Japan had signed its first commercial treaty with a foreign nation. The Kanrin Maru preceded the official Japanese delegation, dispatched to Washington aboard a U.S. steam frigate to ratify that treaty. The Kanrin Maru was a meager 292 tons, measuring just 160 feet by 24 feet. The voyage aboard the tiny ship was a harrowing one, as Kaishu would recall: "Since a ship must depend on her sails rather than burning coal on a long, ocean crossing, there were a number of times when the Kanrin Maru was in distress due to the wind and the rain. But since my crew were prepared for this, and all were hot-blooded men, I was never very worried. Although I frequently vomited blood because of a fever, I didn't pay any attention to it. And by the time we reached San Francisco I was completely recovered." The Kanrin Maru arrived in San Francisco on March 17, on her thirty-seventh day of passage. In 1860 San Francisco, with a population of 56,000, was the economic and cultural center of the western United States. The local San Francisco press made much ado about the arrival of the Japanese ship. "The crew cast long and wistful eyes ashore at the city, whose strange sights they were doubtless eager to explore," reported the Daily Alta California. Captain Katsu made a grand impression on the San Franciscans, who discerned in him a likeness of local hero John Charles Fremont former explorer, Gold Rush millionaire, California senator, and recent Democratic presidential candidate. "The Captain of the corvette is a fine looking man, marvelously resembling in stature, form and features Colonel Fremont, only that his eye is darker, and his mouth less distinctly shows the pluck of its owner." The samurai entourage savored their sojourn in San Francisco. They walked the Victorian streets. They entered William Shew's photographic studio on Montgomery Street where Captain Katsu posed for a tintype portrait. They toured the waterfront near the Vallejo Street Wharf, viewing with keen interest a merchant ship from Panama. Captain Katsu visited the San Francisco Baths on Washington Street, because he "was desirous of trying the American style" of bathing. He rode the sand cars on the Market Street Railway, and observed local factories. (Years later Kaishu would express his disbelief at the spectacle of a factory worker openly engaged with a prostitute during break time, and his perplexity at being offered "the wife of Mr. So-and-So for a certain amount per hour.") He visited the three-storied, red brick San Francisco Branch of the United States Mint on Commercial Street. He explored the shops in town, his interest particularly aroused by Keith's Apothecary, because on the previous day one of his sailors had died of illness. He went to the marble yard on Pine Street to order a gravestone, on which he wrote an epitaph for the burial which took place in the grounds of the Marine Hospital. He noted his repulsion at the sight of large pieces of beef and pork at the front of a butcher shop, "covering my nose as I passed by." One evening Captain Katsu was invited to a dance party at the San Francisco home of a US Navy officer. The samurai was impressed by the "courtesy of everyone," and wondered at the strange customs of the Americans. "The men put their arms around their wives' shoulders and waists to dance [One man] took the hand of another man's wife to dance." From the eyes of a man born and bred amidst the mores of feudal Japan, even one as well-versed in things Western as Katsu Kaishu, the dance party was certainly a strange spectacle. A man of the samurai class simply did not bring his wife to a social gathering. It would have been a gross violation of protocol. He would no sooner do so than he would leave home without his swords, forsake liege lord or clan, or relinquish his warrior status. The notion, in fact, never crossed his mind. Whether or not Captain Katsu danced with the wives of his American hosts, he particularly enjoyed the ice cream they offered. "And the champagne, served with crushed ice, was most delicious. People in Japan have never tasted anything like it." After a stay of nearly two months in San Francisco and vicinity, the Kanrin Maru set sail on May 8, returning safely to Japan soon after. Elite Post Two years later Katsu Kaishu was appointed to the elite post of vice commissioner of the shogun's navy. Shortly after this appointment, he received two visitors at his home in Edo. The visitors were hot-blooded young swordsmen, ardent xenophobes, Imperial Loyalists and men of high purpose who openly espoused anti-Tokugawa views. By some accounts the two swordsmen intended to assassinate Kaishu. By this time, however, Kaishu had become accustomed to threats on his life. Lesser men certainly would not have received the uninvited guests. But Kaishu was a hero whose extraordinary physical and moral courage is now a thing of legend, and the same must be said for one of his two visitors on that historic occasion in October 1862. The visitor, of course, was Sakamoto Ryoma. Sakamoto Ryoma outlaw, warrior, peacemaker spent the last five years of his short, colorful life in constant danger a fugitive and indispensable leader in the revolution. By eliminating the central military government in Edo, he would abolish the feudal system, and with it the oppressive social hierarchy whereby the peasants and townspeople throughout Japan were ruled by their samurai overlords. Ryoma, like many others of his native Tosa clan, had studied artillery under Sakuma Shozan in Edo around the time of Perry's arrival and one wonders if this common thread had nothing to do with the navy commissioner's ready embracement of the outlaw. One also wonders if there was not something in the minds and spirits of both men who after all stood on opposing sides in the revolution that converged on that historic occasion in October 1862, bonding them in their common goal of replacing the antiquated Tokugawa system which consisted of hundreds of feudal domains and was based on a suppressive class structure with a representative form of government styled after the great Western powers, and based on a free-class society and open commerce with the rest of the world. (While Kaishu loyally served the shogun, the Bakufu and the House of Tokugawa, he nevertheless realized that the Bakufu was no longer capable of ruling the nation. And although Kaishu cooperated with anti-Tokugawa elements, including Ryoma and Saigo, in creating a post-Tokugawa modern Japan, unlike Ryoma and Saigo, Kaishu would never call for the destruction of the Tokugawa.) Sakuma Shozan, Katsu Kaishu and Sakamoto Ryoma Indispensable Minds of the Meiji Restoration Back to Table of Contents -- Samurai History Papers # 2 Back to Samurai History Papers List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2005 by Romulus Hillsborough. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |