II Naosuke

Ii Naosuke

(born Nov. 29, 1815, Hikone, Japan—died March 24, 1860, Edo [now Tokyo]) Japanese daimyo and statesman who made the last attempt to reassert the traditional political role of the shogunate (military ruler). In response to Commodore Matthew Perry's demand that Japan end its centuries-old policy of isolation, Ii favoured developing relations. The Tokugawa shogun signed the Perry Convention (1854), which opened two ports to U.S. ships, exposing the country to Western influence, and began negotiations with Townsend Harris over trade. In an unusual move, the shogunate had sought the emperor's consent to the treaty; when antitreaty forces blocked approval, Ii, as head of the shogunal governing body, authorized the signing. This outraged many daimyo; when Ii silenced them, he was beheaded by assassins. See also Tokugawa period; Meiji Restoration.

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II Naosuke 

Born Oct. 12, 1815, in the city of Hikone; died Mar. 3, 1860, in the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo). Japanese statesman.

Beginning in 1858, in his position as tairo (or first minister), Ii headed the bakufu (the military-feudal government of Japan under the shoguns). In 1858 he signed the unequal treaties, the so-called Ansei treaties, with the USA and European countries. Ii sought to strengthen the position of the bakufu amid a crisis of the feudal system and cruelly suppressed the antigovernment movement. He was murdered by samurai from the principality of Mito, who had been sent by his political opponents.

REFERENCE

Toyama Shigeki. Meidzi isin (Krushenie feodalizma v laponii). Moscow, 1959.