Kawaji Toshiakira

Kawaji Toshiakira

Kawaji Toshiakira ( Japanese 川 路 聖 謨 ; born June 6, 1801 in Hita ( Bungo Province , now Ōita Prefecture ); died April 7, 1868 ) was a Japanese official of the Tokugawa Shogunate .

life and work

Kawaji Toshiakira took over tasks under various commissioners (奉行, Bugyō) of the Tokugawa Shogunate after his training. In 1852 he was appointed commissioner for finance in the shogunate (勘定 奉行, Kanjō Bugyō). In addition, he was entrusted with the planning and implementation of coastal defense. The following year he was sent to Nagasaki to negotiate with the Russian admiral Pujatin , who was trying to open up Japan to trade. In 1855 he finally concluded the Treaty of Shimoda with the Russians on the model of the American trade agreement . In 1858 Kawaji accompanied Chancellor Hotta Masayoshi to Kyoto to get the emperor's approval for a contract with Harris, but this failed.

Kawaji was placed under house arrest by Chancellor Ii Naosuke in 1859 because he supported the group that had lost in the choice of the Shogun's successor. After Ii's murder in 1860, he was able to resume work. As commissioner for foreign affairs (Gakoku Bugyō, 外国 奉行) he worked on the expansion of the foreign policy of the shogunate.

In 1868, during the Boshin War , on April 6th, Edo Castle , the seat of the Shogun, was handed over to the imperial troops. A day later, Kawaji committed suicide.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Kawaji Toshiakira . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 763.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Kawaji is the family name, Toshiakira the first name.