Kyoto shugoshoku in the coup on august 18, 1863

• Main Authors: Liang, Yuan lin, 梁媛淋
• Other Authors: 小林幸夫
• Format: Others
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/73287868627237045341

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 日本語文學系碩士班 === 97 === Kyoto Shugoshoku(京都守護職; the Military Commissioner of Kyoto) was created as the higher commander of Kyoto Shoshidai(京都所司代; the ambassador of Bakuhu in Kyoto), for keeping the peace in the city of Kyoto and recovering the authority of Bakuhu(幕府; shogunate). Matudaira Katamori(松平容保), the lord of the Aizu clan(会津藩), was installed as Kyoto Shugoshoku on September 24 1862, and deployed massive amounts of troops to Kyoto by the end of the year. He was not only responsible for policing the city of Kyoto, but was also expected to unify Chotei(朝廷; the imperal court) with Bakuhu. From June 25, 1863, the Choshu clan(長州藩), which insisted on expelling aliens immediately, shelled foreign ships that crossed the Kanmon Cclannel(関門海峡) and was at war with western countries. However, Bakuhu and the other clans didn’t want to open hostilities, the Choshu clan therefore became isolated. In order to cclange the miserable condition, the Choshu clan proposed that the emperor should defeat the enemy by himself, and forced Emperor Komei(孝明天皇) to announce it on August 13. Because of this, Emperor Komei and the other nobles who opposed this announcement, for example, Udaijin(右大臣; the second prime minister of Chotei) Nijyo Nariyuki（二条斉敬） and Zen-Kanpaku(前関白; previous superior regent) Konoe Tadahiro（近衛忠熙）, decided to exclude the Choshu clan and young nobels like Sanjyo Sanetomi(三条実美) who took its side. On the other side, as the representative of Bakuhu in Kyoto, Matudaira Katamori had to prevent the announcement becoming true. Because he was afraid that Bakuhu shell lose the the legitimacy to reign over Japan from Chotei. That is the reason why he decided to exclude the Choshu clan and Sanjyo Sanetomi’s party. He leagued together with emperor Komei, Nijyo Nariyuki and Konoe Tadahiro, and mounted a coup on August 18. Finally, Sanjyo Sanetomi’s party ran away with the troops of the Choshu clan to Choshu domain. This study attempts to explore the position of Kyoto shugoshoku in the coup by analysis of the preparation and the movement of the administers of the coup. Because the schedule of the coup in existence was proposed by the samurais of the Satsuma clan(薩摩藩), who was associated with the Aizu clan, in prior studies, the coup was led by the Satsuma clan, and successed by using the troops of the Aizu clan. But according to the literature, the plan made by the samurais of the Satsuma clan was intending to mount a coup on August 16 and was repealed by Emperor Komei on that day. Those samurais of the Satsuma clan were frustrated and so they drunk together until the next morning. On August 18, they just ordered to guard the gate of the palace, and to forbid Sanjyo Sanetomi’s party get into the palace and let the other nobles get through the gate with using the black list of nobles which delivered by the Aizu clan. In the mean time, the Aizu clan, which recalled the troops going back to the domain and so doubled the force before August 17, was the commander for the all gates control of the palace. Moreover, Matsudaira Katamori attended the royal court for the exclusion of the Choshu clan and Sanjyo Sanetomi’s party. By these evidences I should make the assertion that the Satsuma-lead coup was ended up on August 16, and the Aizu clan was the one which having great effect in the coup on August 18. As the result, the Aizu clan had taken the leadership in the political scene for Bakuhu, so as Emporer Komei and the others retrieved their voice in Chotei.