Emperor Kōmei

On 22 January 1858, Daigaku-no-kami Hayashi Akira headed the bakufu delegation which sought advice from Emperor Kōmei in deciding how to deal with newly assertive foreign powers.[9] This would have been the first time the Emperor's counsel was actively sought since the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The most easily identified consequence of this transitional overture would be the increased numbers of messengers streaming back and forth between Edo and Kyoto during the next decade.[10] Concerning these difficult Imperial audiences in Kyoto, it is somewhat remarkable that the shogun and his bakufu were represented by Hayashi Akira, a 19th-century neo-Confucian scholar/bureaucrat who might have been somewhat surprised to find himself at a crucial nexus of managing political change—moving arguably "by the book" through uncharted waters with well-settled theories and history as the only reliable guide.[11] Hayashi Akira was dispatched from Edo to Kyoto in October 1858 to explain the terms of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (日米修好通商条約, Nichibei Shūkō Tsūshō Jōyaku), also known as the Harris Treaty. Hayashi's twofold task was to both explain the terms to a sceptical Emperor and gain the sovereign's assent to it. Kōmei did ultimately acquiesce in February 1859 when he came to understand that there was no alternative.[12]

The pilgrimage of the 14th shogun Tokugawa Iemochi to Kyoto in 1863 was a defining moment not only in 19th century relations between the military bakufu and the Imperial Court, but also in what history would come to call the Meiji Restoration. The reception by Emperor Kōmei of the shogun in the Kyoto palace can be seen as a moment at which the political realm was thoroughly redefined, becoming a transitional imperial realm. This impression was enforced by the ensuing pilgrimage by Emperor Kōmei to the Kamo shrine, with the shogun in tow. This public demonstration showed that a new order had now emerged in the realm.[13]

After reluctantly accepting the Harris Treaty, Japan quickly signed similar treaties, called the Ansei Treaties (also known as the Ansei Five-Power Treaties, with Russia, France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands).[14] The treaties stipulated that the citizens of those foreign nations would be allowed to reside and trade at will in the cities of Edo, Nagasaki, Niigata, Kobe and Yokohama. Those five cities were to be opened to foreign trade with the four Western nations in the treaties. In addition, the treaties stipulated that a system of extraterritoriality would provide for the subjugation of foreign residents to the laws of their own consular courts instead of the Japanese legal system.[15]

An 1861 image expressing the Joi (攘夷, "Expel the Barbarians") sentiment

Emperor Kōmei was infuriated with nearly every development during his reign as Emperor, and during his lifetime he never saw any foreigners nor did he know much about them. Unequal trade treaties with the Western powers, such as the Treaty of Kanagawa and the Harris Treaty were signed without Imperial sanction and in spite of the Emperor's refusal to approve them. He twice expressed his will to resign from his position in protest. During his reign he started to gain more power as the Tokugawa shogunate declined, though this was limited to consultation and other forms of deference according to protocol. Emperor Kōmei generally agreed with anti-Western sentiments, and, breaking with centuries of imperial tradition, began to take an active role in matters of state. As opportunities arose, he fulminated against the treaties and attempted to interfere in the shogunal succession. His efforts culminated in 1863 with his "Order to expel barbarians". Although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan: the most famous incident was the killing of British trader Charles Lennox Richardson, for which the Tokugawa government paid an indemnity of 100,000 pound sterling.[16] Other incidents included the bombardments of Shimonoseki and Kagoshima, and the destruction of Japanese warships, coastal guns, and assorted military infrastructure throughout the country. These incidents showed that Japan could not match the military might of the Western powers at the time, and that military confrontation could not prove to be a diplomatic solution.[17]

In January 1867 the Emperor was diagnosed with smallpox, which caused surprise because Kōmei had allegedly never been ill before. On 30 January 1867 he suffered a fatal violent bout of vomiting and diarrhea, and had purple spots on his face. Emperor Kōmei's death was distinctly convenient for the anti-bakufu forces whom Kōmei had consistently opposed. It was rumored at the time that he was assassinated either by radicals from Choshu, or radical officials in the court. British diplomat Sir Ernest Satow wrote, "it is impossible to deny that [the Emperor Kōmei's] disappearance from the political scene, leaving as his successor a boy of fifteen or sixteen [actually fourteen], was most opportune".[18] However, there is no evidence of this and it is generally believed that he was simply one more victim of what was a worldwide pandemic at the time.[19] Nevertheless, by the time of Emperor Kōmei's death the government was faced with bankruptcy and near collapse. Japan was also surrounded by colonial powers, who stood poised to gain considerable influence with substantial investments in Japanese trade. Kōmei's son, Imperial Prince Mutsuhito, was crowned as Emperor Meiji on 12 September 1868 and these issues were put to rest under the Meiji Restoration.

After Kōmei's death in 1867, his kami was enshrined in the Imperial mausoleum, Nochi no Tsukinowa no Higashi no misasagi (後月輪東山陵), which is at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined in this mausoleum complex are Kōmei's immediate predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo: Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi, Go-Momozono, Kōkaku and Ninkō.[20] Empress Dowager Eishō is also entombed at this Imperial mausoleum complex.[21]

Emperor Kōmei was the last Emperor to be given a posthumous name chosen after his death. Beginning with the reign of his son, Emperor Meiji, posthumous names were chosen in advance, being the same as their reign names.