As years went by and the empire continued to enjoy profound tranquillity, ostentation, luxury, and effeminate habits began to prevail. Against these evil practices not a few of the statesmen and nobles of the time earnestly counseled the people. Dissipation and vain display reached their height in the time of Iyenari. With this irresistible growth of superficial and licentious habits and the corruption and the demoralization of the feudal classes, which arose from the reign of an unbroken peace and prosperity, and which culminated in the days of Iyenari, the definite decline of the Tokugawa shōgunate may be said to have begun.
Turning to the common people, we find that the great majority of them consisted of farmers, artisans, and merchants. Agriculture being regarded as the staple national industry, farmers ranked above both artisans and merchants, the low place assigned to the mercantile class being due to the consideration that they worked in their own interests only. Neither farmers, artisans, nor merchants were permitted to use family names, so they called themselves simply "farmer this," or "tradesman that," but it was possible to acquire the privilege of using a family name on account of some meritorious public service, and many farmers were so privileged. Lower still than any of the classes hitherto mentioned were the eta and hinin, who were not deemed worthy to be included in any of the above categories.
Chapter XIII
THE FALL OF THE EDO GOVERNMENT. 1837-1868
In 1837 the first armed rebellion against the Tokugawa government since the battle of Amakusa, which took place just two hundred years before, occurred in Ōsaka under the leadership of Ōshio Heihachirō. Erudite and energetic, he had found himself unable to use his ability owing to his mean birth, and took advantage of the popular discontent caused by a famine to raise the standard of revolt. He with his followers attacked the castle of Ōsaka, but failed, and in consequence died by his own hand. The government was yet far too powerful to be shaken by such a small uprising, but the revolt of Ōshio has gained its place in history as a sign of the growing decay and unpopularity of the Edo administration. A far more decisive event, however, was soon to follow.
On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry, envoy of the United States of America, entered the Bay of Uraga with a squadron consisting of two frigates, the Susquehanna and the Mississippi, and two sloops-of-war, the Plymouth and the Saratoga, and sought to open commercial relations with Japan. His visit exercised a powerful influence, entirely unknown to himself, on the domestic affairs of the country. Ever since the early part of the seventeenth century anti-foreign feeling had been so intense that only the Chinese and the Dutch had been allowed to carry on trade at Nagasaki, and other European nations, owing to various circumstances, gave themselves little, if any, concern about Japan. But from the beginning of the eighteenth century the spirit of aggrandizement made itself felt in the Occident, and Western states began to vie with one another in attempts to extend their territories and commerce. Eastward of Japan across the Pacific lay the United States of America, which had shaken off the yoke of Great Britain, and the latter, deprived of this flourishing colony, sought compensation in India and farther eastward, while France also, as well as Russia, turned covetous eyes to the Orient. Nine years before the arrival of the American squadron in Uraga Bay, or in 1844, the Dutch addressed a letter to the Tokugawa government advising that Japan be opened to all foreign nations, and subsequently they often repeated this counsel, at the same time explaining the conditions of the various states of Europe. Among the Japanese, many who had studied the Dutch language and acquired some knowledge of Western affairs were in favor of a liberal foreign policy, but among the bulk of the nation the prejudices engendered by the violent and lawless conduct of the early Christian propagandists remained as strong as ever. Moreover, fresh reasons for resentment had been furnished by various encroachments of the Russians between the Kwansei (1789-1800) and Bunka (1804-1817) eras, and by disorderly conduct of English sailors in Nagasaki. Indeed, the Tokugawa government had once gone so far as to order that any foreign ship approaching the coast of Japan should be fired on, and any Japanese whose studies of Dutch led them to advocate the opening of the country were deprived of their official positions or otherwise punished.
In the last years of the eighteenth century the councilors of Edo strongly advocated complete national seclusion, and at the time when the American squadron visited Japan, Tokugawa Nariakira, commonly called Rekkō, the feudal chief of Mito, a noble of statesman-like qualities, ardently urged the policy of holding aloof from all foreign intercourse. In 1846 two American men-of-war had come to Uraga and sought to open trade relations, but their proposals were not entertained, and they had to leave the country without accomplishing anything. Commodore Perry's visit occurred seven years later; he came with credentials from President Fillmore, as well as specimens of the products of the United States, and made formal application that commerce be opened between his country and Japan. The government replied that the matter being of the gravest importance, no immediate reply could be given, but that an answer would be ready the following year, whereupon Perry sailed away, declaring that he would return the next year without fail. Thereafter the Tokugawa government invited a council of the feudal barons, including the lord of Mito, the matter being at the same time reported to the emperor. During the general confusion incidental to this event, the Shōgun Iyeyoshi died suddenly, his demise taking place in the very month of Perry's coming. He was succeeded by his son Iyesada. The year passed without any definite step being taken, and in February, 1854, Perry once more made his appearance at Uraga and urgently asked for a reply to the proposals he had submitted the preceding year. All the feudal barons, including the Mito chief, united in advocating a policy of seclusion, but the rōjiu, Abe Masahiro, and other chief officials of the Edo castle were astute enough to see that such a policy would be impracticable. They therefore insisted on concluding a treaty of amity and commerce, without paying due attention to its terms. Repeated conferences were held with the American envoy, and finally a treaty was signed on March 31, providing that all American citizens driven to Japan by stress of weather should be kindly treated; that American ships of war should be supplied in Japanese ports with fuel, coal, provisions, and other necessaries; and that the two ports of Shimoda and Hakodate should be opened to American vessels. Subsequently ambassadors came from Russia, France, and England, and conventions were concluded with them in terms virtually the same as those of the American treaty. The government pretended that they had concluded the treaties merely in order to gain time for warlike preparations, but in truth they had been taken by surprise. Moreover, natural calamities of a most disastrous character visited the nation, to increase the financial embarrassment of Edo. In the year of Commodore Perry's second coming violent earthquakes took place in western Japan, only to be followed in the next year by a severer shock, which overthrew immense numbers of the dwellings of the upper and lower classes as well as of the feudal barons, and caused in Edo a terrific fire in which 100,000 persons are said to have lost their lives.
