On the 3d day of the 3d month the Shiogoon was to hold this levee, at which the Regent, now that he had put down his enemies, would appear in the plenitude of his power as the real ruler of Japan. He set out in his norimono toward the Sakurada gate, which was at a short distance, and seen from the door of his own residence. He was surrounded by his own retinue in white dresses. Suddenly a rush of men was made at the train. The bearers set down the norimono. Men with drawn swords ordered him to come out. He expostulated. One fired a pistol through the chair, wounding him in the back. He tried to crawl out, but his head was immediately cut off and carried away by the assassins.
The investigation which follows will show what took place.
On the 3d day of the 3d month (March 24, 1860) the Gorochiu wrote to the commander of the guard kept by Matzdaira Segami no kami: “Why did you allow men in disguise, with small sleeves and drawn swords, to pass your guard and loiter about the Tatsu no kutchi?” To this a reply was given: “There was a heavy fall of snow at the time. I noticed the men once, and they disappeared; but I acknowledge my fault—I am much to blame in the matter. But what shall I do now? Shall I cut off my men’s heads?”
The same question was put to Matzdaira Daizen no daibu’s (Choshiu) guard, who kept the Sakurada gate. He answered: “This morning at nine o’clock many men passed, but whether they were porters or soldiers I cannot tell. Several passed with blood-stained swords in their hands. I was on the point of arresting them, but as there was much snow falling I could not see them distinctly, or where they went to.”
The principal gentleman in the late Regent’s service, Kimatta Watari, wrote to the Gorochiu as follows: “This morning, while my master was on his way to the shiro to pay his respects to the Shiogoon, an attack was made upon his train. In the scuffle one man was killed, and the servants of Ee brought the body to the house here.”
It is a general impression in Yedo that the servants, or some of them, as well as the guards about, and even some of the Daimios living in the neighborhood, were cognizant of the attack about to be made. Some of them gave no assistance to their master.
The same day the Shiogoon sent two Katchi metsuki to Ee Kamong no kami’s house to make inquiries.
The servants of Sakkai oota no kami, guards of the Owo tay, a large gate of the castle, wrote a similar letter to the above. It is a common plan in Japan, even among Daimios, when an investigation is to be made in which many are concerned, for all to write similar letters, to prevent the government seizing one. They added: “One Ronin, between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age, cut his throat. He only had his sword-sheath when found, and no sword. We found one wounded by a shot, and seized him.”
At Tatsu no kutchi, the men at the cross-street guard-house, occupied by Tajima no kami and Sakkai oota no kami, said to the Gorochiu: “At about eight o’clock this morning a man shot himself through the neck while holding a man’s head in his hand. Immediately one of the guard said, ‘I will ask the man where he came from.’ He said he was a servant of Satsuma. We sent for a surgeon, and he is now under treatment.”
Ee Kamong no kami writes himself to the Shiogoon (notwithstanding his having had his head removed several hours previous): “I proposed going to the levee at the palace, and was on my way there, when near the Sakurada gate, and in front of the joint guard of Matzdaira Osumi no kami and Ooyay Soongi, about twenty men were collected. They began to fire pistols, and afterward with swords attacked me in my norimono. My servants thereupon resisted, and killed one of the men—the others ran off and escaped. I having received several wounds, could not pay my intended visit to the Shiogoon, and was obliged to return to my house, and now I send the names of such of my servants as were wounded.”