Hotta Masayoshi
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Hotta Masayoshi (堀田正睦?)(1810-1864) was the Shogun's advisor (rōjū) from 1837 to 1843, and again from 1855 to 1858. He succeeded Abe Masahiro, and in his short years at the post had to address the issue of the Harris Treaty. Townsend Harris, a representative of the United States who demanded that Japan open up six ports to trade, allow Americans to travel freely in Japan, and grant extraterritoriality to them. Hotta then tried to convince the Emperor and the daimyō (feudal lords) to accept the Treaty. Based on his knowledge of the events of the Arrow War, Hotta believed he knew the violent response the United States would return with, if their request was refused. To this end, he even broke precedent and requested audience to speak to the Emperor directly; the Imperial Court refused to sign the treaty without the support of the daimyō. Hotta was replaced by Ii Naosuke in 1858, and the treaty was signed shortly afterwards.
[edit] References
- Jansen, Marius B. (2000). "The Making of Modern Japan" Belknap, Harvard
- McDougall, Walter (1993). "Let the Sea Make a Noise: Four Hundred Years of Cataclysm, Conquest, War and Folly in the North Pacific." New York: Avon Books.
