Hotta Masayoshi
(
1810-
1864) was the
Shogun's advisor from
1857 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.
*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.
