Katsu Kaishu
The Man Who Saved Early Modern Japan
continued
In the face of Perry's demands, the shogunate conducted a national survey, calling for solutions to the foreign threat. The shogunate received hundreds of responses, the majority of which, broadly speaking, represented either of two conflicting viewpoints. On one side were those who proposed opening the country to foreigners. Their opponents advocated preserving the centuries-old policy of exclusionism. But neither side offered a constructive means for realizing their proposals. In contrast, the memorial submitted by one unknown samurai was clear, brilliant, progressive, and included concrete advice for the future of Japan. In his memorial, Kaishu pointed out that Perry had been able to enter Edo Bay unimpeded only because Japan did not have a navy to defend itself. He urged the shogunate to recruit men for a navy. He dared to propose that the military government break age-old tradition and go beyond birthright to recruit men of ability, rather than the sons of the social elite—and certainly there was nobody in all of Edo more poignantly aware of this necessity than this impoverished, brilliant young man from the lower echelons of samurai society. Kaishu advised that the shogunate lift its ban on the construction of warships needed for national defense; that it manufacture Western-style cannon and rifles; that it reform the military according to modern Western standards and establish military academies. Pointing out the great technological advances being achieved in Europe and the United States, Kaishu challenged the narrow-minded traditionalists who opposed the adoption of Western military technology and systems.
Within the first few years after the arrival of Perry, all of Kaishu's proposals were adopted by the shogunate. In January 1855, Kaishu was recruited into government service. In Japanese chronology this corresponded to the second year of the Era of Stable Government, to which purpose Kaishu dedicated the remaining forty-four years of his life. In September, Kaishu sailed to Nagasaki, as one of a select group of thirty-seven Tokugawa retainers to study at the new Nagasaki Naval Academy, where he remained for two and a half years.
In January 1860, Katsu Kaishu commanded the famed Kanrin Maru, a tiny triple-masted schooner, on the first authorized overseas voyage in the history of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Captain Katsu and company were bound for San Francisco. They preceded the Japanese delegation dispatched to Washington aboard the U.S. steam frigate Powhatan to ratify Japan's first commercial treaty. After the arrival of the Powhatan, they would return to Japan to report the safe arrival of the delegation. But more significantly for Captain Katsu and company was the opportunity to demonstrate the maritime skills they had acquired under their Dutch instructors at Nagasaki, for, as Kaishu emphasized, "the glory of the Japanese Navy."
Kaishu remained in San Francisco for nearly two months, observing American society, culture, and technology. He contrasted American society to that of feudal Japan, where a person was born into one of four castes—warrior, peasant, artisan, merchant—and, for the most part, remained in that caste for life. Of particular interest to Kaishu, who was determined to modernize and indeed democratize his own nation, were certain aspects of American democracy. "There is no distinction between soldier, peasant, artisan, or merchant. Any man can be engaged in commerce," he observed. "Even a high-ranking officer is free to set up business once he resigns or retires."
Generally, the samurai who received a stipend from their feudal lord looked down upon the men of the merchant class and considered business for monetary profit a base occupation. "Usually people walking through town did not wear swords, regardless of whether they were soldiers, merchants, or government officials," while in Japan it was a samurai's strict obligation to be armed at all times. Kaishu also observed the peculiar relationship between men and women in American society. "A man accompanied by his wife would always hold her hand as he walked." The immense cultural and social gaps notwithstanding, Kaishu, the outsider among his countrymen, was pleased with the Americans. "I had not expected the Americans to express such delight at our arrival to San Francisco, nor for all the people of the city, from the government officials on down, to make such great efforts to treat us so well."
In 1862, Kaishu was appointed Vice Commissioner of the Tokugawa Navy. He established his naval academy in Kobe in 1863, with the help of his right-hand man, Sakamoto Ryoma. The following year Kaishu was promoted to the post of Navy Commissioner, and received the honorary title Awa-no-Kami, Protector of the Province of Awa. In October 1864, Kaishu, who had thus far enjoyed the ear of the shogun, was recalled to Edo, dismissed from his post, and placed under house arrest for harboring known enemies of the Tokugawa. His naval academy was closed down and his generous stipend reduced to a bare minimum.
