The Bansha no goku (蛮社の獄, literally "Indictment of the society for western (or barbarian) study") refers to the 1839 suppression of scholars of Western Studies (
rangaku
''Rangaku'' (Kyūjitai: /Shinjitai: , literally "Dutch learning", and by extension "Western learning") is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of West ...
) by the
Edo Shogunate government of
Japan.
The incident was provoked by criticism of the isolationist
sakoku policy due to actions such as the
Morrison Incident
The of 1837 occurred when the American merchant ship, ''Morrison'' headed by Charles W. King, was driven away from " sakoku" (isolationist) Japan by cannon fire. This was carried out in accordance with the Japanese Edict to Repel Foreign Vesse ...
when an unarmed American merchant ship was fired upon under the
Edict to Repel Foreign Ships.
Among those who suffered from this action were
Watanabe Kazan
was a Japanese painter, scholar and statesman member of the samurai class.
Biography
He was born Watanabe Sadayasu in Edo (now Tokyo) to a poor samurai family, and his artistic talent was developed from an early age. His family served the ...
,
Takano Chōei
was a prominent scholar of ''Rangaku'' (western science) during the Bakumatsu period in Japan.
Life
Chōei was born as Gotō Kyōsai, the third son of Gotō Sōsuke, a middle-ranking samurai in Mizusawa Domain of Mutsu Province in what is now pa ...
and
Koseki Sanei
A or family register is a Japanese family registry. Japanese law requires all Japanese households (basically defined as married couples and their unmarried children) to make notifications of their vital records (such as births, adoptions, dea ...
.
1839 in Japan
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