, also known as ''kaigun-bugō,'' were officials of the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.
The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...
in
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually ''
fudai daimyō''.
[Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868'', p. 322.] Conventional interpretations have construed these Japanese titles as "commissioner", "overseer" or "governor".
This ''
bakufu
, officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
'' title identifies an official with responsibility for naval matters. The office was created on March 28, 1859. The creation of this new position was an administrative change which was deemed necessary because of two treaties which were negotiated with the Americans. The open port provisions were part of the
Convention of Kanagawa of 1858, which cam about as the result
Commodore Perry's second appearance in Tokyo harbor with armed battleships. More precisely, this ''bugyō'' was considered essential because of the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which had been negotiated in 1858 by the American representative,
Townsend Harris—the
Harris Treaty of 1858).
The ''gunkan-bugyō'' was considered to rank approximately with the ''
kanjō-bugyō''.
The genesis of the ''gunkan-bugyō'' pre-dates the actual creation of the office.
''Kaibō-gakari''
The prefix ''kaibō-gakari'' meaning "in charge of maritime defense" was used with the titles of some ''bakufu'' officials after 1845. This term was used to designate those who bore a special responsibility for overseeing coastal waters, and by implication, for dealing with matters involving foreigners—for example, ''kaibō-gakari-ōmetsuke'' which later came to be superseded by the term ''gaikoku-gakari.''
List of ''gunkan-bugyō''
:
*
Mizuno Tadanori (1859).
[Beasley, p. 337.]
*
Nagai Naomune, (1859).
[Beasley, p. 338.]
*
Inoue Kyuonao (1859–1862).
[Beasley, p. 333.]
*
Oguri Tadamasa (1865).
*
Enomoto Takeaki – ''kaigun-bugyō'' (1866–1868).
[ "Military man"](_blank)
Dictionary of history & traditions in Japan web site.
*
Katsu Kaishū
*
Kimura Kaishū (1860–1865, 1866–1868)
See also
*
Bugyō
was a title assigned to ''samurai'' officials in feudal Japan. ''Bugyō'' is often translated as commissioner, magistrate, or governor, and other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given official's tasks or jurisdi ...
Notes
References
*
Beasley, William G. (1955)
''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–1868''.London:
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
; reprinted by
RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2001. (cloth)
Government of feudal Japan
Officials of the Tokugawa shogunate
{{Japan-hist-stub