Toshiakira Kawaji

Japanese: 川路聖謨 - かわじ・としあきら

Year of death: 15th March 1868 (7th April 1868)
Year of birth: April 25, 1801 (June 6, 1801)
A shogunate official in the late Edo period. Son of Naito Yoshibei, a bureaucrat attached to the Hita magistrate in Bungo (Oita Prefecture). At the age of four, he moved with his family to Edo, and at the age of 12, he was adopted into the Hatamoto Kawaji family, inheriting the family headship the following year. In 1817, at the age of 17, he passed the written calculation examination at the Accounting Office, and the following year he was appointed as the Chief Accountant. From then on, he was promoted several times, and in September 1852, he became the Accounting Magistrate, and also served as the Coast Defense Officer. He went on a business trip to Nagasaki with Tsutsui Masanori as the person in charge of receiving Russian envoys. In 1854, he went to Shimoda and signed the Treaty of Peace and Amity between Japan and Putyatin. He also served as the person in charge of translating foreign documents, the person in charge of construction of the Imperial Palace, the person in charge of investigating foreign trade, the person in charge of Harris's Kamifu, and the person in charge of receiving Korean envoys. In February of the same year, he accompanied senior councilor Hotta Masamune to Kyoto to seek approval from the Imperial Court for the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan, but failed. In May of the same year, he was demoted to the Nishinomaru residence, and in August of the following year, he was ordered to retire and be suspended for supporting Tokugawa Yoshinobu and interfering in the issue of the Shogun's succession. In May of 1863 (Bunkyu 3), he was appointed as the Foreign Magistrate, but resigned in October, and in August of the following year (Genji 1), he suffered a stroke and became paralyzed on the left side of his body. He maintained loyalty to the Tokugawa Shogunate as the backbone of his mind, was knowledgeable about overseas affairs, and continued to be an enlightened person. On March 15, 1868 (Meiji 1), believing rumors that Edo had surrendered, he completed the ritual of seppuku and committed suicide with a pistol. "It is better to go against the gods of heaven, when I think of the people of the past who plucked bracken and starved." This is his death poem, in which he says that like the ancient Chinese sages Boyi and Shuqi, he will not live in a new world, but will choose to die as a Tokugawa retainer, rather than submitting to the Emperor's rule.

(Inoue Isao)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治1.3.15(1868.4.7)
生年：享和1.4.25(1801.6.6)
幕末の幕府官僚。豊後(大分県)日田代官所属吏内藤吉兵衛の子。4歳の年に一家をあげて江戸に出,12歳で旗本川路家に養子に入り翌年家督相続。文化14(1817)年17歳の年勘定所の筆算吟味に及第し翌年支配勘定出役,以来昇進を重ね,嘉永5(1852)年9月勘定奉行となり海防掛を兼ねた。筒井政憲と共に露使応接掛として長崎へ出張。安政1(1854)年下田に赴きプチャーチンとの間に日露和親条約を調印。蕃書翻訳用掛,禁裏造営用掛,外国貿易取調掛,ハリス上府用掛,朝鮮通信使聘礼用掛を兼ねる。同5年2月老中堀田正睦に随従して上洛,日米修好通商条約調印の承認を朝廷に求めたが失敗した。同年5月西ノ丸留守居に左遷され,翌年8月,徳川慶喜を支持し将軍継嗣問題に介入したとして隠居・差控の処分を受けた。文久3(1863)年5月外国奉行に起用されるが10月辞職,翌元治1(1864)年8月中風の発作が起こり左半身不随となる。徳川将軍家への忠誠を精神の背骨におき,海外事情に通じ開明性をもち続けた。明治1(1868)年3月15日,江戸開城の風説を信じて切腹の作法を終え,短銃で自殺した。「天つ神に背くもよかり蕨摘み飢えし昔の人をおもへば」。古代中国の聖人伯夷,叔斉のように,新たな世に生きることをやめ天皇の治政に従わず徳川の臣として死を選ぶとの辞世の句である。<参考文献>『川路聖謨文書』,川路寛堂『川路聖謨之生涯』

(井上勲)

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