Masaoki Shinmi

A shogunate official during the late Edo period, he was the official envoy sent to America to ratify the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan. He was originally called Ise no Kami, and later Buzen no Kami, and was appointed as the Magistrate of Foreign Affairs in 1859 (Ansei 6). During the negotiations for the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan, he surprised the American Consul General Harris by proposing to send a special envoy to ratify the treaty. Together with the deputy envoy Muragaki Norimasa and the inspector Oguri Tadamasa, he traveled to America as the official envoy to ratify the treaty. The envoy, consisting of over 80 people, left Yokohama on the American warship Powhatan on January 22, 1860 (Man'en 1), and arrived in Washington on March 25, leap year. After the exchange of the ratification documents, they were welcomed in Philadelphia and New York, traveled around the Atlantic Ocean and the southern tip of Africa, and returned to Yokohama on September 27. However, after returning to Japan, he was unable to make use of what he had seen and experienced in America amid an anti-foreigner atmosphere.

[Kei Ikeda]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

幕末期の幕臣、日米修好通商条約批准のための遣米正使。初め伊勢守(いせのかみ)、のち豊前(ぶぜん)守と称し、1859年（安政6）外国奉行(ぶぎょう)に任ぜられる。日米修好通商条約締結交渉の際、条約批准の特使派遣を提議してハリス米総領事を驚かせたという。副使村垣範正(むらがきのりまさ)および目付小栗忠順(おぐりただまさ)とともに、正使として条約批准のためアメリカに渡る。この使節は、総勢80余名で、1860年（万延1）1月22日、アメリカ軍艦ポーハタン号にて横浜を出発し、閏(うるう)3月25日ワシントンに到着した。批准書交換後、フィラデルフィアやニューヨークで歓迎され、大西洋からアフリカ南端を回り、9月27日横浜に帰着する。しかし帰国後は、攘夷(じょうい)の雰囲気のなかでアメリカの見聞を生かすことができなかった。

［池田敬正］

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