Naosuke Ii

A senior councilor of the shogunate in the late Edo period. The 13th lord of Hikone Domain. He signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan in violation of imperial decree, and was a central figure in the Ansei Purge. He was assassinated outside Sakuradamon Gate. He was born on December 29, 1819, in Hikone Castle as the 14th son of Naonaka, the 11th lord of Hikone Domain with a fief of 350,000 koku. His mother was a concubine, Otomi no Kata (the daughter of Iseya Jubei, Hayabusa-cho, Kojimachi, Edo). His father was 50 and his mother 31 when he was born, and Naonaka had already handed over the family headship to Naoaki (the third son and 12th lord), so he grew up surrounded by the love of his parents. In 1831 (Tenpo 2), 17-year-old Naosuke, following the tradition of the Ii clan, received 300 bales of rice as a gift from the domain and moved from the Keyaki Palace in Hikone Castle to the northern residence in Osuemachi, the third bailey. He named this northern residence Umoreginoya, and lived there as a roommate for 15 years until he was adopted by Naoaki in 1846 (Koka 3). Umoreginoya was built "not because he hated the world, nor did he have a weak heart that greedily sought after it, so he had no hopes or desires, but simply stayed in the hut of Umoreginoya and thought of doing the work he had to do" (Umoreginoya's record). During his time as a priest, Naosuke studied Zen, Iai, military science, and the tea ceremony (his representative work is "Chayu Ichieshu"). He also studied under the Japanese scholar Nagano Yoshitoki (known as Shume, later Shuzen, and pen name Momonoya) and learned Japanese classics, waka poetry, and ancient studies, and was highly valued by him.

In 1850 (Kaei 3), after Naoaki's death, Naosuke inherited the title of head of the Hikone Domain and was called Kamon no Kami. He was 36 years old at the time. After Commodore Perry's arrival in 1853, the shogunate and domain system began to falter under external pressure, and the Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and Japan in the following year of 1854 (Ansei 1), the shogunate's isolationist system, which had been its "ancestral law," began to crumble. The senior councilor Hotta Masayoshi (Lord of Sakura Domain), who pursued a policy of opening the country to the outside world, was supported by the daimyo who lived in the Tamari-no-Mazume area, but it was Naosuke who controlled these fudai daimyo, and he gradually came into conflict with the daimyo who lived in the Oorokazume area and the Tozama daimyo who lived in the Ohiroma area, represented by Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860), who advocated the anti-foreigner ideology, Matsudaira Yoshinaga (Shungaku, Lord of Echizen Domain), and Shimazu Nariakira (Lord of Satsuma Domain), who lived in the Oorokazume area. This conflict became even more acute when it became intertwined with the issue of the succession to the 13th shogun, Tokugawa Iesada, and while a faction of family and outside daimyo (the Hitotsubashi faction) supported Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu (Nariaki's seventh son) based on the principles of "seniority, wisdom, and popularity" for the successor to shogun, the faction of fudai daimyo such as Naosuke (the Nanki faction) supported Tokugawa Yoshitomi (later known as Iemochi), lord of the Kishu domain, emphasizing "the customs of the imperial nation" and "bloodline."

In 1858 (Ansei 5), Naosuke was appointed as Tairo (chief advisor), selected Keifuku as the successor to the shogunate, and signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan without obtaining imperial sanction. The Hitotsubashi faction, who lost the issue of the succession, launched a concerted attack on Ii for signing the treaty in violation of the imperial sanction, and this sparked the Sonno Joi movement, an anti-shogunate movement. Naosuke, seeing the crisis facing the shogunate, took thorough measures to suppress it, and by the following year of 1859, he had caused the so-called Ansei Purge. Naosuke's logic was that the shogunate, which had received the mandate of the shogunate, should have taken "the right of opportunity" and that "we alone are resolved to accept any serious crimes that do not await imperial sanction" (Hidden Records of the Official Affairs Bureau). However, Naosuke's policy of suppression led to his violent death in the Sakuradamon Incident on March 3, 1860 (Man'en 1). The evaluation of Ii Naosuke has varied greatly depending on the era, with some describing him as a "disloyal retainer" and others as a "benefactor who opened the country to the world."

[Akira Tanaka]

"Ii Naosuke" by Yoshida Tsuneyoshi (1963, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸末期の幕府の大老。彦根(ひこね)藩第13代藩主。日米修好通商条約を違勅調印し、安政(あんせい)の大獄の中心人物。桜田門外で暗殺された。文化(ぶんか)12年12月29日、彦根藩35万石の第11代城主直中(なおなか)の十四男として彦根城内に生まれる。母は側室お富の方（江戸麹町隼(こうじまちはやぶさ)町伊勢屋(いせや)十兵衛の女(むすめ)）。父50歳、母31歳のときの子で、直中はすでに家督を直亮(なおあき)（三男、第12代藩主）に譲っていたから、両親の愛を一身に集めて成長した。1831年（天保2）17歳の直弼は、井伊家の家風に従って、藩から300俵の宛行扶持(あてがいぶち)をもらい、彦根城中の槻(けやき)御殿を出て、第三郭の尾末町(おすえまち)の北の御屋敷に移った。この北の御屋敷を埋木舎(うもれぎのや)と名づけ、1846年（弘化3）直亮の養子となるまでの15年間、ここで部屋住みの生活をした。この埋木舎は「これ世を厭(いと)ふにもあらず、はた世を貪(むさぼ)るごときかよわき心しおかざれば、望み願ふこともあらず、たゞうもれ木の籠(こも)り居て、なすべき業(わざ)をなさましとおもひ設け」（埋木舎の記）たものであった。この埋木舎時代に「なすべき業」として、直弼は禅、居合(いあい)、兵学、茶道（代表作『茶湯一会集(いちえしゅう)』あり）など教養を積んだ。さらに国学者長野義言(よしとき)（通称主馬(しゅめ)、のち主膳(しゅぜん)、号を桃廼舎(もものや)）に師事し、国学、歌道、古学などを学び、また彼を重用した。

　1850年（嘉永3）直亮の死去により直弼は彦根藩を襲封、掃部頭(かもんのかみ)と称した。ときに数え年36歳。1853年のペリー来航以降、外圧によって幕藩体制は揺らぎ、翌1854年（安政1）の日米和親条約で幕府の「祖法」としての鎖国体制は崩れ始めた。開国政策をとった老中堀田正睦(ほったまさよし)（佐倉藩主）は溜間詰(たまりのまづめ)大名に支持されたが、これらの譜代(ふだい)大名を牛耳(ぎゅうじ)っていたのが直弼であり、攘夷(じょうい)主義をとった徳川斉昭(なりあき)（1800―1860）以下、松平慶永(よしなが)（春嶽。越前(えちぜん)藩主）、島津斉彬(なりあきら)（薩摩(さつま)藩主）らによって代表される大廊下詰(おおろうかづめ)家門(かもん)大名、大広間詰外様(とざま)大名としだいに対立するに至った。この対立は第13代将軍徳川家定(いえさだ)の継嗣(けいし)問題と絡んでいっそう先鋭となり、家門・外様大名一派（一橋(ひとつばし)派）が、「年長、英明、人望」を将軍継嗣の原則として一橋慶喜(よしのぶ)（斉昭第7子）を担いだのに対し、直弼ら譜代大名の派（南紀派）は、「皇国の風儀」と「血脈」を強調して紀州藩主徳川慶福(よしとみ)（のち家茂(いえもち)）を推した。

　1858年（安政5）直弼は大老に就任、将軍継嗣には慶福を決定し、さらに勅許を得ないまま日米修好通商条約に調印した。継嗣問題に敗れた一橋派は違勅調印を理由に一斉に井伊攻撃に立ち上がり、ここに反幕運動としての尊攘運動に火がついた。幕府の危機をみてとった直弼は徹底した弾圧策をとり、翌1859年にかけていわゆる安政の大獄を引き起こした。直弼の論理は大政委任を受けた幕府が「臨機の権道」をとるのは当然で、「勅許を待(また)ざる重罪は甘んじて我等(われら)壱人に受候決意」（公用方秘録）というにあった。しかし、直弼のこの弾圧政策は、1860年（万延1）3月3日の桜田門外の変として彼の横死を招いたのである。井伊直弼の評価は「不忠の臣」とか「開国の恩人」など、時代によって大きく振幅がある。

［田中　彰］

『吉田常吉著『井伊直弼』（1963・吉川弘文館）』

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