Iwase Tadanari - Iwase Tadanari

A shogunate official and diplomat in the late Edo period. The third son of the shogunate official Shidara Sadatomo. Adopted by Iwase Tadamasa. Commonly known as Tokusaburo and Shuri. He was known as Senshu and Osho, and was appointed as Iga no Kami and Higo no Kami. Considered a genius among the shogunate officials, Tadaharu was appointed by the senior councilor Abe Masahiro, and in 1853 (Kaei 6) he became a kachigashira (foot soldier) while still living in his room. The following year, when Perry returned to Japan, he was appointed as an inspector, and he was at the forefront of coastal defense and diplomacy, promoting the opening-up policy. When American envoy Harris arrived in Japan in 1856 (Ansei 3), he preached the inevitability of opening ports and trade, and together with Shimoda magistrate Inoue Kiyonao, he was appointed plenipotentiary and worked hard to conclude the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan. To obtain the imperial sanction for the treaty, he accompanied senior councilor Hotta Masayoshi to Kyoto, but was unsuccessful, and in the end, the treaty was signed in 1858 without waiting for the imperial sanction. He was then appointed magistrate for foreign affairs, and concluded similar treaties with the Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain, and France (the Ansei Five-Power Treaties). In the issue of the Shogunate succession, he acted as a central figure in the Hitotsubashi faction, which made him unpopular with the Chief Advisor Ii Naosuke, and he was demoted to the position of Commissioner of Construction immediately after the signing of the Five-Power Treaty, and the following year he was dismissed and ordered to live in seclusion. However, Naosuke also highly praised Tadaharu's achievements in diplomacy. He promoted talented people such as Katsu Kaishu, and was seen as the leading enlightened bureaucrat. He retired to his villa in Mukojima, Edo, and died of illness on July 16, 1861. He was 44 years old.

[Minoru Tada]

"The Three Truths of the End of the Edo Period" by Saburo Kawasaki (1897, Shunyodo) " Politicians of the End of the Edo Period" by Genichiro Fukuchi (1900, Minyusha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸末期の幕臣、外交家。幕臣設楽貞丈(しだらさだとも)の三男。岩瀬忠正の養子。通称篤三郎、修理(しゅり)。蟾州(せんしゅう)、鴎所(おうしょ)と号し、伊賀守(いがのかみ)、肥後守に任ず。幕臣中の俊傑と目された忠震は老中阿部正弘(まさひろ)に登用され、部屋住の身で1853年（嘉永6）徒頭(かちがしら)となり、翌年ペリーの再来日に際し目付に任ぜられ、海防・外交の第一線にたって開国政策を推進した。56年（安政3）アメリカ使節ハリスの来日にあたっては、開港・通商のやみがたきを説き、下田奉行(ぶぎょう)井上清直(きよなお)とともに全権に任ぜられて日米修好通商条約の締結に尽力した。条約勅許を得るために老中堀田正睦(まさよし)に随行、上洛(じょうらく)したが果たさず、ついに勅許を待たず58年調印した。ついで外国奉行に就任、オランダ、ロシア、イギリス、フランスとの間にも同様の条約を結んだ（安政(あんせい)五か国条約）。将軍継嗣(けいし)問題では、一橋(ひとつばし)派の中心人物として行動したため、大老井伊直弼(いいなおすけ)に忌まれ、五か国条約調印直後作事(さくじ)奉行に落とされ、翌年さらに免職、蟄居(ちっきょ)を命ぜられたが、直弼も忠震の外交における功績は高く評価した。勝海舟らの人材を登用し、開明派官僚の第一人者と目された。江戸・向島(むこうじま)の別邸に退き、文久(ぶんきゅう)元年7月16日病没した。44歳。

［多田　実］

『川崎三郎著『幕末三俊』（1897・春陽堂）』▽『福地源一郎著『幕末政治家』（1900・民友社）』

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