Bansha no Goku - Bansha no Goku

This was an incident in the late Edo period in which scholars of Dutch studies were suppressed. Bansha is an abbreviation of the Bansha Society. Watanabe Kazan, a chief retainer of the Tahara Domain in Mikawa (Aichi Prefecture), was promoting reforms in the domain's government and endeavoring to absorb Western knowledge through meetings with Dutch scholars such as Takano Choei and Koseki San'ei, as well as the Shoshikai. Furthermore, many knowledgeable people such as shogunate officials and samurai from various domains gathered at Kazan's meetings because they admired his insight. Torii Yozo, an inspector and son of University Head Hayashi Jussai, hated Dutch scholars such as Kazan from a conservative standpoint based on Confucianism. In June 1837 (Tenpo 8), an American ship, the Morrison, entered Edo Bay to repatriate Japanese castaways in the hope of trading with Japan, but was repelled in Uraga by an order to drive away foreign ships. In response, Kazan wrote Shinkiron and Choei wrote Bojutsu Yume Monogatari (Dream Story), criticizing the shogunate's inhumane actions that turned a blind eye to the world situation. In 1839, senior councilor Mizuno Tadakuni ordered the conservative Torii and the enlightened Nirayama magistrate Egawa Hidetatsu to inspect the Edo Bay stockyards. When Egawa returned to Edo and asked for his opinion, Kazan sent him a paper on the defense of Edo Bay, as well as a book on Western affairs. Torii, learning that Egawa was close to Kazan, fabricated charges that Kazan had been involved in a plan to travel to an uninhabited island (Ogasawara Island), that he had lectured Dutch studies with Choei and others, and that he had criticized the shogunate government, and arrested Kazan, Choei, and their gang in May of the same year. As a result of the investigation, they were cleared of the charges of planning to travel to the uninhabited island, but the crime of criticizing the shogunate government was considered serious, and in December of the same year, Kazan was sentenced to house arrest in Tahara, his hometown, and Choei to life imprisonment. Prior to this, Koseki San'ei, realizing that he too could not escape his crime, committed suicide, and both Kazan and Choei were soon driven to suicide as well. The Shoshikai itself, which presented itself as a society of barbaric learning, was not a direct target of the crackdown, as its leader, Endo Shosuke, a samurai of the Kishu domain, was not arrested. However, this incident marked the oppression of Dutch studies and Dutch scholars, and clearly demonstrated the conflict between conservatives and liberal factions within the shogunate.

[Kazuo Katagiri]

"An Introduction to the Study of the History of Western Studies" by Shosuke Sato (1964, Iwanami Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸後期、蘭学(らんがく)者に対する弾圧事件。蛮社とは蛮学社中の略。三河（愛知県）田原(たはら)藩の家老渡辺崋山(かざん)は、藩政改革の推進を図って、高野長英(ちょうえい)、小関三英(こせきさんえい)ら蘭学者と尚歯(しょうし)会の集まりを通じて西洋知識の吸収に努めていた。また、幕臣・諸藩士などの識者のなかには、崋山の識見を慕って集まる者も少なくなかった。大学頭(かみ)林述斎(じゅっさい)の子で目付の鳥居耀蔵(とりいようぞう)は、儒教思想による守旧的立場から、崋山ら蘭学者を憎悪していた。1837年（天保8）6月、対日通商の望みをもって、日本人漂流民の送還のため江戸湾に入ったアメリカ船モリソン号が、浦賀で異国船打払令によって撃退されるという事件が起きた。すると、崋山は『慎機論(しんきろん)』を、長英は『戊戌(ぼじゅつ)夢物語』（『夢物語』）を著して、世界情勢に目を覆い人道に反する幕府の処置を批判した。39年、老中水野忠邦(ただくに)は守旧派の鳥居と開明派の伊豆韮山(にらやま)の代官江川英龍(ひでたつ)に江戸湾の備場(そなえば)巡見を命じた。江戸に帰った江川から意見を求められた崋山は、江戸湾防備の意見書や『西洋事情書』などを江川に送った。鳥居は、江川が崋山と親しいことを知り、崋山が無人島（小笠原(おがさわら)島）渡航計画に関係し、長英らと蘭学を講じ、幕政批判を行ったなどと、罪状を捏造(ねつぞう)して、同年5月崋山、長英ら一味を逮捕した。取調べの結果、無人島渡航計画などの容疑は晴れたが、幕政批判の罪は重く、同年12月、崋山には国元田原における蟄居(ちっきょ)、長英には永牢(えいろう)の判決が下された。これより先、小関三英は自分も罪の逃れがたきを思い自刃し、崋山、長英の両名もやがて自殺に追い込まれた。蛮学社中の観を呈した尚歯会そのものは、主宰者の紀州藩士遠藤勝助(しょうすけ)が逮捕されておらず、弾圧の直接対象にはなっていなかった。しかし、この事件は、蘭学・蘭学者が弾圧を受け、そこに幕府内における守旧派と開明派との対立が顕著にみられた事件であったといえよう。

［片桐一男］

『佐藤昌介著『洋学史研究序説』（1964・岩波書店）』

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