Hotta Masayoshi

Infobox_Officeholder | name= Hotta Masayoshi
nationality=Japanese


caption=Hotta Masayoshi
order=5th (Hotta) Lord of Sakura
term_start= 1825
term_end= 1859
predecessor= Hotta Masachika
successor= Hotta Masamichi
birth_date=birth date|1810|8|30|mf=y
birth_place=
death_date=death date and age|1864|4|26|1810|8|30|mf=y
death_place= Sakura, Japan
spouse=

nihongo|Hotta Masayoshi|堀田正睦|(August 30, 1810- April 26, 1864) was the Shogun's advisor ("rōjū") from 1837 to 1843, and again from 1855 to 1858.

"Rōjū": 1837-1843

"Rōjū": 1855-1858

Hotta succeeded Abe Masahiro, and in his short years at the post had to address the issue of the Harris Treaty.

"Gaikoku-bōeki-toshirabe-gakari"

Hotta formed an "ad hoc" committee of "bakufu" officials with special knowledge of foreign affairs, and he himself headed this working group. In November 1856, he appointed the members and charged them to come up with recommendations about the terms for opening Japanese ports. The results of their deliberations would become the basis for negotiations which ultimately resulted in the Harris Treaty of 1858 (the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States).Beasley, William G. (1955). "Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853-1868," p. 322.]

Harris Treaty

Townsend Harris, a representative of the United States who demanded that Japan open up six ports to trade, allow Americans to travel freely in Japan, and grant extraterritoriality to them. Hotta then tried to convince the Emperor and the "daimyō" (feudal lords) to accept the Treaty. Based on his knowledge of the events of the Arrow War, Hotta believed he knew the violent response the United States would return with, if their request was refused. To this end, he even broke precedent and requested audience to speak to the Emperor directly; the Imperial Court refused to sign the treaty without the support of the "daimyō".

Hotta was replaced by Ii Naosuke in 1858, and the treaty was signed shortly afterwards.

Life out of power

References

* Beasley, William G. (1955). "Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853-1868." London: Oxford University Press. [reprinted by RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2001. 10-ISBN 0-197-13508-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-197-13508-2 (cloth)]
* Bolitho, Harold. (1974). "Treasures Among Men; the Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan". New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-01655-7
*Jansen, Marius B. (2000). "The Making of Modern Japan" Belknap, Harvard
*McDougall, Walter (1993). "Let the Sea Make a Noise: Four Hundred Years of Cataclysm, Conquest, War and Folly in the North Pacific." New York: Avon Books.