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Samurai Movies (24)

March 16, 2022

[Choshu 5] In the movie 'Choshu 5' there were five young samurai who went to England in the last part of the Edo Period. It was in 1863: 10 years after Perry, an American commodore, with 4 frigates came, and 5 years before the Meiji Revolution and the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The first scene of the movie which was based on a real life incident was shocking. There was a big parade of a daimyo, 'sankin-kotai', on a road near the coast, that was coming from Edo. Four Englishmen, three men and a woman, were on their horses and happened to pass by the parade. They didn't know what they were supposed to do. In the Edo Period, parades of a daimyo were a kind of military march, because all samurai were technically soldiers. There were some rules for bystanders for these parades. They had to step aside and bow. They couldn't pass through. If it was in the daimyo's domain, citizens had to lie on their knees on the roadside and bow with their hands on the ground, it was called 'dogeza'. The Englishmen didn't know this custom, and approached the parade. The front samurai noticed them and screamed a warning about their rudeness. It was unfortunate for them because the parade's han was Satsuma. Satsuma was famous for its samurais' manly characteristics and they emphasized traditions and partook in sword training seriously. Surprised at the voice, the visitors' horses started to run towards the parade. The samurai did what they were trained to do, they drew their swords... In this incident, one man was killed, the other two men were seriously injured. After Perry came in 1853, the Tokugawa Shogunate reached agreements to open some of its ports to some certain foreign countries. People thought it was the Tokugawa Shogunate's weakness. After the opening of the ports, prices in the country started to go up. People started to complaint. Especially samurai, because they were originally soldiers, their underlying role was to protect their own land. The majority of them started to think that they should fight against these foreign countries. And so, this incident occurred. Some people, including some samurai, who had insights and knowledge about foreign countries, thought that this country should be open toward foreign countries, to some extent, and to study from these countries. But, when they announced it, some radical nationalist samurai assassinated them. It was a reason that this country had been closed for 270 years. One of the most radical samurai hans was Choshu. In the movie, a small group of ten samurai from Choshu set fire to an English diplomatic house which was almost completed by the Tokugawa Shogunate. The leader was Shinsaku Takasugi, a major figure who played an important role in the Meiji Revolution. From this group, three of its members would go to England later. In the movie, one of these three members named Inoue came up with the idea to go to England to study, and started to gather another four members. He felt that arson wouldn't solve anything. But going abroad wasn't a simple thing during this time period. In the movie, all four of the members exclaimed, "Are you serious?! If the plan was leaked, we would be executed by the Tokugawa Shogunate." They knew leaving this country was a death penalty. But, it was not only the Tokugawa's law. There were many radical nationalist samurai who believed that this country should be independent, and go on without any interference from other countries. In fact, a lot of "progressive" advanced thinkers were assassinated by these radical groups. So, they proceeded with their plan very secretly.   With the help of some retainers and the daimyo of Choshu, the five young samurai prepared 5,000 ryo, and asked an English businessman to secure passage on a steamship to go to England, and to live in the country for five years and study various things in order to develop their own country. This English businessman was Thomas Glover, who supported this country's development in various ways. His residence in Nagasaki is now a tourism spot. (To be continued ...)

No. 470




*commodore :提督
*bystander :通りかがり人
*bow: お辞儀する
*partake :参加する
*underlying :根本的な
*insight :洞察
*extent :程度
*diplomatic :外交の
*arson :放火
*progressive :進歩的な
*passage :船旅