Table Of ContentMito and the Politics
of Reform in
Early Modern Japan
NEW STUDIES IN MODERN JAPAN
Series Editors: Doug Slaymaker and William M. Tsutsui
New Studies in Modern Japan is a multidisciplinary series that consists pri-
marily of original studies on a broad spectrum of topics dealing with Japan
since the mid-nineteenth century. Additionally, the series aims to bring back
into print classic works that shed new light on contemporary Japan. The series
speaks to cultural studies (literature, translations, film), history, and social
sciences audiences. We publish compelling works of scholarship, by both
established and rising scholars in the field, on a broad arena of topics, in order
to nuance our understandings of Japan and the Japanese.
Advisory Board
Michael Bourdaghs, University of Chicago
Rebecca Copeland, Washington University in St. Louis
Aaron Gerow, Yale University
Yoshikuni Igarashi, Vanderbilt University
Koichi Iwabuchi, Monash University
T. J. Pempel, University of California, Berkeley
Julia Adeney Thomas, University of Notre Dame
Dennis Washburn, Dartmouth College
Merry White, Boston University
Recent Titles in the Series
Mito and the Politics of Reform in Early Modern Japan, by Michael Alan
Thornton
Wild Lines and Poetic Travels: A Keijiro Suga Reader, edited by Doug
Slaymaker
A Transnational Critique of Japaneseness: Cultural Nationalism, Racism,
and Multiculturalism in Japan, by Yuko Kawai
Literature among the Ruins, 1945–1955: Postwar Japanese Literary
Criticism, edited by Atsuko Ueda, Michael K. Bourdaghs, Richi
Sakakibara, and Hirokazu Toeda
Living Transnationally between Japan and Brazil: Routes beyond Roots,
by Sarah A. LeBaron von Baeyer
Tawada Yōko: On Writing and Rewriting, edited by Doug Slaymaker
The Unfinished Atomic Bomb: Shadows and Reflections, edited by David
Lowe, Cassandra Atherton, and Alyson Miller
Mito and the Politics
of Reform in
Early Modern Japan
Michael Alan Thornton
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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Published by Lexington Books
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Copyright © 2021 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Thornton, Michael Alan, author.
Title: Mito and the politics of reform in early modern Japan / Michael Alan
Thornton.
Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, [2021] | Series: New studies in
modern Japan | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary:
“This book takes the perspective of Mito Domain, one of three branches
of Japan’s ruling Tokugawa shogunate, to explore the dynamic history of
political reform in early modern Japan. This book, while grounded in
Mito, examines the role that this domain and its people played in the
birth of the modern Japanese nation-state in the nineteenth century”—
Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021046911 (print) | LCCN 2021046912 (ebook) | ISBN
9781793641892 (cloth) | ISBN 9781793641908 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Mito-han (Japan)—Politics and government. | Mitogaku. |
Mito-han—History. | Japan—History—1787-1868.
Classification: LCC DS894.49.I229 T46 2021 (print) | LCC DS894.49.I229
(ebook) | DDC 952/.131025—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046911
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046912
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Contents
Foreword Yoshito Hori vii
Acknowledgments xi
A Note on Names and Dates xiii
Map of Japan xiv
Map of Mito Domain xvi
Introduction 1
1 The Origins of Mito Domain and Tokugawa Mitsukuni’s
“Golden Age” 15
2 Eighteenth-Century Mito: Crisis, Reform, and the Birth
of the Late Mito School 51
3 “Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarian”: Mito in the
Age of Imperialism 81
4 The Politics of Mito’s Tenpō Reforms 119
5 Nariaki, Yoshinobu, and the Birth of Modern Japan 155
6 The Violent Restoration: Civil War and the End of Mito Domain 189
Conclusion: Mito and Modern Japan 217
Bibliography 231
Index 241
About the Author 249
v
Foreword
The origins of this book date to the start of the “Project to Revitalize the
Heart of Mito” (Mito domannaka saisei project) in February 2016, which
in turn had much more personal roots. I grew up in places with deep ties to
Mito’s history. My elementary school, Sannomaru Elementary, was built on
the grounds of the Kōdōkan, the academy founded by Tokugawa Nariaki and
Fujita Tōko. My middle school, Mito Second Junior High, is on the site of the
Shōkōkan, built by Tokugawa Mitsukuni to house the Dai Nihon shi history
project. And my high school, Mito First High, is in what used to be the main
compound of Mito Castle. These sites were the birthplace of Mito’s famous
“revere the emperor, expel the barbarian” ideology. As a teenager, I studied
hard at school and trained hard on my swim team, following traditional Mito
maxims: “academic and military arts should not be separated” and “balance
hard work with relaxation.” Incidentally, even my first kiss happened in a
place with ties to Mito’s past: the Kairakuen, overlooking Lake Senba.
But after graduating from high school and entering Kyoto University in
1981, my parents moved to Tokyo, and for the next thirty-four years, I drifted
far from Mito. I joined a trading company, got a degree at Harvard, started a
business school and a venture capital firm, GLOBIS, raised five children, and
founded G1, a think tank to “improve Japan.”
I returned to Mito in August 2015 to attend an alumni reunion for my
old swim team. I was shocked at what I saw in Mito: there were few people
walking the streets, and downtown was full of abandoned department stores
and shuttered shops. I felt terrible that I’d done nothing to contribute to Mito
since I left there. After talking with Mayor Takahashi Yasushi, I founded the
revitalization project. My goal was simple: to raise the spirits of my home-
town to the bring back prosperity to Mito, which is the capital city of Ibaraki
Prefecture (Mito has 270,000 people, and Ibaraki’s population is 2.8 million).
vii
viii Yoshito Hori
The first step in the revitalization project was to take over the local pro-
fessional basketball team, the Ibaraki Robots. We then quickly established a
special campus of GLOBIS and transformed an empty lot in central Mito with
an arena, café, studio, and park. We bought land near the Kairakuen and on
the shores of Lake Senba, and we drafted plans to boost their tourism appeal.
We even acquired Ibaraki’s only broadcasting station and began reforming it.
Throughout all of this, I always wanted to highlight Mito’s history, and
particularly its central role in the Meiji Restoration, and share that history
with people across Japan and around the world. A friend introduced me to
Dr. Michael Thornton, whom I immediately asked to write this book. Hap-
pily, he agreed.
To make this book a reality, I worked with Kawasaki Atsushi, the leader
of the GLOBIS Mito campus, to assemble a team. I asked one of my former
swim team kōhai, Inaba Jurō, to work with Michael on the Japanese version
of this book. He supervised the translation, fact checked, and helped identify
local research materials. He also wrote the Japanese appendix, a historical
travel guide to Mito. His tireless support was invaluable. I’d like to express
my appreciation to both Jurō and Michael for bringing this project to light.
Good job, and thank you!
In 2018, we raised six million yen via crowdfunding to support the project.
In 2020, we raised another three million yen to cover publication costs. I want
to express my deep thanks to all those who donated to the project.
Finally, I want to offer my view of the key themes of this book. This book
highlights the lives of several influential individuals in Mito’s history, show-
ing how their actions and ideas led to the Meiji Restoration. As I see it, there
were four stages in this history. First, Tokugawa Mitsukuni started the Dai
Nihon shi, which formed the basis of Mito’s “revere the emperor, expel the
barbarian” philosophy; under Tachihara Suiken, these ideas matured. Second,
Aizawa Seishisai and Fujita Tōko helped spread Mito’s ideas to people across
Japan, particularly the samurai in Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen domains
who went on to topple the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868. Third, at the end
of Tokugawa Nariaki’s reign, a group of Mito samurai assassinated Ii Nao-
suke at Sakurada Gate, which decisively weakened the shogunate. Finally,
Tokugawa Yoshinobu decided to return the Tokugawa ruling mandate to the
imperial throne in late 1867, formally restoring power to the emperor. Seen
this way, Mito played a role at every stage of the Restoration.
It is often said that history is written by the victors. In the Meiji period,
when the national government was dominated by a clique of Satsuma and
Chōshū men, Mito faded out of sight. As a Mitoite, this fact makes me sad.
I really believe that Mito laid the foundation for modern Japan. The impact
Mito’s leaders and their ideas had on men like Shibusawa Eiichi and Matsu-
Foreword ix
shita Kōnosuke are proof of Mito’s lasting impact. Mito’s values, developed
over two hundred years, inspired shishi across Japan to build a new era. This
book shows how this happened.
Now it is up to readers to determine how it all turned out. I hope that many
people will read this book, visit Mito, and discover how Mito’s past shaped
the birth of modern Japan.
Finally, I offer a word of thanks to Ōyama Kōsuke at PHP kenkyūjo, for
his support in publishing the Japanese version of this book, and to Lexington
Books for publishing this English version.
Yoshito Hori
Founder and Chair, Project to Revitalize the Heart of Mito
