Last Samurai Describes Final Days of Old Japan
A senior Japanese statesman (Itō Hirobumi) recounts his illegal voyage to Europe in the 1860s, his role in persuading the Chōshū clan to abandon anti-foreigner isolationism, and his subsequent work dismantling the feudal system and building Japan's constitutional government. The account spans the Tokugawa collapse through the early Meiji era, arguing that Japan's rapid modernization was built on genuine pre-existing moral foundations, not a superficial Western veneer. ---
Key Concepts
| Concept | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sakoku (seclusion policy) | Tokugawa-era ban on Japanese subjects traveling abroad or engaging with foreigners, enforced under threat of death |
| Sonnō Jōi ("expel the barbarians") | The dominant political faction in 1860s Kyoto demanding the violent exclusion of all foreigners |
| Bushido | The samurai moral code — described here as a centuries-deep ethical education emphasizing stoic heroism, simplicity, and self-sacrifice |
| Meiji Restoration | The transfer of political power from the Tokugawa Shogunate back to the Emperor, enabling centralized modernization |
| Clan (han) system abolition | Replacing feudal domains with prefectures governed by imperial appointees — a foundational structural reform |
| Constitutional drafting | Japan's process of studying Western governance (especially the U.S. Constitution and Federalist Papers) to design its own modern framework |
Notes
Conditions Under Tokugawa Rule (pre-Restoration)
- Two factions: isolationists (dominant) vs. those who favored opening trade
- Advocating for open relations risked assassination — few dared speak publicly
- Temple bells were being melted down to make guns for coastal defense
- Traveling abroad required disguising as merchants and concealing samurai swords
The Secret Voyage to Europe (~1863)
- Five men total, including the narrator and Kaoru Inoue; narrator had no official permission — effectively a fugitive
- Obtained secondhand Western clothes in Yokohama; only oversized sailor boots available
- Had hair cut in European style — narrator claims they were among the first Japanese to do so
- Nearly turned back by the English shipping agent, who refused passage as it violated Tokugawa law
- The group threatened suicide on the spot; the agent relented and arranged passage
Arrival in London
- Guided to the Tower of London by a former ship captain; outfitted at barber, tailor, shoemaker
- Read in a London newspaper that the British Parliament was debating a punitive expedition against Chōshū for firing on foreign ships
- Witnessing British naval and industrial power firsthand (Greenwich Arsenal, shipyards, Kew Observatory) made the narrator conclude Chōshū had no realistic chance of winning
Decision to Return Home
- The narrator and Inoue cut short their studies to return and lobby against the war policy
- Professor Williamson advised them they were too young to succeed; narrator refused to stay
- On return to Yokohama, disguised themselves again fearing execution as spies
- Borrowed hakama, haori, and two swords from a friend to restore their samurai appearance
Persuading the Chōshū Clan Leadership
- Granted a four-hour audience with the Daimyō and ministers
- Used a map and firsthand accounts to convey the scale of European civilization
- Described 18 foreign warships anchored at Yokohama, ready to bombard Japan
- Argued for restoring Imperial power as the path to a unified government capable of negotiating with foreign powers
- The clan's policy position began to shift — this prompted assassination threats from the Daimyō's own guards
- The clan government ultimately forbade violence against them
Meiji Restoration and Structural Reforms
- The Tokugawa Shogunate, weakened by 300 years of peace, lost its vigor and was forced to hand power to the Emperor
- Anti-foreigner sentiment collapsed almost entirely after the Restoration
- The narrator (now Itō Hirobumi) was appointed Secretary of Foreign Affairs, then Governor of Hyōgo
- Abolished the clan system in favor of prefectures — met with fierce resistance from samurai who feared losing stipends
Modernization Projects
- Railway laid between Tokyo (imperial capital) and Yokohama from the second year of Meiji
- Traveled to America to study taxation, paper currency, national banks, budgets, and customs systems
- Count Ōkuma subsequently issued paper currency; national banks established to back it
Constitutional Drafting
- Returned in the 16th year of Meiji to draft Japan's constitution
- Drew directly on the U.S. model; kept a copy of the Federalist Papers (Madison, Hamilton, 1787) in his personal library
- Noted that republics suit smaller nations; the U.S. founders' achievement in applying it to a large country was exceptional
Defense of Pre-Meiji Japanese Civilization
- Rejected the claim that Meiji modernization was a superficial Western import
- Argued Japan had centuries of high moral education under Bushido — stoic heroism, simplicity, self-sacrifice
- Compared the ethical attainment to Sparta (heroism) and Athens (aesthetic culture)
- The Meiji government's task: expand ordinary people's political vision from village → district → prefecture → nation
- After 16 years, judged the experiment a success: even the poorest peasant felt personal investment in national affairs
- Credited constitutional and representative participation for creating the unified public opinion backing the government in its "supreme moment"
Actionable Takeaways
- When assessing a society's capacity for rapid change, look for latent moral or institutional foundations — transformation is rarely built on nothing
- Firsthand exposure to a rival's actual capabilities (not propaganda) is often the fastest way to break ideological deadlock — the narrator's trip to London did more to shift Chōshū policy than years of domestic debate
- When introducing structural reform, anticipate resistance from those with vested interests in the old system, even when the reform benefits the broader population
Quotes Worth Keeping
If we go home with this semi-foreign appearance we shall certainly be killed as spies, so we had better die at this moment than be brought up to the court making a sorry crestfallen picture and be sentenced to death.
The whole fabric of the feudal system, which with its obsolete shackles and formalities hindered us at every step and in every branch of freedom development, had to be uprooted and destroyed.
For generations and centuries we have been enjoying a moral education of the highest type developed and sanctified under the comprehensive name of Bushido — offering us splendid standards of morality rigorously enforced in the everyday life of the educated classes.
The strong and intensely united public opinion backing the executive department in this supreme moment of our national existence would not have been possible but for the habitual and active participation of the entire country in the management of its public affairs.