bsmall2Feb 24
> ..1862, a confrontation.. between a British merchant, #CharlesLennoxRichardson, and the entourage of Shimazu Hisamitsu, father and regent of Satsuma daimyo #ShimazuTadayoshi... Richardson ignored warnings to stay out of the entourage's way.. near Kawasaki, Kanagawa, he was killed by Hisamitsu's retainers under,, Kiri-sute gomen right, which allowed samurai to kill anyone in a lower social class for perceived disrespect..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Kagoshima
#KiriSuteGomen
Bombardment of Kagoshima - Wikipedia

Show threadbsmall2Feb 25
🧵 > Richardson's murder sparked outrage from Westerners in Japan due to its violation of the extraterritoriality they enjoyed under terms of the "unequal treaties".
> Edward St. John Neale, the British chargé d'affaires, demanded from the Bakufu (the central government of the Tokugawa shogunate) an apology and indemnity of £100,000 as reparations for Richardson's murder; the sum demanded by Neale represented roughly a third of the annual revenues of the Bakufu.

#SOFA #StatusOfForcesAgreements #USAMilitaryBases ... Free Association...
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🧵
> the Satsuma Domain refused to comply with Neale's demands for an apology, £25,000 in compensation and placing the two samurai responsible for Richardson's murder on trial, arguing that disrespect to the daimyo was typically sanctioned by the death of the offending parties. Legally, their argument was invalid, as Westerners in Japan were exempted from Japanese laws and customs due to extraterritoriality arising from various treaties signed between the Bakufu and Western powers since the beginning of the Bakumatsu period.

#SatsumaDomain #BakuMatsu

Feb 25 at 12:04amWeb
Show threadbsmall2Feb 25

> Satsuma eventually decided to give in to Neale's demands and paid £25,000 to the British (which they borrowed from the Bakufu and never repaid due to the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1869 and its replacement by the Meiji government). They never identified nor placed on trial Richardson's killers, but despite this, the reparation received was enough for Britain to sign a treaty with the Satsuma Domain to supply the latter with steam warships...

Tanaka Yuko writes about how the Violent Satsuma approach de-railed early democracy movements..
田中優子