Hayashi Akira - Diplomat

Diplomat

Akira assumed his role as rector of the academy in 1853; and his initial foray into diplomacy followed soon after.

• 1853 (Kaei 6): Akira completed Tsūkō ichiran. The work was created under orders from the bakufu to compile and edit documents pertaining to East Asian trade and diplomacy; and, for example, it includes a detailed description of a Ryukuan tribute embassy to the Qian Chinese court in Beijing.

• March 8, 1854 (Kaei 7, 10th day of the 2nd month): Commodore Perry returned to Edo Bay to force Japanese agreement to the Treaty of Kanagawa; and the chief Japanese negotiator was Daigaku-no kami Hayashi Akira, who was known to the Americans as "Prince Commissioner Hayashi."

"Immediately, on signing and exchanging copies of the treaty, Commodore Perry presented the first commissioner, Prince Hayashi, with an American flag stating that this gift was the highest expression of national courtesy and friendship he could offer. The prince was deeply moved, and expressed his gratitude with evident feeling. The commodore next presented the other commissioners with gifts he had especially reserved for them. All business now having been concluded to the satisfaction of both delegations, the Japanese commissioners invited Perry and his officers to enjoy a feast and entertainment especially prepared for the celebration." -- from American eyewitness account of the event

• January 22, 1858 (Ansei 4, 28th day of the 12th month): Akira headed the bakufu delegation which sought advice from Emperor Komei in deciding how to deal with newly assertive foreign powers.

Significantly, this would have been the first time the Emperor's counsel was actively sought since the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The most easily identified consequence of this transitional overture would be the increased numbers of messengers which were constantly streaming back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto during the next decade. There is no small irony in the fact that this 19th-century scholar/bureaucrat would find himself at a crucial nexus of managing political change—moving arguably "by the book" through uncharted waters with well-settled theories as the only guide.

• Ansei 4 (October 1858): Akira is dispatched from Edo to Kyoto to explain the terms of the treaty to Emperor Komei, who ultimately acquiesced in February 1859 when he came to understand that there was no alternative to acceptance.