Background
Despite efforts of appeasement by the Tokugawa shogunate to establish an atmosphere of peaceful solidarity, many feudal daimyos remained bitterly resentful of the shogunate's open-door policy to foreign trade. Belligerent opposition to European and American influence erupted into open conflict when the Emperor Kōmei, breaking with centuries of imperial tradition, began to take an active role in matters of state and issued on March 11 and April 11, 1863 his "Order to expel barbarians" (攘夷実行の勅命 – Jōi jikkō no chokumei).
The Chōshū clan, under Lord Mori Takachika, began to take actions to expel all foreigners after the deadline of the 10th day of the 5th month, by the Lunar calendar. Openly defying the shogunate, Takachika ordered his forces to fire, without warning, on all foreign ships traversing Shimonoseki Strait. This strategic but treacherous 112-meter waterway separates the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū and provides a passage connecting the Inland Sea with the Sea of Japan.
Even before tensions escalated in Shimonoseki Strait, foreign diplomats and military experts, notably U.S. Foreign Minister to Japan Robert Pruyn and Captain David McDougal of the U.S. Navy, were aware of the precarious state of affairs in Japan. A letter to the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, dated June 12, 1863 written by McDougal stated, "General opinion is that the government of Japan is on the eve of revolution, the principal object of which is the expulsion of foreigners.".
Read more about this topic: Shimonoseki Campaign
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