Enomoto Takeaki before the Republic of Ezo

 

Enomoto Takeaki in Holland (The Hague), 1864

A common misconception about the late Edo period is that the Bakufu (Tokugawa shogunate) resisted modernisation and was unable to adapt to a globalising world or build connections with the west. If you've been reading any of my posts here, I think I have managed to establish that it is definitely not true!

One of the many examples of Bakumatsu period connections with the rest of the world was Enomoto Takeaki's 3 years in Holland. He was the son of a shogunate official directly under the Tokugawa and after graduating in 1853, moved to Hakodate (Ezo) to work under the Magistrate and patrol Ezo and Sakhalin. He then enrolled at Nagasaki Naval Training School in 1857 and started learning Dutch. 

In 1861, the Shogunate ordered three steam warships from the United States, but it was declined as the American Civil War spread. It was then decided to order one warship from the Netherlands (the Voorlichter or Kaiyō Maru 開陽丸). Enomoto and five other students left Nagasaki in 1862 to study in The Hague and return with the ship. The way there was tumultuous to say the least. It involved measles, a shipwreck on a deserted island off the coast of Java, a transfer in Batavia and a visit of Napoleon's residence on St. Helena Island. Enomoto stayed in Holland for three years between 1863-1866, but travelled to multiple places across Europe, witnessing the Prussian-Austrian frontline (Second Schleswig-Holstein War) and negotiating the building and purchasing of warships with the French navy in Paris (Franco-Japanese relations was the topic of my Master's thesis and there is a lot I want to say about this, but it'll be for another time). 

Enomoto returned with the Kaiyō Maru (passing through Rio de Janeiro and Indonesia), arriving in Yokohama Port in March 1867. He was then appointed captain of the Kaiyō Maru. A lot of things had changed in Japan during these three years and after leading the Shogun's fleet to Osaka Bay, the last Shogun unexpectedly resigned in November. The events between then and the first few weeks of the Civil War (Boshin) in January are very convoluted, but regarding Enomoto, we know he initiated multiple attacks on Satsuma vessels, wining the battle of Awa and then returned to Edo where he hoped to regroup and face the Imperial Army. 

 

Next post on the events of the civil war incoming!