From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Statue of Ii Naosuke at the grounds of Hikone Castle.

Naosuke Ii (井伊 直弼 Ii Naosuke, November 29 1815 - March 3, 1860) was feudal lord of Hikone and Tairō of Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858 until his death. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting ports and extraterritoriality to American merchants and seamen. He was also an enthusiastic and accomplished practitioner of Japanese tea ceremony, in the Sekishūryū style, and his writings include at least two works on tea ceremony.

He was born as the fourteenth (illegitimate) son of Ii Naonaka, daimyo of Hikone (Omi Province or present-day Shiga Prefecture). Because of his low rank within the family, he was not expected to take up any position of importance, so he moved into a Buddhist monastery and subsisted off of a meager stipend during the early years of his life.

However, Ii's older brothers gradually died or were adopted into other families, placing him at the fore to inherit his father's domain. In 1850, Ii's last remaining elder brother died, so he inherited the lordship of Hikone.

Ii was active in the reform of the bakuhan taisei system, as well as in the defense of Tokyo Bay during the arrival of Matthew C. Perry.

In 1858, when Shogun Tokugawa Iesada became ill, the daimyo argued over who should run Japan in the interim. Ii won the tairō election against Hitotsubashi Keiki, who was supported by the Tozama daimyo of the west.

Ii was in favor of opening Japan to the West, which caused friction with sonnō jōi rebels supporting the expulsion of "barbarians" from the country. He attempted to halt the opposition with the Ansei Purge, which arrested or executed more than a hundred isolationist leaders.

He was murdered in 1860 during the night by a band of seventeen ronin near Sakurada Gate, Edo Castle.