II Naosuke - Legacy

Legacy

After his death Ii Naosuke was quickly both vilified and defended. Even his enemies would admit that along with Tokugawa Nariaki, Ii was one of the most important political figures of the late Edo period of Japanese history. Due to the often-tyrannical means Ii used to maintain his power he was the subject of extremely negative press and was portrayed as a villain in much of the literature from his time, for example the poems of Tsunada Tadayuki. Historians such as Miyauchi and Beasley consider that Ii was nonetheless a patriot who carried out all of his acts in the belief that they were for the good of Japan and the Emperor. They base this theory upon Ii’s 1853 proposal concerning the Japanese negotiations with commodore Matthew Perry, where Ii realized that Japan couldn’t stand up to the western powers and so suggested a policy of placation while the Japanese built up their armed forces (which was the tactic chosen by the Meiji government). In fact Ii’s successors could not overturn his policy decisions, and his attitude towards the foreigners became the cornerstone of Japanese policy well into the Meiji period.

After Ii Naosuke’s death the Ii family was disgraced for many years; recently, however, Ii’s actions have been looked at in a more favorable light and Ii Naosuke has taken his place as one of the most important political figures of Japanese history. On October 7, 2009, Naotake Ii, a family descendent of Naosuke attended a memorial ceremony with the people of Fukui in reconciliation over the execution of Hashimoto Sanai in the Ansei Purge.