Ansei Purge

was a multi-year event in Japanese history of the Edo period between 1858 and 1860, during which the Tokugawa shogunate imprisoned, executed, or exiled those who did not support its authority and foreign trade policies.

History
The Ansei Purge was ordered by Ii Naosuke on behalf of the bakufu faction. He was the Senior Minister during the period preceding the Meiji Restoration and was part of the kōbu gattai, the movement opposed by the Revere the Emperor, Expel the Foreigner (sonnō jōi) faction. The purge was carried out in an effort to quell opposition to trade treaties with the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands, particularly under the U.S. - Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce. It involved the removal from power all opposition by way of imprisonment, torture or exile, and execution. The crackdown also targeted those who opposed the succession of Tokugawa Iesada and the kōbu gattai or the policy that attempted to unite the imperial court and the shogunate. Some of the victims included the sonno joi, the group who opposed the Naosuke's appointment of Tokugawa Iemochi over Hitotsubashi Keiki, the candidate of the Mitō clan, which was one of the three branches of the Tokugawa family.  

Over 100 influential people were victims of the purge.  Men were forced out of positions within the Bakufu, or from han leadership or from the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Victims of the purge included the following: 

Death Penalty
Yoshida Shōin
Hashimoto Sanai
Permanent house arrest
Mito Nariaki<ref>Sansom, George Bailey. (1963). A History of Japan, 1615–1867, p. 239.</ref>
Nagai Naoyuki
Prince Kuni Asahiko
House arrest
Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu
Tokugawa Yoshikatsu
Matsudaira Shungaku
Date Munenari
Yamauchi Yōdō
Hotta Masayoshi

Timeline
 1858 (Ansei 5): Beginning of the Ansei Purge
 1859 (Ansei 6): Arrests and investigations continuing.
 
 March 24, 1860 (Ansei 7, 3rd day of the 3rd month):  Ii Naosuke was assassinated at the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle. This is also known as the "Sakurada-mon Incident"

References

Further reading
 Kusunoki Sei'ichirō (1991). Nihon shi omoshiro suiri: Nazo no satsujin jiken wo oe''. Tokyo: Futami bunko.

External links
 National Diet Library, photograph of Sakurada-mon (1900)

Category:Bakumatsu
Category:Japanese historical terms
Category:Political and cultural purges
Category:1858 in Japan
Category:1859 in Japan