13 Facts About Egawa Hidetatsu

Egawa Hidetatsu Tarozaemon was a Japanese Bakufu intendant of the 19th century.

Egawa Hidetatsu was Daikan, in charge of the domains of the Tokugawa shogunate in Izu, Sagami and Kai Provinces during the Bakumatsu period.

Egawa Hidetatsu took a leading role in the reinforcement of Japanese coastal defenses against Western encroachments in the 19th century.

Egawa Hidetatsu was in relations with the group of Watanabe Kazan, and Takano Choei.

Egawa Hidetatsu was put in charge of establishing the defense of Edo Bay against Western intrusions in 1839, following the incident of the Morrison under Charles W King in 1837.

In 1841, Egawa permitted the gunnery demonstrations of Takashima Shuhan to the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Egawa Hidetatsu taught Western gunnery and techniques to numerous men who would later have a role in the Meiji Restoration.

Egawa Hidetatsu advocated the conscription of farmers into the army.

Egawa Hidetatsu's ships were equipped with modern Paixhans shell guns, capable of bringing destruction everywhere a shell landed.

Egawa Hidetatsu was involved in an important debate at that time, whether to adopt Western guns and methods or not.

Egawa Hidetatsu advocated that the English had shown great superiority over the Chinese in the 1840 Opium War, and that it was necessary to use their own techniques to repel them.

Egawa Hidetatsu argued that just as Confucianism and Buddhism had been introduced from abroad, it made sense to introduce useful Western techniques.

At one point Egawa Hidetatsu hired the services of Nakahama Manjiro, a Japanese castaway who had spent 10 years in the West before returning to Japan, in order to obtain better knowledge of the West.