The Namamugi Incident

The Namamugi Incident was a samurai assault on foreign nationals in Japan on September 14, 1862, which resulted in the bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863, during the Late Tokugawa shogunate.

I was heading to Yokohama for a tour of the Kirin Brewery Yokohama (which is in Namamugi), and on the recommendation of a friend, was prompted to explore an interesting piece of the local history which starts out with a samurai attack on British nationals, ends up with the British engaging war on a province of Japan and has an interesting side piece on how the Japanese national flag was adopted.

Monument at the site that Charles Lennox Richardson was murdered

What follows is how I understand how the events precipitated based upon my research. I don’t claim historical accuracy and if there are any misrepresentations, I welcome the feedback.

Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant and his three companions were travelling along the Tōkaidō road through the village of Namamugi. On the road they passed a 1,000 man procession of the daimyō (feudal lord) of the province of Satsuma, Shimazu Hisamitsu.

A 19th Century Japanese wood carving depicting the incident

Apparently the custom at the time was to stop and dismount when passing a daimyō as it was not permissible to overtake somebody with such a high status. Richardson and his crew ignored the custom and refused orders. This was viewed as disrespect of the daimyō so the party were attacked by Shimazu’s guards. Richardson was killed and two of his companions seriously injured.

Portrait of Hisamitsu Shimazu

In response, the British government protested and demanded restitution for the attack on British nationals. The Shogunate were quick to capitulate and indemnified Britain for the loss paying a large bounty. However, the daimyō remained defiant refusing Britain’s demands. He argued that under Japanese custom disrespect to a daimyō was punishable by the immediate death of those showing disrespect.

This sparked what is often referred to as the Anglo-Satsuma war. A squadron from the British Royal Navy engaged the province of Satsuma a year later in a naval bombardment of the city of Kagoshima on August 15, 1863.

The bombardment claimed just five lives among the people of Satsuma, and 13 lives among the British. Material losses were more considerable with around 5% of Kagoshima’s urban area ravished by fire and a number of Satsuma’s steamships destroyed.

Each side recorded the result as a victory. Satsuma’s claim was that the British did not land troops or seize cannons. Nevertheless, the show of British military prowess appeared to impress Satsuma as following the conflict Britain and Satsuma developed closer relations and became major allies.

Interestingly, during the battle the Satsuma fleet fought under the hinomaru flag. The hinomaru design, meaning “sun disc”, has a white background with a large crimson red circle set in the middle. The British who saw the flag assumed it was the Japanese national flag. Word spread and the flag became internationally recognised as the flag of Japan, so in 1870 the flag was officially adopted as the national flag.

1. Kirin Brewery Yokohama
2. Australia at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
3. Printed Message Flags
4. Broome Japanese Cemetery
5. Yakitate!! Japan – British Stereotypes