was a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 in the Edo period; and he was a prominent figure in the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

.

Rōjū

the Shogun's

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 advisor (rōjū

Roju

The ', usually translated as Elder, was one of the highest-ranking government posts in Tokugawa Japan. The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council as a whole; under the first two shoguns, there were only two Rōjū...

) from 1837 to 1843, and again from 1855 to 1858. Hotta succeeded Abe Masahiro

Abe Masahiro

was the chief senior councillor in the Japanese government at the time of the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry. Against the shogun's wishes, and the wishes of many other government officials, he worked to open Japan to the West, signing the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854, and other unequal...

, and in his short years at the post had to address the issue of the Harris Treaty.

Gaikoku-bōeki-toshirabe-gakari

Hotta formed an ad hoc committee of bakufu officials with special knowledge of foreign affairs, and he himself headed this working group. In November 1856, he appointed the members and charged them to come up with recommendations about the terms for opening Japanese ports. The results of their deliberations would become the basis for negotiations which ultimately resulted in the Harris Treaty of 1858 (the Treaty of Amity and Commerce

Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States-Japan)

The , also called Harris Treaty, between the United States and Japan was signed at the Ryōsen-ji in Shimoda on July 29, 1858. It opened the ports of Yokohama and four other Japanese cities to American trade and granted extraterritoriality to foreigners, among other stipulations.-The Treaty:The...

 between Japan and the United States).

Harris Treaty

Townsend Harris

Townsend Harris

Townsend Harris was a successful New York City merchant and minor politician, and the first United States Consul General to Japan...

, a representative of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 who demanded that Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 open up six ports to trade, allow Americans to travel freely in Japan, and grant extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality

Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...

 to them. Hotta then tried to convince the Emperor

Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...

 and the daimyō

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

(feudal lords) to accept the Treaty. Based on his knowledge of the events of the Arrow War

Second Opium War

The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...

, Hotta believed he knew the violent response the United States would return with, if their request was refused. To this end, he even broke precedent and requested audience to speak to the Emperor directly; the Imperial Court refused to sign the treaty without the support of the daimyō.

Hotta attempted to ratify the treaty with the emperor and in a break with tradition it was rebuffed, the emperor was nothing more than a
figurehead.

Hotta resigned and was replaced by Ii Naosuke

Ii Naosuke

was daimyo of Hikone and also Tairō of Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan, a position he held from April 23, 1858 until his death on March 24, 1860. He is most famous for signing the Harris Treaty with the United States, granting access to ports for trade to American merchants and seamen and...

in 1858, and the treaty was signed shortly afterwards without the emperor's consent.