Hotta Masayoshi

Hotta Masayoshi,  (born 1810, Edo [now Tokyo], Japan—died April 26, 1864, Sakura), Japanese statesman who negotiated the commercial treaty that established trade between the United States and Japan, thus opening that country to commerce with the outside world for the first time in two centuries.

A prominent feudal lord who had studied Western languages and military techniques, Hotta proposed that the government pursue a course of moderation in dealing with Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States, who had arrived in 1853 with a fleet of warships to demand that Japan open itself to relations with the West. After the ... (100 of 269 words)

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