emperor, and favored
their wishes to use all the force of the country to dislodge the hated
foreigner from its soil. Other powerful daimyos were collected at the same
time at the imperial capital, and its peaceful suburbs resounded with the
clank of warlike preparations. The most notable of these was the daimyo of
Choshu, who at this time was joined with the Satsuma chief in the measures
against the shogun's government.

Shimazu continued his journey to Yedo in the summer of 1862, where he
endeavored to impress on the _bakufu_ the necessity of taking measures to
pacify the country. It is safe to say that his suggestions were coldly
received, and he was made to feel that he was in an enemy's camp. It is
said that the shogun refused to receive him personally, but referred him,
for any business which he had to present, to the council. It is certain,
therefore, when he left Yedo in September, 1862, with his train and
escort, he was in no amiable frame of mind. And it was in this condition
of irritation that he became the chief actor in an event which was the
saddest of all the collisions between the Japanese and the foreigners.

The Satsuma train left Yedo on the morning of the 14th of September by way
of the _Tokaido_, which runs through Kawasaki and skirts the village of
Kanagawa. It consisted of a semi-military procession of guards on foot and
on horseback, of _norimonos_, in which the prince and his high military
and civil attendants were carried, of led-horses for them to ride when
they desired, and of a long straggling continuation of pack-horses and men
carrying the luggage of the train. It was said to contain not less than
eight hundred _samurai_ in attendance on their master.

The etiquette of the road for such trains was well settled in feudal
Japan. The right of way was always accorded to the daimyo, and all
unmilitary persons or parties were required to stand at the side of the
road while the train was passing, to dismount if on horseback, and to bow
to the daimyo's _norimono_ as it was carried past. It may be supposed that
the _samurai_ in attendance upon the incensed Shimazu were in no humor to
have these rules trifled with, and especially would not deal very tenderly
with any foreigners who might fall in their way.

On the afternoon of the day on which the Satsuma train left Yedo, a small
riding party left Yokohama for the village of Kawasaki, on a visit to the
temple at that place. It consisted of one lady