Background
Ii Naosuke was born on November 29, 1815 in Edo, Japan.
Ii Naosuke was born on November 29, 1815 in Edo, Japan.
In 1850 succeeded to the position of lord of Hikone. He was also assigned to supervise the defenses of the province of Sagami, present-day Kanagawa Prefecture, and of Haneda and Omori in Edo Bay.
Ii Naosuke, who in the fourth month of 1858 had been appointed to the post of tairo (senior councilor of state) in the shogunate, set about working toward a settlement of these problems, arranging for Tokugawa Iemochi to succeed as shogun and, without waiting for approval from the imperial court, concluding trade treaties with America and four other foreign powers. These moves aroused fierce opposition from the Mito and Hitotsubashi branches of the Tokugawa family, but Ii Naosuke, in the action known as the Great Persecution of the Ansei period, suppressed the opposition by jailing its leaders. This stimulated further opposition from the samurai of Mito and Satsuma, who advocated the policy of sonno-joi, or reverence for the emperor and expulsion of the foreigners, and in the third month of 1860 a group of them intercepted him outside the Sakura- da Gate as he was on his way to Edo Castle and assassinated him.