Kobe foreign settlement
The Kobe foreign settlement, also known as the Kobe foreign concession, was a foreign settlement located about 3.5 kilometers east of the Port of Kobe, in the future Chūō-ku of Kobe, Japan. Established based on the Ansei Treaties, it existed from January 1, 1868, to July 16, 1899.
The site was located between the to the east, the Koi River to the west, the sea to the south, and the Saigoku Kaidō highway to the north. It had an area of 78,000 tsubo, and was developed based on a logical urban plan. For these reasons, it has been praised as the "best-planned foreign settlement in the Orient". Its extraterritoriality was acknowledged in some of its administrative and financial affairs, and it was managed by an autonomous organization structured with foreign residents at its center. Its operation was smooth, and relations between the Japanese and foreign sides were generally favorable. The settlement prospered as a gateway to Western culture and base of trade, spreading its economic and cultural influence to the surrounding areas as well.
History
Opening the Port of Hyōgo
On July 29, 1858, the Tokugawa shogunate entered into the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States. In Article 6 of that treaty, the shogunate acknowledged the consular jurisdiction of the U.S. in Japan. In Article 3 it opened Hyōgo port as a treaty port from January 1, 1863, agreeing to establish a fixed area to be loaned to foreigners to reside and conduct economic activity in. Before long, the shogunate signed similar treaties known as the Ansei Treaties with the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France. However, these treaties were unable to gain the approval of an imperial edict, and after negotiations with the foreign powers the opening of the port was delayed for five years, until January 1, 1868. The court expressed disapproval for the opening of a port so close to the imperial palace in Kyoto, and even after the Ansei Treaties were approved by imperial edict on December 22, 1865, approval for the port was still not granted. On June 26, 1867, when the treaty port's scheduled opening was six months away, an imperial edict finally acknowledged its establishment.Even before the issuance of this sanction, the shogunate had been conducting negotiations with the various foreign powers on the topic of the treaty port, and on May 16, 1867, it concluded an agreement for the establishment of foreign settlements in Hyōgo and Osaka with Britain, the U.S., and France. Article 1 of this agreement established that Thus, the foreign settlement was created at Kōbe-mura, about 3.5 km east of the Port of Hyōgo. In accordance with this, a new harbor was constructed on the coast at Kōbe-mura and opened to the foreign powers. In 1892, an imperial edict named this harbor the Port of Kobe.
Existing documents do not record the reason or chain of events surrounding the opening of the Port of Kobe instead of the Port of Hyōgo. Still, there are a number of theories. In Kokusai Toshi Kōbe no Keifu, Toshio Kusumoto guesses that the shogunate, mindful of the population's preference to keep foreigners at a distance and wishing to avoid conflict, wanted to avoid opening the already bustling and prosperous port of Hyōgo. Meanwhile, Shinshū Kōbe Shishi: Rekishi-hen 3 and Kokusai Toshi Kōbe no Keifu both conjecture that it was easier to secure a site in the less densely populated area around Kōbe-mura, and this site also allowed the reappropriation of the Kobe Naval Training Center, which had shut down in 1865. A November 1865 survey of the surrounding ocean by an attendant of the British envoy Harry Smith Parkes indicated that the area intended for the foreign settlement, somewhat removed from the old Hyōgo town center, looked out on a small bay that was sufficiently deep and provided an anchorage abundant in nature. Kokusai Toshi Kōbe no Keifu posits from this that this site was Kōbe-mura, and that the foreign powers also found this location more suitable than the existing port of Hyōgo. In any case, in 1892, the port of Kobe was expanded to incorporate the old port of Hyōgo.
The final site of the foreign settlement was located within Kōbe-mura and framed by the Ikuta River to the east, Koi River to the west, and Pacific Ocean to the south, with the Saigoku Kaidō highway to the north. It had an area of 78,000 tsubo. Shinshū Kōbe Shishi describes this selection as
Construction and administration
The Tokugawa shogunate dispatched Shibata Takenaka as magistrate of Hyōgo, putting him in charge of the creation of port and foreign settlement. Shibata immediately took over this task on his arrival in Kōbe-mura, but by January 1, 1868, when the port was to open, all that was complete was the Customs office, three wharfs, and three storehouses. This was also the period during which the government transitioned from the shogunate to the Meiji government, and on November 9, 1867, Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu officially tendered his resignation to the emperor. At first, business related to the port was left to the shogunate government, but on January 3, two days after the port opened, the shogunate was completely abolished and power returned to the emperor. After the shogunate forces lost the Battle of Toba–Fushimi at the end of that January, Yoshinobu retreated from Osaka Castle to Edo, and with Shibata recalled to Edo as well, the construction had to be suspended. The remainder of the construction was carried out under the Meiji government, and around 1872 the building of roads and drains was finished, completing the 8-by-5 grid of streets that defined the area of the settlement.The Meiji government, which was unwilling to allow foreigners to own land, classified the area instead as under perpetual lease, and the leaseholders were decided by auction. The perpetual lease continued even after the return of the settlement to Japan, until 1942. About half of the profits from the auction were absorbed by the government, while the remainder was accumulated for operating expenses by the Municipal Council, which the government acknowledged as the highest deciding body in the settlement's government. The self-government of the settlement by its residents continued until the foreign settlement was abolished. The settlement enjoyed 30 years of smooth operation, and relations were generally good between the foreign and Japanese sides. However, it was forbidden for Japanese to live within the foreign settlement, and their entrance to it was also restricted.
In response to the delay in the settlement's construction, the Meiji government allowed foreigners to live outside of the settlement in the area between the Ikuta River to the east, the Uji River to the west, the southern shore of the foreign settlement to the south, and the mountains to the north. This area was referred to as the mixed residential zone, and also existed until the abolishment of the settlement.
Development of the settlement and its surroundings
After the opening of the port, the settlement was outfitted according to a logical urban plan, with the roads and drains complete around 1872, and bidding on the land lease over by February 7, 1873. The settlement's urban planning led to its evaluation as the "best-planned foreign settlement in the Orient". Even so, its surroundings were by no means the object of planned development. The foreign settlement sprouted factories run by foreigners to its northeast, companies and banks to its west, and a Chinatown to its northwest, but as the population in the area near the foreign settlement increased in proportion to its development, a disorderly jumble emerged around it. The scale of the town area increased until in 1890 it connected with the town around the Port of Hyōgo. At the time of the foreign settlement's establishment, the population of Kōbe-mura had been around 3,600 people, but in 1889, when Kōbe-mura was merged with its surroundings to become Kōbe-shi, the new municipality had a population of about 134,700 people. Furthermore, the population of the foreign settlement itself had increased from around 400 English, Germans, French, Dutch, and Ming citizens in 1871 to more than 2,000 in 1890.The port possessed meager facilities at first, resembling a natural coastline, but its outfitting continued as well. From April to July 1868, four new wharfs were built between the Ikuta and Uji rivers, and construction was carried out between 1871 and 1872 on breakwaters and expanding the wharves. From April 29 to July 26, 1871, further construction redirected the Ikuta River—not only to prevent the flooding of the settlement, but also to stop the flow of sediment into the middle of the harbor. These actions laid the foundations for the Port of Kobe's later reputation as a good natural harbor. The first round of major restorations that led to its position as Japan's foremost international trade port were decided in 1907, after the foreign settlement's return, and work began in 1908.
Return
Aiming to amend the terms of the unequal Ansei Treaties formed by the shogunate, the Meiji government embarked on a plan of Westernization. One part of this plan involved holding balls at the Rokumeikan in Tokyo, and Kobe also held its own. In 1887, a ball organized by the governors of Osaka and Hyōgo prefecture, and called "Kobe's Biggest Evening Party Ever", took place in a gymnasium owned by the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club.In 1894, the Meiji government concluded the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with the United Kingdom, realizing its goal of repealing consular jurisdiction and reclaiming the foreign settlements. The government proceeded to conclude treaties to the same effect with 14 more countries, including the U.S. and France. These treaties took effect on July 17, 1899, and on this date, the Kobe foreign settlement was returned to Japanese hands. The settlement was incorporated into Kobe City, and its administrative and financial autonomy was canceled. Japanese were allowed to enter freely and to reside within the area. The settlement's internal police force, which had been organized by the Municipal Council, was abolished, and its fire brigade, which had been organized directly by residents, was transferred to the control of the city as a regular fire brigade. The government of the settlement was transferred from the highest office within the Municipal Council, the head of the Executive Committee, to commissioned members of the prefectural and city governments. On the old site of the office, a local police station was built, and a committee called the Consultation Committee was allowed to be established by the foreigners to help prevent disputes arising from the loss of extraterritoriality. In these ways, the government showed some consideration for the foreigners as well.