Bansho Shirabesho

[2] The launch of the new institute was a reaction to the unimpeded arrival of the American warships in 1853 under the command of Admiral Matthew C.

[1] The foreigners also brought with them gifts, which baffled and unsettled the Tokugawa regime as they exposed the inferior state of the Japanese coastal defense.

[3] The establishment of Bansho Shirabesho as an independent institution was also partly attributed to the removal of the translation of sensitive military and political secrets from the Bureau of Astronomy.

[4] It was renamed Yōsho shirabesho (洋書調所) (institute for the study of Western books) in 1862, and Kaiseijo [ja] (開成所) in 1863.

After the Boshin War, it was again renamed and became the Kaisei gakkō [ja] (開成学校), which was managed under the Government of Meiji Japan.