Sakuradamon Incident (1860)

The Sakuradamon Incident (桜田門外の変, Sakuradamon-gai no Hen; or 桜田門の変 Sakuradamon no Hen) was the assassination of Ii Naosuke, Chief Minister (Tairō) of the Tokugawa shogunate, on March 24, 1860 by rōnin samurai of the Mito and Satsuma Domains, outside the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle. == Context == Ii Naosuke, a leading figure of the Bakumatsu period and a proponent of the reopening of Japan after more than 200 years of seclusion, was widely criticized for signing on behalf of the Tokugawa Shogunate the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States (negotiated by U.S. Consul to Japan Townsend Harris) and, soon afterwards, similar treaties with other Western countries.

Source: Wikipedia — Sakuradamon Incident (1860) (CC BY-SA 4.0)