Edict to Repel Foreign Vessels

The edict for the expulsion of foreign vessels (Japanese异国 船 打 払 令, ikokusen uchiharairei ) 1825 adopted by the Tokugawa shogunate, with the requirement that all foreign ships in Japanese waters should be expelled.

Japan was closed off by the Sakoku policy since the second half of the 17th century to the foreign country, with few exceptions. The shogunate had come from Holland books regularly on Dejima, and was informed about the growing influence of European colonial powers, Russia and the United States are offered. As a preventive measure we adopted this law.

To apply the law among others the Morrison incident came in 1837 when a merchant ship was shelled.

After the First Opium War in 1842, the law was repealed.