The fiercely anti-Western Chōshū clan, whose domain was in Shimoneseki on the island of Honshu, had been fanatically enforcing Emperor Komei's order for the expulsion of westerners, attacking foreign shipping. The Dutch warship Medusa, with the Consul aboard, approached the Chōshū stronghold to negotiate but was fired upon and only escaped at high speed and with the deaths of four Dutch sailors. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Gopal Kshetry, Foreigners in Japan: A Historical Perspective (New York: Xlibris Corporation, 2008), np.