by Donald Keene
21. Also known as Yamashinanomiya (1816–1898). The eldest son of Fushiminomiya, he entered Buddhist orders at the age of eight (in 1824) but returned to the laity and worked actively for the Restoration. Mitford, who met him shortly before he was presented to the emperor, left this description: “The Prince was robed in the old court dress of a purple colour with the curious cap (yéboshi) of wrinkled black paper. His teeth were blackened, but as that process has to be renewed every two, or at most three, days, and as they were at that moment in a transition stage, they did not look their best. When we saw him again a few days later they had been newly polished up, and shone like patent leather” (Redesdale, Memories, p. 447).
22. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 635.
23. Satow, A Diplomat, p. 359. Another account of the attack on the British party is given by Mitford. One passage is particularly memorable: “I heard pistol shots and the clatter of swords and cries of, ‘We are attacked!’ ‘Kill him!’ ‘Shoot him!’ and the like. I jumped out of my palanquin more quickly than I ever in my life have jumped out of anything, and rushed forward. There were pools of blood in the street, and I saw the murderer coming at me, by this time himself wounded, but not seriously, and full of fight. His sword was dripping and his face bleeding, I knew enough of Japanese swordsmanship to be aware that it was no use to try and avoid his blow, so I rushed in underneath his guard and wrenched the bleeding sword out of his grip. I handed him over to the men of the 9th [regiment], but he managed to wriggle away from them and bolted down a passage into a courtyard, I ran to see whether Parkes was safe. To my great relief he was sitting on a horse, quite unmoved, with Satow, whose pony was bleeding, also mercifully unhurt. As I came up with them I stumbled over something; it was a man’s head” (Redesdale, Memories, p. 450).
On the first day of the ninth month, the queen of England bestowed swords on Gotō and Nakai for having saved the life of the British minister (Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 639).
24. Satow, A Diplomat, p. 360. A photograph was taken of this priest, whose name was Saegusa Shigeru, two hours before he was executed. He glares at the camera with no visible trace of penitence. Mitford, who conversed with his would-be murderer after he was captured, also mentioned the prisoner’s reiterated wish to have his head cut off as soon as possible (Redesdale, Memories, pp. 452–53). A photograph of the severed head of the other assailant, Hayashida Sadakata, is on the facing page of Yomigaeru bakumatsu, pp. 164–65. On April 15 the heads of Saegusa and Hayashida were exposed, and three men who were accused of being accomplices were exiled to Oki. Three days later, a proclamation was issued warning people against attacking foreigners and stating that this was not only in defi-ance of the wishes of the court but was harmful to the prestige of the emperor and likely to lead to international conflicts (Redesdale, Memories, pp. 455–56; Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 639).
25. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 636.
26. Satow, A Diplomat, p. 361.
27. Redesdale, Memories, pp. 451–52.
28. Satow could not accompany them to the palace because, as Mitford explained, “not having at that time been presented at our own Court, could not, according to etiquette, be presented to a foreign sovereign” (Redesdale, Memories, p. 458).
29. Redesdale, Memories, pp. 456, 457.
30. The “blue blood” of the aristocrat.
31. Redesdale, Memories, pp. 459–60.
32. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 638.
33. Redesdale, Memories, p. 461. Itō Shunsuke is, of course, Itō Hirobumi. He had gone to England in 1863 to study and had acquired a good command of English.
34. The Shinsengumi, a group of handpicked rōnin soldiers, was founded in 1863 by the shogunate mainly to suppress jōi activity in Kyōto. Members of the Shinsengumi crushed the plotters at the Ikeda-ya in 1864. Even after the defeat at Toba and Fushimi, the members continued to fight fiercely for the former shogun. Although unsuccessful in most of its encounters with the imperial forces, it acquired a special aura and has been much written about, no doubt because of the extreme loyalty its members displayed for a lost cause. For a contemporary account of the battle, see Shin jimbutsuōrai sha, ed., Shinsengumi shiryō shū, pp. 205–14.
35. Ishii, Boshin, pp. 126–27.
36. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 589. This text gives miya-san, rather than miya-sama, as sung in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. The meaning is something like “Your Excellency, your Excellency, what is it that fluttering before your horse?” toko-ton’yare ton’yare na. “That’s the brocade pennant given me with the command, ‘Conquer the chōteki!’ Don’t you recognize it?”
Chapter 16
1. In ancient times, the word matsurigoto designated both worship of the gods and the government of the country. The edict was printed in Daijōkan nisshi (The Daily Record of the Ministry of State), first published on February 12, 1868. Copies were sent to the administrative office of each domain and each region of direct shogunal control (Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 632; Asukai Masamichi, Meiji taitei, p. 128).
The revival of Shinto led to many instances of burning and destruction of Buddhist texts, works of art, and sacred implements that had been preserved at Shinto shrines, leading the government to forbid Shinto priests to indulge in such wanton behavior (Meiji tennō ki, 1, pp. 665–66).
2. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 646. Those who did not wish to yield their Buddhist positions were ordered to make a separate application. On April 21 a decree was issued prohibiting the mixture of Shinto and Buddhism. Buddhist images, known as the “original substances” (honji) of Shinto gods, were to be removed immediately from Shinto shrines along with Buddhist ritual implements, temple bells, gongs, and so on. There were even voices raised calling for the prohibition of Buddhism (Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 663).
3. The earliest example of honji suijaku thought seems to date from 937, when two gods were declared to be avatars of bodhisattvas. In time it was claimed that every god was an avatar of one or another buddha or bodhisattva. Most of the “original substances” of the different gods proved to be the thirteen buddhas of Shingon Buddhism. Shinto worship came to include the incantations, ritual fire ceremonies, charms, signs, and methods of instruction of Shingon Buddhism. The most important form of union between Buddhism and Shinto was called ryōbu shintō, a term derived from the equation made between the two mandalas of Shingon Buddhism and the Inner and Outer Shrines at Ise.
4. The term haibutsu kishaku (abolish Buddhism and destroy Shakyamuni) was frequently used during this period, though the official policy was one of separating the two religions, not of destroying Buddhism. For a study in English of the persecution of Buddhism during the Meiji period, see James Edward Ketelaar, Of Heretics and Martyrs in Meiji Japan.
5. The traditional position of the emperor according to the Chinese cosmogony was in the north, facing his ministers and vassals to the south.
6. The text of this Shinto prayer of dedication is in Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 648. It describes the circumstances of the occasion leading up to the vow that the emperor is about to pronounce.
7. The first draft by Yuri Kimimasa, the revisions made by Fukuoka Takachika, and the suggestions of Kido Takayoshi are given in detail in Meiji tennō ki, 1, pp. 652–55.
8. Tōyama Shigeki, Meiji ishin, pp. 192–93. Tōyama believed that the Charter Oath and similar, seemingly liberal measures promulgated at the beginning of Emperor Meiji’s reign were “no more than anesthetics to relieve the birth-pangs of sending into the world emperor-system absolutism, and was typical of an era antedating that of enlightened despotism.” He also gave more concrete criticism of the oath: for example, he stated that Yuri Kimimasa’s mention in the third article of the common people being allowed to pursue their own calling meant only that for financial reasons, rich merchants and rich farmers would be allowed a measure of voice in the government. Tanaka Akira dismissed the first article of the oath as being no more than a slogan that was gradually consigned to oblivion (Mikan no Meiji ishin, pp. 24–28). He believed also that its liberal
tone was inspired by the need to convince foreign countries, in the wake of various acts of violence against foreigners in Japan, that the new government was enlightened. Tanaka also quoted a document written by Kume Kunitake stating that in 1872 Kido seemed to have almost completely forgotten the oath that he had had a hand in writing, an indication that he did not consider it to be of much importance.
9. When on June 19 reforms were made in the administration, it was stated that their objectives were in consonance with the Charter Oath (Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 708). In addition, Tanaka states that the leaders of the Freedom and Popular Rights Party admired the democratic character of the Charter Oath (Mikan, p. 28).
10. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 649.
11. Ibid., 1, pp. 649–52.
12. Tanaka, Mikan, p. 28.
13. Sir Ernest Satow, A Diplomat in Japan, pp. 365–66.
14. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 671.
15. Ibid., 1, p. 661.
16. This opinion was not necessarily shared by people of the time. For example, Kido Takayoshi wrote in his diary, “If the current situation prevails for another year that the Realm will be reduced to poverty goes without saying, and in the end Imperial rule cannot be established” (Sidney DeVere Brown and Akiko Hirota, trans., The Diary of Kido Takayoshi, 1, p. 32). This is only one of several gloomy predictions Kido made concerning the outcome of the fighting.
17. More commonly known as Akira Shinnō (1816–1898), the eldest of Fushiminomiya’s many sons. He entered the priesthood at the age of eight but returned to the laity in 1864 to found the house of Yamashinanomiya. In 1866 he, along with Iwakura Tomomi and others, was sentenced to house arrest for his political actions. After the Restoration, he became a gijō and at this time was gaikoku jimu sōtoku.
18. Satow, A Diplomat, pp. 370–71. The account of the audience given in Japanese sources contains one detail not mentioned by Satow: when Sir Harry Parkes presented the letter from Queen Victoria to the emperor, he seemed so overcome with reverence and awe that Prince Akira had to support him (Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 686). This certainly does not sound like the Sir Harry we know from other descriptions.
19. Ōkubo Toshimichi nikki, 1, p. 452. See also Asukai, Meiji taitei, p. 125.
20. Brown and Hirota, trans., Diary, 1, p. 12.
21. Asukai, Meiji taitei, p. 125. The text of Yokoi’s remarks is given somewhat differently in Meiji tennō ki, 1, pp. 705–6.
22. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 670.
23. See the excerpt of a letter from Ōkubo to Kido, dated May 23, quoted in Asukai, Meiji taitei, p. 126. See also Ōkubo’s memorandum proposing the moving of the capital to Ōsaka in Tōyama Shigeki, Tennō to kazoku, pp. 6–8.
Chapter 17
1. The text is in Tōyama Shigeki, Tennō to kazoku, p. 9. The proclamation was issued on June 13, 1868 (Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 705).
2. The kōkyū, often called simply oku, the emperor’s private quarters, presided over by female officials; what might be called the seraglio in other parts of the world.
3. “At eight” (tatsu no koku) is supplied from another text (Tōyama, Tennō, p. 9).
4. Men in the highest posts of the bureaucracy at the time; Iwakura Tomomi and Sanjō Sanetomi were concomitantly gijō and hoshō.
5. Hakkei no ma, the office of the hoshō, so called because of the paintings of Eight Views, perhaps the Eight Views of Ōmi. Meiji tennō ki amplifies the text by adding a phrase to suggest that the emperor would go to the hoshō’s office in order to observe him busily engaged in state affairs.
6. This seems a clear indication, not provided elsewhere, that by this time Meiji smoked.
7. Personal attendants of the emperor, a new office, established at this time. The regulations provided (1) that they never divulge any matter revealed in the imperial presence, (2) that they not permit direct appeals on state matters that had not passed through the proper channels, (3) that they absolutely refrain from vulgar or impolite speech or action in the imperial presence, and (4) that (it goes without saying) they never while on duty, day or night, presume in the slightest on the imperial benevolence and thereby profane the imperial dignity or flaunt their authority inside or outside the palace. The remaining six regulations dealt with the performance of their duties (Meiji tennō ki, 1, pp. 706–7). Other provisos enumerated the qualifications the kinjū were expected to possess. It was difficult to find members of the nobility who fulfilled all the demands, but ten were eventually chosen. For the names, see p. 707.
8. The paraphrase is in Meiji tennō ki, 1, pp. 705–6.
9. Sir Ernest Satow wrote that he had seen several “constitutions,” the most recent of which was dated June of that year. He commented, “It showed marked traces of American political theories, and I have little doubt that Okuma and his fellow-clansman Soyéjima, pupils of Dr Verbeck, had had a considerable part in framing it. ‘The power and authority of the Daijōkan (i.e., government), threefold, legislative, executive and judicial,’ was the wording of one article. By another it as provided that ‘All officers shall be changed after four years’ service. They shall be appointed by a majority of votes given by ballot. When the first period for changing the officers of government arrives, half of the present staff shall be retained for an additional space of two years, in order that there be no interruption of the public business.’ In this we seemed to hear an echo of the ‘spoils system.’ Okuma explained that the ‘executive’ represented the executive department in the United States Constitution, ‘consisting of the president and his advisers,’ but that in fact it was the head of the Shinto religion, finance, war and foreign departments” (A Diplomat in Japan, p. 377).
10. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 708. Among the second-rank officials who were given rank at this time were Gotō Shōjirō, Kido Takayoshi, Ōkubo Toshimichi, Soejima Ta-neomi, and Yokoi Shōnan—a dazzling cluster of brilliant men.
11. In order to provide continuity, however, some of those elected in the first election would serve an additional two years.
12. Iwakura Tomomi asked on September 11 to be sent to the front at the head of 2,000 soldiers from the Saga Domain. In his petition to the throne, he admitted that having been born into a noble family, he had no knowledge of warfare, but he desired all the same to test his wormlike skill in battle with the traitors in the north. He was subsequently dissuaded, but not because of inadequate military training (Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 774).
13. This is the name by which he is called in most documents describing his activities in 1868, but I shall refer to him as Rinnōjinomiya, the name by which he was best known during the entire period.
14. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 618. See also Arima Yorichika, “Kitashirakawa no miya shōgai,” pp. 239–40.
15. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 239.
16. Ibid., p. 240.
17. Arima estimated that someone of Rinnōjinomiya’s status would have been escorted by several hundred men (“Kitashirakawa,” p. 244).
18. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 241.
19. Mori Ōgai, “Yoshihisa shinnō jiseki,” in Ōgai zenshū, p. 516.
20. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 242. Virtually the identical account is in Mori Ōgai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 516.
21. Mori Ōgai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 517.
22. Arima expressed the belief that Iwakura Tomomi was afraid that Rinnōjinomiya might influence the emperor and interfere with his plans for taking Edo Castle. Arima was convinced that Iwakura was determined not to let Edo Castle be attacked, even though the expeditionary army had been sent to the east, because he thought Katsu Kaishū, the chief negotiator in the castle, was too valuable a man to be sacrificed (“Kitashirakawa,” p. 247).
23. Takigawa Masajirō, “Shirarezaru tennō,” p. 125.
24. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 249.
25. Ibid., p. 250. See also Shibusawa Eiichi, Tokugawa Yoshinobu-kō den, 4, pp. 247, 248.
26. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 250.
27. Mori Ōgai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 532.
&nbs
p; 28. Ibid., p. 533.
29. Ibid., p. 535. For a description of the prince’s disguise (as a physician on his way to a sick man’s residence), see p. 536.
30. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 736.
31. Takigawa, “Shirarezaru,” p. 126. Takigawa wrote that he had heard this directly from the late Dr. Osatake Takeshi. He himself had not seen the document, but he had the highest respect for Osatake as a source of information.
32. The prince’s title as “emperor” was tōbu, or “Eastern Warrior.”
33. Meiji tennō ki, 1, p. 736. Satow must have heard rumors to this effect. He wrote, “Rinōji no Miya, the imperial prince who had always resided there in the character of abbot, and whom the recalcitrant Tokugawa men talked of raising to the throne as Mikado, was carried off by the survivors at the end of the day” (A Diplomat, p. 375).
34. The oath was called shiroishi meiyaku sho (for details, see Sasaki Suguru, Boshin sensō, pp. 115–23). See also Ishii Takashi, Ishin no nairan, pp. 122–27.
35. Sasaki, Boshin, p. 131.
36. An artist of historical portraits. His Senken kojitsu, portraying more than 500 illustrious people (including emperors, loyal retainers, and heroic women) with commentary, covers the 2,000 years from Emperor Jimmu to Emperor Gomurakami. It was published between 1836 and 1868.
37. Sasaki, Boshin, p. 132. The name tōbu—Eastern Warrior (the homonym of tōbu, eastern region)—indicates that he was emperor of only the eastern part of the country, leaving the west to Meiji. According to Kikuchi, however, he was known as kōtei, the term used for foreign kings or emperors, rather than as tennō.
38. Mori Ōgai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 546.
39. Ibid., p. 553.
40. Ibid., p. 557. On February 14, 1872, he was promoted to sanbon, a high rank in the kōzoku. On the same day, his brother Prince Asahiko, an equally ambiguous figure, was also named sanbon. Tokugawa Yoshinobu was appointed the junior fourth rank, and Date Yoshikuni, who had been “acting great general quelling barbarians” during the short-lived reign of Emperor Tōbu, was appointed to the junior fifth rank. The government’s leniency was all but incredible.