Emperor of Japan

by Donald Keene

  15. “Unofficial History of Japan,” a celebrated work by Rai San’yō (1780–1832) that described Japanese martial traditions over the centuries.

  16. Motoda and Kaigo, eds., Motoda, p. 126; Kose and Nakamura, Motoda, p. 47.

  17. Yasuba, “Junchū,” p. 7. See also Motoda and Kaigo, eds., Motoda, p. 127, and Kose and Nakamura, Motoda, p. 48.

  18. The Mima (or, more commonly, Omima) were three small rooms to the southwest of the Tsunegoten where the emperor granted informal audiences.

  19. Motoda and Kaigo, eds., Motoda, p. 127; Kose and Nakamura, Motoda, p. 49.

  20. For example, he was unpopular with the chamberlains because they thought he was teaching the emperor to behave in an old-fashioned manner (Hinonishi Sukehiro, Meiji tennō no go-nichijō, p. 120).

  21. Yasuba, “Junchū,” p. 4.

  22. The Four Books: Ta Hsüeh (The Great Learning), Chung Yung (The Mean), Lun Yü (The Analects), and Meng Tzu (Mencius) plus Shih Ching (The Book of Songs) and Shu Ching (The Book of History).

  23. Kose and Nakamura, Motoda, pp. 53, 225. This text is dated 1871.

  24. Ibid., pp. 72–74.

  25. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 295. On this occasion, battalions of infantry, artillery, and cavalry from three domains were for the first time organized as a single regiment. Because the troops of each of the three domains were trained differently (in accordance with English, French, or Dutch practice) and attired in different uniforms, they presented a somewhat heterogeneous appearance.

  26. Baron Alexander de Hubner, Promenade autour du monde, 2, p. 10. For a brief account of Hubner’s audience with Emperor Meiji, see Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 516.

  27. Among the entries in Meiji tennō ki, 2, mentioning Meiji’s eating of Western food during the first years of his reign: on the twelfth day of the eighth month of the third year of Meiji, he ate Western food at the Enrykan; on the twenty-first day of the eleventh month of the fourth year of Meiji, he ate a Western lunch; on the fourth day of the twelfth month of the fourth year of Meiji, both the emperor and the empress, at the recommendation of a court physician, drank milk for the first time, and on the seventeenth day of the twelfth month of the fourth year of Meiji, the long-standing ban on the eating of animal flesh was lifted, and the emperor began to eat beef and mutton.

  28. William Elliot Griffis, The Mikado, p. 194. Griffis wrote disparagingly of the troops of Satsuma’s Shimazu Saburō who appeared in the capital in May 1872: “When he and his band of two hundred Samurai arrived they seemed most sadly medieval and obsolete. All wore high clogs, long red scabbarded swords, had the front and sides of their noddles shaved, went bareheaded and often bare armed, and in general looked like a pack of antiquated ruffians. They found themselves so stared at, and indeed so looked upon as men behind the times that they actually begged their lord to allow them to take off their killing tools” (p. 238).

  29. For a description of the photograph, see Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 599. The photograph is reproduced in the front matter of Taiyō, September 1912. It has recently been rediscovered (Asahi Shimbun, May 25, 2001, p. 20).

  A few foreigners, on the other hand, took to wearing Japanese clothes. Sir Harry Parkes wrote of Peshine Smith, “an American lawyer of some eminence” who was serving as an adviser to the Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry, that he “did his best to bring his employers into ridicule by going about in a Japanese split jacket and loose trousers with a couple of swords stuck in his girdle, and declaring in public ‘that not one foreigner in ten in Japan was murdered who ought to have been murdered’” (quoted in F. V. Dickins and S. Lane-Poole, The Life of Sir Harry Parkes, 2, p. 193).

  30. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 527.

  31. Ibid., 2, p. 324.

  32. Ibid., 2, p. 522.

  33. Eiichi Kiyooka, trans., The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, pp. 225, 226. See also Nagao Kazuo, Ansatsusha, p. 12.

  34. A brief but useful chronology of Ōmura’s life is in Ezaki Masanori, “Ōmura Masujirō,” p. 74.

  35. The fighting is described in gory detail in Nagao, Ansatsusha, pp. 16–20.

  36. Morikawa Tetsurō, Meiji ansatsu shi, p. 35.

  37. Hirosawa was sleeping with his mistress when he was killed, and some thought that jealousy, rather than politics, had led to the murder. Sasaki Takayuki, an adviser of the emperor, wrote in his diary that he suspected someone close to Kido Takayoshi of the crime but gave no reason (Kurihara Ryūichi, Zankanjō, p. 363). Hirosawa, like Kido, was from Chōshū.

  38. Kurihara, Zankanjō, p. 362. Meiji raised Hirosawa’s rank posthumously and gave 3,000 ryō to his family (Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 392). When the emperor stated that Hirosawa was the “third minister” to be assassinated, he was presumably referring indirectly to Yokoi Shōnan and Ōmura Masujirō.

  Chapter 22

  1. During the period since hanseki hōkan had been adopted, various domains (han) had memorialized the throne, asking that they be abolished and replaced by prefectures (ken) (Meiji tennō ki, 2, pp. 499–501). The four daimyos summoned on this occasion were men who had offered detailed reasons why they wished their domain to be abolished. The Tokushima daimyo Hachisuka Mochiaki deplored the lack of unity within the country caused by the existence of the domains and thought it advisable that all domain soldiers be placed under the command of the Ministry of War. Similar petitions were made by the daimyos of the Nagoya, Kumamoto, and Tottori Domains (pp. 404–5). On May 17, 1881, the Marugame daimyo Kyōgoku Akiyuki asked permission to abolish the domain and replace it with a prefecture; this was granted on May 28 (p. 446). The Mito Domain governor Kuki Takayoshi went even further: he not only asked that domain officials be dismissed and their powers transferred to the court, but advocated gradually turning the samurai of the domain into farmers and merchants. He also favored abolishing the distinctions of kazoku (nobles) and shizoku (samurai) (pp. 470–71, 500). The daimyos of Ōmizo and Tsuwano successfully petitioned to be incorporated within larger domains (pp. 478, 483). These developments, though not typical of the country as a whole, indicate that the atmosphere was conducive to haihan chiken.

  2. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 498.

  3. William Elliot Griffis, The Mikado, p. 181.

  4. Ibid., pp. 190–91.

  5. Kinoshita Hyō, Meiji shiwa, pp. 50–51. See also my Dawn to the West, 1, p. 41. The poem is forty lines long.

  6. Shiba Ryōtarō, Meiji to iu kokka, p. 111. He states that until the 1920s the bureaucracy and academia were occupied by members of the samurai class because they quickly realized that they could escape from their economic predicament only by education. He further states that it was not until the end of the Taishō era that the samurai class began to influence the merchant and agricultural classes.

  7. In 1868, when it was arranged for the ministers of foreign countries to visit the Shishinden, the ladies of the ōoku, led by Meiji’s mother, Nakayama Yoshiko, protested violently, weeping and screaming, enraged by the prospect of the emperor’s meeting foreigners. Higashikuze Michitomi sent for the principal female officials and persuaded them to cease their opposition. But Nakayama Yoshiko got her father, Nakayama Tadayasu, to ask for a delay on the grounds that a doctor had said the emperor had a fever. Iwakura asked another doctor to examine the emperor, who was pronounced well. The meeting took place as scheduled (Asukai Masamichi, Meiji taitei, p. 123).

  8. Meiji tennō ki, 2, pp. 504–5.

  9. Ibid., 2, pp. 505–6.

  10. For an account of the officers of the court who were dismissed and their successors, see ibid., 2, p. 506. Murata was appointed as kunai daijō.

  11. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 507. Three were appointed as gon no tenji, the title given to the emperor’s concubines.

  12. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 509. See also Asukai, Meiji taitei, p. 142.

  13. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 175. A kuni was a large area corresponding to a prefecture, and a gun was a subprefecture.

  14. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 267.

  15. Ibid., 2, p. 463.

 
16. Ibid., 2, pp. 463–64.

  17. Ibid., 3, p. 30. They met in Tōkyō rather than in the north. Soejima proposed buying Sakhalin for 200,000 yen, but Biutsov countered by offering to give the Japanese the Kurile Islands in return for obtaining sole possession of Sakhalin. Neither budged in his stand. Perhaps to break the deadlock, Soejima said that Japan would yield all of Sakhalin to the Russians provided they would sign an agreement permitting Japanese troops free passage across their territories in the event that Japan engaged in military action on the Asian continent. Biutsov replied that he was not authorized to discuss such matters, and there the matter was dropped.

  18. Meiji tennō ki, 3, p. 31. The text of Kuroda’s memorandum is in “Soejima Haku keireki gūdan” (part 3), pp. 23–24.

  19. Meiji tennō ki, 3, pp. 444–45.

  20. Ibid., 2, pp. 327, 333. Itagaki Taisuke was originally selected to head the four-man team of observers but declined because of domain duties. The senior member was Ōyama Iwao, a cousin of Saigō Takamori, who later became minister of war and commanding general of the Second Army during the Sino-Japanese War. Another member, Shinagawa Yajirō, who remained in Europe for five years, later rose to be minister of the interior.

  21. Takashima Tomonosuke, “Jimmu irai no eishu,” p. 34. Watanabe Ikujirō wrote, however, that the German minister (not a ship’s captain) showed and explained the photographs (Meiji tennō, 1, p. 129).

  22. Watanabe Ikujirō, Meiji tennō, 1, p. 129.

  23. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 666.

  24. Ibid., 2, p. 582. For a fuller description of the departure, see Kume Kunitake, Beiō kairan jikki, 1, pp. 42, and Tanaka Akira, Iwakura shisetsudan, pp. 8–10.

  25. This would be in October 1872, but it was generally believed that reconsideration would be possible on July 1, 1872 (Tanaka, Iwakura, p. 41). Similar treaties had been signed with Holland, Russia, England, France, Portugal, Prussia, Switzer-land, Belgium, Italy, and Denmark. When trade treaties were later signed with Sweden-Norway, Spain, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, they followed the American model, and the Japanese were unable to eliminate the objectionable features (Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 547).

  26. Meiji tennō ki, 2, pp. 548–50.

  27. Ōkubo Toshiaki, Iwakura shisetsu no kenkyū, pp. 257–58. Ōkubo reproduces sections from William Elliot Griffis, Verbeck of Japan. Although he considered himself to be an American (technically, he was a stateless person), Verbeck was born and educated in Holland. In 1859 he was sent by the Dutch Reformed Church to Nagasaki, where in addition to proselytizing, he taught English, law, politics, economics, and Western technology. (His original university degree was in engineering.) His pupils included Itō Hirobumi, Ōkubo Toshimichi, Ōkuma Shigenobu, and Soejima Taneomi.

  28. It is not clear what Iwakura meant by “your chief officers.”

  29. Ōkubo, Iwakura, p. 254. The authenticity of Verbeck’s claim was bolstered by the discovery in the Gardner A. Sage Library of the Reformed Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, of a copy in Verbeck’s hand of his original proposal, sent to Ōkuma on June 11, 1869 (Tanaka, Iwakura, p. 28).

  30. Ōkubo, Iwakura, p. 257.

  31. Mōri Toshihiko, Meiji rokunen seihen, p. 23. Mōri mentions that Mori Arinori, then in Washington, D.C., overestimated the friendliness of the Americans and believed that it was an opportune time for treaty revision. His sentiments were shared by Itō Hirobumi (Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 659). Mori was detested by members of the mission because he openly criticized Japan in front of the Americans. Kido Takayoshi’s diary contains such passages as “In recent days Mori’s behavior has been appalling. By contrast, Americans understand our feelings very well, and know our customs. But, our students who are now studying in the United States lack a deep understanding of our country’s traditional ways. They admire American customs without knowing the tradition on which they themselves stand. They advocate liberty and republicanism so thoughtlessly that I can hardly bear to listen to their light-hearted frivolous ideas. It is talked about that Mori, who is the Minister of our country here, scorns the customs of his own land indiscriminately in the presence of foreigners” (diary entry, April 15, 1872, in Sidney DeVere Brown and Akiko Hirota, trans., The Diary of Kido Takayoshi, 2, pp. 149–50).

  32. Ōkubo and Itō seemed to believe they had obtained the credentials to negotiate treaty revision with America, but in fact all they were empowered to do was to open negotiations. They were not to modify the treaty with America alone but were directed to meet in Europe with representatives of all countries with which treaties had been signed and negotiate there. Iwakura was sent telegraphic instructions to ask if the Americans would send an envoy extraordinary to the site of negotiations. The emperor on June 19, 1872, sent a message to his “good friends,” the kings and presidents of the various countries, describing the chief members of the embassy who would visit their capitals and who were empowered to conduct negotiations with the aim of achieving ever more peaceful and friendly relations with their countries. He reminded them that it would soon be the time set for treaty revisions and hoped that these revisions would be carried out for the benefit of all (Meiji tennō ki, 2, pp. 677–79; Mōri, Meiji, p. 26).

  33. Miyake Setsurei, Dōjidai shi, 1, pp. 339–43, quoted in Mōri, Meiji, pp. 32–33.

  34. However, Griffis recorded his pleasure over the new promptness of the Japanese in dealing with would-be assassins: “On January 13, 1871, two Englishmen in Tokyo were attacked by three two sworded men and wounded very severely. With Verbeck, I had the pleasure of helping to nurse them back to health. With the utmost promptness, the three assailants were caught and their confessions extorted from them before their punishment was decreed. What surprised and pleased the British Minister was the production of a new criminal code, two out of five volumes being then ready. According to its provisions two of the guilty ruffians were strangled and one sentenced to ten years of hard labor, all three being degraded from the rank of Samurai …. The innovation of putting gentlemanly scoundrels and murderers to death on the common execution ground, where vulgar felons were beheaded, soon made assassination unpopular” (Mikado, pp. 183–84).

  Chapter 23

  1. Chūgoku referred to the northern shore of the Inland Sea (Hiroshima, Okayama, etc.); Saigoku at this time was another name for Kyūshū.

  2. In order to take advantage of the high tide, the emperor and his party left the palace at three in the morning, traveled to Hama Rikyū, where they boarded the warship Ryūjō, and sailed to Uraga, reached that evening. The Ryūjō spent the night anchored in Uraga Bay and then sailed back to Hama Rikyū the following morning.

  3. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 674.

  4. Taki Kōji, Tennō no shōzō, p. 6.

  5. Baron Alexander de Hubner wrote after an audience with Emperor Meiji, “Conformémentà l’étiquette, l’empereur, en me parlant, ne faisait que murmurer entre ses dents des sons inarticulés età peine saisissables” (Promenade autour du monde, 2, p. 16). A. B. Mitford, who was present when “the Mikado” first gave an audience to Sir Harry Parkes, the English minister, wrote, “As might be expected from his extreme youth and the novelty of the situation to one who had only recently left the women’s apartments, the Mikado showed some symptoms of shyness. He hardly spoke above a whisper, so the words were repeated aloud by the Prince of the Blood on his right side and translated by Ito Shunske” (quoted in Hugh Cortazzi, Mitford’s Japan, p. 121). Frank Brinkley recalled that he and the other Englishmen “offered him our most profound salutations, but His Majesty sat erect, not so much as blinking his eyes. He did not vouchsafe a word …. Some wondered if he might not be a doll, he was so god-like in his attitude” (“Sentei heika,” p. 46).

  6. For example, Hugh Cortazzi quotes an article dated August 15, 1872, from The Far East in which it mentions “a slight stiffness in his gait, as if unused to boots” (Victorians in Japan, p. 81). Lady Brassey, who saw the emperor in November 1873, wrote, “He is a young, not very good-looking man, with rather a sullen expression, and legs
that look as though they did not belong to him—I suppose from using them so little, and sitting so much on his heels; for until the last few years the Mikado has always been considered far too sacred a being to be allowed to set foot on the earth” (quoted in ibid., p. 333).

  7. Taki, Tennō, p. 9.

  8. Ibid., p. 10.

  9. Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV, p. 11.

  10. Ibid., p. 44.

  11. Baron de Hubner wrote of his audience with Meiji, “Excepté en nous addressant la parole, Sa Majesté se tint immobile comme une statue” (Promenade, p. 15).

  12. Burke, Fabrication, p. 180.

  13. Ibid., p. 61.

  14. Norbert Elias, The Court Society, p. 126.

  15. Meiji tennō ki, 2, pp. 675, 683. Needless to say, no one had previously sat on chairs in the Gosho.

  16. The costume is more fully described in Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 691: the basic material is black wool embroidered on the chest with gold thread in the shape of chrysanthemum blossoms and leaves. On the back at the waist there is an embroidered phoenix. The trousers are of the same black wool with a stripe about an inch wide of gold braid. The cocked hat, of black velvet, is embroidered on both sides with phoenixes of gold thread and is bordered by a stripe of gold braid. The “hooks” (hokku) seem to refer to the fastenings of the upper garment.

  The emperor was measured for Western clothes on May 13 by a European tailor from Yokohama. This may have been the only time that he was ever measured (Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 666).

  17. Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 711.

  18. Ibid., 2, p. 691.

  19. At this point, Meiji tennō ki, 2, p. 695, sounds a cautionary note: “It is said that the crying of banzai in the modern period began in 1889 at the time of the proclamation of the constitution. The statement given here that the citizens of Ōsaka cried banzai is based on records of the time, but did the people in fact cry banzai? Or was it merely that the records used the expression ‘cry banzai,’ often found in classical texts of both Japan and China, to indicate a state of joyfulness? This is still not clear. There is also a text stating that in the ninth month of 1870, at the ceremony performed by the navy in honor of the emperor’s birthday, everyone lined up on deck in order of ranks at eleven in the morning and shouted banzai.”