I deemed myself thrice fortunate that I, a common citizen of America and Hawaii, had been, by some curious circumstances, suddenly cast upon the plane of high political office, and that the rank which I now held enabled me to have intercourse upon a common footing with the men who were the reconstructors of this Oriental empire. They revealed to me. no of foreign States. This was a dangerous experiment,—one which the statesmen of Europe and America have invariably refused to make. The Japanese leaders were now in the days of the "O Jishiu,"-a great political earthquake generated by events beyond their control, and even as we sat and conversed with them we felt its rocking.
CHAPTER IX
Lunch with the Imperial Princes — Japanese Women — Hawaiian Use of English — Dinner in Japanese Style at the Noblemen's Club — Japanese Costumes — The Geisha Girls and the Musicians — Visits to the Naval Academy, the Military Barracks, Museums, and Factories — Dinner with the Emperor — Decoration of the King and His Suite — A Like Compliment Paid to the Emperor — Telegram Announcing Assassination of the Tsar of Russia Suppressed — The Grand Banquet — Reception by the Empress — The Assassination of the Tsar Announced, and the King Leaves — A Great Ball Postponed — The Court in Mourning — The Emperor Dines with the King in the Enriokwan, and Takes Leave of Him — Presents from the Emperor.
WE lunched at noon-and it was an elaborate banquet-in the palace of the Imperial Prince Arisugawa-no-Miya. Among his guests were the Imperial Princes Higashi Fushima, Fushima-no-Miya, and Kila-Sturakawa-no-Miya. Four of the Imperial Princesses were present, in rich native costumes. Their presence was quite contrary to the customs, which forbid the presence of women at banquets. But fashions were now in the transition period, and these Princesses wished to see a foreign king. The luncheon was served in the European style. Prince Arisugawa was educated in one of the English military schools, and translated our conversations.
In the slight delicate movements of these ladies one found a suggestion of the rare grace of the Japanese women. Their faces were enamelled or painted, and the whole effect was that of a banquet of wax figures, but at least graceful and exquisitely dressed, with charming manners. The "flashes of silence" were necessarily constant, in the absence of a common language. There was the sweetest dignity in their silence; an absence of the high-strung nerves which would have embarrassed a European lady. They were self-possessed, for they were Princesses; but even self-possession is usually disturbed during protracted silence, unless it be that of a beast or a god.
When we entered the drawing-room we discovered a large mass of flowers on a tray placed on a lacquer table in the centre of the room. Across the surface of the flowers was prettily interwoven the Hawaiian word "Aloha," which signifies "Welcome." When we returned to our palace this tray, with its mass of flowers, stood in the centre of our drawing-room. The palace of this Imperial Prince was on high ground overlooking the city; one of the ancient castles, surrounded with a moat; the garden was a specimen of the finest Japanese horticultural art.
My royal master had discovered by this time that the Japanese admired his command of the English language, and he also found that the use of big words rather increased their admiration; even those who were familiar with English speech could not always understand him when he resorted to large and uncommon words. It is a singular trait of the Hawaiians to avoid the use of English when sober, but when drunk to use it with much volubility. The King's immediate predecessor on the throne, Lunalilo, when in liquor, would often refuse to converse with his native relatives in the native language, but addressed them in English, and directed an interpreter to translate his speech; and, on the other hand, required a translation into English of their conversation in Hawaiian. The King's remarkable memory furnished him with a considerable vocabulary of uncommon words; alcohol seemed to open that part of his brain where they were stored, especially when, like the moon, he was at the third quarter and coming to the "full." On one occasion the use of the words" hippodramatic performance "secured to him the prestige of a learned man. In order to celebrate himself and the antiquity of his race, he declared at a banquet that his people had occupied his country for over two thousand years; but when asked by a guest regarding the antiquity of their literature he peremptorily abandoned the subject, as it was a humiliating fact that within sixty years his people could neither read nor write, and they were indebted to the missionaries for an alphabet. As a rule, however, his conduct and conversation displayed modesty and kingly dignity.
On the day of our arrival in Tokio he said he would like to attend a dinner at which only Japanese dishes were served. Later in the day, therefore, we were taken, after the luncheon with the Imperial Princes, to the Noblemen's Club, where we were told that a banquet would be served which, in the variety of its dishes and the entertainments during its service, would exceed in cost any banquet given since the Mikado became Emperor. On reaching the door our shoes were removed by servants, and we were led over the finest matting to side rooms. In these our clothing was removed, and the attendants clad us in Japanese costume. The King's was of a quality such as would be worn by the Emperor; its cost was some hundreds of dollars. The Chamberlain and I were also arrayed in costly silk kimonos.
Before entering the banquet-chamber tea was served in a large room richly furnished. A female servant-noted, it was said, for her skill-rinsed a delicate porcelain teacup in hot water and wiped it dry. She then, with a small ladle, dipped a thimbleful of pulverised tea from a lacquer bowl into the cup. Over this, with another ladle, she poured hot water, and with a small instrument resembling a camel's-hair brush, removed the grounds with a quick and dexterous movement. The cup was then handed to a guest.
In the large banqueting-room the arrangements resembled those of the Grecians and Romans around the triclinium. The guests were seated cross-legged on the floor, around three sides of the room, in the order of their respective ranks. One of the Imperial Princes presided.
Forks were placed by the side of the chopsticks of the King and suite, for in Asiatic lands meats are well cut up before serving, and knives are unnecessary. On the open or fourth side of the room there was a slightly raised platform for the use of singers and dancers. Geisha girls, noted for their skill in dancing as well as for their beauty, entered the room with dishes, and each of them, after placing the dish before some guest, knelt and touched the floor with her forehead. The dishes were not removed, but accumulated as the banquet continued. Saki, the light liquor distilled from rice, was served hot in small glasses.
The platform was occupied by the dancers, singers, and actors, the "stars" of the Empire, many of whom had risen above the practice of their art and were noted instructors. The singers are usually blind men, whose loss of sight, it is believed, aids them in the concentration of their musical faculties. We did not appreciate the music of the samisan, with its meagre effects and monotonous airs. But our hosts did, and the pretty geisha girls, noted as they were for skill in dancing, listened in raptures. It was said that to hear the four most celebrated blind singers of the Empire in combination was an event in their lives.
The dancing we appreciated, for it resembled that of the Hawaiians, but was more graceful. It was in a sense allegorical. It was all in changing lines, sober, and never extravagant, rhythmical movements which delicately present succeeding pictures of ideas; softly fluttering garments, gracefully gliding feet; while those who represented flowers in the dance seemed to wave like slender plants moved by the breeze. A gentleman seated next to me interpreted the dancers as if he were reading a libretto. Without his explanation I should have entirely failed to see its marvellous beauty and dramatic sense.
When one's limbs are not flexible, the cross-legged position at a three-hours banquet is a torture. Cushions are placed behind the guests upon which they may recline, and change their position slightly, but to me it was a pillory. As the same custom prevails in Hawaii, the King and the Chamberlain fell to it naturally enough.
At a certain stage of a
banquet rice is served, and no wine is taken after it. On this occasion, however, out of respect to a king of Christendom, where a State banquet would be regarded with contempt unless there was an increasing amount of wine and spirits offered to the end, champagne was served; but with the exception of this we were at a banquet such as would have been served five hundred years ago.
The manners of the guests, of the geisha girls, of the singers and of the dramatists, seemed to pervade the air of the chamber with what some one has called "the universal silent social compact of the Japanese to make existence as agreeable as possible."
After a banquet the Japanese do not linger, stupefied with food and liquor, but promptly go home.
The grounds about the club-house were brilliantly illuminated, and there was an exhibition of rare fireworks. We removed our kimonos, resumed our own dress, at the door received our shoes, and returned to our palace, where in our apartments we found the costly Japanese dresses which we had just put aside; these we kept as souvenirs of this rare entertainment.
Between the official reception and banquets we visited the Naval Academy, where the cadets gave the King a parade and drill; the military barracks, where, according to the written law, minor offenders are released from imprisonment on the visit of a royal chief; the beautiful gardens attached to the houses of some of the old nobles; the museums; the factories in which is produced the beautiful cloisonne enamel; and the studios of the painters.
At one o'clock of the 14th, the King and suite, in full uniform, rode again in the imperial carriage, surrounded by a troop of lancers, to the palace of Akasuka, to dine with the Emperor. The ceremony of the reception was a repetition of that of our first introduction. After a few moments of subdued conversation the Emperor arose and took from a lacquer box in the hands of the Minister of Ceremonies the star and broad scarlet cordon of the "Grand Cross of the Order of the Rising Sun." These he placed with his own hands upon the King. He then took from the Minister another lacquer box holding the star of the "Grand Officer of the Order of the Rising Sun," and presented it to me, whispering some words in the vernacular; and to the Chamberlain he also handed another box, containing the insignia of the same Order, but one degree lower. We retired for a moment to an adjoining room, and these were fastened and adjusted to our uniforms; the parchments containing our certificates of membership in the Order being sent to our palace. The King now nominally invested the Emperor with the "Grand Cross of the Order of Kamehameha" and the Imperial Princes and the Ministers with the Order in a lesser degree; these were forwarded from Paris, where such insignia are usually made, under careful regulations. The members of the "Order of the Rising Sun" are entitled to certain special distinctions in the empire: the privileges of an annual interview with the Emperor; to attend receptions in his palace, and, at death, to a military funeral.
Before moving from the reception-chamber to the dining-hall, the Minister of Foreign Affairs informed me privately that he had just received a telegraphic message which announced the assassination of the Tsar of Russia, Alexander II. If the Emperor and King were informed of this, etiquette might require them to withdraw and postpone the dinner. The Minister and I therefore agreed that the news should be suppressed until the close of the banquet. The royal grief upon the sudden loss of a Crowned Brother was delayed two hours. We entered the dining-hall, and the Emperor took a seat at the middle of the long table, with the King on his right hand. Directly opposite to them an Imperial Prince was placed, upon whose right hand I sat, while the Chamberlain was placed on his left. The guests, numbering fifty, were arranged according to their rank toward the ends of the table. The table furniture was of heavy gold plate, valued, it was said, at $200,000. The royal dragon appeared on each piece. Fifteen large ornamental pieces, with most graceful outlines, were placed along the central axis of the table. Great vases filled with flowers were arranged around the room, producing a most attractive effect.
The military band stood on the lawn. As we took our seats it played "Hawaii Poni" and the Japanese national anthem. A servant stood behind each monarch, and the dishes were served by placing them at the same instant before them, so that there could be no suggestion of preference in rank. The menu was printed on silk in both Japanese and English. There was no hint of Japanese diet; it was a European dinner in all of its details. Nor were any of the guests dressed in their native costumes; all were in European military and diplomatic costumes. Conversation was carried on almost in whispers, so as not to infringe the rule of etiquette which forbids loud talk before royalty. The Emperor was suffering from a cold, and fifteen physicians braced him up for the banquet.
If the dinner had not been dreary it would have lacked the marked distinction of royal dinners throughout the world. The quiet and almost abject interpreter stood behind the monarchs, and whenever the royal minds moved toward each other, he served as a connecting link. The music of the band, and the brilliancy of the entertainment, in this court, as in other courts, relieved the monotony. A poetic ethnologist sitting in my place might have taken inspiration for verse in the contrasts between the monarchs in their origin, in their strains of blood, in the mysteries of their inherited ideas, in the contrasts between the subjects of one of them,—who had a high civilisation before Columbus touched the land on the margin of the Caribbean Sea; and the subjects of the other,—who only within a hundred years had permitted themselves to be discovered by Captain Cook. Perhaps these monarchs had a common strain, for it is possible that from the enormous coast line of Japan, in prehistoric times, the people of Japan were carried by current and tempest to the Ladrone and Caroline Islands, thence to the Marshall Group, to Samoa, Tonga, to New Zealand, and northwardly to the Hawaiian Islands, a grand sweep of ten thousand miles toward the American continent. The meeting of these monarchs perhaps signified the union of relatives whose ancestors had separated five thousand years before. It was apparent that the Polynesian was physically much superior to the Japanese, but the latter was intellectually incomparably superior to the former. Once during the banquet did our irrepressible little skeleton threaten to force itself into notice. For the Emperor asked the King, "How large is your Majesty's army?" But the King replied vaguely, "I do not keep my army on a war footing." So we still managed to conceal our weight in the estimate of the balance of power among nations.
As the banquet closed, the national hymns were again played by the band; the monarchs side by side, followed by the guests, retired to the reception-room, where the Empress sat, with the sweet little lady-in-waiting standing by her side. Coffee and cigars were served. The Minister of Foreign Affairs now approached the monarchs and informed them of the assassination of the Tsar of Russia, although during the banquet the fact had become an open secret to the guests. The King arose at once, and with his suite took leave of the Empress. The Emperor conducted the King to the imperial carriage, and, guarded by a troop of lancers, we returned to our palace.
The Japanese court went into mourning at once, and the Imperial Chamberlain announced that the invitations to a grand ball at the Emperor's palace, in honour of the King, were recalled. If the Russian nihilist had considerately postponed the execution of his act for three days, we should have attended a brilliant, unique, and notable event.
The King received a letter from the Russian Minister announcing the death of the Tsar, and our Chamberlain, according to usage, called on the Minister, leaving his own official card, as monarchs have no cards. The King, as required by etiquette, went into retirement an.d grief over the loss of his Royal Russian Brother for the rest of the day, but as a matter of fact most of the time was spent in admonishing Robert, the valet, because, while drunk, he had seated himself on the royal silk hat and crushed it. The King recalled our conversations on the voyage across the Pacific, regarding the violent deaths of sovereigns, upon which I gravely used the phrase of American frontiersmen, that the Tsar's misfortune was another case of a man's "dying with his boots on." To which he replied naively, "Yes, a soldier should di
e with his boots on."
He then said that he often became weary of the Crown of his own little kingdom. I suggested that he should follow the example of the Saxon king who abdicated his throne and entered a monastery, where he was assigned to the labour of milking the cows. If he would follow this example, with the same results, he might, I pointed out to him, become the author of a book titled "From the Crown to the Cow-Yard."
Although the death of the Tsar ended all grand entertainments, the etiquette of the court required that the Emperor should dine with the King in our own palace. He did so on the next day, and the ceremony of the previous day was strictly observed. On this occasion the monarchs met for the last time. At the close of the banquet a few moments were spent in conversation through the interpreter; expressions of good-will and high consideration were exchanged, and they bade each other good-bye, cordially shaking hands. The national anthems were played, the Emperor entered his carriage, and, surrounded by a body of lancers, drove over the bridge which spanned the moat.
When we retired to our chambers we found there a number of rare and valuable presents from the Emperor. To the King were given magnificent cloisonné vases, rich silks, exquisite lacquer boxes, bronzes, and embroideries; to each of the suite were given silks and lacquer boxes. The suite suggested that in return the royal feather cloak should be presented to the Emperor, but the King refused to part with this ancient heirloom; he secretly meditated its use again when an occasion should arise. As our Hawaiian countrymen were hardly out of the" Stone Age," there was no work of fine art of their manufacture which compared with that of the Japanese. After the King's subjects became "civilised," it was a common practice for ardent friends to display their esteem by exchanging trousers. I suggested this loving and simple practice to the King, but he scornfully replied that it was beneath the dignity of monarchs.
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