Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (164 page)

19
. Nishijima,
Nakayama
, pp. 22–24, 34.

20
. By “advocate of justice,” he probably meant someone devoted to the
sonj
ō
cause (Nishijima,
Nakayama
, p. 34).

21
. Nishijima,
Nakayama
, p. 35.

22
. Ibid., p. 49.

23
. There are at least eight different theories as to the day in the eleventh moon when the assassination occurred (Nishijima,
Nakayama
, p. 197). Nishijima gives the names of men sent by the Zokuront
ō
, the anti-
j
ō
i
faction then dominant within the domain, to kill Tadamitsu (p. 201).

Chapter 9

1
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 331.

2
.
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 4, pp. 707–10. See also
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 335.

3
. Yoda Yoshiie, “Kindai tenn
ō
sei seiritsu no zentei,” p. 10. He quotes a passage to this effect from the letter sent by K
ō
mei to Konoe Tadahiro dated April 7, 1859. For the full text of the letter, see
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 2, pp. 787–89.

4
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 338–39. In the end, Shimazu Mochihisa accepted the British demands and paid more than 6 million
ry
ō
in gold by way of indemnity.

5
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 340–41. For a much fuller account of Ikeda Yoshinori’s views, see
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 4, p. 741.

6
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 341.

7
. Ibid., 1, p. 344.

8
. Ibid., 1, p. 345. Far richer documentation and fuller quotation from K
ō
mei’s message are found in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 4, pp. 791–820. For example, Prince Nakagawa recalled to an interviewer that K
ō
mei had said he could not take command of any army that attacked the shogunate, because Princess Chikako (the former Kazunomiya) was now a Tokugawa, and if he attacked the Tokugawa family, he would have to kill her. This would be unforgivable to the late emperor, the father of Chikako, and to her relations. If a time came when such an attack was necessary, he would attack, but the time would have to be right. From all he had heard, it was too early to open an attack, if only because adequate weapons were still not available. He had therefore decided to defer temporarily assuming personal command (
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 4, p. 791). It is not clear when Nakagawa made this statement. Probably it was years after the events, and slips of memory and inventions may have colored his recollection.

9
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 345. The seven nobles left behind a brief message stating that just when the great enterprise of restoring imperial power was moving toward a successful conclusion, traitors had disturbed the imperial mind with their machinations. Unable to tolerate this, the seven signers had decided to go to the west where they would raise an army. They appealed to all patriots to join them (Kurihara Ry
ū
ichi,
Zankanj
ō
, p. 178).

10
. They included
Ehon Asakusa Reigenki, Ehon Sangokuki Y
ō
fuden, Ehon Taik
ō
ki, Ehon Hikoyama Reigenki
,
Genpei seisuiki zue
, and
Ashikabi s
ō
shi
.

11
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 353.

12
. The
neng
ō
was changed from the fourth year of Bunky
ū
to the first year of Genji on the twentieth of the second month because this was a “revolutionary” year. A full list of the twenty-four
neng
ō
recommended at the time is in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 84–88. One of the recommended
neng
ō
was Meiji.

13
. The text is in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 20; the translation, in W. G. Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy
, pp. 263–64.

14
. The text is in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 20; the translation, in Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents
, p. 264.

15
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 376. For details, see
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 226–30, esp. p. 230. Kido Takayoshi, who was in another part of the building, barely managed to escape.

16
. These plans were learned by the Shinsengumi from Furutaka Shuntar
ō
(1829–1864), a loyalist-activist (
kinn
ō
shishi
) whom they captured and tortured. They also learned the names of the people involved (Fukuchi Shigetaka,
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
, pp. 182–83; T
ō
yama Shigeki, ed.,
Ishin no gunz
ō
, p. 55).

17
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 337. Hikone was the seat of the Ii family, powerful
fudai
daimyos, which was probably why it seemed like a suitable and easily defensible place for the emperor to reside.

18
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 377. The statement left at the Gion Shrine by the assassins, explaining why they killed Sh
ō
zan, mentioned his study of Western learning, his advocacy of foreign trade and opening the ports, and his collaboration with the “villainous” Aizu and Hikone Domains. He was accused also of plotting with Prince Nakagawa to move the capital to Hikone (Kurihara,
Zankanj
ō
, pp. 247–48). There seem to have been grounds for the belief that a removal of the capital was being planned.

19
. Ishii Takashi,
Bakumatsu hiun no hitobito
, p. 84. This description is from Nakayama Tadayasu’s diary, quoted in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 302.

20
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 378.

21
. This description is from Higashib
ō
j
ō
Tadanaga’s diary, quoted in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 305. See also Ishii,
Bakumatsu
, p. 85.

22
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 379.

23
. Ibid., 1, p. 380. See also
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 303.

24
. Ninagawa Shin,
Meiji tenn
ō
, p. 21.
Ō
ya S
ō
ichi was perhaps the first to state that the prince had been so frightened by the sound of gunfire that he fainted (
Ō
ya S
ō
ichi zensh
ū
, 23, pp. 30–32). But as Asukai Masamichi pointed out, this statement originated in a misreading of the text of
Nakayama Tadayasu nikki
(
Meiji taitei
, p. 97).

25
. This is the theory of Asukai,
Meiji taitei
, p. 98.

Chapter 10

1
. The French text of this treaty is in W. G. Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy
, pp. 273–74. It provided that the Japanese government had to deliver to the French minister in Edo, within three months of the return of the Japanese embassy, 140,000 “piastres mexicains, dont 100,000 piastres seront payées par le Gouvernement lui-m
ē
me, et 40,000 piastres par l’Autorité de la Province de Nagato.”

2
. A translation of Ikeda’s long letter to the shogunate explaining his actions is in Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents
, pp. 274–82.

3
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 387.

4
. Ibid., 1, p. 388.

5
. Ibid., 1, p. 395. This entry is dated February 16. His name appeared again on March 8, when he urged precisely the opposite course of action: to allow the nobles to return to the capital and to restore them to their positions. He seems to have changed his mind as the result of an order from the daimyo of Satsuma, Shimazu Mochihisa.

6
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 407.

7
. The foreigners always referred to the emperor as the mikado, a title that they believed was that of a religious, rather than a secular, authority.

8
.
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 653. The original French text of the memorandum, signed on October 30, 1865, in Yokohama by the ministers in Japan of Great Britain, France, the United States, and Holland, is in Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents
, pp. 293–96. The contents differ in many small ways from the Japanese version given in summary here.

9
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 416.

10
. The information on the dealings with the foreigners at Hy
ō
go, found in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 654–55, is derived from
Zoku saimu kiji
, the records kept between 1862 and 1867 by Matsudaira Yoshinaga (1828–90), the daimyo of Echizen.

11
.
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 654.

12
. Mario Emilio Cosenza, ed.,
The Complete Journals of Townsend Harris
, pp. 371, 518.

13
. Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents
, p. 300. The letter is dated November 21, 1865.

14
. It is true that the foreigners on occasion (and as far back as Townsend Harris) had threatened to take a disputed matter to the mikado in Ky
ō
to, but this was the first time they—or anyone else—had been informed that the emperor ranked higher than the shogun. For mention of foreigners who had earlier shown awareness of the importance of the emperor, see F. V. Dickins and S. Lane-Poole,
The Life of Sir Harry Parkes
, 2, p. 43. But William Elliot Griffis wrote, “English scholarship first discovered the true source of power, exposed the counterfeit government in Yedo, read the riddle of ages, and rent the veil that so long hid the truth. It was the English minister, Sir Harry Parkes, who first risked his life to find the truth; stripped the shogun of his fictitious title of ‘majesty;’ asked for at home, obtained, and presented credentials to the mikado, the sovereign of Japan” (
The Mikado’s Empire
, p. 577)

15
. I have followed here the account given by Matsudaira Yoshinaga, as quoted in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 655. It differs in details from the account in
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 418, which states, for example, that it was Parkes who, seeing Inoue about to cut his finger, said he took his word.

16
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 419.

17
. Quoted in Ishii Takashi,
Bakumatsu hiun no hitobito
, p. 91.

18
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 420. For a translation of the message from the court to the shogunate, see Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents
, p. 304.

19
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 421.

20
. Quoted in T
ō
yama Shigeki, ed.,
Ishin no gunz
ō
, p. 56. His translation is very free and omits a good deal, but by so doing he makes better sense than the original. Ishii quotes phrases from the same letter, dated August 29, 1865 (
Bakumatsu
, p. 89). The letter does not appear in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
but is in
Asahiko Shinn
ō
nikki
, 1, pp. 336–37.

21
.
Asahiko Shinn
ō
nikki
, 1, pp. 336–37. T
ō
yama says this statement is to be found in
Zoku s
ō
ri meich
ū
(
Ishin
, p. 57), but it is not there. He also quotes the diary of Nakayama Tadayasu to the effect that “the palace is exactly like the licensed quarter; every day is spent in pleasure.”