Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (168 page)

3
. The text is in
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 596. See also Ishii Takashi,
Boshin sens
ō
ron
, p. 114. Satow stated that “a notification, signed by Iwashita, It
ō
and Terashima, as officers of the Foreign Department, was placarded about the town, informing the people that the Mikado would observe the treaties, and enjoining on them proper behaviour towards foreigners” (
A Diplomat
, p. 326). He may have been referring to a separate document, sent on February 16 to the ministers of the different countries.

4
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 600–601. The intended recipient of the letter, Hashimoto Saneyana (1834–1885), had already left for the east. Princess Chikako’s messenger found him at Kuwana. Hashimoto, extremely moved by the letter, gave it to the messenger to take back to Ky
ō
to and show it to the
san’yo
Madenok
ō
ji Hirofusa for consideration by the Court Council.

5
. Ishii,
Boshin
, pp. 120–1.

6
. Ibid., p. 123.

7
. Ibid., p. 124.

8
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 618. K
ō
gen was the Buddhist name of the ninth son of Fushiminomiya Kuniie. He was more commonly known at this time as Prince Yo-shihisa or Rinn
ō
jinomiya.

9
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 603.
ō
ention of a monarch mingling with the common people probably refers to Queen Victoria, though it was also true of King Louis Philippe.

10
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 602–3.

11
. Ibid., 1, p. 611. The only previous time he had left the Gosho was when a fire consumed most of the palace.

12
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 627.

13
. Ibid., 1, p. 628.

14
. Satow,
A Diplomat
, p. 337.

15
. Ibid., pp. 347, 353;
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 630.

16
. Satow,
A Diplomat
, p. 347. Satow’s colleague A. B. Mitford (later Lord Redesdale) was of a different opinion. He heard from the French officers who were present “to witness the horror” that “when the first condemned man came out he plunged the dirk into his stomach with such force that his entrails protruded; he held them up in his hand and began singing verses of hatred and revenge against the detested foreigners who were polluting the sacred soil of the Land of the Gods till death stopped his ghastly song” (Redesdale,
Memories of Lord Redesdale
, p. 446). According to what Mitford heard, after eleven men had died in this way, “the French could hold out no longer, and Captain du Petit Thouars prayed the nine remaining men might be spared.”

17
. The term is better known in the West as
harakiri
. Purists in Japanese prefer
kappuku
. But regardless of name, the act consisted of drawing a dagger deeply across the abdomen to reveal that the intestines were free of impurity.

18
. Satow described the incident in K
ō
be during which members of the Bizen Domain under Taki Zenzabur
ō
’s command fired on foreigners, killing an American sailor (
A Diplomat
, pp. 319–20, 344). Taki subsequently was ordered to commit
seppuku
.

19
. Satow,
A Diplomat
, pp. 346–47.

20
. Roches was the senior diplomatic officer in terms of service in Japan. Van Pols-broek, although of lesser rank, may have been granted an audience ahead of Parkes because of the long-standing relationship between Japan and Holland.

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 tenn
ō
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 Got
ō
and Nakai for having saved the life of the British minister (
Meiji tenn
ō
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 tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 639).

25
.
Meiji tenn
ō
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 tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 638.

33
. Redesdale,
Memories
, p. 461. It
ō
Shunsuke is, of course, It
ō
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
r
ō
nin
soldiers, was founded in 1863 by the shogunate mainly to suppress
j
ō
i
activity in Ky
ō
to. 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 jimbutsu
ō
rai sha, ed.,
Shinsengumi shiry
ō
sh
ū
, pp. 205–14.

35
. Ishii,
Boshin
, pp. 126–27.

36
.
Meiji tenn
ō
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
ch
ō
teki
!’ 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
Daij
ō
kan 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 tenn
ō
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 tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 665–66).

2
.
Meiji tenn
ō
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 tenn
ō
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
ry
ō
bu shint
ō
, 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 tenn
ō
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 tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 652–55.

8
. T
ō
yama Shigeki,
Meiji ishin
, pp. 192–93. T
ō
yama 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.