Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (197 page)

33
. Kim,
Nikkan heig
ō
, p. 195.

34
. Ibid., p. 196.

35
. Historians do not agree on whether or not the emperor signed the treaty. For the controversy, see Duus,
Abacus
, pp. 193–94.

36
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 408.

37
. Katano,
Rich
ō
metsub
ō
, pp. 225–26. The five ministers who had voted in favor of the treaty were branded by the public as
ulsa ojok
, the five bandits of 1905

38
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 435. He was succeeded as president of the Privy Council by Yamagata Aritomo. He took leave of Emperor Meiji on February 2 and, after arriving in Korea, was formally installed as the first resident general on March 3.

39
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 596–98. It
ō
was particularly concerned about rebellions that seemed to be backed by influential persons in the palace. Most rebellions were directed against the treaty, but there were also some without ideological content.

40
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 228. The letter was sent by secret messenger to Chefoo in China, and from there by cable to Washington where Homer Hulbert, an American missionary who enjoyed the confidence of the Korean emperor, delivered it to Elihu Root, the secretary of state, who in turn passed it on to Roosevelt. It had no effect, perhaps because the American minister to Korea had warned the secretary of state that Hulbert’s judgments were often “colored by prejudice” in favor of the Koreans (Duus,
Abacus
, p. 206).

41
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 536–37. The review took place on April 30 at the Aoyama parade grounds. It was notable otherwise because Meiji wore for the first time the khaki uniform that had become standard in the Japanese army.

42
. According to Katano, the emperor did not utter a word when It
ō
presented his credentials on March 9 (
Rich
ō
metsub
ō
, p. 238).

43
. See, for example,
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 642–44.

44
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 661, 724.

45
. Choi,
Fall of the Hermit Kingdom
, pp. 61–63. See also Katano,
Rich
ō
metsub
ō
, pp. 242–45, and
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 765–66.

46
. Sunjong, earlier known as I Chok, was Kojong’s son by Queen Min. He was poisoned in 1898, and although doctors saved his life, the poison affected his mind (Kitano,
Rich
ō
metsub
ō
, pp. 254–55).

Chapter 57

1
. When I visited Madagascar in 1963, I learned that Japan enjoyed the reputation of being “the land of liberty.” At the time, although the country was officially independent, the French still controlled the radio. They seemed eager to broadcast my lecture until they learned it was to be on Japan, a dangerous subject!

2
.
Arishima Takeo zensh
ū
, 10, p. 475.

3
.
Ishikawa Takuboku zensh
ū
, 5, p. 118.

4
. The poem was shown to the president in the translation by Arthur Lloyd, a professor at Waseda University (Chiba Taneaki,
Meiji tenn
ō
gyosei kinwa
, p. 203).

5
.
Shinsh
ū
Meiji tenn
ō
gyosh
ū
, 1, p. 638.

6
. Ibid., 1, p. 613. The poem is discussed in
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 456–57.

7
.
Shinsh
ū
Meiji tenn
ō
gyosh
ū
, 2, p. 732.

8
. Asukai Masamichi,
Meiji taitei
, p. 278.

9
. Matsushita Yoshio,
Nogi Maresuke
, p. 188.

10
. Oka Yoshitake, “Generational Conflict After the Russo-Japanese War,” trans. J. Victor Koschmann, p. 199.

11
. Ibid., p. 207.

12
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 468.

13
. According to Chamberlain B
ō
j
ō
Toshinaga, the emperor offered chairs to only three Japanese: Prince Taruhito, It
ō
Hirobumi, and Yamagata Aritomo(
Ky
ū
ch
ū
goj
ū
nen
, p. 17).

14
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 469. Tsai Tse received the Order of the Paulownia Leaf, First Class; the other Chinese received lesser decorations.

15
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 472–74.

16
. Ibid., 11, pp. 501–2. The emperor appointed Makino Nobuaki as minister of education on March 27, replacing Saionji. Hayashi Tadasu succeeded Saionji as foreign minister on May 19.

17
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 535.

18
. Ibid., 11, p. 586.

19
. Ibid., 11, p. 643.

20
. George Trumbull Ladd,
Rare Days in Japan
, pp. 18–22.

21
. Ibid., pp. 339–40. For an estimation of Ladd’s contribution to Japanese education, see
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 796.

22
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, p. 661.

23
. Ibid., 11, p. 754.

24
. Ibid., 11, p. 726.

25
. Ibid., 11, pp. 671–78.

26
. See chapter 48.

27
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 749, 778.

28
. Ibid., 11, pp. 773–76.

29
. Ibid., 11, pp. 777–78, 790.
K
ō
shaku
was the highest rank of the peerage, sometimes translated as “duke.”

30
. Katano Tsugio,
Rich
ō
metsub
ō
, pp. 255–56.

31
. On November 19 the emperor of Korea issued an edict to his people explaining why the crown prince was going to study in Japan. He cited the European practice of sending crown princes from an early age to study abroad and mentioned that sometimes they even had these princes join the armed forces of another country. He said that he was entrusting the education of Yi Eun to Emperor Meiji (
Ei shinn
ō
rigin den
, p. 70; Katano,
Rich
ō
, pp. 256–57).

32
. A photograph showing It
ō
in what looks like a naval uniform with Yi Eun in a Japanese
haori
and
hakama
is reproduced in
Ei shinn
ō
rigin den
, p. 7. On the same page there is a picture of Yi Eun in the uniform of a Korean army officer but wearing a Japanese decoration.

33
. Erwin Baelz,
Awakening Japan
, trans. Eden Paul and Cedar Paul, p. 117.

34
. See chapter 4.

35
. For Shinto funerals, see Helen Hardacre,
Shinto and the State
, pp. 34, 47. She wrote, “For Shinto clergy, funerals were problematic because of the concept of death pollution, but revenues from funerals and ancestral rites were a considerable incentive to overcome such taboos” (p. 47).

36
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 11, pp. 803–5.

37
. Ibid., 11, p. 835.

38
. It may originally have been intended that Yi Eun remain for a relatively short period of time, but in fact he married a Japanese princess and it was not until 1963 that he returned permanently to Korea, where he died in 1970.

Chapter 58

1
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 12, p. 3.

2
. Ibid., 12, p. 13. A photograph of an essay written in Japanese on November 7, 1908, by Prince Yi Eun indicates that he had made remarkable progress with the Japanese language (
Ei shinn
ō
rigin den
, p. 8).

3
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 12, pp. 13–14.

4
. Ibid., 12, p. 57. On September 4, when Yi Eun returned to Tokyo from a visit to the Kansai region, the emperor presented him with a motion-picture machine (
katsud
ō
shashin kikai
) and another set of cricket gear (p. 102). It is not known if the Korean prince ever played cricket.

5
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 12, p. 36.

6
. Ibid., 12, pp. 54–55.

7
. Ibid., 12, p. 121.

8
. Ibid., 12, p. 138. See also Hinonishi Sukehiro,
Meiji tenn
ō
no gonichi
, p. 153.

9
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 12, p. 149, does not state what uniform the emperor wore on this occasion. He normally wore his unique army uniform, but he was sometimes persuaded to wear a naval uniform instead. On May 15, for example, when he attended the graduation ceremonies at the naval academy, he wore a naval dress uniform (p. 229).

10
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 12, p. 85.

11
. Ibid., 12, p. 173.

12
. Ibid., 12, p. 189.

13
. Ibid., 12, pp. 221–22.

14
. Ibid., 12, pp. 231–33, 242.

15
. Ibid., 12, p. 255. See also Sait
ō
Michinori,
It
ō
Hirobumi wo utta otoko
, pp. 62–63, and Kinebuchi Nobuo,
Nikkan k
ō
sh
ō
shi
, p. 267.

16
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 12, p. 263.

17
. Ibid., 12, pp. 283–84.

18
. For excerpts from his speech, as reported in the
T
ō
ky
ō
Asahi shimbun
on October 22, see Kinebuchi,
Nikkan
, p. 268.

19
. The photograph is reproduced in Sait
ō
,
It
ō
Hirobumi
, p. 9. It shows in the foreground Russian officers chatting, some with their backs to the train, and the main body of guards some distance down the platform. The laxness of the Russian guards was mentioned by the correspondent of the
New York Herald
, who expressed surprise that soldiers from a country famed for its assassinations should not have been more alert (p. 10).

20
. The photograph is reproduced in Sait
ō
,
It
ō
Hirobumi
, p. 8.

21
. An Chung-gun was not sure which of the Japanese was It
ō
, never having seen even It
ō
’s photograph. He chose as his target a man “with a yellow face and white whiskers” who seemed to lead the others (Nakano Yasuo,
An J
ū
kon
, pp. 45, 192). He fired at It
ō
from a distance of two and a half
ken
(about fifteen feet, or five meters). After killing It
ō
, he fired at two other Japanese, thinking that one or the other might be It
ō
, but his shots went astray, possibly because a Russian guard interfered with his aim (Sait
ō
,
It
ō
Hirobumi
, p. 35).

22
. An Chung-gun fired a Browning automatic pistol that held seven shells. After firing three shots at It
ō
, he fired three more at two other Japanese. At his trial he was asked if he had saved the last bullet for himself, but he denied that he had any thought of suicide (Nakano,
An J
ū
kon
, pp. 45–46).

23
. Sait
ō
,
It
ō
Hirobumi
, p. 184. Doubt has been cast on the truth of this utterance. If It
ō
actually said these words, he may have meant that An was a fool to think that killing him would prevent the annexation of Korea. According to another source, however, It
ō
’s last words were to ask who had shot him and if anyone else had been shot.