Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (31 page)

When
Ō
kubo’s plan was brought before the Court Council on February 17, it was vociferously attacked by the nobles, including the
gij
ō
Nakayama Tadayasu, the grandfather of the emperor, as a plot by the Satsuma and Ch
ō
sh
ū
domains to reap private benefits. A more important reason for the nobles’ opposition was doubtless their attachment to Ky
ō
to, the focal point of their whole lives.
¹⁰

Although
Ō
kubo’s plan for moving the capital was not immediately approved, his earnest plea, made at the same time, that the emperor leave the enclosure of the Gosho and take personal command of the punitive force to be sent to the east did not go unheeded. On February 25 the emperor left the Gosho for the first time since he was a small child. He visited Nij
ō
Castle, formerly the symbol of shogunate power in the capital, traveling in the
s
ō
karen
(the informal palanquin used by the emperor) and carrying with him the sword and jewel of his office. On his arrival he was met by the president (
s
ō
sai
) Prince Taruhito. He then went to the Hall of Audiences in the keep of the castle where he took his place on the upper level (
dan
) behind bamboo blinds. The
s
ō
sai
,
gij
ō
, and senior counselors (
san’yo
) sat on the middle level, and the junior counselors and others below. A discussion ensued on the advisability of the emperor’s taking personal command of the campaign against the rebels and on the establishment of the position of a supreme commander. When the discussion had ended, the
s
ō
sai
was called behind the blinds, and the emperor spoke this command: “Yoshinobu and his rebel underlings have now fled to Edo Castle, where they are abandoning themselves to greater and greater outrages. His Majesty cannot endure a situation in which the seas to the four directions boil over and the people are about to fall into misery. He has decided in his wisdom to assume personal command of the expedition. You should be aware in this connection that he intends to choose a suitable person to serve as supreme commander. All military forces of the great and small domains in the home provinces and the seven circuits should accordingly make preparations. Within a few days His Majesty will take council on the war and issue his commands. When the various units receive orders, they are to assemble at once. He commands the various units to join forces and strive to achieve victory in loyal battle.”
¹¹

Prince Taruhito was appointed as supreme commander on March 1 and received a brocade pennant, to be guarded by two platoons of soldiers from Tsuwano. He was a relative by marriage of Tokugawa Yoshinobu and, for this reason, had especially asked to be placed in command of the punitive expedition. He took formal leave of the emperor on March 7.

Detailed instructions concerning the conduct of the army were issued by Prince Taruhito. They include such provisions as an insistence that all in the army receive the same treatment, regardless of rank or birth and that damaging shrines and temples, setting fire to civilian houses, stealing property, and selling coercively were strictly prohibited. When foreigners were caught committing acts of disorder or disrespect, they were to be arrested and their guilt established before being turned over to the ministers of their country for examination; they must not be shot or slashed to death, nor should their houses be entered without good reason. The intent of these provisions was obviously to convince the world that the imperial army was operating in accordance with internationally recognized codes of warfare and was by no means a band of ruffians killing and looting as they moved across the country.

The court’s desire for improved relations with foreigners is apparent also in its decision to permit foreign ministers to be presented to the emperor. There was strong opposition, particularly by the denizens of the imperial palace. Matsudaira Yoshinaga and Iwakura Tomomi appeared before the emperor to explain that it was a principle observed in all countries that the monarch give audiences to the ministers of foreign countries. On March 9 an announcement was made that the emperor would permit the ministers of foreign countries to come into his presence. It was further explained that the unusually prompt proclamation of the emperor’s decision was necessitated by his imminent departure to lead the expeditionary army.
¹²
Meiji’s willingness to meet foreigners indicates that he had not been infected by the hatred of foreigners that had plagued his father.

Following the emperor’s proclamation, a memorandum was prepared justifying the decision to grant audiences to foreign ministers by citing instances from ancient Japanese history of emperors who had accorded such audiences. These instances, though of shaky historical authenticity, were cited because of the great importance that the Japanese court always attached to precedents. The memorandum admitted that there was no precedent for the emperor’s meeting foreigners from countries other than China and Korea but blamed this on the slow development in Japan of the art of navigation. Now, however, the country was in contact with the whole world, and a failure to observe practices common to all countries would result in a loss of trust in Japan. Compromise was thus necessary in the interests of international relations.
¹³

As a first step in improving relations with the foreigners, they were allowed to visit the city of Ky
ō
to. Sir Ernest Satow gave a cheerful account of sightseeing in the old capital and expressed the hope that the foreign ministers could henceforth reside in that city (despite its climate) rather than in Edo, “for it was naturally supposed that the government of the country would in future be conducted from Ki
ō
to.”
¹⁴

Just at this juncture a grave incident of antiforeign character occurred in Sakai. Eleven French sailors, members of the crew of the
Dupleix
, were killed by Tosa men. According to Japanese accounts, they (and six companions) were wandering through the streets of Sakai in a disorderly manner when they were attacked by the Tosa samurai, who were fulfilling their duty of maintaining order. Satow’s account was quite different: “These Japanese massacred a boat’s crew of inoffensive and unarmed men, who were never alleged to have given the slightest provocation.” The French minister, Léon Roches, at once sent a message demanding the heads of the Tosa samurai responsible for the incident; 150,000 dollars for the families of the dead sailors; the apology of Prince Ya-mashina, the foreign minister; the apology of Yamauchi Y
ō
d
ō
, the daimyo of Tosa; and the exclusion of armed Tosa samurai from the treaty ports.
¹⁵
The Japanese agreed to all these conditions.

Twenty Tosa men were found guilty of having killed the French sailors and were condemned to kill themselves. After eleven had committed
seppuku
, the French ship’s captain witnessing this display of samurai fortitude raised his hand to stop the proceedings, and Roches asked that the lives of the remaining nine men be spared. Satow regretted this action: “One could only regret that Captain du Petit Thouars judged it necessary to stop the execution when eleven had suffered, for the twenty were all equally guilty, and requiring a life for life of the eleven Frenchmen looked more like revenge than justice.”
¹⁶

Satow had previously witnessed the
seppuku
¹⁷
of a condemned officer of the Bizen domain
¹⁸
and been impressed by the dignity of this form of punishment. He seems not to have found it horrible that eleven men had slit open their abdomens and then had their heads cut off, perhaps because at the time public executions not only were common in Europe but were performed in a carnival-like atmosphere. He wrote,

As for being ashamed of having been present at a
harakiri
on the ground that it was a disgusting exhibition, I was proud to feel that I had not shrunk from witnessing a punishment which I did my best to bring about. It was no disgusting exhibition, but a most decent and decorous ceremony, and far more respectable than what our own countrymen were in the habit of producing for the entertainment of the public in the front of Newgate prison.
¹⁹

On March 23 the French minister, Roches, and the Dutch political agent, Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, were granted an audience by Emperor Meiji.
²⁰
About two in the afternoon, the emperor, dressed in an informal robe and carrying the imperial sword and jewel, appeared in the Hall of State Ceremonies and seated himself behind his screen of state. Assistant President Sanj
ō
Sanetomi and Adviser to the Throne Nakayama Tadayasu stood beside him inside the screen; Foreign Minister Prince Akira
²¹
and Assistant President Iwakura Tomomi stood outside the screen, with lesser officials to the right and left. The vice minister for foreign affairs, Higashikuze Michitomi, led the French minister into the imperial presence, where he bowed. The voice of the emperor could be heard: “We are pleased to learn that the emperor of your country is well. We hope that the relations between our two countries in the future will be ever more cordial, lasting and unchanging.”
²²

Roches’s reply was considerably longer, concluding with the prayer which he made on behalf of Napoleon III for the prosperity of Japan and for divine protection of the emperor himself. When this ended, the French minister left and the Dutch minister was led before the emperor, who vouchsafed virtually the same words he had pronounced to Roches. Afterward the two envoys were offered tea and cakes. The English minister was to have had an audience immediately afterward. He had already left the Chion-in, the temple where he and his party were staying, and was proceeding on horseback toward the palace, escorted by both English and Japanese, the latter including Nakai Hiroshi (1838–1894) and Got
ō
Sh
ō
jir
ō
. When the procession reached the corner of Shinmonzen and Nawate, two men

sprang out from opposite sides of the street, drew their swords, and attacked the men and horses, running down the line and hacking wildly. Nakai observing what was passing jumped down from his pony and engaged the fellow on his right, with whom he had a pretty tough fight. In the struggle his feet got entangled in his long loose trousers, and he fell on his back. His enemy tried to cut off his head, but Nakai parried the blow, receiving only a scalp wounds, and pierced the man’s breast at the same time. This sickened him, and as he was turning his back on Nakai he received a blow on the shoulder from Got
ō
’s sword, which prostrated him to the ground, and Nakai jumping up hacked off his head.
²³

The other assailant, after slashing many other Englishmen, charged at Satow, wounding his horse. After this narrow escape, Satow moved up to the head of the procession to protect the minister. He saw “Sir Harry Parkes, in his brilliant uniform of an Envoy and minister calmly sitting on his horse in the middle of the cross-roads.” The second assailant was soon captured. “Assisted by a retainer of Sanj
ō
’s we examined him. He expressed great penitence, and asked that his head might be cut off and exposed publicly to inform the Japanese nation of his crime.”
²⁴
He insisted that they had no accomplices (although three men were later exiled as such). Many in the capital sympathized with the attackers, sharing their belief that if foreigners were admitted into the palace, it would fatally weaken the Land of the Gods and that if foreigners were allowed to see the emperor’s face, it would be a desecration of the imperial majesty.
²⁵

When the emperor learned of the attack on Parkes, he expressed profound regret, and members of his government rushed to Parkes’s side. He responded to their expressions of sympathy, saying that “a graver outrage had been committed upon the Mikado than upon himself, and he felt assured that the government would know how to vindicate the honour of their sovereign.”
²⁶
So many of Parkes’s escort had been severely wounded in the attack that it was not possible to appear before the emperor that day. The Chion-in

was turned into a hospital. Our wounded men, bleeding as if their life must ebb out, lay patiently in the verandah, waiting their turn for the assistance of the surgeons, who, stripped to their shirts, seemed almost to multiply themselves, so swift and skilful were they. Shirts and sheets were being torn up into bandages, buckets of bloody water were being emptied and filled again. Everything one touched was sickening, wet, and red. It was a nightmare. Presently the head of the man whom Nakai had killed was brought in—a terrible sight.
²⁷

The delayed audience of Parkes and A. B. Mitford, the junior interpreter,
²⁸
with the emperor took place on April 14. Mitford wrote, “Our own retinue was sadly reduced. Our mounted escort could only muster two men, who with drawn swords rode on either side of Sir Harry.” When the Englishmen reached the Gosho, they were surprised that it was not even fortified and that it was surrounded by plain whitewashed walls, but Mitford commented, “Still, in spite of its studied plainness, the Gosho was not without a certain grandeur of its own.”
²⁹