Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (41 page)

The most important event of 1869, at least as far as Emperor Meiji was concerned, was his second visit to T
ō
ky
ō
. The earlier visit had been an enormous success, but the people of Ky
ō
to felt rather neglected when they learned that the emperor had bestowed saké and other gifts on the people of T
ō
ky
ō
. After his return to Ky
ō
to early in the new year, he accordingly bestowed equally vast quantities of saké on the people of Ky
ō
to,
¹
perhaps hoping in this way to allay their fear that the old capital might soon be displaced by the new pital in the east.

Despite such gestures, apprehension that the capital would be moved to T
ō
ky
ō
continued. On March 5 Iwakura Tomomi drew up a statement in which he specifically addressed this fear. Iwakura mentioned how upset many people in Ky
ō
to and
Ō
saka were by rumors that the capital was about to be moved to T
ō
ky
ō
. It was true that in the previous year Edo had been renamed “Eastern Capital” (T
ō
ky
ō
), but, Iwakura insisted, this was definitely not a sign that the emperor contemplated changing the seat of his authority. Rather, the decision was inspired by his desire to treat east and west alike, on the basis of his conviction that all parts of Japan “within the four seas” were equally dear to him. Ky
ō
to had been the capital for more than a thousand years, ever since the time of Emperor Kammu, and was the site of the tombs of the successive emperors. Iwakura was certain that the capital would not be moved from Ky
ō
to to T
ō
ky
ō
, not even a thousand years hence, that there was absolutely no danger that Ky
ō
to would be abandoned. The emperor, desiring to spread the light of imperial rule far and wide, even to Ezo and the farthest island of the Kuriles, now felt it necessary to make a second journey to the east in order to extend the benefits of the new government to parts of the country that had yet to be blessed by his benevolent influence. Iwakura conceded that some men in council advocated changing the capital, but he personally was unconditionally opposed. If the emperor should in his wisdom command that that the capital be moved, it would be unavoidable, but in his capacity as a subject, Iwakura would not praise such a decision.
²

Plans gradually took shape for the second imperial journey to the east, regardless of whether or not it was intended as a harbinger of a forthcoming move of the capital. On March 20 it was announced that the imperial palanquin would make a detour on the way to Edo in order that the emperor might worship at Ise. This decision changed the character of the journey; that is, it would not simply be political, extending imperial influence to distant parts of the country, but religious as well, affirming the close relationship between the emperor and Shint
ō
that would be emphasized in years to come. Another announcement ten days later disclosed the date of the emperor’s departure (April 18) and declared that the keynote of the reception along the way was to be simplicity. Overeager officials were not to bother people going about their business along the roads or to interfere with agricultural labor. This insistence on simplicity may have been intended to establish a contrast with the traditional ostentation of a daimyo’s procession. The stress on agriculture suggests another important purpose of Meiji’s travels—to bring the emperor closer to his people at their place of work.

On April 2 the emperor sent a special message to the people of the northern region where the rebellion against imperial authority continued. He declared that just as every part of the country was the emperor’s land (
ō
do
), so every person living on this land was like his child, and he would be deeply upset if he thought that even one person had failed to find a place in society.
³
The phraseology was Confucian, but it also radically differed from what earlier emperors would have said; it is hard to imagine Emperor K
ō
mei being distressed to learn that one of his subjects had not found a place in society. The young emperor not only felt close to his subjects—every Japanese, regardless of his status or in what part of the country he lived—but worried about their happiness and was loath to do anything that might interfere with their daily employment.

Another way in which the emperor brought himself closer to his people was by opening to the public his private gardens. On April 5 the Fukiage Garden inside T
ō
ky
ō
Castle was opened for three days, an unprecedented event. The citizens were overjoyed and flocked to the castle in such numbers that eight people died in the press, and many others were injured. The emperor donated 300
ry
ō
in gold to the families of the victims.
⁴

Meiji left on his journey as planned. He was accompanied by members of the high nobility, including Sanj
ō
Sanetomi, and his grandfather, Nakayama Tadayasu. He was also accompanied by an unwanted bodyguard of
shinpei
—soldiers who had volunteered to serve as his bodyguard in Ky
ō
to. An English resident, John Black (1827–1880), described them:

Their idea was that they were especially imbued with the “ancient spirit of Japan”; and their creed—“devotion to the Mikado and death to the foreign barbarians.” These men, then, threw themselves in his path, imploring him not to leave the sacred city, nor pollute himself by intercourse with foreigners; and, when His Majesty was deaf to their entreaties they said there was nothing left for them but to accompany him, and protect his person. As they were some 2,000 strong, ready enough with their trenchant blades, they were allowed to have their way; and so they came trooping to the capital.
⁵

The early part of the emperor’s journey was along the T
ō
kaid
ō
, as on his previous journey, but after stopping at Seki the procession took the Ise Road to Matsuzaka, where the emperor spent the night. On the following day the procession reached the building of the Outer Shrine at Ise where he spent the night. The next morning the emperor, attired in the golden costume worn on state occasions, left his quarters in the imperial palanquin and proceeded to the shrine itself where an elaborate ceremony of worship was performed. After lunch the emperor set out again, this time to worship at the even more important Inner Shrine. He was accompanied by civil and military officers, all in formal attire. After a brief rest the emperor bathed. At two in the afternoon he worshiped at the shrine.

Because this was the first time in history that an emperor had worshiped at the most important of Shint
ō
shrines, a new set of rituals for the occasion had been drawn up by the Ministry of Shint
ō
at the emperor’s command. The priests compared Meiji with two ancient emperors, Jimmu and Keik
ō
,
⁶
and praised his wisdom and virtue in the most extreme superlatives.
⁷

When Meiji was about to leave, T
ō
d
ō
Takakiyo, the heir of the Tsu domain, paid a visit and offered the emperor a telescope and some cakes.
⁸
The telescope, like the globe that had occupied a prominent place at his coronation, seems to have been intended to enlarge the horizons of the young emperor, who now was making his acquaintance with the heartland of his country.

After Ise he visited the Atsuta Shrine. The procession rejoined the T
ō
kaid
ō
at Okazaki and from there went on to T
ō
ky
ō
. Although the journey itself was unmarred by any unpleasantness, apprehension was felt over reports received of continuing warfare in the north. Three of Enomoto Takeaki’s warships had raided government ships anchored in Miyako Bay, and Fukuyama Castle fell to the rebels. It was feared that they might extend their attacks deeper into Honsh
ū
. From this time on until June 16, when Enomoto surrendered and the gates of the Five Point Fortress were opened to the imperial forces, the slow progress of the campaign against the rebels was a constant source of worry.
⁹
Enomoto was urged to surrender, politely and sometimes even with gifts. Some of his men, a few hundred at a time, surrendered, exhausted by the long struggle and by the lack of provisions, but Enomoto held out until the bitter end, refusing to abandon his old allegiance.

Once he was settled in T
ō
ky
ō
, Meiji’s life soon resumed the familiar routine of lessons in the Chinese and Japanese classics, along with riding practice. But although his personal life was unruffled, and there is no indication he took part in the decisions made by the government at this time, many proclamations were issued in his name. For example, on May 14 it was announced that a history office was being established by imperial command to prepare a revised history of Japan. The emperor declared,

A national history is an everlasting, immortal canon; the compilation was a great enterprise of our ancestors. However, there has been no continuation since the
Sandai jitsuroku
.
¹⁰
Is this not a grave deficiency? Now that the abuses of the military regime, which had prevailed since the Kamakura period, have been ended, and government has been revived, I wish to found a history office which will continue the achievement of our ancestors and will promote education and culture throughout the country.
¹¹

He appointed Sanj
ō
Sanetomi as chief editor.

Many problems faced the government. The subjugation of the rebels in the north was both discouragingly slow and costly. The paper currency issued by the government to help pay the costs of the warfare was not readily accepted by the public. At first the government attempted to redress the perceived inequality between paper money and gold by setting the value of 120
ry
ō
in paper as the equivalent of 100
ry
ō
in specie. This had the result of encouraging speculators to manipulate the currency. The government then declared that paper and specie had the same value, whereupon (a perfect example of the workings of Gresham’s law) bad money drove the good money from circulation.
¹²
The measures and countermeasures adopted by the government were signs of both its inexperience and the continuing crisis.

Similarly the policy for the punishment of crimes swung from extreme severity to relative liberality. On May 26 the military decreed that for violating the edict against factions, the head of the faction would be put to death and the other members placed under confinement. Soldiers who deserted while in the possession of weapons and uniforms would be executed, but those who returned their weapons and uniforms before deserting would, if a first offense, be imprisoned for fifty days; second offenders would be exiled. Persons who without cause demanded money or coercively touted would, depending on the degree of their crime, be executed or sent to distant banishment.
¹³
It was later decreed that the leaders of the opposition to the government forces in the recent warfare in the northeast would be beheaded. Those who were already dead would be subject to a mock execution and their family line exterminated. The severity of these measures in no way accorded with the promise of generous treatment extended to Enomoto.

On June 2 the
k
ō
gisho kaigi
voted to abolish the death penalty for believers in Christianity, substituting whipping. But the spirit of the old regime was by no means dead: on June 7 the
kaigi
voted not to prohibit
seppuku
,
¹⁴
and a few weeks later the same body unanimously voted not to prohibit the wearing of swords. In August, though, various forms of cruel punishments were abolished, including exposure, public parading of the guilty, and sawing off the head.

The lightening of the sentence against Christians probably was a gesture in the direction of the foreign powers, which continued to protest against the prohibition against Christianity. The Ainu had also attracted the sympathy of the foreigners. The government was aware that local officials in the north had at times cruelly mistreated the Ainu and that some Ainu, responding to the kind treatment of foreigners, had come to prefer them to the Japanese. The government feared that foreigners might, under the name of relieving the distress of the Ainu, incite them to rise against the Japanese. In order to prevent this from happening, Japanese immigration to Hokkaid
ō
was encouraged.

Acts of violence against foreigners continued. The British minister was enraged by these incidents and pressed for apprehension of the culprits. On May 14 the
gij
ō
Tokudaiji Sanetsune and Hachisuka Mochiaki called on the British minister with apologies, but he failed to understand what they meant. Accordingly, the
hosh
ō
Sanj
ō
Sanetomi, the
gij
ō
Ō
gimachi Sanenaru, and the
san’y
ō
Ō
kuma Shigenobu called on the minister for further explanation, and on the following day the government issued a strict prohibition on any kind of violence against foreigners. Antiforeign feeling remained strong, however, and the attacks continued, enraging the foreign envoys, who were always ready to create an incident, to the consternation of the Japanese leaders, who had their hands full with domestic issues.
¹⁵