Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (64 page)

On March 25, at Kido’s urging, the emperor agreed to leave the Gosho and ride horseback through the city. Kido, much concerned over the emperor’s persistent refusal to emerge from the palace’s inner recesses, begged him to tour Ky
ō
to, sure it would cheer him, even if there was a little wind and snow. For all his passion for riding, the emperor had exercised his horse inside the Gosho only twice since the war began; but at ten that morning, accompanied by Kido and various chamberlains and palace officials, he rode out the southern gate. The streets were muddy and the emperor’s clothes were soiled by the ride. Perhaps Kido hoped that the sight of the emperor on his horse would cheer the people of Ky
ō
to. The fighting in Kumamoto had been going on for only a month, but people were already weary of the war.
²²

The rebels still tenaciously prevented the government army from lifting the siege of Kumamoto Castle. The government feared that the army’s apparent weakness might inspire restive elements in other parts of the country to test their strength against the government’s and might even precipitate a collapse of the regime. At a meeting on April 4 Sanj
ō
, Kido,
Ō
kubo, and It
ō
decided that if there was no improvement in the situation during the next few days, they would ask the emperor to move to Shimonoseki so as to be closer to the fighting.
²³

Three days later a more drastic step was considered: asking the emperor to take personal command of the expeditionary force. Because there was a shortage of soldiers even with conscription, and the public showed a conspicuous lack of enthusiasm for the war, the one way to arouse enthusiasm would be to ask the emperor to take command.

In the meantime conditions inside the castle were becoming desperate. Food and ammunition were running short, with meals for infantry soldiers consisting of rice gruel twice a day and millet once. One thing that kept up morale was tobacco, but the “tobacco” was actually tea leaves. It was estimated that supplies of food would last for only eighteen days.

On April 12 the full strength of the government army under General Kuroda Kiyotaka put to flight the rebel army between it and the castle. The rebel general, Nagayama Yaichir
ō
, unable to withstand the attack, committed suicide. That afternoon, the commandant of the castle, observing the government army approach, ordered his men into the field to catch the rebel army in a pincer movement. At four that afternoon the Second Brigade, commanded by General Yamakawa Hiroshi, broke through the enemy ranks. The soldiers in the castle raised war cries, waved flags, and their joyful shouts filled the castle. The siege had been lifted.

On April 15 Kuroda entered the castle, and on the next day, Yamagata followed him. The campaign up to this point had resulted in 7,500 casualties, and nine-tenths of the city of Kumamoto had been consumed in flames. Even with the victory at Kumamoto Castle, the war lasted another five months, but the rebels’ resources steadily dwindled. Saig
ō
’s forces were on the run, and only his brilliant generalship preserved them from encirclement and destruction. Even now he was occasionally able to inflict a defeat on superior government forces.
²⁴

During this period Meiji showed less and less interest in his studies. He sent Motoda back to T
ō
ky
ō
in May. Before leaving, Motoda delivered a lecture on the proper behavior for a ruler. Although couched in normally polite language, the implications were clear: “he who has virtue should become the ruler of men; he who lacks virtue must not become the ruler of men.”
²⁵
Not only had lectures been discontinued, but not even the prime minister or the councillors could easily arrange to visit the emperor. He had agreed to go to his study regularly, but he went only in the morning, and in the afternoon he relaxed in his private quarters.

The death of Kido Takayoshi on May 26 after a long illness came as a blow to the emperor, but it did not shake him out of his apathy. In July, Sanj
ō
Sanetomi, feeling more responsible than ever for the emperor’s education now that Kido was dead, thought the best plan was to have Motoda and Fukuba Bisei come to Ky
ō
to to resume lectures, but he could not send for them without imperial permission. This was difficult to obtain, but eventually both tutors arrived in Ky
ō
to, and the emperor was informed that they wished to devote themselves to his guidance. He expressed his pleasure and declared that he would henceforth devote himself to his studies, but in the end lectures were not given.

On July 28 the emperor left Ky
ō
to to return to T
ō
ky
ō
. His departure had been delayed several times for fear of the adverse effect it might have on the troops in Ky
ū
sh
ū
, but the inconvenience of a government divided between two cities had made his return essential. On the ship returning from K
ō
be to Yokohama, the emperor, seeing Mount Fuji rising into the clouds, composed three
tanka
, including

He scribbled three poems in pencil in a notebook, tore out the page, showed it to his chamberlain Takasaki Masakaze (1836–1912), an accomplished poet, and asked him to criticize the poems frankly. Takasaki deferentially examined them and said that the second of the three was particularly good. The emperor asked what was wrong with the other two. Takasaki replied that nothing was wrong with them, but they were not as good as the second. The emperor asked Takasaki to explain what was superior about the second poem. The conversation continued, the emperor manifesting greater and greater interest. He showed Takasaki some
tanka
composed earlier, and Takasaki analyzed each one carefully. The emperor finally showed him more than thirty poems. The experience helped while away the time aboard ship, but more important, this may have been the moment when the emperor, depressed by the war and apathetic, began to take new interest in life and in his duties as emperor.
²⁷

On July 4 the
gon no tenji
Yanagihara Naruko put on a maternity belt. The emperor’s first three children had all died as infants, and the doctors were determined that the next child should be born in the most favorable environment. In the end, it was decided not to send Naruko to Ky
ō
to for the birth because of her delicate health. A son was born on September 23 at the Umegoten in T
ō
ky
ō
,
²⁸
the day before the final action of the war in Ky
ū
sh
ū
.

Saig
ō
’s last stand was at Shiroyama, where he had opened the first private school. At the end, he had only forty men left, and he was severely wounded. Kneeling in the direction of the imperial palace, he bowed his head, and his aide Beppu Shinsuke at once decapitated him. The rebellion had ended.

Chapter 29

The remainder of 1887, at least as far as the emperor was concerned, was occupied chiefly with disposing of the aftermath of the Satsuma Rebellion. The various generals who had participated in the war were acclaimed with triumphal returns, shared by soldiers of humble ranks, and decorations were awarded to the principal agents of the victory. Saig
ō
Takamori was not forgiven his part in the conflict, but sympathy was already expressed. The day after Saig
ō
’s death, the emperor asked the empress to compose a
tanka
on Saig
ō
Takamori. She wrote:

The end of Satsuma resistance meant that there would be no further casualties in an unpopular war. The emperor visited the hospitals where men wounded during the war were convalescing. Some had lost arms or fingers, and others had been blinded. The emperor, deeply distressed, commanded that five maimed men be brought into his presence. He asked them kindly where and when they had been wounded and whether they still felt pain. Then, with an expression of sorrow, he touched their scars. The wounded men lowered their heads and wept with gratitude. Yamagata Aritomo, observing the emperor’s gesture of compassion, stood erect and saluted, at which everyone wept.
²

Again and again in accounts of Meiji’s contacts with his subjects at this time and later, we encounter the word
kanky
ū
, or “tears of emotion.” People wept more easily a hundred years ago than they do today, and it was not considered to be unmanly, even for samurai, to weep. The emperor who ten years earlier had been a mysterious being hidden behind the walls of the Gosho had been transformed into an awesome but benevolent presence whose every gesture of affection for his people summoned forth tears.

After the emperor returned to T
ō
ky
ō
, his life reverted to the pattern he had set before lapsing into apathy in Ky
ō
to. He attended a cabinet meeting thirty minutes each day, beginning at ten in the morning.
³
Once again he had parties in the residential palace with whichever advisers happened to be on duty. On October 4, for example, Takasaki Masakaze and Motoda Nagazane attended him. During their conversation he took up a brush and wrote some big characters, followed by this preface and poem:

Tonight, in the company of my men, I took brush in hand and wrote all kinds of things that I showed them.

According to the record of Meiji’s life, “the two men [Takasaki and Motoda], struck by the emperor’s solicitude, wept with emotion, and without realizing it, bowed profoundly before him.” The empress asked Takasaki if he would not compose a reply. He at once complied with this
tanka
:

Motoda, deciding that he could not remain silent, composed two quatrains in classical Chinese. The party was so agreeable to the emperor that from then on he frequently exchanged poetry with those attending him. On October 12 the chamberlain Ogi Masayoshi drew a picture of a gourd. Yamaguchi Masasada wrote a poem on the picture:

Both the emperor and the empress laughed at the poem.
⁴
This rare description of their life
en famille
is endearing.

On October 23, after a long lapse, the emperor spent an hour in his study reading with Motoda Nagazane.
⁵
Gradually his program of studies came once again to include lectures as well as readings. Believing that the works they read together provided models for the virtuous behavior of an emperor, Motoda explained the text in detailed but easily understood language, comparing it with recent history and citing examples of virtuous actions by rulers. Motoda always attempted—and generally succeeded—in arousing the emperor’s interest, although at first he was unable to understand what in particular might appeal to the emperor. One night, after the emperor had read how King Hsüan of Chou, moved by the remonstration of Queen Chiang, applied himself to matters of state, he asked his own consort to compose a poem on the theme of “moved by remonstrations, to devote oneself to governing”
⁶
Meiji admired rulers who took remonstrations to heart and mended their ways.