by Donald Keene
On June 9 Shō Tai, who had finally left Naha on May 27, arrived in Yokohama. He was accompanied by his second son, Shō In, and more than forty retainers.20 He went immediately to the house prepared for him by the Imperial Household Ministry. On June 17 Shō Tai, his eldest son Shō Ten, and some ten other former retainers went to the palace. The emperor granted Shō Tai and Shō Ten an audience. Nothing is recorded of Meiji’s reactions on seeing the dethroned king. He may have resented Shō Tai’s manifest reluctance to comply with Japanese orders, but he doubtless felt that his government had done everything it could to make the loss of the throne—inevitable because of modern Japan’s destiny—as painless as possible. The same day, Shō Tai was appointed to the junior third rank and Shō Ten to the junior fifth rank. Matsuda was decorated for his efforts in disposing of the Ryūkyū problem. A precedent for dealing with deposed monarchs, followed after the annexation of Korea, had been established.
Shō Tai was well treated in exile.21 It is said that he was happier in Tōkyō than he had been during the thirty-one years of his reign. No doubt he was glad to be spared the eternal bickering of the political parties in Okinawa.22 Some even say that once in Tōkyō he was as happy as a country bumpkin on his first visit to the city.23 But he seems nevertheless to have yearned for the land he once ruled. In 1884 he received permission to visit Okinawa for 100 days.
Sasamori Gisuke, a former samurai from Hirosuke, recorded in a diary his experiences during a stay in the Ryūkyū Islands in 1893. Although he was not a partisan of the deposed king, he felt obliged to record instances of the worshipful respect still paid to Shō Tai and his family. In June of that year Prince Kitashirakawanomiya paid a state visit to Okinawa. He paid his compliments to Shō Ten, the son of the deposed king, and offered his respects at the royal tombs. But despite these conciliatory gestures, not one member of the Ryūkyū noble families accepted his invitation to a banquet several days later. Sasamori commented, “What discourtesy!”24
Later Sasamori noticed with indignation that on the road from Naha to Shuri, “in front of every house they had spread mats, and men and women sat on them formally in rows. I asked the reason, and I was told, ‘Today, at the invitation of the governor, Shō Ten and his family are to pass. Everybody has turned out to pay his respects.’” 25
Sasamori had many occasions to notice that the Japanese, however benevolently disposed, were treated by the Okinawans as intruders. He reported that there was not a single instance of an Okinawan marrying a person from “the other prefectures,” nor was there a single person from “the other prefectures” who had taken up permanent residence in Okinawa.26 He added that even though people from Europe and America belonged to a different race, they often became naturalized in Japan and married Japanese. He concluded that “the natives’ feeling is one of strong attachment to the restoration of the old regime, and for this reason their attitude has not been satisfactory to this day.”
The annexation of Okinawa hardly figures in histories of Japan, and Shō Tai rates only a brief entry in biographical dictionaries. He was in no sense an important political figure even while a king, and his last thirty years were spent in obscurity. But somehow, even now, there is something affecting about the downfall of a kinglet, deposed by a major country testing its strength at the start of its modern age.
Chapter 31
None of the many foreign visitors to whom Emperor Meiji gave an audience produced as strong an impression on him as did the former American general and president Ulysses S. Grant. General Grant, as he was known even while he served two terms as president, embarked on a round-the-world journey in 1877. The purpose of the trip was largely political. The glory he had won for his military exploits during the Civil War had been tainted by the widespread corruption of his presidency, and his advisers judged it prudent for him to absent himself for a while from the United States in the hopes that this would make voters forget the scandals. He had ambitions of serving a third term as president.
Grant and his wife began their travels with the voyage to England, where a high point was a stay at Windsor Castle as guests of Queen Victoria. During the next two years they visited many countries of Europe, followed by Egypt, India, Siam, China, and, finally, Japan. They were eager sightseers, but they themselves were also on display. As a biographer of Grant has written, “The unpretentious man in the dark suit was his country’s greatest warrior-hero, and the world wanted to have a look at him. The general and his lady were ambassadors of both American simplicity and American power.”1
In foreign countries, where the scandals of his presidential administration were not widely known (or perhaps more readily tolerated than in the United States), Grant’s reputation as a great soldier, the savior of the union, had preceded him, and he was welcomed everywhere. An editorial in the Times of London concluded that “after Washington, General Grant is the President who will occupy the largest place in the history of the United States.”2 Kings, queens, and members of the highest nobility were pleased to meet him, although they sometimes commented on his lack of manners.
Wherever he went, he preserved his casual, American ways. When, for example, he called on Bismarck, the most powerful man in Europe, he nonchalantly sauntered into the courtyard of the chancellor’s palace and, throwing away a half-smoked cigar, returned the salute of the startled palace guards. Perhaps the greatest triumph of Grant’s journey was the reception not by royalty but by the working classes of the north of England, who responded with affection to this man who, they sensed, was one of them.4 Grant certainly enjoyed the unaffected welcome from miners and other workmen more than the endlessly repeated state dinners. Sometimes on such occasions the tedium would induce him to get drunk. The viceroy of India, Lord Lytton, wrote a letter describing Grant’s behavior in these sarcastic terms:
On this occasion “our distinguished guest” the double Ex-President of the “Great Western Republic,” who got drunk as a fiddle, showed that he could also be as profligate as a lord. He fumbled Mrs A., kissed the shrieking Miss B.—pinched the plump Mrs C. black and blue—and ran at Miss D. with intent to ravish her.3
From India, General and Mrs. Grant went to Singapore, Saigon, Bangkok, and Hong Kong before arriving in China. In Tientsin they met the viceroy Li Hung-chang, who greeted his guest with the simple statement, “You and I, General Grant, are the greatest men in the world.” Later he explained that was referring to the success of Grant and himself in putting down huge rebellions within their two countries.4
While Grant was in Peking he was asked by Prince Kung, the acting head of the government, to use his influence to settle the dispute between China and Japan over the sovereignty of the Ryūkyū Islands. The prince deplored the attempt of the Japanese “to extinguish this kingdom, which has always paid tribute to China, which has always been friendly.” General Grant replied that any course short of national humiliation or national destruction was better than war. “‘War,’ he said, ‘was so great a calamity that it should only be invoked when there was no other way of avoiding a greater, and war, especially between two nations like China and Japan, would be a measureless misfortune.’” 5
Grant’s hatred of war and everything connected with war was astonishing in a man who had enjoyed such great success as a general. He even hated paintings that depicted warfare and told John Russell Young, the writer who accompanied the Grants on their trip around the world, “I never saw a war picture that was pleasant. I tried to enjoy some of those in Versailles, but they were disgusting.” Grant was unsparing in his criticism of his own participation in the Mexican War in 1845: “I know the struggle with my conscience during the Mexican War. I have never entirely forgiven myself for going to that. I had very strong opinions on the subject. I do not think there was ever a more wicked war than that waged by the United States on Mexico. I thought so at the time, when I was a youngster, only I had not moral courage to resign.”6
Grant had joined the army because he hated his father’s work—he was a t
anner—and attending the military academy at West Point offered the only possibility of getting a good education. After graduation he left the army, but because he failed at every business in which he engaged, he had no choice but to become an army officer, despite his hatred of war. He related, “I never went into a battle willingly or with enthusiasm. I was always glad when a battle was over. I never want to command another army. I take no interest in armies. When the Duke of Cambridge asked me to review his troops at Aldershott I told his Royal Highness that the one thing I never wanted to see again was a military parade.”7
It is ironic that Grant, who was thoroughly disillusioned with the military, was on his way to Japan, where Emperor Meiji was manifesting increasing interest in military reviews and maneuvers. Young noted, “The emperor of Japan is fond of his army, and was more anxious to show it to General Grant than any other institution in the Empire.”8 In the end, Grant, despite his extreme dislike, felt obliged to comply with the emperor’s wish for Grant to review the Japanese troops.9
Grant arrived in Nagasaki on June 21, 1879, aboard the warship Richmond. The ship was met by Date Munenari (1818–1892), a nobleman, and Yoshida Kiyonari (1845–1891), the Japanese minister plenipotentiary to America. Young recorded,
Prince Daté said that he had been commanded by the emperor to meet General Grant on his landing, to welcome him in the name of his Majesty, and to attend upon him as the emperor’s personal representative as long as the General remained in Japan…. Mr. Yoshida is well known as the present Japanese minister to the United States, a discreet and accomplished man, and among the rising statesmen in the empire. Having been accredited to America during the General’s administration, and knowing the General, the government called him home so that he might attend General Grant and look after the reception.10
Grant delivered soon afterward his first speech in Japan, which included these words:
America has much to gain in the East—no nation has greater interests; but America has nothing to gain except what comes from the cheerful acquiescence of the Eastern people and insures them as much benefit as it does us. I should be ashamed of my country if its relations with other countries, and especially with these ancient and most interesting empires in the East, were based upon any other idea.11
Grant had originally planned to visit Kyōto, but an epidemic of cholera had broken out in the Kansai region, and the Japanese government did not want Grant to risk becoming infected. The Americans were disposed to take the threat of cholera lightly, but as the guests of Japan, they were under the charge of the emperor’s representatives, who insisted that the Americans not land in the Kansai. They accordingly went on to Yokohama, arriving on July 3.
They were met by an impressive array of dignitaries, including Iwakura Tomomi, who shook hands with Grant. The act of shaking hands seems to have been very important to the Americans: they were greatly impressed the next day when the emperor, on meeting Grant, advanced and shook hands with him. Young wrote, “This seems a trivial thing to write down, but such a thing was never before known in the history of Japanese majesty.”12 The emperor’s gesture caused Young to muse, “The Mikado has never failed in courtesy to the princes of other royal families who have visited him. But while he treated English, Russian, and German princes as princes, he has treated General Grant as a friend.”13
At the request of the Japanese, the first meeting between the emperor and General Grant took place on the Fourth of July, the anniversary of American independence; and the emperor’s first greeting to Grant expressed his pleasure that their meeting had occurred on this day. Young’s description of Emperor Meiji suggests that despite his expressions of friendship, he was still not at ease with foreign visitors:
The manner of the emperor was constrained, almost awkward, the manner of a man doing a thing for the first time, and trying to do it as well as possible. After he had shaken hands with the General, he returned to his place, and stood with his hand resting on his sword, looking on at the brilliant, embroidered, gilded company as though unconscious of their presence.14
The greetings exchanged by the two men were formal. The emperor said: “I have heard of many of the things you have said to my ministers in reference to Japan. You have seen the country and the people. I am eager to speak with you on these subjects, and am sorry I have not had an opportunity much earlier.”
General Grant replied that he was entirely at the service of the emperor. He said he was glad indeed to see His Majesty and thank him for all the kindness he had received in Japan. He might say that no one outside Japan had a higher interest in the country or a more sincere friendship for the people. Probably Grant was sincere in these remarks. He was delighted with the scenery, finding Japan “beautiful beyond description,” and the lack of adornment in Meiji’s palace had produced a most favorable impression. Young wrote, “The home of the emperor was as simple as that of a country gentleman at home…. What marked the house was its simplicity and taste.” Again, “Japan has taught the world the beauty of clean, fine-grained natural wood, and the fallacy of glass and paint.” Grant’s own preference for simplicity and naturalness made him respond to Japanese tastes. He was also impressed when he learned that although there was a project to build a new palace for the emperor on the site of the one that had been destroyed by a fire, “the emperor has prevented it, loath to incur the expense and satisfied with his house as it is.”15
Young’s descriptions of the Japanese dignitaries whom Grant met on the occasion of his first audience with the emperor are valuable because the appearances of these men are so rarely mentioned in Japanese works:
The Prime Minister [Sanjō Sanetomi] is a striking character. He is small, slender, with an almost girl-like figure, delicate, clean-cut, winning features, a face that might be that of a boy of twenty or a man of fifty…. Iwakura has a striking face, with lines showing firmness and decision, and you saw the scar which marked the attempt of an assassin to cut him down and slay him, as Okubo, the greatest of Japanese statesmen, was slain not many months ago.
The emperor stood quite motionless, apparently unobservant or unconscious of the homage that was paid him. He is a young man, with a slender figure, taller than the average Japanese, and about the middle height according to our ideas. He has a striking face, with a mouth and lips that remind you something of the traditional mouth of the Hapsburg family. The forehead is full and narrow, the hair and the light mustache and beard intensely black. The color of the hair darkens what might pass for a swarthy countenance at home. The face expressed no feeling whatever, and but for the dark, glowing eye, which was bent full upon the General, you might have taken the imperial group for statues. The empress, at his side, wore the Japanese costume, rich and plain. Her face was very white, and her form slender and almost childlike. Her hair was combed plainly and braided with a golden arrow. The emperor and empress have agreeable faces, the emperor’s especially showing firmness and kindness.16
According to Young, the emperor conversed a good deal with Grant during this reception at the Shiba Palace. The interpreter was Yoshida Kiyonari. The content of the conversation was not recorded,17 but the emperor, apparently impressed with Grant, expressed a desire to have a private and friendly meeting. This was arranged for a time after the general returned from his trip to Nikkō.18
The emperor’s second meeting with Grant took place on July 7. That morning a military review took place in the presence of the emperor and General Grant. Apart from the pleasure it no doubt gave the emperor to display his trim and well-equipped troops, he may have supposed (not knowing that Grant detested such military reviews) that this would be of particular interest to his guest. After the ceremony Meiji said to Grant, “A review of so few troops probably doesn’t interest you. I have heard that your country has only a small standing army. I am truly impressed that a small army suffices for such a big country.”19 The emperor’s comment on the fewness of the American troops may reflect the observations of Japanese who had visited Was
hington and seen how little police protection was needed for the president of the United States.
After the military review the emperor proceeded to the Shiba Detached Palace, where he was joined by General Grant and his wife. The emperor, welcoming them, shook hands with both. Other guests included the governor of Hong Kong and his wife and the American minister and his wife. General Grant ushered the wife of Prince Taruhito into the dining room, and the prime minister, Sanjō Sanetomi, taking Mrs. Grant’s hand, brought her to the table.20 Not so long before, members of Japanese delegations to the West had been astonished (and even dismayed) by the presence of women at dignified state occasions, but now the prime minister did not hesitate to take a foreign lady by the hand and politely lead her to the table.
After dinner General and Mrs. Grant were invited to another pavilion where they were served coffee. Over coffee, the emperor (interpreted by Yoshida Kiyonari) chatted with the former president. He asked questions and made comments about Grant’s journey around the world, including:
“I am sure that in the course of your journey to different countries, during the past year and more, you have not only enjoyed the scenery and other sights but have found much that was of use to you.”
“You must have suffered from the heat in India.”
“Customs in India differ greatly from those in Europe and America. Among the various customs you noticed, which were the most striking?”
“Did you visit the Great Wall and other famous historical places while you were in China?”21
The emperor, who previously had difficulty in conversing with foreign visitors, was now able to go beyond routine comments on the weather and stereotyped expressions of gratitude that the visitor had traveled all the way to Japan. At first, the emperor had been reluctant to eat dinner with foreigners, and it took persuasion by the imperial household minister, Tokudaiji Sanetsune, to change his mind,22 but he now seems to have enjoyed the occasion, even though the temperature rose to 93 degrees Fahrenheit and he was wearing a dress uniform. The emperor talked not only with Grant but also with the governor of Hong Kong. The empress, conversing with Mrs. Grant, vouchsafed words of comfort over the exhausting journey, to which Mrs. Grant responded by declaring that in none of the many countries she and her husband had visited were they treated with such great kindness as in Japan.23
