Emperor of Japan

by Donald Keene

  15. One matter of contention was whether members of the samurai class who had performed distinguished service should be considered to be members of the aristocracy (kazoku). Itō Hirobumi strongly advocated including such men in the upper house of the projected parliament along with the hereditary kazoku, but Iwakura was adamantly opposed (see, for example, Ōkubo Toshiaki, Iwakura Tomomi, p. 236). The issue was settled in July 1884, after Iwakura’s death, with the Peerage Act, which provided for five ranks of nobility, replacing the old aristocratic titles, awarded on the basis of both the family rank (kakaku) and meritorious deeds (kunkō) (Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 220–25).

  16. The emperor had been dismayed to see the dilapidation of the city when he stopped there during his Hokuriku junkō. It had occurred to him then that just as in Russia, major rites (royal burials and coronations) were performed in the old capital, Moscow, similar Japanese rites might be held in Kyōto. This was officially proclaimed in April 1883. Iwakura had earlier (in January of that year) submitted a detailed proposal for the city’s preservation. He advocated not merely preserving the old palace but maintaining the city on the scale of the old Heian-kyō, and he wished to make plans for its future prosperity. Iwakura described the city’s beautiful natural surroundings and glorious history and declared that preserving it was of crucial importance (Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 46–48) The acts of preservation Iwakura proposed in January were for the most part carried out when he went to Kyōto in May.

  17. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 56.

  18. Ibid., 6, p. 81. Before her marriage, the empress was indeed known as Ichijō Tadaka’s daughter. By visiting Iwakura in that capacity (much humbler than that of empress), she spared him the obligation to leave his sickbed to welcome her.

  19. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 89–90.

  20. A more formal eulogy of Iwakura, to be engraved on his monument, was composed by command of the emperor, listing Iwakura’s achievements. The text was by Shigeno Yasutsugu (Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 96).

  21. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 99.

  22. Hugh Cortazzi, “Sir Harry Parkes,” p. 16. Satow’s comment was made in 1881 in a letter to Parkes’s future biographer, F. V. Dickins. Satow, who was Parkes’s interpreter for many years, frequently mentioned Parkes’s outbursts of temper—for example: “A great discussion took place on the Christian question, in which the Japanese spoke very reasonably, and Sir Harry likewise, until he unfortunately lost his temper over the arguments used by Kido, and made use of very violent language such as I do not care to repeat” (A Diplomat in Japan, p. 398).

  23. Satow, A Diplomat, p. 141.

  24. The proclamation was made on March 19, 1884. Earlier (on December 28, 1883) the emperor informed his maternal grandfather, Nakayama Tadayasu, that it had been unofficially decided to give Prince Kan’innomiya Sukehito a songō. The name is also pronounced Keikō.

  25. Fujita Satoru, Bakumatsu no tennō, pp. 102–12.

  26. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 200. On September 9 Japanese neutrality in the war was officially announced (p. 285).

  27. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 210. This entry is dated June 1, indicating that by this time the illness had lasted more than a month.

  28. Meiji tennō ki, 5, pp. 339–42.

  29. Yoshii said he would personally take all responsibility if the emperor became angry with Fujinami.

  30. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 349–42.

  31. Japanese seemed to have ceased to worry about the ban on Christianity, and the number of converts steadily grew. By 1882 there were 93 Protestant churches and more than 4,300 believers. However, the ban on Christianity was not completely lifted until the promulgation of the constitution on February 11, 1889. Article 28 stated that subjects had freedom of religion except insofar as this might obstruct peace and order or be in contravention of their duties as subjects.

  32. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 275–76.

  33. Takezoe Shin’ichirō (1842–1917) wrote the extraordinary travel diary San’un kyōu nikki, describing his travels in China. See my Modern Japanese Diaries.

  34. One curious consequence of the outbreak of the war was the French proposal of an alliance between France and Japan, citing the two countries’ common interests. If the Japanese lacked sufficient funds for a war with China, the French promised to assist the Japanese by raising funds in Paris under the most advantageous conditions. However, the Japanese failed to respond, and the matter lapsed (Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 328–29).

  35. It was sometimes called the Toknipdang (Independence Party). For a description of the Progressive Party, see Ki-baik Lee, A New History of Korea, trans. Edward W. Wagner, pp. 275–76.

  36. For a contemporary description, see Hilary Conroy, The Japanese Seizure of Korea, p. 154.

  37. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 318–21. I have also derived material from Woonsang Choi, The Fall of the Hermit Kingdom, pp. 21–23. Choi’s account, in turn, is based mainly on accounts by Europeans who were in Seoul at that time.

  38. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 337.

  Chapter 38

  1. Tomita Hitoshi, Rokumeikan, p. 58.

  2. Isoda Kōichi, Rokumeikan no keifu, p. 23. See also Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 116; he states that the cost of erecting the building was shared by the Foreign Ministry, Army Ministry, and other ministries together with Tōkyō Prefecture.

  3. Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 7. The name Rokumeikan originated with Nakai Hiroshi, the previous husband of Mrs. Inoue. Nakai was not only well acquainted with Chinese poetry but a connoisseur of Paris; he founded the Miyako-odori dances in Kyoto as equivalents of revues (p. 51). Although the Rokumeikan was used mainly for balls, dinners, bazaars, and similar social functions, some particularly distinguished foreign visitors stayed there while in Tokyo.

  The poem that inspired the name, no. 161 in the Shih Ching, opens:

  Yu, yu cry the deer

  Nibbling the black southernwood in the fields.

  I have a lucky guest. (Arthur Waley, The Book of Songs, p. 192)

  4. A typical menu is in Tomita, Rokumeikan, pp. 189–90.

  5. One particularly successful tutor was a German, Johannes Ludwig Janson, who was otherwise a teacher at the Tokyo Komaba Agricultural School (Tomita, Rokumeikan, pp. 165–67).

  6. Jogaku zasshi, July 9, 1887, quoted in Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 174.

  7. Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 164.

  8. There is a photograph of the cartoon in ibid., p. 215.

  9. Foreigners, proud to know the old name Edo (Yedo, Yeddo, etc.), were reluctant even as late as 1885 to use the new name, Tōkyō. This essay is part of Pierre Loti’s Japoneries d’automne.

  10. Quoted in Isoda, Rokumeikan, p. 23.

  11. Quoted in Kondō Tomie, Rokumeikan kifujin kō, p. 154.

  12. Ibid., p. 146. Sueko had served as the interpreter for the empress four years earlier, during King Kalakaua’s visit (chapter 34).

  13. For a list of some prominent participants and the guises in which they appeared, see Kondō, Rokumeikan, pp. 187–89. Photographs of two members of the government attired as the gods of good fortune Ebisu and Daikoku, and of two ladies dressed as Matsukaze and Murasame in the nō play Matsukaze, are in Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 177. See also Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 732–33.

  14. James E. Hoare, “Extraterritoriality in Japan,” p. 95.

  15. Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 70. The foreign minister sent a memorandum to this effect to Mori Arinori, the Japanese minister to Great Britain, on December 11, 1883.

  16. Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 71. See also Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 272. Plunkett’s friendliness, a marked contrast to Parkes’s intransigence, earned him the approbation of Emperor Meiji who (in July 1886) granted him an audience during which he conveyed his gratitude. The text of the emperor’s statement on this occasion (which included praise for the similar attitude of the German minister) is in Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 615–16.

  17. Hoare, “Extraterritoriality,” p. 95.

  18. Ibid., p. 72. See also Tomita, Rokumeikan, p. 31.

  19. Meiji te
nnō ki, 6, pp. 447–48.

  20. The empress and the empress dowager went to the Rokumeikan on November 19, but not for dancing or feasting. There was a charity bazaar at which they bought a few things (Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 497). The emperor’s dislike of excessive fondness for Western things, combined with a Confucian conception of the proper behavior for a ruler, kept him from attending a ball at the Rokumeikan. It was rumored, however, that on his visit to the house of Prince Akihito in June 1885, he asked what dansu meant. The prince responded by dancing with his wife, and the emperor expressed approval. For the rumor, see Kondō, Rokumeikan, p. 186; for the visit, see Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 421.

  21. In August, while on his junkō, he sent Prince Yoshihisa to inspect areas inLsaka, Kyōto, and Shiga that had been particularly hard hit by flooding. Rivers broke dikes at more than 2,000 places in Shiga, and nearly 40,000 people, threatened with starvation, were given assistance. Of this number, it was estimated that 23,000 would have great difficulty in surviving on their own resources (Kanai Yukiyasu, “Seijun nichijō,” p. 628; Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 462–63, 468–69).

  22. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 377, 382, 385.

  23. Ibid., 6, pp. 426, 443.

  24. Ibid., 6, pp. 504, 510.

  25. For an account of the junkō, see Kanai, “Seijun nichijō,” pp. 604–31.

  26. After exhausting all their adjectives to describe the steadily increasing heat, on August 10 the sober compilers of Meiji tennō ki declared that the heat stabbed through people like arrows!

  27. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 453.

  28. Ibid., 6, p. 475.

  29. The text of the apology is in ibid., 6, p. 365. Meiji’s brief reply is on p. 366. The Korean king referred to Meiji as daikōtei (great emperor) and to himself as daikunshu (great monarch). Meiji called the Korean king daiō (great king).

  30. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 367.

  31. Ibid., 6, pp. 369–70.

  32. For the text of Sanjō’s message, see ibid., 6, p. 373.

  33. Ibid., 6, pp. 397–98. Many Japanese were incensed over the lack of firmness in their country’s foreign policy. A number of men hatched a plot intended to secure the independence of Korea from Chinese influence by killing the Korean prime minister and others in the Sadaedang and replacing them with Pak, Kim, and other progressives, in this way eradicating Chinese influence. They believed that this would also help create a parliamentary system in Japan. Twenty or more Japanese crossed over to Korea, intent on destroying the Sadaedang. They drew up a manifesto and distributed it throughout the country. However, the lack of funds and internal conflicts within the conspiracy led to arrests. Altogether some 130 men were involved, of whom 58 were tried in Japan in April 1887 (pp. 500–502).

  34. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 405–6.

  35. Ibid., 6, p. 406. This information is found in the diary of Tokudaiji Sanetsune rather than in more official records. Itō was not the only person who was to be rewarded on this occasion: Inoue Kaoru received 10,000 yen for his efforts in settling the situation in Seoul, and Saigō Tsugumichi and Enomoto Takeaki 6,000 yen each. Inoue received his gift from the emperor on May 9, but no date was set for the other men to be rewarded.

  36. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 433.

  37. Ibid., 6, p. 436. Lavish preparations were made for the imperial visit, and the emperor gave Itō a set of silver cups with the imperial crest, a pair of bronze vases also with the imperial crest, and 1,000 yen. These gifts seem to have been made in honor of the visit rather than as a reward for service in China.

  38. The strange circumstances that led to Kuroda’s appointment in 1873 as a major general are given by Iguro Yatarō in Kuroda Kiyotaka, pp. 91–92. Yamagata originally opposed the appointment, and Prince Taruhito said that it would only invite disaster.

  39. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 15–16.

  40. Ibid., 6, p. 371. At the end of May, when Kuroda was in Shanghai, on his way from southern China to Peking, he sent Sanjō a report describing recent acts of European imperialism in East Asia. He mentioned also what he had heard about defenses along the Kwangtung and Fuchow coasts.

  41. Iguro, Kuroda, pp. 195–96.

  42. Ibid., p. 200.

  43. Ibid., p. 201. No doubt Sasaki’s views, communicated to the emperor, had influenced him.

  44. Iguro, Kuroda, p. 118. It was rumored that Kuroda, in a drunken state, had killed his wife, by either stabbing or beating her.

  45. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 503. Normally, when the emperor visited the house of some dignitary, he was entertained with nō, but Kuroda provided instead sumo matches in a ring specially built in his mansion.

  46. Iguro, Kuroda, pp. 198–99.

  47. Itō’s success in steadily pushing forward his program of government reform is described by Sakamoto Kazuto in Itō Hirobumi to Meiji kokka keisei. For an account of Itō’s activities between 1883 (when he returned from Europe where he had studied the Prussian constitution) and 1885 (when his plans for a cabinet government were approved by the emperor), see pp. 105–36.

  48. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 514. His message to the throne, explaining his reasons, is on pp. 514–16.

  49. It is difficult to convey in English the change in the government. The previous government (dajōkan) had consisted of three daijin: dajōdaijin (prime minister), sadaijin (minister of the left), and udaijin (minister of the right). In addition there were kyō (ministers) heading each of eight ministries. Under the cabinet (naikaku) system, there was a sōri (prime minister) and daijin (ministers) heading each of nine ministries. Itō was working toward a parliamentary democracy like that in England, with a cabinet consisting of members of the same party who were members of parliament and responsible to those who elected them. The English word “minister” translates not only kyō and daijin but kōshi, a minister to a foreign country.

  50. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 516–17. The emperor’s proclamation on December 23 announcing the reorganization of the government is on pp. 518–19.

  Chapter 39

  1. A rare instance of mention of the nature of the emperor’s illness is in Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 595, where it says he was suffering from a gastric ailment.

  2. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 530.

  3. Ibid., 6, pp. 542–43.

  4. Ibid., 6, p. 572. Shortly afterward, a stray bullet some twenty or thirty feet from the emperor’s carriage hit a groom, passing through his leg. The commander of the Household Guards felt this was so grave an offense that he asked to resign his post. However, the emperor decided about a month later that the offense did not require a resignation.

  The empress seems to have taken an increased interest in military matters from this time. On March 28, 1887, she visited the Rikugun shikan gakkō and observed the various activities there (p. 721).

  5. According to Yamakawa Michiko, toward the end of his life Meiji favored just two gon no tenji, Sono and Ogura Fumiko (“Kindan no jokan seikatsu kaisō ki,” p. 194). Ogura was barren and for this reason does not figure in the gallery of portraits of the emperor’s ladies.

  6. Sono Motosachi was the third son of Sono Motoshige. Naruko, the wife of Nakayama Tadayasu, was the adopted daughter of Motoshige. This means that Mo-toshige was both the great-grandfather of Meiji and the grandfather of Sono Sachiko.

  7. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 509.

  8. Ibid., 6, p. 509.

  9. Ibid., 6, p. 544. It is not clear from this account which variety of medicine was employed for the birth of the princess.

  10. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 579.

  11. Ibid., 6, pp. 504, 510.

  12. Iizawa Tadashi, Isetsu Meiji tennō den, p. 53.

  13. According to Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 630, everything to do with the prince had been left in the hands of Nakayama Yoshiko (the emperor’s biological mother). Although she was strict with Mutsuhito, Yoshihito’s delicate health may have induced her to be excessively lenient with him.

  14. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 570–71.

  15. Ibid., 6, p. 808.

  16. The name of Tō
kyō University was changed to Teikoku daigaku on March 1, 1886. The change was at the instigation of the minister of education, Mori Arinori, and reflected his belief that the principal function of education was to train persons who would be of service to the state. For a description of the changes in the structure of Imperial University at this time, see Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 551–52.

  17. Quoted by Yoshida Kumaji in “Kaisetsu” to Nishimura Shigeki, Nihon dōtoku ron, p. 117. The lectures were given on December 11, 17, and 26 in the university’s lecture hall and were open to students as well as the community at large.

  18. Nishimura, Nihon dōtoku ron, pp. 10–11.

  19. Ibid., pp. 12, 14.

  20. Ibid., p. 14.

  21. Ibid., p. 15.

  22. For five failings of Confucianism (such as the lack of dignity for people of humble status and the inequality sanctioned between men and women), see ibid., pp. 28–29, and for four failings of philosophy, pp. 31–33.

  23. Nishimura, Nihon dōtoku ron, pp. 60–64.

  24. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 670.

  25. This account is derived mainly from Kawai Hikomitsu, “Norumanton gō jiken,” pp. 4–5. See also Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 644, 666–67.

  26. The opening of the song (“Normanton-gō chimbotsu no uta”), a translation, and the music are in William P. Malm, “Modern Music of Meiji Japan,” p. 287. The song opens: Kishi utsu nami no / oto takaku / yowa no arashi ni / yume samete / ao unabara wo / nagametsutsu / waga harakara wa / izuko zo to / yobedo sakebedo / koe wa naku.

  27. Dissatisfaction was not confined to the Japanese. The French artist Georges Bigot published a cartoon showing members of the British crew safely ensconced in a rowboat while Japanese, only their heads visible, float in the water. The captain is demanding money from any Japanese who wants to be saved. The cartoon is reproduced in Irokawa Daikichi, Kindai kokka no shuppatsu, p. 438.

  28. It is probable, however, that the warm feelings the Japanese court entertained toward foreign royalty were not fully reciprocated. In June 1887 Prince Akihito represented the Japanese court at the celebration in London of the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. The prince was disgruntled to see that his name was missing from the list of foreign dignitaries participating in the ceremonies. And his hotel accommodations were inferior to those of European members of royalty. When he was about to go to Westminster Abbey, he was not provided with a state vehicle but had to hire a cab, and when he arrived, he discovered he was seated with Siamese and Hawaiian royalty rather than with members of the European royal houses. This (and other affronts) persuaded him that the British still thought of Japan as being no more than a small island in the Orient (Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 764–65).