Emperor of Japan

by Donald Keene

  29. They would be joined in Kyōto by the empress dowager, who had arrived there on January 14.

  30. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 721.

  31. Ibid., 6, pp. 712–13.

  32. The Tōkyō Club was founded in 1881 as a place where gentlemen of both Japan and the West might form friendly relations.

  33. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 732. See also Donald H. Shively, “The Japanization of the Middle Meiji,” p. 94. He quotes a passage from the book Jinshu kairyō ron by Takahashi Yoshio, published in 1884, in which the author claimed that the Japanese, “with their weak minds and bodies,” could not hope to compete with white men and would only be exhausted in the attempt. The only remedy was to strengthen the race with intermarriages with the white race. When asked his opinion in 1892, Herbert Spencer advised against it.

  34. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 735–36. See also Inoue Kiyoshi, Jōyaku kaisei, pp. 108–9.

  35. He returned to Japan on June 23 after more than a year in Europe, where he had observed agricultural, commercial, and industrial conditions. He had seen how armaments had increased, which had made him aware of the dangerous world situation. Perhaps that is why he also studied international law with Lorenz von Stein in Vienna (Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 765–66, 777).

  36. Meiji tennō ki, 6, pp. 778–79.

  37. Ibid., 6, p. 782.

  38. Ibid., 6, pp. 788–89. See also Inoue, Jōyaku kaisei, pp. 112–13.

  39. Meiji tennō ki, 6, p. 804.

  40. Ibid., 6, pp. 803–6.

  41. Ibid., 6, p. 799.

  Chapter 40

  1. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 20.

  2. In the summer of 1888, the tutors of Prince Yoshihito (who had been afflicted with whooping cough in April) suggested that he be taken to Hakone to escape the heat. Meiji’s permission was requested, but he was obviously displeased and gave his consent reluctantly, stipulating that it should be for only a week and that the prince must be accompanied by Motoda Nagazane (Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 116). Probably he felt uneasy at the thought the prince would be so far away, but he may also have felt that it was incumbent on the prince, as on himself, to suffer through the summer heat along with millions of other Japanese. However, the stay in Hakone was evidently beneficial to the prince’s health, and it became customary for him to leave Tokyo in both the summer and the winter for places with more equable climates.

  3. Palace doctors of Chinese medicine were replaced in December 1888 with Western-trained doctors (Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 167). In February 1889 the emperor asked army and navy surgeons to conduct an investigation as to why so many of his children had died (p. 203).

  4. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 4.

  5. A photograph would, of course, have been an even more exact likeness, but Chiossone (at a time when taking a photograph indoors required considerable time and illumination) could not have photographed the emperor indoors without his being aware.

  6. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 7.

  7. Baroness Albert d’Anethan, wife of the Belgian minister to Japan, recorded in her diary, “We went to tea with Signor Chiossoné, an Italian, who has lived here very many years, and we saw his wonderful collection of bronzes, lacquer, Japanese prints, and ancient embroideries. He also showed us his drawings of the Emperor and the Empress, which are the originals of the only existing portraits of their Majesties. Signor Chiossoné developed these excellent likenesses from sketches from memory, it being against the ideas of the Japanese etiquette or loyalty to the throne that the Emperor or Empress should permit themselves to pose for either a painting or photograph” (Fourteen Years of Diplomatic Life in Japan, pp. 53–54).

  Meiji’s dislike of photographs was not shared by the empress. On June 24, 1889, she sent for the photographer Suzuki Shin’ichi and had him take her picture. On the following day, she sent for another photographer, Maruki Toshiaki, and he also took her picture (Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 287). For the distribution of photographs to elementary schools, see p. 424.

  8. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 16. Inoue’s immediate successor had been Itō, who temporarily served as both prime minister and foreign minister.

  9. For an account of the objectives of Ōkuma’s party, see Joyce C. Lebra, Ōkuma Shigenobu, pp. 69–76.

  10. For a brief account of Kuroda’s meeting with Ōkuma, see Watanabe Katsuo, Meiji nijūninen no jōyaku kaisei hantai undō, p. 4.

  11. Meiji tennō ki 7, p. 17. See also Lebra, Ōkuma, pp. 84, 164. Ōkuma’s conditions changed in the course of negotiation; for details, see Watanabe Katsuo, Meiji, pp. 6–18.

  12. Lebra,Ōkuma, p. 86.

  13. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 50; this rather free translation is in Hugh Borton, Japan’s Modern Century, p. 141.

  14. The five functions of the Sūmitsu-in are listed in Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 51. All relate to the contents of the proposed constitution and the procedures for modifying its provisions.

  15. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 52.

  16. Ibid., 7, pp. 74–75, 92, 94. See also Hijikata Hisamoto, “Eimei kurabenaki daikōtei”: “Sometimes fiercely intent debates lasted for several hours, but His Majesty listened assiduously to each speech, and even after he had retired for the night he would comment that in today’s debate so-and-so’s point of view was correct; he would pass judgment on the good or bad of the different opinions. I was impressed by the accuracy and clarity of his evaluations” (p. 58).

  17. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 93.

  18. Ibid., 7, pp. 164–65, 324–25. See also Mary Crawford Fraser, A Diplomat’s Wife in Japan, p. 27.

  19. According to Dallas Finn, “But most foreigners, as diverse as Dr. Baelz, the Belgian Baroness d’Anethan, Britain’s Lord Redesdale, and New York financier Jacob Schiff, found the palace magnificent” (Meiji Revisited, p. 94). Baroness d’Anethan, for example, wrote of the Throne Room that it was “a magnificent and vast apartment, laid with parquet floors” (Fourteen Years, p. 48).

  20. Hinonishi Sukehiro, Meiji tennō no go-nichijō, p. 71.

  21. At the time Yoshihito was spending the winter months at Atami, where Tani was also residing. This made it convenient for Soga to approach Tani repeatedly.

  22. Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 192–93. Tani specified that he would serve in the upper house (House of Peers) because he had been created a viscount in recognition of his military service.

  23. When the emperor learned that Tani was unwilling to serve in the Privy Council, he refused to take no for an answer. He directed the senior chamberlain to send an official of the Imperial Household Ministry to persuade Tani to change his mind. Tani was moved to hear of the emperor’s disappointment, but he asked for time to reconsider (Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 201–2). Tani was later offered a choice of a position in the Sūmitsu-in or the cabinet. He was not adverse to the latter but did not wish to fill a cabinet vacancy at the same time as Gotō Shōjirō. In the end, Prime Minister Kuroda appointed Gotō but not Tani (p. 246). The post of minister of education was filled by Enomoto Takeaki, and Gotō succeeded to Enomoto’s former post of minister of communications.

  24. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 197.

  25. Ibid., 7, p. 200.

  26. Ibid., 7, pp. 206–7.

  27. Erwin Baelz, Awakening Japan, trans. Eden Paul and Cedar Paul, pp. 81–82. “Kamenosuke Tokugawa” was the boyhood name of Tokugawa Iesato (1863–1940). He figured importantly in the creation of the constitution. “Duke Sanjo” was, of course, Sanjō Sanetomi. Baelz described him as having been the “imperial chancellor,” the German equivalent of prime minister.

  28. Borton gives the provisions of the 1946 alongside the corresponding sections of the 1889 constitution (Japan’s Modern Century, pp. 490–507).

  29. Knowing of the emperor’s aversion to Kuroda, Motoda cited an episode from Chinese history as textual evidence for rewarding a man with egregious faults: Han Kao Tzu killed one of his favorite ministers and enfeoffed a minister he detested in order to induce the common people to submit willingly to his rule (Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 213–14). The emperor, not persuaded by Mot
oda’s argument, decorated only Itō.

  30. According to Baelz, the newspapers made a hero of the murderer, and “there is a regular pilgrimage to Nishino’s tomb in Ueno. The pilgrims are of all sorts, including students, actors, and geishas” (Awakening Japan, pp. 85–86).

  31. Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 226–27.

  32. Ibid., p. 227. Benjamin Harrison, a Republican, was sworn in as president on March 4, 1889.

  33. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 237.

  34. Article 24 stated, “No Japanese subject shall be deprived of his right of being tried by judges determined by law.” Article 58 states in part, “The judges shall be appointed from among those who possess proper qualifications according to law. No judge shall be deprived of his position unless by way of criminal sentence or disciplinary punishment.”

  35. Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 284–87.

  36. Ibid., pp. 297–98.

  37. Ibid., p. 315.

  38. Ibid., p. 333.

  39. Ibid., pp. 339–40.

  40. Ibid., p. 342. These were the questions of Katsu Awa (Kaishū).

  41. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 349.

  42. Ibid., p. 352.

  43. Ibid., pp. 364–65. The source is Nishimura’s Kengen-kō (Draft Memorial), written in September 1889. For a lurid picture of what would happen to the Japanese if they permitted foreigners to live outside the settlements and serve as judges of the High Court, see Nihon kōdōkai, ed., Hakuō sōsho, 1, pp. 395–411, esp. pp. 399–402, 409. For a study of Nishimura in English, see also Donald H. Shively, “Nishimura Shigeki.” It should be noted that before this time many Japanese were enthusiastic about the prospect of foreigners dwelling among them (naichi zakkyo) (Inō Tentarō, Jōyaku kaiseiron no rekishiteki tenkai, pp. 266–68).

  44. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 325. According to Baelz, “What the Japanese want is to have the treaties revised in this sense, that they are to get everything and to give nothing in return” (Awakening Japan, p. 90).

  45. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 371.

  46. Baelz, Awakening Japan, pp. 91–92.

  47. Ibid., p. 93.

  Chapter 41

  1. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 600.

  2. Ibid., 7, p. 463. See also p. 568, where mention is made of the court’s going into mourning for nine days after the death of the consort of the king of Korea.

  3. Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 684–87, 691–93. On July 3 imperial property at Ikaho in Gumma Prefecture was set aside for the rest and recreation of the kōzoku (p. 586).

  4. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 467.

  5. Ibid., 7, p. 471.

  6. Ibid., 7, p. 472.

  7. Ibid., 7, p. 475.

  8. Ibid., 7, pp. 507–10.

  9. On July 15, 1890, the long-awaited British response to Aoki’s modified proposals was received. After noting how greatly these proposals differed from those made in the previous year, Lord Salisbury predicted that it would take at least five years before the British would surrender their special privileges.

  10. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 521. The emperor on occasion ate the simple food of inferiors, presumably as a gesture of solidarity with them. When, for example, he visited the warship Yaeyama, he ate the food served in the petty officers’ mess (p. 484).

  11. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 524.

  12. Ibid., 7, pp. 526–27.

  13. Mary Crawford Fraser, A Diplomat’s Wife in Japan, p. 159.

  14. Ibid., p. 166.

  15. In addition to men from Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen, two men who came from none of these domains (Katsu Awa and Enomoto Takeaki) had also received appointment to cabinet posts, probably because of long service to the shogunate.

  16. Roger F. Hackett, Yamagata Aritomo in the Rise of Modern Japan, p. 135.

  17. Mutsu was sentenced in 1878 to five years’ imprisonment because of his involvement in the Tosa risshisha plot to overthrow the government. He was incarcerated for four years and four months. The emperor, who had pardoned others implicated in the plot, refused to pardon Mutsu. For a brief account of these events, see Hagihara Nobutoshi, Mutsu Munemitsu, pp. 47–48.

  18. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 554.

  19. Ibid., 7, p. 211. Three laws promulgated at this time were Giin-hō, Shūgiin giin senkyo-hō, and Kizokuin-rei (R. H. P. Mason, Japan’s First General Election, pp. 27ff).

  20. The House of Peers, although convened at the same time as the House of Representatives, was not elected in the same manner. The 251 members belonged to such categories as members by right for life (imperial princes, princes, and marquises), members by election, and imperial nominees for life. For a good discussion of the House of Peers, see Andrew Fraser, “The House of Peers (1890–1905),” in Andrew Fraser, R. H. P. Mason, and Philip Mitchell, Japan’s Early Parliaments.

  21. Suematsu Kenchō, who declared, “If an illiterate asked for a proxy, Gombei was written as Hachibei or Gosuke as Rokusuke, as a result of collusion between the headman and the clerks. I was often a witness to the most baneful, for the electors, practice” (“Nijūsannen no sōsenkyo,” in Meiji bunka zenshū, 3, p. 217), is quoted in Fraser et al., Japan’s Early Parliaments, p. 43.

  22. Fraser et al., Japan’s Early Parliaments, p. 52.

  23. Hackett, Yamagata, p. 137. Itō was formally appointed as president of the House of Peers on October 24 (Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 658).

  24. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 603.

  25. See, for example, Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 532, 564, 565, 583, 586, 595, 596, 602, 607, 614, 621, 622, etc. A list of imperial properties, drawn up in November 1890, is on pp. 698–700. It is not complete, possibly because it listed only properties that were transmitted hereditarily. The holdings as of December 31, a total of more than 1,016,045 chō of daisshu seden goryō and more than 2,633,756 chō of dainishu goryōchi, are listed on p. 701.

  26. Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 636–37. For the full text of Sasaki’s proposal, see Tsuda Shigemaro, Meiji seijō to Shin Takayuki, pp. 698–703. The Kyōbushō (Ministry of Religious Instruction) was abolished in 1877, and nothing had taken its place.

  27. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 638.

  28. Ibid., 7, p. 645. The three holidays were New Year (Worship of the Four Directions), Kigen-setsu (the anniversary of Emperor Jimmu’s accession), and Tenchō-setsu (the emperor’s birthday).

  29. Meiji tennō ki, 7, pp. 671–72.

  30. Ibid., 7, p. 672.

  31. Ibid., 7, p. 673.

  32. Quoted from Ryūsaku Tsunoda, Wm. Theodore de Bary, and Donald Keene, trans., Sources of Japanese Tradition, p. 646.

  33. Ibid., p. 647.

  34. Uchimura Kanzō zenshū, 20, pp. 206–7, in ibid., pp. 852–53.

  35. Tsunoda et al., Sources of Japanese Tradition, pp. 853–54.

  36. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 676.

  37. Ibid., 7, pp. 681–82.

  38. Ibid., 7, p. 704.

  Chapter 42

  1. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 737.

  2. Ibid., 7, pp. 754–56.

  3. Ibid., 7, p. 759.

  4. Earlier royal guests had been mainly second or third sons of monarchs (or grandsons in the case of the two English princes).

  5. Count Sergei Iulevich Witte, The Memoirs of Count Witte, trans. Sidney Harcave, pp. 126–27. Nicholas’s brother George returned to Russia after the ship reached India (Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 795).

  6. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 751. By contrast, the emperor gave only 200 yen for repairing the Kōryū-ji, the oldest temple in Kyoto, known for its magnificent sculpture (p. 780).

  7. No doubt she is referring to the Hama rikyū.

  8. Mary Crawford Fraser, A Diplomat’s Wife in Japan, p. 275.

  9. Yasuda Kōichi, Nikorai nisei no nikki, p. 9; Witte, Memoirs, p. 125. Nicholas took part in the ceremony on May 18, 1891.

  10. For an extremely detailed account of the visit of the Russian prince to Nagasaki, see Nomura Yoshifumi, Ōtsu jiken, pp. 9–88.

  11. Yasuda, Nikorai, pp. 22, 21.

  12. Yasuda reproduces a photograph of Nicholas in a Nagasaki jinr
ikisha in ibid.p. 25.

  13. All the purchased items, together with their prices and the shops where they were purchased, are listed in Nomura, Ōtsu jiken, pp. 80–85.

  14. Yasuda, Nikorai, p. 24. Nicholas’s cousin, the future George V of England, also was tattooed while in Japan.

  15. Yasuda, Nikorai, p. 31.

  16. Ibid., pp. 32–33. According to one local historian, Nicholas was entertained by the geisha Kikuyakko and George by O-ei, but Nomura believed that O-ei was the recipient of Nicholas’s favors (Ōtsu Jiken, p. 86).

  17. Yasuda, Nikorai, p. 36. On p. 39 a photograph of the samurai-odori performed on this occasion is reproduced.

  18. Ibid., p. 39.

  19. Nomura, Ōtsu jiken, p. 111. At lunch the same day, Nicholas made a point of complimenting the regimental commander on the splendid impression he had received of Japanese soldiers, the first he had seen since his arrival in Japan (Andō Tamotsu, Ōtsu jiken ni tsuite, 1, p. 144).

  20. Detailed reports of the excursion (from contemporary sources) are given in Andō, Ōtsu jiken ni tsuite, 1, pp. 141–44.

  21. For a diagram of the positions of the different jinrikishas at the time of the attack, see ibid., 1, p. 177.

  22. Yasuda, Nikorai, pp. 11–12.

  23. Meiji tennō ki, 7, p. 828. The czarevich summoned the two coolies to his ship and personally presented them with 2,500 yen each. He also decorated them with the Order of St. Anna and offered them a lifetime pension of 1,000 yen, although he expressed concern lest these ignorant men use the money in a way detrimental to themselves. Meiji was also worried about this and directed the foreign minister, Aoki Shūzō, to urge the two men not to use the money in an unworthy manner. Aoki not only warned them but directed the governors of Kyōto and Ishikawa Prefectures (where the two men originated) to keep watch on the newly rich coolies. For a account of one of the coolies, Mukōhata Jisaburō, see Osatake Takeshi, Ōtsu jiken, pp. 252–57.