Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (13 page)

tsuki mireba
/
kari ga tonde iru
/
mizu no naka ni
/
m
ō
utsuru narikeri

When it sees the moon, the wild goose comes flying; it is already reflected in the water.

This poem does not scan, and the imagery is confusing, but it is of interest as the earliest example of his poetry. A
tanka
composed a couple of years later shows greater awareness of the metrics:

The repeated use of the emphatic particle
zo
, mainly to fill out the meter, is likely to amuse a modern reader, but this sign of the prince’s awareness of metric requirements demonstrates that he had made some progress. From this time, it became usual whenever Sachinomiya had an audience with his father to receive a list of topics on which to compose
tanka
. He would show the results to Emperor K
ō
mei, a skilled poet, who would correct them. This is how he modified the prince’s poem:

K
ō
mei’s guidance was undoubtedly important in the only part of Meiji’s formal education that was specifically Japanese in content, a tradition established in the Heian past when emperors not only composed poetry but were well versed in the poetry of the past. Before long, Sachinomiya had become familiar with the poems in the standard collections. His literary preferences were otherwise confined to Japanese martial tales and accounts of Chinese heroes.
¹⁴
His childhood companion Uramatsu Tarumitsu recalled that Sachinomiya often mentioned his admiration for the audacity of Toyotomi Hideyoshi or the loyalty of Kusunoki Masashige. At the time he seems to have been less interested in the deeds of his ancestors, perhaps because they were not martial enough to suit his tastes.

Sachinomiya’s education differed little in content from that of his father or, indeed, that of his ancestors of centuries earlier. Although the fear of Western intruders had come to obsess K
ō
mei, he did not consider it essential for his son to learn about the dangerous barbarians. Sachinomiya did not study the geography of the world or consider the advances in science achieved in the West. Only after the Meiji Restoration would his education become relevant to the world in which he lived.

In April 1860 it was decided that Sachinomiya would have his
fukasogi
. This ceremony, at which a child’s hair was trimmed, was usually performed between the ages of three and eight for both boys and girls, but in 1858, when Meiji was about to have his
fukasogi
, it was postponed because of the burning of the Senny
ū
-ji, a temple closely associated with the imperial family. Another ceremony, traditionally performed when a boy or girl was nine by Japanese count, was known as
himo-naoshi
or
himo-toki
; it marked the first time a child wore an adult’s sash in place of the cord that was used for children’s clothes. It was decided that Sachinomiya should have both ceremonies this year. The yin-yang diviners were consulted, and they settled on May 9 at ten o’clock in the morning for the
fukasogi
and ten days later for the
himo-naoshi
ceremonies.

The preparations for the
fukasogi
were elaborate. The emperor gave the prince innumerable articles of clothing, some to be worn at the ceremony, which are described in three closely printed pages of the official chronology.
¹⁵
The
himo-naoshi
was a much simpler affair. These occasions served as a prelude to the far more important ceremony of August 16 when Sachinomiya was officially proclaimed as the heir to the throne. He would henceforth also be considered to be the “true child” of K
ō
mei’s consort, ranking at court immediately after her, and he would live in the same palace. The formal proclamation of Sachinomiya as prince of the blood and heir to the throne would be made in October.

On October 16 the doctor of letters Karahashi Ariteru (1827–1874), who had been commanded by K
ō
mei to prepare a suitable name for the prince as an adult, submitted three names—Kumihito, Fumihito, and Mutsuhito. On the following day, the emperor commanded that the names be shown to the chancellor, the minister of the left, and other dignitaries with the request that they choose the most appropriate.
¹⁶

On November 11 Sachinomiya was proclaimed as the crown prince. On this occasion, his new name was revealed to the assembled nobles, inscribed by the emperor himself—Mutsuhito.
¹⁷
This ceremony was followed by the drinking of toasts of congratulation, the singing of popular songs and n
ō
, and the offering to the prince of numerous presents by the assemblage. The celebration at the court was followed the next month by congratulatory gifts from the shogun.

Once the excitement had died down, Mutsuhito was sent back to his studies. The empress, dissatisfied with his progress in calligraphy, commanded Nakayama Yoshiko to supervise his writing practice every day.
¹⁸

These events, though they probably provided some moments of agreeable diversion for Emperor K
ō
mei, were overshadowed by the urgent business with which he was now confronted, the shogunate’s request for the hand of his sister, Kazunomiya, as the bride of the shogun Iemochi. Kazunomiya was the daughter of Emperor Nink
ō
, and she had been born in 1846, five months after his death. She and her half brother K
ō
mei seem to have been unusually close, which may account for the extreme reluctance displayed by both to accept a marriage proposal that was in some respects highly advantageous. The proposal, received from Edo on June 3, 1860, spoke of the marriage’s fostering the union of the nobility and the military (
k
ō
bu gattai
), which was K
ō
mei’s avowed political stance. Relations between the court and the shogunate had been strained by the latter’s having signed treaties with five Western powers, and a marriage would do much to heal the rift.

A marriage of this nature had first been discussed in November 1858 during a conversation between Konoe Tadahiro, the minister of the left, and Sakai Tadaaki, the newly appointed
shoshidai
. Konoe believed that the marriage would benefit the nation but that Kazunomiya’s engagement to Prince Taruhito, arranged when she was five years old, ruled out the possibility of marriage with the shogun. Sakai, however, was unwilling to give up the plan. In the following year, he discussed the marriage with the chancellor and obtained the shogunate’s consent. Eventually, word of these negotiations reached K
ō
mei, who replied that it would not be possible to break the engagement with Prince Taruhito. He also mentioned Kazunomiya’s dread of going to Edo which, she supposed in her girlish innocence, was a den of foreign barbarians. K
ō
mei, feeling pity for his sister, refused to force her into a marriage that inspired such terror.
¹⁹
He was, however, fully aware of the political advantages to be gained, and his refusal was no doubt tinged with regret.

That year Kazunomiya celebrated her sixteenth birthday by Japanese count. On July 15 she took part in the moon-viewing ceremony, which was the feminine counterpart of the
gembuku
boys underwent. There is something so innocently appealing in the description of Kazunomiya viewing the moon that it is not difficult to imagine K
ō
mei’s reluctance to lose his only sister.

For its part, the shogunate refused to give up plans for a marriage between the shogun and Kazunomiya. There were also proponents of the marriage at the court. When the emperor asked his opinion, Iwakura Tomomi, then a chamberlain, replied that it was obvious that the shogunate’s strength was waning. However, he continued, attempting to recoup imperial power with military force would surely lead to great disorder within the country and might invite foreign intervention. It would be better to consent to the marriage, demonstrating to the world that indeed the nobles and the military were united. In exchange, the shogunate should be obliged to abrogate gradually the treaties it had signed with foreign powers. If the shogunate could be persuaded to agree that henceforth all important matters of state would be submitted to the court for its approval before being put into effect, the shogunate’s authority would come to depend on the court. For this reason, he said, Kazunomiya was more valuable to the state than nine tripods of treasure. Iwakura advised accepting the request, providing the shogunate would swear to abrogate the treaties.
²⁰

On July 6 K
ō
mei sent a letter to the chancellor Kuj
ō
Hisatada concerning the marriage. The tone suggests that he had been affected by Iwakura’s advice. Describing his unhappiness over the shogunate’s signing treaties with barbarians, a development for which he had no excuse to offer the gods or his ancestors, he mentioned his reluctance to send Kazunomiya, the daughter of an emperor, to a part of Japan where foreigners roamed. However, if the shogunate would demonstrate its resolve to cast out the foreigners, he would attempt to persuade Kazunomiya to marry the shogun.
²¹

The response from the shogunate was reassuring. In all matters it agreed with the emperor’s sentiments, and it fully intended to drive out the foreigners; but until the country was united and militarily strong, it was not possible to confront external problems. The first step was to display to the country the union of nobility and warriors. Once this was achieved, the next step would be to prepare the defenses of the country against the foreigners. If the emperor permitted the marriage of the princess to the shogun and the resources of the country were in this way unified and strengthened, was it possible that the policy of the shogunate would differ from that of the emperor in its eagerness to drive out the foreigners?
²²
The shogunate promised to get rid of the foreigners in seven to ten years, either by negotiations that would lead to annulment of the treaties or by military force.
²³

These assurances had the effect of making K
ō
mei favor accepting the marriage proposal from Edo. On September 4 he asked the chancellor to get Kazunomiya’s mother and uncle to persuade her to accept the proposal.
²⁴
He also commanded him to arrange with Prince Taruhito for the annulment of the engagement.
²⁵
Kazunomiya, however, remained unmoved by their arguments, reiterating that she was desolate at the thought of leaving her brother. A week later K
ō
mei sent a letter to the chancellor reporting that Kazunomiya could not bear to go to Edo as a bride. He was unwilling to compel her to accept, but he also felt obliged to live up to his part of the agreement with the shogunate. He therefore suggested that in place of Kazunomiya, his only surviving daughter, Sumanomiya, might make an acceptable substitute, even though she was still only a year and a half old. Although he was fond of this infant, he was willing to part with her as a sign of his desire to secure a union between nobility and military. If the shogunate would not accept, he would have no choice but to abdicate.

A copy of K
ō
mei’s letter was shown to Kazunomiya who, on reading his offer to abdicate, was sure she would be unable to eat or sleep if she became the cause of her brother’s abdicating the throne. She therefore decided to accept his advice
²⁶
and go to Edo, providing five conditions were met. The first was that she not be required to leave for Edo until after the seventeenth anniversary of the death of her father, Emperor Nink
ō
, two years hence. She also wished to be able to return each year to Ky
ō
to on the anniversary of Nink
ō
’s death, to pray at his tomb and to inquire after the emperor’s health. But the shogunate was unwilling to wait two years; it was eager to celebrate the marriage as soon as possible. Kazunomiya’s second condition was that she be able to live in Edo under exactly the same surroundings as in the Gosho. This was accepted by the shogunate. The remaining conditions concerned her choice of attendants.
²⁷

K
ō
mei sent a letter to the shogunate in which he listed six conditions of his own: (1) that Kazunomiya’s five conditions be accepted; (2) that even if there were a change in the senior councillors, the promise to break diplomatic relations with foreign countries would be maintained; (3) that it be made known throughout the country that the marriage was not forced on Kazunomiya in order to preserve the Tokugawa family but was arranged in the interests of promoting the union of nobility and military necessary for the country; (4) that means be found to take care of persons who had been impoverished as the result of opening trade with the foreigners; (5) that the treatment accorded to Kazunomiya once her marriage was settled on would be reported privately to the throne before any decision was made; and (6) that consideration be given to amends for Prince Arisugawa.
²⁸