Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (169 page)

9
. When on June 19 reforms were made in the administration, it was stated that their objectives were in consonance with the Charter Oath (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 708). In addition, Tanaka states that the leaders of the Freedom and Popular Rights Party admired the democratic character of the Charter Oath (
Mikan
, p. 28).

10
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 649.

11
. Ibid., 1, pp. 649–52.

12
. Tanaka,
Mikan
, p. 28.

13
. Sir Ernest Satow,
A Diplomat in Japan
, pp. 365–66.

14
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 671.

15
. Ibid., 1, p. 661.

16
. This opinion was not necessarily shared by people of the time. For example, Kido Takayoshi wrote in his diary, “If the current situation prevails for another year that the Realm will be reduced to poverty goes without saying, and in the end Imperial rule cannot be established” (Sidney DeVere Brown and Akiko Hirota, trans.,
The Diary of Kido Takayoshi
, 1, p. 32). This is only one of several gloomy predictions Kido made concerning the outcome of the fighting.

17
. More commonly known as Akira Shinn
ō
(1816–1898), the eldest of Fushiminomiya’s many sons. He entered the priesthood at the age of eight but returned to the laity in 1864 to found the house of Yamashinanomiya. In 1866 he, along with Iwakura Tomomi and others, was sentenced to house arrest for his political actions. After the Restoration, he became a
gij
ō
and at this time was
gaikoku jimu s
ō
toku
.

18
. Satow,
A Diplomat
, pp. 370–71. The account of the audience given in Japanese sources contains one detail not mentioned by Satow: when Sir Harry Parkes presented the letter from Queen Victoria to the emperor, he seemed so overcome with reverence and awe that Prince Akira had to support him (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 686). This certainly does not sound like the Sir Harry we know from other descriptions.

19
.
Ō
kubo Toshimichi nikki
, 1, p. 452. See also Asukai,
Meiji taitei
, p. 125.

20
. Brown and Hirota, trans.,
Diary
, 1, p. 12.

21
. Asukai,
Meiji taitei
, p. 125. The text of Yokoi’s remarks is given somewhat differently in
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 705–6.

22
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 670.

23
. See the excerpt of a letter from
Ō
kubo to Kido, dated May 23, quoted in Asukai,
Meiji taitei
, p. 126. See also
Ō
kubo’s memorandum proposing the moving of the capital to
Ō
saka in T
ō
yama Shigeki,
Tenn
ō
to kazoku
, pp. 6–8.

Chapter 17

1
. The text is in T
ō
yama Shigeki,
Tenn
ō
to kazoku
, p. 9. The proclamation was issued on June 13, 1868 (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 705).

2
. The
k
ō
ky
ū
, often called simply
oku
, the emperor’s private quarters, presided over by female officials; what might be called the seraglio in other parts of the world.

3
. “At eight” (
tatsu no koku
) is supplied from another text (T
ō
yama,
Tenn
ō
, p. 9).

4
. Men in the highest posts of the bureaucracy at the time; Iwakura Tomomi and Sanj
ō
Sanetomi were concomitantly
gij
ō
and
hosh
ō
.

5
.
Hakkei no ma
, the office of the
hosh
ō
, so called because of the paintings of Eight Views, perhaps the Eight Views of
Ō
mi.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
amplifies the text by adding a phrase to suggest that the emperor would go to the
hosh
ō
’s office in order to observe him busily engaged in state affairs.

6
. This seems a clear indication, not provided elsewhere, that by this time Meiji smoked.

7
. Personal attendants of the emperor, a new office, established at this time. The regulations provided (1) that they never divulge any matter revealed in the imperial presence, (2) that they not permit direct appeals on state matters that had not passed through the proper channels, (3) that they absolutely refrain from vulgar or impolite speech or action in the imperial presence, and (4) that (it goes without saying) they never while on duty, day or night, presume in the slightest on the imperial benevolence and thereby profane the imperial dignity or flaunt their authority inside or outside the palace. The remaining six regulations dealt with the performance of their duties (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 706–7). Other provisos enumerated the qualifications the
kinj
ū
were expected to possess. It was difficult to find members of the nobility who fulfilled all the demands, but ten were eventually chosen. For the names, see p. 707.

8
. The paraphrase is in
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 705–6.

9
. Sir Ernest Satow wrote that he had seen several “constitutions,” the most recent of which was dated June of that year. He commented, “It showed marked traces of American political theories, and I have little doubt that Okuma and his fellow-clansman Soyéjima, pupils of Dr Verbeck, had had a considerable part in framing it. ‘The power and authority of the
Daij
ō
kan
(i.e., government), threefold, legislative, executive and judicial,’ was the wording of one article. By another it as provided that ‘All officers shall be changed after four years’ service. They shall be appointed by a majority of votes given by ballot. When the first period for changing the officers of government arrives, half of the present staff shall be retained for an additional space of two years, in order that there be no interruption of the public business.’ In this we seemed to hear an echo of the ‘spoils system.’ Okuma explained that the ‘executive’ represented the executive department in the United States Constitution, ‘consisting of the president and his advisers,’ but that in fact it was the head of the Shinto religion, finance, war and foreign departments” (
A Diplomat in Japan
, p. 377).

10
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 708. Among the second-rank officials who were given rank at this time were Got
ō
Sh
ō
jir
ō
, Kido Takayoshi,
Ō
kubo Toshimichi, Soejima Ta-neomi, and Yokoi Sh
ō
nan—a dazzling cluster of brilliant men.

11
. In order to provide continuity, however, some of those elected in the first election would serve an additional two years.

12
. Iwakura Tomomi asked on September 11 to be sent to the front at the head of 2,000 soldiers from the Saga Domain. In his petition to the throne, he admitted that having been born into a noble family, he had no knowledge of warfare, but he desired all the same to test his wormlike skill in battle with the traitors in the north. He was subsequently dissuaded, but not because of inadequate military training (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 774).

13
. This is the name by which he is called in most documents describing his activities in 1868, but I shall refer to him as Rinn
ō
jinomiya, the name by which he was best known during the entire period.

14
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 618. See also Arima Yorichika, “Kitashirakawa no miya sh
ō
gai,” pp. 239–40.

15
. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 239.

16
. Ibid., p. 240.

17
. Arima estimated that someone of Rinn
ō
jinomiya’s status would have been escorted by several hundred men (“Kitashirakawa,” p. 244).

18
. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 241.

19
. Mori
Ō
gai, “Yoshihisa shinn
ō
jiseki,”
in
Ō
gai zensh
ū
, p. 516.

20
. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 242. Virtually the identical account is in Mori
Ō
gai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 516.

21
. Mori
Ō
gai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 517.

22
. Arima expressed the belief that Iwakura Tomomi was afraid that Rinn
ō
jinomiya might influence the emperor and interfere with his plans for taking Edo Castle. Arima was convinced that Iwakura was determined not to let Edo Castle be attacked, even though the expeditionary army had been sent to the east, because he thought Katsu Kaish
ū
, the chief negotiator in the castle, was too valuable a man to be sacrificed (“Kitashirakawa,” p. 247).

23
. Takigawa Masajir
ō
, “Shirarezaru tenn
ō
,” p. 125.

24
. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 249.

25
. Ibid., p. 250. See also Shibusawa Eiichi,
Tokugawa Yoshinobu-k
ō
den
, 4, pp. 247, 248.

26
. Arima, “Kitashirakawa,” p. 250.

27
. Mori
Ō
gai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 532.

28
. Ibid., p. 533.

29
. Ibid., p. 535. For a description of the prince’s disguise (as a physician on his way to a sick man’s residence), see p. 536.

30
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 736.

31
. Takigawa, “Shirarezaru,” p. 126. Takigawa wrote that he had heard this directly from the late Dr. Osatake Takeshi. He himself had not seen the document, but he had the highest respect for Osatake as a source of information.

32
. The prince’s title as “emperor” was
t
ō
bu
, or “Eastern Warrior.”

33
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 736. Satow must have heard rumors to this effect. He wrote, “Rin
ō
ji no Miya, the imperial prince who had always resided there in the character of abbot, and whom the recalcitrant Tokugawa men talked of raising to the throne as Mikado, was carried off by the survivors at the end of the day” (
A Diplomat
, p. 375).

34
. The oath was called
shiroishi meiyaku sho
(for details, see Sasaki Suguru,
Boshin sens
ō
, pp. 115–23). See also Ishii Takashi,
Ishin no nairan
, pp. 122–27.

35
. Sasaki,
Boshin
, p. 131.

36
. An artist of historical portraits. His
Senken kojitsu
, portraying more than 500 illustrious people (including emperors, loyal retainers, and heroic women) with commentary, covers the 2,000 years from Emperor Jimmu to Emperor Gomurakami. It was published between 1836 and 1868.

37
. Sasaki,
Boshin
, p. 132. The name
t
ō
bu
—Eastern Warrior (the homonym of
t
ō
bu
, eastern region)—indicates that he was emperor of only the eastern part of the country, leaving the west to Meiji. According to Kikuchi, however, he was known as
k
ō
tei
, the term used for foreign kings or emperors, rather than as
tenn
ō
.

38
. Mori
Ō
gai, “Yoshihisa,” p. 546.

39
. Ibid., p. 553.

40
. Ibid., p. 557. On February 14, 1872, he was promoted to
sanbon
, a high rank in the
k
ō
zoku
. On the same day, his brother Prince Asahiko, an equally ambiguous figure, was also named
sanbon
. Tokugawa Yoshinobu was appointed the junior fourth rank, and Date Yoshikuni, who had been “acting great general quelling barbarians” during the short-lived reign of Emperor T
ō
bu, was appointed to the junior fifth rank. The government’s leniency was all but incredible.

41
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 792–93. For a more detailed account of Asahiko’s plot, see Shibusawa,
Tokugawa
, 4, pp. 268–69.