Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (55 page)

On March 1 a search warrant for the arrest of Et
ō
and Shima was issued, giving details of their physical appearance.
²⁹
It was ironic that Et
ō
, who had organized the police, was now being hunted by them. Sympathy was expressed for the fugitives even in the highest circles. Sanj
ō
wrote to
Ō
kubo on behalf of Shima, admitting that he had taken part in a rebellion but calling attention to his achievements as a devoted loyalist and insisting that he was not an evil schemer. On April 5 after Et
ō
had been captured, Kido proposed to Sanj
ō
that as a convinced believer in action against Korea, Et
ō
should be sent to the front in Taiwan.
³⁰

Et
ō
’s party of fugitives landed in Kagoshima on February 27. They called on Saig
ō
the next day but learned that he was at Unagi Hot Springs. Et
ō
went there on March 1. The two men spoke privately for three hours. About nine that evening, Et
ō
left but returned the next day. This time the conversation between the two men continued for about four hours, sometimes rising to such intensity that their voices could be heard outside. The content of the discussion was not disclosed, but it seems likely that Saig
ō
refused to commit himself to supporting Et
ō
either at this time (when the defeat of the Saga rebels was evident) or at any foreseeable time in the future. He may have stated that because he was no longer in the government, Et
ō
should seek help not from himself but from Shimazu Hisamitsu, an adviser to the cabinet. Shimazu, however, had received on February 2 a command from the emperor directing him to make sure that Saig
ō
did not support the Saga rebels.
³¹

On March 3 Et
ō
left Kagoshima, once again by fishing boat. The sea was rough, and he and his small party could get only as far as Sakurajima that night. The next day they visited Ogura Shohei (1846–1877) at Obi. Ogura, only recently returned from study abroad, was an advocate of war with Korea and welcomed the fugitives, hiding them nearby. (He was later to serve a sentence of seventy days for this kindness.)
³²

On March 10 the nine men left for Tosa aboard a fishing boat that Ogura had hired for them, eluding the police on their trail. The journey that followed on sea and land was marked by danger and physical strain. When Et
ō
at last reached K
ō
chi and met Hayashi Y
ū
dz
ō
(1813–1899), whose support he had counted on, he was treated coldly, no doubt because Hayashi knew how close the pursuers were. Et
ō
left K
ō
chi that night, reluctant to involve Hayashi in his guilt, and wandered in the mountains for three nights in the cold and rain. Et
ō
himself said that never since he issued from his mother’s womb had he suffered such hardship.
³³

Et
ō
seems to have hoped somehow to make his way to T
ō
ky
ō
, where he would disclose the true story of the Saga rebellion to his former associates. If they found him guilty, he planned to turn his sword on himself.
³⁴
On March 28 he emerged from the mountains near the border between Tosa and Awa at K
ō
noura, a village by the sea. He hoped to find a boat that would take him to T
ō
ky
ō
, but he was detected by an alert guard, who asked to see his papers. Et
ō
at first pretended to be a merchant from
ō
saka but soon changed his story and claimed to be a secret agent sent from T
ō
ky
ō
to find the men responsible for the attack on Iwakura Tomomi. He asked his captor to deliver a sealed letter he had written to Iwakura. The letter, dated March 27, stated that he had been prevented by the strictness of security measures in Tosa from going to T
ō
ky
ō
and asked Iwakura to give orders that would permit him to proceed to T
ō
ky
ō
.
³⁵

A police officer opened the letter and discovered inside Et
ō
’s real name. He knew for certain now the man he had captured was wanted by the police but did not know what procedures to follow in arresting someone who until lately had been a councillor. Finally he invited Et
ō
to play a game of
go
with him at another house, leaving Et
ō
’s two companions behind. Et
ō
took the white stones; the officer, the black. After each put down one stone on the board, the officer, putting down a second black stone, suddenly shouted, “
Et
ō
-dono, Et
ō
-dono
,” the signal for armed men in the next room to burst in with the cry, “Sir Et
ō
, we have the honor to arrest you.”
³⁶
The language they used when making the arrest was comically polite, but all the same, they bound Et
ō
with ropes, like a common criminal. He did not resist.

Et
ō
was treated with kindness by his captors, who purposely allowed the journey to K
ō
chi, which normally took three days, to last five, perhaps foreseeing that his life had not much longer to run. From K
ō
chi, he and his two companions were taken by warship and then overland to Saga, arriving on April 4. They were thrown into a hastily built prison.

The trial of Et
ō
, Shima,
³⁷
and others who had participated in the Saga rebellion began on April 8 and was over the next day. The incredible haste was dictated by
Ō
kubo’s impatience to have the proceedings terminated as soon as possible. It was obvious from the start that Et
ō
and the others would be found guilty. The presiding judge, K
ō
no Togama (1844–1895), had been a protégé of Et
ō
, who had appointed him to his office, but during the trial he addressed Et
ō
with such brutality that at one point Et
ō
cried out, “Togama—how dare you appear before me?”
³⁸
K
ō
no is said to have hung his head in reply, but the sentence he pronounced on April 13 was harsh, especially considering that there were no precedents in either the old penal code or the new one (devised by Et
ō
) for punishing people who staged rebellions; the crime seems not to have been anticipated. K
ō
no turned to Chinese law when passing sentence. Et
ō
and Shima would be deprived of their status as samurai and beheaded, and their heads exposed afterward. Other leaders were also to be decapitated, but they would be spared the humiliating public exposure of their heads.

When Et
ō
heard the sentence, he attempted to address the judge, but he was dragged from the courtroom before he could finish. He was executed the same day. Decapitation was normally the work of outcasts, but Prince Higashifushimi, the commander in chief, considered that it was a breach of decorum to allow an outcast to execute men of Et
ō
’s and Shima’s caliber, and they were beheaded instead by a samurai. Et
ō
’s final poem, composed immediately before his death, was

Et
ō
’s head was exposed for three days. He was forty when he died. It had been exactly three months since he had left T
ō
ky
ō
on his ill-fated journey to Saga.

In his diary entry for April 13
Ō
kubo expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the trial: “Today everything has concluded satisfactorily. I felt great relief.” There was no trace of pity for Et
ō
.
Ō
kubo wrote, “Et
ō
’s disgraceful behavior was shocking,” referring perhaps to Et
ō
’s final outburst before being dragged from the court. Photographs taken of Et
ō
’s severed head for a time were on sale in T
ō
ky
ō
, but on May 27 the T
ō
ky
ō
prefectural government ordered everyone who had purchased a photograph to return it to the seller. However,
Ō
kubo is said to have hung such a photograph in the reception room of the Interior Ministry.
³⁹

There is no evidence concerning the emperor’s reactions to the trial and death of Et
ō
. Perhaps he was more concerned at this time with developments in Taiwan than in the crushed Saga rebellion. Ever since June 1873 when Soejima Taneomi had met with Chinese statesmen to discuss the appropriate punishment for the Taiwanese natives who had killed Okinawan subjects of the emperor, the issue had been hanging fire. In January 1874
Ō
kubo and
Ō
kuma prepared a report on the situation. Their conclusion was that in view of the Chinese government’s declaration that the territory of the uncivilized natives did not belong to any country, it was incumbent on the Japanese government to retaliate for the outrage done to its subjects.

On February 6 the ministers and councillors accepted this conclusion, but Kido did not attend the meeting, an indication that he was still opposed to any form of foreign intervention.
⁴⁰
In March,
Ō
kuma Shigenobu, Councillor and Foreign Minister Terashima Munenori, Minister Plenipotentiary to China Ya-nagihara Sakimitsu, and Army Minister Saig
ō
Tsugumichi (1843–1902) met at
ō
kuma’s house to discuss the proposed campaign against the Taiwan savages. Their report called for troops to leave Kumamoto on March 18 for Taiwan. The plan was not put into effect, but on April 3 Meiji summoned
Ō
kuma and asked for details. By this time the Saga rebellion had been completely suppressed and the government was in a position to take military action against Taiwan.

On April 6 the emperor granted Saig
ō
Tsugumichi full powers to pacify the Taiwan natives. In a rescript the emperor commanded Saig
ō
to punish those responsible for killing Japanese. In separate instructions the emperor stated that if the natives were left to do as they pleased, this would lead to great harm: “Our purpose in carrying out the conquest is to civilize these savages and set at ease the minds of our good people. You should bear this in mind, and carry out your task with both kindness and resolution. Once the natives are subdued, you should educate them and lead them in the direction of enlightenment. They should be encouraged to perform useful activities in cooperation with our government.”
⁴¹

Kido, however, again spoke out against the proposed Taiwan expedition. He noted with surprise that even though only a few days had passed since the Saga rebellion was quelled, people were already calling for the invasion of Taiwan. He asked, “Who does not feel delight at the thought of expanding national power abroad and opening our territory into foreign realms? However, it is the duty of the government to discriminate between inner and outer, central and peripheral. There is an order of priorities, slow or fast, early or late. At present thirty millions of our people still do not receive the protection of the government. Ignorant and poverty-stricken people still cannot be said to possess rights. One must admit that our country is not behaving as a country should.” Kido argued that in some respects the present regime was inferior to the feudal system. The people’s lack of confidence in the new government was not without cause. Since the Restoration, not a year had passed without a revolt. His own recommendations had been ignored, and military officers had already left for a campaign abroad. He could no longer remain in a cabinet whose views were so remote from his own; he would only be deceiving himself and the world. Even if he were not ill, he would be unable to remain in his post, but in view of his illness, how could he remain and still keep his integrity?
⁴²

Despite Kido’s objections, plans for the attack on Taiwan proceeded. Saig
ō
Tsugumichi and
Ō
kuma were now in Nagasaki preparing to depart for Taiwan. The protests of the British and American governments, which recognized Taiwan as a Chinese possession, were so strong, however, that the ministers and councillors decided to consult the Chinese government before taking further action.
Ō
kuma was ordered back to T
ō
ky
ō
, and Saig
ō
Tsuguichi was told to remain in Nagasaki and await further orders. Saig
ō
protested strongly against any delay. He argued that the troops were ready for the departure and that any delay would impair their morale. The harm would be far worse than the Saga rebellion. He had decided that if he were commanded to halt action, he would return the commission given him by the emperor, become a renegade, attack the savages’ haunts, and in this way keep the matter from involving the country.
Ō
kuma tried to dissuade him, but in vain. That night, Saig
ō
Tsugumichi gave orders to the ships to leave the harbor and loaded firewood and water.
Ō
kuma sent a telegram to the Sh
ō
in reporting that fighting spirit was so high he could not control it.
⁴³