Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (182 page)

44
.
Ō
hashi,
Got
ō
, pp. 237–38.

Chapter 36

1
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 600. The word
gunjin
naturally also included the navy as well as the army.

2
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 601–2.

3
. Ibid., 5, p. 608.

4
. Ibid., 5, pp. 617–18.

5
. A tiny figurine of the bodhisattva Monju (Manjushiri), said to have been Meiji’s personal talisman (
nenjibutsu
), is preserved at Senny
ū
-ji, the Shingon temple in Ky
ō
to closely associated with the imperial family. (For a photograph, see
K
ō
zoku no mitera
, p. 36.) The connection with Shingon Buddhism may have disposed him favorably toward rebuilding a pagoda on Mount K
ō
ya. He gave only 50 yen toward rebuilding the Saiky
ō
-ji, an important Tendai temple (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 651). Meiji was not the only member of the imperial family to make donations to temples: the empress dowager and the empress gave 500 yen toward rebuilding a building at the T
ō
fuku-ji, a Rinzai Zen temple in Ky
ō
to (p. 690).

6
. In
Royal Bounty
, Frank Prochaska describes the gift giving of British royalty (mainly in the nineteenth century) to schools, hospitals, orphanages, and miscellaneous charities. On occasion, Meiji gave money to schools and hospitals. On August 5, 1881, at the time of an epidemic, he donated the very large sum of 70,000 yen from his private purse to T
ō
ky
ō
Prefecture for hygiene and disease prevention (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 4, pp. 736–37). On July 27, 1882, during a cholera epidemic, he gave another 1,000 yen for epidemic relief (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 747). He even more frequently bestowed largesse on religious or scientific organizations. On February 3, 1882, for example, the emperor agreed to give the K
ō
ten k
ō
ky
ū
-sho—a newly formed school for the study of the Japanese classics, Shinto, rites and music, martial arts, etc.—an annual grant of 2,400 yen for ten years (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 624–25).

7
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 633.

8
. The emperor’s personal property was a matter often considered. In theory, the entire land of Japan was the emperor’s land, but there were no documents to prove this. With the end of the prohibition on selling land in 1872, even commoners came to hold title over land. In 1876 Kido Takayoshi had realized the importance of the imperial household’s having a suitable amount of wealth. If the princes and members of the imperial family could not afford to live in a style proper to their station, how could they preserve their dignity? Kido declared that in no other country of the world did the royal family possess so little wealth (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 644).

9
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 640–41.

10
. Reference is being made to the restrictions on foreigners traveling in the interior of the country. They might be issued passports on application for “health, botanical research, or scientific investigation.” Isabella L. Bird, who traveled in 1878 from T
ō
ky
ō
to Hokkaid
ō
with a passport obtained by the intercession of Sir Harry Parkes, recited the conditions for travel stipulated in English on the cover of the passport: its bearer must not light fires in woods; attend fires on horseback; trespass on fields, enclosures, or game preserves; scribble on temples, shrines, or walls; drive fast on a narrow road; or disregard notices of “No thoroughfare.” He must “conduct himself in an orderly and conciliating manner towards the Japanese authorities and people”; he “must produce his passport to any officials who may demand it,” under pain of arrest, and, while in the interior, “is forbidden to shoot, trade, to conclude mercantile contracts with Japanese, or to rent houses or rooms for a longer period than his journey requires” (
Unbeaten Tracks in Japan
, pp. 33–34).

11
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 657.

12
. Ibid., 5, p. 658.

13
. Ibid., 5, pp. 683–84.

14
. Ibid., 5, pp. 712–13.

15
. Ibid., 5, p. 743. See also Hugh Cortazzi, “Sir Harry Parkes,” p. 15.

16
. Cortazzi, “Sir Harry Parkes,” p. 15. His source, quoted here, is F. V. Dickins and

S. Lane-Poole,
The Life of Sir Harry Parkes
, 2, pp. 319–22.

17
. Min is invariably used as if it were her personal name, but it was the name of her family, rather as if Marie Antoinette were known as Queen Hapsburg.

18
. Woonsang Choi,
The Fall of the Hermit Kingdom
, p. 17;
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 746; Katano Tsugio,
Rich
ō
metsub
ō
, p. 56.

19
. Katano,
Rich
ō
, p. 57.

20
. Tsunoda Fusako,
Minbi ansatsu
, p. 115. Although this work is in the form of a novel, it obviously is the product of serious research.

21
. For a somewhat different description of these events, see Hilary Conroy,
The Japanese Seizure of Korea
, p. 102.

22
. Tsunoda,
Minbi
, p. 121. See also Choi,
Fall of the Hermit Kingdom
, p. 18, and Kibaik Lee,
A New History of Korea
, trans. Edward W. Wagner, p. 273.

23
. He is known by this title, which was reserved for a monarch’s father who had not occupied the throne. His personal name was Yi Ha-ung.

24
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 750.

25
. Ibid., 5, p. 752.

26
. Chemulpo was the old name for Inch’on, the port of Seoul.

27
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 759–62, 766–67.

28
. Ibid., 5, p. 771. The immediate cause of Hanabusa’s leaving Seoul is given variously. According to Choi, it was because, when Hanabusa demanded redress for damage suffered by the Japanese, the
taewon’gun
had “retorted that if the Japanese insisted on an indemnity the Korean government would feel obliged to levy a tax on all Japanese merchants doing business in Korea” (
Fall of the Hermit Kingdom
, p. 18). Katano states that when the allotted three days had passed, Hanabusa was informed that an answer would not be forthcoming because of the funeral of Queen Min (
Rich
ō
, p. 68). In a rage that this internal matter had taken precedence over his mission, he screamed that he had abandoned hope for peacefully solving the crisis. According to Choi Suk-wan, the Korean court was shocked by Hanabusa’s demands, especially the limit of three days in which to reply (
Nisshin sens
ō
e no d
ō
tei
, p. 33). Hong Sun-mok, who had been delegated by the king to respond to Hanabusa, had tried to secure a delay because of pressing state business, but Hanabusa, interpreting this as a sign of unwillingness to negotiate seriously, left for Inch’on after sending the king a final message on August 22.

29
. Katano,
Rich
ō
, pp. 61–63.

30
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 800.

31
. Ibid., 5, p. 818, 838.

32
. Ibid., 5, p. 840; Lee,
New History
, p. 276.

33
. This was the view of Iwakura Tomomi (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 841).

Chapter 37

1
. The
gagaku
musicians were better treated by the government, no doubt because their music was directly related to court ceremonies. They were guaranteed lifetime employment at salaries sufficient to pay for their living expenses (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 6, p. 299).

2
. Kotoko was the third daughter of the nobleman Chigusa Arit
ō
.

3
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 6, pp. 105–6.

4
. Asada S
ō
haku (1815–1894), a doctor of Chinese medicine (
kamp
ō
yaku
), had served as palace physician (
ō
oku no jii
) at the end of the Tokugawa period.

5
. Hashimoto Tsutatsune (1845–1909) had studied Western medicine with Matsumoto Ry
ō
jun and later with the Dutch physician A. Bauduin in Nagasaki. In 1870 he became the medical officer of the Army Ministry (
hy
ō
bush
ō
), which sent him to Germany for study. In 1885 he became surgeon general of the Japanese army.

6
. They were It
ō
H
ō
sei (1832–1898) and Iwasa Jun (1836–1912), both trained in Dutch medicine. It
ō
H
ō
sei studied Dutch medicine at first with the celebrated It
ō
Gem-boku and later with Pompe van Meerdevoort in Nagasaki. He also studied at the University of Utrecht, returning to Japan shortly after the Restoration (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 6, p. 68). Iwasa studied with both Pompe and Bauduin in Japan and in 1884 traveled to Europe to study.

7
. In December 1884 Prince Yoshihito suffered from what may have been influenza. The emperor was extremely worried, and when he heard that Nakayama Tadayasu (the boy’s great-grandfather) and Nakayama Yoshiko (his grandmother) were both praying to the gods and buddhas for his recovery, he sent word urging them to continue their prayers. It took Yoshihito about a month to recover completely (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 6, p. 316).

8
. The emperor’s beriberi may have been caused by a vitamin deficiency, probably not yet recognized in Japan as a cause of the disease.

9
. For example, from April 16 to 20 the emperor observed the spring maneuvers of units of the Imperial Guards at Hann
ō
in Saitama Prefecture and vicinity (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 6, pp. 37–42).

10
. Rudolf von Gneist (1816–1895) was more liberal in his political ideas than It
ō
stated when recommending him. Gneist was indebted to British democracy in forming his philosophy of government.

11
. Stein (1815–1890) was a professor at the University of Vienna. He was conservative in his political views, opposing universal suffrage and party government. His influence was particularly strong on the framers of the Japanese constitution.

12
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 6, pp. 14–15.

13
. Ibid., 6, p. 121. He received the substantial salary of 2,000 yen.

14
. For example, the ancient rituals of the Kamo and Otokoyama festivals were revived after falling into desuetude at the time of the Restoration. Iwakura Tomomi was the moving spirit behind the revival; it was part of his plan to preserve Ky
ō
to (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 6, pp. 56, 111). The first revival of the festival in accordance with the old rites took place on May 15, 1884 (p. 206).

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
). It
ō
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,
Ō
kubo 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 (
kunk
ō
) (
Meiji tenn
ō
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
junk
ō
. 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 Ky
ō
to. 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-ky
ō
, 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 tenn
ō
ki
, 6, pp. 46–48) The acts of preservation Iwakura proposed in January were for the most part carried out when he went to Ky
ō
to in May.