"x
3 1822 00209 3151
V
3 1822 00209 3151
THF UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UN.VERSITY oTcALlFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
LA JOLLA. CALIFORNIA
V
H.I.M. THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.
(Born Nov. 3, 1852 ; acceded Feb. 13, 1867 ; crowned Oct. 13, 1868.
ADVANCE JAPAN:
A NATION THOROUGHLY IN EARNEST.
BY
J. MORRIS,
FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, TOKIO ;
AUTHOR OF "WAR IN KOREA," "A SAMURAl's DAUGHTER,'' ETC., ETC.
Illustrations by R. Jsayama, Military Artist of the Buzen Clan,
Southern Japan, and from photographs.
,
SECOND EDITION. REVISED AND CORRECTED.
^HITISH INSTITUTE -w-ABtftT EDUCATION
NATIONAL APPEAL FOR BOOKS.
PROPERTY OF THE UNEMPLOYED GNTIr.
LONDON :
W. H. ALLEN & CO., LIMITED,
13, WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, S.W.
PUBLISHERS TO THK INDIA OFFlCli.
1896.
(All tights resented.)
MALCOMSON AND CO., LIMITED,
PRINTERS,
LONDON AND REDHILL.
To His IMPERIAL MAJESTY,
THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN,
UNDER WHOSE
ENLIGHTENED AND BENEVOLENT RULE THE EMPIRE HAS ADVANCED
TO A POSITION IN THE FRONT RANK AMONG THE
POWERS OF THE WORLD,
AND HAS
ENGRAFTED THE ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE WEST
UPON THAT
OLDER CIVILISATION OF THE ORIENT
WHICH FOR MANY CENTURIES
HAD DISTINGUISHED THE TERRITORY OF
DAI NI-HON,
tSbio oofume is most respectfuffj? i
BY HIS MAJESTY'S FORMER SERVANT IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORK S >
THE AUTHOR.
\
FIRST LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS.
His EXCELLENCY T. KATO, Japanese Ambassador to Great Britain.
SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I.
G. HAYASHI, Esq., Japanese Consul-General in London.
WM. ANDERSON, Esq., M.R.C.S., Chairman of the Japan Society.
Y. NAKAI, Esq., Manager of the Yokohama Specie Bank.
A. DIOSY, Esq., Vice-Chairman of the Japan Society.
R. TAYUI, Esq., Chancellor of the Japanese Consulate-General.
DESIGN ON COVER.
The Japanese National flags support the ribbon and
medal awarded by the Emperor for valottr, which takes
the place in Japan of our Victoria Cross. There are
many recipients of it in connection with the late Chinese
War.
The five-pointed Star and Cherry-blossom are respec-
tively the badges of the Japanese Army and Navy.
The Chrysanthemum is the Official Crest of Japan,
and the adjoining leaf and flower of the Kiri tree form
the private badge of the Japanese Emperor.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
A LTHOUGH only a few months have elapsed
./A. since the first edition was sent to press, the
prediction in the last chapter that Japan would make
still more rapid progress after the conclusion of peace
with China has already, in part, been verified. The
export of manufactured silk from Japanese ports in
the first half of the present year, for example, was
equal to that of any preceding twelve months. In
this expansion of trade we have proof of the extra-
ordinary elasticity of the country's resources, for few
nations have withstood the strain of a great war with
less dislocation of commerce.
The pacification of Formosa was an undertaking
which demanded no trifling expenditure in men and
material, owing to the almost impregnable positions
held by the rebels in the interior fastnesses ; but
the campaign approaches its termination. Mining
and agriculture will henceforth receive adequate at-
tention, and the education of the savages in civilised
usages will follow closely on their subjugation.
x PREFACE.
In order that the Governor-General of the island
may be always in touch with the Central Authority
at the capital, a submarine telegraph line is to be
laid immediately, which will join Formosa to the
other divisions of the Empire. A specially-fitted
steamer is being constructed at Renfrew to the
order of the Japanese Government, for the purpose
of submerging this cable, and executing other such
works on the coasts as occasion may arise. The
natural advantages of Formosa prove to surpass its
captors' expectations, for in addition to immense
forests of camphor-trees, the mineral wealth of the
island is very great, and coal, more especially, is
abundant.
In the settlement of Japan's new possession em-
ployment may even be found for the inconvenient
energies of the SosJii class, and in this way a most
harassing problem may be satisfactorily solved.
J. M.
London, November, 1895,
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
THE contest just concluded between Japan and
China had the effect of directing public atten-
tion to the serious side of the Japanese character. A
people capable of waging warfare so systematically and
successfully cannot fail to occupy a most prominent
position in the twentieth century, now so near its dawn.
But though they have shown themselves to be well
equipped for the fray, the tendency is distinctly towards
the re-establishment of peaceful intercourse with China,
on that footing of perfect equality which was unattain-
able so long as the people of the Middle Kingdom held
in derision the efforts of the Japanese nation to excel in
the arts of the Occident.
Now that the supremacy of Japan in the matter of
armaments has been acknowledged by her ancient rival,
the way has been paved for a reconciliation which shall
have wtdespreading effects not only upon the future of
the two nations more immediately concerned, but upon
the policy of the Great Powers of the West. Japan has
xii PREFACE.
taken up a position from which she cannot recede, and,
without being aggressive, she will strive not only to
maintain that position but to continually improve it.
The ambition she cherishes will not attain its fruition
until she has constituted herself as powerful a force on
the eastern flank of Asia as is the United Kingdom on
the north-west edge of Europe. In no way has she
sought more diligently to strengthen herself than in the
formation of a potent fleet, and the adequate training
of her sailors. She has added to her resources by the
capture of her enemy's vessels, as did the British in
days of old, and she has devoted large sums, in the
current estimates, to the supply of gigantic line-of-
battle ships which will be in no way inferior to those
of highly-organised European navies.
The acquisition of Formosa gives Japan a vastly
improved strategical position in Far Eastern Waters,
and though she has chosen to relinquish her claim to
Liao-Tung, she has benefited in no inconsiderable de-
gree by her magnanimous renunciation of her right to
an increased indemnity. Such treatment of a fallen foe
will raise Japan immeasurably in the world's esteem,
and is in harmony with the repeated utterances of the
Japanese Emperor disclaiming any intention of inflict-
ing needless privations upon the Chines-j people at
1 irge, with whom his Majesty had no quarrel. Such
generosity will not be lost upon those at the head of
affairs in Peking, and the actual outcome of the mili-
tary struggle may not improbably be the revival of
PREFACE. xiii
those cordial relations between the two Powers of the
Orient which existed in past centuries. Though the
conditions are reversed, and the former pupil has be-
come the tutor, it will be none the less advantageous
to China in the end that the practical result of the war
has been to convince her Government of the utter folly
of longer rejecting the lessons of the age.
In the last chapter of this book I have sought to
indicate the direction in which a mutual understand-
ing between the recent combatants may bring about
important events bearing upon the future trade of
European countries. The way to China now lies
through Japan, for unquestionably Japan has made a
deeper and more lasting impression upon her neigh-
bour than had previously been made by any other
nation. The blow has been all the more severely felt
by .China in that the Power which inflicted it was one
which she had previously affected to hold in contempt.
The consciousness that the Japanese Emperor has
shown moderation in his hour of triumph will not
tend to lessen the humiliation of the vanquished, but
it may render a return to intimate friendship not only
possible, but comparatively speedy of accomplishment.
The form which its outward expression may take is a
matter in which the Western Powers are keenly inter-
ested, but it is likewise one in which they may not be
enlightened for some time to come. Negotiations will
proceed very leisurely, now that peace has been secured,
and the outer circle of nations may have to judge of
xiv PREFACE.
their tenour mainly by results. The future conceals
nothing more calculated to amaze the casual observer
than the effects which are certain to follow in the train
of re-established amity in the East. Everyone admits
that the opening-up of China to general intercourse
would be fraught with stupendous consequences, though
few care to pursue the subject so far as to ascertain in
what way the change may be effected.
In this necessarily imperfect work I have sought to
draw attention to some of those characteristics of the
Japanese and their undertakings which have tended to
make of them at this hour a nation to be honoured.
Their ancient history has been briefly sketched with a
view of showing that they always had in them the
materials of a great and powerful people. In many
respects it has been found impossible, within ordinary
limits, to enumerate even a tithe of the notable qualities
and features of their daily existence. Only the salient
points have been touched upon, and attention has been
invited rather to the practical side of the national dis-
position than to the exquisite productions of their fine
arts, or to the innate poetry of their nature. Those who
would pursue these branches of study have a wealth of
material at hand in the admirable works of Sir Edwin
Arnold, Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain, Mr. William
Anderson, Mr. Josiah Conder, and many other writers
eminently qualified to deal with such subjects effectively.
Upon ethnological points the massive product of Dr.
Rein's investigations will be found to satisfy, in volume
PREFACE. xv
form, every demand which the student may make upon
it. Personally I have revived my recollections of places
and incidents, with which I was well acquainted years
ago, by the perusal of the publications of the late Mr.
J. R. Black, to whom I have alluded in connection with
the establishment of newspapers in Japan. I must also
express my indebtedness to the columns of the Yoko-
hama Press for some of the earlier history of the settle-
ment, and to other contemporary works which have
enabled me to recall to memory associations with which
I was familiar in a long residence in the Japanese Em-
pire. My stay in the interior in connection with public
works gave me uncommon facilities for acquiring a
knowledge of the habits and ideas of the rustic popula-
tion, and I was fully prepared to find the raw material
of the Army, as gathered by conscription, capable of
being worked up into the splendid force which Japan
has recently placed in the field, and for the exhibition of
that dauntless heroism which has marked its achieve-
ments in Korea and Manchuria. The men went into
battle singing the praises of their monarch in a verse
which is venerable for its antiquity as a musical as well
as a literary composition :
Kimi go. Yo wa
Chi yo /', Ya chi yo HI,
Sazare ishi no
Iiva wa to narite,
Koke no musuinude.
Sir Edwin Arnold has very kindly given me his version
of this :
xvi PREFACE.
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF JAPAN.
May our Lord's dominion last
Till a thousand years have passed,
Twice four thousand times o'ertold !
Firm as changeless rock, earth-rooted,
Moss of ages uncomputed
Grow upon it, green and old !
Edivin Arnold.
I trust that in my endeavour to attract attention to
those solid qualities of perseverance and determination
to excel which mark the Japanese people, I shall have
afforded some inkling of the sturdy mechanical bent
which has contributed in no small degree to raise them
to the position they now occupy. The practical phases
of their character are so interwoven with the romantic
and poetical that there has been no little danger of the
distinction being altogether lost to Europeans, who have
to judge only by what they see of the nation's products.
Within the past few months the Japanese have appeared
to many in entirely a new light. To me they have ever
been an intensely painstaking, hard working, frugal, and
thoughtful people, imbued with a resolve to succeed in
whatever they undertake, and with the innate conviction
that nothing is beyond their powers of attainment. My
effort to portray them in this character will go far, I
hope, to secure for me, with the general reader, that
measure of cordial forbearance in regard to the short-
comings of my book of which I stand so palpably in
need. J. M.
London, May, 1895.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. ADMINISTRATION.
FACE
The Emperor and Empress Insignia Cabinet Ministers The Present Parliament
Pay of Members The Administration in Korea The Leader of the Opposition
Provincial Assemblies i
CHAPTER II. THE JAPANESE ISLANDS.
Geographical Position The Mainland Territorial Divisions Tokaido The Peer-
less Mountain Hakone' Lake The Ex-Shogun's Retreat Biwa Lake Turbulent
Rivers Area and Population Mountains Harbours Climate 13
CHAPTER III. NATURAL HISTORY.
Quadrupeds Birds Fishes Trees Fruits Flowers Vines Cereals Land
under Cultivation Vegetables The Tea Shrub 49
CHAPTER IV. DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS.
Table Etiquette The Ordinary Bill of Fare Tea-drinking Dress The Household
Washing Day Girlhood in Japan Study and Play Music Arrangement of
Flowers 71
CHAPTER V. EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION.
The Shugun Period Jinmu Tennd Buddhism Introduced Early Writings Heroes
of Old Advent of Christianity Causes which led to the Restoration Kublai
Khan's Invasion Emigration Prohibited Japanese Wars of the Roses Yoritomo
True Relation of Shugun to Mikado Tokugawa Regime Dainiio's Revenues ... 91
CHAPTER VI. THE RESTORATION.
Foreign Treaties Early Efforts to Trade Prominent Leaders Railways and other
Public Works Undertaken Compulsory Education Vaccination Cotton Mills ... 122
CHAPTER VII. EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI.
Remonstrances from Satsuma Education The Saga Insurrection Formosa Expedi-
tion China Alarmed Coast Survey Administration of Justice Relief of the Poor
Exhibition l6i
xviii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. PRINCIPAL CITIES or JAPAN.
PAGE
Tokio Its Railway Depots The Castle Main Thoroughfares Ueno Park Asa-
kusa Government Offices Kioto Nara Nagoya Kochi Onomichi Kuma-
moto 188
CHAPTER IX. TREATY PORTS.
Yokohama Kobe-Hiogo Osaka Nagasaki 219
CHAPTER X. COMMUNICATIONS.
Roads The Jin-riki-sha Excursion Guilds Cheap Hotels Highways Railways-
Telegraphs 247
CHAPTER XI. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
Systems of Caligraphy The Press in Japan First Newspaper Illustrated Periodi-
cals Chinese and Japanese Lexicons Examples of Printing and Engraving ... 288
CHAPTER XII. -MINES AND MINERALS.
Gold, Silver, Copper Coal in Abundance Iron, Lead, Tin, and Quicksilver Modern
Methods Employed Electrical Haulage Wharves at Misumi Coal Production of
Higo and other Provinces Branch Railways to Mines 309
CHAPTER XHI.-ARMAMENTS.
The Organisation of the Forces List of the Fleet, and its Capabilities The Murata
Rifle Personnel of the Army, and of the Navy Colleges Hospitals The Red
Cross Brigade Field Ambulances Warships built in Japan 325
CHAPTER XIV.-WAR WITH CHINA.
The Campaign against Satsuma in 1876 The War with China 1894-5 Yalu Naval
Fight Assault and Capture of Ping- Yang and Chiu-lien-chfing Port Arthur Wei-
hai-Wei The Lessons of the War 33
CHAPTER XV. COLONISATION AND TRADE.
The Progress made in Yeso Prospects in Formosa Opening of New Ports to Com-
merce Facilities for Employment of Foreign Capital Banking and Bank-notes ... 376
CHAPTER XVI.-THE FUTURE OF JAPAN.
Predictions of 1868 not Verified A Policy of Selection Japan will open China
Will urge on Railway Enterprise there The Empires have Something in Common
Railway Profits to Pay War Indemnity Drill-Sergeants for China Japan can
Supply Arms Her Large Market there Will use her Power Wisely Will Introduce
Modern Mechanical Arts Holds the Key to China In Earnest 397
APPENDIX.
The TSkaido Route The Ko-shiu Kai-do Route The Nakasendo Route (Central
Mountain Road) The Sanyodo Route The San-in-do Route The Tosando
( Oshiu- Kai-do) Nan-Kai-do (Island of Shikoku) S;ii-Kai-do (Island of Kiu-
shin) Hokkaido (Island of Yeso) Population Trade at Ports: 1894 Meteoro-
logical Observations Cotton-Spinning Mines Posts and Telegraphs Tele-
phones Electric Lighting Railways in Japan Average Cost of Food, etc., in
Japan 4 j 3
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. H. I. M. The Emperor of Japan ... ... Frontispiece.
2. A Red Cross Hospital 3
3. Count Mutsu Mune'mitsu ... ... ... 6
4. General Marquis Saigo Tsugumichi ... 7
5. H.I.H. Prince Komatsu 8
6. Provinces and Products (Map) ... ... 15
7. Railway Train Southward Bound from Tokio ... ... 19
8. Fujiyama from Hara, on the Tokaido ... ... ... 29
9. Nagoya Castle ... ... ... ... 36
10. A Japanese Tea-house ... 39
11. A Dragon Fly ... ... 48
12. Carpenter's Tools .. ... ... ... ... ... 59
13. The Art of Floral Arrangement 63
14. Harp, Violin, and Guitar 72
15. An Industrious Sempstress ... 75
16. Hand-ball 81
17. Washing Day ... 85
18. Tobacco-pouch and Pipe-case ... ... 89
19. A Dragon Fly 90
20. Precincts of Asakusa Temple ... 97
21. The Classic Dance ... 101
xx ILLUSTRATIONS.
PICK
22. lyeyasu's Castle and Moat at Tokio 108
23. Interior of Buddhist Temple 115
24. The Foreign Office, Tokio ... ... ... ... 131
25. The Nobles' College, Tokio 137
26. Imperial College of Engineering ... 143
27. Medals Awarded at Tokio Exhibition 147
28. Before the Police Superintendent... ... ... ... 151
29. The Cruiser Chiyoda ... ... ... 163
30. Surgeon-General Baron Ishiguro 164
31. Marshal Count Nodzu Michitsura 171
32. Admiral Viscount Ito 172
33. Admiral Kawamura 183
34. Field-Marshal Marquis Yamagata 185
35. H. I. H. Prince Arisugawa 186
36. Shinbashi Railway Station 189
37. Where Rest the Dead 197
38. Poetry amid the Cherry-blossoms ... ... ... 205
39. Homeward from the Picnic ... ... 209
40. Ministry of Communications ... ... 213
41. The Specie Bank, Yokohama ... ... ... ... 221
42. Fujiyama, from Mishima ... 225
43. Kobe* Municipal Hall ... ... ... 229
44. A Bridge at Kameido 233
45. A Japanese-built Torpedo-boat 237
46. Ama-no-Hashidate', near Miyadzu ... ... ... 241
47. The Jin-riki-sha 248
48. Shrine at Nikko 255
49. Pleasure-boat on the Sumida River 265
50. Railways in Japan (Map) 267
ILL USTRA TIONS. xxi
PAGE
51. Telegraphs in Japan (Map) 275
52. Telegraphs at Hamana Inlet 281
53. Japanese Printing 289
54. The Japanese Syllabary 295
55. Early Efforts ... 297
56. Perusing the Morning Newspaper ... 300
57. Example of Japanese Cover to Historical Book ... 305
58. Mining Railway Crossing the Main Line 311
59. Lighthouses and Harbours 317
60. Kumamoto Castle 321
61. Army Department Headquarters ... ... 327
62. Bringing in the Dead 331
63. Cruiser Takachiho ... ... ... 333
64. Captain of Matsushima 334
65. General Viscount Kawakami 337
66. Yalu Battle, Stages i, 2 and 3 345
67. The Gunboat Akagi 348
68. Yalu Battle, Stages 4 and 5 ... ... ... ... 349
69. Port Arthur 359
70. Field-Marshal Marquis Oyama ... ... 361
71. Admiral Baron Tsuboi 365
72. General Baron Kodama 367
73. Wei-hai-Wei Harbour ... 369
74. Map of Formosa ... 383
75. Japanese Ten- Yen Bank Note (Face) 393
76. Japanese Ten-Yen Bank Note (Reverse) 394
77. Japanese One- Yen Note (Face) 395
78. Japanese One- Yen Note (Reverse) 396
79. The Cruiser Yoshino 398
xxii ILL US TRA 7 IONS.
80. Chinese Prisoners Guarded by Japanese Infantry
81. Watching the Attack near Port Arthur
82. The Cruiser Suma (Built in Japan)
83. The Cruiser Hashidatt (Built in Japan)
84. In Honour of the Slain
PACE
403
409
411
412
415
M
R. R. ISAYAMA, who is responsible for so many
of the characteristic Drawings in
"ADVANCE JAPAN,"
has modestly omitted to indicate his work in the usual
way. For the information, therefore, of those who wish
particularly to know which Illustrations are the work of a
Japanese artist, the following List of Mr. Isayama's Draw-
ings is added :
Design on
Cover.
No. 38,
Page 205.
No. 2,
Page 3-
-, 39,
,, 209.
8,
,, 29.
.. 42,
,, 225.
,, ii,
48.
H 46,
., 241.
,. 13,
., 63.
. 55,
.. 297.
,. 16,
81.
,. 62,
.. 331-
i. 19,
,, 90.
81,
,, 409.
., 21,
,, 101.
.. 84,
., 415.
,. 28,
.. 151-
And the Initial Letters throughout.
The maps and plans are the work of the Author.
The PHOTOGRAPHS used are kindly lent by the JAPANESE LEGATION,
and have for the most part l>een taken this year.
ADVANCE JAPAN.
CHAPTER I.
ADMINISTRATION.
HE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS.
-The Emperor Mutsuhito was
born on the 3rd November, 1852,
and succeeded his father, Komei
Tenno, on the I3th February, 1867.
His coronation took place on
October I3th, 1868.
In 1869 he married Haruko,
daughter of a noble holding high
rank at the Court of Kioto. She is ordinarily known
as the Kdgo-saina, and her title, taken in conjunction
with her own name, may be translated Empress of
Spring.
The Emperor is rather tall for his race, standing five
feet eight inches, of rather dark complexion, but possess-
ing fine open features and high forehead, his bearing
B
2 ADVANCE JAPAN.
being dignified, and his walk alert and active. The
general expression of his countenance is benign, though
shaded at times by a certain solemnity. His consort
is likewise comparatively tall, being about five feet four
inches, and possessing the slim figure and oval features
of the Japanese aristocracy. She is consulted by the
Emperor very generally in State affairs, to the con-
sideration of which she brings a cultivated intellect and
a vast amount of shrewd common-sense. She takes in-
tense personal interest in the welfare of the women of
her nation, and is largely occupied in works of charity
and benevolence. During the war with China she has
actively supervised the proceedings of the Nursing
Organisation, of which she is the president, and has
personally prepared lint and bandages to be sent to the
field hospitals.
In the earlier years of his monarchy the Emperor
had constant trials, due to the insurrections fomented
by rival factions, through which his most trusted Mini-
sters were lost to him ; one fell by the sword of the
assassin, one died a natural death, and in two cases
insubordination was followed in the end by actual rebel-
lion. He was still very young when called from the
seclusion of the Kioto Palace to take an active share in
the conduct of public affairs, with a realm torn asunder
by the violence of contending parties and conflicting
interests. But his earnestness of purpose and steadfast
solicitude for the ultimate good of his subjects has
carried him through all difficulties. By the wisdom
tgm
*
ADMINISTRA T1ON. 5
and practical sagacity which he has displayed at crises
in the life of the nation, he has won respect, not only
from his own people, but in countries far afield. If he
has been loyally supported in his efforts by the counsel
of able Ministers, it is due to h'is personal selection,
and not to the mere accident of political supremacy
that he is surrounded by men of the greatest ability
and discretion, men who would have been regarded
under any circumstances as possessing the highest
qualities of statesmanship and the loftiest patriotism.
His children died young, and for a time the Throne
was without a direct heir.
The. actual significance of the term Mikado is Great
Place. Other designations of the Emperor are Tenno =
King of Heaven ; Tens/ii= Son of Heaven ; K6tei=
Sublime Ruler; G0-s/w= Imperial Place; Kinrisama =
Lord of the Palace. Honours conferred by the Tenshi
are the highest distinctions which can fall to the lot
of any subject. The symbols of Imperial power are
the mirror, as an image of the sun-goddess ; the ball of
rock crystal, the sword, and the brocaded banner. The
Imperial coat of arms is the chrysanthemum flower;
at the same time the emblem of the sun. It has 16
rounded petals. The family badge of the Emperors
represents three leaves and clusters of flowers of the
Kiri (Pau/ou'ni Imperialist.
Both emblems are shown in the design which appears
on the cover of this book.
By the Constitution, which was promulgated in 1889,
ADVANCE fAPAN.
the Emperor is the supreme head of the realm, and
combines injhimself all the rights of sovereignty. He
exercises entire executive power, with the advice and as-
sistance of his Cabinet Ministers, who are responsible to
him alone, and are appointed by himself. In addition,
he consults the Privy
Council, whose members
are directed by him, to
deliberate on important
affairs of State. His
Majesty has absolute
authority to declare war,
make peace, or conclude
treaties with foreign
Powers.
Cabinet Jliitiateri*.
The Imperial Cabinet
now numbers nine mem-
bers ; they are :
COUNT MUTSU
(Minister for Foreign Affairs).
President of the Cabi-
net and Prime Minister, Marquis Ito Hirobumi.
Minister of Justice, M. Yoshikawa Akimasa.
Minister for Home Affairs, Count Inouye Kaoru.
Minister of Communications, Count Kuroda Kiyotaka.
Minister for War, Marquis Oyama Iwao.
Minister for Agriculture and Commerce, Admiral
Yenomoto Buyo.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Mutsu Munemitsu.
Minister for Education, M. Inouye K6.
ADMINISTRA TIO.\.
Minister for the Navy, Marquis Saigo Tsugumichi.
Minister of Finance, Viscount Watanabe Kunitake*.
The Parliament. The Imperial Diet (Tei-Koku
Gi-Kwai), as now constituted, includes the House of
Peers and the House of
Representatives, and would
correspond to our Lords and
Commons but that the Jap-
anese Legislative Assemblies
number only 300 members
in each instance. The Jap-
anese House of Peers(Kizoku
In) has five classes of mem-
bers. In the first rank are the
males of the Imperial Family
who are over 20 years of age ;
the second rank includes
those of princely houses not
directly connected with the Throne, and all nobles of
the grade of Marquis, the age qualification being 25
years and upwards. Counts, Viscounts, and Barons
rank next, also over 25 years old, who have been elected
to the Diet by their respective orders, the stipulation
being that the number shall not exceed in any case
more than a fifth of the total of each order, which
practically limits the representation to 16 Counts, 71
Viscounts, and 6 Barons ; the fourth rank includes
persons over 30 years of age whom the Emperor has
raised to the House of Peers in recognition of their
MARQUIS SAIGO TSUGUMICHI
(Minister of the Na\7).
ADVANCE JAPAN.
erudition, or of some distinguished service rendered by
them to the State. So far the grades of membership
are identical with our own, save that the ecclesiastical
body is wholly unrepresented in Japan. But there is a
fifth class of persons in-
cluded in the Tokio House
of Peers, for which we have
no precise equivalent. In
each prefecture of the Em-
pire those persons over 30
years of age, to the number
of 15, who pay most in the
way of direct national taxes
on land or industries are
nominated by the Emperor
to elect one of their number
to sit in the House of Peers.
Thus there are about 50 of
the members in the Upper House who are directly the
representatives of the chief landed and industrial in-
terests of the nation, elected by the suffrages of the
plutocracy. These, as well as the Counts, Viscounts,
and Barons of class three, are elected to the Diet for a
term of seven years. Membership of the first, second,
and fourth ranks is for life.
A stipulation is made that the fourth and fifth classes
shall together never exceed 1 50 members, or half of the
total roll-call.
Pay of .flemlwrw. The House of Representatives
H.I.H. PRINCE KOMATSU
(Cousin to the Emperor).
ADMINISTRATION. 9
(Shugi In) is occupied by 300 members chosen by ballot
from the electoral divisions of the realm, a fixed number
being returned to serve from each district. The pro-
portion is as nearly as possible one member for 1 37,000
inhabitants, and the term is four years. Candidates
must be at least 30 years of age, and must pay not less
than 15 yen for one year in the shape of direct national
taxes, or if income tax, must have paid it for three
years. They need not actually be resident in the dis-
tricts they represent. Salaries are paid at the rate of
800 yen annually, and also travelling allowances, the
members not being at liberty to refuse these emolu-
ments even were they disposed to do so. In English
money, at present rates of exchange, the salary is about
equal to 80 per annum, the session lasting three or
four months.
The elected and nominated members of the House of
Peers receive similar stipends, and the pay of the Presi-
dents of the two Houses is fixed at 4,000 yen each, that
of the Vice-Presidents being 2,000 yen each.
Granting that the sums involved are but trifling ac-
cording to our calculation, it must be remembered that
frugality in Japan is so universal that an income of even
100 a year is sufficient to maintain a small family in
comparative comfort and respectability. Japan has, at
all events, solved the vexed question of payment of
Members of Parliament, in a way which seems to be
thoroughly satisfactory.
The electors themselves must qualify by an annual
io ADVANCE JAPAN.
payment of 15 yen in direct national taxes, must be at
least 25 years of age, must actually reside permanently
in the district to be represented, and have dwelt there
during the twelve months preceding an election.
The Imperial Diet controls the finances of the Em-
pire, and the administration of justice. Voting is carried
on by secret ballot, on the system of scrntin de liste.
Every enactment must have the consent of both Houses
of the Diet, and be ratified by the Emperor, before it
passes into law. Either House may initiate projects of
legislation, and may make representations thereon, or
upon any other subject, to the Cabinet, and may in
certain events address the Crown direct. The Em-
peror convokes the Diet, opens, closes, and prorogues
its sessions, and dissolves the Lower House at his
will.
Provincial Assemblies. In 1878 a decidedly pro-
gressive step was taken in regard to representative
institutions by the establishment of Provincial Assem-
blies throughout the realm. It is true they were merely
local boards, meeting for a month in each year, usually
in March, but they have the control of local taxation,
subject to the Governor of the Ken, and through him to
the Minister for the time being of the Home Depart-
ment. This privilege of Home Rule is exercised by
the selected representatives, who must be qualified by a
three years' residence, must pay a land tax of not less
than 2 annually, and must be over 25 years old. The
A DM IN IS TRA TION. 1 1
election is by ballot, and the electors must qualify by
the annual payment of ^i land tax, must be over 20
years old, and must be on the register. The opportunity
thus afforded by the local representative body to ex-
press its dissatisfaction with the acts of the Ken-rei, or
Governor, has been now and then taken advantage of,
and the assembly has declined to pass the required
regulations for the imposition of local taxes. These
district or county councils, as we should call them, have
proved in the long run, however, of great utility, and
have been the nurseries of the higher legislative bodies
more recently brought into operation.
The Administration in Korea. Count Inouye
Kaoru, recently in Korea, resided for some years in
London for the purpose of studying our political and
municipal institutions, public works, and finance. He
returned to Japan in the " early seventies " in time to
take office under the present Prime Minister as head of
the Public Works Department, and has filled other high
positions with great success. His mission to Se"oul,
on which he was despatched early in the current
year, had for its object the reorganisation of the public
service, and generally to advise the King of the Penin-
sular Kingdom upon matters relating to the establish-
ment of an improved system of government, a task
which he was eminently qualified to perform.
When the revolutionary troubles were rife in 1867 he
was cut down and left for dead by one of the Shogun's
12 ADVANCE JAPAN.
adherents. The cold of a winter night staunched the
bleeding from his wounds, and he survived, with more
than one scar, to tell the dreadful tale.
The Leader ol the Opposition. Count Okuma
Shigenobu, formerly the Finance Minister of the Crown,
is now in the cold shade of opposition, being the head
of the " Progressive " or Radical Party in Japan, and
as such receded from the Cabinet some years ago.
Whilst at the Treasury he introduced several important
measures, not the least practical of which was a resolu-
tion to confine the expenditure of the spending depart-
ments of the public service the army, navy, and pub-
lic works strictly within the limits of their estimates.
Additional outlays, when indispensable, may be sanc-
tioned by new credits, and, on the other hand, surpluses
are repaid to the Treasury. He pointed out that esti-
mates were necessary as a check on irregular expendi-
ture, and to induce habits of economy. If the officials
were not hedged about with restrictions, it would be
certain, in his opinion, to lead to extravagance, and the
estimates would become mere waste paper. Though,
with characteristic modesty, he admitted that his appre-
hensions might not be altogether warranted, the Cabinet
agreed with him so far as to issue a decree embodying
his suggestions.
1.3
CHAPTER II.
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS.
NOTWITHSTANDING the fact that
Japan was known to the intrepid
navigators of Queen Elizabeth's reign,
and at least one Englishman held
high office at the Court of Yedo
in the seventeenth century, the Mikado's Empire
was veiled in an obscurity of its own creation until
comparatively recent years, from which it has only
within the last decade finally emerged. The most in-
teresting parallels may be drawn between the relative
positions of the United Kingdom and Japan to the
Continents which they respectively adjoin, and the
resemblance between the geographical situation of the
British Isles on the fringe of Europe, and that ot
the Islands of Japan on the extreme eastern edge
of Asia, is so striking as to have attracted universal
attention. The comparison may be carried much
farther, for the population of Japan is now about
41 millions, approximating closely to that of Great
Britain and Ireland, whilst the extent of coast-line
and combined acreage of the lanrer islands do not
I 4 ADVANCE JAPAN.
differ in either case to such a degree as to present a
dissimilarity fatal to calculations which may be based
upon numerical and territorial considerations. In fact,
the four largest islands of Japan, viz. : Hondo, Yeso,
Kiushiu, and Shikoku, comprise 139,047 square miles,
against a total of 121,115 square miles in the British
Isles ; but Japan boasts the possession of an almost
countless archipelago, studding the innermost channels
which separate the larger divisions of the Empire, as
well as two straggling chains of islets, extending many
leagues north and south of the principal group, on
account of which the total area of the Japanese Empire
has to be increased by about 7,566 square miles. Whilst
the British Isles lie between the 49th and 6ist parallels
of north latitude, the islands of the Japanese Empire
stretch from the 24th to the 49th, and have, in conse-
quence, a far greater range of temperature and climatic
variation than prevails with us. It is due to the pre-
sence of the Kuro-Shiiuo a warm ocean current laving
the shores of Japan, just as the Gulf Stream exerts its
beneficent influence upon the British coasts that the
inhabitants of the Pacific slope in Kiushiu, Shikoku, and
Central Hondo are enabled to enjoy those excellent gifts
of nature to the existence of which the verdant hill-sides
and abundant vegetation afford delightful testimony, as
the voyager approaches the eastern coast. But for this
Pacific Gulf Stream the Japanese islands would ex-
perience some of the rigours which distinguish the
winters of Manchuria and Northern Korea, countries
-JAPAN-
PROVINCES
Zo Shinano
22 Echiu
Note
26 Mmo
28
JO Tolorn
32
WalcaS*
36
3S
40 SctUu
+2 Tango
Har.ma
PROVINCES AND PRODUCTS.
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 17
very similarly placed as regards their distance from the
equator. The northern half of Hondo, indeed, as well
as the entire island of Yeso, are visited by frost and
snow to an extent only paralleled in North China, so
that the Mikado's subjects who dwell in the northern
portion of his dominions are accustomed to cope with
disadvantages at least as grave as those with which the
people of the Chinese province of Liao-Tung are called
upon to contend.
The Mainland. Ho)tdo\s\.}\e. real name of the largest
island of the Japanese group. It usually figures on Euro-
pean maps as Niphon, or Nihon, and occasionally as
Nippon, although the term Ni-hon, lit. Sun-Origin, applies
to the whole Empire. Japan is a Dutch corruption of Ji-
pen, by which name the Mikado's dominions are known
to the Chinese. In the ideographic signs which form the
written and printed characters of both China and Japan,
to which a more extended reference will be made in
due course, the symbol for "Sun" is read by Japanese
as Ni, but by Chinese as /*, that for " Origin " being
pronounced Hon in Japan, and Pen in China. It is easy
to comprehend how the Hollanders, having first heard
of the Mikado's territory whilst visiting China, gave to
that territory the name by which it was then, and still
is, known to the Chinese. To the Mikado's subjects
who dwell at a distance from the ports open to foreign
trade, the term "Japan" is as unmeaning as it would
be to an Ethiopian, for they invariably allude to them-
selves as Ni/ion-jin, i.e., people of Nihon, and this ex-
C
1 8 ADVANCE JAPAN.
pression applies not merely to the inhabitants of one
island (Hondo), but to the entire group. Hondo is
literally " true region," the character Do being used
not only in its strict sense of " road," but as including
the region traversed by that road. The kingdom of
Korea is divided into Do in precisely the same way.
The Hondo of the Empire of Nihon is subdivided into
five Imperial coach-roads and several Imperial bye-
roads, just as Great Britain possessed its mail-coach
routes (some of which, as the " Great North Road,"
still retain the designations they bore of old) prior to
the general introduction of railways. In the Far East
the well-known " Tokaido " and other high-roads of its
class are destined, in the near future, to be entirely
supplanted, as lines of travel, by the modern railroad,
and the change has already in great measure been
effected along the Tokaido, to the dismay of its inn-
keepers and caterers in general, who have shared the
fate of the proprietors of famous coaching-houses on
the old turnpike-roads leading out of London. Promi-
nent among the coach-roads of Japan are the Tokaido,
or East Sea road ; the Tosando, or East Mountain road ;
Hoku-riku-do, or Northern Land route, as distinguished
from the Hok'kaido, or North Sea region ; the Sanyodo,
or Outer Mountain road ; and the Sanindo, or Inner
Mountain road. With the exception of Hok'kaido,
which is confined to the island of Yeso, these great
trunk roads all traverse the principal territory of
Hondo, whilst the Mikado's many island possessions
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 21
in the south are grouped under the head of Saikaido,
or Western Sea road in Kiushiu, or of the Nankaido,
or Southern Sea region in Shikoku. It may not be
altogether superfluous to introduce thus briefly some
of the elements of an itinerary, in consideration of
the circumstance that for a long period subsequent to
the opening of Japan to European trade the impres-
sion prevailed that there was but one high-road through
the country, and that the Tokaido. In the appendix
to this volume will be found complete mileage tables
of all the important Japanese trade routes, with the
cities, towns, and other essential features clearly indi-
cated, so that when the Treaty recently entered into
between Great Britain and Japan comes into active
operation in 1899, and the entire land is thrown open
to British commerce, the mercantile community may
have had ample opportunity to form an opinion re-
garding the value of these several channels by which
to reach the heart of the Mikado's Empire with the
best prospects of success.
Territorial Diviwion*. Adhering to the native
principle of regarding the roads as the main arteries
extending to the distant limbs of the Empire, as a
recognised nomenclature which bids fair to be per-
petuated in spite of other changes, the following table
is likely to be serviceable in enabling the reader to
recognise the main divisions of the Tcnshi's territory.
i. The Tokaidd, or Eastern Sea Route, embracing
fifteen provinces, viz., Ise, Iga, Shima, Owari, Sanshiu
22 ADVANCE JAPAN.
(Mikawa), Enshiu (Totomi), Sunshiu (Suruga), Idzu,
Sagami, Koshiu (Kai), Bushiu (Musashi), Boshiu (Awa),
Kadzusa, Shimosa, and Hitachi.
2. The Tosando, or Eastern Mountain Route, com-
prising Goshiu (Omi), Mino, Hida, Shinshiu (Shinano),
Joshiu (K6dzuk6), Yashiu (Shimodzuk), Iwashiro, Ivvaki,
Rikuzen, Rikuchiu, Uzen, Ugo, and Mutsu.
3. The Hokurikitdo, or Northern Land Route, em-
bracing Jakushiu (Wakasa), Echizen, Kaga, Noto, Echiu,
Kchigo, and the island of Sado.
4. The Sanindo, or Rear Mountain Route, comprising
Tamba, Tango, Tajima, Inshiu (Inaba), Hoki, Idzumo,
and Iwami, with the group of islands named Oki.
5. The Sanyodo, or Front Mountain Route, compris-
ing the eight provinces of Banshiu (Harima), Sakushiu
(Mimasaka), Bizen, Bichiu, Bingo, Geishiu (Aki), Suwo,
and Choshiu (Nagato).
6. The Nankaido, or Southern Sea Route, including
Kishiu (Kii), Ashiu (Awa), Sanuki, lyo, and Tosa (the
last four form the island of Shikoku), and the Island of
Awaji.
7. The Sai-Kai-do, or Western Sea Route, comprising
the nine provinces of Kiushiu, viz., Chikuzen, Chikugo,
Buzen, Bungo, Hizen, Higo, Hiuga, Osumi, and Sasshiu
(Satsuma).
8. The Hok'kaido, or North Sea Route, embracing
the ten divisions of the large Island of Yeso, viz., Oshima,
Shiribeshi, Ishikari, Teshiwo, Kitami, Ifuri, Hitaka,
Tokachi, Kushiro, and Nemuro, with the chain of
Kurile Isles (Chijima).
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 23
In addition to these eight routes or circuits, the
Empire includes the Go-ki-nai, or five home provinces,
lying immediately around what was formerly the Capital,
viz., Kioto just as we speak of the Home Counties
adjacent to our Metropolis. These five comprise Yama-
shiro, Yamato, Kawachi, Setsu, and Idzumi.
The island groups of Tsushima, Goto, and Iki, in the
west, the Bonin group to the east, the Loo-choo and
Majiko Archipelagoes, with Formosa, to the south, and
the straggling chain of Kuriles, stretching to Kams-
chatka in the far north, constitute the outposts of Japan.
Kuanto was originally a term for the eastern half
of the Empire, as Kuansei embraced all the west, but
Knanto is now a collective expression for the territory
formerly divided into the eight provinces of Musashi,
Sagami, Kodzuke, Shimodzuk, Kadzusa, Shimosa, Awa,
and Hitachi, all lying around the modern capital of
Tokio, and constituting since 1868 the actual home
provinces.
Since the Restoration the original titles of the pro-
vinces have been abolished as official designations, and
the Empire has been divided into Prefectures, two or
three provinces being frequently grouped under one Ken.
The Ken are to be identified as under :
I'RRKKCTURE. PROVINCES INCLUDED.
Tokio Fu
Kioto
Osaka
Kanagawa Ken
Saitama
Chiba
The Capital and Environs.
Yamashiro, Tango, and Tamba.
Kawachi and Id/umi.
Sagami and part of Musashi.
Part of Musashi.
Awa, Kadzusa, and Shimosa.
24
ADVANCE I A PAN.
PREFECTURE.
PROVINCES INCI.UDEI).
Ibaraki Ken
Tochigi
Gumma
Nagano
Yamanashi
Shidzuoka
Aichi ...
Miye"
Gifu
Shiga ...
Fukui
Ishikawa
Toyama
Niigata
Fukushima
Miyagi
Yamagata
Akita
Iwate" ...
Aomori
Nara ...
Wakayama ...
Hiogo ...
Okayama
Hiroshima
Yamaguchi
Shimane"
Tottori
Tokushima
Kagawa
Ehime"
Kochi ...
Nagasaki
Saga
Fukuoka
Kumamoto
Oita
Miyasaki
Kagoshima ...
Okinawa
Hokkaido
Hitachi.
Shimodzuke.
Kodzuke.
Shinano.
Kai.
Totomi, Suruga, and Idzu.
Owari and Mikawa.
Ise", Iga, and Shima.
Mino and Hida.
Omi.
Wakasa and Echizen.
Kaga and Noto.
Echiu.
Echigo and Sado Island.
Iwashiro and Iwaki.
Rikuzen.
Uzen.
Ugo.
Rikuchiu.
Mutsu.
Yamato.
Kii.
(Tajima, Harima, Settsu, and
ii. Awaji Island.
Bichiu, Bizen, and Mimasaka.
Aki and Bingo.
Nagato and Suwo.
Iwami and Idzumo.
Inaba and Hoki.
Awa.
Sanuki.
lyo.
Tosa.
Part of Hizen.
Part of Hizen.
Chikuzen, Buzen, and Chikugo.
Higo.
Bungo.
Hiuga.
Satsuma and Osumi.
Loochoo Group.
Island of Yeso.
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 25
The Tokaido. It is with the Tokaido that the
reading public of this country are best acquainted, for
it was usually by this extremely interesting high-road
that visitors to Japan were able to journey when in
possession of passports authorising them to prosecute
their researches beyond the radius of ten Japanese
leagues (equal to 24^ English miles) from either of the
Treaty Ports. Without such special authority,the move-
ments of foreign residents have always been closely
restricted to the limits defined by the treaties. The
day is approaching when it will be practicable to pass
without let or hindrance from one end of Japan to the
other, so long as the traveller may conform to the laws
of that country ; and although the railways will by that
time have reached many places now only accessible by
road, yet it is certain that very little change will be
visible in the condition of the great southern and
western regions, into which those impulses which stir
the central provinces are necessarily somewhat slow to
penetrate.
The Tokaido may not unfairly be compared in length
and general features to the Great North Road joining
London and Scotland, save that it follows somewhat
more closely the line of the sea-coast. By the Tokaido
the Mikado's capital is joined to Kioto and Osaka,
which are the Edinburgh and Glasgow of the Far East.
There are several large cities along the route, notably
Nagoya, Shidzuoka, Yoshida, Okazaki, and Hamamatsu,
whilst closely adjacent to this main trade artery are the
26 ADVANCE JAPAN.
great tea, silk, and pottery-producing regions of Uji,
Gifu, and Banko.
In various parts the Tokaido skirts the sea-beach for
miles at a stretch, affording magnificent views of the
Pacific Ocean, and at other points the route traverses
lofty ranges of hills, or winds amid an almost endless
succession of fertile cornfields. The beauties of the tall
cryptomeria trees, which border the roadside more or
less the whole way, save in the towns and villages, have
been so often described that it need only be observed
that these cedar avenues, as they have been termed,
were first planted 260 years ago by the order of the
Shogun lyeyasu, and have been renewed from time to
time as the trees decayed and fell in the devastating
storms of autumn. They still, in places, preserve traces
of former grandeur, though it is rare to meet with so
noble and perfect an avenue as that met with on
the road to Nikko. The motive ascribed to the Sho-
gun (who was the founder of that last line of vice-
regal administrators in whom it was for long supposed
that the supreme power lay invested) in planting these
cryptomeria, was an entirely philanthropic one, and
originated in a desire to lessen the danger of sunstroke
for those wayfarers whose duties or necessities com-
pelled them to travel during the noonday heat of
summer. That many a panting pedestrian has in-
wardly acknowledged his indebtedness to the fore-
thought of the dead chieftain as he has crept into the
grateful shade cast by the thickly-interlaced branches
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 27
overhead, may well be comprehended by anyone who
has even experienced no greater degree of heat than
that of an English August afternoon.
The Peerless Mountain. Japan, without Fuji-
yama that noble cone with the truncated summit so
conspicuous in every example of native art, ceramic
or pictorial would be as deficient as Naples without
Vesuvius, and it must be admitted that the Peerless
Mountain, as its admirers love to deem it, figures very
prominently in the landscape at innumerable resting-
places along the celebrated road. The cone really rises
from amid a series of mountainous ridges branching off
seaward from the great backbone range which traverses
longitudinally the central districts of Hondo, and
until the crest of any one of these ridges is attained,
it is not possible to appreciate the real height and pro-
portions of the now extinct volcano. Viewed from
seaward, it seems to slope upward directly from the
beach, although more than twenty miles inland, and
the rise, although gradual, is fully perceptible all the
way to Omiya, at which town the ascent may fairly be
said to commence. An extent of country measuring
not less than fifty miles square may be said to be
principally occupied by the gigantic mountain and
the lofty ranges which cluster about its base, ere they
strike off in various directions. On the eastern side
the Pacific Ocean deeply indents the tract of land so
defined, but otherwise the majestic cone, and its atten-
dant court of serrated peaks, occupy in more or less
28 ADVANCE JAPAN.
complete continuity that vast expanse. From number-
less elevated passes within a radius of sixty miles, the
familiar snow-clad slopes gleam brightly on the horizon
during ten months of the year, and when first dis-
cerned in the light of the morning sun, a mystic glisten-
ing pyramid of rose-pink hue rising abruptly from the
ocean, as the vessel approaches the Japanese coast,
Fujiyama amply demonstrates its right to be regarded
as an object of surpassing splendour. Oyama, one of
Fujiyama's satellites, is a peak which attains a height
exactly equal to that of Ben Nevis, and the vicinity
bristles with ridges and conical protuberances of an
elevation roughly equal to Snowdon and Helvellyn.
Fujiyama was unpleasantly active in comparatively
recent years, and its pumice-covered sides remind
the visitor of Vesuvius. The entire neighbourhood
affords evidences of the desolation which was wrought
in the last great eruption, volcanic ash being present
everywhere beneath the thin layer of vegetation over-
lying all the hills. Tradition declares that the moun-
tain arose in a single night simultaneously with the
formation of a deep depression, two hundred miles
away, in which were gathered the waters now constitut-
ing Lake Biwa. Be that as it may, there is a record
within comparatively modern times of the upheaval of
the massive excrescence above Mishima, which breaks
the slope of the cone, and which appears, when viewed
from the village, to have been scooped out of the
mountain's flank and turned over to one side bodily,
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 31
as with a ploughshare, to an extent of between two
and three square miles. That Fujiyama would be
capable of doing a vast amount of mischief to the
Capital of Japan eighty miles distant, should it ever
happen that seismic disturbances arouse his wrath once
more, is undeniable, and volcanoes of less importance
in the same chain are still at times remarkably vigorous.
Hakone Lake* To this volcanic tendency must
be attributed the origin of the sulphur springs, which
a bounteous nature has bestowed upon the Hakone"
district, situated on the northern face of one of Fuji-
yama's attendant mountain-ranges. Hakone Lake is
formed in the crater of what was itself at one time
an active volcano, and the shining slopes of the " peer-
less cone" are reflected in the profound depths of this
Asiatic Loch Lomond, as it lies unruffled, sheltered
by circumjacent grassy peaks, at a height of 2,350 feet
above sea-level. The Tokaido railway makes a detour
to avoid the pass of Hakone", and surmounts the ridge
at a point well to the northward, where the elevation
is less than 1,600 feet, dropping down by easy stages
to the uplands surrounding the foot of the giant moun-
tain, and skirting the coast as it stretches away to the
great cities of the south. Hakone" hills possess more
than common interest for the people of Japan, as in
addition to the many historical associations which
cluster i round the region, the value of the neighbour-
hood as a health resort for the residents in the Mi-
kado's Capital and the Treaty Port of Yokohama, can
32 ADVANCE JAPAN.
scarcely be overrated. Foreign tourists are all familiar
with the evidences presented by the district of the
determination of its inhabitants to take high rank
among the most enterprising of His Majesty's sub-
jects.
The natural hot springs of this pleasant region attract
immense numbers of Japanese people throughout the
year, but more particularly in the spring and summer.
The surrounding scenery is so picturesque that foreign
residents spend their holidays in the hills, with great
advantage to themselves and not a little to the local
native innkeepers. The water of the springs is in some
instances clear, in others milky with the sulphur it
holds in solution. The odour of Ashi-no-yu, in par-
ticular, is perceptible a mile away. In a long valley
close at hand the ground is soft and yielding, sending
up jets of sulphurous steam when pierced at the edge of
the footpath, and the vegetation of the neighbourhood
is utterly blasted by the vapours which the soil exhales.
Sulphur is transported from this and neighbouring re-
gions in large quantities to the Capital and Yokohama,
whence a certain proportion finds shipment to other
countries. The Mikado altered the name of the place
from Kojigoku (Little Hell) which it formerly bore
to Ko-waki-dani (Little Boiling Valley), when he visited
the region in 1877.
Ashinoyu Springs have been analysed, with the result
that in one litre of the Tekko-Sui water the principal
constituents were, in fractions of a gramme, oxide of
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 33
iron, '048 ; chloride of sodium, -039 ; sulphate of lime,
048; silicic acid, 'Oi6. In the Sen-Yeki-to bath they
were, chloride of sodium, "123 ; sulphate of lime, 308 ;
silicic acid, '103. In a third spring, the Daruma- Yu
sulphate of lime, "256; chloride of sodium, '150.
The analysis affords a clear idea of the extent to
which these waters are impregnated with mineral
elements, and accounts in a measure for the medicinal
properties ascribed to them by native visitors.
Out of the picturesque gorges which excoriate the
surface at the base of the splendid cone of Fujiyama,
countless rivulets tumble and race in their eagerness to
reach the verdant valleys, many of them receiving such
augmentations of volume in their passage as serve to
transform the rippling streams into fierce and uncon-
trollable torrents, particularly at those times when the
ordinary waters become swollen by aggregation of melt-
ing ice and snow pouring down from Fuji's crest. These
numerous feeders blend to form the rivers which inter-
sect the Tokaido, and not a little engineering skill has
been required in the construction of bridges fitted to
withstand the enormous energy exhibited every summer
and autumn by these floods. Up to within very recent
years it was deemed impossible to maintain any struc-
ture intact during the prevalence of the annual inunda-
tions, and the methods adopted to restrain the impetu-
osity of the turgid streams were ludicrously ineffective
Bridge-building, as an art, was fully understood, but the
expense involved in the provision of substantial piers
D
34 ADVANCE JAPAN.
and abutments deterred the landowners from carrying
out any such colossal undertakings as have since become
necessary in connection with the Japanese railways.
Some of the most praiseworthy examples of ingenuity,
from the engineer's point of view, will have to be re-
corded later on, in proof of the contention that Japan
had always possessed latent talent of the highest order,
in readiness to meet those heavy drafts upon her mental
resources which have in recent years been so satisfac-
torily honoured.
The deeply-riven hill-sides bear groves of pine and fir,
both red and black, nearly all the slopes being clothed
to the very tips with timber and brushwood in dense
luxuriance. Azaleas cling to the scanty earth, and over-
hang the cliffs, as they threaten to cast themselves into
the rushing cataracts below. The pathway of the To-
kaido often seems rugged enough hereabouts to have
been hewn out of the solid rock by the efforts of some
stupendous cataclysm. Emerging from the sphere of
volcanic influence so palpably impressed upon the Fuji-
yama neighbourhood, a less mountainous country is
reached which constitutes the centre of a great tea-
producing district, though it is not one specially cele-
brated for the excellence of its leaf. The tea grown
there is mainly sold to native consumers, and is often
merely sun-dried. Such as it is, however, it finds a ready
demand throughout the province, and possibly would
exhibit surprisingly good qualities were it accorded that
skilful preparation for the foreign market which is be-
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 35
stowed upon more fashionable brands. The cultivation
of tea is a subject to which extraordinary attention
is paid in Japan, though little of the produce comes to
Europe. Throughout the tea-growing country the soil
is largely composed of disintegrated granite, very friable
to the touch ; it is easily permeated by moisture, and as
easily drained. On the lower levels, where considerable
quantities of rice are grown, the soil is heavily saturated
by fertilisers, to induce it to yield adequate return for
the labour devoted to it.
The i-ix-Niiogun. Situated in an open plain fifteen
miles from the coast is the city of Shidzuoka, once the
seat of the powerful daiinio of Suruga, and now remark-
able as being the home of the deposed Shogun Keiki,
who retired to this comparatively peaceful spot in the
year 1868, when his vice-regal sway, as the last of the
" Tycoons," came to an end. Here for 25 years the
once potent and highly-honoured " temporal emperor,"
as he was erroneously styled, lived the life of a simple
country gentleman, spending his time in fishing and
hawking, receiving few visitors, and betraying but little
interest in the busy world from which he became, in
one day, so completely isolated. It was with this gen-
tleman, in his capacity of " Tycoon," that the earliest
treaties were made, by which Western Powers obtained
access to the then unfamiliar ports of the Mikado's
Empire. The real Emperor was invisible, dwelling in
absolute seclusion at Kioto, and the Shogun, his delegate,
carried on the business of State at Yedo as the virtual
D 2
36 ADVANCE JAPAN.
sovereign. Tai-kun was the honorific expression by which
the Shdgun Keiki was alluded to in documentary cor-
respondence with the representatives of foreign nations,
and as Tai-kun, or Tycoon, he will be remembered for
all time.
Farther westward, the Tokaido crosses an arm of
NAGOYA CASTLE.
the sea, and the usual conveyance is a ferry-boat, but
since the completion of the railway the question of
providing a permanent structure for the highway has
been vehemently discussed, and the necessity . for its
early completion strongly urged upon the authorities.
The inlet marks the half-way point between the present
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 37
capital of Tokio and the ancient dwelling-place of the
Mikado at Kioto, otherwise known, under the old
regime, as Miako.
The city of Nagoya, with a castle and moat which
are well preserved amid the levelling tendencies of the
age, constitutes an important landmark on the route
taken by high-road and railway. It lies at the head of
Owari Gulf, a deep indentation of the eastern coast-line
which reduces the width of the mainland of Nihon at
this point to about 70 miles. The mountain ridges of
the central region and eastern coast here unite into
one range which occupies so much of the isthmus that
only a narrow strip is left on either slope between the
foothills and the sea. Owari Gulf is fully 65 miles
wide at its entrance from the Pacific, but narrows down
immediately to 20 miles, and is subdivided into several
sounds and inlets, all affording excellent shelter from
the typhoons which ravage this coast. In one of these
sounds is situated the village famous throughout Japan
as holding the revered shrines of Ise, erected on the
spot held sacred by all loyal subjects of the Mikado as
that where His Majesty's ancestors first set foot upon
the soil of Nihon. The Tens/it, to give him the title by
which he is best known to his people, is directly de-
scended, if we are to rely upon the Shinto tradition,
from Ama-ga-terasu, the Sun-god, and that deity, in
incarnate shape, came down from the heavens and
dwelt for a time in what is now the province of Ise.
The Tens/a is thus literally to be regarded as the
38 ADVANCE JAPAN.
" Son of the Heavens," as his title implies, and the
term Nihon, as applied to the whole country, had refer-
ence at the outset, it may be supposed, to this assumed
relationship of its ruler to the great luminary. Thus
viewed, the derivation of the term Nihon becomes less
difficult of comprehension, for a people who claimed
that their progenitors were actually the people of the
sun might, with equal show of justice, regard their
country as having had a "sun-origin," hence Ni> the
sun, and Hon, source or origin. Any allusion to Japan
as the " Land of Sunrise " is therefore fully justified by
an interpretation of its title. Ise is in itself a charm-
ing spot in summer, when its umbrageous groves afford
their deepest shade and its lovely scenery of hill and
dale is seen at its very best.
The Uji province, famed for its tea from ancient days,
lies between Is6 and Kioto, and comprises a large
district throughout which every hill and mound of
moderate elevation are terraced and planted with the
tea shrub, which at first sight bears no slight resem-
blance to the myrtle, and bears a yellow and white
flower of the wild camellia type. The soil and climate
of Uji are peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of tea,
and most of that which is exported to the United States
is produced in this district. At present it finds its way
in the raw state, having been simply curled up by the
sun's rays without artificial heat, to the " firing-houses "
of Osaka and Hiogo, where the leaves are subjected to
various processes prior to packing for transit across the
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 41
Pacific. Doubtless the bulk of this necessary work will
be carried out in future years at the great tea-growing
centres, and the cost of transport and transhipment
materially reduced.
Strictly speaking, the Tokaido proper only skirts the
Uji province, and the true high-road passes by way of
Ugaki and Otsu to Kioto, so that travellers ordinarily
see but little of the Uji tea plantations. It so happened,
however, that the first Englishman to make the over-
land journey, Sir Rutherford Alcock, passed by the
Uji route when travelling overland from Hiogo to Yedo,
in 1860, mainly because the Japanese Government of
that day deemed it unadvisable that a foreigner, not-
withstanding his high rank as the British Ambassador,
should disturb the tranquillity of the Mikado's head-
quarters at Kioto by passing through that place. Times
have changed, and now the Mikado himself travels by
express train through the environs of the city wherein
his youth was passed in the strict seclusion of palace
walls.
Biwa Lake. At Otsu the high-road touches the
southern shore of Lake Biwa, a sheet of water 40 miles
in length by three to ten miles broad. Small steamers
ply upon it between Otsu and the castle town of
Hikone, situated near its northern end. This is the
lake which is traditionally reputed to have been formed
on the night that Fujiyama suddenly sprang into exist-
ence. It is the only lake of large size in Japan, and
the dwellers in the central provinces are justly proud
42 ADVANCE JAPAN.
of the strikingly beautiful surroundings which arc seen
reflected in its placid depths. The Tokaido railway
follows its margin for some miles, and a branch line
connects it with the western coast at Tsuruga. In
circumference Lake Biwa measures some 53 Japanese
leagues, or 129^ English miles, deriving its name from
a fanciful resemblance in outline to the musical instru-
ment of that name, a species of guitar. The river
which flows from its southern extremity passes through
Kioto and Osaka and falls into the bay named after
the latter city, 45 miles to the south-west.
The Eastern Sea road, of which the general course
has thus briefly been traced out, gives its name to the
eight provinces bordering the Pacific in Central Japan.
In ancient historical works, five of these provinces col-
lectively bear the name of Yamato, another designation
being Adzuma ; whilst Yamato was likewise applied of
old to the entire country, and the title still survives in
the expression Yamato-damashi, the soul of old Japan.
Kuan-to was also a modern collective term for the
central provinces, but all the original names have
been superseded by those of the recently established
prefectures, denominated Ken. Thus, the province of
Suruga, as it was known to all its inhabitants prior
to 1870, has been combined with the provinces of
Totomi and Idzu to form Shidzuoka Ken so that the
territorial distinctions of the great feudalism which re-
ceived its death-blow with the deposition of the last
Shdgun have all but vanished. The central region
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 43
has been always regarded as the richest and most
productive of the Empire. It contains the most
populous cities, and is distinguished, in a land where
agriculture deservedly ranks high, as the most effec-
tively cultivated tract of country under the Mikado's
sway. It is the heart of Japan, and the spirit which
animates it has more than once, in the history of the
country, proved potent in affairs of State.
Turbulent Rivers. The rivers of the Tokaido
region are not remarkable for length, but for their ex-
cessive turbulency in summer. Throughout the winter
they are all but dry. The Oigawa and the Ten-riu-gawa
are both over half-a-mile wide from bank to bank, but
it is only during flood-time that they become full, and
remain so for not more than three or four days con-
secutively. The Ten-riu (Heavenly dragon) River is
about 130 miles long, and rises in the central range
of the Nakasendo or Middle Mountain road, not far
from the thriving town of Uyeda. The Oigawa is only
70 miles long, and rises in Shirane-yama (10,200 feet),
while the Fujikawa, a stream noted for its exceeding
velocity, 53 miles in length, flows from the base of Fuji-
yama. Farther westward the River Kiso crosses the
Tokaido, near the important town of Ogaki, and is
navigable for large junks for many miles inland, a
distinction which cannot be claimed by any other
stream in the central region. Several smaller rivers
are met with along the route of the East Coast road,
but they are of altogether minor importance, taking
44 ADVANCE JAPAN.
their rise in the ranges of low hills bordering the coast,
and flowing, almost without exception, into the Pacific
Ocean. A noticeable feature is the Hamana inlet, which
bears in many respects a close resemblance to Plymouth
Sound, save that it has a natural sandbar at the en-
trance in the position occupied by the breakwater at
our Devonshire seaport. There is not sufficient depth
of water within the bar to make the harbour valuable,
or it would be resorted to during the typhoon season,
for the beach is annually strewn with wrecks many
leagues to the east and west whilst the autumn storms
prevail.
There are two small islands off the Tokaido coast
which deserve mention, one being occupied by a still
active volcano, and marked as Vries Island on the
Admiralty charts, though its Japanese name is Oshima.
There has been no eruption of a pronounced cha-
racter of late years, but the crater constantly gives off
dense volumes of vapour, and occasionally emits flame.
As a landmark leading to the Bay of Yedo, Vries
Island is clearly of some value to manners. The other
islet, for Enoshima is nothing more, is chiefly remark-
able as a pleasure resort, and seems naturally to form
part of the tour which every traveller from Europe or
America feels it incumbent upon him to make. No
one can deny that the locality abounds in charming
scenery, and with its shrines, grottoes, innumerable
temples and shady groves, the place will repay a visit.
Area and Population. The proportion of the
THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 45
population to the mile is 435 in Central Hondo, the
area of that section being taken as 36,600 square miles,
whilst in Northern Hondo, in 30,204 square miles, it is
207 only, but 452 in West Hondo with an area of 20,681
square miles. Shikoku has 413 to the mile, Kiushiu
376, and Yeso only nine persons, the respective areas
being 7,031, 16,840, and 36,299 square miles.
This gives a grand total for the Empire of 41,089,940,
in an area of 147,655 square miles, or 278 to the mile.
There are at least 36 cities which can claim, according
to the latest census, to have a population of more than
30,000 persons, viz. : Tokio, 1,303,876 ; Osaka, 484,409 ;
Kioto, 328,403 ; Nagoya, 200,720 ; Kobe-Hiogo, 159,243 ;
Yokohama, 160,866 ; Kanasawa and Hiroshima, over
90,000 each ; Sendai, Nagasaki, Tokushima, and Hako-
dat6, between 60,000 and 70,000 each ; Kumamoto,
Toyama, Fukuoka, Wakayama, Kagoshima, and Oka-
yama, below 60,000 each ; Niigata, Sakai, Matsuye,
Naha, and Fukui, below 50,000 ; Shidzuoka, Takamatsu,
Matsuyama, Kochi, Shimonoseki, Kofu, Utsunomiya,
Mayebashi, Gifu, Morioka, Otsu, Hirosaki, and Takaoka,
below 40,000 each.
Mountain**. There are at least 75 mountains in
Japan with a height of over 3,000 feet. Measurements
are continually being made as the geographical survey
progresses, but the best known are the peerless Fujiyama,
which is now considered to be no more than 12,365 feet
above high water-mark in the bay at its base ; Asama
Yama, 8,500 feet ; Nan-tai-san, in the Nikko range, 8,250
46 ADVANCE JAPAN.
feet ; Oyama, in the province of Sagami, 5,150 feet ; Tsu-
kuba-san, on the Pacific coast, 4,000 feet ; and On-sen-ga
take, formerly a volcano, in Hizen, 4,100 feet. Asama-
yama still shows occasional signs of activity, the last
eruption having taken place in 1870.
iiarttour*. The Japanese islands are particularly
rich in harbours, and though these were always known
to the fishermen and coasting traders, it is only within
the last twenty years that many of them have been used
by steamers and other large craft. The development of
a trade in coal and other minerals must inevitably bring
more of them into prominence, but the number already
in constant use as shipping ports for local produce has
grown to be very considerable. Some are already well-
known to Europeans, and when the country is all opened
to foreign trade it is more than likely that they may
become ports of call for the mercantile navies of the
world. According to Japanese reckoning, there are no
fewer than 56 large harbours, but perhaps the best
known, after Nagasaki, the fame of which has spread
to all the earth, are Shimoda (once a Treaty Port),
Shimidzu, Toba, and Matoya, on the Pacific coast, all
of them excellent, Mitarai and Takamatsu, in the Inland
Sea, where likewise is situated the Naval Station of Kure,
Kagoshima in Satsuma, the ports of Mororan and Hako-
dat in the far north, and the harbours in the islands on
the west coast of Sado, Iki, and Tsushima. In the last-
named there is such complete shelter that a navy might
lie hidden, and with deep water so close to the shore
THE- JAPANESE ISLANDS. 47
that the ships might tie up to the trunks of great trees
which clothe the banks to the very margin of the
channel.
Climate. There is a disposition to regard Japan as
being somewhat disadvantageously situated as respects
its climate. By some it is credited with a degree of heat
in summer which becomes practically insupportable,
whilst by others the winter is believed to be extremely
severe. The truth is that a Japanese summer is but a
trifle hotter than an English summer, taking a fair
average, and is by no means unbearable. Moreover,
the extreme heat is felt at about the same period, viz.,
in August, and may be looked for with some degree of
certainty. All the seasons are regular, and the result is
that the inhabitants are able to solve the vexed question
of what garments they shall wear, with a degree of satis-
faction to themselves to which an Englishman has for
some years past been a stranger in his own land. Natu-
rally, with so lengthy a chain of islands, there must be a
very perceptible variation of average temperature, and the
foregoing remarks apply more especially to the central
districts, for at Loo-choo and Bonin islands there is
almost perpetual summer, whilst in the farthest of the
Kuriles the few fishermen who inhabit those barren
islets experience the climate of the Arctic Circle. But
in the home provinces snow falls not more frequently
than in London, and is neither deeper nor more lasting.
There are two regular rainy seasons, at the end of
winter and at the end of summer, the latter being
48 ADVANCE JAPAN.
characterised by high winds, often of hurricane force.
The monsoons prevail in the extreme south, but not
with the regularity they exhibit on the coasts of China.
Southerly winds predominate throughout the year on
the central and Pacific coasts, and Japan is distinguished
for the most part by bright sunny days, with gentle
alternating breezes at sunrise and nightfall off sea and
land, rendering a residence there peculiarly delightful
to those who have experienced the changeable summer
and dismal winter of some more northern latitudes.
Save during the inevitable rainy season, and the some-
what oppressive moist heat of the do-yo, for a fortnight
in August, the sunshine is almost perpetual from April
to November. Even in December the days are warm
and sunny, though the nights become cold. By the
middle of March the flower-gardens begin to be gay, and
fruit trees are in blossom. From that time forward the
" land of sunrise " becomes a land of sunshine, and from
April to October people dress in white or other thin
summer garb.
49
CHAPTER III.
NATURAL HISTORY.
O form a clear impression of any country
and its people it is essential that one
should be able to frame a mental
picture of the animated nature which
shares with man the possession of
earth, air, and water in that portion
of the globe. With not a few regions
of the habitable world we have but so little in com-
mon that the effort to realise the life of a resident in
territory far removed from our British Isles affords no
appreciable gratification, for the conditions of existence
differ so widely.
In the case of Japan, however, there is no such
disadvantage, as its geographical situation in the tem-
perate zone provides it with a fauna and flora so much
akin to our own, that we arc able, in Great Britain, to
imagine the Mikado's subjects dwelling amid an environ-
ment not essentially dissimilar. Their summer is our
summer, their winter our winter, although their day
is our night The range of temperature is very nearly
the same. As a result, we find that in Japan they have
E
50 ADVANCE JAPAN.
horses and oxen, cows and pigs, dogs and cats, goats,
deer, badgers, and foxes. But they also have bears in
the north, and wild boars and monkeys ramble and
sport in the mountain ranges of the central and southern
provinces, all of which creatures are strangers in these
days to Great Britain. On the other hand, sheep are
not indigenous, and do not thrive when introduced, as
the strong Kaya grass and stunted bamboo, on which
they are apt to browse, speedily kill them. . The native
horse is a diminutive, but extremely hardy, specimen of
the equine race, gifted with wonderful powers of endur-
ance, and fleet for its size, which never exceeds that of
an English cob, but often endowed with the temper of a
mustang. These ponies are trained for racing and make
good fencers. Oxen and cows are employed in agricul-
ture throughout the realm, though in limited numbers,
and it is only within the last fifteen years that beef has
become an article of food. Swine were regarded, up to
the same period, as unclean, and it was a startling in-
novation indeed when a restaurant-keeper boldly hung
out his advertisement of " buta-nabeY' or, as we might
term it, hashed pork.
The Chin. Goats are not uncommon, dogs and cats
are innumerable. The native dogs are of two kinds, so
utterly unlike in species that they are classed as distinct
animals. One, the Japanese pug, has been brought to
this country in such numbers that it is now tolerably
well-known as a lap-dog. In Japan it is termed chin,
and is not regarded as a do^, that appellation being
NATURAL HISTORY. 51
reserved for the mu, which is a canine pariah, ready to
yelp at the heels of any stranger, and obtaining a scanty
sustenance mainly by foraging for himself. In appear-
ance he is a domesticated wolf. Cats are most of them
tailless in Japan, resembling the Manx breed, though
the ordinary long-tailed type is frequently seen.
Among wild animals, deer are met with in large
numbers of the small species peculiar to the Japanese
islands. In several places they are so tame as to roam
freely through the temple grounds and village streets,
being sacred from molestation under the aegis of the
Buddhist creed. But this special protection applies
only to the localities which are venerated as holy
ground, and in the mountains deer are hunted freely,
the flesh being consumed as food. The fox enjoys a
charmed life, being respected, if not feared, by the
superstitious farmers of the interior, as the incarnation
of Inari, the tutelary deity of agriculture. Shrines are
met with all over the country, at which the farming
population are prone to do honour to this deity ; the
prevailing tint of the woodwork being vermilion, the
little edifices are conspicuous objects on the hill-sides.
Badgers are regarded as uncanny creatures, and all, save
the hunters, give them a wide berth. There is scarcely
a fairy tale in Japanese folklore which has not some
reference to the exploits of the fox or the badger.
Smaller animals of the weasel type are numerous, and
rodents everywhere prevail, the rat being one of the
signs of the Japanese zodiac.
E 2
52 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Bird*. Japanese art has made us very familiar with
the stork in all attitudes, and it might well be considered
the king of birds in the Mikado's dominions, for the
eagle of Japan is not by any means so magnificent a
creature. The tsuru (Grus leucaucheii) is chiefly to be
seen in the tall trees which surmount the old castle walls,
or in the parks adjoining the royal palaces, where it is
reared. Its body white and glistening, with black tail-
feathers and wings, and the head marked prominently
by a spot of crimson, the tsuru compels admiration
wherever it condescends to alight, and it is not surprising
that the artist of the far East loves to portray the grace-
ful bird in every conceivable position, circling around
the branches of the black pine, or posing in stately
splendour amid the grottoes and lakelets of some ancient
pleasure-garden. Standing over five feet in height when
erect, the tsuru approaches closely in size to the ostrich,
and is the largest of Japanese feathered creatures, the
next in size being the shirosagi, a pure white heron, and
the blue heron, usually a trifle smaller. The bittern is
sometimes termed the go-i-sagi, or heron of noble rank.
The snowy heron of the rice-fields is smaller still, but of
the same graceful family, and very numerous ; in fact,
Japan is particularly favoured by nature with varieties
of this bird, the flesh of two or three kinds being highly
relished as food. Altogether it is computed that at
least 325 species of birds inhabit the islands of Japan,
about 100 of which are known in Great Britain, and not
less than 180 in China. Among the wild birds common
NATURAL HISTORY. 53
to our regions as well as to the territory of the Mikado
may be mentioned the wild goose, of which there are
eight distinct kinds, mallard, widgeon, teal (four varie-
ties), wood-pigeon, pheasant (sundry types), woodcock,
snipe (very numerous, and of several varieties), plover,
partridge, quail, crow, magpie, falcon, cuckoo, woodpec-
ker, thrush, lark, nightingale, swallow, owl, and buzzard.
The raven is quite common, and well sustains in the
East the character for intelligence borne by the illustrious
Grip of Chigwell. The swallow comes and goes with
that unfailing regularity which we remark in our own
visitors, building inside the houses, instead of under the
eaves. When telegraph lines were first erected in Japan,
the swallows promptly perched on the wires in great
numbers, as though they recognised in them familiar
objects of more southern latitudes.
Widgeon, mallard, and teal are met with in all un-
frequented lakes and marshy localities, the villagers
capturing them by nets in considerable numbers
wherever they can meet with a market for them. The
copper pheasant is a bird of gorgeous plumage, peculiar
to Japan, and, like the common pheasant and ringed
pheasant, flourish exceedingly in the central and south-
ern provinces. For woodcock, snipe, or quail shooting,
the Japanese islands are a sportsman's paradise. The
painted snipe are somewhat rare, but common snipe
abound in the low-lying rice-fields, and their erratic
flight gives meaning to the expression for a tortuous
zig-zag path, chi-dori nichi, lit. snipe road. Falconry is
54 ADVANCE JAPAN.
as ancient an institution in Japan as with us, dating
back to the tenth century. The skylark sings as sweetly
in Japanese as she does in English, as she mounts to
welcome the morning sun, and people go in parties to
the woodland groves to listen to the nightingale. The
cuckoo of the East is in disrepute equally with his
Western brother on account of his usurpations. A
magpie in Japan, however, differs considerably from the
European species, principally in the length and breadth
of its tail-feathers, which are on so generous a scale that
flight, in its case, by no means implies celerity. Finches
and linnets are plentiful, as may be inferred from the
frequency with which they figure in Japanese drawings.
The sparrow-hawk is often seen, starlings abound, owls
hoot in the woods, and sparrows are ubiquitous. The
last-named brown-feathered mites are quite as spirited
in their behaviour out in the East as they are on London
housetops, but they do not at present succeed in accumu-
lating so much soot on their little bodies in the pure
atmosphere of Tokio.
Among feathered creatures which we cannot boast of,
the Japanese have the mandarin duck, also common in
China. The splendid colouring of these birds makes
them beautiful objects in the secluded waters where they
may occasionally be found, a singular interest attaching
to them, as in China, from the widespread belief that
when one of a pair dies the other never mates again, but
remains widowed to the end of its days, an exemplar of
conjugal fidelity.
NATURAL HISTORY. 55
The domestic poultry-yard is well stocked in Japan,
game-cocks being not unfrequently trained for the
arena, and fowls of a great variety being bred for their
eggs and for the table. Black Spanish, Dorkings, Ply-
mouth Rocks, and some other well-known types are
seen the massive Cochin-China breed being as con-
spicuous as the Bantam. The latter well sustains the
character for pugnacity which it bears with ourselves,
and will crow every whit as lustily in a farmyard in
Nihon as in Norfolk. The common duck and goose are
both extensively reared, and of late years the " bird of
seven faces," as they term the turkey, has come into
favour with poultry fanciers.
FiMhea. With so extensive a seaboard, the calling of
a fisherman becomes almost naturally the occupation of
that large proportion of the inhabitants who dwell near
the coast The trade is remunerative, for fishing cannot
be other than successful in waters so well-stocked as
those which surround and enrich the Japanese islands.
Every fish of importance known to British cooks is
found in the markets of Nagasaki and Yokohama, and
a great many that do not, and probably will not, at any
time appear prominently on our tables. Especially may
this be said of whale and shark, both of which are
frequently captured and eaten in Japan. Served up
as the native cooks are in the habit of serving them,
these delicacies not only become tolerable, but relish-
able to occidental palates, more especially if the con-
sumer has not been apprised beforehand of the nature
ADVANCE JAPAN.
of the viands. The bonito is likewise greatly esteemed
as food in Japan, but it would not be appreciated
especially when uncooked on English breakfast-tables.
Porpoise is often seen in southern markets, and cuttle-
fish are everywhere eaten with zest. The pearl oyster
would not be regarded with favour in this country, but
when baked in its shell it forms the staple luncheon -
dish at one well-known sea-side resort. Items like
these on the national bill of fare are introduced from
choice and not of necessity, for the Japanese waters
contain salmon, cod, soles, plaice, halibut, herring, mul-
let, bream, whiting, smelts, ling, carp, trout, and other
kinds of fish from which to select an ample and varied
supply of food. Lobsters, crabs, the ordinary edible
oyster, mussels, crayfish, prawns, and shrimps, are as
abundant as they are in Great Britain. The most
esteemed of all the captives of the net, however, is
the tat (Serranus marginalis}, a fish of brilliant pink
colour, in shape like an immense roach, without which
no banquet in Japan would be complete. The black
variety of the tai family, termed Kurodai, is not so
valuable. Tai is served in a variety of ways, baked,
roasted, and boiled, but it is more particularly relished
when uncooked. The visitor to Japan very speedily
overcomes any repugnance felt at the outset to raw
fish, for we take our oysters in the same way, and
medical men declare that there are decided advantages
to be gained by doing so. Be this as it may, uncooked
fish forms an indispensable adjunct in Nihon to any set
NATURAL HISTORY. 57
repast. It is the practice, as far as possible, to bring
fish to market whilst still alive. When the place of sale
is some distance inland this is effected by carrying them
in shallow buckets, fitted with lids, and suspended from
a yoke or shoulder-pole. In the suburbs of the Capital,
vendors of fish visit their customers daily with live fish
transported in this manner to the very doors, and even
in mountainous regions the salesman is to be met with
rapidly making his way afoot in the direction of remote
villages.
In the northern island of Yeso fish so abounds on the
coasts that it is shipped to China to be used as manure.
The herring is mainly used in this way, though salmon
and salmon-trout are not uncommonly treated as of no
greater value. In recent years a canning industry has
sprung up in which, though they are not likely to rival
the American trade, a local company has been engaged
with considerable success. The sea-slug is taken on all
the Japanese shores, cut open, dried, and exported to
China and the Straits Settlements. Even the beau-
tiful flying-fish, when taken in the net, is brought to
table, minus its wings. Throughout the Mikado's
realms, the food of the people is mainly fish, flesh
being but sparingly eaten. The superabundance of
those kinds of fish which we most highly esteem in
England would tend to make the cost of living in
Japan, it might be supposed, remarkably low, but it
happens that the particular dishes which the people
of Nihon most relish arc not those which are the
58 ADVANCE JAPAN.
cheapest. Salmon, for example, is not at all prized
as food, whilst mullet and sea-bream, comparatively
moderate in price here, are sold at a higher figure in
Japan. Oysters and whitebait in Japan are to be had
at very economical rates, and sardine, which almost
equals river trout in size, is so common and cheap
that the equivalent of the expression " not worth a
button" is, in Japanese, "not worth the head of a
sardine." Mackerel also are extremely plentiful.
Trees. At no time of the year do the hills and
valleys of Japan seem to be utterly bare of foliage, as so
many of the trees are evergreen. The matsu (Pinus
sylvestris) flourishes everywhere. Red fir clothe all the
slopes, somewhat sparsely in the south, but heavily
towards the north. Larch is one of the most valuable
and abundant of timber trees, much used for junk masts.
The Cryptomeria japonica borders the high-roads and
grows luxuriantly throughout Hondo. The Keyaki fur-
nishes a wood which is exceptionally prized, taking a
high polish, and not unlike mahogany. It is mainly
used for ornamental pillars, and in slabs to form the
toko-no-ma in dwelling-houses. The camphor-tree is
widely known in the south, furnishing the highly-
scented wood so much employed in Japanese cabinet
work. Among trees which are held in high esteem for
their excellent properties apart from their worth as tim-
ber are the mulberry (without which Japan could not be
a silk-producing country), the vegetable wax tree grown
in the southern regions of Chdshiu and Kiushiu, and
the giant camellia, from the seeds of which a most ser-
NATURAL HISTORY,
59
viceable oil is extracted in large quantities. The maple
lends its brilliant colouring, bright green in summer,
brownish-red and yellow in the autumn, to the landscape
far and wide, and the ilex is likewise a conspicuous orna-
CARPENTERS' TOOLS.*
ment. Among flowering shrubs which exist throughout
the land in wild exuberance are the azalea, daphne, red
and white camellia, and rhododendron. In many parts
the hills are ablaze in spring-time with the scarlet, white,
and variegated flowers of the azalea, which bloom in such
Among the tools shown are saws which cut towards the sawyer (14
and 15), an ink-box instead of a chalk-line (6), and other contrivances
different to those of Western carpenters.
60 ADVANCE JAPAN.
profusion as to form one magnificent many-hued carpet
of Nature's own weaving.
Fruit*. Fruit trees are plentiful enough, but the
yield, excepting in oranges, can hardly be termed abun-
dant. The persimmon is among the most generous,
there being several varieties. Pears have much the ap-
pearance of a large russet apple, and, though juicy, have
not much flavour to recommend them. The apple itself
grows in the north, but is a mere crab, both in taste and
size. Plums, peaches, and apricots are almost as much
valued for their blossom as for their fruit, and truth to
tell, the dictum of Sir Rutherford Alcock that, as a rule,
the fruit of Japan has neither savour nor delicacy,
though Nature has been bountiful in nearly all else, is
well founded. The vast scale upon which frugiferous
trees have been introduced from the United States and
Europe during the last two decades, by the Agricul-
tural Department, cannot fail to transform Japan into
an extensive fruit-growing country, for in the matter of
climate a more promising field could scarcely be selected.
As far back as 1872 the experiment of planting fruit
trees of Californian stock, in gardens within the Capital
of Tokio, was tried with great success, and the field
of operations was at once extended to the northern
island of Yeso, where large farms were laid out near
Hakodat6 and Sapporo. The progress made in this
direction is well shown by the condition of the settlers'
allotments in the Hokkaido and elsewhere. The de-
sire of the Government to improve the condition of
NATURAL HISTORY. 61
the farming population has been in no way more clearly
proved than by the sale, at purely nominal figures, of
excellent imported fruit trees and vegetable seeds ; and
the readiness of the people to respond to the offers of
assistance thus made is a proof of the progressive spirit
which animates all classes.
Chestnuts, walnuts, and fig-trees flourish throughout
Japan. The sago-palm and banana exist in the south,
but the climate is not tropical enough for them to pro-
duce good fruit. The pomegranate is often seen, and
its fruit is greatly appreciated. In fact it may be said
that all fruit, good or indifferent, is welcomed in Japan,
and the taste of the inhabitants induces them to gather
and consume it before it is fully ripe, in spite of the
strongly-worded proclamations of the Government, which
ascribe much of the choleraic dysentery that annually pre-
vails to the tendency, so universally present, to eat green
uncooked plums and other stone fruit. Grape-vines
trail over the fronts of cottages in Japan, as in English
villages, and are everywhere obtainable. The luscious
Californian grapes introduced of late years thrive ex-
ceedingly.
Flower*. Gardening is an art in Japan which
has had its imitators in other countries, and its peculiari-
ties give striking originality to the humblest cottage as
well as to the palace grounds of the Emperor. The
ponds, rockwork, tiny bridges, and dwarf trees are so
well known as to need no more definite allusion here,
but it may not be so well-known that, in spite of state-
62 ADVANCE JAPAN.
ments to the effect that Japanese flowers have no per-
fume, the wooded hills are not only blest with a pro-
fusion of wild roses, camellias, orchids, violets, lilies, and
other general favourites, but that a large proportion of
them are pleasantly odorous.
The skill of the cultivator is lavished upon the kiku,
the world-wide celebrated chrysanthemum, and one of
the sights of the Japanese Capital is the Dangozaka
Exhibition of these flowers, where the famous horti-
culturists annually train the plants upon frames to
furnish floral designs which have some special signifi-
cance. Last year a representation of certain events of
the war in Korea was very cleverly effected in this way.
Foremost among displays of the chrysanthemum in its
natural state must always rank that in the Emperor's
gardens, notably at Akasaka, the palace he occupied
during the rebuilding of the new one within the castle
grounds. It would be a revelation to our ordinary
English gardeners to view the autumnal shows in
Tokio, for no one who has not had opportunity of
personally witnessing the results would believe that so
much can be done with this, until lately, scarcely appre-
ciated flower.
Vines. In the neighbourhood of K6fu, in Mid-
Hondo, vines have been cultivated for the last fifteen
years upon the foreign system, and excellent claret has
been produced, which has a reputation throughout Japan.
The output has not been sufficiently great as yet to
bring Kofu Medoc into serious competition with French
NATURAL HISTORY. 65
brands, but it is by no means impossible that the pro-
duce of Nihon's vineyards may one day have a vogue
beyond the limits of the Mikado's dominions. Vines at
the old Kaitakushi plantations near the Capital are also
very prolific, and great quantities of grapes are sold for
food, in addition to the consumption in the wine-press.
Cereals. Being the staple product of the Japa-
nese corn-fields, rice holds an unassailable position as
the most important cereal grown. Five millions of the
people are more or less engaged in its cultivation, and
it flourishes luxuriantly south of the 38th parallel. The
richest fields are to be met with in the Tokaido and
Sanyodo regions, though it is difficult to say which
provinces surpass the others in the production of a
grain so universally in demand. A very large export
trade has sprung up in the last 20 years in this com-
modity, the vessels engaged in it loading great quantities
at Yokkaichi in the Owari Gulf, and at Mitajiri and
Shimonoseki in the Inland Sea. The figures here given
afford some idea of the extent to which rice is grown
in Japan, and of the annual consumption and quantities
sold to other countries.
When it is claimed for Japan that it is a self-support-
ing country, a certain degree of dependence is placed
upon the rice crop, which in ordinary harvests furnishes
about five and a tenth bushels per head, taking the entire
population. Some years are more fruitful, and at other
times the crop falls short, the Government granaries
having formerly been employed to store a surplus. Tak-
F
66 ADVANCE JAPAN.
ing the average per head for 365 days, the allotted daily
supply to each individual would be not less than one
pint of dry rice, which may be regarded, all ages and con-
ditions considered, as a liberal allowance. As a matter of
fact, a large export trade is now done with that grown in
excess of the national requirements, and Japanese rice
has attained a popularity abroad which places it on a
level with the best grown. Up to 1889 the State con-
trolled this export trade, but it has since been in the
hands of speculators. Rice grown in Korea and else-
where is now often imported into Japan, not from
necessity, but from choice, it being possible to sell
home-grown rice at a higher figure than the produce
of neighbouring States can command, and the common
classes being content, so that it can be obtained at a
slightly lower price, to eat a mixture of the two
varieties.
Land under Cultivation. The land is cultivated
chiefly by peasant proprietors, tenancy being rare. The
total area so far surveyed is 83,820,142 acres, divided
as under :
PUBLIC LANDS.
ACRES.
Crown lands ... ... ... ... 8,957,258
Used for Government purposes ... 194,384
Forests 28,866,036
Open fields . ... 14,290,094
Miscellaneous 39,95'
Only
those
surveyed
are
enumerated.
Total 52,347,723
Only
those
taxed
are
included.
NATURAL HISTORY. 67
PRIVATE LANDS.
ACRES.
Under cultivation ... ... ... 11,705,678
Homesteads ... ... ... ... 874,450
Forests 16,263,760
Open fields ... ... ... ... 2,575,442
Miscellaneous ... 53>89
Total 31,472,419
1893-4. Total production of rice 206,750,000 bushels.
Other cereals 79>7 OI >955 >
Total exports to foreign lands (Rice) 7, 1 25,645
Other cereals 267,081
It will be observed that whereas Great Britain im-
ports immense quantities of grain for her own con-
sumption, and grows only a fractional part within her
borders of the total needed to feed the people of the
British Isles, Japan is able to grow sufficient corn
for the support of her entire population. That these
figures are pregnant with meaning for students of
agricultural statistics will probably be admitted, and
they are adduced here as pointing in no uncertain
way to the material prosperity which distinguishes the
the Meiji era in Japan.
Whilst rice is the staple food of the people in five-
sixths of the Mikado's Empire, considerable quantities
of wheat and barley are also grown for home use,
and in the extreme north barley-bread is baked, as in
North China. Millet is frequently eaten in lieu of rice,
and the peasantry were often, in times past, unable to
F 2
68 ADVANCE JAPAN.
regale themselves on the rice they cultivated, it being
needed to pay the taxes. But so much consideration
has been shown by the State in recent years, in its deal-
ings with the agriculturists, that their condition has
been greatly ameliorated. It is not pretended that the
Nihon farmer is the most contented or highly-favoured
of his class in creation, but it is undeniable that his lot
under the present Government is much better, in many
respects, than it was under the old regime. Every en-
couragement is held out to him to be industrious, and
he very cheerfully responds to the invitation. Among
other kinds of grain regularly cultivated in Japan may
be mentioned maize, which is often seen in the southern
provinces, and oats and vetches, which are grown as
cattle provender.
Vegetables. In some parts of Japan the people are
almost exclusively vegetarians, of necessity. They are
too far from the coast for fish to be brought to them, at
any price which they could afford to pay. Animal food
is equally out of the question. In such districts the
bulk of the inhabitants consume rice or millet, with
dai-kon, the giant white radish, indigenous to the soil,
and other vegetables of various kinds. The climate of
Nihon is suitable to many edible plants which do not
thrive with us. Yams (Satsuma imo} grow abundantly
in the southern island of Kiushiu, for example, and they
are found, as the name implies, in greatest perfection in
the Satsuma country, lat. 31, so celebrated for its pot-
tery. Another esculent unfamiliar outside the tropics
NATURAL HISTORY. 69
is the brinjal, or " egg-plant," whose brilliant purple
pear-shaped fruit forms, when boiled, a delicate addi-
tion to the list of available legumes. Tomatoes and
beets grow with almost the rapidity and plenteous-
ness of weeds in the warm atmosphere of the south ;
melons, cucumbers, and gourds likewise flourish exceed-
ingly.
The market-gardens of Yokohama and Kobe are
specially cultivated to meet the foreign demand, and in
them may be observed every vegetable that is commonly
met with on European or American dining-tables.
Most of these have been grown from time immemorial
in Japan, such as beans, peas, turnips, carrots, spinach,,
cabbage, onions, lettuce, and radishes, but potatoes, of
the kinds we grow in such abundance, were until a
quarter of a century ago almost unknown to the Japan-
ese. A few of these tubers had been brought from
Batavia and grown as curiosities, but within more recent
times the cultivation of the jagatara inio has progressed
apace. The radish previously alluded to attains great
size, measuring from 18 inches to 30 inches in length.
Tradition assigns to this esculent dimensions which are
enormous ; but tradition in Japan is not always to be
implicitly relied upon. Over and above all these gifts
of Nature the Mikado's people possess a great variety
of edible plants, among which may be named a species
of fern, the young tops of which are boiled and salted
for the table, several grasses, and many varieties of the
mushroom and other fungi.
70 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Hemp and cotton are extensively grown, so that in
many instances the farmer is able to provide the
material for his clothing, and his family weave and
prepare it for his wear. The sugar-cane is likewise
very much cultivated in the warmer regions of the
Sanyddo and Saikaido.
Without attempting to enumerate all the natural
products of the Japanese Empire, it is possible that
sufficient data have been adduced to show that not only
do the Mikado's people seek to cultivate their land to
the best advantage, but are ever ready to experiment
and persevere with the acclimatisation of new forms of
vegetable and animal life. This willingness has more
than once led them into extravagancies of a character
which they are not likely to repeat. At one time the
craze has been for white rabbits, at another for standard
roses ; but these spasmodic passions have speedily sub-
sided, and have given place to a steady determination
to choose the useful rather than the purely ornamental
among the commodities brought to their notice.
CHAPTER IV.
DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS.
RUGALITY has always been a cha-
racteristic of the Japanese. When
they make a present to anyone, how-
ever trifling, the gift is accompanied
by a symbol of the dried fish and sea-
weed, on which their ancestors, as
fishermen, depended mainly for their
existence. The modern Japanese
gentleman deems it in no way dero-
gatory that his forefathers lived on very simple fare,
and worked hard to obtain it. Probably in no small
degree must the general freedom from disease be
ascribed to this old-established inclination towards a
temperate life which pervades all classes. Plain boiled
rice is the principal article of diet, and is served at the
conclusion of every meal, three times a day. All other
food and condiments are regarded as so many induce-
ments to consume rice. Needless to say, however, all
the items on the bill of fare are selected with a judi-
cious regard to their value as nourishing food. Stimu-
72 ADVANCE JAPAN.
lating viands are, for the most part, avoided. In the
Capital food is served in the European style at a great
many restaurants, and the larger towns and cities
throughout the country all have establishments wherein
some pretensions are made, with more or less justice, to
cater for guests upon the lines of foreign hotels. Tak-
ing the proportion which such hotels bear to the great
HARP, VIOLIN, AND GUITAR.
mass of those which still adhere to native customs, it
cannot be said that a general movement has yet set in
towards an exclusively European diet, and it is infinitely
better, in all probability, that this change should be still
farther postponed.
Table Etiquette. There is considerable attention
paid to table etiquette among the people of Nihon, and
DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 73
it is as easy to distinguish the boor in that country as
elsewhere, by his behaviour when at dinner. Whilst
they are quick to notice that a foreigner has taken a
little pains, it may be, to accustom himself to native
manners, they are singularly free from indulgence in the
temptation, which must often be presented to them, to
make merry over the stranger's unconscious breaches of
decorum. One of the customs to which the average
European is slow to reconcile himself is that of taking
all wine prior to the advent upon the scene of the boiled
rice. The request on the part of the guest to be
permitted to take rice is always interpreted as indica-
tive of a desire to drink no more, and it is customary
for the host to beg that the completion of the meal may
be delayed. It seems to be a complete reversal of the
practice in vogue with us when we discover that the
fruit and sweets are served at the outset, although the
strict meal is inaugurated by soups. Cooked fish of
various kinds follow, then perhaps an omelette, a fri-
cassee of chicken, or a dish of raw mullet or sea-
bream. The universal sake a liquor obtained from
rice, and of wholesome character is taken indiscrimi-
nately with all the plats, up to the moment the staple
article of diet appears, when the wine-cup ceases to
circulate and the meal quickly terminates with a cup
of tea. Europeans are apt to look for the rice earlier
in the repast, and to consider that the imbibition of
sake on any extensive scale should be deferred until
such time as some substantial food has been partaken
74 ADVANCE JAPAN.
of. To many the flavour of sake is so much of a novelty
that they would gladly forgo the ceremony of quaffing
it at all. Others quickly acquire a taste for it, despite
the rather searching aroma which is peculiar thereto.
It really contains but little alcohol, though its effects
on the consumers are often most palpable. It possesses
the merit, however, as a national drink, that the intoxi-
cation it produces is quickly evanescent. Moreover, it
must not be supposed that sakc-dnr\\dr\g is a custom
universally followed, or that wine is an accompaniment
of every meal. Many people eschew it entirely, others
take it only when on a journey, or upon some special
occasion. Should an antidote be demanded to its
over-exhilarating properties, it is found at hand in
the ever-present cup of tea, and this is invariably
served on the conclusion of any set feast.
The observance of frugality in an ordinary household
would not be consistent with a great variety of dishes,
and thus it happens that in the vast majority of families
the parents and children sit down to a meal, three
times a day, which consists of boiled rice, accompanied
by nothing more extravagant in the matter of cost than
a broiled fish, vegetable soup, the ingredients of which
are altogether inexpensive, and pickles of some simple
character. The consumption of beef, which threatened
at one time to become general, is now on the wane.
Poultry is too dear to be ordinarily included in the bill
of fare. Pork was introduced, and for some time had a
AN INDUSTRIOUS SEMI-STRESS.
DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 77
great vogue among^the lower classes, but was repugnant
to aristocratic palates.
The Ordinary Bill of Fare. Among the national
dishes which figure at a banquet may be mentioned a
bean-curd soup, stewed chestnuts, pounded fish baked in
the form of a ball or roll and cut into slices, lotus roots
boiled in soy, the tender shoots of the bamboo similarly
treated, the nasu or egg-plant, radishes, and the inevit-
able dai-kon, which possesses an odour as powerful in its
way as the renowned cheese of Limburg.
Each person has a small table, termed sen, for his
own separate use, upon which are placed the various
articles of food served on minute plates. The liquids
are contained in bowls of porcelain or lacquered-wood,
red or black. Sets of table equipage may be very
costly, and a housewife in Japan prides herself on the
elegance with which she can set out her little tables
quite as much as the mistress of a cottage in Devonshire
may do. The bowls are raised to a level with the lips,
and the chopsticks are used as forks, being held between
the fingers of the right hand. These chopsticks may
resemble slender lacquered-wood pencils, or they may
be of plain deal, slightly pointed at one end. Many
people carry their own, of silver and ivory, when they
travel, but a pretty custom at hotels is to split the deal
only a part of the way in fashioning the sticks, so that
the guest may break them apart himself when about to
use them. Thus he may be certain that the wood has
not previously been put to a similar use. The maid of
?8 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the inn is usually careful to wrap the strips of wood in
white paper, and tie them with parti-coloured twine,
before laying them on the visitor's sen. Waiting at
table consists in kneeling at a little distance, beside
the spotless rice-tub, in an attitude of patient expect-
ancy, for an opportunity to replenish the guest's bowl.
An average trencherman in Japan will afford this oppor-
tunity five or six times at a meal, something depending
on the size of the table-ware employed.
The daiurios of old had every article of such ware
emblazoned with the family crest, and the lacquer, in
particular, was of exquisite quality.
Tea-<lrink.ing. Green tea is universally consumed
in Japanese households. It is taken very weak, and
without milk or sugar. The infusion is made so quickly
as to be scarcely an infusion at all, and tea is never
allowed to "stand." It is refreshing and stimulating
when taken in this way, and is offered to every way-
farer as he passes through towns and villages. Pay-
ment is never demanded, but he who would accept the
offer without leaving some slight recompense on the
tray, however trifling in amount, would be regarded
as a churl indeed. When the traveller is disposed to
rest awhile the cliaya landlord will usually invite him
through to the verandah at the rear, facing the orna-
mental grounds, and will then serve a separate tray of
tea and sweetmeats. For such civility it is usual to
make an acknowledgment of a small silver coin, which
may be as low in value as our threepenny-piece.
DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 79
It has been said that European cravings are rarely
satisfied by Japanese dishes. A man is prone to feel
that he has wasted his time in the effort to appease
hunger, and that he must search for the constituents
of a " square " meal in some other direction. Doubt-
less it takes time to accustom a stomach which craves
for the flesh-pots of Europe and America to the sim-
plicity of Japanese food, but had the individual no
choice between such food and starvation he would dis-
cover that after a few days his appetite had become
reconciled to the light viands provided, and that he
could thrive and do excellent work thereupon.
Eggs are extensively eaten, and a present is often
made of a box of fifty eggs, neatly packed in sawdust
or salt. When hard-boiled they are kept in stock at all
wayside refreshment booths, their sustaining qualities
on a long march being cordially recognised.
DreMM. The costume of the Japanese people, taken
as a whole, has not greatly changed. The Government
having ordered officials to wear European dress when
on duty, led to the adoption of foreign costume to a
certain extent, but the old-fashioned garments are still
worn in private, and the great mass of the inhabitants
cling to the habiliments of yore. These consisted, for
men, of a muslin loin-cloth, a shirt of cotton or silk,
and, in cold weather, an under-waistcoat, also of cotton.
Above this comes the kimono, which is a gown hanging
straight from the shoulders and confined at the waist
by a belt of thick silk. When very cold, one or more
So ADVANCE JAPAN.
wadded gowns arc worn in addition, and the costume
is not regarded as complete without the hakama, or
divided skirt, which is tied over all by cords around
the waist, and the haori, or coat. Strictly speaking,
the hakama is a dress of ceremony, and is often laid
aside when the wearer reaches the privacy of his own
apartments. It has in recent years been much worn
by female pupils of foreign schools, though originally
part of man's attire only. The Jiaori is a coat or cloak,
tied in front by a knotted silk cord. Both Iiakama and
Jiaori are usually of excellent quality. Black silk is
used for the Jiaori, bearing the wearer's crest on back
and sleeves, and striped material for the hakama. On
the feet are worn tabi, a low sock just ankle-high,
with a compartment like those in gloves for the great
toe. These tabi are of blue or white cotton, strength-
ened on the sole. Straw sandals are worn about the
house, in shape like our slippers, but with a thong to
be passed between the toes. In the matted rooms the
tabi form the only footgear, and people who do not
require to walk far use geta, wooden clogs which fasten
on the foot by thongs in the same way as the sandals.
On the head it was usual to wear no covering whatever,
in former times, the cranium being shielded in summer
from the fierce sun by a fan. Sometimes a large straw
hat was employed, particularly on long journeys, but now
hats or caps of foreign pattern are fashionable. Indoors
the kimono is often exchanged for a yukata, or bath-gown,
in which the Japanese gentleman sits at his ease before
DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 83
or after his ablutions. These are invariably performed
towards the close of the day, in a large tub containing
water heated as warm as the hand will bear by a boiler
underneath. Whilst in old days, prior to the Meiji era,
the Japanese gentleman always wore his two swords
when out of doors, laying them beside him, or on a
rack, when in the house, he now carries nothing in his
belt of a more formidable character than his tobacco-
pipe and pouch.
Men of the lower classes have a coat which displays
at the back an immense ideograph indicative of their
occupation, or it may be of their master's name. Car-
penters are invariably thus distinguished. The covering
for the thighs (inomohiki} is tight-fitting, and a gaiter
is also worn, usually of dark blue cotton. A hat shaped
like an inverted punch-bowl, of straw covered with blue
material, and warafi, or straw sandals, which are worn
by 80 per cent, of the nation, complete the workmen's
dress. The " coolies " wear as little of anything, the
greater part of the year, as the police rules will allow.
When out of sight of a town and its patrol, they strip
off all but the loin-cloth. As for the youngsters, there
are no trammels whatever to their perfect enjoyment
of a state of nudity. Hand-ball and other games are
played in the roadways, even by adults, with the inno-
cent delight of children. When it becomes necessary to
take the little ones out visiting, the clothing is almost a
miniature copy of that of their elders, and it is but just
(J 2
84 ADVANCE JAPAN.
to say of them that they resist the invitation to wear
it as long as they possibly can. It not un frequently
happens, in their wanderings, that they become lost,
and then the guardian of the peace has to search
them for the metal labels which he knows will be
found suspended somewhere or other from their small
persons, giving their names and addresses.
The women's costume differs in no great degree
from that of the men. A couple of aprons or short
petticoats are worn beneath the kimono, and a cord
round the waist keeps so much of the attire in place.
Half-a-dozen kimonos are often worn one over the
other in winter, but the shape of all is exactly alike,
and the number can only be determined by counting
the layers where they are visible at the neck. Out-
side all is worn the enormous belt, eighteen inches wide,
and thirteen feet long, which winds round and encloses
the feminine form so completely that the dimensions of
the waist must be left entirely to conjecture. In the
hair, the dressing of which is a matter of the utmost
solicitude, large metal pins with coral head-pieces, or
tortoise-shell combs and skewers, are indispensable.
Such ornaments never go out of fashion for long at
a stretch, so that they may be regarded as portable
property having a tangible value. As to cost, an
obi alone will often entail an outlay of ten or fifteen
pounds sterling, and a lady of good position, without
being at all extravagantly dressed, will carry fifty pounds
DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 87
worth of clothing alone, without counting jewellery,
upon her somewhat petite figure. But the Japanese
husband is proud to see his wife suitably attired, even
if he wears shabby garments himself. It is not at all
a matter for regret that the wave of fashion, which set
in about the year 1886, in favour of Parisian or Berlin
modes, has already receded. The ancient dress of
Japanese ladies was well suited to their style of
beauty and graceful manners. The European dresses
could not detract from their personal charms of feature,
voice, and gesture, but it hampered their movements,
and they endured agonies through the tight shoes
which they insisted upon wearing.
For years the Empress set her face against the inno-
vation, but she relaxed her opposition at last, and ap-
peared with her Court ladies habited in M. Worth's
creations on a public occasion in 1886. From that time
the rage for foreign costume became uncontrollable, and
during the next three or four years a Japanese lady was
a dowdy unless garbed in the robes of the Occident.
The reaction came, and a complete return to the
original costume is by no means improbable.
The Household. In Japan the marriage relation
still partakes more of the nature of a civil contract than
a religious one, though of late years the latter phase has
entered considerably into the ceremony. Formerly no
one was allowed to marry out of his rank. A gentleman
of the military class could not ally himself with the
daughter of a merchant or trader, rior could the trader
88 ADVANCE JAPAN.
go a grade lower and marry an Eta maiden, whose rank
was the least respected in the social scale. The old feudal
chieftains and nobles could not marry without the per-
mission of the Court.
It would not be fair to judge of the position of a
Japanese matron by any standard which we have in
Europe. In the old regime she was head of the house-
hold, but held a position subordinate, nevertheless, to
that of her husband. She was the Oku-sama or
honoured mistress of the interior, but, save at the
evening meal, she could not sit down, or her children
either, with the Shujin, or master. An amelioration
has been brought about in the past few years, in which
the Empress Haruko has had no small share. She
is a sturdy champion of the rights of her country-
women.
The Japanese wife is now, among all women in the
East, the most respected and free. She is always a
careful housekeeper, and she excels as a tender, loving
mother. Her bright disposition, economical manage-
ment of money, and perfect cleanliness and order in
her household duties, ensure for her an honoured posi-
tion. It has ever been a maxim in Japan that the
direction and scope of the wife's duties are altogether
internal, while those of the husband are external. As the
century draws to a close the position of womankind in
Japan is becoming more and more elevated. The high
officials of the Empire now constantly appear in society
with their wives, and mingle freely in European circles.
DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS.
89
The innate refinement and natural demeanour of
Japanese ladies is always a subject of comment by
visitors privileged to meet them. Children are re-
garded in Japan as a great blessing, but large families
are seldom to be found. The average household
throughout the country is a trifle over five in number.
Tobacco-smoking is very popular in Japan, among all
classes, high and lo\v, male and female. The plant was
TOBACCO POUCH AND PIPE-CASE.
introduced by the Portuguese at the beginning ot the
seventeenth century. The pipes are from six to ten
inches in length, and contain but a very small quantity of
the prepared leaf, which is cut very fine, and smokes like
Latakia. The bowl is no larger than an acorn-cup. One
go ADVANCE JAPAN.
or two whiffs exhaust its contents, the ashes arc knocked
out into the brazier, more tobacco is inserted, and the
operation of imbibing (the Japanese word is tabako wo
nomu, lit. to drink tobacco) is repeated again and again.
A guest is at once invited to smoke on paying a visit,
and ladies draw up to either side of the fireplace with
their little pipes often of silver for an enjoyable after-
noon gossip. Cigars are now in fashion among men,
and cigarettes are also consumed by millions every
month in the larger cities. The light Japanese leaf,
which is produced all over the southern provinces, lends
itself admirably to cigarette-smoking, but for cigars it is
not such a signal success, doubtless owing to the mode
of preparation not being so perfectly understood as it is
in Havana or Manila. This knowledge will come to the
Japanese tobacco-grower in due time.
~")
CHAPTER V.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION.
VERYWHERE the idea has pre-
vailed that down to very recent
times the real monarch of Japan
lived a life of complete isolation in
his palace at Kioto, while the affairs
of Government were entirely in the
hands of a pseudo-sovereign, termed
the Tycoon. It is high time that the general reader
should be disabused of so altogether erroneous an idea.
From the time the first Mikado commenced his reign,
six hundred years before the Christian era, down to the
time when Henry the Second sat on the English throne,
the Tens/it of Japan was an absolute personal ruler over
the people of Nihon. In Yoritomo's day the Tens/ii
consented to take a less active part in matters of State,
and deputed the Shogun (miscalled by Europeans, at a
later date, the Tycoon) to perform the principal military
duties. Yoritomo, being an ambitious man, conceived
the notion of elevating himself and his office of Shogun
92 ADVANCE JAPAN.
to a position one stage above that occupied by the terri-
torial lords of the provinces. As the right hand of the
Emperor he held the key of the position, and in the
course of a few years he attained such an ascendancy as
to achieve, to a great extent, the object of his ambition.
He succeeded in making himself almost as powerful as
the true monarch, but he remained a subject, and there-
in lay the essential distinction which has at all times
been preserved and recognised in Japan between the
position of the Shogun and the Tenshi.
Yoritomo strengthened his position continually by
bold achievement in the field against the enemies of his
country, and sturdily held his own against the other
daimios from among whom he had risen, and who were
naturally not a little jealous of his power. When he
died he bequeathed to his successors in the office of
Shdgun an unquestioned supremacy in the Councils of
State, and this was maintained with almost unvarying
ability by those who followed him, until, in 1868, the
reigning Emperor abolished the office entirely.
During those seven centuries which intervened be-
tween the creation of the post of Shogun and its aboli-
tion, there were periods in which the actual Emperor,
from his retired position at Kioto, thought fit to assert
himself, and to take a prominent part in the control.
Though His Majesty made no public appearance on the
scene, his influence was paramount when he chose to
exert it. Some of the Emperors were energetic, some
were indifferent, and upon the attitude of the real
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 93
Sovereign naturally depended that of his vicegerent.
A Tenshi who was disposed to be something more
than a mere figure-head, was sure to curtail, for the
time being, the arrogance of his chief subject. On the
other hand, a monarch who was indisposed to exertion
would permit the affairs of his realm to glide along
without personal interference with the stately figure at
the helm.
Once it is comprehended that the Shogun, or " Ty-
coon," exercised no control prior to A.D. 1192, and that
the office was finally abolished in 1 868, it is tolerably
easy to follow the course of Japanese history, and to
trace the influence which has been exercised upon the
people of modern Nihon by the events of their earlier
years.
There is no doubt that in Japan we have a noteworthy
example of the benefit to be derived from acquiescence
in the principle of " the divine right of kings." For
more than 25 centuries the Japanese have been faithful
to the traditions of their ancestors, and have steadfastly
acknowledged their allegiance to the lineal representative
of their first Emperor. He was named Jinmu Tennd,
son of the Heavenly Light-giver Ama Terasu in other
words, the Sun Goddess, Tenshiu Daijin, and exercised
sway, at the outset, not on the mainland of Hondo, but
in the southern island of Kiushiu. He subsequently
crossed over to the neighbourhood of Hiroshima, and
after suppressing the lawless tribes of that region pushed
on to Yamato province, wherein is situated the ancient
94 ADVANCE JAPAN.
city of Xara. This is not mere tradition, but authentic
history, for there is no doubt that the dynasty, of which
Jinmu was the progenitor, dates from the year 663
B.C. This unchallenged claim suffices to warrant the
present Emperor's contention, recorded in a procla-
mation some years ago, that his house, " from Jinmu
Tennd on to the present day, has ruled in Dai-Nippon,
according to the will of the gods." As such, moreover,
it is indisputably the oldest dynasty on earth, and
we need not go so far back as to take into considera-
tion a further declaration that " the divine ancestors of
Jinmu Tenno laid the foundations of the world."
.liniiiii Tenno. Kashiwabara, near Nara, was the
spot where Jinmu set up his capital (660 B.C.). It had
occupied him three years to voyage from Mimidzu in
Hiuga, on the east coast of Kiushiu, to Naniwa, the
modern Osaka, for he appears to have been engaged in
conquering the aborigines en route.
Jinmu is declared to have received from Tensho
Daijin a circular mirror and a sword, as symbols of Im-
perial power. These he carefully preserved and handed
down to his successor. In this way they reached the
tenth Emperor, who deposited them in a temple which
he built in honour of Tensho Daijin, near the present
town of Yamada in Ise". Consequently, the Ise temple
has come to be the Mecca of the Japanese nation, and
dates from about 35 B.C.
Thousands of pilgrims visit Ise yearly, and in the old
days the Emperors did so likewise, more particularly
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 95
upon the eve of great undertakings. The mirror re-
mains the symbol of the deity in that form of worship
denominated Sliinto, which is the state religion of Japan,
and, literally translated, means " the law of the gods."
Jinmu was a powerful and enlightened monarch, who
encouraged agriculture, and gave to his people their
cereals, together with hemp, garlic, and ginger. The
eleventh Mikado, Sujin Tenno, was contemporaneous
with Jesus Christ, and conferred immense benefits on
his people, notably the storage of water in reservoirs, to
facilitate rice-culture, and the construction of canals.
Jingu-Kogo, often erroneously declared to have been
Japan's only feminine ruler, was really the consort of
the fourteenth Mikado, and accompanied him on his
warlike expeditions. She urged upon him the conquest
of Korea, and after his death undertook it herself, as
regent, during her son's minority, and was supported by
her counsellor, Takeno-uchi, then an old man of eighty-
two. She fitted out a fleet, and, clad in man's armour,
commanded it in person. The kings of the peninsula,
one after another, made submission, and offered costly
presents as an inducement to her to depart. She brought
away all the books she could find, among other spoils,
and thus gave to her people their earliest literature.
Buddhism and Confucianism followed in due course, as
also the Chinese written language. Animals and plants
were next imported from the Middle Kingdom, and
here we have the origin of that close connection be-
tween China and Japan which induced people to regard
96 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the two peoples as identical. The link established be-
tween the Korean peninsula and Japan proved the high-
way for the introduction of that civilisation which had
its root in Buddhism. Japan became more or less
dominated by Chinese arts, industries, medicine, and
even political institutions. That old warrior spirit of
Yamato-damashi which had animated Japan's people
became sicklied o'er with a pale cast of Chinese fashion
and effeminacy. The Sovereigns lost their energy and
degenerated into dreamers, more than one having ex-
changed his throne for the shelter of the Buddhist
cloister.
BuddhiMin Introduced. The early history of
Japan, in fact, resembles in many respects that of our
own islands, for although the territory of the Tenshi has
never been successfully invaded by a hostile force, there
was often much internecine strife. The parallel might
be drawn very closely, but it will suffice for the present
purpose to allude to a few salient points of resemblance
which appear to show that the Japanese people have
marched to theirexistinghigh position among the civilised
peoples of the world by a path in which they encountered
many of the difficulties which beset our own ancestors.
The period embraced by the Saxon Heptarchy in
Britain was a period in which Japan likewise underwent
many vital changes. Though they experienced nothing
like that Danish invasion which our Saxon forefathers
were fated at that epoch to unsuccessfully battle with, the
same century witnessed an irruption into Japan, as we
II
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 99
have seen, of the not less potent because peaceful forces
of Buddhism, and the Japanese have been subject in
great measure to the humanising influences of that faith
ever since. Buddha's doctrines have held a certain sway,
particularly over the female portion of the population,
for over a thousand years, though the religion of the
Mikados has always been Shinto. At the time when
Catholic missionaries were Christianising the Kingdom
of Northumbria, Buddhist missionaries from China and
Korea were converting to Buddhism large numbers of
the people of Japan. Whilst at the Whitby Council of
A.D. 664, it was decided that the priests of the English
Church should adopt the Roman tonsure, the priests
of Japan, at about the same period, adopted the plan of
shaving the head altogether. Just as the influence of
King Oswy was thrown into the scale in Northumbria, in
favour of the views of the Romish Church, the announced
preference of the Empress Gemmei for the rites of the
new religion aided very materially to establish, in Japan,
the observances of a faith which came, by a roundabout
way, from India.
Japan was indebted to India at about the same date
for the introduction of the cotton-plant, some seeds
having been given to the farmers of Mikawa pro-
vince by wrecked Hindoo sailors in gratitude for the
kindness shown them. This trait in the character of
the inhabitants of the Japanese coasts has distinguished
them throughout their history.
Early Writing*. A little later, in the eighth century,
H 2
ioo ADVANCE JAPAN.
the system of writing termed the Katakana was invented,
as a modification of the cumbrous Chinese system of
innumerable ideographs. The Katakana symbols are
merely modifications of Chinese square characters, to the
number of forty-five only, and in these, with two accents,
every syllable of the Japanese tongue can be perfectly
expressed.
Oranges were introduced from China, and gold and
silver were first successfully mined in Japan, in the same
century.
The influence which Chinese literature exercised at
this epoch upon the minds of the Japanese people was
immense. The Chinese calendar was adopted in its
entirety, and the form of government was largely
modelled upon that of the neighbouring Empire. The
offices of Dai-jo-dai-jin (Great Council's Chief) with
Sa-dai-jin, Udaijin, and Nadaijin (Vice-Presidents of
the Left and Right, and of Home Affairs) were then
created, and have been retained throughout as the
highest positions in the Empire. (The left, in Japan, it
will be observed, ranks higher than the right.) China
was accustomed for centuries, indeed, to act as preceptor
to Japan, the influence so wielded having had its origin
in the transplantation of Buddhism. We have a close
parallel to this in the effects traceable in Great Britain to
the employment of Latin, and the spread of the Christian
faith. Chinese words, only slightly modified, form as
important a part of Japanese speech as do words derived
from the Latin tongue in the English language of the
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 101
day. The technology of science in the Far East is all
of Chinese origin ; and it exhibits the antiquity of
Chinese philosophy in a strong light when we see that
the resources of the language of the Middle Kingdom
have proved equal to the modern demand ; there seems
to have been no lack of a Chinese term, at any time, by
THE CLASSIC DANCE.
which to designate a modern European Science, or of
expressions by which to convey a fairly accurate idea of
its practical application.
Not only did Japan obtain her earliest ideas of science
and her literature from her gigantic neighbour, but she
102 ADVANCE JAPAN.
was inoculated with her passion for art from the same
source. Chinese art has left its mark on that of Japan,
whether it be in the direction of painting and sculpture,
or of those industrial and mechanical channels of its
application wherein the pupil has to some extent out-
shone the master. Japan has refined and idealised upon
a foundation which had its origin in the more robust
realisations of the early Chinese masters, and the evidence
of her success is clearly marked in the exquisite creations
which figure in the collections of connoisseurs.
Just as the Japanese acquired a knowledge of various
arts and sciences a thousand years ago from the Chinese,
and having absorbed all the information obtainable,
began to improve upon the methods of application, so
we, in times past, have owed much to the civilisation of
older nations, and continue to advance in the skilful
adaptation of principles which were familiar to the
people of ancient Egypt, or of Greece and Rome. In
the same way that they became the ready pupils of
China in the early days of the Christian era, the Japa-
nese have, in later years, become the diligent students
of Occidental progress, and already have done their ut-
most to better the instruction. In some respects they
have succeeded, and the effort, under any circumstances,
does credit to their energy and farsightedness.
Heroes of Old. Descending to a later period of the
history of Nihon we reach the stage when the fine arts
languished, and the nation was torn by centuries of
war.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 103
In fact, a remarkable resemblance in their effects might
be traced in the continual feuds of the Taira and Mina-
moto clans to our own Wars of the Roses. The two
Japanese houses thus designated were also known as the
Hei and Gen families. In the tenth and eleventh cen-
turies they virtually divided the country into two fac-
tions, every inhabitant owning allegiance to one or other
of these two powerful claimants for the supremacy. In
turn they seized the ruling power and completely over-
awed the reigning Mikado's Government. The Mikado
of their time was himself prone to play off one clan
against the other, as a means of preventing either of
them from acquiring strength sufficient to overthrow the
Throne. Instead of the feuds of the York and Lan-
caster clans of the Far East terminating, however, in the
ascendancy, as with us, of a potentate who united both
houses after 30 years of conflict the Japanese warred
against each other for more than half a century, and
the Taira clan was in the end annihilated. But there
was no peace for the survivors, for they were attacked
by other clans and succumbed in their turn to superior
force. The Mikado of those days, it has been said,
was only a puppet in the hands of these factions, but
he at all events managed adroitly enough to use one
family's power to punish the arrogance of the other,
so that if he could not keep peace within his borders
he at all events employed the rivals in turn in fighting
his battles.
i or it onto. Kiyomori was head of the Taira clan in
104 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the twelfth century, and being a man of great energy and
ambition, he perpetually strove to obtain places at Court
for his own family and adherents. For three years the
clans fought for possession of the Sovereign's person.
In 1159 A.I), the Tairas triumphed, and the prominent
men of the other side were all put to death, including
the head of the clan, Yoshitomo. The chief's son, how-
ever who bore the name, afterwards so celebrated in
the history of Japan, of Yoritomo was interceded for
by Kiyomori's mother, and the lad's life was spared.
Yoshitsun6, his half-brother, was also spared, and the
two eventually 30 years later overthrew the Taira
supremacy. In 1181 Kiyomori died, and the Taira
power began to wane. Yoritomo mustered the Mina-
moto faction, and gathering strength in the Kuanto
region they marched westward under the command of
Yoshitsun in one grand series of triumphs, culminating
at Dan-no-ura, close to the town of Shimonoseki, in
a naval battle in which a large proportion of the Tairas
and their allies were drowned.
Relation of Shogun to Mikado* Yoritomo's suc-
cess, as the leading spirit of the times, was now un-
bounded, and he rapidly consolidated his power in the
KuantO) practically making himself master of all the
centre and north of Hondo. He set up his headquarters
at Kamakura, not far from Yokohama, a place of great
attraction to this day by reason of its historical associa-
tions. Facing the sea-shore, this town is completely
enclosed on the landward side by a semicircle of hills
EARLY HISTORY Ot THE NATION 105
through which the roads communicating with the interior
are driven in deep artificial cuttings. Close by is the
colossal bronze figure of Buddha (Dai-butsu, or the great
image), and the region is one which possesses a vast
amount of interest for travellers. Yoritomo made
Kamakura the capital of Eastern Japan, and trans-
formed a mere village into a military depot, with
extensive barracks and a palace for himself. But few
traces of these now remain, yet the effects of his occu-
pancy are still felt, for it was here that the great warrior
entered upon a career which had very far-reaching
results. He induced the reigning Emperor, as already
recorded, to create him Sei-i-iai-sJwgun literally "bar-
barian-subjugating-generalissimo," and he was thus
empowered, as Commander-in-Chief of the forces of the
Mikado, to exercise control over the provinces which he
had already subjugated. His office was to preserve
peace and tranquillity, and he and all his successors in
the post, down to Hitotsubashi the last of his line,
owned allegiance to the Emperor and was invested
with his powers by the Sovereign. This substantial
domination of the Shogun over all the daimios, or here-
ditary chieftains of the land, gave rise to the notion
that Japan had a dual monarchy. One Sovereign was
supposed to be the temporal head, and the other the
" spiritual " head of the realm. The impression was
altogether erroneous, though the line of Shoguns, from
Yoritomo downwards, wielded such vast power as su-
preme heads of the military organisation of the Empire,
106 ADVANCE JAPAN.
that strangers might well be excused if they arrived
at the conclusion that the potentate they alone came
in contact with was the actual Sovereign.
Yoritomo's sons succeeded him, but with them the
Minamoto clan came to the end of its shortlived
supremacy, and the Hojo family, which had marched
in line with the Minamotos, took the chief position.
But they never held the office of Shogun in their grasp,
for it was conferred, in default of a direct succession
among the Minamotos, upon the house of Fujiwara, the
family traditions of which have been maintained with
untarnished brilliancy, in the annals of Japan, to the
present time.
Yoritomo's camp at Kamakura practically ceased to
exist after an attack made upon it in A.D. 1333, and the
Hojo family established its chief seat at Odawara, a
castle town only 37 miles from Yokohama, and actually
visited by thousands who probably are unaware that it
was for some time the centre of the chief military power
of Japan.
Yoritomo, the equivalent in prowess of Richard Cceur
de Lion, was dealing death to the enemies of Japan in
the same year that our enthusiastic monarch was head-
ing the Third Crusade. Yoritomo and his half-brother
Yoshitsune are perhaps the most notable heroes of
Japanese history, and their exploits have served to
animate the poet and the painter for centuries past.
The paper currency of the Japanese Empire, at the
present day, is embellished with representations of
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 107
events which are famous in the annals of Dai Nihon,
wherein these and other mail-clad warriors performed
prodigies of valour. A suit of armour was as much a
necessity in those days with the Japanese knight as
it was with the followers of our Plantagenets, and one
wonders how men were found to wear the weighty and
inconvenient panoply of ancient Nihon, for a Japanese
helmet even alone was a formidable affair.
Yoritomo and his successors well sustained the char-
acter, among the neighbouring States, for bold achieve-
ment, which even at that period had been acquired by
his nation, in virtue of their frequent raids upon adjoin-
ing territory, notably upon Korea, and the English can
scarcely have been a greater terror to the inhabitants of
Normandy than were the Japanese for some centuries, off
and on, to the people of Korea and their Celestial allies.
The Ashikaga clan held the office of Shdgun for 240
years, but it was wrested from them by Ota Nobunaga,
another of that long line of mediaeval heroes whom
Japanese romantic literature delights to honour. The
real monarch temporarily came to the front in the per-
son of the Emperor Godaigo, who succeeded for a space
of two years, in personally conducting the affairs of his
country. In A.D. 1335 the administration again fell
into the hands of the Shdgun, and so remained during
the 533 years which followed, until his deposition in
1868.
The most famous among the leaders of the sixteenth
century, a time when Japanese prestige ranked very high
io8 ADVANCE fAPAN.
among the nations of the distant Orient, was Toyotomi
Hideyoshi, who carved out with his sword an ineffaceable
record on the history of the East. Hideyoshi it was who,
under the appellation of Taiko-sama, translatable as
" Great General," visited Korea, and fought desperately
for several years at intervals against the owners of the
soil and the Chinese who had gathered there to assist
IYEYASU'S CASTLE AND MOAT AT TOKIO.
them. Ping- Yang, since so celebrated as the scene of a
great Japanese victory, was likewise, in Hideyoshi's time,
the battle-ground on several occasions, and it was not
until death relieved the Korean King of his indefati-
gable enemy that that monarch knew what it was to
breathe freely. Hideyoshi bestowed the office of Shogun
which he never held himself, though he attained to
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 109
supreme military power upon Tokugawa lyeyasu, and
gave him control of the eight provinces of the Kuanto,
directing him to take up his position at Yedo, which
has since become a city of such renown, as the Mikado's
present Capital.
Advent of Christianity. It was during the Ashi-
kaga period that the reigning monarch received a
visit from the Portuguese Mendez Pinto, who was in
due time followed by Dutch and English traders.
Christianity was obtaining a firm hold of the Japan-
ese people, after its introduction in 1542, and for some
decades it bade fair to become the popular religion, for
Ota Nobunaga, the Shogun before alluded to, hated
Buddhism with a most pronounced hatred, and fostered
Christianity as a competitor therewith, until his atten-
tion was called to what was believed to be the seditious
teaching of the Jesuit missionaries. From that time the
fate of Christianity was sealed, for the edicts against it
which followed were so severe as to afford it no oppor-
tunity of flourishing for nearly three centuries after-
wards.
It was, however, in the early days of the Tokugavva
supremacy that the native Christians were subjected to
actual persecution. The Christian faith was proscribed
in Japan from A.D. 1614 to 1868. For 23 years the
converts were subjected to all kinds of penalties until in
1637 an attack was made on the stronghold of Shimabara,
in which they had entrenched themselves, and 30,000
persons were killed or banished. Notwithstanding these
no ADVANCE JAPAN.
severe measures, there were many who clung to the
faith, and it was found still surviving, in the locality of
Nagasaki, when the edicts were withdrawn on the pre-
sent Emperor's accession, 27 years ago.
Emigration Prohibited. It was at the period of
these religious conflicts, in 1621 A.D., that the Japanese
were forbidden to leave their country, and the building
of ships was limited to those of small size in order that
the sailors should not be able longer to navigate the
ocean. Prior to this, large Japanese vessels had traded
to India and the Straits Settlements.
In 1624 A.D. all foreigners were expelled from Japan,
excepting the Dutch, who were strictly confined to the
small tract of land in Nagasaki harbour known as
Deshima. There can be little doubt that the action of
the Jesuit missionaries had in no small degree con-
tributed to bring about this revulsion of feeling. The
age was one of religious intolerance, when things were
done " to the honour of God " which utterly disgraced
the Christian faith. We find a parallel in our own
annals in the years 1554-58. That very religious zeal
which the Jesuits extolled was calculated to abase
Christianity in the eyes of so intelligent a nation as the
Japanese. The mutual hostility of the Christian orders
excited their wonder, and the evil lives led by foreign
visitors to their shores, at Nagasaki and Hirado, could
not but fill the Japanese with amazement at the incon-
sistencies of professing Christians. The foreign traders
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. in
bought Japanese children and sold them again as
slaves in Manila and Macao. Human flesh was cheap
in those dark days of the Japanese Empire, but the
greatest danger to the State, in the eyes of the ruling
powers, lay in the fact that obedience to temporal laws
was not inculcated by the missionaries, and that, on the
contrary, the converts were taught to despise the
authority of parents and to set at naught the tenets of
their ancestors.
The fear lest the native Christians should, through
foreign influence, become traitors to their country was
the principal cause of their persecution. As lyeyasu
said at the time : " If my dynasty perishes in con-
sequence of civil wars, this is a disgrace which only
falls upon me ; but if only an inch of our country were
to fall into foreign hands, the whole nation would have
cause to be ashamed."
Kuitiai Khan's Invaaion. It was during the
period when the Hojo clan ranked highest, in the year
1281 A.D., that Kublai Khan, the great Mongol con-
queror, sought to overwhelm Japan, and was beaten off
just as the Spaniards were driven away from England
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth three centuries later.
Kublai Khan fitted out his armada on the coast of
Fuh-Kien, not far from Foochow, and sought to make
a descent upon the Mikado's south-west dominions. His
forces numbered 100,000 men, of three nationalities,
Chinese, Mongolian, and Korean. Several battles were
H2 ADVANCE JAPAN.
fought, but a storm finally dispersed the fleet, and the
Japanese, taking the ships in detail, chased and harassed
them so that scarcely any escaped to tell the tale. The
Mongols had on several occasions claimed submission
from Japan, and Kublai, who had conquered every other
nation within reach, felt confident that he could subdue
the islanders. He discovered that he had to deal with
an unconquered race, and after the destruction of the
armada the Mongols deemed it prudent to leave the
Japanese to themselves.
The Tokuguwa Regime. If, in the 250 years
which followed lyeyasu's tenure of office, Japan had
outward peace, she was greatly troubled by internal
dissensions and endless intrigues among the han, and
small civil wars frequently arose in the provinces touch-
ing the succession to the chieftainship of one or other
of the clans. Jealousies and private feuds existed
among the daimios themselves, and they even fought
in the sacred precincts of the Shdgun's castle. More
and more the great Kokushiu rebelled against their en-
forced residence in the Capital for a fixed annual period,
and chafed under the restrictions imposed upon them
by one whom they regarded as practically no higher in
class than themselves. The feudal system became ex-
ceedingly burdensome to the peasantry, and a re-action
against the military domination set in gradually, the
hope of men's hearts being a revival of the ancient
regime under which the Mikado was the sole ruler,
and before whom every subject, gentle or simple,
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 113
was ready to make obeisance. The supremacy of the
Skogun was doomed, for the Mikado's cause was
warmly espoused by the great clans of Satsuma, Tosa,
and Choshiu.
The advent of foreigners upon the scene in 1854 had
no appreciable effect upon the state of affairs, save, pos-
sibly, to hasten the climax, for the revolution would
have taken place in any case. The Japanese needed a
change. The dual control, as far as it existed, had
become most irksome. The treaties of 1858 were un-
popular in many quarters, and the Shogun was blamed
for entering into them, but they did not cause the up-
heaval.
Tokio owes the foundation of its present wealth and
prosperity to lyeyasu, under whose auspices it became
the headquarters of an army of 80,000 katamoto, or
bannermen, as they would have been under a Manchu
regime, who took up residence in the barracks (yashiki)
of the castle precincts. The superior grades of the
hatamoto were landowners, on a smaller scale than
the daimios, though they rarely went to their country
seats. The daimios, on the other hand, only visited
the Capital at certain stated intervals, residing for the
most part in the castle towns of their provinces, though
their wives and families remained in Tokio as hostages
for their lords' allegiance to the authority of the Shogun.
The daimios' territories were called /tan, and practi-
cally they were ruled separately and entirely in accord-
ance with the will of the chieftain, who issued his own
I
H4 ADVANCE JAPAN.
paper currency, negotiable only within his own borders.
Even as late as 1872, when one crossed the boundary of
a province, it was necessary to get all one's bank-notes
exchanged, lest, after the first mile, they became value-
less. The currency was purely local.
Though the line of Tokugawa Shoguns of which
lyeyasu was the founder practically ruled Japan until
1868, neither during their time, nor at any time during
the preceding centuries, when the other clans retained
the office of Shdgun in their grasp, was the real supre-
macy of the Mikados even momentarily in doubt. No
matter how completely the actual monarch succeeded in
effacing himself, and it must be acknowledged that
some of them did so to a degree which left their subjects
often in doubt of the very name of the Tens/it, the
ruler of the Nihon-jin was the descendant of Jinmu
Tennd, and no ordinary mortal could fill his place on the
throne of Japan.
The retention of the office of Shogun for centuries in
one family gave to that position greater importance than
it would ever have attained, as far as may be judged, had
it been conferred upon each favoured individual by the
mere will of the Sovereign. Heredity counted for much
in those days, and a single clan was as potent for good
or evil in the Far East as it formerly was in Scotland.
Had such power as that which was exercised by the
Sh6guns of Japan been wielded for centuries in any
other land, the chances are that the true monarch would
have been passed over altogether, and the man who
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 117
filled the eye for the time being would have been
accepted by the multitude as the actual lord. But the
danger of this happening in Japan was non-existent so
long as the people were willing to regard the sublime
personage at Kioto as entitled to claim descent from
Ama-ga-terasu. No subject of the Japanese Emperor
would ever have dared to place himself on such a
pedestal, and if such a feat had ever been attempted
the populace would have been very emphatic in its
condemnation of such presumption. The Shogun was
powerful by virtue of the commands laid upon him by
the unseen Emperor, and if he sometimes exceeded his
powers there was no one to say nay. He might exer-
cise most of the privileges of sovereignty, but it would
have been fatal to his authority to claim absolute
power. Thus the Shogun nominally consulted the Em-
peror, and it not unnaturally depended very much on
the personal characteristics of the two men who for the
time being stood in this close relationship, whether
the real Mikado took an active interest in the affairs
of his people, or merely assented to what was done in
his name.
Looking through the pages of Japanese history it is
not difficult to recognise in certain places the presence
of a living ruler in the person of the exalted potentate
at Kioto, whilst in other instances it has been plain
that the master spirit dwelt not in the Mikado's palace,
but in that of the Shogun at Kamakura, or, at a later
date, at Yedo. It was inevitable that there should be
1 18 AD VANCE JA PAJV.
fierce jealousies and conflicts among the haughty
princes who enjoyed the possession of wide tracts of
country and vast revenues in their own right, and so
we find that the daimios fought very frequently, and
that down to very recent times there was a northern
faction and a southern faction. The latter would have
preferred to furnish the Mikado with a line of Shdguns
from their own part of the country, and the northern
gentry were quite as determined in their resolve that
the Tokugawa dynasty, which had its ramifications in
the three families of Mito, Kishiu, and Owari should
not be uprooted.
The DuimioH' Revenues. It may be that some
who have had no opportunity of knowing how very
exalted was the position, under the old regime, of the
men who rank to-day as the Japanese aristocracy, will
be disposed to smile at the apparently servile imitation
of European titles which is perceptible under the new
Government. The whole thing arose from the necessity
of employing some method of indicating rank which
should be efficient and expressive without being cum-
bersome. The titles now employed, though not literal
translations of those borne of old by Japanese grandees,
are very much to the purpose, because they convey a
correct impression of the relatively high rank which
those who bear such titles now were always warranted
to assume in times past. The innovation is of alto-
gether recent date, though the families and individuals
on which the patents were conferred can boast an an-
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 119
tiquity of ancestral origin in no way inferior to that of
the aristocracy of the nations of the West. The Daimio
of half a million Koku, for example, was a veritable land-
owner on a scale equalled only by our senior dukes and
earls, and exercised quite as much influence on his own
estates. It was only just that when the Government
absorbed the landed property of these nobles, and gave
them a fixed income in return, the distinction attaching
to their rank should be in some manner perpetuated
apart from the connection with the land which they
relinquished. Thus a few were created marquises, and
others counts, in their own right, the custom which
prevails throughout Europe of associating a certain
eminence of station with a given title being recognised
by the Japanese as more convenient than that which
had previously obtained in their own country. To say
the least of it, the system which accorded rank to a
feudal chieftain, mainly in respect of the number of
bushels of rice which his land would produce, was one
which had its drawbacks when comparisons with the
Occident had to be instituted, though at other times it
had many . advantages. A Koku is 4*96 bushels, and
land that would not produce rice was not worth count-
ing. The lord of a territory which yielded half a
million Koku was thus inevitably the possessor, not
only of a considerable extent of arable land for it is
only practical to grow a certain fixed quantity of rice
annually on a field of a given size but his domain
might include, and usually did so include, large tracts
120 ADVANCE JAPAN.
of uncultivated country, from which neither rice nor any
other crop was obtainable. It conveyed a tolerably
good idea to the Japanese of the magnate's territorial
possessions to measure his- income by actual produce in
grain, and to the initiated there is no doubt that the
expression, " a daimio of half a million Koku" for
example, conveyed a much more definite impression
of wealth than is implied by the mere ownership of
thousands of acres of almost unproductive soil. The
daimio, as a title, was abolished 25 years ago, but the
individual so designated will now be found ranking as
marquis, count, or viscount, his present status depend-
ing to a great extent on his former position in the scale
of daimios. It will be seen from this that the assump-
tion of titles corresponding to those of the West has
had ample warranty, even if a similar standard be ap-
plied. No Spanish hidalgo prides himself more upon
purity of descent and ancient lineage than does the
Japanese Kwazoku.
The Koku of rice was formerly worth about 20 shillings,
and thus a daimio of 500,000 Koku had an income of
about half a million per annum. Many of the more
wealthy lords owned territories yielding 300,000 Koku,
whilst Kaga, the richest of them, had a revenue of over
a million Koku. There were about 300 of these feudal
chieftains, the poorest of whom could place the value of
10,000 Koku annually to his account. A few of the
more prominent among them are named in the list ap-
pended.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION.
121
Family Name.
Lordship.
Residence.
Produce in
Koku of rice.
Mayeda ...' Kaga Noto Echiu
Kanazawa ...
1,027,000
Shimadzu ... Satsuma, Osuijii,
Hiuga and Loo-
choo Is.
Kagoshima ...
710,000
Date
Sendai (Mutsu) ...
Sendai
625,000
Matsudaira
Echizen
Fukui
320,000
Matsudaira
Aidzu(Iwashiro)...
Wakamatsu...
230,000
Hosokawa
Higo
Kumamoto ...
540,000
Kuroda
Chikuzen
Fukuoka
520,000
Asano
Geishiu (Aki)
Hiroshima ...
426,000
Mori
Choshiu and Suwo
Hagi
369,000
Nabeshima
Hizen
Saga
35,X)
Ikeda
Inaba
Tottori
350,000
Ikeda Bizen
Okayama
315,000
Hachisuka ... Ashiu (Awa)
Tokushima ...
257,000
Yamanouchi ... Tosa
Kochi
242,000
Arima ...
Chikugo
Kurum^
2IO,OOO
Sataki
Akita(Ugo)
Akita
205,000
Nambu...
Nambu (Mutsu) ...
Morioka
200,000
Uyesugi
Uzen
Yonesawa . . .
150,000
i
122
CHAPTER VI.
THE RESTORATION.
MONG the southern clans wield-
ing most power were Choshiu
Satsuma, Hizen, and Tosa,
and the fact is very signifi-
cant that, by virtue of their
accessibility from the coast of
China and Hong Kong, these
clans had had opportunities
which were denied to the men
of the far north, of judging of the value of foreign
appliances and inventions.
Knowledge was power to the southern men, and with
the aid of certain European firms which had no object
to gain in depriving people of arms of precision if
those people were willing to purchase and pay for such
merchandise, the four clans named were speedily placed
in possession of the means to drill and equip small
armies on the European model.
The southern daimios were induced to make these
warlike preparations for several weighty reasons, one
being ostensibly that the Shdgun for the time being
THE RESTORATION. 123
had been induced to enter into a compact, or series of
compacts, with foreign powers, of which they disap-
proved. Another incentive to action doubtless was the
construction placed upon the then recent operations of
the British and French forces in China. If the Shdgun
was to be allowed to make treaties with Western
nations, giving them free admission for purposes of
trade, there was no saying where the troubles would
end. They were not desirous of having an European
army at the gates of the Emperor's palace in Japan, an
event which had only a short time before happened at
Peking.
The condition of the Tokugawa House, divided as it
was against itself at this time, sapped its vitality and
contributed in no small degree to its overthrow. A
Shogun had but recently died, and there had been two
candidates for his office, one being put forward by that
branch of the Tokugawa clan which hailed from Mito,
and the other from the Kishiu branch. The arbitrator
in this case was the hereditary regent, a personage upon
whom devolved by right the duty of acting as Shogun
in any interregnum, or during the minority of the ap-
pointed successor. The Go-Taira, as he was officially
styled, selected the young prince of the Kishiu branch,
to the great dissatisfaction of the Mito faction, and one
day as he was passing by the Sakurada gate of Yedo
castle, the Go-Taira was assassinated by emissaries of
Mito. The young Shdgun lyemochi was allowed to
hold his position, not a very secure one just then, until
124 ADVANCE JAPAN.
his death in September, 1 866, and he was at once suc-
ceeded by Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, the nominee of the
Mito clan, whose advent to power was signalised by
events of so portentous a character that he tendered
his resignation to his master, the Emperor at Kioto,
after only a few months' tenure of office. The Mikado
requested him, however, to continue to act as Shogun
for the time, and Hitotsubashi had no choice but to
comply. His subsequent life shows him to have been
at all times a person of most peaceable disposition, and
though responsible in a certain degree for the bloodshed
which occurred at a later date, it is to his credit that he
did his utmost to stop it, though unhappily when too
late to avert the calamity.
Practically, the dynasty of the Shoguns was doomed
before Hitotsubashi (who was in more recent years
known simply as Mr. Keiki, of Shidzuoka, though no
disrespect was thereby conveyed) succeeded to office.
Several things had contributed to bring about this con-
dition of affairs. The southern earls were tired of the
Tokugawa regime, and wished to see the Government
administered personally by the Mikado, as had always
been the case prior to Yoritomo's day. Among the
retainers of these southern clans were certain shizoku,
i.e., men of gentle birth, whose knowledge of affairs
beyond the pale of the Japanese Empire was extensive,
and had been acquired during a residence for some
years in Europe. They reappeared upon the scene in
Japan as passengers on the Kaiyo Maru, a ship built
THE RESTORATION. 125
for the purposes of naval warfare, and commanded by
Admiral Yenomoto. Of the subsequent history of this
vessel little need now be said beyond the fact that she
was sunk off Yeso, but her passengers have filled the
most important roles, for one was no less a personage
than Ito Hirobumi, the present Prime Minister of
Japan.
Marquis Ito's history since 1867 is the history of his
country, for he has, in one way or another, been identi-
fied with every prominent movement in that most enter-
prising of nations, Progressive Japan.
It has been shown that the power of the Shdguns
had become very sensibly diminished prior to the time
when the great contest commenced between North
and South. Even when Commodore Perry arrived in
1854 with his famous autograph letter, the way had
already to some extent been prepared for a change.
Komei Tenno was then the Mikado, and he was by no
means content to leave the conduct of affairs entirely in
the hands of the Shogun. He died in 1867, and was
succeeded by the present occupant of the throne, who
was then not quite seventeen years of age.
It is reasonable to suppose that His Majesty had had
full opportunity of observing the changes wrought in
the political constitution of the nation during the ten or
twelve years prior to his accession. Though resident at
the Kioto Palace, and not permitted, as a child, to see
anything of the outer world, he nevertheless sought and
obtained a considerable amount of information regard-
126 ADVANCE JAPAN.
ing its doings from those who constantly acted as his
tutors and counsellors. He was thus in no small degree
prepared, when he came to the throne, to fall in with
the views of his more advanced advisers, and his selec-
tion of a motto for his reign, the era of Enlightened
Rule, affords a definite indication of the state of mind
in which he approached the great questions which were
then agitating the people of his dominions. How
well he has acted up to the standard he established
for himself is matter of recent history, and it is neces-
sary for the moment to glance at the period immediately
antecedent to his accession.
Foreign Treaties. The conclusion of a treaty be-
tween the Sh6gun then in office, on behalf of the
Tenshi, with the President of the United States, which
had been negotiated by Commodore Perry, was shortly
followed by a similar compact with Great Britain. It
was not until 1858, however, that the arrangements
were completed, through Lord Elgin, for opening the
port of Yokohama to general trade, and for the re-
sidence there of foreign merchants. The latter treaty
likewise stipulated that in 1863 the two southern ports
of Hiogo and Osaka should be also thrown open to
commercial intercourse. Certain events contributed to
place it practically out of the power of Japan to fulfil
this part of the engagement, and in 1862, when it was
evident that there must inevitably be some delay,
an Embassy was despatched to Europe consisting of
several Japanese dignitaries and a numerous suite, to
THE RESTORATION. 127
request the Powers to consent to the postponement,
until 1868, of the opening of the additional ports
named. The request was acceded to, and after nearly
two years of travel the members of the Embassy re-
turned to Japan, more than astonished by what they
had seen in the various countries which they had visited.
" It is not the people of the West who are barbarians,"
they exclaimed on landing ; " we ourselves are the bar-
barous people ! " That this enthusiastic commendation
of the manners and customs of the Occident was some-
what coldly received by their colleagues may well be
imagined, and for some time no very palpable result
was obtained from the mission by either party. In the
meantime several events of great importance took place
on Japanese soil.
Although the Shogun had entered into treaties which
gave to Europeans certain liberty of access for purposes
of trade, there was a very powerful anti-foreign party in
the nation, which set itself to prove to those who were
primarily responsible for the strangers' presence that
there was a conspicuous lack of unanimity on the sub-
ject. The methods they adopted tended in no small
degree to make existence hazardous for the growing
foreign population, and it was small comfort to reflect
that the object the agitators sought to attain was quite
as much to embarrass the Shdgun's party as to expel
the " barbarians." Their antagonism took the form of
assassinating not only the Europeans, but those who
sympathised with them. Thus the murder of three
128 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Russians was followed by that of the native interpreter
to the British Legation, which had only recently been
established at Takanawa, a suburb of Yedo. Subse-
quently the Legation itself was attacked, and but for
the stout defence made, all within it would have been
slain. At another time the French Legation was dis-
covered to be on fire, the palace of the Shogun in Yedo
was burned, the newly-formed settlement of Yokohama
was fired, and as a climax the captains of two Dutch
vessels were cut down by two-sworded assassins in the
main street of the foreign quarter. When a severe
earthquake added its terrors to the evils of the hour,
the early settlers of the port of Yokohama realised that
they were living in very stirring times.
The daimio of Mito, elsewhere alluded to, was popu-
larly regarded as the instigator of all these atrocities,
and for years the very name of Mito became a bugbear
to foreign residents. The Mito faction were antagon-
istic to the Shogun's Government, otherwise known as
the Bakufu, because a nominee of the other branch of
the family tree had been chosen to fill the high office of
Shogun instead of Hitotsubashi, who represented Mito.
It was not until 1866 that the death of lyemochi gave
Hitotsubashi his opportunity, and Mito's opposition to
the Bakufu came to an end.
Sir Rutherford Alcock, the first British Minister to
the Court of Japan, had resolution enough, notwith-
standing the risk he ran in travelling so far from his
headquarters, to make a pilgrimage in 1860 to the
THE RESTORATION. 129
crater of Fujiyama, 80 miles from the Capital. He was
the first European to ascend the mountain, and to de-
termine its approximate height. The prevailing impres-
sion among the leading Japanese at that period was well
described when he declared that " free intercourse and
trade threatens them with a participation in all the
miseries, mutations, and political struggles from which
they have continued so long exempt. This is un-
doubtedly the feeling of the present Government, and
the opinion of daiinios generally all, in a word, who
have any voice or action in Japan. They see nothing
but evil in the conjunction which has brought Western
Powers to their shores and opened Japanese ports to
foreign trade."
Happily the occasion for lack of confidence was
finally removed thirty years ago, but unquestionably at
the time the situation of individual foreigners was often
critical.
Lord Elgin had been commissioned in 1858 to pre-
sent the Shogun with a steam yacht in the name of the
Queen of England, and it is a fact that at this period
the Japanese fleet, apart from this yacht, consisted of
one little paddle-wheel steamer bought from the Dutch,
two large square-rigged sailing vessels, and a three-
masted schooner. In another chapter will be found
an account of the Imperial Navy of Japan in 1895, and
of its recent doings, so that some idea may be gathered
of the progress made by Japan in this department
alone.
K
130 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Early EfTortM to Irani*. In 1862 the Shogun
inaugurated a trade with Shanghai, by sending thither
a British barque of 385 tons (which had been purchased
and renamed the Sen-zai-Maru, or Ship of a Thousand
Years), under the command of Captain Richardson, with
a party of eight officials from Yedo. It was intended
to open up a trade with China, and the incident is well
worth recording as perhaps the earliest effort of the
Japanese to develop that foreign trade in their own
vessels upon which they have so extensively embarked
in the last two decades.
The bombardment of Kagoshima, and subsequently
of Shimonoseki, by foreign men-of-war, were actions
brought about to a great extent by the growing in-
capacity of the Shdgun's Government, then rapidly
approaching its final extinction. The Satsuma and
Choshiu daimios evinced an utter disregard for the
Tokugawa authority, their quarrel being directly with
the Shogun, and only indirectly with Europeans. It
is not necessary here to enter upon a consideration
of the long chain of events which culminated, in both
cases, in open hostilities, for the ultimate effect was
scarcely to interfere with the national progress, though
in every way deplorable at the time. How little real
animosity was entertained towards Europeans, as a
body, was apparent when during the next year the
Satsuma chieftain cordially welcomed Sir Harry Parkes,
then British Minister ajt Yedo, on his visit to the Sat-
suma stronghold.
THE RESTORATION. 133
Enough has been said to show that though the
Northern clans espoused the cause of the Shogun, as
they were in duty bound to do, against his enemies
in the South, the climax was reached only when the
Tenshi was induced, by the condition of anarchy which
he then saw to be imminent, to take up the reins of
Government in person. Hitotsubashi, though believ-
ing that the act of His Majesty had been prompted
by his opponents, was ready to disperse his following
at the Imperial command, and to resign his position of
Shogun there and then. But though the Shogun was
willing, his supporters were unwilling, and were deter-
mined to prolong the fight. The Emperor declared
them rebels, and invested his uncle, Prince Arisugawa,
with full powers to suppress them. This was in Jan-
uary, 1868, and the end soon came. Supported by the
combined forces of Satsuma, Choshiu, Hizen, and Tosa,
the loyalist general gradually drove the adherents of
the Shogun northward, until he finally crushed them at
Hakodate in the island of Yeso.
Peace was made, and some of the most conspicuous
of the Shogun's party went abroad, returning after the
lapse of years to accept office under the Government
which had in the meantime been established and con-
solidated.
Prominent I^eittlerw. The Emperor Mutsuhito
determined in 1868, after the tide of rebellion had
been swept northwards, to remove his Court to Yedo.
In the Castle there he accordingly established himself,
i 3 4 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the former occupant having retired into private life at
Shidzuoka, 125 miles distant. The city of Yedo was
renamed Tokio, lit. Eastern Capital ; and now that the
party of progress had attained the upper hand, steps
were taken to introduce all those adjuncts to civilised
life which the Embassy of 1862 had so favourably
reported upon in 1864.
Prominent among those who fought on the side of the
loyalists against the Shogun's party were several officers
who have since risen to great distinction. Marquis
Yamagata, now Inspector-General, for example, rose
in the army of Choshiu, from the ranks to the com-
mand of a regiment, and has distinguished himself
throughout his career, not more by his valour than
by his devoted attachment to the Imperial Family.
Count Inouye, the Minister upon whom has devolved
the task of reorganising the affairs of the Korean
Kingdom, obtained his early military experience whilst
leading the forces of Choshiu, to repel the attack of the
Shogun's army, at an earlier period. Marquis Ito Hiro-
bumi, who returned from a five years' sojourn abroad
in time to take part in the stirring events of the restora-
tion period, was likewise a samurai of the Choshiu clan.
Marquis Saigo is a Satsuma man, and after occupying
many high posts in the Administration is at present the
Minister for the Navy. A more detailed list of the pro-
minent members of the Government has been furnished
in another chapter, and it is only necessary here to
allude to the acts of the Administration as a body.
THE RESTORATION. 135
Railways. Among the first steps taken by the new
Government of the Mikado \vas to arrange for the con-
struction of railways. They were at the outset at-
tracted by the offer of a prominent financier who under-
took to provide the requisite funds at 12 per cent,
interest. He failed to carry through his project, how-
ever, and the Oriental Banking Corporation stepped into
the gap, furnishing the money at 9 per cent. The Bank
appointed one of its most trusted managers to represent
it in Yokohama, and this gentleman was likewise engaged
by the Government as Director of the new railways. At
a more recent period money has been found by Jardine,
Matheson & Company, but at the present day all the
ready cash required by the Administration is procurable
in Japan itself, which fact affords ample proof that the
system of Government is regarded by the nation at
large as altogether stable and satisfactory. It was no
indication of a scarcity of money in the nation, as a
whole, when the Ministry undertook to borrow. It was
simply an admission that sufficient time had not elapsed
to convince native capitalists of the wisdom and feasi-
bility of the Government's novel undertakings. Until
the country had settled down to the new order of things,
it was obviously unwise to make heavy calls on the
national capital, though in order to carry out the Imperial
programme of progress and reform money was abso-
lutely essential. The Ministers had every confidence in
their plans, and the result shows that they were fully
justified. They have only now to intimate that money
i 3 6 ADVANCE JAPAN.
is needful, and the coin flows into the exchequer spon-
taneously.
How stupendous was the task which the Ministry had
set itself to accomplish will be understood when it is
explained that the former daimios had to be provided
for, as well as their retainers, and that many of the terri-
torial chieftains had been accustomed to issue paper
money in considerable quantities. The Government
could only be carried on by withdrawing all these feudal
lords from their domains, and providing for their
comfort at the Capital. Some had large estates, some
small. Some were rich in the accumulation of specie,
and could afford to be no burden to the State ; others
had loosened an avalanche of practically irredeemable
bank-notes for their successors to grapple with. The
retainers of these nobles had all received pensions from
their lords, and to withdraw from the lords all their
sources of revenue was to ruin the retainers as well.
Thus the problem to be solved was not a little com-
plicated, and that it was boldly faced, and a satisfactory
solution arrived at, reflects everlasting credit upon the
courage and ability of those who stood sponsors for the
new regime.
First, the old territorial boundaries were swept away,
and a more manageable partition of the Empire into
prefectures was effected, in the course of a few months.
Prefects were appointed to collect the Land Tax, which
formerly had very often been payable by the farmer to
*he land agent in kind. It had now to be collected in
THE RESTORATION. 139
money, and in some cases unquestionably this was a
hardship, against which there were several unimportant
outbreaks of feeling from the peasantry. With the
revenues so collected the Government had to pension
the daimios whose estates had been thus confiscated in
the process of centralisation. Then they had to find
employment for the retainers, only a small proportion
of whom were fitted for sedentary occupations. Some
of these gentlemen obtained posts under the local pre-
fectures, a great many became policemen, and the Navy
was almost entirely recruited from this class.
After a few years the pensions were abolished in
favour of a capitalisation scheme, under which the
recipients were given Government Bonds to the full
value of their original incomes, redeemable after a
certain term of years. In great part these bonds have
already been paid off, and thus the Government stands
well to rid itself at no distant date of all its liabilities in
this respect.
Another of the early enactments of the new Adminis-
tration was to declare, in 1870, that vaccination should be
compulsory. From ancient times small-pox had been a
terrible scourge to the Japanese people. In 1870 the
number of heavily-marked or sightless persons who
owed their misfortunes to this malady was enormous.
In 1895 the afflicted ones are almost invariably adults,
which may at least be accepted as proof that the misery
has been alleviated in no trifling degree.
Public Work**. The Sado gold-mines, situated in
140 ADVANCE JAPAN.
an island on the north-west coast, had for years been
worked in a very primitive fashion prior to 1870, the
quartz having been broken, bit by bit, with iron mallets.
In that year the Government Department of Mines in-
troduced quartz-crushing machinery, whereby the output
could be at least trebled.
It was in the year 1871 that the Ministry gave itself
free rein, for the affairs of the nation had by that time
become tolerably settled upon a good working basis.
The Oriental Banking Corporation, through whose
agency a vast amount of railway material had been
procured from Great Britain, and a staff of engineers
engaged to prosecute the work, was further commis-
sioned to provide an adequate stock of wire and other
suitable apparatus for the construction of lines of tele-
graph throughout the country, a start having already
been made by an engineer attached to the lighthouse
department, in the provision of a line connecting Tokio
with Yokohama. The railway between those points
had made such progress that a trial trip of an engine
and trucks was made in September over four miles of
track.
In August of that year the great hospital of Shitaya
in Tokio was inaugurated, two German doctors who had
seen service in the Franco-German War being installed
as the leading physicians.
The Emperor's birthday in this year was made
specially memorable to Europeans by His Majesty's
reception, at the palace in Tokio, of the principal
THE RESTORATION. 141
foreign employees of the Government Only three
years had then elapsed since he had issued from his
retirement at Kioto to administer the affairs of his
Empire in person, and no little curiosity was evinced
in regard to the personal appearance of the Sovereign
on the part of his subjects at large, whose ideas on
the subject were, up to that time, of the most vague
character.
As an additional proof of the resolution to which
Japan had arrived that she would eventually, and at no
distant date, put forward her claims to be regarded as
having joined the Concert of Civilised States, a new
Mission to the United States and Europe was deter-
mined upon. The Udaijtn, or Minister-in-Chief of the
Right, Iwakura, was accompanied in this embassy by
I to Hirobumi and three other heads of State de-
partments, and the party left Japan in December for
California on board an American mail steamer.
The advance made by his country and the decidedly
progressive programme, in the best sense of the term,
which had been sanctioned by the Emperor, up to that
date, formed the salient topics of an excellent speech
delivered by Marquis Ito whilst passing through San
Francisco on that journey. It so perfectly conveys the
hopes and aims of the Government part}- at that early
period of the new rd-gime that it is here quoted in full.
Speech of his Excellency Ito Hirobumi, delivered at
the Lick House, San Francisco, in January, 1872 :
" This is perhaps a fitting opportunity to give a brief
I 4 2 ADVANCE JAPAN.
and reliable outline of many improvements introduced
into Japan. Few but native Japanese have any correct
knowledge of our country's internal condition. . .
Our Mission, under special instructions from His Majesty
the Emperor, while seeking to protect the rights and in-
terests of our respective nations, will seek to unite them
more closely in the future, convinced that we shall
appreciate each other more when we know each other
better. . . . To-day it is the earnest wish of both
our Government and people to strive for the highest
points of civilisation enjoyed by more enlightened coun-
tries. Looking to this end, we have adopted their Mili-
tary, Naval, Scientific, and Educational Institutions, and
knowledge has flowed to us freely in the wake of foreign
commerce. Although our improvement has been rapid
in material civilisation, the mental improvement of
our people has been far greater. . . . While held
in absolute obedience by despotic Sovereigns through
many thousand years, our people knew no freedom or
liberty of thought. With our material improvement
they learned to understand their rightful privileges,
which for ages had been denied them. Civil war was
but a temporary result. . . . Our daimios magnani-
mously surrendered their principalities, and their volun-
tary action was accepted by a general Government.
Within a year a feudal system firmly established many
centuries ago has been completely abolished. What
country in the middle ages broke down its feudal system
without war ?
THE RESTORATION. 145
" By educating our women we hope to ensure greater
intelligence in future generations . . . our maidens
have already commenced their education. Japan cannot
claim originality as yet, but will aim to exercise prac-
tical wisdom by adopting the advantages, and avoiding
the errors, taught her by the history of those enlightened
nations whose experience is their teacher. A year ago,
I examined minutely the financial system of the United
States, and every detail was reported to my Govern-
ment. The suggestions then made have been adopted,
and some are already in practical operation.
" In the Department of Public Works, now under my
administration, the progress has been satisfactory. Rail-
roads are being built, both in the eastern and western
portions of the Empire. Telegraph-wires are stretching
over many hundred miles of our territory, and nearly
one thousand miles will be completed within a few
months. Lighthouses now line our coasts, and our ship-
yards are active. All these assist our civilisation, and
we fully acknowledge our indebtedness to foreign
nations.
" As ambassadors, and as men, our hope is to return
from this Mission laden with results valuable to our
country and calculated to advance permanently her
material and intellectual condition. While bound to
protect the rights and privileges of our people, we aim
to increase our commerce, and by a corresponding in-
crease of our productions, hope to create a healthy basis
for their greater activity.
I 4 6 ADVANCE JAPAN.
" Time, SQ burdened with precious opportunities, we
can ill afford to waste. Japan is anxious to press for-
ward. The red disc in the centre of our National flag
shall no longer appear like a wafer over a sealed em-
pire, but henceforth be in fact, what it is designed to
be, the noble emblem of the rising sun, moving on-
ward and upward amid the enlightened nations of the
world."
Educational ProgrcMM. It affords remarkable testi-
mony to the unwavering perseverance of the leading
spirits of the Administration that, amid all the signs of
impending strife which were accumulating around them,
they found opportunity to introduce improvements in
the condition of the Mikado's subjects in all ranks of
life, and to stimulate throughout the adoption of genuine
reforms. The scheme of national education was re-
modelled upon a basis which has afforded universal
satisfaction, as alluded to later on. The old system
of calculating time and regulating the seasons, which
was of Chinese origin, was entirely abandoned in
favour of the Gregorian Calendar, which has been in
operation since January, 1873. Daily newspapers were
started in the Capital and chief towns of the interior.
Exhibitions of special products and of priceless treasures
of Japanese art were opened at Kioto and at Tokio.
The first line of railway was completed between Yoko-
hama and the Capital, the State opening by the Emperor
having taken place in October, 1872. The northern
island of Yeso was opened up to colonisation, under the
THE RESTORATION.
147
guidance of the Kaitakuslii, which department included
in its staff several gentlemen from the United States
who were experts in agriculture, forestry, and mining.
Rice was for the first time shipped from Japan direct
to the London market at about this period, and proved
the commencement of a trade which has since assumed
very large dimensions. At the end of the year 1873,
MEDALS AWARDED AT TOKIO EXHIBITION.
Ivvakura, the Udaijin, returned from Europe with his
suite, and resumed his position at the Ministry.
The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia paid a visit to
Japan during the winter of 1872-3, in the frigate Svet-
lana, on which he was serving as a lieutenant. The
occasion of his stay in the port of Yokohama was seized
by the Mikado to make a State visit on board a foreign
man-of-war, which was in itself so extraordinary a depar-
ture from the time-honoured usages of the Japanese
Court, and so palpable a concession to the spread of
Western ideas in the territory of Dai Ni/ion, that it
created no trifling sensation in the minds of both native
and foreign observers. His Majesty first went to the Riu-
L 2
I 4 8 ADVANCE JAPAN.
jo-kan his own corvette accompanied by the Duke,
and subsequently was entertained on board the Svetlana
to a banquet. It is memorable that on this occasion
the Japanese monarch wore, for the last time in public,
his ancient ceremonial costume of white brocade, with
the head-dress peculiar to the Tenshi from the middle
ages. He has since that visit, when travelling beyond
the limits of his palace, worn the uniform of European
design in which he is usually photographed.
The adoption of foreign costume, and the European
style of wearing the hair cut short, had become much
more general by this date, and it was enjoined upon all
officials to wear the European dress of ceremony on
State occasions. The demand which consequently
sprang up for tailors' cutters all over the Empire was
so great that the men who could obtain a little practical
tuition from a foreign tradesman in the art of habit-
making were able to command their own rate of wages
in distant cities.
In the department of education great progress was
made and excellent results were achieved by the Im-
perial College of Engineering, established in Tokio in
the year 1873. In recent times the various branches of
science there taught have been embraced by the lectures
delivered at the Imperial University, but for nearly a
decade the Engineering College continued to turn out
ripe scholars, for whom posts were always to be found
promptly in connection with the many public works
undertaken by the Government.
THE RESTORATION. 149
Sheep -farming was commenced as an experiment, on
a tract of land not far from the Capital, and for a time
it succeeded ; but the rank indigenous grass of the
country must ever prove a serious obstacle to the rear-
ing of these animals on a paying scale.
Coast Survey. The coasts of Japan have been most
carefully surveyed under the direction of the Mikado's
hydrographer, an officer who was, in his earlier surveys,
indebted in no small degree for practical hints to the
staff of H.M.S. Sylvia, and whose work has been car-
ried out for twenty years past in a manner securing for
him the highest praise from professional critics. The
Japanese naval officers have the fullest appreciation of
the value of those tasks which are constantly performed
by British surveying vessels in Eastern seas. And it
is only just to state, on the other hand, that they have
in recent years turned out Admiralty Charts for their
own Government which, for nicety of execution and
perfection of engraving, command general admiration.
The Japanese have a natural taste for trigonometrical
surveying, and their patience and accuracy find expres-
sion in the minutest details. They have recently pub-
lished charts of some of the less known harbours, which
are to be found in the hands of coasting skippers, whose
confidence in them is the best proof of the general exac-
titude which characterises the work of this branch of the
Japanese naval service.
MchoolN. The system of elementary education is
compulsory. Schools, where the tuition is of this
I 5 o ADVANCE JAPAN.
elementary class, number throughout the Empire no fewer
than 25,374; and, in addition to these there are 1,770
special schools and 145 middle-class schools, with 177
Kindergarten, bringing the total up to 27,466. The
Voluntary and Board Schools under inspection in the
British Isles, to institute a comparison with Japan,
number 31,040.
Two years ago the pupils at these schools numbered
2,320,272 boys and 965,122 girls. At the special col-
leges for military training, naval construction, agricul-
ture, and the arts, there were also 1 1,906 pupils.
Japan boasted not more than 24 public -libraries in
1892, possessing 327,548 volumes ; but the number has
been considerably added to, and the system is of
altogether modern growth.
Perhaps no department of the Japanese Government
Service should possess greater interest for foreign readers
in view of the fact that, when the new treaty signed
in 1894 comes into full operation, all dwellers in the
Mikado's dominions will become subject to the Japanese
laws than the bureau which deals with the administra-
tion of justice.
AdminiMtrntioii of Juatice. The system now in
force has been founded throughout on the principles of
modern jurisprudence. The judges of Japan are irre-
movable, save in the course of criminal or disciplinary
punishment. A Court of Criminal Appeal, as well as
that of Civil Appeal, is already in existence in Japan,
cases being heard by the Court of Cassation in the
THE RESTORATION. 153
Capital. In this respect, at all events, Japan is ahead of
Great Britain. There are 49 courts of first instance, one
in each Fu and Ken, and from these there in an appeal
to seven provincial courts, beyond which in certain cases
there is the Tokio Supreme Court. All the lesser crimes
are dealt with by the courts of first instance, and these
also make preliminary examination in cases of serious
crime. Below these courts there are Courts of Peace,
301 in number, in the principal towns and villages of
every Fu and Ken, which take cognisance of all petty
offences. An approach in form to our Assize Courts is
seen in the constitution, every three months, of criminal
courts in the provincial courts of appeal and sometimes
at courts of first instance which are presided over by a
president and four judges, for the purpose of trying
serious offences in the provinces.
The Emperor himself directly appoints the senior
judges, others of less rank being nominated by the
Minister of Justice for the Emperor's approval.
The statistics of crime show that in 1892 there were
3,249 offences classed as serious, and 166,884 as minor
offences, throughout the country. In 1886 the figures
were 6,848 and 129,827 respectively.
Eight State prisons, 156 local gaols, seven military
and three naval prisons, were in existence last year, with
a reformatory attached to every Fu and Ken. The
prisons and reformatories held a population of about
71,000 males and 5,000 females at the close of the year
1892.
154 ADVANCE JAPAN.
As the laws are codified, the administration of justice
proceeds on well-defined lines, and it may be accepted
as a general rule that no ordinarily well-conducted resi-
dent of the British Isles is more likely to come under the
lash of the criminal law in Japan than in his own country.
Relief of the Poor. A remarkable provision is
made by the Poor Law of Japan for relief in times of
distress, which has been based upon the necessities of the
people as exhibited in the rare occurrence of a failure of
the rice crop. The Government has a relief reserve fund
of nineteen millions of yen, equal to nearly ,2,000,000
sterling, the interest of which is devoted to grants in aid,
and in twelve months the expenditure, for a period not
much above the normal, was about 38,000 for food to in-
digent persons, 7 3,000 for provisional dwellings for poor
or burnt-out families, 3,000 for seed grain to farmers,
and nearly 4,000 lent to help the payment of Land
Tax.
The Tokio workhouse, it is worthy of note, contains
on an average not more than 600 paupers, a fact which
speaks loudly for the general prosperity of the people of
the Japanese Capital.
Effort* to Reform Korea* While domestic reform
engaged the attention of Japanese statesmen they were
not unmindful of the position which their country ought
to hold in international affairs, and they could not but
regard the situation of Korea with intense and peculiar
interest. So long as her near peninsular neighbour re-
mained isolated from, and defiant to, Western nations,
THE RESTORATION. 155
she was likely to place Japan in peril. The Annamese,
by persecuting French missionaries and their neophytes,
brought themselves under subjection to France. Korea
invited attack from her intolerance in the same manner.
Besides, she had lately become coterminous with a
Western power whose annexing propensities perturb
many lands, and as regards other European States they
probably feared that a desire for territorial aggrandise-
ment might arise in one quarter or be revived in another,
aad that thus they might be endangered by foreign
domination through the temptation which Korea afforded
to Western ambition. It is obvious that considerations
of this kind induced the Government of Japan to attempt
to introduce Korea into the comity of nations. The first
step that was taken to bring the sturdy and obstinate
peninsulars to terms was to approach them through the
Chinese. The task of securing the co-operation of China
was entrusted to Mr. Mori, and as China, not less than
Japan, was concerned in the integrity of the peninsula
which juts down between them for it would constitute a
permanent menace to each if possessed by an aggressive
power Mr. Mori's mission was successful. The Tsungli
Yamen sent a commissioner with despatches to Korea,
which fact doubtless assisted the Koreans to acquiesce
in the reasonable demands of Japan at the time. What
Commodore Perry effected in Japan, the Japanese have
in turn accomplished in Korea. That country is now
in a fair way to be thoroughly opened to foreign trade
and intercourse under Japanese auspices.
156 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Chlnene and Japanese Statesmen. A native
Japanese newspaper gave the following account of
an interview between Li Hung Chang and Mr. Mori,
when he was Japanese Ambassador at Peking, touch-
ing the comparative standard of civilisation in Europe
and Asia. Li had asked Mori for his opinion, and Mori
answered :
" In my humble opinion, all honest writers allow that
Asia has made great advances in civilisation. Supposing,
however, that the position which Asia holds be fixed at
the third degree taking the highest as ten that of
Europe cannot be placed lower than the seventh."
Li Hung Chang : " A very just comparison. Pray
favour me with your views as to the best plan for pro-
moting the advancement of my country."
Mori : " Your question is a very serious one, to which
I would not venture to give a reply. I have just come
to this immense country, and am as yet entirely un-
acquainted with its internal condition. For the advance-
ment, however, of its prosperity, the first thing is to
select those persons who by their abilities are best quali-
fied to grapple with a subject so important. This will
be plain to you. Unless, however, there are thirty more
Li Hung Changs in China, this work cannot be carried
out."
Li Hung Chang (smiling) : " Why do you say
that ? There are a hundred Li Hung Changs in
China."
Mori : " There may be, but what use are they when
THE RESTORATION. 157
they are not in their proper places in such offices as
Governors of the eighteen provinces or Ministers of the
Tsung-li-yamen. In my humble opinion those young
students who are now being taught in America will,
when they arrive at manhood, obtain an influence
similar to that which your Excellency now possesses,
and will advance high in office."
Li Hung Chang: " I quite agree with you. I brought
about the despatch of those youths to Europe, and I
place great hopes in them for the future."
tiori Arinori. Mori Arinori, the Ambassador to
China referred to, and subsequently to Great Britain, had
a career of more than common interest. He belonged
to Satsuma, and was one of twenty-four students
selected by the Prince of that province for education in
England in the year 1865. He was then nineteen years
of age, and studied at London University, as did also
several who have since attained to high distinction in
Japan. The political condition of his country induced
him to return after a period of two years' stud)-. He
spent one year, on his way home, in the United States.
Reaching Tokio just after the restoration, he was
appointed to the Foreign Office, and was elected to the
Convention which was called to remodel the institutions
of the Empire. He acted as president of that body, and
the knowledge acquired in England and America gave
him great influence. He was the champion of many re-
forms, none of which excited more keen opposition than
the proposal to abolish the practice of wearing two swords
158 ADVANCE JAPAN.
by the samurai. He eventually carried this measure, but
the Conservative Party were so incensed that he barely
escaped assassination. After remaining in seclusion at
his native city for some time, he was appointed (the first
diplomatic post created by the New Japanese Govern-
ment) as Charge d' Affaires at Washington.
There he continued his political studies, and published
a book on " Life and Resources in America," dealing
with the various institutions of the United States. He
strongly deprecated the bestowal of office solely for
political purposes, and, as a fact, the Cabinet of Tokio
is appointed directly by the Emperor himself, altogether
independently of party. He wrote strongly on religious
questions, and it may be no disadvantage to quote some
of his arguments, because they show as clearly as possi-
ble not only the views he then held, but those which to
a very great extent are believed to prevail among his
educated countrymen at the present day.
Hi** View* on Religion ami Education. " After
his return from Europe some years ago," it was declared,
" he was frequently questioned by his countrymen as to
his opinion about the Christian religion. He took the
ground that, so far as he could understand it, the Bible
was a wise and good book. While Christians claimed to
have the only true religion, and pretended to be better
than other men, they did not, in that particular, differ
from the Chinese or Japanese, who assert the same
claims for their religions. He thought, therefore, that
those who desire to form any opinion on Christianity
THE RESTORATION. 159
should acquaint themselves with it by a close and
attentive study, and then judge for themselves. What-
ever may be his own private ideas, he does not think it
proper to advocate them on a matter of such great
importance. A large proportion of people who are
known by the name of Christians, say and do a great
many things, according to his observation, which do not
accord with the teaching of their own Bible ; but is not
this true of every nation on earth ? When men think
they know everything and boast of their superior wisdom,
the presumption is that they have yet much to learn ;
and all human experience, as well as the Bible of the
Christians, inculcates the idea that before men can be
wise and good, they must be humble. True Christianity
may be considered in a general sense as part of a civili-
sation in which the good and the bad participate. True
philosophy would seem to teach that it should be a
leading element in such a civilisation."
Whilst in the United States Mr. Mori published a
book entitled " Education in Japan," showing its needs,
and a summary of his views was reprinted in Japanese,
and largely contributed to the remodelling of the
Educational Institutions of the Empire.
Mr. Mori urged most strongly the abandonment of
the custom of wearing swords. One of his sturdiest
opponents was the present Viscount Kuroda, and when
in the United States, en route to London, that gentle-
man made a graceful acknowledgment of his con-
version to the Minister's views by handing his sword
160 ADVANCE JAPAN.
to Mr. Mori for bestowal upon the Washington Military
Museum of Antiquities.
Both Mr. Mori and Viscount Kuroda were firm be-
lievers in the higher education of their countrywomen.
They discovered that the happiness and prosperity of the
United States was in no small degree due to the posi-
tion of woman in that country, where she was fitted
to take her position as the equal of man.
On returning to Japan, Mr. Mori became Vice-
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and laboured actively for
the promotion of knowledge. He established a society
to inaugurate and promote social and political reform
by the discussion and publication of its papers. The
Press Laws compelled this society to cease publishing
its proceedings; and there can be no doubt that in Japan,
at present, an absolutely unrestricted Press would be
a doubtful blessing. Foreigners are not permitted
to publish newspapers in the vernacular. Were this
restriction abolished now though it may be by and
bye native editors could shelter themselves under the
names of foreign owners and attack the Government
too freely for endurance. After 1899 the case will be
altered, and foreign owners of native papers will be
amenable to native law.
Perhaps it was to Mori that polygamy came to be so
frowned upon, for in 1873 he spoke out boldly respect-
ing the need of reform in the marriage laws. No finer
sentiments are to be found expressed in any language,
than arc contained in his writings at that period.
THE RESTORATION. 161
Mori put his principles into practice, for having met
a highly accomplished lady of his own class, he upset all
preconceived notions of propriety by paying his ad-
dresses to her after the fashion of an Occidental lover.
He wooed and won his bride, and they signed and
attested a contract of marriage before the Mayor of
Tokio, in the presence of a concourse of natives and
foreigners, which secured to the lady all the rights and
privileges the most advanced legislation of the West has
accorded to the sex, and bound the husband to mono-
gamy. No wonder the old Conservatives gasped for
breath !
Killed by a Soshi. This enlightened Statesman's
career, it is necessary to add, came to a sad conclusion,
for he fell a victim to the dagger of a soshi, Nishino
Buntaro, whose motives for perpetrating the foul crime
appear to have been absolutely inexplicable.
M
1 62
CHAPTER VII.
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI.
Y the time Meiji, as the era of En-
lightened Rule, had entered upon
its fifth year, the embarrassments
of the new Government had become
so abundant that pessimistic folk
shook their heads and indulged in
the most dismal prophecies. In truth there was much
to perplex the responsible Ministers of Departments,
for China and Korea were even then the cause of
much anxiety. The people of the Riu-kiu Islands
had held allegiance to Japan for centuries, but had
nevertheless been claimed by China as vassals, upon
a principle with which the events of more recent times
have made us familiar. Some Riu-kiu fishermen had
been wrecked on the neighbouring coast of Formosa
in September, 1871, and the savage aborigines of the
"beautiful isle" had cruelly treated the castaways.
Their friends had appealed to the Mikado, as their
Sovereign, to punish the evil-doers. As Formosa nomi-
nally formed part of the Chinese Empire, the Govern-
ment of Japan addressed itself to the Tsung-li-yamen
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJL 163
at Peking on the subject. Soyeshima, an official of
high rank, was despatched to the Chinese Capital with
full powers to discuss this and cognate matters with the
Chinese authorities, and as a result of his mission the
Mikado's Ministers were informed that China gave Japan
absolute freedom of action in the matter of chastising
the savages. Japan was at liberty to send a military
force to Formosa for this purpose, and otherwise to take
THE CRUISER "CHIYODA."
such measures as would convey a salutary warning to
the barbarians, whom the Chinese confessed themselves
practically unable to control. For the time being there
the matter rested, but a large percentage of the southern
samurai were keenly desirous of taking part in an expe-
dition which should have Formosa for its goal, and re-
sented the idea of delay.
M 2
1 64
ADVANCE JAPAN.
At this time the Government was organising its Army
and Navy upon foreign principles, and was not in any
hurry to send troops into the field until they could do
justice to their drill and equipment The French Mili-
tary Mission had done excellent work in training the
nucleus of an army, and
British officers had taken
prominent parts in the
creation of corps of Artil-
lery and Marines. The
Navy was in process of
formation under the com-
petent superintendence of
a British naval comman-
der and the personnel of a
man-of-war, lent for the
purpose by the British
Admiralty.
The peasants in certain
districts began to remon-
strate loudly against the
burden of the Land Tax at
this juncture, and formulated their demands in threaten-
ing letters to the Prefects. In Bizen and Bingo pro-
vinces the farmers gathered in open revolt, and set fire
to Government buildings and other State property, ex-
pressing a determination to have none of the Western
innovations in their part of the country. Their objec-
tions took the form, in particular, of uprooting the tele-
SURGEON-GENERAL ISHIGURO
(Chief of Medical Staff).
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 165
graph posts as soon as they had been erected, cutting
the wires, burning the hon-jins t or official inns whereat
the foreign employee and his guard were lodged, and
generally giving as much trouble as was possible short
of organised rebellion. In the midst of these minor
troubles at home there was a growing quarrel with
Korea, which, it was afterwards discovered, was attribut-
able in great measure to the machinations of the
Chinese Resident at the Court of Seoul. The Govern-
ment of the Mikado was understood to have received
a most insulting letter from Korea which, if it had not
the sanction of authority, had nevertheless emanated
from a source which imparted to it a certain weight as
voicing the feelings of the anti-Japanese element in
the Peninsular Kingdom. The text of this remarkable
epistle was pretty much as here given, and when read
in the light of subsequent events becomes vastly enter-
taining, though it tends to show that at the time in
question Korea was distinctly a thorn in the side of the
Japanese Government :
A LETTER FROM KOREA RECEIVED IN JULY, 18/2.
" Our Korea is but a very small country, but yet we
Jiave courage to tell you in writing that Western
barbarians are beasts. We intend t/iis as a direct
insult to you and your barbarous allies. We only
wish you would join with them and come here with
your great ships of war and your army. Fusan is
the nearest port of Korea to Japan. We will send
166 ADVANCE JAPAN.
and clear a space there for a battle-ground, and will
appoint the battle, so as to make the affair as in-
expensive to you as possible. Correspondence by letter
is useless, and your apologies will not avail you.
There is nothing for it but a sanguinary war,
which will cost Japan all her warriors. That will
bring you to your senses. Do not attempt to write
to us again. This is a fair warning to you to make
all your preparations, for if Japan does not invade
Korea, then Korea will most certainly invade
Japan"
The fact that this letter had been received did not
leak out at the moment, but presently the Korean insults
became matter of common talk, and fresh fuel was
thereby added to the flames already kindled in the
breasts of the patriotic southern clansmen, who clamoured
at once to be led against those who thus dared to deride
the armaments of Japan.
Remonstrances from Snt*iimn. Shimadzu Sa-
buro, the hereditary chieftain of the Satsuma clan, took
occasion, at the same period of general uneasiness, to
address a remonstratory letter regarding the proceedings
of the Government, to His Majesty the Tenshi, the
general tone of which, though conveyed in language of
the utmost respect, and indicative throughout of patriotic
subserviency, was plainly to deplore the rapid advance
of the nation on Occidental lines, however progressive
in character. The document is remarkable enough to
interest the reader throughout, even when shorn of some
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 167
hyperbolical expressions which convey but little to a
Western mind.
SHIMADZU SABURO TO HIS MAJESTY.
"The August Studies of the most illustrious, the
Emperor, are thus summarised by His Majesty's ser-
vant, Hisamitsu.
" I. The establishment of national principles of action,
and the execution of the laws.
" 2. The adoption of a system of dress, and strict
regulation of the outward man.
" 3. The reform of learning.
" 4. The careful selection of human talent.
" 5. The careful conduct of foreign relations, and the
establishment of a clear distinction between the rights
of Japanese and foreigners.
" 6. The cultivation of a military spirit, and the reform
of the army laws.
" 7. The establishment of a clear distinction between
the rights of noble and mean.
" 8. The banishment of greed, the prizing of virtue, the
rejection of the deceitful arts, and the reverencing of
truthfulness.
"9. The strict prohibition of debauchery, and the
establishment of a strongly marked line between the
sexes.
" 10. The right of all to address the Sovereign.
"n. The careful judgment of disputes, and rightful
apportioning of reward and punishment
168 ADVANCE JAPAN.
" 12. The lightening of taxes, and the abatement of
burdens.
" 13. The careful calculation of income and ex-
penditure.
" Your Majesty's servant has entertained strong
opinions on these points for many years, but at the time
of his short visit to the Capital in 1869, finding no
convenient opportunity for expressing them, and not
being favoured with your Majesty's gracious interroga-
tion, he was obliged to be silent
" In this critical moment he can no longer sit by and
look on with indifference at passing events, and though
he is convinced that your Majesty cannot adopt his
retrograde and unenlightened views, still he feels that
a convenient season may never offer itself again, and
he ventures to make this abrupt representation. He
humbly apologises for his audacity, but the fact is that
by your Majesty's present system of government the
fortunes of this country are daily declining. The pre-
sent line, which should last for ever and ever, is in
danger of falling into the vice called republicanism, and
he can see, as clearly as in a mirror, that Japan will
eventually become a dependency of the Western Bar-
barians.
"Your servant, Hisamitsu, awaits punishment for his
audacity and want of reverence in speaking thus freely.
" Presented with awe and prostrations."
It is not suprising to know that this letter gave much
offence to the members of the Government who were
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJL 169
striving to direct the course of the nation anywhere
but towards republicanism, and certainly entertained no
such dread of Japan falling a prey to the voracity of the
nations to which the old noble so flatteringly referred.
He was invited to visit Tokio to explain himself, but
resisted the summons until a man-of-war was sent to
Kagoshima to compel his attendance. Then it was
that he went on board with a couple of hundred or so
of his retainers, all wearing their long and short swords,
and dressed in the costume of Old Japan, and was soon
landed in the Capital.
The Satsuma men still partially shaved their heads,
wore their hair in the Japanese queue, carried their two
swords in their girdles, twirled iron war-fans in their
fingers, refused to be served with food in the inns except
in the most antiquated style, and generally behaved
themselves more like actors in some historical drama on
the theatrical stage, than as inhabitants of modern Japan.
When the Emperor's quarters were seen to be ablaze,
and the three signal guns were fired from the castle
walls to warn the nation that the occupants of the Im-
perial Palace were in danger, there was a readiness
among the populace to ascribe the mischief, in some
way or other, to the handiwork of the strangers from
the south. Shimadzu left the Capital shortly afterwards,
and took his men back with him to Kagoshima, whence
they did not again emerge until they set out in 1877 m
rebellion against the Mikado, an occurrence which will
claim attention in due course.
170 ADVANCE JAPAN.
The members of the Ministry had done their utmost
to conciliate and harmoniously co-operate with the old
noble, and he had actually accepted the office of Sa-
daijin, that of second subject of the Emperor, and the
portfolio of Home Affairs, which had been tendered to
him in the endeavour to enlist his sympathies in the
new order of things, but the effort proved, to be fruit-
less. He remained wedded to the prejudices and doc-
trines of antiquity.
A day was approaching when the ardent tempera-
ments of the southern Samurai would no longer suffer
them to brook the insults which, in their opinion, had
been levelled at Japan by her neighbours, China and
Korea. Had the politicians of those two countries
sought a more effective plan by which to embarrass the
Ministers of the Tenshi, they could scarcely have found
it, for the task of controlling a body of men whose ante-
cedents had always been more or less of a character to
render them quick to resent an affront, was truly her-
culean.
The enthusiasm with which the young blood of
Kiushiu demanded authority to chastise Korea spread
to the Capital, for several members of the Government
themselves caught the infection, and the counsels of the
Ministry became divided. The Udaijin Iwakura was
one of those who advocated patience, but the Ministers
Saigo Kichi-no-suke, Soyeshima, Goto Shojiro, Itagaki,
and Yeto Shimpei, were all five of the contrary opinion,
and resigned their portfolios in a body as a protest
EARLY YEARS OF ME1J1.
171
against further delay in administering to Korea, more
especially, her deserts.
The irreconcilables were speedily replaced by Okubo,
Terashima, Ito Hirobumi, and two other prominent
leaders whose names are equ-
ally honoured in Japan, and
the Iwakura Cabinet, as re-
constituted, sturdily resisted
the pressure put upon it to
declare war.
But Veto Shimpei, one of
the five officials who had re-
signed, was imbued with the
belief that he could force the
hands of his late coadjutors
and the efforts he made to
gain his object ended very
disastrously for himself and
all concerned. He appears to havedgyised a method
whereby the disappointed Samurai of his own clan,
in the province of Chikugo, might seize the castle
of Saga, the principal town, and hold it as a protest
against Government inaction. Accordingly he laid siege
to the place, with a numerous body of his fellow-clans-
men and their sympathisers in that region, and carried
the castle by storm, after a stout resistance on the part
of the little garrison.
The telegraph was in full operation everywhere, and
promptly conveyed word to Tokio of Veto's audacious
MARSHAL NODZU.
172
ADVANCE JAPAN.
act of insurrection. The Iwakura Ministry were at once
authorised by the Emperor to declare Veto a rebel, and
to take measures for his suppression. Okubo Toshim-
itsu was sent south as High Commissioner to execute
the Imperial decree, and
with him went General
Nodzu, who, in recent times,
has done wonderful things
in Manchuria, and Admiral
I to, the naval commander
who so completely outman-
oeuvred the Chinese Admiral
and annihilated the fleet of
the Celestial Empire in the
late war.
Saga Insurrection* It
was against their own coun-
trymen, unhappily, that these now well-known leaders
rose to distinction, and the Saga Rebellion, as it was
termed, gave them both their opportunity. The castle
which Yeto Shimpei was rash enough to occupy was
speedily retaken by the loyalists, and he became a fugi-
tive ; but not for long, for he was captured, tried before
a specially constituted tribunal, and condemned to de-
capitation. His execution, together with a large number
of his misguided followers, quickly succeeded the death
sentence, and his case affords a notable instance of re-
tributive justice that deserves to be recorded. During
the time Yeto Shimpei held office as a Minister of the
ADMIRAL ITO.
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 173
Crown he was mainly concerned with the administration
of the law, and among other striking innovations he
introduced the practice of photographing prisoners, as a
means of identification should they be guilty of further
malpractices. After the Saga affair he took to the
mountains, and the Ministry of Justice issued broadcast
a photographic presentment of the missing culprit, which
was directly the means of his apprehension, it being re-
cognised by a person who thereupon became interested
in the chase.
There were many in the land who grieved over the
loss of Veto Shimpei, for his patriotism alone had be-
trayed him into crime. He thirsted to punish the
Koreans for their insolence, and brought disaster upon
himself, almost to his country, too, as the sequel
showed, by undue eagerness and lack of self-restraint.
The men of the Satsuma province were even then
drilling most assiduously under the directions of their
leader, Saigo Takamori, as they loved to call him,
Saigo the Falconer, as the name might be translated,
and he was at that period of his career the absolute
idol of the Samurai class throughout the country. What
their object was in making such formidable military
preparations was not disclosed at the time, but the
Government knew that it took place nightly, and could
form a fairly accurate idea of the way in which the force
might eventually be employed. That they recognised
the danger, when Yeto Shimpei's zeal outstepped his
discretion, of the torch he applied at Saga, initiating
174 ADVANCE JAPAN.
a far more formidable conflagration in Satsuma, may
well be comprehended, from the promptitude with which
they set about its extinction. The members of the
Cabinet undoubtedly breathed more freely when they
found that they had been successful in checking the
spread of insurrection, if not permanently, at least for a
certain time, and in reality the impending trouble at
Kagoshima did not reach a climax until considerably
more than two years had passed.
Nevertheless, the existence of a turbulent temper in the
old military class was unpleasantly evident, and the need
of an outlet, in some direction or other, became too palp-
able to be ignored. With that desire to find a safety-
valve for the ebullition of popular feeling with which the
members of the Cabinet have been credited on a more
recent occasion, they at once undertook to send an ex-
pedition to Formosa to chastise the aborigines, in con-
sonance with the authority given them by China some
time before.
Expedition to Formosa. The preparations of the
War Department even at this period had attained to a
degree of perfection which enabled it to mobilise a power-
ful, thoroughly-equipped army at short notice. Count
Okuma was Minister, and General Saigo, brother of the
famous leader of the Satsuma clan, and now Minister
of the Navy Department at Tokio, took command of the
expedition. At this period of their career the troops
were full of that soldierly attribute of personal courage,
but lacked the disposition to descend to the lower details
of military life. The men were accompanied by an
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJL 175
almost equal number of " coolies " to dig trenches, cook
the rations, build huts, and perform other duties which the
military class at that time regarded it as beneath their
dignity to undertake.
Formosa proved to have formidable cliffs to be scaled
by the invaders, and mazes of barricades had been con-
structed by the savages out of banyan trees and brush-
wood, so that the work of reaching the fastnesses of the
men whom the expedition had come to punish proved
to be one of no small difficulty and exposure to flank
attack. When they had surmounted one difficulty they
were confronted with another. Finally they had to
bivouac in an abattis on the bare rock when they could
scrape through to it, without food or water, at the
approach of darkness. A correspondent who was with
them at the time, Mr. House, was nevertheless able to
pass a high encomium upon the Japanese soldiery, from
whom not a complaint ever arose, despite their discom-
fort Had they been surrounded by every luxury they
could not have been in more cheerful humour. Herein lies
their real merit : that they exercise the strictest discipline
over their own tempers, an ability to govern themselves
enabling them to show high qualities of endurance and
fortitude (and this is true of the entire nation, as well
as of the Japanese Army) not only in danger, to which
they are constitutionally indifferent, but on occasions
of personal distress, or of grave anxiety and suspense,
such as comparatively few Western people can meet
with equanimity. The more recent campaigns have
shown very distinctly that these characteristics are as
i;6 ADVANCE JAPAN.
much those of the Mikado's troops of to-day as they were
of the men Count Saigo took to Formosa in 1 874. They
have advanced rapidly since that time in all that goes to
make the finished soldier, and though they have their
faults, which have only too often been descried and ex-
aggerated by outsiders, the Japanese soldiers exhibit
self-denying patience, and a ready, willing, hearty
obedience at all times, which tell even farther in their
favour than the reputation they have won for reckless,
daring heroism.
It is memorable, at a time when the Japanese have been
stigmatised as guilty of unheard of atrocities in Manchuria,
to find that Count Saigo expressed to his men his strong
personal desire that in the inevitable encounters with the
savages as little blood should be shed as possible ; and
it was only after two attacks from the aborigines, who
were in ambush, had caused his own ranks to be thinned,
that he gave the order for an assault, in which a con-
siderable number were slain. He sternly forbade his
men to decapitate their foes, though the savages in-
variably so treated the Japanese whom they caught.
The tribe which had been guilty of the outrage in
1871 on the shipwrecked fishers was sought out and
fought, but the other tribes were all but unmolested,
and speedily came in to make peace. All was ended
in an agreement by the aborigines to deal humanely
with any future castaways.
It was quite in consonance with the vacillating policy
of the Tsung-li-yamen that when they heard of the opera-
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJL 177
tions of the Japanese forces in Formosa they declared
that although the Ambassador, Soyeshima, had correctly
interpreted the understanding which had been mutually
arrived at, they never supposed that the Japanese " mis-
sion " to the Formosa savages would be accompanied by
an armed force. Such a quibble would have carried its
own contradiction under any circumstances; and when
the Chinese Government, in its alarm at the dimensions
which the expeditionary labours of Count Saigo's force
had assumed, despatched a couple of its ships and
Special Commissioners to treat with Count Saigo for
the withdrawal of his little army, that general simply
referred them to his Government.
One of the proposals then made was to the effect
that, having come to settle the affairs of the disturbed
neighbourhood in conjunction with the Japanese com-
mander, they should now co-opsrate with him in arrange-
ments having this end in view. Saigo promptly told
them that he could accept no such offer, for he had been
directed to punish the authors of the outrage on his
countrymen, and had done so. He neither required, nor
could submit to, co-operation of any kind.
When it is remembered in what almost identical
fashion the dispute arose over the condition of affairs
in Korea, which led to the war of 1894-5, ^ ls tne
more easy to understand the condition of mind in
which the Chinese authorities approached the settle-
ment of the Formosan difficulty in 1874.
At last, on the 2$th June, the Chinese visitors from
N
1 78 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Peking put certain definite suggestions before Saigo, and
it was agreed that active operations should be suspended
pending the decision of the respective Governments.
The propositions were that (a) the Chinese should re-
imburse the Japanese for the cost of the expedition, ()
that the Chinese should guarantee such occupation of
the savage territory of Formosa as should prevent the
recurrence of outrages on strangers, and (c) these con-
ditions being assured the Japanese forces should be
withdrawn.
The Chinese authorities at Peking subsequently sought
to obtain better terms, and affairs had reached such a
turn that Okubo was sent to China with full powers.
He reached the Chinese Capital in September ; and on
the 25th of October, after perpetual discussions, which
promised to be utterly futile, he notified his intention of
returning to Japan.
His language was emphatic. " I am quite hopeless,
and about to leave," he wrote. " Our philanthropic
action in Tai-Wan has been regarded by you as hos-
tile, whilst we merely undertook to punish the savages
and to protect our own people. Henceforth we shall
continue to clear land, protect those tribes which submit
to us, punish those who oppose. We shall complete our
plan of action, and permit no molestation on your part.
As the case cannot be decided by arguments, each
country must go its own way and exercise its own
rights of sovereignty."
Prince Kung thereupon hastened to the English Lega-
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 179
tion, and begged the British Minister's good offices,
which were cordially given. The required agreement
was made in writing, as desired by Japan, a half million
Chinese taels was agreed upon as the price to be paid
down for the evacuation of Formosa, and the proposi-
tions made to Saigo were substantially confirmed.
Japan proved in this affair her disposition to be a
leader in the paths of humanity, and, moreover, abso-
lutely fearless, in spite of whatsoever influences may be
brought against her, in the execution of any course
which she may, after due consideration, mark out for
herself. It is well, perhaps, to bear in mind the evidence
which recent history affords of this disposition, in view
of the possibilities which the future may have in store
for the Japanese people.
The feeling of the Samurai in general in the year
1874 regarding the expedition to Formosa was that
of extreme confidence in the ability of the nation, not
only to inflict severe chastisement on the savages, or
upon the people of Korea, but, if necessary, to under-
take the punishment of China herself, whom they
regarded as, to a great extent, the prime instigator
of all those insults to the nation of Nihon which
had of late been endured. There has been abundant
evidence in recent years that this feeling did not
subside with the conclusion of hostilities in Formosa.
It grew and flourished exceedingly with the increasing
vitality of the vernacular Press, and there has always
been the conviction in the minds of people of the
N 2
i8o ADVANCE JAPAN.
unofficial class, who could afford to give free vent to
their opinions without in any way jeopardising their
positions in life, and without political importance being
attached to their statements, that sooner or later Japan
would have to try conclusions with China. The Nihon-jin
at large have laid at the door of the Chinese a large
proportion of the difficulties which have beset the track
of Japanese progress from the first ; and though the
obstacles met with have been courageously encountered
and surmounted by the practised skill of those who have
navigated the ship of State, it is more than likely the
notion that China agitated the waters on many specific
occasions has had not a little foundation in fact.
The Rebels >i ;u < h out of IvagoMhimu. Among
the attempts which have been made since 1868 to re-
vert to the conditions which existed in great measure
prior to the restoration of the Mikado to personal con-
trol of his realm, none have been of a really serious
character save that which was initiated by the Satsuma
clan in the spring of 1877. The avowed object to be
achieved by the adherents of Saigo Takamori who
had himself been a prominent member of the Govern-
ment, and had perhaps more than any other individual
strenuously laboured to bring about the fall of the
Shogun, and the active supremacy of the Mikado
was to obtain from the Emperor in person, then tem-
porarily resident at Kioto, redress for certain real or
imaginary grievances. They marched out on New
Year's eve, according to the old calendar, 12,000 strong,
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 181
from the Satsuma capital of Kagoshima, and had reached
Kumamoto before they encountered any opposition.
Here they demanded the surrender of the garrison,
but the commandant defied them, and they sat down
before the castle to starve out the loyal troops. The
delay in their advance gave time for the Government to
send down an army, under the Emperor's uncle, Prince
Arisugawa, and slowly but surely they were turned back
toward the place from which they came. This was not
effected without severe fighting in the provinces of
Chikuzen, Hizen, and Higo, and the tide of war ebbed
and flowed subsequently in the Hiuga, Osumi, and Sat-
suma regions until late in the summer, when the last
action took place at Kagoshima, and the rebel leader,
with his chief supporters, perished on the field of battle.
Haigo Takamori. It is due to the memory of
Saigo Takamori to record the fact that in taking up
arms against the lawful authority of his country he was,
to a great extent, impelled by his high sense of patriot-
ism, mistaken as it was. He fought not against the
Emperor but against the Cabinet. When declared
by the Tenshi to be in rebellion he was without
even this excuse for his conduct, but he had then
gone too far to retreat, and had he been even will-
ing to lay down his weapons his clansmen would not
have submitted longer to his authority. They would
have killed him, and would have elected another
leader probably his lieutenant, Kirino who would
have led them equally to ultimate disaster. The Sat-
182 ADVANCE JAPAN.
suma clan, as a body, was at this time directly opposed
to the policy of the Mikado's Government. Though
Satsuma and Choshiu had been the first to adopt foreign
armaments, and to employ these against the Shogun,
whom they alike detested, they were by no means at
one on the question of the introduction of Western arts
in general. For centuries the prospect of an influx of
foreigners had been the great bugbear of the nation, and
Satsuma was the last of the clans to acknowledge the
wisdom of the course on which the Government embarked
with such success. As early as 1858 Saigo Takamori
had become prominent in the counsels of the Southern
clan, and had associated himself with schemes for the
complete overthrow of the Shogun, to an extent which
made his temporary retirement a necessity if his feudal
chieftain was to avoid an encounter with the Tokugawa
power. For that, especially single-handed, Shimadzu
Saburo, the daitnio, was scarcely prepared. After a
while, Saigo was recalled by his lord, and was the
acknowledged leader of the Satsuma forces in the
operations they subseo^ently undertook, in 1867, against
the northern forces of the Shogun. He rose to a posi-
tion of great eminence in the new Government, and his
services were recognised by a pension, with which he is
said to have established his so-called military school at
Kagoshima.
K;i\\;iiniir;t. Okubo, and Terashima* It was
to a great extent this school which brought about his
fall for in 1870 he and his master Shimadzu left the
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI.
183
Capital not a little dissatisfied that they had not received
even higher office than that which had been conferred
upon them. Saigo was largely influenced by the daimio,
ahaughtyand self-sufficient
prince of the old type, but
other Satsuma shizoku who
had been also appointed to
posts of command in the
State were not only content
to remain in the Capital,
but throughout have ren-
dered loyal and efficient
service to their Emperor.so
much so, that Okubo, Tera-
shima, and Kawamura, are
names which will for ever
remain bright on the pages
of Japanese modern his-
tory. Of the trio, Admiral
Kawamura alone survives,
but he still ably fills an
post.
The court noble, Iwakura, was sent to Kagoshima to
appease the wounded pride of the clan, and after some
little time Saigo again took office as a Councillor of
State. He was subsequently appointed Commandcr-
in-Chief of the Imperial Army, in the year 1873, ar> d
it was thought that in this way even his ambition would
be at least temporarily allayed. If Saigo was satisfied,
ADMIRAL KAWAMURA.
important and arduous
184 ADVANCE JAPAN.
however, his old chieftain was not, and his memorandum
addressed to the Emperor aptly portrays his state of
mind at the time. Just then the trouble with Korea
reached an acute stage, and a war seemed inevitable.
Saigo was the leader of the "Jingo" party of Japan,
and as he could not carry his colleagues in the Govern-
ment with him he resigned office, together with Veto
Shimpei, another member of the Government, as already
mentioned.
Even after the fiasco at Saga, and Veto had been
executed, Saigo resisted all appeals to return to Tokio,
and remained at Kagoshima, drilling his military cadets.
Notwithstanding this the Government sought to main-
tain peace at home by raising Shimadzu Saburo to
higher rank still, and by despatching the expedition
to Formosa previously alluded to, under the command
of Saigo's younger brother.
All attempts at conciliation were, however, doomed to
failure, for the Satsuma clan remained excessively dis-
contented, an additional cause of offence being the edict
promulgated about this time forbidding the wearing of
swords by any but the regular forces of the State.
Shimadzu threw up the office he had been induced to
accept, and quitted Tokio on the 5th April, 1876, for
Kagoshima, his followers carrying their swords osten-
tatiously wrapped in cotton bags. The nation had
grown weary, as well as the Government, of the arro-
gant irreconcilability of the clan, and it was felt that
further concessions would not only be unavailing but
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI.
185
would be accepted as an indication of weakness. When,
therefore, in the middle of February, 1877, tne military
" school," which Saigo had so diligently drilled, left
Kagoshima to accompany him on a proposed overland
journey to Kioto, in defiance
of every principle of law and
order, the Army and Navy
of the Mikado's Government
was prepared to meet the
rebellion with energy and
determination.
*l ; i r * l < ; 1 1 Yamagata and
Admiral Ito. General
Yamagata (now Field-Mar-
shal) took command of the
advanced divisions. Admiral
Kawamura kept watch with
his fleet, amounting in all to eight or nine vessels,
on the Bungo Coast. Admiral Ito operated with three
ships on the southern and western shores of Kiushiu,
and landed 2,500 troops at Kagoshima in rear of the
rebels.
Prince Arisugawa-no-miya, uncle of the Mikado, who
has only recently died, was given supreme control of
the Imperial forces in connection with the suppression
of the rebellion. The first check which the Satsumas
received was at Minami-no-seki on the 1st of March.
They never reached a more northerly point, and after
repeated disasters at Takase, Kawajiri, and Kumamoto,
MARSHAL YAMAGATA.
1 86
ADVANCE JAPAN.
they fell back southwards, the Imperialists entering their
province after them, on the 4th of June. One by one
the castle towns of Miyako-no-jo, Miyazaki, and No-
beoka fell to the assault of Arisugawa's battalions, and
at last, in the middle of Sep-
tember, Saigo was driven to
bay with only 500 picked
warriors, on Shiro-yama, in
the centre of Kagoshima.
He was wounded in the at-
tack which ensued, and his
faithful lieutenant Hemmi
performed the last office
to his chief by cutting off
his head, after that final
act of a defeated samurais
life harakiri had been
duly performed by the van-
Hemmi was likewise slain,
with Kirino, Murata, and others of Saigo's subordinates,
and it was reserved for Admiral Kawamura who had
sat with Saigo at the Council table in Tokio, and had
been his friend and comrade throughout the earlier
struggles of the Restoration period to find the dead
leader's head, to wash it with his own hands, and rev-
erently to give it burial with the mutilated corpse.
Saigo'M Monument. From that date until quite
recently the graves of these misguided but brave men
have been marked by plain wooden tablets, but last
H.I.H. PRINCE AKISUOAWA
(recently deceased).
quished leader himself.
EARLY YEARS OF MEIJL 187
year the Mikado's Government caused a monument
specially to be erected in the Capital to the memory of
Saigo, in the Cemetery of Aoyama, where lie buried
Okubo and others of his colleagues in the early days.
Saigo's memory, by command of the Emperor, has been
relieved of the stigma which attached to it, and he is
now no longer regarded as one who rebelled against
his Sovereign, but as a man whose good service and
noble character so far outweighed his faults that his
crime will hold no place in the annals of his land.
In stature, Saigo Takamori was imposing, for he stood
over six feet high, and his expression was eminently
energetic and intellectual. Somewhat negligent in
attire, he was of courtly bearing and yet martial
withal. Like his brother, who was warmly attached to
him despite their widely differing political views, Taka-
mori possessed a happy buoyant temperament which,
combined with his great personal courage, endeared
him to the samurai throughout the Empire. Fifty
thousand of them were ready at one time to do his
bidding. He was not inappropriately termed the "heart
and sword " of the Mikado's cause.
i88
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN.
O K I O. As the capital of the Ten-
shi's dominions, Tokio demands
the primary attention of those who
would study the progress of Japan,
and the question of the future of
her enterprising people. Formerly
known as Yedo (Estuary entrance),
possibly on account of its original
position, as a fishing village, at the
entrance of the River Sumida, it only grew into cele-
brity from the time the Shogun lyeyasu made it his
headquarters in A.D. 1590. The line of Tokugawa
Shoguns, which begun with lyeyasu, ended with Hito-
tsubashi Yoshinobu in 1868. With his deposition, the
original name of the place and its most prominent in-
habitant vanished simultaneously from the pages of
Japanese history. The exalted official who had con-
ducted all the affairs of State, and had been the
practical ruler of Japan during the Mikado's life of
seclusion, was himself relegated to a strictly private
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 191
life in the country, as plain Mr. Keiki. The city
became Tokio, the eastern capital, to distinguish it
from Kioto, otherwise Saikio, the capital of the west.
Kioto, though it has ceased to be a Royal residence,
is nevertheless regarded as one of the three Fu, or
cities of the first order, the others being Tokio and
Osaka. We might consider London, Edinburgh, and
Dublin as the three Fu of the British Isles. Tokio,
Kioto, and Osaka have privileges as cities which are
not possessed by places ranking a grade lower in the
municipal scale of Japan.
In that quarter of a century which has passed since
the Emperor took up his residence in Tokio, the city
has undergone a complete transformation. There was
originally a long street of one and two-storey wooden
buildings extending from the suburb of Shinagawa, for
nearly seven miles, to Asakusa, constituting the main
street of Yedo, from which smaller thoroughfares
branched off at frequent intervals, principally on the
western side. There were no side-walks or pave-
ments, and pedestrians were jostled by bearers of
sedan-chairs, or sternly commanded to clear the way
for some official on horseback, preceded by a running
groom. The only light at night was obtained from
hand-lanterns of paper, which nearly everyone carried,
and from fixed lamps of a similar description, sus-
pended over house-doors. The illuminant was always
a tallow candle, with a paper wick. Only those who had
business ventured out after dark. Yedo was at that time
192 ADVANCE JAPAN.
in something of the condition of London in the last
century. One of the first improvements made was to
substitute brick buildings for wooden ones in that part
of the main street which lay between Shinbashi (the
new bridge) and Nihonbashi (the bridge of Japan).
This section, named Ginza (silver seat) is the finest
commercial thoroughfare in the Capital, and at the pre-
sent time it is lighted by electricity, trams and omni-
buses glide and rumble along it as in a London street,
good paved footpaths have been provided for pedes-
trians, the ubiquitous jin-riki-slias are deftly steered
to and fro in the throng and bustle of vehicular traffic,
newsboys scream the titles and prominent headlines of
their latest editions ; and all is a moving panorama, to
the visitor, of teeming life and ceaseless energy.
Railway Depots. The southern railway lines all
have their terminus at Shinbashi, and there is another
station in the northern part of the city for the lines
which communicate with the north and west. The
trams to some extent unite the two depots, and omni-
buses likewise ply between them, but in addition the
belt railway, which almost encircles the city, not only
provides a means of reaching the more distant suburbs,
but enables passengers to change from the southern
system of lines to that of the north, without passing
through the city streets at all. Just as distances are
calculated from Charing Cross with us, it is the rule in
Japan to measure the roads from Nihonbashi, in the
central ward, a bridge which dates its existence from
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 193
the year 1603. Yedo was at that period a growing city,
and it became necessary to reclaim land on the south
and east of the district of Asakusa, so some four square
miles were filled in, a part of which tract now constitutes
the quarter of Tsukiji (lit. made ground), wherein are
resident a large proportion of the European population,
and only within the limits of which are foreigners able
to hold property in land.
The size of the city of Tokio has been variously
estimated, but from a fairly accurate measurement it
may be taken at the present day as extending not less
than ten miles from north to south, by eight from east
to west. It has the Bay of Yedo for six miles as its
limit on the south side, and it is divided into two
unequal portions by the River Sumida, a stream having
about the width of the Thames at London Bridge. The
population of the city proper is rather under one million,
but if we include the whole region embraced by the term
Tokio Fu in other words, the Metropolitan district, as
understood in London the census gives a total of half
a million more. The area is not far short of 80 square
miles.
Fires and earthquakes, typhoons and floods, have so
devastated the capital at various times within the last
two hundred years that practically the entire city has
been more than once rebuilt. Earthquakes, particularly,
have occasioned immense damage and much loss of life
Early in the last century 37,000 persons were said to
have been killed by a succession of shocks, which were
o
194 ADVANCE JAPAN.
followed by a tidal wave in the bay. A more recent
visitation, in 1855, destroyed, it was computed, no fewer
than 110,000 lives.
At present the Capital is divided into fifteen adminis-
trative divisions, which have all been connected, for fire
brigade purposes, by telephone, for the last 20 years.
Japan was, in fact, one of the first among nations to
make use of Edison's invention, and a very well-equipped
telephonic exchange has existed in Tokio since the year
1890. In former days the whereabouts of a fire was
notified by the number of taps given to the fire-bells, the
signals being taken up and repeated by each watch-
tower to its neighbour. From its earliest history the
city has been famous for the frequency and overwhelm-
ing character of its conflagrations, and formerly hardly a
night passed without the brigades being called out. The
construction of buildings has vastly improved, however,
since the first brick houses were erected in 1872, and
this has aided very materially to lower the rate of fre-
quency. The employment of powerful steam fire-engines
of Western design further tends to confine the destruction
to comparatively limited areas.
The Cattle* The former palace of the Shoguns was
centrally situated on elevated ground in the heart of
Yedo, and was protected by two deep moats and sub-
stantial encircling walls, with towers at the gates. The
spot was chosen for the present Emperor's residence
when he removed from Kioto in 1868. The original
buildings have been almost completely destroyed by
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 195
fire, and the Imperial Palace is now an edifice in which
the foreign and native styles of architecture are quaintly
mingled, standing on the same site within the gardens
of the ancient Hommaru. Wild-fowl frequent in winter
the wide moats which divide the Imperial residence from
the business thoroughfares of Tokio, and storks hover
over the spreading branches of the pine-trees which
overhang the water. In the summer the lotus-nym-
phea covers the whole expanse, from bank to wall,
with its noble, delicately-tinted flowers. Altogether
there could be few more picturesque surroundings
anywhere than those which add beauty and distinc-
tion to the Japanese Emperor's residence. In the
buildings of the palace only artisans of skilled ability
have been employed, so that every design on the
walls, every foot of the decorated ceilings, bear evi-
dence of the touch of masterly hands. The choicest
hanging brocades and tapestries were specially planned
and woven for the embellishment of the Emperor's
Banqueting Hall and Throne Chamber, but the pri-
vate apartments are distinguished by their extreme
simplicity, plain white woods and neutral tints taking
the place of crimson lacquer and costly silks.
The British Legation is situated on one of the outer
concentric roads within the first moat, so that it is but
a short distance from the gate of the Imperial Palace.
Several well-built residences of British architectural
design were erected in 1874 to house our Minister,
his Secretaries, and general staff. Not far away is
196 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the elegant building erected in 1877 for the College
of Engineering, to which reference has been made
in another chapter. Nagata-cho, the fine road ad-
joining the moat farther on, contains many handsome
residences, and is the most aristocratic of Tokio
thoroughfares. In it stand the palaces of the late
uncle of the Emperor, Prince Arisugawa, and of Prince
Kita Shirakavva, his cousin, and near by is a small
public garden containing a stone monument to the
memory of Okubo Toshimichi, to whose wise counsels
Japan owes much of her present prosperity, and who
fell under the swords of fanatical assassins in Ma)-,
1878, when on his way, as Home Minister, to a Con-
ference at the Emperor's Palace. Prince Nabeshima
of Hizen, now Grand Master of Ceremonies at the
Imperial Court, has his residence also in this quarter,
and a celebrated Shinto temple, the tutelary shrine
of the last line of Shoguns, is here embowered in
groves of the flowering cherry, so much cultivated for
its magnificent blossoms.
The Sho-kon-sha, on the top of Kudan Hill, is a
shrine erected in 1869 in honour of the dead who fell
in the war of the Revolution a year before, and services
are constantly held within its precincts to the memory
of the victims of the Saga and Satsuma rebellions of
1873 and 1877, and more recently of the war with
China. Nothing but the severest simplicity distin-
guishes the interior of this State shrine, at which
official gatherings take place twice a year, but the
WHERE REST THE DEAD.
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 199
entrance is marked by an exceptionally fine bronze
archway, of the shape peculiar to the Shinto faith.
The crest of the hill is also surmounted by an ancient
lighthouse which once served to direct the fishermen of
Yedo Bay, and by a remarkable stone erection in the
shape of a bayonet, to the memory of those of the Im-
perial Guard who fell during the Satsuma Campaign,
provided by the soldiers of that corps. A brick build-
ing termed the Yu-Shu-Kwan, or Museum of Arms, is
daily thronged by sightseers, who are there treated to a
display of the various spoils of war sent home by the
Japanese armies from Korea and China.
All the principal Government Offices are in this part
of Tokio, so that it corresponds in some degree to
Whitehall in London. The Ministries of Education, of
Finance, and of the Interior, with the Government Print-
ing Establishment, a noble building wherein the paper
currency of the Empire and all the typographical work
of the various departments are excellently designed and
produced, have all their spacious quarters in the belt
lying between the inner and outer moats of the castle
precincts.
Whilst the Palace was in course of construction His
Majesty occupied a less pretentious edifice at Aoyama,
in the south-west of the Capital, which has since been
appointed as the residence of the Empress Dowager
and the Crown Prince. In this vicinity is the Hibiya
Parade Ground, on which reviews are annually held on
State occasions, notably on the 3rd of November, His
200 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Majesty's birthday. Azabu, nearer to the sea, and
standing high, overlooking the bay, is regarded as one
of the most desirable of residential quarters within the
Japanese Capital. A look-out tower has been erected
on Atago-Yama, a hill close by, from which views are
obtainable of all the country for many miles round.
The JIain Street. The new General Post Office
stands in the main street called Ginza, and the principal
fish market is close by, in the district of Nihon-bashi.
Crossing Spectacles Bridge, with its two circular arches, a
pleasantly-situated building is discerned amid groves of
fragrant Osmanthus, now devoted to the purposes of an
Educational Museum, but formerly the Temple of Con-
fucius, wherein the Asiatic Society of Japan held its
earlier meetings. The district of Kanda lies very cen-
tral, and contains the Imperial University (Tei-koku
Dai-gaku), comprising many handsome edifices built of
brick in the modern fashion, standing in grounds which
formerly were the property of the powerful daimio of
Kaga, a province justly celebrated for its fine porcelain
ware.
Koishikawa Arsenal, on the route to Oji, has an
exceptional interest at this time for all classes of the
Japanese people, for here are manufactured the Murata
rifles which have done such execution in the Chino-
Japanese War. The mansion which stood on this
ground was the residence of the former Prince of Mito,
the head of one of those three branches of the Toku-
gawa family, Kishiu, Mito, and Ovvari, from among
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 201
which the Shoguns of the last dynasty were invariably
chosen. Mito was responsible in 1861, as we have seen,
for the assassination of the Regent then acting as Sho-
gun. The Regent's choice had fallen upon a Kishiu
prince, and the head of the Mito branch gave point to
his wrath by the removal of the person to whom he
attributed his disappointment. The Mito clan has left
a magnificent legacy to the nation, in the shape of that
perfect example of landscape gardening which forms
the great charm of the Yashiki. Summer-houses and
cascades, rivulets and lakes, islands reached by marble
.bridges, thickets of creepers, groves of maple, plum, and
cherry, delight the eye with their picturesque alterna-
tions, art and nature here being wedded in the fashion
so thoroughly characteristic of Japanese horticulture.
In Gokokuji Cemetery, not far away, lies buried
Prince Sanjo Saneyoshi, who, like Okubo, was one of
the most prominent leaders of the Restoration, and
many years the Prime Minister, prior to Marquis Ito.
Sanjo died in 1891.
i ciio. Ueno Park lies in the extreme north of
Tokio, and is the place where all the exhibitions have
been held. The Northern Railway Station is at the
base of the hill which forms the centre of the Park.
Here all Tokio delights to congregate at the blossoming
of the cherry-trees, and here, on the plateau, is the stone
monument to those who fell fighting for the last of the
Shdguns, when, in 1868, a battle was decided on this
spot. The Shinobadzu Pond below is famed for its dis-
202 ADVANCE JAP AX.
play in August of lotus-nymphea. In a little shrine,
standing on a peninsula in the lake, is honoured the
goddess Benten ; but the old-time associations of the
lovely spot receive a rude shock when it is observed
that the shore of the lake is now used as a racecourse.
High above it is a modern hotel, and also a switchback
railway, upon which startling innovations the calm
gaze of Buddha, as represented close by in a bronze
image twenty-one feet high and over two centuries
old, seems to be directed in steadfast disapproval.
The Ueno Museum stands close to the buildings of
the National Industrial Exhibition, and contains, among
other treasures, the ancient State bullock-cart and
palanquins of the Emperors, and a model of the old
State barge. Valuable collections of antiquities in pot-
tery, swords, spearheads, and implements, porcelain and
bronze vases, and Christian relics of the seventeenth
century, arrest attention on every side.
Tokio is not without its Zoological Gardens, contain-
ing a representative collection of the fauna of Japan,
and in the same part of the magnificent Ueno Park are
to be found the Public Library and Reading Room of
the Tosho-Kwan and a School of Art.
Perhaps the most striking characteristic of all Tokio's
glories are the tombs of the Shoguns, the mausolea in
which are buried the princes of the Tokugawa family.
The retired Shogun Keiki was the fifteenth prince of
the Tokugawa house. The Go Rdya, as the tombs
are termed, constitute perfect examples of the archi-
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 203
tectural and decorative art of Japan, and are ablaze
with gold and scarlet lacquer, mingled with intricate
and priceless wood-carving, and marvellous bronzes.
At a little distance eastward of Ueno is found the re-
nowned temple of the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan-non,
to which every traveller is taken by the Tokio guides
as a matter of course, situated as it is at Asakusa, in
close proximity to the River Sumida.
At.ak.uMu. The Buddhist Sen-so-ji, to give the build-
ing its true name, is surrounded by ornamental grounds,
a sketch of which is to be found in a previous chapter.
They contain splendid trees of almost infinite variety,
and numbers of the shapely stone lanterns and quaintly
constructed timber bridges which give to Japanese
gardening so much of its picturesque character. The
temple is the home of innumerable flocks of pigeons,
which flutter about the heads of the devotees in that
security from molestation which is everywhere associ-
ated with the shrines of Buddha. The high altar is a
glittering mass of gold and silver vessels, of lamps and
flowers, hanging texts, and damask drapery, amid which
is placed the sacred shrine of the goddess herself,
guarded by gigantic figures. Images innumerable are
ranged around the platform, and overhead and on every
side are striking scenes depicted in gold and colours on
the brass-studded walls and ceilings. One of the little
temples in the grounds is much frequented by those who
suffer from affections of the eye, the belief being that
miraculous cures arc effected. In another building is
204 ADVANCE JAPAN.
worshipped Jizo, the divinity who specially guards the
children of Japan. A revolving library of the Buddhist
Scriptures, 6,771 volumes in all, to be turned thrice on
its axis by the devotee who has not time to spare for
reading, is likewise here displayed, the existence of
which is understood to be due to the inventive genius
of a Chinese priest who flourished in the sixth cen-
tury.
Outside the temple grounds proper are the pleasure-
gardens for which Asakusa is famous far and wide.
A modified form of Eiffel Tower was erected five years
ago, whfch has an electrical elevator by which persons
may ascend to the eighth of its twelve storeys, and
obtain a wonderful view of the Capital. Tents and
booths of all descriptions are scattered about, some for
the exhibition of feats of wrestling or juggling, others
with animal curiosities, fat women, learned pigs, or peep-
shows. Taken as a whole, Asakusa Kwan-non and its
surroundings constitute about as striking a contrast to
the calm seclusion of the Ueno Tombs, not far away,
as it is possible for the imagination of man to conceive.
Across the River Sumida are the avenues of cherry-
trees at Mukojima, which at their period of full bloom,
about Easter, are a sight to be remembered, extending
upwards of a mile along the river bank, and each tree
and branch a mass of pink and white clustering
blossom. Among other pretty customs of the place,
poetically-disposed visitors are invited to write verses,
on slips of cardbroad provided for the purpose at the
POETRY AMID THE CHEERY-BLOSSOMS.
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 207
neighbouring refreshment houses, and to suspend their
compositions amid the cherry-blossoms, for the benefit
of those who may attend afterwards to peruse them.
Farther on are the Horikiri gardens where, in June,
irises of every hue are shown in the utmost profusion,
and at Kameido, on the same side of the Sumida, is
a celebrated Shinto temple, where the Wisteria chinensis
is cultivated over trellis-work with indefatigable care
and skill. Hachiman, the Japanese Mars, has a splen-
did temple to his honour close to the vast timber-yards
which take up a large portion of the south-eastern
suburbs of Tokio, and in the estuary is Ishi-kawa
Island, the convict prison for the Capital. Altogether
Tokio may be said to possess an abundance of show
places, and its many interesting sights arc so thoroughly
characteristic of Far Eastern life that they must be seen
to be fully appreciated.
Among the many outlying villages to which the
residents of Tokio make frequent excursions at all
times of the year is Oji, where in autumn the maples
are a special attraction. Readers of Mr. Lawrence
Oliphant's account of Lord Elgin's Mission to the
East will remember his vivid description of one of the
village tea-houses as it existed in his day. The neigh-
bourhood has witnessed many changes, and the paper
mills and other factories have destroyed the romantic
surroundings of Ogi-ya and Ebi-ya, but the little temple
and waterfall still have a charm for visitors.
To sum up those salient features of the Japanese
208 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Capital which go far to constitute its undoubted right
to be regarded as the centre of civilisation in the distant
Orient, it may be sufficient to say that there are three ex-
tensive parks which, for natural beauty and artistic adorn-
ment, are nowhere excelled in any Capital in the world ;
fine thoroughfares of shops supplied with every article
that a cultivated taste could require, both native and
foreign ; street conveyances in the shape of trams, omni-
buses, and cabs (for the Jin-riki-s/ia supplies the place of
a hansom), a suburban railway connecting all outlying
districts with the business centres, electrically-lighted
streets and dwelling-houses, magnificent public build-
ings, including the Foreign Legations, excellent club-
houses, hotels, and restaurants. Three museums and
a library provide for scientific or literary recreation.
Three theatres and a wrestling arena, and several
bazaars, afford enjoyment for sightseers, independently
of the attractions of the various parks and public
grounds already alluded to. Passenger steamers ply
from the Capital to neighbouring places of interest on
the coast, and from Yokohama, eighteen miles away, the
principal mail steamship lines trading to the East have
regular and frequent services joining the Japanese
islands with Europe and America. The territory ruled
by the Tenshi has become an integral part of that vast
nineteenth century community of nations indissolubly
linked in one common bond of enlightened progress.
The population of Tokio and its suburbs, according
to the official census of 1891, was 1,510,841, that of the
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN.
209
city proper being 1,217,309. The foreign residents in
June, 1891, numbered 807, of whom 214 were British,
204 American, and 133 German. Many of these resi-
dents are in Government or Japanese employ.
Government Offices. The principal departments
of State are lodged in buildings for the most part of
foreign architecture and construction.
The Privy Council includes two gentlemen, Counts
HOMEWARD FROM THE PICNIC.
Matsugata Masayoshi and Higashikuze Michitomi, who
were nobles of the old regime, and prominent, like all
the members of the Cabinet, at the time of the Restora-
tion.
2io ADVANCE JAPAN.
There is an Imperial Household Department, having
its offices at the Imperial Palace, presided over by a
Minister, Viscount Hijikata, and Vice-Minister Hana-
busa, formerly Ambassador to Korea.
Viscount Yamao Yozo, who studied engineering on
the Clyde nearly three decades ago, is Grand Master of
the Court of the Emperor's uncle, and similar offices are
rendered by various gentlemen to the other relatives of
the Emperor, viz. : Their Imperial Highnesses Princes
Yamashina, Komatsu, Fushimi, Kuni, Kita-Shirakawa,
and Kwanin.
The- Okurasho, or Finance Department, includes the
Custom Services and the Government Printing Office
within the sphere of its control.
The War Department, Riku-gun-slio, covers the Im-
perial Guard, with Prince Akihito in command. Prince
Taruhito, another of His Majesty's family, is head of the
General Staff.
The Kai-gun-sho, or Naval Department, has five prin-
cipal bureaux, and controls five colleges, including those
of medicine and naval engineering. The ZoJieisho, or
Arsenal, and the Onohama dockyard, come under its
superintendence. The branch establishments at Kure
and Sasebo, in the provinces of Aki and Hizen, and at
Yokosuka, in Tokio Bay, are also controlled from the
Capital, Admirals Nakamuta, Hayashi, and Akamatsu
being in command of the three depots in the order named.
Perhaps the Moinbusho (Education Department) has
a special claim on the attention of those who are stu-
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 211
dents of Japanese progress. It has done marvellous
work since its establishment in the first years of the
Restoration, and covers a very wide field. Hamao
Arata, the Chief Director of scholastic affairs, has held
his office from the outset, and has distinguished himself
by his urbanity and consummate ability. The Imperial
University of Japan confers degrees in sixteen branches
of science, having special colleges for the study of Law,
Medicine, Engineering, Literature, Agriculture and
Science (including Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics,
Zoology, Astronomy, Geology, Dynamics, Paleontology,
Botany, and Anthropology).
The Higher Normal Schools at Kanda, male and
female, have foreign instructors, as also the Middle
School at Hongo. In the interior of Japan the Mombu-
sho has foreign employees at Sendai, Kioto, Kanazawa,
Kumamoto, Yamaguchi, and Kagoshima. The Higher
Commercial School is well organised, with four foreign
tutors. There is a School of Music and of Fine Arts.
Last, but of great value, comes the Blind and Dumb
School at Koishikawa, in Tokio.
The Agricultural and Commercial Department em-
braces bureaux for the control of agriculture, forestry
mining, patents, silk factories, and the geological survey.
The Department of Communications, Tci-s/tin-Sho,
covers the Postal Service, Telegraphs, Marine, Light-
house, Money Orders, and Savings Banks, Schools of
Navigation and for Telegraphists and the Railway Ser-
vice.
P 2
212 ADVANCE JAPAN.
The Judicial Department includes the Supreme Court,
and the Koso-In t Q\ Courts of Appeal, which sit in seven
principal cities.
The Metropolitan Police is a distinct department of
the Public Service.
The fact must have struck many minds in the West
that a Japanese statesman appears to be able, and with
the utmost facility, to lay aside the pen and wield the
sword conversely, to resume the pen the moment the
sword may be returned to its scabbard. In the recent
Chinese War the Minister for War, Marshal Oyama, tem-
porarily laid down his portfolio and undertook the com-
mand, in person, of a second expedition, which was
directed against Port Arthur. Marshal Yamagata, who
became Minister of War in Oyama's place, was incon-
sistent as it may seem to those who cherish ideas of the
calm placid dignity which should surround the judicial
office not only a statesman, but formerly Minister of
Justice. From the Woolsack, so to put it, the Lord High
Chancellor of Japan stepped into the tented field, and
successfully wielded a Marshal's baton, until a temporary
failure in health drove him once more into the gilded
chamber of the Cabinet, although not to again become
the Lord Chancellor of the Empire, but its Secretary of
State for War. When one bears in mind, however, the
early training of these gentlemen, who like their col-
leagues, almost without exception, were born to carry
arms, and received the military training in boyhood of
a samurai, the seeming incongruity vanishes ; for a
o
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF fAPAN, 215
samurai, though ready at any time for battle, was usually
by education a man of letters likewise. He was versed
in the arts of peace as well as of war. The term samurai
indicated gentle birth, and has of late years been replaced
by the classification of shisoku.
Kioto. Kioto, the western capital, otherwise known
as Sai-kio, to distinguish it still more from Tokio, the
eastern capital, ranks next in size to Tokio and Osaka.
A little river, the Kamogawa, skirts the eastern boun-
dary of the city, with the Katsuragawa on the west,
both falling into the larger stream Yodogawa, which is
a river of some importance in the region, just outside
the grounds of Hongwanji Temple. The eastern section
of the city gradually rises to the steep wooded heights
of Higashi-Yama, a range of hills running east and
west, and the city and its plain are further enclosed on
the north and west by Hiyeizan and Atagoyama, which
are both more than 2,500 feet high. It possesses over
three hundred thousand inhabitants, and considerably
over a thousand temples, distributed over 1,700 streets
and the environs. The Kamogawa has a reputation for
its clear water and pleasant evening breezes in sum-
mer. The Japanese painter loves to depict the crowds
of people on its banks, cooling themselves after the heat
of a summer day.
From the year 795 A.D. to 1868 Kioto was the place
of residence of the Mikado, and for all this time it
ranked not only as the scat of learning and culture, but
as the centre of manufactures. In the principal in-
2i6 ADVANCE JAPAN.
dustries of the country Kioto still holds a leading place,
particularly in the art products of silk, metals, and
ceramics. Its beautiful thoroughfares are deservedly
famed throughout the Empire for their cleanliness and
regularity. Its architectural features are distinctly a
grade above the average elsewhere. Above all, the his-
torical associations of the ancient Capital claim atten-
tion, for it was in this neighbourhood, and in a great
measure within its boundaries, that some of the most
moving scenes in the stirring history of Japan have
taken place.
The old palace of the Emperors stands in the north-
eastern quarter of the town, out of reach of disturbance
from the business portions, and was commonly known
to the people as the Go-sho, or august residence. It
was built of hinokt, a species of larch, and roofed with
the bark of this tree, all the appointments of sliding
partitions, mats, and verandahs, being strictly in accord
with that unassuming good taste which distinguishes
the residences of the aristocracy throughout the land.
The park which surrounds the palace has more recently
been employed to form the grounds of an Arts and
Sciences Exhibition.
Away to the south-west is the picturesque Nijo, the
castle of the Governor who was deputed by the Shogun
to administer the laws, for the Mikado, though resident
in the palace, was regarded a demi-god, and took no part
in mundane affairs outside his own gates. This spacious
castle was built by the great Hideyoshi, and in its mas-
THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 217
sive walls and gates, intricate carvings and decorated
woodwork, there are yet evidences of the power and
wealth of the famous chieftain.
North of the Nijo was the centre of the silk-weaving
trade, and in Awata and Kiyomidzu, districts lying
across the Kamo river, were formerly located the
enamel and earthenware, and the porcelain manufac-
tories respectively. Over the Katsuragawa, in Arashi-
yama, the cherry-trees present a magnificent sight in
early spring, and the avenues are as much thronged
then by the people of Kioto as are the Mukojima
avenues in Tokio.
A new canal conveys the water of Lake Biwa to the
precincts of the city, and through it to the navigable end
of the River Uji at Fushimi. This important engineer-
ing work cost the citizens of Kioto .155,000, and was
completed only three years ago under the supervision of
Governor Kitagaki. The main trunk of the canal is
about seven miles long, and pierces two ranges of moun-
tains by three tunnels, one of which is over 8,000 feet
long, and another 2,800 feet. The locks, tunnels, shafts,
embankments, and viaduct, are all fine examples of
engineering skill, wholly executed by Japanese. An
inclined railroad of 1,920 feet connects one end of the
main section with the lower level of the canal as it flows
into the city. A large electric plant near the foot of
the incline operates the gear that raises and lowers
canal-boats from one level to the other, as well as a
powerful electric motor by which the old Capital is
218 ADVANCE JAPAN.
lighted with electricity. The canal is a source of many
other advantages to the city, and will in time fully repay
the outlay upon its construction.
By the Tokaido road the distance from the Capital
to Kioto is about 325 miles, and it is 15 miles farther
by another road termed the Nakasendd, or middle
mountain road. From Tsuruga, on the west coast, it
is 74 miles.
In the adjoining province of Yamato, an ancient
poetical title for the whole of Japan, stands Nara,
a town of great historical interest as having been the
earliest royal residence, and having a remarkable Bud-
dhist temple in which the figure of Amida in bronze,
seated as usual on the lotus-flower, towers to a height
of 54 feet, and is the largest statue of the Buddha
among many in the Empire. It dates from the eighth
century. Close by is a deer-park in which deer have
been preserved regularly for over a thousand years.
Sakai, on the bay of Osaka, is celebrated as having
long been the first commercial centre in Japan, but
it has entirely been superseded by Osaka, the Japanese
Venice, a score of miles distant. Perhaps it will be
best remembered in history as the town where the 47
Ronins assembled when on their errand to avenge the
death of their feudal chief.
219
CHAPTER IX.
TREATY'PORTS.
S the port which \vas first opened
to foreign trade in the year
1859, prior to which foreigners
had been allowed to carry on
a restricted commercial inter-
course at Nagasaki only, Yo-
kohama ranks highest in the
estimation of the mercantile
population as a place of busi-
ness. It has none of the attractions of the Capital for
mere travellers, but as the home of by far the most
numerous gathering of Europeans and Americans resi-
dent on Japanese soil, and as the port from which that
mutual trade sprang up which has since attained such
formidable dimensions, Yokohama must be regarded
from an Occidental point of view as a centre of
paramount interest. When Commodore Perry arrived
in the Bay of Ycdo in 1854, and requested a reply
to that autograph letter from the President of the
United States which he had delivered the year before
220 ADVANCE JAPAN.
and which expressed to the Japanese Emperor a desire
for the establishment of friendly relations, Yokohama
was a mere collection of fishermen's cottages. The
treaty which virtually opened the country was nego-
tiated at Kanagawa, a mile and a half farther up the
bay, and by its provisions certain arrangements were
made under which the port of Shimoda, facing the
Pacific Ocean, 60 miles south-west of Yokohama, be-
came a place of residence for Americans, and depot
for their commerce. Shimoda proved to be so un-
suitable that it was replaced on the ist July, 1859, by
Yokohama, and foreign residents soon began to gather
in the new settlement. From the autumn of that
year a trade was cultivated with the interior through
native agents or bantos, and, apart from the rumours
of impending conflict which reached their ears occa-
sionally, the little community of merchants contrived
to pass time cheerfully, and profitably as regards their
banking accounts. In 1860 their troubles began, for it
became apparent that the Bakufu, or Government of
the Shogun, was weakening, and would not be able to
carry out its treaty obligations.
The public hall, assembly rooms,and theatre comprised
in a splendid building of brick at the top of Camp Hill,
one of the semicircle of low hills which form collectively
" the bluff" of Yokohama, do credit to the enterprise of
the oldest of the principal Treaty Ports. The bluff is
about 150 feet above sea-level, and commands magni-
ficent views of the bay, and of the mighty, but now
TREATY PORTS. 223
extinct, volcano Fujiyama 75 miles to the westward.
The public gardens occupy a commanding position on
these heights above the settlement, and have been laid
out like the ornamental grounds of some ducal mansion,
rich in sub-tropical verdure, and redolent with the
odorous blossoms of the Orient. A walk through
these gardens in the evening when the people of
Yokohama, native and foreign, congregate to listen to
music of the town band, is apt to give one the im-
pression that the life of an exile in the Far East is
far from the dreary, spiritless existence it is often
represented to be.
Charming villas are dotted about the carriage-roads
of the bluff, mostly built in the bungalow style with
spacious verandahs and gardens. Land was to be had
at a cheap rate when this quarter was planned, and the
residents were not driven to cramp their surroundings
by considerations of heavy ground rents. The advan-
tages conferred upon Yokohama by the possession of
this lovely residential region are often overlooked when
purely mercantile claims have to be considered. No
other community in the East can boast of such oppor-
tunities to make itself thoroughly at home, as are at
the disposal of the foreign body in this port.
Sport is pursued in all its branches with that ardour
which distinguishes the Anglo-Saxon race wherever met
with. An extensive racecourse is situated not far from
the public gardens, and a magnificent recreation ground
where cricket, tennis, and other games arc played with
224 ADVANCE JAPAN.
a zest which amazes the native population lies just
in the rear of the business thoroughfares. Boating and
yachting, rifle-shooting and athletics, further tend to fill
the cup of youthful happiness to the brim.
Fine buildings in stone and brickwork adorn the prin-
cipal streets of the settlement. The town hall, with its
clock-tower, the custom house, railway station, and local
government offices are conspicuous among the sub-
stantial erections which line both sides of the thorough-
fares, or face the sea on "the Bund." These are tenanted
mainly by banking corporations, silk and tea shipping
firms, and storekeepers. The chief hotels overlook the
bay, and a busy scene is presented to the visitor as
vessels enter or leave the harbour with its wide-stretch-
ing breakwaters. Far out in the navigable channel rides
at anchor the Hommoku lightship, so named as lying
off the division of Yokohama which bears this desig-
nation. The tug's shrill whistle, or the deep boom of
the mail-boat's syren, tell with cheering frequency of
the trade which is being carried on afloat.
Yokohama's chief anxiety prior to 1887 was centred
in her lack of pure drinking water, but since that year
an adequate supply has been brought from a safe source
situated 20 miles away, and now the service is so good
that the dread of ckoleraic germs no longer haunts the
residents. Japan will never be free from an annual
visitation of this scourge, but the European population
seldom suffer when care is taken to avoid exposure. The
death-roll varies in length among the Japanese year by
TREATY PORTS. 227
year, and they say that it is always longest after a war,
but the virulence of the disease is more successfully
combated as medical science progresses. Even the natives
are no longer scared by its approach.
It is intended to provide Yokohama with a pier
2,000 feet long in addition to 12,000 feet of breakwater
surface, and a graving dock forms part of the scheme
now being carried out to the design and under the cap-
able supervision of Major-General Palmer, R.E., con-
sulting engineer to the Home Department. Prior to
the commencement of these undertakings, Yokohama
roadstead was grievously exposed in the typhoon
season, and the work of loading and unloading ves-
sels was often accomplished only with great danger
and delay.
Four daily papers (two of which are likewise published
in weekly form), the Mail, Gazette, Herald, and Adver-
tiser, provide almost a superabundance of reading matter
for a normal foreign population of 5,000, of which 3,400
or thereabouts are Chinese. Not a few of these returned
to China on the outbreak of hostilities. The native and
foreign residents taken together numbered 160,866 at
the last census.
The Church of England, French Catholic, Union
Protestant, and other religious bodies are represented by
fitting edifices, and many Japanese attend these places
of worship as well as the foreign community.
The Yokohama Chamber of Commerce was able to
report that the entire trade for 1893 amounted to about
Q2
228 ADVANCE JAPAN.
; 1 7,600,000 sterling, showing an increase over 1892 of a
million and a half.
Roiu> and Hiotfo. Kobe-Hiogo, the important
Treaty Port in the Idzumi Nada, is the grand dep6t of
foreign trade in Mid-Japan. It rejoices in the posses-
sion of a safe harbour, though somewhat exposed to the
south, and the associated towns stretch along the sea-
coast for about three miles, with picturesque pine-clad
mountains, rising to a height of 2,500 feet, one mile in
the rear. Kobe, which forms the eastern section of the
combined port, has a population of about six hundred
Europeans and Americans, with close upon a thousand
Chinamen, the war having greatly diminished the num-
bers of this class of resident here, as well as at Yoko-
hama. The latest census gave the total number of
residents in Kobe and Hiogo together as 159,243.
The " Model Settlement " as it claims to be has its
affairs administered by a Municipal Council, composed
of the Japanese Governor of the place and the Foreign
Consuls. The police system is admirably organised,
and the broad, clean, well-lighted streets testify to the
excellence of the sanitary and general supervision
exercised. Facing the beach, the dwelling-houses and
offices of the foreign merchants afford a pleasing diver-
sity of style in their architecture, and have a fresh and
wholesome appearance from the proximity of shrub-
beries and lawns. The esplanade boasts a fine stretch
of turf and at the eastern end of the settlement are
recreation grounds, well laid out, with abundant facili-
TREATY PORTS. 231
ties for tennis, and two or three club-houses. The race-
course a short distance away, and a good cricket-field
provide other forms of amusement, and there is good
boating and sea bathing.
Although the last of the Treaty Ports to be opened
to foreign commerce, its growth was so rapid that it
became in its second year a formidable rival to Yoko-
hama. It has never attained quite the dimensions of
the older port, but it is better laid out, the municipal
authorities of the " Concession " having had a free
hand to plan the streets thereof to their own liking.
The sea-front extends nearly half a mile, and there
is ample quay accommodation. The foreign settle-
ment is separated from the native town of Hiogo by
a narrow creek only, across which there are several
bridges, and a considerable number of the foreign mer-
chants actually dwell in Hiogo. The principal railway
station is in the native town, that nearest to the Kobe
settlement being distinguished as San-no-iniya t from the
proximity of a noted Shinto temple of that name.
Perched nearly at the top of the highest peak, behind
the town, the temple of the Moon peeps out from groves
of deep evergreen foliage, through which the steep and
narrow ascent has to be made, but the toil of the journey
is well recompensed when the summit is attained. On
the way there is a famous waterfall, as much one of the
lions of the place as is the waterfall at Penang. Every
traveller is urged to visit this spot, and halfway up the
hill-side are natural mineral springs as valuable in their
232 ADVANCE JAPAN.
way as those of Arima, twelve miles distant. The
attractions of pretty scenery have induced restaurant-
keepers and others to spread their nets for the diligent
sightseer, who is in duty bound to spend some portion
there of the time at disposal whilst the mail-steamer
remains at anchor in the roadstead.
Altogether Kobe is one of the pleasantest settlements
of the Far East to reside in, and will serve as a pattern
for the establishment of numerous little colonies, it is to
be hoped, in other seaports of Japan which, in 1899,
will be opened to foreign trade throughout the realm.
It is the centre of a large shipbuilding industry, many
vessels both iron and wooden ones being annually
launched from the local yards. At the Imperial Ship-
yard in Hiogo there is a patent slip, which accommo-
dates steamers of 2,000 tons. The total length of the
slip is 900 feet 300 of which are above water with
a breadth of 38 feet and a slope of one in twenty,
hydraulic power being available throughout. A large
rice-cleaning mill has been in existence since 1885, and
also paper mills.
The enterprise of the place is fairly indicated by the
support accorded to three foreign daily papers, the
Herald, Chronicle, and Hiogo Ncius, and two native
journals. Three foreign-owned and conducted hotels
exist in the settlement, with many excellent shops.
Ecclesiastical bodies are represented by the Union
Protestant and French Catholic Churches, and also by
a Protestant Church in the Japanese town.
TREATY PORTS. 235
Two of the heroes of Japanese mediaeval history are
buried in the suburbs of Kobe and Hiogo, and the
temples charged with the record of the valorous deeds
ascribed to Kiyomori and Masahige Kusunosuke are
right well preserved by the faithful.
Kobe is the terminus of the Tokaido railway from
Yokohama, 376 miles, and the Sanyodo railway, extend-
ing at present to Hiroshima, some 240 miles, and shortly
to be carried on to Shimonoseki Straits. The depot in
Hiogo is well supplied with engine and carriage sheds,
fitting and repairing workshops, and all the customary
adjuncts to a large and busy central station.
OMulia. Osaka is in Settsu, and commands respect
as the second city of Japan. Its position is analogous
in many respects to that of Liverpool or Glasgow with
us. Unfortunately, its harbour is too shallow to permit
large steamers to enter, and they have to lie off the
bar at the mouth of the Yodo. Koraibashi, the Korean
bridge, is situated in the centre of the town, and from
it, as from Nihonbashi in Tokio, all distances are calcu-
lated. The castle is a splendid example of the style of
architecture which prevailed throughout the Shdgun
period, and was in existence prior to the time of Hide-
yoshi. The Tokugawa dynasty regarded it as one of
their main strongholds, and always took care to place
a thoroughly trustworthy governor in charge. It now
holds an arsenal, and has a large garrison, being the
headquarters of one of the six military divisions of
the Empire.
236 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Osaka boasts a population of 484,409 souls, and has
131,000 houses. A portion of the city bears the name
of Tennoji, the temple of the heavenly Kings, from the
existence there of one of the most sacred fanes of the
Buddhist religion. Another district is Kawaguchi,
where a few European residents have dwelt since 1868.
The Mint, in the north section of the town, is a Govern-
ment department, where not only all the coin for the
nation is minted, but gold from Korea is annually re-
ceived to be converted into a coinage for the neighbour-
ing kingdom. The plant for this Mint came from
England, and was previously in use at Hong-Kong.
The Japanese Government purchased the whole thing,
and engaged Major Kinder and a staff of assayers to
start the work at Osaka in 1869.
Owing to the bar at the river's mouth, the foreign
trade of Osaka has never risen to importance, large
steamers having to load at Kobe, 25 miles distant. The
railway has quite supplanted the fleet of small steamers
which at one time plied in the bay with passengers.
Up to the end of the fifteenth century, Osaka bore
the name of Naniiua, an abbreviation of Naini-Jiaya, the
name Jinmu Tenno bestowed on the place when he
found the waves so violent (implied by the compound
word) as to impede his disembarkation, in 660 B.C.
It is now the centre of a large cotton-spinning indus-
try, and has extensive shipbuilding yards and flourishing
ironworks. The foreign residents, 122 in number, are
mostly connected with missionary enterprise.
TREATY PORTS. 237
. The first port in the early days to be-
come known to the outer world, Nagasaki retains more
than ordinary interest for Occidentals, and if it has
been out-paced in regard to trade by its more modern
rivals, Yokohama and Kobe, it nevertheless has still a
large share of the commerce of the country, both ex-
ternal and internal. Its dock is a refuge for vessels
A JAPANESE-BUILT TORPEDO-BOAT.
of large size when needing repair, for it can accommo-
date a ship of the largest class, being 438 feet long
375 feet on the blocks and 90 feet in width. At high
water, spring tides, there are 27 feet at the entrance,
and 22 at neap tides. The Aka-no-ura engine-works
facing the town, on the other shore of the magnificent
almost land-locked inlet which forms Nagasaki har-
bour, so well known to mariners, now belong to the
Mitsu Bishi Steamship Company, one of the most suc-
cessful of Japanese trading concerns. Formerly the
establishment was Government property, and some
238 ADVANCE JAPAN.
splendid marine engineering work has been executed
by a mixed staff of skilled native and foreign engineers
and artificers, who are now engaged by M. Iwasaki
Yanosuke, one of Japan's merchant kings.
Nagasaki owes much to the discovery of coal at
Takashima, only a few miles distant from the mouth
of the harbour, where the mineral has been mined suc-
cessfully for 30 years, principally at the instigation of
Mr. T. B. Glover, C.E., one of the oldest residents of
the port. Takashima and other local mines called
Nakanoshima, have been putting out close on half a
million tons annually, and the quality is such that it
has found a ready sale to steamers all along, though
recently the Miike mines, elsewhere alluded to, have
proved sturdy competitors for the foreign trade.
Compared with Yokohama or Kobe, the settlement
is small, but it boasts two clubs, a masonic lodge, and
several hotels, with a few good shops, or "stores" as
they are universally termed in the East. By-and-bye,
Nagasaki may come again into prominence, as the
branch railway is being pushed forward to connect
the town with the main trunk-line of the Kiushiu rail-
way, which traverses the island from north to south,
beginning at Shimonoseki Straits. It will then be
practicable to leave the mail-steamer, and take train
for Yokohama and the Capital, saving several days' sea
journey.
The climate is exceedingly mild and salubrious, and
has attracted many foreign residents to the charming
TREATY PORTS. 239
villas, situated in romantic nooks and glens towards the
entrance of the inlet. The French Catholic body have
always made Nagasaki a stronghold, and the services
at their cathedral are well attended by the natives.
The Anglican and other religious denominations are
likewise well represented. Out in the harbour's mouth
stands the isle of Papenberg, and a few miles distant is
the village of Mogi, both of which places possess a
melancholy interest from the scenes there enacted at
the beginning of the seventeenth century. But the
times have changed, and intolerance has been succeeded
by the utmost freedom in respect of religious thought
and observance.
The new waterworks have three filter-beds, and pro-
vide a supply of 90 millions of gallons, so that Naga-
saki, like Yokohama, may now feel comparatively at
ease on the subject of the drinking-water supply for its
large population, among which are ordinarily included
356 persons of American, British, Dutch, and other
nationalities foreign to Japan, and some 654 Chinamen,
a large proportion of whom are temporarily absentees.
The Rising Sun newspaper and two native journals
keep their subscribers well posted as regards the outer
world's affairs.
PromiMiiig MoaportM Tor Future Trade* To
Europeans the prospect of free intercourse with the
interior of Japan should have immense attractiveness.
The ports which are now open to foreign commerce con-
stitute by no means the only favourable places for carry-
240 ADVANCE JAPAN.
ing on trade. There are numerous points on the coast
more conveniently situated as regards their proximity to
the great centres of those industries for which Japan is
famed, and which form her staple exports.
This is particularly true of the west coast, and in Tsu-
ruga, in the province of Jakushiu, there is an instance of
a conveniently situated port which may one day form
the terminus of a line of steamers communicating with
the coast of Korea, or with the terminus of the Trans-
Siberian Railway, wherever that may ultimately be
located. Tsuruga has a branch railway joining it to the
main railway system of the Empire, and in point of
position should become a great trading centre. Matsuye,
in Idzumo, is another harbour which should prove
valuable in tapping a district which may not for years
to come be adequately served by railways. Miyadzu,
also a port on the west coast, may come into promin-
ence. It is best known now by its possession of the
Ama-no-Hashidate (lit. Ladder of Heaven), one of
Japan's loveliest landscapes.
Koehi. Kochi, the chief town of Tosa province, has
long been known to Europeans as an enterprising place,
and when full freedom of access can be attained, should
provide a place of residence for Europeans and a singularly
eligible locality for the profitable investment of foreign
capital. Tosa has long enjoyed the reputation of being
one of the richest provinces of Japan, and its people
are among the most enlightened and energetic. Shi-
koku Island has not had a Treaty Port hitherto, and
TREATY PORTS. 243
its trade has all been carried on through Kobe and
Osaka. In all probability Kochi should be the first
point to which the attention of enterprising foreign
merchants and manufacturers should be early directed,
on account of its influence over the interior trade of
Shikoku. Its residents number 35,992.
Yokkuichi. There are several ports to which the
coasting steamers of the Yu-sen Kai-sha already trade
regularly, and in which a large foreign trade should be
developed in the near future. One of these is Yokkaichi,
in the Owari Gulf, at which grain steamers already load
rice very extensively. There should be an opening at
this town for the export of tea, as it lies close to one of
the most extensive tea-growing districts. Yokkaichi is
the port for the large castle town of Nagoya, a few miles
higher up the gulf, and the district is likewise the centre
of silk and porcelain industries. A great deal of the
porcelain comes from Kaga, on the other side of the
island, and would find its natural outlet at Tsuruga, or
Toyama, both harbours on that coast, but the Banko or
Owari ware would be shipped from Yokkaichi (Four-
day Market) on the southern slope of Hondo. A rail-
way has been constructed, joining the port to the main
line.
Mt'iidui. Farther to the north, in the province of
Kikuzen, is the large town of Sendai, the former seat of
one of the most powerful daimios. Marquis Date's income
was fully half a million sterling per annum. In the bay of
Sendai, renowned for its beautiful scenery, is Matsushima^
R 2
244 ADVANCE JAl'AN.
one of the San-kei, or three superlatively lovely places
famed in Japanese history. Sendai is the natural seaport
for the trade of the northern provinces, and lies midway
between Tokio and Aomori, on the great northern rail-
way line of Japan. Some missionary families are already
resident in the place, and situated as it is in about
Lat. 38 15' north, the climate is all that could be desired
for European residents.
Inland Sen. Funai, the chief town of Bungo, in
Kiushiu, is a place which should well repay exploitation,
lying in a beautiful bay of the Inland Sea, but hitherto
out of the track of steamships. Onomichi, on the
northern shore of the same sea, is a port possessing a
very large native trade, and from time immemorial it has
been a harbour for junks. Its position gives it the com-
mand of a large inland traffic. Wakayama, at the mouth
of Idzumi Nada, has always been the capital of Kiushiu,
a region second to none for enterprise, and for its salu-
brity.
The list might be extended indefinitely, but it may
suffice now to point out that the opening of Japanese
ports to foreign trade and residence, when the existing
treaty comes into operation, should have interest for not
a few who have hitherto refrained from embarking in
commerce with the Far East. Our Chambers of Com-
merce may do well to gather all the data that may be
procurable with regard to shipments at these and other
ports from which the direct European trade is no longer
to be excluded. Increased facilities are certain to bring
TREATY PORTS. 245
increase of business, and it may be that foreign capital
can be advantageously used to set up machinery on the
spot at places where cotton and other products are
already cultivated. There must be many towns in the
heart of Japan where industrial enterprise would be
certain to meet with success. The people are handy
and willing, labour is unquestionably cheap, the cost of
living low and the climate delightful.
Though the date seems far distant when the vital
change will come into operation, yet something can
be done in the way of preparation, and though it is
scarcely likely that any " rush " will ensue, it is tolerably
certain that British capitalists at large will take no harm
by examining thoroughly the nature of the commerce
now carried on with Japan, and gravely considering the
prospects in regard to that which may with profit be
engrafted thereupon.
Other nations will not be slow to seize any advantage
there may be to secure by prompt action, and as the
time draws near there will be much to arrange. The
Japanese Government will be careful to have every-
thing cut and dried in readiness for an invasion of
Western commerce at all the more likely ports on
the coast, and long ere the time actually arrives the
new code of laws, under which justice will be adminis-
tered, will be available for the inspection of intending
settlers.
Japan, from being regarded as the play-ground of
Europe, should presently become one of the busiest
246
ADVANCE JAPAN.
marts of the world's industries, for, if I mistake not, it is
by way of Japan, and through her good offices, that
Europe and America will be able to open up markets
upon a hitherto unprecedented scale in China and
Korea.
247
CHAPTER X.
COMMUNICATIONS.
N no department of progress have the people of
Nihon made greater strides than in regard to
their internal and external lines of communi-
cation. Improvement in this respect was
greatly needed, and from the outset it was
recognised that until ample facilities for travel-
ling, and for the interchange of letters, could be secured
to the public at large, there could be but compara-
tively little headway made against the forces of ignor-
ance and superstition. The condition of the high-roads
was seldom suited to wheeled vehicles, for prior to 1860
the bullock-drays employed in the transport of merchan-
dise were the only conveyances of the kind in existence
Japan made one stride from the sedan-chair to the first-
class railway car, without any intermediate stage of
vehicles drawn by quadrupeds. There is a miniature
gig in general use, however, in which draught-bipeds are
actively engaged, for which the Japanese may take credit
as one of the most remarkable institutions of the East.
The .lin-riUi-Mhu. It made its appearance in Yoko-
hama in 1871, and like the individual who first made use
248 ADVANCE JAPAN.
of an umbrella, he was a bold man who first took a seat
in this conveyance, to be whirled through the thorough-
fares of the native town behind a half-clothed native
runner. From Yokohama the idea rapidly spread, how-
ever, and in a short time thousands of these little gigs,
termed in the vernacular fin-riki-sJia, or man-power-
A
THE JIN-RIKI-SHA.
carriage, were placed upon the streets of the principal
cities for hire. But the scope of the new invention was
not limited to the centres of population, for the handy
contrivances soon found their way to the outlying vil-
lages, and thence to the large towns of the interior.
Where it had been customary to hire a sedan-chair, termed
COMMUNJCA TIONS. 249
norimono in Japan, or in its simplest form a kago, for a
stage of six or eight English miles, it now became the prac-
tice to engage a jin-riki-sha, at very little higher rate of
pay. The posting stations, at which pack-horses or kago-
bearers were formerly to be hired for the next stage,
now took up the novelty and provided gigs for their
clients, the draught-bipeds being held responsible for
the due delivery of the travellers entrusted to their care.
Year by year the jin-riki-sha increased in popularity,
and wherever the roads are of moderate gradient the sedan
has entirely given place to the more speedy wheeled
vehicle, until at the present day it has become the uni-
versal mode of transport for individual voyagers and
their baggage.
Not only has Japan benefited herself by this more
convenient system of travelling, but the miniature gigs
have been exported to China and Singapore, to the ex-
tent that they are almost as familiar objects in- the streets
of the coast ports of the Yellow Sea, and of the Straits
Settlements, as they are on the Bund at Yokohama. An
effort has been made to introduce them into London
thoroughfares, but the preponderance of wheeled traffic
is already such as to preclude the possibility of our ever
making room for man-power carriages in this Metropolis.
In Hong-Kong and Shanghai the gigs have largely sup-
planted the native palanquin, and the Chinese runners,
though seldom so fleet as the Japanese, have taken very
kindly to the employment.
Excursion diullilw. Throughout Japan there is a
250 ADVANCE JAPAN.
system in operation by which the licensed victuallers
of the nation subscribe to one or other, sometimes to
several, travellers' guilds, by which means a twofold
object is attained. The guild is able to secure for the
guest at any of the hotels the most considerate treat-
ment at the hands of the landlord, whilst the innkeeper
is at least confident of obtaining his full share of the
trade. Few Japanese travel unless under the auspices
of the Tsu-un-ko, the Bun-mei-ko, or other of their
kindred guilds; and the immunity thereby ensured from
risk of overcharge, or loss of property on the journey,
is of no small value to both native and foreign pas-
sengers. The modus opcrandi is simple enough. On
setting out from his home the intending tourist receives
from the local office of the guild a map and a guide-
book, giving all needful particulars regarding the route
he purposes to take. Such books are corrected from
time to time, and brought up to date by the addition of
new material. The distances between the towns are
clearly set forth, with directions how to reach objects
of interest lying on or near the road to be followed,
and a choice of hotels is given in every large village
or town to be visited. Japanese inns have signs like
those of European countries, and the similarity of
objects chosen is often very striking. The commonest
signs in Japan are perhaps the Cock, Bull, Eagle, Pine,
and Bamboo. Fuji (the Wisteria) and Masu (Salmon-
trout) are also very frequently to be met with. Other
conspicuous inn-titles, of less appropriate application
COMMUN1CA TIONS. 25 1
from an English point of view, are those of Nedzumi
(Rat) or Mukade (Centipede), but the animal and
vegetable kingdom are well represented throughout.
Pictorial representations are lacking, but the letters
forming the inn-name are engraved in gold or colours so
as to attract the eye, and with the exception that royalty
is not associated with sign-boards in the Far East, the
custom of the trade in this respect is pretty much the
same as in Western lands. No innkeeper in Japan has
yet tried the effect of hoisting the " Mikado's Head "
over his door as an inducement to travellers to enter ;
and probably, should ever the experiment be made, it
will prove to be too costly for repetition.
Cheap Hotels. A landlord is bound by the rules of
his guild to affix his seal to the traveller's guide-book,
so that should it be necessary at any time to investi-
gate a complaint of exorbitant charges, or negligent
service, the book may be produced in evidence. A not
uncommon practice among old-fashioned travellers is to
carry a memorandum-book, in which the innkeeper is
invited to enter his own bill on the first vacant page.
The book affords indication of the prices which its
owner has paid for his accommodation at previous
stages of his journey, and by inference those which it
will be agreeable to him to pay. The account-book
serves as a record of the journey, and it is as well, on
setting out, to make sure that the first entry on its
pages is founded on strictly economical principles, as
it will serve to some extent as an example for other
252 ADVANCE JAPAN.
landlords to follow. The Bun-mei-ko has a scale of
charges which its adherents are expected to conform
to. Under the ordinary rates a traveller has a right
to expect his supper, bed, and breakfast to be pro-
vided for him at a cost of less than one shilling in a
guild hotel. It is usual, however, for a well-to-do guest
to order a special dish or two, and to make a small
present for " tea-service," which may bring the total
expenditure to sixpence more, at present rates of ex-
change. These charges cover the supply of hot water
for a bath, and entitle the visitors to expect that
they will be met at the entrance to the town and
escorted to the inn ; likewise that the landlord or his
representative will set out with them on the morrow, and,
after seeing them well on their way, will wish them bon
voyage with the accompaniment of his best bow. There
can be few countries under the sun where landlords do
so much for the guests on such an extremely low tariff.
The rapidity of railway travelling has of course
much modified these arrangements on the routes fol-
lowed by the lines actually at work, but there are
many hundreds of miles of high-road, in remote dis-
tricts, where the old customs still prevail, and where it
is unlikely any material change will be made for a
decade to come. Those who may visit Japan in 1899,
on the opening of the entire land to European trade,
therefore, are likely to still find traces remaining of that
" old Japan " which was not without its special charm.
Many people of sedate manners for there are old-
CO MM UN 1C A TIONS. 253
fashioned folk even in modern Japan still prefer to
travel by the high-roads, just as there are English people
who have a lingering fondness for the coach and horses
of our forefathers, and patronise that mode of convey-
ance wherever it is yet to be met with. In Japan they
seldom allow their prejudices to prevail with them so far
as to reject the modern jin-riki-ska, in favour of the an-
cient norimono, for the era of sedan-chairs seems alto-
gether to have passed away since railways became at
all popular. Thus it happens that there is consider-
able gig traffic along the Tokaido, for example, in
spite of the close proximity of a line of railway and
express trains. To the advent of thejtn-rt&t-s/ta, indeed,
must be ascribed in great measure the vast improve-
ment in the condition of the roads which has been
effected during the last 20 years. In 1875 there was a
General Assembly of Prefects at the Japanese Capital,
and one of the problems presented to the Conference
for solution was that relating to the obvious necessity
for providing suitable roadways throughout the Pro-
vinces for the passage of thejin-ri&t-sAa, which, even at
that early stage of its existence, gave promise of a life
of great usefulness. It is safe to say that this diminu-
tive vehicle has played a most prominent part in the
development of the country, and it has not received by
any means the credit it deserves. The construction of
roads suitable for the heavier type of vehicles ordinarily
drawn by horses would have entailed so vast an expen-
diture of both time and money that the development of
254 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the Empire would have been retarded for several years.
Not only would a far higher standard of solidity have
been demanded, but considerably greater width, for
even the Tokaido was in places narrow and tortuous
prior to 1875, and to have widened it, and strengthened
its bridges, sufficiently to make it practicable for pair-
horse omnibuses throughout its length, would have
entailed far greater monetary responsibilities than the
provincial authorities were at that time prepared to
incur. The Prefects assembled at Tokio recognised the
paramount necessity of furnishing enhanced facilities for
internal communication, and cordially welcomed the
newly-arrived man-power-gig as the most serviceable of
instruments for effecting their purpose. With an ex-
treme breadth of not more than four feet, including the
wheels, each gig is made to serve for the conveyance of
two persons, on a push, seated side by side, with a port-
manteau on the footboard, and a pair of such vehicles
may contrive to pass each other on a road nine feet
wide. Many of the by-roads and lanes of the Provinces
were at that period of no greater width than this, and
could only be classed as bridle-paths. The traffic upon
them was purely pedestrian, rarely disturbed even by
a passing pack-horse, and as a result, communication
with towns and villages only slightly removed from the
beaten track was necessarily tedious and toilsome. Visits
to notable shrines, situated off the high-road, Nikko for
example, were pilgrimages which could only be made
on foot. Merchandise could only be transported, in
COMMUNICATIONS. 257
limited quantities, on men's shoulders. The appearance
of the jin-riki-sJia upon the scene changed the entire
aspect of affairs. Travellers at once became able to
accomplish double and treble the distance in a day they
had previously attempted when obliged to walk. The
outlying temples and places possessing historical asso-
ciations were discovered to possess virtues undreamt of
whilst journeys to them had compulsorily to be made
on foot. The priests and hotel-keepers rejoiced and
blessed the wee agents of so much prosperity. A
tradesman would load up his wares on one vehicle,
and taking his seat in another, would be borne off at
a run to a distant town, where he would introduce his
goods to a new market. It was palpable that the
jin-riki-sha had come to aid the Government in the
inauguration of a new regime. The drawing on a pre-
vious page will afford a clear idea of the man-power-
gig which has done so much for Japan, and for other
countries in the Far East.
Claanftticutioii or High-roads. The assembled
Prefects came to the conclusion that all the roads of the
Japanese Empire should be classified according to the
nature of the services they would be thenceforward
called upon to render, and definite arrangements made
for their due maintenance and repair. With that admir-
able devotion to systematic organisation which distin-
guishes the proceedings of Government bodies in Japan,
the deliberations of the Conference, afterwards approved
by the Supreme Council, took definite shape in an
S
258 ADVANCE JAPAN.
arrangement whereby the National roads, supported
entirely out of the Imperial Funds, were distinguished
from the Prefecture roads, for the maintenance of which
the Imperial Exchequer is saddled with a moiety only
the other half of the expenditure being borne by the
Local Boards and the village roads, for the up-keep
of which contributions are levied in the districts actually
served. National roads, which correspond to the great
highways of the United Kingdom, are subdivided into
three classes, the first of which possess a minimum
width of 42 feet, and are the main links of communica-
tion between Tokio and the Treaty Ports. This regula-
tion involves the provision of a road never less than 14
yards broad from Nagasaki in the far south, to Hako-
date in the extreme north, passing through the ports of
Kob6, Osaka, and Yokohama on the way, with a branch
to Niigata in the north-west. The length of this high-
road, which bears various names according to the dis-
tricts it traverses, is not less than 1,200 miles, the general
shape of the islands of Japan being long and narrow.
Such an excellent provision for the wheeled traffic of the
country is more than sufficient to meet the demands of
horsed vehicles in those sections of the highway where
such accommodation exists, and will admit of the
general introduction of waggons and carriages drawn
by quadrupeds, in supersession of the diminutive jin-
riki-sha, when that lowly but most advantageous con-
veyance shall have outlived its present sphere of use-
fulness.
COMMUNICATIONS. 259
National Highway*. National roads of the second
class have a width of 36 feet, and are such as constitute
the arteries of travel to the venerated shrines of Ise,
or temples of the Sun-god, wherein are reverenced the
ancestral tablets of that dynasty of Mikados whose
direct descendant occupies the Japanese throne. The
pilgrimages to Ise are very numerously attended, large
parties annually setting out from the most distant
regions of the Empire at about midsummer, just after
the rice shoots have been transplanted, when the able-
bodied members of the farmers' families can be spared
for a brief spell from the otherwise engrossing duties of
agriculture. The throngs of worshippers require a fairly
wide road by which to reach their destination, and so the
Ise roads, where they quit the main route of the Tokaido,
are maintained in the second class, and in constant
repair. This class of thoroughfare likewise includes the
roads communicating with the principal cities throughout
the Empire, apart from those actually situated on that
main highway of the first class previously described.
The second class roads also lead to the various military
depdts of the War Department, and these depdts are
further connected with the chief cities of their vicinity
by roads of a minimum width of 30 feet. National
roads of this third class, i.e., those at least 30 feet wide,
join the Capital with all the various prefectures of the
interior not otherwise provided for, so that a very com-
plete network of road communications is ever at the
service of the Government, connecting the Capital with
s 2
260 ADVANCE JAPAN.
every centre of local authority, from the farthest ex-
tremity of the Mikado's territory in Yeso, to the southern
limit of Satsuma at Kagoshima.
Prefectural Highway*). Those high-roads, toward
the support of which a call is made upon the resources
of the Provincial Boards of Control, to the extent of one
half the total expenditure, are from 24 to 30 feet wide,
and join the various prefectures one with another or con-
nect military stations with their outposts. This class of
highway is also considered sufficient to place the head
offices of the prefects, in towns dignified by their per-
petual residence, in communication with the outlying
branch offices of sub-prefects in adjacent towns of
secondary importance. The roads to seaports in the
neighbourhood, or to places which have a certain vogue
as health resorts, or as specially endowed by nature in
the matter of beautiful scenery, must not be less than
24 feet wide.
Village Honda. Village roads are those of the
Third Section, and are regarded in this category if they
merely serve the purposes of land cultivation, or have
been constructed as part of some scheme of irrigation,
to provide improved facilities for pasturage, or for manu-
facturing or mining enterprises. Roadways, laid out in
order to benefit Buddhist or Shinto monasteries come
under this designation, and it is a suggestive fact that
the Government of the country, whilst insisting upon
the villagers concerned submitting for approval the
plans and estimates framed for these public works, ac-
COMMUNICATIONS. 261
cords to the happy peasantry the privilege of paying
the entire cost.
The classification of highways thus adopted bears a
close resemblance to that in operation in France, and the
Japanese Prefectural system has been largely modelled
upon that of the French arrondissements. It speaks
volumes for the good sense of the Government officials
that they confined their attention to the duty of im-
proving existing roads and channels of intercourse, and
rendering them passable for light vehicles of the type
already described, when they might have been tempted,
with some show of reason, to sink vast sums in laying
out highways of an elaborate description, which, how-
ever serviceable in years to come, would have been con-
siderably in advance of the requirements of the hour.
In the making of sound roads throughout the country
the officials have been prompted by considerations of
prudence and economy, as much as by a desire to open
up the interior. Regarded in combination with their
fast-growing railway system, the Japanese people may
now be said to possess highways of a character com-
mensurate with their needs, and sufficient to serve in
the development of the nation's resources for many
years to come.
Severely Fraction!. Whatever may be said in the
way of praise of those magnificent avenues of crypto-
mcria with which the Sh6gun lycyasu decorated the
highways of a bygone age, many of which have survived
the typhoons of autumn and the storms of winter to
262 ADVANCE JAPAN.
gladden the eye by their noble proportions and sen-
sibly to ameliorate the toil of travel, it must be ac-
knowledged that the works hitherto undertaken by the
present Emperor's Government have been much less
ornamental in character. The roads have been ren-
dered serviceable, but surely not beautiful. There are
often no hedgerows or other form of border, no trees,
pales, or palisades to mark the edge of the straight un-
deviating track across a succession of rice-fields. But,
if not picturesque, the roads are eminently useful ; and
the time may come when the question of embellishment
may be taken up quite as enthusiastically as any admirer
of artistic Japan could desire. Just now it suits the
nation to be, above all things, practical and progres-
sive.
If these expressions have any weight in connection
with the improvements which have been effected on the
roads, they must apply with even greater force when we
investigate the nature of Japan's progress in regard to
railways and telegraphs.
The Railway to tfce Capital. The instant that
the leading spirits of the Revolution had leisure to turn
their attention to the duties of reorganisation, the im-
perative necessity of establishing railway communication
throughout the Empire was cordially recognised, and
steps were taken to forge the first link of the chain
by the construction of a line, 18 miles long, from the
port of Yokohama to the capital of Tokio. Engineers
were engaged from England and India to carry out the
COMMUNICATIONS. 263
requisite surveys and establish the line on the European
model. Funds for the great work were procured by
floating a loan at nine per cent interest through the
agency of the Oriental Banking Corporation, and the
agent of the bank in Japan was installed, in the interests
of the bondholders, as European general manager of
the Imperial railways. The first engineer-in-chief of the
projected line, Mr. Morel, died during its inceptive stage,
and was succeeded by Mr. R. Vicars Boyle, C.S.I., who
had had considerable experience on British Government
railways in India. By the close of 1871, not only were
the works in a very advanced stage, but a second line of
railway had been laid out, and work commenced upon
it in another part of the country, 350 miles to the south-
west. By the summer of 1872, trains were running from
Yokohama to Shinagawa, a suburb of Tokio, and the
Japanese public were beginning to realise some of the
advantages which a newly-established system of Govern-
ment was designed to confer upon them. But these
brilliant results were not achieved without encounter-
ing many difficulties, natural and artificial. The natural
obstacles were surmounted by the exercise of much
patient skill, and were met with principally at the bridg-
ing of the rivers, where shifting beds of sand and sud-
den floods of irresistible volume demanded, and received,
the attention of trained and indefatigable specialists
in railway construction. The formation of an embank-
ment parallel to the shore of Yedo Bay, by which the
line had to be carried forward from Shinagawa to the
264 ADVANCE JAPAN.
terminus at Shinbashi, in the Capital itself, a distance
of three miles in all, likewise constituted an engineering
work of some prominence. But the difficulties artifi-
cially created by landowners, and by that section of the
Japanese public which secretly viewed the introduction
of foreign inventions with disfavour, notwithstanding the
progress already made, tended perceptibly to thwart and
delay the completion of the undertaking.
This section of 18 miles was actually opened for public
traffic on the I2th of June, 1872, though the State cere-
mony was deferred till the I2th of October. It was then
a single road only, but in 1880 it was made a double
line throughout. Rokugo river bridge, midway, has 30
spans, and is built of iron. The average cost per mile
(.34,263) seems extravagant, but this was Japan's first
attempt at railway construction. Other lines have been
built far more cheaply since. When first the line was
established all the rolling stock was procured from Great
Britain, but now the whole of it is made in Japan, save
the locomotives and some of the ironwork.
This is the first and only double line in Japan, but
the others will be widened and doubled by degrees. On
an average two and a quarter millions of passengers are
conveyed yearly, and the earnings are about 120,000,
working expenses being, roughly speaking, one third of
this amount. Fares are very moderate.
The Kobe and Oaaltn Section* The railway
from Kobe to Osaka, 22 miles long, was opened next
in the year 1874. Tunnels and bridges were costly
COMMUNICATIONS. 265
items in the construction, but nevertheless the average
rate worked out at 33,970 per mile. A bridge 1,190
feet long spans the Mukogawa, and the culverts and
bridges all told number no fewer than 209. The tun-
nels, three in number, have a combined length of 750
feet, and carry the track beneath the beds of rivers.
In 1880 this section was extended to Otsu, 11^ miles,
and opened formally by His Majesty the Mikado on
the 1 4th July. Otsu is situated at the end of Lake
Biwa, and a commodious harbour has been constructed,
PLEASURE BOAT ON SUMIDA RIVER, TOKIO.
and protected by breakwaters, with appliances for load-
ing the steamers which ply on the lake. An iron bridge
of eight 5O-feet spans carries the line over the Kamo-
gawa, near Kioto, and a tunnel, 727 yards in length,
pierces Osakayama. The locomotives were supplied
from Glasgow and Manchester. Steel rails were like-
wise obtained from Great Britain.
The tunnels which arc a feature of the line had been
pierced and faced preparatory to the completion of the
long and costly embankments necessary to carry the rail-
266 ADVANCE JAPAN.
way across the low-lying rice-fields. The rivers pre-
sented some peculiar features, inasmuch as the channels
by which they reach the sea, are raised far above the level
of the surrounding country. The problem which arose
for solution was whether it would be more convenient
to cross above, or below, these natural aqueducts. Both
systems were tried, tunnels having been driven beneath
two of the water-courses, where the height above the
adjoining fields admitted of this plan being followed
with success, whilst in other cases embankments were
constructed to bring the rails up to the level of the
aqueducts, and iron bridges were built to carry them
across. Such bridges were sent out in sections from the
workshops of Great Britain, and put together on the
spot, the sinking of the piers requiring great care and
vigilance.
State Opening of Railways It was fitting that
the occasion of the completion of so valuable and strik-
ing a novelty as a line of railway should be marked by
the public appearance of the monarch whose existence,
as far as the masses were concerned, had been up to that
time more a matter of religious belief than of personal
knowledge. The Tens/ii became a living reality when
he came down to Yokohama and performed the cere-
mony of opening to public traffic the first " iron road,"
as it is termed by his people. Two years later he opened
the Kob6-Osaka-Kioto division, which was possibly, to
His Majesty's thinking, more startling as an innovation,
in his old ancestral home of Kioto, than it had been to
RAILWAYS IN JAPAN.
COMMUNICATIONS. 269
the city and port of the North. For it will be remem-
bered that only six years had elapsed since he had
dwelt in absolute seclusion in this " Western Capital,"
whilst the Government of his country had been carried
on by the so-called Tycoon at Yedo.
Both at Yokohama and at Kobe the opening of the
railways was distinguished by a ceremonial of surpassing
interest and brilliancy, ever to be remembered by those
who were privileged to assist at the function. The
Empress of Japan was prominent on the occasion of the
Kobe display, and like the Tenshi, was clad in European
costume, a departure from established custom which
surely indicated her willingness to sacrifice even her own
comfort in the sacred cause of progress.
The Tokaido Line. The two lines of railway thus
royally established have since been united by the con-
struction of the Tokaido railway joining Kioto with
Yokohama, which at once placed the capital of Tokio in
communication with the great cities of the West. The
precise length of this Tokaido line is 376 miles, and it
has already been extended in a westerly direction as far
as Hiroshima, some 215 miles. Preparations are being
made as rapidly as possible to carry it forward to
Shimonoseki, the gate of the Inland Sea, and Japan's
outpost towards Korea. The accompanying outline
chart will afford a tolerably accurate idea of the ex-
tent to which railway communication has already
been established within the Mikado's dominions. As
will be observed, the trunk-line stretching southward
270 ADVANCE JAPAN.
from the Capital is not quite continuous to Nagasaki,
the Treaty Port of Southern Japan, but is within measur-
able distance of attaining this condition. Before another
year elapses it is probable that the traveller may leave
his vessel at Nagasaki, and rejoin her at Yokohama,
travelling by railway through half the entire length of
Japan, and having a day or two to spare for sight-seeing
en route.
Line** in Central and North Japan* Northward
of the Capital the completion of the railway to Awomori,
along the line of the Oshiu-kai-do, a distance of 444
miles, has brought the island of Yeso, once so remote,
within a few hours' journey of Tokio, and with it the
Treaty Port of Hakodate, open to foreign trade since
1865. Branch lines connect the populous city of Mito
once a seat of the powerful Tokugawa clan, and Mae-
bashi, as well as the sacred shrines of Nikko, remark-
able for their beauty, with the seat of Government in
Tokio. Another trunk line leads through Maebashi
and Takasaki to the north-western seaport of Takata.
Mid-Japan is excellently served by lines thrown out
from the main system at Kioto and Osaka, towards Nara
and Sakai, Yokkaichi and Ise", and also to Tsuruga,
on the west coast. Far to the southward the coal-
mines of Miike have been brought into direct connec-
tion with the general railway system by a branch
which leads to the pit's mouth, an illustration of which
appears in a subsequent chapter.
In the map of railways already existing or projected,
CO MM UN 1C A TJONS. 27 1
it will be observed that several additions to the system
are in an advanced stage, and that as soon as active
operations can be resumed, upon the close of the war
with China, the mileage of the Japanese railways will
be very considerably increased. Viewed only in the
light of twenty-five years' work, the vast amount of
country already opened up by the " iron roads " cannot
fail to impress the European reader with a sense of
the energy which the Government of Japan has thrown
into this one department of its most extensive opera-
tions.
The locomotive engines employed on Japanese rail-
ways are almost without exception of English manu-
facture or built upon English models. Two well-known
Lancashire firms were among the earliest to supply the
locomotives for the Yokohama and Kobe" sections, and
the type then sent out seemed to afford such satisfaction
that it has been regularly adhered to. The gauge of the
Japanese lines is very narrow, being only 3 feet 6 inches,
so that when compared with the mighty engines employed
on the main lines in Great Britain, a Japanese locomotive
appears altogether insignificant. It suffices admirably,
however, for the class of work it is called upon at pre-
sent to perform, though in the somewhat distant future,
when traffic increases in proportion to the facilities
afforded for transport of merchandise as well as of pas-
sengers, it may become a matter of necessity to widen
the gauge to the standard 4 feet 8}4 inches, and employ
more capacious vehicles, with locomotives of the power
272 ADVANCE JAPAN.
and dimensions ordinarily in use in this and other occi-
dental countries. In their choice of a 3 feet 6 inch gauge
the Japanese have been influenced by considerations
which had weight with the engineers of Indian rail-
ways, but the development of the country is advancing
at such a phenomenal pace that only a few years hence
we may expect to find the light rolling stock utterly
unfitted to economically carry the traffic. Last year's
statistics prove that, apart from the exceptional demands
made upon the capabilities of the Japanese railways by
the war with China, there was a steady increase in the
ordinary traffic and a corresponding rise in the earnings
per mile on both the State lines and those which are
carried on by private enterprise.
On the Tokaido the railway line has been carried
parallel to the highway, generally at a distance of some
miles on the landward side, but here and there glimpses
are obtained of the rolling billows of the broad Pacific.
In great part the charm of a journey amid such sylvan
surroundings as the old coach-road affords must neces-
sarily be altogether lacking, however, in the hurried day-
and-night ride in the train, which now replaces the ten
or twelve days' trip formerly to be enjoyed by travellers
under the old conditions. For those who have time to
spare a trip along the Tdkaido must always have many
attractions, as the geological features to be met with in
a journey throughout its length are of more than com-
mon interest. Nothing could be calculated, indeed, to
afford greater satisfaction to a traveller than falls to the
COMMUX1CA TIONS. 273
lot of a pedestrian setting out from the Capital, and bent
upon acquiring a comprehensive view of the country
which appears destined to play so important a part in
the future history of the Asiatic continent
Steady Development. The railway enterprise
which has distinguished the past few years is ascribable
primarily to the efforts of Marquis Ito Hirobumi, the
present Prime Minister, and Count Okuma, at that time
Vice-Minister of Finance, who were successful in estab-
lishing the principles underlying the provision of rail-
ways as of primary importance to the State. It was
from the outset proposed to connect Tokio with Kioto,
with branches to Yokohama and Tsuruga on the west
coast, but financial reasons dictated the limitation of
the project at first to the section between Tokio and
Yokohama.
Northern Lines. The Tokio and North-Western
Railway starts from the suburb of Uyeno, close to the
splendid park, and extends 68^ miles to Mayebashi
the centre of the silk trade. This was begun in 1882,
and finished in August, 1884. Several iron bridges cross
rivers of considerable width. The engines were obtained
from Glasgow, but all carriages and other rolling stock
were made in Tokio. The Government guarantees to
the native company, which owns this line, that its divi-
dends shall not fall below eight per cent., but as it has
paid more than that rate of interest to its shareholders,
the State Treasury has not been called upon in respect
of its promise. A loop-line in the outskirts of the
T
274 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Capital connects the undertaking of the " Japan Rail-
way Company " with the Government lines to Yoko-
hama and the south.
The Nakasendo line is in course of construction,
and will open up many large towns along its route
where silk and other trades are vigorously carried
on.
The Japan Railway Company owns the line from
Tokio to Aomori, passing through Utsunomiya, Shira-
kawa, Sendai, and Morioka, about 40x3 miles.
The total length of railway now in operation in Japan
is about 1870 English miles.
The Diet three years since sanctioned an expenditure
of eight and a half millions sterling upon railway con-
struction, to be spread over a period of 12 years. It
needs but the completion of some 170 miles of line to
enable a traveller to pass from Tokio to Nagasaki with-
out change of carriage, if a system can be devised of
ferrying the entire train across Shimonoseki Straits.
This is by no means an impossible feat, nor even would
it be wholly impracticable to bridge the channel at Mo-
jisaki.
Telegraphs. It was quite natural that, in the de-
sire to open up the means of rapid communication with
the more distant provinces of the Empire, the attention
of the Japanese Ministry was from the very outset at-
tracted by the vast capabilities of the electric telegraph.
They realised immediately that although railways would
ultimately prove the means whereby the immense latent
TRLKORAPIIS IN JAPAN.
COMMUNICATIONS. 277
resources of the nation would be brought to light, it
would require the labour of many years to establish
" iron roads " on a paying scale, and at best the pro-
gress made could not be sufficiently rapid to appeal
to the senses of the multitude as part of the new
machinery of Government. In the telegraph they would
possess a wonder-working agent of control capable of
speedy penetration to even the outposts of the Mikado's
territory, and accordingly, though by no means stint-
ing the outlay on that valuable nucleus of a railway
system which was already in process of formation, the
Government prepared to divert a large proportion of
its available funds into a channel certain to be im-
mediately productive of results. With characteristic
thoroughness, the responsible heads of departments
forthwith planned an ideal network of telegraphic inter-
communication which should embrace every city and
town of importance throughout the Empire, based prin-
cipally on the number of inhabitants, though other
considerations were by no means overlooked, and sat
down to count the cost. In the preparation of this
general scheme they were aided by the knowledge they
had been able to acquire of British and Continental
telegraphic administrations, and though it was pal-
pably impossible to commence work in every province
simultaneously without an enormous outlay, it was
nevertheless practicable to make such a selection of
districts wherein operations could be advantageously
begun as to yield a perceptible return for the expen-
278 -ADVANCE JAPAN.
diture within the first year. It is a striking testimony
to the care and forethought displayed in the design,
that but little deviation has been found necessary in
the progress of the work, and that the lines as origi-
nally plotted on the map of Japan have since been
constructed in all their ramifications, affording every
prefect and sub-prefect the means of instantaneously
communicating with the central Government at the
Capital. It occupied the staff nearly 12 years to fully
execute the projected works, but in that comparatively
brief period of time Japan was placed in possession
of a telegraphic system which, for perfection of organi-
sation, despatch, and reliability, combined with a low
tariff, is nowhere excelled on the globe.
A Relapae Impossible. That these character-
istics were not secured without the expenditure of
much diligent application by the technical staff goes
without saying, and it redounds to the credit of the
Japanese officials that, contrary to the practice which
prevails among Asiatic peoples in general, they have
faithfully adhered in this as in all other branches of
engineering, to sound principles. It has too often
happened that the professor's injunctions have been
disregarded in Eastern countries immediately that the
student has been free to pursue the bent of his own
inclination, and we have seen some of the deplorable
results of this tendency in the deterioration of the
Chinese navy. With the Japanese the case was en-
tirely different. The students sought to master not
CO MM UN 1C A TIONS. 279
only the technicalities, but the minutest details of their
professions, and when foreign instruction was with-
drawn, they loyally strove, not only to maintain the
standard which their work had attained under super-
vision, but individually to excel. Thus Japan can
boast not only of expert operators, whose skill as tele-
graphists would compare very favourably with those
of any nation, but in the higher branches of electrical
knowledge she possesses men whose inventive genius
has already proved equal to the production of more
than one serviceable improvement in the apparatus
employed, and others whose mathematical talent has
enabled them to shed light on some of the most per-
plexing of scientific problems. Facts like these suffice
to dispose of the theory that the Japanese are a people
prone to content themselves with a mere veneer of
scientific culture. No one can have come in contact
with the Mikado's subjects in any part of the world
without recognising in them the quality which Orien-
tals are popularly supposed to lack, and which, for
want of a more expressive term at the moment, may
be defined as mental ballast Unlike other Asiatic
peoples, they preserve their equilibrium under all con-
ditions, are thoroughly practical, persevering, and sin-
cere.
For proof of the persistent energy they have brought
to bear in the prosecution of their designs, it is only
requisite to turn to the map of the Japanese telegraphs
which accompanies this chapter. It will be observed
280 ADVANCE JAPAN.
that the stations are plentifully distributed over the
entire group of islands, and submarine cables are to
be laid to connect even the distant Loo-Choo Islands
and Formosa with the system of communication which
centres on Tokio. Not a mile of this telegraphic net-
work existed a quarter of a century ago, and at the
outset every ton of the material required had to be
imported from Great Britain or the Continent. Now
the whole of it, with scarcely any exception, is manu-
factured in Japan ; and the Japanese workshops and
factories are able to supply such material to their
neighbours.
Agrarian Riots. To those who may have had any
experience of the reception accorded to novel methods
even in our own land, it will not be surprising to know
that the inhabitants of the country districts of Japan
were at first violently opposed to the innovations which
were pressed upon them by the Central Government.
They did not hold mass meetings to protest against
such tyranny, as they deemed it, but they set fire to
anything and everything within their reach that could
be regarded as State property, regardless of conse-
quences. The prefects often reasoned with them on
the folly of their proceedings, and in some instances
their good counsels prevailed, but in two provinces,
more particularly, there was bloodshed. In Satsuma
they would not allow telegraphs to be brought within
their borders under any conditions, and for certain
reasons which could be appreciated afterwards, the
H
S
I
COMMUN1CA TIONS. 283
Government did not then insist upon compliance. But
there was no wavering in the general policy of the
Ministry, as the malcontents discovered in good time,
and opposition died out when the ringleaders lost their
heads by the sword of the executioner. In Saga Pre-
fecture the rioters went so far as to tear down the
offending wires, and uproot the posts, threatening death
to all who came to replace them a course of be-
haviour which brought down upon them the strong
arm of the law in the shape of a regiment of infantry
but there was no real danger to the stability of the
Government fabrics in these ebullitions, up to 1877,
v.hen a rising of a far more serious character took
place, and to which further allusion will presently be
made.
Telegram* * Japanese. One of the most in-
teresting problems in connection with the introduction
of the electric telegraph into Japan, and which at once
presented itself for solution, was the need of accom-
modating the signs of the Morse code to the Japanese
language. The inventor of the telegraph apparatus
which bears his name, now almost universally em-
ployed, arranged an admirable series of "dots and
dashes " in other words, of electrical impulses of short
or long duration to correspond with an alphabet of
26 letters. But the Japanese alphabet, so to describe it,
has nearly double this number of symbols, not counting
the accents, and Morse's combinations would only go
one half of the way round, when it was sought to apply
284 ADVANCE JAPAN,
his code to telegrams in the vernacular. Inasmuch,
however, as Morse had not exceeded four elements of
dots or dashes in his combinations, it was quite feasible,
by allowing groups of not more than five elements to
form the additional combinations ; and thus it has come
about that a Japanese telegraphist has to be familiar
with two telegraphic languages, for the signal which is
composed in the Morse code of two long impulses means
the letter M in the English language, but it means the
syllable Yo in his own. Needless to say, he is able to
distinguish, by the signal prefixed to every despatch,
which class of telegram is reaching him over the wires,
or he would not know how to interpret the symbols. It
should be remarked that, in the Japanese style of
writing, words are not spelt out in letters, but in
syllables. Ya-ma (a mountain) is not written in four
characters, as with us, but in two, as indicated by the
position of the hyphen. The caligraphy of the Japanese
(for with them penmanship is one of the fine arts) is
alluded to elsewhere in this volume, and the methods
they adopt in telegraphing their written communica-
tions are described here only on account of that
great simplicity which is a feature of the Japanese
style, as contrasted with the system in operation in
China.
Owing to the Chinese having no syllabary of the kind
existing in Japan, about ten thousand of the ideographs
in most common use were catalogued under groups of
numbers which run from oooi to 9999, and when the
COMMUNICATIONS. 285
Chinese telegraphist signals the message lying before
him, he does so in the numerical equivalents of the
written characters. By this process every telegram has
to be translated into the code of figures before it can be
despatched, and re-translated at the distant station into
Chinese symbols. It is not difficult to comprehend
that an error in transmission of even one group of
figures must render the telegrams more or less un-
intelligible.
The possession by the Japanese of a modified Morse
code, which enables them to signal telegrams in their
own language, would equally avail them in communi-
cating by steam whistle between men-of-war or mer-
chant vessels in their service, should their commanders
ever have occasion to employ a secret code. But very
few people, however well versed in the ordinary com-
binations of Morse's system, would be able to interpret
messages passing in a purely Japanese code.
The initial difficulty of accommodating the telegraph
to the requirements of the native language having been
surmounted, and a tariff framed upon the number ot
symbols, instead of upon the number of words, the
public were invited to make use of the novel means of
communication. It proved at once to be a good invest-
ment, for the wires were kept busy almost day and
night. Section after section was thrown open for the
transaction of business as fast as the lines could be
completed. The engineers were urged to push forward
the works at all hazards. Distant cities began to peti-
286 ADVANCE JAPAN.
tion for the extension of the " lightning messenger " in
their direction. Offers of buildings for offices, and
timber for telegraph posts, literally poured in, and
meanwhile the traffic was increasing day by day in a
fashion which threatened to overwhelm the clerical
staff. From that time to the present hour the tele-
graphs of Japan have been of incalculable benefit to
the nation, commercially and politically, for whilst
affording every facility to the merchant who makes use
of the wires in his business, the Government retains
absolute right to take precedence for its despatches, and
on occasions of exceptional urgency it has happened
that the lines have in this way been altogether monopo-
lised by affairs of State.
The variety of subjects dealt with in telegrams in
Japan is as infinite as that which comes under the
observation of the British Postmaster-General. The
townsfolk of Japan are now as familiar with the tele-
graph messenger in uniform and the dempo, in its bag-
shaped envelope, of which he is the bearer, as are the
people of the United Kingdom ; and year by year the
average number of telegrams per head of the population
is attaining greater proportions. It is at the present
time eleven and a fraction for every hundred of the in-
habitants.
Field Telegraphs. The employment of the tele-
graph in war has been thoroughly understood by the
Japanese from the year 1877, when it rendered such
services to the loyal army in the civil war with Sat-
COMMUNICATIONS. 287
suma as contributed in no small degree to the ease
with which that formidable outbreak was suppressed.
Prior to that time the advantage conferred by the
receipt of prompt intelligence had been experienced in
cases where tumultous gatherings had been dispersed in
remote districts by the prompt appearance of gen-
darmes, brought upon the scene by telegraphic sum-
mons ; but it was in Kiushiu that portable field tele-
graphs were first brought into operation. The feasibility
of keeping open communication between an army on
the march and its base was amply demonstrated on
that occasion, when the forces commanded by his late
Royal Highness Arisugawa-no-Miya were constantly in
touch with the Capital as they pressed forward toward
Kagoshima. The experience then gained has been of
immense advantage in the prosecution of the campaign
in Korea and Manchuria, the perfect synchronism of
the Japanese commanders' dispositions having been the
admiration of military men throughout the world. The
lines are built and the instruments worked by a corps of
Sappers, as in the British Army, all the apparatus being
constructed in Japan, from the jointed bamboo supports
down to the batteries and wire.
288
CHAPTER XI.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
AN I FOLD as are the reforms which
Japan has in contemplation, they
can scarcely include the abolition
of the ancient system of writing, so
that a short exposition of its origin
may not be altogether superfluous.
In as many as 608 symbols
according to Dr. S. Wells Williams, who has exhaus-
tively dealt with the subject in his work on the" Middle
Kingdom " a plain resemblance can be traced between
the original form and the object represented. These
were among the first characters invented, and were
engraved by iron styles on tablets of bamboo long
before the introduction of pencils, ink, and paper, even
in China. In this class are the simple symbols for
" mouth," a hollow square ; and " man," a pair of legs
with very slender body. A mountain was represented
by a figure having three peaks, and this is well preserved
in the modern character San (Chinese, Shan}. A circle
with a dot in it denoted " the sun."
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 289
Following this class is one containing 107 " symbols
indicating thought," which Dr. Williams regards as in-
dicating some idea easily deducible from their position
or combination, and pointing out some property or
relative circumstance belonging to them. A half-visible
moon, for example, repre-
sents "evening," and "the i g ^ A 4 1 $
sun," with a line drawn be- ES ifr 3 O f iP
low it, represents " morn- f$ 3r> <L ^ jgj "i"
ing" the sun above the & *> ? % <L A ^
?& ^f L ^ 1 ^
horizon. A third and very 1=1 $t iti 1 * fet 6 tt
numerous class is employed fg ^ 5 tf ^ : tf>
to portray "combined Jft ot tt *^ 3c w ^
ideas," in other words, char- I |t|jj tf ^ f g
acters made up of two or ty ^k'Z $} * i*- -f* /fi : O
more symbols to express a ffil Jf 1 - Wf ^ 2T ^B ^?
single idea. Under this $ jjj | * *! |, *,
head come the combination ^j g ^f jg ^ yjjj ^
of "sun" and "moon" to 5 V W f ft
indicate "brightness." Two f , ^ ? U
/HI A At ^ & rf
trees standing side by side ^. ^> 5^ |Jfc
denote a copse, whilst three SI> 6 % ^* f& ffi
combined have palpable re- 3,. , fl K T;i TT
tt L *' <>' u* U
fcrence to a forest. A
mouth in a doonvay is the symbol "to inquire." "For-
getfulness" is almost pathetically rendered by heart and
death. A wife is indicated by the combination teaman
and broom, which is obviously intended to convey a
clear idea of her household duties. The fourth class
U
290 ADVANCE JAPAN.
is constituted by 372 characters which, by inversion,
contraction, or alteration of their parts, acquire differ-
ent meanings.
The fifth class contains no fewer than 21,810 symbols,
which are formed of an imitative sign united to one
which merely imparts its sound to the compound. In
this category are found nearly all the characters of the
language. The birds alone comprise 754 symbols, in
which the sign for the feathered tribes is united to a
phonogram expressing the particular fowl or species to
be indicated. Fish, in the same way, constitute a
division, having no fewer than 525 distinctive sym-
bols.
The sixth and last classification includes 598 charac-
ters, in which the meaning is deduced by a somewhat
fanciful accommodation. They differ but little from
those of the second class.
Chinese grammarians have exercised their ingenuity
in providing explanations of the origin and etymology
of the characters, but the aid which their researches
have given towards understanding the language is
small, though their writings on the subject find readers
and students in Japan.
Dr. Wells Williams considers it probable that the
total of really different characters in the language
sanctioned by good usage does not vary greatly from
25,000, though one commentator placed the number as
high as 260,899.
But even the sum of 25,000 characters contains
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 291
thousands of unusual ones which are seldom met with,
and which, as is the case with old words in English,
are not often learned.
It may be safely said that a good knowledge of ten
thousand characters will enable one to read any work
in Chinese and write intelligibly on any subject, while
probably a good knowledge of four or five thousand is
sufficient for all common purposes, and two-thirds of
that number might in fact suffice.
But it will be possible, nevertheless, for English
readers to extend their sympathy to the Japanese
student who is called upon, in these days, not only
to master English, French, and German, but to assimilate
4,000 or 5,000 Chinese hieroglyphics in addition to the
two syllabaries, hirakana and katakana, peculiar to his
own country.
In Japanese lexicons, as in those of China, the letters
are classified under 214 "radicals," each of which
furnishes a key to a distinct group. All characters
found under the same radical are placed consecutively,
according to the number of strokes of the pencil
necessary to write them. The characters selected for
the radicals are all common ones, and among the most
ancient in the language. As an illustration of the
method of grouping, it may be mentioned that the
meteorological radicals comprise the symbols for rain,
wind, fire, water, icicle, vapour, sound, sun, moon, even-
ing, and time.
Therefore we should expect to find that the lexicon
IT 2
292 ADVANCE JAPAN.
classes any phenomena connected with rain under the
head of that radical, and accordingly we observe that
in that page of a Japanese dictionary are ranged the
symbols for drizzle, cloud, fog, hail, hoar-frost, and
snow.
Japaneae Modifications. Though English is being
taught in all the schools of Japan, and French and
German in a large proportion of them, there is no like-
lihood of any foreign tongue coming into general use
among the native population. The construction of the
Japanese language resembles to some extent that of
Korean and Chinese, the order of words in a sentence
being very similar in Japanese and Korean, and the
square Chinese ideograph being common to all three,
though differently read or pronounced in each. Both
Korea and Japan have forms of writing peculiar to
themselves, however, and are in no way dependent upon
the Chinese symbols to express their thoughts upon
paper. Moreover when the Japanese use these symbols
they attach to them their own kana to indicate the case
or tense, producing a combination which altogether
puzzles a Chinaman. The example on a previous page
of the mingled Chinese and Japanese characters is
culled haphazard from a page of a Japanese journal,
and it shows how extensively Chinese ideographs are
employed.
In order that the feminine Japanese may comprehend
the full meaning of the Chinese symbol the kana letters
are added at the side in a few instances, the reason for
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 293
so doing being the unfamiliarity of the average Japanese
woman with Chinese symbols, save those that enter into
the affairs of her daily life.
The effect is much that which would be produced by
a large admixture of Latin and Greek into the columns
of English newspapers, with marginal or parenthetical
notes, in ordinary Anglo-Saxon, explanatory of the
classical terms.
The Japanese hirakana is that form which is here
employed to connect the square ideographs. There are
over 200 characters in this hirakana syllabary alone, and
it may be asked why it is that they do not confine them-
selves strictly to the employment of this form of writing,
seeing that it provides ample and more than ample
means of expressing every sound. Forty-eight symbols,
with certain accents, would suffice, in fact, to accurately
represent all the syllables of the language, so that it
appears, at first sight, to be inconsistent with common
sense to burden the student with as many as two
hundred. It cannot be denied that in the complete list
of hirakana characters there are often four or five signs
for the same sound. There is a similarity in this, how-
ever, to the system whereby Old English, Italic, and
other forms of one and the same letter are perpetuated
in our own varied founts of type. The real difficulty is
not in adequately expressing all the Japanese sounds
by a limited syllabary, but in the absolute necessity of
maintaining a close acquaintance with ancient and
contemporary literature, which has for over a thousand
294 ADVANCE JAPAN.
years been printed in the Chinese character. Were a
Japanese to forego the study of Chinese characters
entirely, he would thereby deprive himself of the oppor-
tunity of reading the scientific and historical works on
his own bookshelves.
Simplified Symbols. Japan is credited with having
had a few written characters of her own prior to the in-
troduction of Chinese ideographs; but be that as it may,
she very early saw the utility of reducing the number
of symbols in current use to a reasonable number, and
adopted the modified arrangement for her own purposes
known as the kana. This term embraces not only the
hirakana, but a still more simple form of katakana, in
which foreign words are spelt out with some approxi-
mation to the actual pronunciation, and telegrams are
also transmitted. The katakana, hirakana, and square
Chinese symbols which bear, in Japan, the same sound,
are here reproduced.
This table contains but a minute fraction of the mass
of characters employed in the writings of the Japanese,
but it may serve to illustrate some of the difficulties
which beset the path of literature.
A boy commences to handle the pen at a very early
age, and can form some of the simpler letters passably
well by the time he passes out of babyhood on reach-
ing his fifth birthday. Penmanship is an art, and he
learns to give a true and elegant shape to his letters
by tracing from a copy placed beneath a thin sheet of
writing-paper. The brush is used as in painting, and
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THE JAPANESE SYLLABARY.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
297
it is sought by practice to acquire that freedom and
pliability of wrist which imparts to the writing the
essential characteristics of a " good hand."
Pens, Ink, and Paper. There are half a dozen
styles of penmanship, viz., the seal character, used only
in cutting seals, the engrossing style, for documents,
the pattern style, in which every aspirant to literary fame
must write neatly and accurately, the running hand,
J >
EARLY EFFORTS.
which is the common hand, and yet demands a special
study, the grass hand, which is a free imitation of the
foregoing, with the difference that it is full of exasperat-
ing abbreviations in which there is full play for the
writer's fancy, and the sixth, or printing style, in which
298 ADVANCE JAP AX.
the wooden blocks used in the press are cut, for print-
ing books.
It is almost needless to say that a foreigner, when he
attempts to acquire a knowledge at all of these hierogly-
phics, is content to study one style of penmanship, and
to make that suffice for all occasions.
The articles used in the library pencils, ink, paper,
and inkstone are regarded as the most precious posses-
sions of the learned. The ink, usually called India ink,
is made from the soot of burning pine, fir, and other
substances, mixed with glue or isinglass, and agiceably
scented. Most of us are familiar with the odour of it,
having at some time or other made use of it in our own
country. Pencils should be made of sable bristles, though
the cheaper sort are often made from cat or rabbit fur.
The hairs are laid carefully and regularly and brought
to a tip, the handle being made of the female bamboo.
Paper for writing is made in Japan from the species of
mulberry, which likewise furnishes, in its blossom, the
emblem of the Mikado's private crest, engraved on the
cover of this volume. The inkstone is a piece of marble
or other stone, often beautifully carved, on which the
ink, when to be used, is rubbed with a few drops of
water.
The manufacture of the ink dates from the seventh
century. Printing from blocks followed the discovery
of a method of taking impressions from engraved stones
in the tenth century.
Of late years printing has been done in Japan from
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 299
founts of type cast in the same manner as in foreign
countries. The principal difficulty with the Japanese
" compositor " is to manipulate a " case " which may
contain several thousand different letters. The feat is
practically impossible, and so he is assisted by boys
who search out his symbols as he shouts for them,
and bring them to him to be set up in column.
i -.1 a M i -.iniM-iit of Newspapers* To the memory
of Mr. Kido it is due that the part he took in the estab-
lishment of newspapers in Japan should be distinctly
recorded. He it was who originated the SJiimbun Zas-
s/ii, or Budget of News, the first journal published for
sale in Tokio. Its first number brought the youthful
Empress of Japan prominently to the front as a lady
who had already begun to interest herself in matters
calculated to benefit her countrywomen, and which have
ever since had the advantage of her fostering care. She
first determined to make herself acquainted with silk-
worm culture, and sent for four women from the silk
districts to instruct her personally in the art. She has
throughout evinced the liveliest interest in all projects
for the encouragement of industry and education among
her sex. Prior to the S/tiinbun Zass/ti, an attempt had
been made by the chaplain of the British Consulate at
Yokohama, the Rev. M. B. Bailey, to start a native
journal, and it had an ephemeral existence under the
name of Bankoku S/iimbun, or " News of the World."
In his prospectus Mr. Bailey announced his intention to
give the current news of the day, home and foreign, and
3co
ADVANCE JAPAN.
to keep his readers well informed on useful and interest-
ing subjects. No one knows exactly how this promising
scheme fell through.
The '* Reliable Daily Xew." The Press of Japan
is as potent as it is universal in every part of the Japan-
ese Empire to quote from the work of Mr. John R.
Black, to whose memory be it recorded that he was
the first to establish a newspaper in the vernacular.
Mr. Black died suddenly, and in harness, but his name
and the memory of his magnificent voice will live whilst
any of the older generation of settlers in Japan, and
China too, shall remain. Mr. Black first had a definite
PERUSING THE MORNING NEWSPAPER.
idea of starting a paper, to be printed in Japanese char-
acters, early in 1872, and with the countenance and aid
of the Government Education Department, a learned
Japanese gentleman, formerly Vice-Governor of Hako-
date, undertook to act as editor, the journal being estab-
lished in that year under the title of Nisshin Shinjisshi
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 301
the " Reliable Daily News." As the Chinese char-
acters convey a distinct idea or picture, whilst the
Japanese kana syllabary conveys words merely, and it
becomes necessary to read a long way before the par-
ticular meaning to be attached to a given word can be
determined, it was necessary to have founts of Chinese
ideographs. Mr. Black actually began with 1,200
symbols, but his workmen went on cutting characters
in boxwood until the total reached 12,000, and still
did not suffice. Blank blocks, type size, were kept in
stock, and when a strange symbol, came to light in the
manuscript which was being " set up," the workman was
put on to engrave the required hieroglyph there and
then ! After using wooden type for months, Mr. Black
discovered a type-founder, who undertook to furnish
him with good metal type, and as a quaint incident he
relates that he was accustomed to send to the foundry
whenever new letters or symbols happened to be wanted,
and buy them one, two, or more at a time, at a half-
penny each.
The contents of the Nisshin Shinjisski were very
much those of an English journal, and it may be said
to have formed the model for the great dailies of to-
day, as they are published in the Japanese Capital.
There were leading articles, foreign intelligence, items
of local news, shipping lists, prices-current, and adver-
tisements. The gratifying result of a few lines com-
mendatory of the police in one of Mr. Black's earlier
issues was that a number of police sergeants waited
302 ADVANCE JAPAN.
upon him at his offices personally to convey their
thanks. The idea of comment upon the acts of public
servants was altogether new at that time. Not many
years afterwards the habit of indulging in comment
took such free and easy shape in native newspapers
in general, that it was not uncommon for 15 or 20 per
cent, of the Japanese editors to be languishing in gaol
at one time. Some young samurai, who had barely
relinquished the habit of wearing two swords in their
girdles, were chosen to act as canvassers for subscribers
and advertisements. The idea of a truculent young
warrior calling round for orders upon merchants and
manufacturers is apt to strike one nowadays as not a
little grotesque, but in 1872 the whole business was
novel to the people of Japan.
How vastly things have changed will best be com-
prehended when it is explained that from that first
journal, the Nissliin SJiinjissJii, have sprung no fewer
than 2 1 daily papers in Tokio alone, whilst the actual
number of newspapers published in the vernacular
throughout Japan now amounts to 635, besides 124
weeklies, and numerous monthlies. For the first two
years, however, although at least 50 papers made their
appearance in the Empire, none of them ventured, save
the Nisshin S/iinjtssht, to publish leading articles or
comments on passing events. That came in good time,
as we have seen.
The Nichi Nichi Shimbun claims to be the oldest
newspaper in Japan, and it was actually in existence, as
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 303
was also the Mai Nichi Shimbun, prior to the date on
which Mr. Black's friends brought out the NissJiin
Shinjisshi, but the older organs had no leading articles
or comments on news, and could scarcely accord with
our European idea of a readable journal. They were
advertisement sheets relieved by a certain amount of
tittle-tattle. The Nissliiu was the first exponent of
leading opinion, and though its fairly outspoken essays
were a trifle too progressive in tone for the times in
which it lived, and none of its rivals ventured to take so
independent a stand, the custom of publishing leading
articles was gradually formed, and no one can suggest
that at the present day the various party organs are not
frank even to excess.
Nichi Nichi Shimbun may be interpreted " Day by
Day News," and Mai Nichi Shimbun as " Every Day's
News." The ' Daily News " of Japan is the//;'/ Shimpo,
an independent journal for which Mr. Fukuzawa, a man
celebrated throughout Japan for his scholarly attain-
ments and the originality of his opinions, is responsible.
Mr. Fukuzawa has done excellent service to his country
as a translator of the standard European and American
works on political economy, geography, history, and
science in general, and to his great learning he adds
boundless eloquence. But fortunately he is not an
enthusiast in practical politics, choosing to identify him-
self with noble but totally unworkable schemes of reform,
rather than to attack the problems of the hour. The
"Daily Chronicle " of Japan is the Hochi Shimbun, the
3 04 ADVANCE JAPAN.
organ of Count Okuma, who, though Minister of Finance
in the Cabinet of the first decade of the Meiji era, does
not now hold a portfolio. He is the acknowledged
leader of the Progressionists, a party which aims at
even more rapid progress than Japan is already accus-
tomed to.
Other Journals of Tokio. The Clioya Shimbun
is both official and popular, as its title implies, whilst
there is a " Daily Telegraph " in Japan under the
designation of Tokio Deinpo. Public opinion was repre-
sented by the Koron Shimpo, an organ which was sup-
posed to reflect the views of Counts Itagaki and Goto
Shojiro. Mr. Yano, the editor of the Hoclii Shimbun is
a gentleman well known to Europeans for the past
twenty-five years as an active politician. The Jiyu
Shimbun is the Radical organ, but the Nichi Nichi
Sliimbun> the Independent supporter of the Cabinet, the
Jiji Shimpo, and the Niroku Shimpo, should be classed
as non-party journals.
Though the earlier journals were not disposed to com-
mit themselves to the expression of opinion in leading
articles, they were willing to publish letters from corres-
pondents in reply to the leaders in the NissJiin Shinjisshi.
Many of these furnished proof of the abundance of
thoughtful writers whose abilities only needed an outlet,
men who had been unavoidably shelved for the time
being by the centralising policy of the Government. No
State could hope to find employment for the hosts of
capable men who had served the daimios in various
'i.E OK JAPANESE COVER TO HISTORICAL BOOK.
LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 307
literary capacities, but who were necessarily left without
occupation when the numerous provincial administra-
tions became fused in one organisation at headquarters.
From the year 1875 the Government found it necessary
to put some restraint upon the Press, and this is not
astonishing when we know that one of the new editors
thought it no indiscretion to publish the text of a
memorial which he had in some way obtained access to,
demanding the disgrace and decapitation of the Prime
Minister. Still the Press has grown, and has found em-
ployment for samurai of all ranks. The compositors
were all originally of two-sworded rank, and from the
humblest to the highest the staff was composed of
Japanese gentlemen. The manager of the Ntsshin, for
example, had been treasurer of a southern clan, and
necessarily a person of responsibility in his former
daimio's household. The chief reporter received a high
salary to employ an efficient staff, of whom many had
been, under the old regime, his armed retainers.
The PrlMoii Editor. Just as these men were bold
in war, they became bold with printer's ink, and continu-
ally ran the risk of imprisonment for their unguarded
utterances. But as soon as one editor was incarcerated,
another took his place, and pursued the same tactics.
There was a general belief that the real editor-in-chief
kept a staff of subordinate editors who contracted to
take their turns in gaol, whilst he, in reality, administered
the affairs of the journal from the shelter of the screen
thus afforded him. In more recent years the conductors
X 2
303
ADVANCE JAPAN.
of newspapers have found it expedient not to brave the
law to the same extent, though the journalism of the
hour is still characterised by considerable freedom of
expression.
309
CHAPTER XII.
MINES AND MINERALS.
A PAN was not credited with the possession of
much mineral wealth until very recently, and
even now the output from her mines is com-
paratively small, excepting in the item of
coal. But gold and silver are both found, in
paying quantities, at Sado and Ikuno ; lead is obtained
in the north ; and in other parts of the country de-
posits of copper and tin, iron and quicksilver, are all
worked with advantage, though on a limited scale.
Coal stands prominently forth as Japan's most valu-
able underground property, having been known to the
people of Miike, in the island of Kiushiu, as far back, it
is asserted, as the year 1468. At least 30 years ago coa
mining was being systematically pursued in the districts
of Hizen, Higo, and Chikugo, and the coal so obtained
was, among other uses, employed in the production of
salt, at brine-boiling depdts situated on the shores of the
Shimabara Gulf, an almost landlocked inlet 50 miles
long, in the extreme south of Japan. At that time
the coal was obtained from the outcrop on the side of
the hill, and even up to 1876 only the most primitive
3io ADVANCE JAPAN.
methods and appliances were resorted to. The practice
was to follow the seam inwards from the visible outcrop
until the flow of water rendered farther progress in the
galleries impracticable. Pumping was done by the tread-
wheel, of ancient pattern, which is still employed in
agriculture for the purposes of irrigation, and this ap-
pliance proved totally inadequate to the duty of keeping
the workings dry enough to increase the output in a
material degree. It seems to have been partly with
the object of finding employment for convicts that the
Japanese Government first embarked in this enterprise,
which, up to that period, had been prosecuted at the
risk of private speculators ; but when once the demand
for Miike coal became brisk, the Ministry were not slow
to turn the circumstance to account. It was thought fit,
however, to transfer the management of the mine to the
firm of Mitsui & Company, the Rothschilds of Japan,
who promptly established the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, a
trading company which has coaling stations at the pre-
sent time not only in its own land, but as far afield as
China, the Straits Settlements, Burmah, and the Philip-
pine Islands, with branch establishments in Shanghai,
Tientsin, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bombay, and London.
It was demonstrated by trial on board ship that the
Miike coal possessed excellent qualities for steam pro-
duction, being highly bituminous, with but a small per-
centage of ash, and it rapidly grew into favour with the
engineers of coasting vessels. The output in 1876 was
only 300 tons per diem, one-half of which was sold to the
MINES AND MINERALS. 313
steamers, and the remainder, being small stuff, was used
in the salt works. At the present time the quantity
delivered is upwards of 2,000 tons per day, the annual
production being close upon three-quarters of a million
tons. In 1888 Mitsui & Company bought the entire
property from the Government for 4,500,000 dollars, in-
cluding machinery of the newest type, on which, together
with roads constructed for horse traction, a million dollars
had been expended.
The Mitsui firm have introduced locomotive engines
in lieu of horses for hauling the coal on the surface, and
branch railways have been constructed by which the pro-
duct of the mines is now conveyed to a port some 50
miles distant, to which steamships can at all times have
access, for shipment to depots or sale to vessels on the
spot. Stocks of coal are always kept at this port
near Kumamoto, called Misumi, for disposal to steamers
which may call in to obtain it ; and the Japanese Govern-
ment has had most elaborate surveys made, and charts
published, showing the passage to Misumi from the
Yellow Sea. The area of the Miike Coal Field is 3,758
acres, containing over 85 millions of tons of coal, which
is proved to be equal in quality to the best Australian,
and excelled only by the Welsh coal shipped from
Cardiff.
Three shafts have been sunk at different points in the
1 8 square miles which constitute the Miike field, and
another mine is being worked in the old-fashioned way,
with an incline and hauling-engine on the surface. This
314 ADVANCE JAPAN.
is at the site of the ancient workings, where until quite
recently the coal was brought up in baskets carried on
men's shoulders. Coal was struck in the Nanaura shaft
at a depth of 240 feet, and it is the principal and most
productive mine. A severe earthquake in July, 1889,
did much damage to the Kachidachi shaft, occasioning
an influx of water which it required two of Hathorn
Davey & Company's pumps, raising 6,000 gallons of
water per minute, to cope with. Several seams of coal
occur in the Miike field, but the first, averaging eight
feet in thickness of pure solid coal, free of any inter-
stratified bands of shale, and the second, with a thick-
ness of six feet, are the only seams capable of being
economically worked. The first is often more than
20 feet in its thickest portions, and the mines in this
seam are extraordinarily free from explosive gases, so
that naked lights are invariably used with impunity.
At Nanaura the underground workings cover an area
of nearly 500 acres, the coal mined being loaded into
tubs which are drawn along the tramway by ponies to
the engine incline, and thence hauled up to the foot of
the shaft by the engine. Fifty Japanese ponies are
engaged continually in drawing the coal underground.
Ventilation is perfectly secured by a fan discharging
100,000 cubic feet of air per minute. Drainage is the
most important operation at this mine, as the whole of
the water from it and its neighbours is pumped up at
this point, involving the constant use of 21 large boilers
on the surface, 20 of Tangye's special pumps being at
MINES AND MINERALS. 315
work. The absence of any shale in the strata over-
lying the coal-seams makes it easy for water to percolate
through the sandstone, which is more or less coarse,
porous, and fissured, so that the mines are very wet.
Various improvements have been made by the engi-
neer in charge, whose mining experience was chiefly
gained in the United States, but who has likewise visited
the principal coal-mining centres of Europe. The loco-
motives have been imported from England and America,
but the waggons and trucks are all made on the premises.
Not far away there is a foundry where pumps are cast,
and a machine-shop for turning out ordinary mining
machinery, and executing repairs. The stone used for
building is quarried close at hand, and bricks are
made on the property. A town of 20,000 inhabitants
has sprung up, where a few years since there was only
a small fishing village. A large cotton-spinning mill,
with over 10,000 spindles, has been established at the
same place. Fully 10,000 men are directly or indirectly
employed by the Mitsui Company at the mines or
docks.
The bulk of the mining labour is performed by the
convicts immured in the prison close to the Nanaura
shaft. Only those medically certified as fit are sent
down the pit, in day and night shifts, and they like
the labour, as it gives them opportunity of earning a
ticket-of-leave, or, under some conditions, even a free
pardon, much more speedily than any other form of
labour to which they could be set. A certain task for
316 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the day is allotted to each one, and if this is accom-
plished the Government takes seven-tenths of the value
of such work and sets aside three-tenths for the worker.
For all that is done over and above the allotted task,
the Government takes only three-tenths, and accords
seven-tenths to the labourer. The coal is subjected
to all the refinements of systematic sieving, as in the
most advanced British collieries.
With that determination which characterises the acts
of the Japanese authorities to do nothing by halves, the
Lighthouse Department of the Public Works Service (the
extent of which system is shown in the map here given)
have undertaken to provide three lighthouses in suitable
positions in the channel which leads from Misumi to
the open sea, so that the navigation of the approach
may be easy at all times. Owing to the shallowness
of the water on the Higo coast, the prefect is endeavour-
ing to make Misumi a regular port of shipment for the
neighbouring province, and a fine esplanade half a mile
long has been laid out, the town being free from all
taxation, pro fern., as an inducement to merchants to
settle there. The exceptionally fine climate of this part
of the country, combined with its magnificent scenery,
would render Misumi an attractive residence under any
circumstances, and when to these advantages are added
the proximity of large stores of excellent coal, for use
in cotton spinning and other manufactures, it is within
the bounds of possibility that when the new commercial
treaty with Japan comes into operation, and foreigners
LIGHTHOUSES AND
MINES AND MINERALS. 319
can be accorded unlimited freedom in their choice of a
place of residence and trade, not a few enterprising mer-
chants may find it profitable to establish themselves
at this southern port. The attention of business men
will early be directed to many such places as Misumi,
where the prospects of capitalists are undeniably good,
in view of that general opening to unrestricted mercan-
tile intercourse so soon to be inaugurated. The first in
the field will have the finest opportunities of reaping the
harvest, and with abundance of water-power through-
out the Mikado's dominions, in addition to coal-mines,
those who seek a new outlet for their energy ought to
find it, very soon, in pleasant Japan.
Gold and Silver. Gold has been worked for the
last 12 centuries in the provinces of the north, and
the island of Sado, off the north-west coast, bears a
wide reputation for the extent of its auriferous deposits.
More would be thought of the Japanese gold-mines if
they were more easily to be worked, and more con-
venient of access, for it has been proved by samples
shown at various exhibitions since 1874 that the metal
unquestionably exists in certain quantities. Whether
it is to be found in paying quantities, however, which
would warrant the importation of machinery for carry-
ing out operations on an extensive scale, is a question
which must be left to the Mineralogical Department to
answer, for the Government alone possesses the requisite
data. The Portuguese, and in their turn the Dutchmen,
found the export of bullion from Nagasaki very profit-
320 ADVANCE JAPAN.
able. It is computed that the Portuguese shipped the
metal to Europe during the 89 years of their stay, in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, at the aver-
age rate of two-thirds of a million sterling per annum.
Altogether the gold despatched by foreign merchants
during those two centuries was not less than a hundred
millions sterling. No trifling amount was sent away from
Yokohama in the early days of the European settlement
of that port, the relative value of gold to silver at that
time being as six to one only. The Government soon
discovered the drain of the precious metal, however,
and rectified the standard, gold coinage having of late
years been minted exclusively at Osaka, and the ordi-
narily-accepted values adhered to. Auriferous quartz
and gravel have been met with in the southern regions
as well as in the north, notably in Satsuma and Osumi.
Silver ore is worked on a scale of considerable im-
portance at Ikuno, and also in the provinces of Joshiu,
Sesshiu, and Sekishiu. It was first found in the island
of Tsushima, which lies midway between Japan and
Korea, and from the specimens then brought to the
capital, silver was produced in the year A.D. 674. Three
or four hundred years ago the metal was obtained in
much greater quantities than it has been within living
memory, but the mines still form a very important
source of the national wealth. Mixed with lead, it is
met with to a large extent in the provinces of Echizen,
Echigo, and Rikuchiu in the north, Higo and Hiuga in
the south.
MINES AND MINERALS.
321
Iron and Steel. Iron is a mineral to which the
Japanese may reasonably look for an increase of pros-
perity when the country can be thoroughly developed
by railway enterprise. There are deposits of magnetic
iron ore, forming the basis of an important industry, at
many places adjacent to the route of the Tokaido rail-
way, more especially in the regions of Totomi, Suruga,
KUMAMOTO CASTLE.
and Kai. Farther to the westward the mines of Bingo,
Bizen, Bichiu,Tajima, and Idzumo are all within reason-
able distance of the Sanyodo railway, and branch lines
tapping these mineral districts will certainly be in course
of construction before long. For how many centuries
the people of Japan have worked their iron mines is not
322 ADVANCE JAPAN.
accurately known, but loadstone was certainly discovered
by the inhabitants of Goshiu, in the north, at a period
contemporaneous with the reign of our Saxon kings.
Undoubtedly the iron mines have been regularly worked
in various portions of the Mikado's Empire since the
tenth century, and possibly from an earlier date. Iron
utensils and ornaments of great antiquity are almost
immoderately prized by householders of the old school,
and its employment in armour was universal throughout
the middle ages, some of the handiwork in this connec-
tion, of the artificers in iron of that period, vying with
anything of its kind extant.
From the date of our earliest acquaintance with Japan
the quality of the steel employed for sword-blades has
excited universal admiration. To possess a weapon which
came from the hand of a celebrated cutler of Osafune
in Harima, or from any of the old Bizen or Kishiu
makers, was the ambition of every samurai. If we are
to place any reliance upon the early legendary history
of the Empire, we may take it that swords were forged
in Japan prior to the Christian era. The art is, at all
events, of great antiquity, and amid all the changes of
the last twenty years the Japanese soldier still clings
to the sword of his ancestors, though he has had a
modern curved handle fitted to the blade that he may
wield it with one hand. For a few years subsequent to
the promulgation of the edict against the general wear-
ing of swords, weapons of great value were often to be
bought of marine store dealers in the interior for a mere
MINES AND .MINERALS. 323
song, but the military spirit of the people has become
intensified rather than diminished by contact with the
civilisation of the West, and swords of repute are now
valued at almost as high figures as they were in olden
days. It has been stated that an Osafune weapon will
cut through an ordinary European blade as easily as
the latter would slice a carrot.
Copper. Beyond question, the most serviceable of
minerals to Japan is the copper which she possesses
in great abundance. Copper coin has been in use for
twelve hundred years, and the acquisition of this metal
formed the principal inducement to the settlers at Des-
hima to submit to the restraints and humiliations of
their secluded life for two centuries and a half. How
great the export was during that time can be measured
with some approach to accuracy, and, in placing it at
not less than 2,600 tons per annum, the calculation may
not be far from the mark.
Copper is found in all parts of the country, and
from the earliest days of its introduction to the arts,
somewhere about the year 700 A.D., in Suwo, on the
shores of the Inland Sea, this metal has largely entered
into the requirements of the daily life of Japan. It
is used for household utensils of all kinds, for orna-
ments, for the furniture of altars and temples, for
bronzes, mirrors, and for many other purposes which
it would be vain to seek to particularise. Japanese
copper is the purest of its kind, as determined by tests
applied to it when experts were seeking the highest
Y 2
324
ADVANCE JAPAN.
quality of this metal to form wire for submarine tele-
graph cables. Its standard was then placed as high
as 98 per cent, of pure metal a standard which had
previously been thought to be unattainable.
Bronze guns were cast in Japan subsequent to the
year 1600 A.D., which occasionally are still to be met
with in museums, but hundreds were broken up for
the sake of the metal, just as were the ancient bells of
Buddhist temples, when their owners fell into poverty
some 15 or 20 years back.
325
CHAPTER XIII.
ARMAMENTS.
HE defences of the Empire have been,
for the last quarter of a century,
established on a conscription basis,
by which all males of the age of 20
years are liable to serve in the
Standing Army for seven years,
three of which are spent in active
service, and four in the reserve.
After this seven years' period, they have to be classified
under the equivalent of the German landwehr for another
five years, and every male between the ages of 17 and
40 years who is not in the line, the reserve, or the
landwehr, must belong to the landsturm, and is called
up in cases of national emergency for service.
Military Organisation. Nominally, the six divi-
sions of the Army, irrespective of the Imperial Guard,
comprise 12 brigades, or 24 regiments, of infantry, 8
regiments of artillery, 6 squadrons of cavalry, 6 bat-
talions of engineers, and 6 squadrons military train.
The militia of Yeso, reserves, and landwehr, all in-
cluded, brought the total strength, on a peace foot-
326 ADVANCE JAPAN.
ing, to 4,358 officers, and 265,390 men. So far it has
not been necessary to call out the landsturm.
The increase in the Japanese Army is well shown by
the figures for 1873 an< ^ the present time. Twenty-two
years ago the organisation was as follows :
Peace-footing. War-footing. Household.
Infantry 26,880 40,320 3,200
Cavalry 360 450 150
Artillery 2,160 2,700 300
Engineers 1,200 i,5o 150
Military Train ... 360 480 80
Marine Artillery ... 720 900
31,680 46,350 3,880
It cannot be denied that the officers of the French
Military Mission succeeded in producing a fine, soldier-
like body of men as the nucleus of the Mikado's Army,
and the Japanese officers, being thoroughly imbued
with martial ardour, have ably continued the good
work. Perhaps the finest corps, in the earlier days of
Japanese modern military history, was that of the
marines, for whose training Lieutenant Hawes, R.M.,
was responsible. Captain James, another Englishman,
had a large share in bringing the Japanese Navy to the
high standard of discipline and efficiency which it has
throughout preserved.
The Army possesses a Staff College, Military College,
Cadet College, Military School, Gunnery School, a
school for non-commissioned officers, &c., with a total
of over 2,000 students.
Japan's Rifle. It is to be observed that all the
ARMAMENTS. 329
fire-arms, ordnance, and ammunition used in the Army
of Japan are manufactured in the country, at the ar-
senals of Osaka and Koishikawa, Tokio. The Murata
rifle, invented by General Murata, chief of the Ord-
nance Department, is exclusively employed by the
Japanese forces, and is one of the most efficient
weapons extant. Its calibre is 0*315, and it carries
a bullet weighing 235 grains.
Tlie Xnvy. The Japanese Naval Department is
administered from Tokio, and the Minister of Marine
ranks as one of the Imperial Cabinet. The coast has
been divided into five maritime districts, the head-
quarters of which are at Yokosuka, in the Bay of Yedo,
near Yokohama ; Kur6, in the Inland Sea, near Hiro-
shima ; Sasebo, on the coast of Kiushiu ; and in two
other places yet to be established, viz., Maidzuru and
Mororan (Yeso).
The personnel of the Japanese Navy comprises vice-
admirals, 5 ; rear-admirals, 3 ; captains, 35; commanders,
56; with 573 lieutenants and midshipmen, 172 engineers
and technical officers (naval architect, hydrograph, and
ordnance), 123 medical officers and apothecaries, 2,097
accountant, warrant, and petty officers, and 10,932 sea-
men and firemen ; total 13,987. It will be remembered
that this entire force has been trained in accordance
with the traditions of the British Navy. The naval
reserve numbers 2,555.
Japan boasts the possession of a Navy which, when
the ships now building in England can be delivered
330
ADVANCE JAPAN.
viz., two first-class line-of-battle ships, 12,000 tons each,
will include also 4 armoured cruisers, 9 second-class
cruisers, 19 third-class cruisers, with a flotilla of I first-
class, 24 second-class, and 16 third-class torpedo-boats.
Tfce Fleet. The principal ships are as follows :
Launched
in
Tonnage.
I.H.P.
Guns.
Speed in
ROOtS.
BATTLESHIPS.
Building} H.M.S. Re-
12,446
13,687
38
i8i
3 nown type.
12,140
14,194
38
18]
CRUISERS.
Fuso ~\
1877
3,787
3,500
II
13
H*f armoured.
1879
1879
2,284
2,28 4
2,034
2,227
9
9
12
12
Chiyoda /
1889
2,440
5,600
24
19
Naniwa
1885
3,75
7,650
10
19
Takachiho
1885
3,750
7,650
10
19
Itsukushima
Matsushima
Hashidate
deck-
protected.
1890
1891
1891
4,277
4,277
4,277
5,400
5,400
5,400
to to
cc co oo
16
16
16
Akitsushima
1892
4,150
8,400
12
19
Yoshino
1892
4,150
15,000
34
22|
Tsukushi
.. 1882
,350
2,900
6
17"
Kaimon ...
.. 1882
,460
,250
7
12
Tenrio ...
..; 1883
,580
,165
7
12
Takao . . .
.. 1885
,760
2,300
5
15
Yamato ...
..' 1885
,680
,600
7
13
Katsuragi
.. 1885
,680
,600
7
13
Musashi ...
.. 1886
,680
,600
7
13
Yayeyama
.. 1889
,800
5,400
3
20
New
..'building
2,700
8,500
20
20
,, ...
I
2,800
8,500
2O
I9|
,, ...
i, 800
6,130
8
20
The Itsukuskima, MatsusJiima (built at La Seyne), and
HasJiidate (built at Yokosuka) are sister ships, and are
coast-defence protected cruisers of a special class. They
ARMAMENTS.
333
are 295 feet long, with $o}4 feet in beam. Each carries
a Canet gun of 12^ inches, and has a powerful arma-
ment of quick-firing guns. The protection is a deck of
2-inch steel.
The Akitsushima, also built at Yokosuka, is a very
similar ship to these three, but has three knots an hour
higher speed.
The steel cruiser Yoshino is the pride of the Japanese
THE CRUISER "TAK.ACHIHO.
Navy in point of speed. She is 350 feet long, beam
46^ feet, with double bottom. For armament she has
4 6-inch guns one on poop, one on forecastle, 270
range of fire with each, and the other two sponsoned
out on either bow 8 guns of 47 inches, 22 3-poundcrs,
and 5 torpedo-tubes.
The battleships building in England arc to have a
334
ADVANCE JAPAN.
length of 270 feet ; beam, 73 feet ; draught, 26 feet ;
armour, 16 to 18 inches; armament, 4 12-inch guns,
coupled in barbettes fore and aft, and 10 6-inch guns,
with 14 3-pounder and 10
2 ^-pounder quick-firers,
and 6 torpedo-tubes.
To this formidable fleet
must now be added the
ships captured from the
Chinese, which are being
raised at Wei-hai-Wei, or
have already come into
the possession of the vic-
tors, and are being used
for coast defence in Japan.
The Chinese Navy
proved itself, indeed, to
be far from effective, and
owing to some extent to
the direction of the Tsun-
gli Yamen at Peking, it had no chance to distinguish
itself, but was compelled to remain in home waters.
Its seamen were demoralised because their officers
were often corrupt and always incompetent ; its divi-
sion into provincial squadrons was a constant bar to
combined action. The jealousy of its native officials
altogether neutralised the good work done by Captain
Lang in raising it to a condition of comparative efficiency
during the period of his service under the dragon flag.
CAPTAIN OF " MATSUSHIMA."
ARMAMENTS. 335
Englishmen have a right to pride themselves upon
their early connection with the Navy of Japan, for, in
1600, Will Adams, a native of Gillingham, in Kent,
landed near Nagasaki, and remained a not altogether
unwilling prisoner at the Court of the Shogun lyeyasu
until his death, which took place in 1620. It was by
Will Adams' good offices with the Shogun that the
foundations of English trade were laid, and he was our
first diplomatic agent at the Court of Japan. The
Shogun highly valued Will's services, and employed
him as Chief Constructor of the Navy. His tomb is to
be found close to the Yokosuka arsenal and dockyard,
and the Yokosuka railway station is said to cover the
site of this first English visitor's house.
336
CHAPTER XIV.
WAR WITH CHINA.
APAN TAKES ACTION. The
main incidents of the conflict which
has just been brought to a close in
China are so well remembered that
only a brief recapitulation of the
more striking features, in their re-
lation to the ultimate status of
Japan as a nation, may suffice to
indicate the substantial character of
her progress in the art of warfare.
As already shown, this was the first opportunity afforded
to Japan of proving that she had really strengthened
her position in the East by adopting Western methods
and appliances. The Satsuma troubles attracted so
little attention outside the limits of the Empire, that
only those who had occasion to follow the course of the
campaign attentively were conscious of the growing
power then exhibited by Prince Arisugawa's battalions.
Though the civil war which raged in Kiushiu was re-
markable for the great personal bravery displayed by
WAR WITH CHINA.
337
individual combatants on both sides, the organisation
of the Imperial Army was but on its trial, and no one
could accurately estimate the inherent capabilities of
the newly-established fighting machine until it had
proved its efficiency in actual operations in the field.
Seventeen years passed by,
during which there was
leisure for thorough exami-
nation of the machine in all
its parts, and wherever a
weakness could be dis-
covered, it was remedied.
Thus, when the condition
of the adjoining peninsular
kingdom had reached the
verge of anarchy, and grave
apprehensions regarding the
safety of the Japanese sett-
lers in the ports open to trade had been engendered
by the corruption and weakness of the King's Govern-
ment, Japan not only felt herself called upon to in-
tervene, but strong enough to insist upon the adoption
of such reforms as would ensure a greater degree of
security for her subjects. In consonance with the ex-
isting Treaty with the Government of China, how-
ever, Japan first of all invited the Middle Kingdom's
co-operation in a scheme well calculated, from ex-
perience, to improve the state of affairs in Korea, should
the King be willing to undertake measures for its ful-
z
GKNERAI, KAWAKAMI
(Japan's Strategist).
338 ADVANCE JAPAN.
filment. China had bound herself to act thus jointly
with Japan, and not to send troops into Korea without
notifying the Mikado's Government. It became known,
however, that through the machinations of the Chinese
Resident at the Court of Seoul, China was fitting out a
contingent of men and vessels at Tientsin, which could
only be intended for service in Korea, independently
of Japan. The Government of Peking had practically
ignored the suggestion put forward for combined effort,
and this forced the Mikado's Government to take steps
to protect its own interests. Japan prepared for an
expedition herself, and at the same time notified the
Chinese Government that the proposal for joint inter-
ference having failed to find favour at Peking, thence-
forward Japan would not stand upon ceremony, but
would be driven to take her own course in affairs which
vitally concerned her own people. At the same time
Japan warned China that any independent interference
by the Tsungli Yamen, after that time, could only be re-
garded as unfriendly. In reality Japan was conscious of
a growing disposition on the part of China to exercise
an influence at Seoul utterly antagonistic to the views
of the Ministry at Tokio, and it was felt that unless
Japan at once asserted herself, Korea would drift into
the state of semi-dependence on China, and semi-bar-
barism, to rescue her from which, as a near neighbour,
had been Japan's principal object for a decade or two.
Notwithstanding the notification from Tokio, the Chinese
persevered with their plan of sending troops to Korea,
WAR WITH CHINA. 339
and among other ships engaged as transports was one
known as the Kozv-shing, which had been chartered by
the Viceroy of Pechili. On the morning that this vessel
approached the Korean coast there had already been an
outbreak of hostilities, three hours before, in which a
Chinese man-of-war had fired a torpedo at the Japanese
warship Naniwa Kan, and subsequently had made good
her escape seaward. The YosJiino had likewise been
engaged with the Chinese, for, in fact, the Tsi- Yuen,
2,320 tons, aided by other Chinese vessels, had fought
the Yoshino, in the course of which a small Chinese
cruiser, the Kivang- Yt, had been driven ashore and
destroyed.
The attempt to sink the Japanese ship had placed
it beyond question that China and Japan were at
war, apart from the explicit declaration made a week
previously by Japan that if the effort to throw more
troops into Korea were persisted in, it could only be
regarded as a casus belli. When, therefore, the com-
mander of the Naniwa Kan observed the Kow-sliing
heading for a landing-place, with troops on board, he
directed her to heave to. The British captain of the
chartered vessel obeyed, and, bowing to superior force,
would have followed the Naniwa to a Japanese port,
but the control of the ship was taken out of his hands
by the Chinese on board, who refused to surrender or
to allow the captain to do so. Seeing that the Kow-
shing carried guns they were field guns, it is true the
commander of the Naniwa gave her the choice of at
Z 2
340 ADVANCE JAPAN.
once submitting to capture or of being sunk, and the
British Commander having intimated his inability to
exercise command, a warning signal was made and a
missile was fired. The Kow-shing worked her field-
guns, and the soldiers on board used their rifles, shooting
not only at the Japanese ship, but at their own fellow-
countrymen who had taken to the water. Such an un-
equal contest could not last long, and under a weighty
broadside from the Naniwds Armstrongs the chartered
ship soon went down, but the captain and others of her
European crew were picked .up by boats which the
Naniwa had lowered for the purpose, and were well
treated on board. The incident created profound in-
terest at the time, because the Kow-sJiing was flying the
British flag, and was owned by a British firm in
Shanghai. Apart from this fact it was admitted that
to all intents and purposes, she was engaged in the
Chinese service, and was under their control. War had
broken out, though the British captain did not know it
until the Japanese officers who visited him from the
Naniwa apprised him of the fact. They declared that
his endeavour to land troops was so manifestly hostile
that it would be resisted, and, as a matter of course, any
recognition of the principle that a ship sailing under
neutral colours might carry to its completion an un-
dertaking so palpably detrimental to Japanese interests
was impossible. It would have opened a way for the
engagement of an indefinite number of foreign-owned
vessels in the work of transporting Japan's avowed
WAR WITH CHINA. 341
enemies to the scene of conflict. The Nanizua's officers
appear to have regarded the exhibition of the British
flag by the Kow-shing as a ruse de guerre; and they were
to some extent warranted in taking this view, from the
fact that the Chinaman which fired the torpedo earlier
in the day had actually been flying the Japanese flag
just previously. At all events they had the best reasons
for regarding the Kow-shing s enterprise as inimical to
Japan's interests, and as they could be quite certain
that the employment of the British flag in any way
incompatible with the strictest neutrality was un-
authorised, and, moreover, would never be sanctioned,
by Great Britain, it was quite natural that they should
assume that the chartered ship was practically at that
hour a Chinese vessel. And they were right in this
assumption, for it afterwards appeared that a clause in
the charter had provided that immediately on any out-
break of hostilities the ship was to become, for a fixed
sum, the absolute property of those who chartered her.
War had begun that morning, and the ship had, owing
to that circumstance, nominally passed into the hands
of the Chinese some hours before the action took place.
It is to the credit of Japan that she offered compensa-
tion in those instances where a neutral had suffered loss
through his connection with the sunken ship, and the
attitude of Japan throughout was one of conciliation, so
far as was consistent with the recognition of her right to
act as she did under the peculiar circumstances of the
case.
342 ADVANCE JAPAN.
At about the same time the other transports engaged
were successful in landing their men, and a body of
between two and three thousand Chinese soldiers had
collected at A-san, or Ya-san, towards which port the
K<nv-shing was heading when she was sunk off the
Prince Jerome Gulf. A skirmish ensued with a force of
Japanese which had been landed in the vicinity, it being
a convenient point from which to march on Soul, and
the Chinese General retreated with part of his command
by a road which led to the mountains of the interior,
and thence to the northward towards Ping- Yang, at
which town he made his reappearance some weeks
later.
Ping-Y'ang. It is a remarkable fact, and one for
which it would be difficult to find any parallel in history,
that not only in this preliminary skirmish, but at every
subsequent encounter throughout the war, the Chinese
troops were ignominiously defeated by their better-
disciplined and more resolute opponents. It is true
that, in the earlier stages more particularly, a victory
was often claimed for the Chinamen, but upon examina-
tion it invariably turned out that there had been the
most flagrant exaggeration, and that success really had
rested with the Japanese. A-san was followed by Ping-
Yang, six weeks later, during which period of intense
activity on both sides the Chinese had marched large
bodies of troops into Korea from the northward, and
the Japanese had brought up tremendous reinforce-
ments by sea. Ping- Yang proved to be the Gravelotte
WAR WITH CHINA. 343
of the Chino-Japanese War, and, by the consummate
strategy of Marshal Yamagata, which proved success-
ful in an attack delivered from three directions, the
flower of the Chinese Army was all but annihilated.
The remnant of the defeated at A-san had, by a cir-
cuitous route, managed to join the other Chinese bat-
talions a short time before the battle on September.
1 5th, and were thus enabled to participate in the stam-
pede which ensued.
Practically this was the last which the Koreans saw
of the vast army which China had thrown into the
peninsula, in a vain effort to support by force her claim
to exercise suzerainty over that region. The Korean
King promptly rid himself of even the semblance of
vassalage, and no more complete justification of the
course which Japan followed could be desired, than is to
be found in the new era of prosperity which has dawned
upon Korea since the Chin3se forces quitted its borders.
Certain troublesome tribes in the south have risen against
authority, it is true, but their puny efforts were never
formidable, and have been suppressed with only slight
assistance from the Japanese force of gendarmes lent to
the Korean King for the purpose of restoring order.
After Ping- Yang, the Chinese made no stand until
they had crossed the Yalu river into Manchuria. Yama-
gata followed at his leisure, and inflicted another defeat
upon them at Chiu-lien-cheng, a town on the banks of
the river, and lying on the road which leads to Moukden,
the ancient capital of the Manchu dynasty.
344 ADVANCE JAPAN.
The Yalu \a * ai i:ii^a^-Mi-iii. Prior to this, how-
ever, and only two days after the victory of Ping-Yang,
the Japanese were successful in a naval engagement be-
tween Hai-Yun-tao (Sea-Mist Isle) and the mouth of the
Yalu. This battle is memorable as having established
the value in actual warfare of swift and well-armed
cruisers. The Japanese ships were so smartly handled
by Admiral Ito that the Chinese squadron, under Ad-
miral Ting, was out-manoeuvred at all points. The
supremacy of the Japanese at sea was confirmed, and it
has been ascribed in no small degree next to their
superior speed to to the excellent fire maintained by
the machine guns and 'small quick-firing cannon with
which their vessels were furnished. The Chinese had
20 vessels engaged, including their torpedo boats,
against 16, all told, on the Japanese side. The total
tonnage of Chinese ships in action was 36,005 tons,
that of the Japanese amounting to a trifle more, viz.,
37,014 tons. But the average speed of the vessels com-
posing the Chinese fleet was 15*4 knots an hour, as com-
pared with an average of 17-2 knots in that representing
the power of Japan. Speed was an important factor in
the problem to be solved, and it might have gone hard
with one or two of the Japanese, had the action resulted
otherwise than in the great success for them that it did,
as the best pace of their slowest ship, notwithstanding
the high average, was rather less than 12 knots. The
slowest ship in the Chinese fleet, on the other hand,
could steam 14^5 knots, so that when the day went
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WAR WITH CHINA. 347
against them the surviving vessels of Admiral Ting's
command were able to get away, with the conviction
that only a part of the Japanese squadron could chase
them. With the approach of night this was practically
impossible.
The action lasted from about mid-day until past five
p.m., and was furiously contested all that time. When
sighted in early morning, Admiral Ting was convoying
transports to the mouth of the Yalu river, and having a
good start of his opponents he was able to see his charges
safely into the estuary before the close approach of Ad-
miral Ito rendered an action inevitable. The Chinese
Commander then put to sea to face his enemy, with his
two ironclads in the centre of the line, and his smaller
armoured ships forming the right and left wings, four on
each side of the ironclads Chen- Yuen and Ting- Yuen.
The ten ships moved forward in line abreast, followed
by three others at a little distance, and the torpedo-
boats hovered on either flank. Admiral Ito adopted
tactics of quite another order, and dividing his force into
a main squadron and a flying squadron, he launched the
latter straight at his rival, but when well within range
the four leading Japanese described an arc of ninety
degrees, and passed rapidly along the front of one-half
of Ting's line, delivering their broadsides as they went,
and circling round the last ship of his line proceeded to
execute the same movement in his rear. They actually
completed the circuit of the ten Chinese ships in this
daring fashion, pouring in a veritable hail of shot and
348
ADVANCE JAPAN.
shell as they went by. Admiral Ting's formation ham-
pered his movements, and his vessels could only bring
half of their guns to bear on the enemy. Meanwhile
the other ships of the Japanese fleet had come into
action with their heavier metal, the Matsushima,
Itsukits/uma, and HashidaM in particular doing great
THE GUNBOAT "AKAGI."
execution on the Chinese ironclads with their 66-ton
Canet guns.
The escape of the Chinese fleet to the shelter of
Port Arthur prevented the Japanese Admiral from
following up his victory at the moment, and the Japan-
ese fleet was also in need of repairs, though the greater
portion of these were effected while the vessels were
at sea.
The immediate consequence of the battle off the Yalu
V
\-\
' " "*
YALU BATTLE.
Stage 4
1
WAR WITH CHINA. 351
was the loss to China of the barbette armour-clad King-
Yuen, 2,850 tons, and the cruisers Chih Yuen, 2,300
tons, Chao-Yang, 1,350 tons, Yang Wei, 1,350 tons, and
the Kwang Ki, 1,030 tons, all of which were sunk or
burned.
The Captured Vessels* After this engagement
the Chinese Pei-Yang fleet, which has since passed into
the hands of the Japanese Naval Department, consisted
of the sister armour-clads Chen Yuen and Ting Yuen,
7,280 tons, the Lai Yuen, 2,850 tons, and the Tsi- Yuen,
2,320 tons, with the coast-defence armour-clad Ping
Yuen, 2,850 tons, the deck-protected cruisers Citing
Yuen, 2,300 tons, and the Foo Ching, 2,500 tons, some
smaller gunboats, and the torpedo flotilla. China still
possesses the bulk of the Foochow squadron (Nan Yang),
to which belonged the Yang Wei and Chao Yang, sunk
at the Yalu battle. It consists wholly of unprotected
cruisers, however, none of which are above 2,500 tons,
and a few gunboats and old-fashioned craft utterly un-
serviceable for modern warfare. The Shanghai and Can-
ton flotillas are smaller still. Altogether China's naval
strength at the opening of the campaign stood at
2 Second-class Battleships
9 Port-defence Vessels
2 Armoured Cruisers
9 Second-class Cruisers
12 Third-class Cruisers of over 10 knots speed
27 Third-class Cruisers of less than that speed,
with 2 first-class, 26 second-class, and 13 third-class
352 ADVANCE JAPAN.
torpedo-boats. A large proportion of this no longer
exists, as far as the original owners are concerned, and
the remainder is by no means formidable.
Fung-whang-Cheng. The pause which ensued in
hostilities afloat was by no means perceptible in the
operations on land, for Marshal Yamagata after his
victory at Chiu-lien-cheng continued to hold that place
as his headquarters, and thence to direct the campaign
in Liao-Tung, which prevailed with intervals of greater
or less activity throughout the winter. The important
city of Fung-whang-Cheng succumbed to attack in
October, and the Marshal's outposts were pushed for-
ward to Lien-shan-Kwan, a hamlet of some forty houses
situated in a narrow gorge, surrounded on three sides by
the peaks of the celebrated Mo-tien-ling ("Heaven-touch-
ing Pass "), which forms a natural gateway on the road
between Liao-Yang and Fung-whang-Cheng. Mo-tien-
ling is renowned in the history of Manchuria as a spot
on which there have been numerous encounters, and it
forms perhaps the strongest position among many in the
highlands which divide Korea from the valley of the Liao
and its tributaries.
Part of Yamagata's force was successful in penetra-
ting these highlands at another point due west of Fung-
whang-Cheng, and passing by way of Makiaputsu and
To-mu-cheng, reached the valuable strategic post of
Hai-cheng, a small walled city on the edge of the
mountainous country overlooking the valley of the
To-mu-chiang.
WAR WITH CHINA. 353
Still another portion of the Japanese forces were dis-
patched towards Siu-yen-cheng, an important point in
the southern section of the highlands, through which a
road leads from the eastern shore of the Liao-Tung pro-
vince to the large city of Kai-ping-cho\v, situated close
to the western coast of the same peninsula.
Marshal Yamagata's main body was employed in
securing his front towards Saimatsui and Moukden, a
very necessary service in view of attack by Chinese
troops advancing from the North. It was not until
December that the arrival of the long-expected Manchu
contingent from the distant banks of the Amoor River
threatened Yamagata's right flank, and the foresight he
had displayed in taking up a strong position on the line
of the Chiu-lien-cheng and Moukden high-road could be
fully appreciated. These men from the Amoor were
opponents far more worthy of his steel than the bulk of
the Chinese regiments which Yamagata had had to con-
tend with in previous skirmishes, and he did well to take
their effort seriously, although, as the sequel proved, he
had no difficulty in resisting their onslaught when it was
actually made. From Chiu-lien-cheng to the Mo-tien-
ling Pass the distance by road is not less than 89 miles,
and he had to defend this line with the 5th Army
Corps, the advance division of which was commanded
by General Tachimi.
Hui-rliciiK. The 3rd Army Corps was meanwhile
actively engaged near Hai-cheng in preventing the
march eastward of the Chinese forces which, undci
A A
354 ADVANCE JAPAN.
General Sung, had been concentrating in the vicinity of
the Liao River, with the hope of being able ultimately
to overwhelm Yamagata's battalions and drive him
backward into Korea. The command at Hai-cheng de-
volved upon General Oseko, and during December the
capabilities of his force were fully tested by repeated
assaults, always with the result, however, that his men
stood firmly on their ground, and the opposing bat-
talions hurled against them were shattered as they
came.
It was not until the winter was half over that the 5th
Army Corps could be brought forward to materially
support the 3rd, owing to the need of guarding the long
line of communications via Fung-whang-Cheng, and the
threatened danger from the Manchu regiments, which,
despite the defeat inflicted upon them at the hamlet of
At-yang-picn, still hovered upon its flank. There was
all through the winter a strong force of Chinese quar-
tered at Moukden, prepared to defend the ancient
Capital, and it was at any time possible for the com-
mandant of this strangely inactive corps to detach a
portion thereof, and by a rather circuitous route via
Sai-matsui and Ai-yang-pien, to fall upon the rear-
guard of Yamagata's command at or near Tang-shan-
cheng, a walled town lying midway between Chiu-lien
and Fung-whang, whence a branch road strikes away
from the main route and leads in a north-easterly direc-
tion to another pass in this exceedingly hilly region.
But only on one occasion was the attempt made to thus
WAR WITH CHINA. 355
harass the Japanese chain of communications, and it
was a characteristic feature of the campaign that whilst
the Chinese made little or no effort to interfere with
the attenuated line, the Japanese never for one instant
relaxed their watchful care, and were at no time be-
trayed into that over-confident frame of mind which has
ere now induced older practitioners of the art of warfare
to hold an enemy too cheap. Possibly the Chinese
knew that this vigilance was never abated, and there-
fore regarded any effort to surprise their foes as
altogether vain. Whatever the cause may have been,
nothing is more sure than that a really active defensive
army, operating in a territory where its leaders would
have the advantage of knowing well the roads, would
ordinarily give to any invading force far more cause
for apprehension than the Japanese ever experienced
through the operations of the defenders of Liao-
Tung.
Popular opinion in the Occident regarding the
Manchu soldier has undergone a great change in the
course of the war now nearly at its close. Imagina-
tion had pictured him as a dashing horseman of no-
madic tendencies, roaming freely, on a fiery steed, over
uncultivated steppes, rather predisposed to pillage, but
possessing the qualities of high courage and endurance
in a marked degree. Regiments recruited exclusively,
or even in part, from among the tribesmen would be
staunch opponents, it was believed, on the field of
battle, and this opinion was to some extent shared by
A A 2
356 ADVANCE JAPAN.
their foes. But experience of their behaviour in actual
warfare against the Japanese has not confirmed the vie\v
thus commonly entertained. If they have not of late
retired with that precipitancy which marked the earlier
stages of the war, there has been no sensible improve-
ment in regard to steadiness or in accuracy of firing.
The latest series of skirmishes culminated in a stub-
born fight at Old Nevvchwang, in which ammunition
was squandered for a whole day by the besieged. They
fought desperately when hemmed in by the Japanese,
but lacked the nerve to use their weapons to advan-
tage.
In this encounter, followed immediately by a day's
fighting at Yingkwa, the Treaty Port commonly known-
as Newchwang, the Chinese were reinforced to some
extent by troops from Moukden, their commanders
having at last become weary of waiting at the " sacred
city " for a foe which gave no sign of an intention to
approach.
Newchwang and Yiiigltwa. Nevvchwang, as a
depot of foreign trade, came under the jurisdiction for
the time being of the victors, the merchants of various
nationalities resident at the port having been notified
that they had nothing to fear from the invasion. On
the contrary, as no doubt some of the inhabitants fully
realised, they were far more safe when guarded by the
Japanese troops than they had been when nominally
under the care of half-disciplined hordes of Ho-nan and
other provincial levies. Those very unreliable battalions.
WAR WITH CHINA. 357
fled at the first contact with the Mikado's men, and
relieved the settlement of an incubus which had rested
upon it for many weeks.
Marshal Yamagata's health broke down in Chiu-
lien-cheng, and he was invalided home, being suc-
ceeded in the command of the ist Japanese Army
by Lieutenant-General Nodzu, who has lately been
raised to the rank of field-marshal. On his recovery
Marshal Yamagata became Minister of War in the
Cabinet, and is now Inspector-General of the Army.
Port Arthur. The great strategical importance of
Port Arthur, as well as the immense stores of war mate-
rial which it was known to possess, had not been lost
sight of by the Japanese leaders, and an expedition was
despatched from Hiroshima in October, which had for
its object the assault and capture of the fortress. The
command of this 2nd Japanese Army was undertaken in
person by the then Minister for War, Marshal Oyama,
and as Port Arthur was not only a place of which the
possession was much to be desired, but was regarded
by all good judges as a very strong position, the proceed-
ings were from the outset marked by a cautious deter-
mination which left nothing to chance. The transports
conveying 24,000 men were convoyed by a squadron of
the Japanese fleet, lest the Chinese ships should suddenly
emerge from their hiding-places and pounce upon unpro-
tected vessels. As the event proved, however, the Chinese
admiral was out of reach at the time, having just pre-
viously made good his escape to the naval station of
358 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Wei-hai-Wei, on the other side of the Straits of Pechili.
Snugly immured in the harbour there, and sheltered by
the island of Liu-kung-tao from observation as well
as from rough weather, the Chinese fleet made abso-
lutely no effort to defend its northern depot at Port
Arthur, on which so many millions of taels had been
expended.
Marshal Oyama's expedition had therefore a clear field
for landing the 2nd Army, and the transports having
brought flat-bottomed boats for the purpose, the disem-
barkation was effected without mishap at a spot in Korea
Bay, some 50 miles to the north-east of the coveted posi-
tion. Subsequently it was found to be feasible to land
the heavy siege guns at a point nearer by 20 miles to
Port Arthur, but this was only effected after the army
had marched thither overland, and with the object of
avoiding the excessive labour attendant upon mountain
transport. Ta-lien-Wan, about half-way from the place
of disembarkation to the fortress, proved to be the quarter
in which resistance was first met with, but it was of so
excessively feeble a character as to offer scarcely any
perceptible obstacle to the progress of the invaders.
The Chinese had built forts, and had armed them with
Krupp guns ; but after the first discharge the garrisons
incontinently fled towards Port Arthur or to the walled
town of Kinchow, only four miles distant. Over 30
modern cannon of excellent quality, large quantities of
ammunition, and the plans of the torpedo defences by
which it had been hoped to repel an attack, all fell into
.r-
WAR WITH CHINA.
the hands of the victors. No equipment could have
been more complete in its way than that of the
Ta-lien-Wan forts, and they had even been connected
together by telephone. But
the material organisation
had not been supplemented
by resolute men, and they
proved a snare to their de-
signers. For the very com-
pleteness with which the ob-
structed regions had been
mapped out enabled the
invaders to lift and appro-
priate the mines at their
leisure, and the electrical
MARSHAL OVAMA
apparatus which formed (Minister for War).
part of the spoils was not the least valuable of the
whole.
Needless to say, the Japanese general took an early
opportunity of making the walled town of Kinchow
temporarily his own Sovereign's property, the remnant
of the former garrison not even watting to risk an en-
gagement ; and when all likelihood of interruption had
been done away with in that direction, Marshal Oyama
devoted his entire energies to the formidable task of cap-
turing the fortress upon which the Chinese relied to pre-
serve the inviolability of their Capital.
The fugitives from Ta-licn-Wan had helped to swell
the already numerous garrison to a total of some-
362 ADVANCE JAP AX.
thing like 21,000 men, and there must have been
fully this force present up to within a few days of
the actual assault of the place on the 2Oth and 2ist
November. Shortly before the preparations were com-
pleted for the attack, however, the Japanese Marshal
opened a path for those who were willing to avail them-
selves thereof. They were given an opportunity of
getting away by sea from the little bay in rear of the
fortress called Pigeon Bay, and also by land to the
northward ; and it is believed that a large number availed
themselves of the chances of escape before the invest-
ment had been perfected. Others were, doubtless, taken
off by junks from the eastern shores, and when the
place was surrendered on the 2ist there were not more
than a third left of those who had, until quite a recent
date, formed the large army encamped within the lines.
The fall of Port Arthur gave to the Japanese most
valuable stores of ammunition suitable for all arms,
and about 80 guns, most of them Krupps, of the best
construction. Large quantities of grain and other pro-
visions likewise fell into their hands, and two small
steamers which were in dock at the time. For a long
time it was supposed that the Chinese Pei-Yang squad-
ron was also to be found reposing in the harbour and
docks of the depot, but, as already mentioned, the
Admiral had made the best of his way to his southern
shelter at Wei-hai-Wei, just 100 miles to the south-east.
Even without the men-of-war, the Japanese secured
rare booty, and the possession of a naval station in
WAR WITH CHINA. 363
those seas, so splendidly provided with all that modern
science could suggest and wealth procure, was in itself
an immeasurable advantage to a fleet which had still to
keep its hold on the Yellow Sea and the two gulfs of
Pechili and Liao-Tung.
Immediately after its acquisition, the depot was
handed over to the Minister of the Navy, and its affairs
have since that date been administered by the officials
of his department. The repairing dockyard and basin
have been constantly busy of late with the restoration
of captured and other vessels to sea-going trim, and the
high value set upon the fortress and its adjuncts by the
original possessors is quite confirmed by the profound
appreciation of their usefulness evinced by their new
owners.
Figuratively speaking, it would be a work of super-
erogation to detail all the incidents of the fighting
which led to the capture of the numerous forts and re-
doubts which comprised the extensive fortifications of
Port Arthur in November. The transport of the siege
guns occupied nearly a fortnight, as the route from
Ta-lien-Wan lay for the most part over very difficult
country. Ridges had to be surmounted, brushwood cut
down, trees felled, and on the low-lying sections the
road had to be strengthened to an extent practically
equal to its entire renewal.
As the invading army drew near to the fortress, a
sally was attempted on a small scale, but the besieged
were driven back, with loss. They succeeded in cap-
364 ADVANCE JAPAN.
turing some fifteen Japanese troopers, however, by an
ambush, and on the way to the fortress, during their
retreat, they put these captives to death with revolting
cruelty, leaving their horribly mutilated bodies close to
the track. There they were discovered on the morrow,
when the main body of Marshal Oyama's army made a
general advance. The sight filled the comrades of the
murdered men with uncontrollable indignation, and
fuel was added to the fire when they discovered, on the
fall of the fortress two days later, additional evidence
in the streets of the town itself of the barbarities in-
flicted by the Chinese upon those who were unfortunate
enough to fall into their hands. The anger of Oyama's
men prompted them to kill all whom they found in the
streets with arms in their hands, for they knew that the
Chinese soldiers had disguised themselves in civilian
clothing, and that the absence of any uniform was by
no means to be accepted "as evidence of pacific inten-
tions. Weapons were discharged from several of the
houses also on the day the Japanese entered the town,
and this desultory firing was only repressed by severe
measures. Unhappily this gave rise to a report that
wholesale slaughter was indulged in, and, as not un-
commonly happens in such cases, a profound sympathy
for the vanquished induced people at a distance to lend
a too ready ear to statements reflecting upon the
humanity of the conquerors. That there was some un-
necessary bloodshed in connection with the capture of
the fortress may well be believed, but that the victims
WAR WITH CHINA.
365
were more than a score in number, if in reality there
were so many, is at least open to question. The most
sensational stories were current at the time, and were in
some degree ascribable, it is believed, to the extreme
view taken of the cir-
cumstances by a corre-
spondent whose powers
of vivid description had
been given full rein not
long before in an account
of the battle of Ping-
Yang, purporting to have
been written by lantern
light on the ramparts of
that place, in close touch
with the scenes depicted,
when, as a matter of fact,
the writer was some hun-
dreds of miles distant
from the Korean coast.
That excesses were perpetrated by individuals at the
capture of Port Arthur appears to be indisputable,
but that they were traced to the soldiers, in more
than a few isolated instances, is not so clear. On the
question of the humanity of the Japanese, as a people,
there can be no two opinions among those persons who
have, by actual residence in the country, qualified
themselves to act as judges. Throughout the war the
treatment of Chinese wounded in the field hospitals.
ADMIRAL TSUBOI.
366 ADVANCE JAPAN.
and, in an equal degree, the prisoners in Japanese
camps, has been characterised by a strict adherence
to the principles of modern warfare as understood in
Western countries. Japan has proved most satisfac-
torily that in this regard her methods differ in no per-
ceptible degree from the practice of other civilised
states, and there was never any room for doubt, in the
minds of those who really understand the Japanese
disposition, that the national character would emerge
triumphant from the ordeal.
Wei-hai-Wel. Marshal Oyama despatched a part
of his force northward, after the capture of the fortress,
following the track of the fugitives in the direction of
Kai-ping-chow, and this force arrived in time to co-
operate with General Nodzu's battalions in the capture
of that important city early in the new year. The bulk
of Oyama's army remained in the neighbourhood of the
Lao-tieh-Shan Promontory until a further demand was
made upon its services to assist in the capture of Wei-
hai-Wei. For this purpose a large body of men was
transported by steamers to the city of Yung-Cheng,
close to Shantung North East Promontory, whence they
marched, over a difficult road for artillery, to the attack
of the southern naval station. A second force was
landed at a point on the coast near Ning-hai, 20 miles
westward of the depot, and with the fleet under Admiral
Ito to guard the outlet seaward, a complete investment
of the place was effected by the 29th of January. Inside
the harbour of \Vei-hai-Wci were the two Chinese iron-
WAR WITH CHINA.
367
clads and several other warships, composing the squadron
of Admiral Ting. Liu-kung-tao and several smaller
islands at the entrance of the harbour had been well
fortified, and each of the hills in the rear of the town
had likewise been made to contribute its share in the
general scheme of de-
fence by the provision
upon its sea face of a
formidable battery.
Nothing had been
omitted, by the en-
gineers responsible for
the design, which could
add to the strength of
the works, and unques-
tionably Wei-hai-Wei
was a possession in
which the Chinese were
entitled to take some
pride. Like Port GENERAL KOUAMA
Arthur, the Cannon (\ ice-Minister for War).
mounted in the forts was throughout of the newest
pattern, and for the most part of heavy calibre. The
store of ammunition at each point was ample. The
vessels in port were capable in themselves of offering
enormous resistance to capture. The garrison on shore
was amply victualled, and nothing beyond downright
pluck and determination were needed, as it seemed, to
hold an enemy at bay for an indefinite time.
368 ADVANCE JAPAN.
To do the Chinese justice, they came out of the affair
with far more credit to thems3lves than could be ac-
corded to them at any other stage of the war. The first
fort was captured by the assailants without much diffi-
culty, and the guns of the second were likewise soon in
their hands, prompt advantage being taken of the cir-
cumstance by Marshal Oyama's men to aid the assault
on the neighbouring positions by an active employment
of the captured guns. Thus one fort after another fell
to the Japanese, and its weapons were turned against
the Chinese not only ashore but afloat, for an artillery
duel was soon in progress between Admiral Ting's
squadron in the harbour and the batteries of which
Oyama's men had possessed themselves on the hills.
Two days were consumed in the effort to put the
defenders on shore to flight, but the evening of the 3ist
saw them in full retreat to the south. The captured
forts formed a semicircle around the harbour, and could
make excellent practice from their elevated positions on
the doomed ships in the harbour.
Capture of Wei-hal-Wei. All this time Admiral
Ting had made no effort to escape from the toils. The
fleet of his enemy waited outside, it is true, but the
Chinese ironclads were superior in defensive strength, as
well as in offensive power, to anything the Japanese
Admiral could bring to bear against them. They, at
least, could have cut their way through, it might have
been supposed, even if less efficiently-protected craft
failed to break the cordon. Possibly the danger of being
11 15
WAR WITH CHINA. 371
torpedoed in the narrow navigable channel was sufficient
to deter the Chinese commander from making the at-
tempt, but whatever may have been the cause, it is
certain that the Chinese vessels lay at anchor under the
guns of the Liu-kung-tao forts day after day, firing
continually in reply to the hill forts held by the invader.--:,
and relying upon the efficacy of a boom across the
eastern entrance, and their own electric search-lights, to
preserve them from direct attack.
Admiral Ito could with difficulty repress the ardour of
his subordinate officers, and at last consented to risk his
torpedo-boats in a night encounter. Three of them
broke through the obstructions on the 4th February,
after the moon had set, and steaming straight for the
ironclads, launched their missiles in the face of a de-
structive fire from the aroused Chinamen. Not one of
those boats escaped without serious damage and loss of
life, but the experiment had been so far successful that
the Ting- Yuen was sunk, and the Citing- Yuen, another
armoured ship, quite disabled. A second attempt the
next night was even more successful, and two cruisers,
the Cliih- Yuen and Wei- Yuen, with one gunboat, were
sunk, and the second ironclad, Cken- Yuen, so damaged
as to be immovable. The weather was so severe at this
time that the lieutenant and two seamen of a Japanese
torpedo-boat were frozen to death at their posts, as they
were retiring out of range after the action.
With the loss of the ironclads and three other large
vessels, besides gunboats and the entire torpedo flotilla,
15 II 2
372 ADVANCE /APAiV.
which made a rush when too late to escape, the last hope
of the Chinese had flown. Admiral Ting and three of
his captains committed suicide, and the remnant of the
Pei-Yang fleet surrendered. With that respect for a
brave man which cultivated peoples invariably show, the
Japanese at once placed a vessel at the service of the
Chinamen to convey the remains of the deceased Admiral
and his officers home for interment, and their ships half-
masted the Japanese ensign, and fired minute-guns, as
the gunboat passed through their lines bearing away her
dead. The town of Wei-hai-Wei had been delivered up
on the 3rd of February, the garrison having dispersed
towards the westward, and the gates having been opened
by the civilians.
Thus disappeared from the arena, not only the Chinese
fleet, but her great arsenal and dockyard, with all its
valuable stores, and of not less importance the man
whose reputation for determination and gallant conduct
before the enemy had been fairly upheld at a time when
China's fortunes had sunk to their lowest ebb. Admiral
Ting received most of his professional training under the
supervision of Captain Lang, R.N., and if he failed to
achieve success for China with his fleet at sea, the result
was due in no small degree to the inferiority in speed and
mobility of his ships. Of his reasons for immuring his
squadron in the harbour of Wei-hai-Wei, week after week,
whilst his enemy was sweeping the seas, it is probable
no explanation will ever be forthcoming. Presumably
they were comprehended by the Viceroy, Li Hung
WAR WITH CHINA. 373
Chang, or other measures would have been initiated,
and we are not likely to learn the secret now, long
after the Admiral's disappearance from the scene.
Overture* Tor Peace* Overtures for peace were
made on three separate occasions during the progress
of the war. Mr. Detring, Commissioner of Customs at
Tientsin, was first of all the bearer of a message to
Japan, but he was not received in audience for the
reason, apparently, that he was empowered to make
enquiries only. He was followed by two Chinese
Envoys, who were received at Hiroshima upon the
assurance of the Peking Government that they had
been armed with full powers. It was discovered, how-
ever, that they were not authorised to conclude or sign
any arrangement whatever settling the terms of peace,
but were instructed to ask the Japanese Government to
consent to their referring all proposals to the Tsung-li
Ya-men at their own capital. Under such circum-
stances there was nothing to be done by the Japanese
Ministry but to show the envoys the door, and they
were accordingly shipped to Shimonoseki, en route for
China, without loss of time. This fruitless mission took
place simultaneously with the fall of Wei-hai-Wei, and
nothing further was attempted in the nature of a pacific
settlement until Li Hung Chang went in person from
Tientsin to Shimonoseki, fully accredited by the Chin-
ese Emperor to make terms for the conclusion of peace.
The aged Viceroy reached Shimonoseki on the 19th of
March, and was received with full ambassadorial honours,
374 ADVANCE JAPAN.
the Prime Minister of Japan, Marquis Ito Hirobumi,
and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Mutsu,
having journeyed thither from Hiroshima to meet him.
Attempted AMwaMMiiiatioii or l.i Hung; Chung.
A sos/ii, one of the reckless, senseless ne'er-do-well
class which have plagued Japan for the past decade,
fired a pistol at the Ambassador on the fifth day after
his arrival, as he was returning from a conference, and
the incident occasioned the greatest pain and anxiety
to his hosts, the Emperor and Empress showing the
most intense solicitude for the recovery of the nation's
visitor. The sos/ii imagine that they advance the inter-
ests of their country by wholly unexpected and incon-
venient displays of " patriotism," when, in reality, they
only bring disgrace upon all who may, directly or in-
directly, be concerned.
The Viceroy's first proposals had reference, it is under-
stood, to an armistice, but it was scarcely to be expected,
at this stage of the conflict, that the Japanese would
consent to stay their hands without adequate concessions
being made, and as these would scarcely have fallen
short of the occupation of Peking itself by the Tenshi's
forces, and the surrender of the port of Shan-hai-Kwan
and the railway thence to Tientsin, it is probable the
Ambassador found the price to be paid for a cessation
of hostilities somewhat higher than he expected.
Meanwhile the Japanese fleet transferred its sphere
of operations in part to the region of Formosa, and the
Pescadores Islands, lying in the channel between Tai-
WAR WITH CHL\A.
375
Wan to give the place its true name and the Chinese
mainland, were occupied on the 25th of March, almost
without opposition. It had from the first been part of
Japan's programme to seize and hold Tai-Wan, if not
as a permanent possession, at least temporarily until
peace should be declared and an indemnity paid, so
that the execution of their design in this particular
occasioned no surprise. Apart from their position on
China's southern flank, the Pescadores group boast at
least two harbours of great value in the typhoon season,
and the trade of these and the adjacent large island of
Tai-Wan will become of considerable importance in
enterprising hands.
376
CHAPTER XV.
COLONISATION AND TRADE THE JAPANESE AS
COLONISTS.
T is clear that Japan is now taking upon
herself new responsibilities in regard
to colonisation, and it may therefore
be instructive to note in what degree
her previous efforts in this direction
have been successful. The policy she
, has pursued with regard to the nor-
thern island of Yeso, which has always
been peopled by a race altogether dis-
tinct from that which inhabits the other islands of the
Japanese Empire, may be accepted as a criterion which
will enable us to judge of the course she is certain to
follow in Formosa.
The Ainos, as the aborigines of Yeso are termed, are
a good-natured but uncivilised people of Mongolian
stock, with straight eyes and broad features, wide
shoulders and sturdy limbs. The eyelids have the fold
inward which is noticeable in the Japanese. The fore-
head is flat and slopes backward. Hair and complexion
are both dark, the men having a strong growth of beard,
COLONISATION AND TRADE. 377
giving to the elders the appearance of Jewish patriarchs.
Neither razors nor scissors are used by the men, who are
veritable Esaus. The women keep the hair short, and
tattoo their upper lips, so that at a little distance they
seem to wear moustaches. They are invariably shorter
than the men, averaging 4 feet 10 inches to 5 feet
i inch, whilst the men probably attain a height of
5 feet to 5 feet 4 inches. Occasionally a man is seen
standing six feet high, but the tall ones are rare.
Colon! Mat! on of YCMO. These people live by hunt-
ing and fishing, and were loth to do any agricultural
work until the Japanese settlers took them seriously in
hand. Their nature was kind and submissive, and
induced them readily to fall in with the views of the
Government, which has for 20 years past established
farms and taught the natives the value of husbandry.
The Aino clothing is still conspicuously simple, being
little more than a smock frock open in front and con-
fined at the waist by a coarse girdle. Men and women
dress nearly alike, the only embellishment of their
costume being their own quaint embroidery, in which
they use a thread made from elm-bark. In their dwell-
ings, as in their dress, the utmost simplicity prevails.
The hut is sometimes slightly elevated on posts driven
into the ground, with a roof of reeds, and the sleeping
places are benches, covered with mats, which run around
the walls. One hole serves as a door, and another as a
window. Needless to say an Aino hut is an extremely
unsavoury habitation, and no European can bear its vile
odours for any length of time, though Captain Hlakiston
78 ADVANCE JAPAN.
was not indisposed occasionally to avail himself of the
shelter thus afforded when on shooting excursions, and
in this way acquired considerable knowledge of the Aino
language.
In their religious observances, and patriarchal habits
and practices, the Ainos are on a level with the aborig-
ines of Saghalien and Kamschatka, the sun and moon
being regarded as deities, and the bear receiving likewise
semi-divine honours. This fact does not prevent the
Aino making a feast of his bear, which is reared in the
family, partly as a pet, and partly as a creature to be
reverenced.
There are not more than 20,000 Ainos in Yeso, and it
was these people whom in 1870 the Japanese undertook
to bring within the pale of civilisation. Prior to that
time they were regarded altogether as savages.
The virgin soil of the island afforded a splendid
material upon which to experiment, and one of the
earliest acts of the newly constituted Government of
Tokio was to procure the best advice upon matters of
scientific agriculture which the United States to whose
Minister in Japan the department was indebted for
many valuable suggestions could furnish. General
Capron, and a staff of able assistants, were deputed to
establish a typical Californian fruit farm in the suburbs
of Tokio, to begin with, and this was subsequently
copied and enlarged at Sapporo, the spot selected in the
centre of Yeso as the seat of local government. A
road had to be cut through the trackless forest for 70
miles, and posting stations established between Volcano
COLONISATION AXD TRADE. 379
Bay and Sapporo. Altogether a high road of over 140
miles had to be constructed, as certain portions of the
undertaking had to be carried on between Volcano Bay
and Hakodate, the treaty port of Yeso open to general
foreign trade.
The experience which the Government thus acquired
in the art of colonising a new country will unquestion-
ably serve it in good stead now that the scene of action
is to be Tai-Wan. The aborigines of Formosa are not
less likely to prove tractable than those of Yeso, under
firm and competent rule ; and just as the Ainos are now
among the most painstaking of farmers where they arc
employed upon the State homesteads in Yeso, or upon
their own allotments, so we may expect some day to see
the semi-civilised Pepahuan and the savage Che-huan
tribes of Tai-Wan thoroughly reclaimed and harmoni-
ously working side by side, under Japanese tuition and
guidance.
Sapporo. At the outset, the colonisation of Yeso was
entrusted to the Kai-taku-shi, a bureau established, as
its title implied, in order to "effect the opening up of an
unproductive territory." Very large sums were laid out
in saw-mills, to cut lumber for the frame houses of
Sapporo and other settlements, and quantities of service-
able deals have been exported from the island. Bridge-
building was, perhaps, the most cxtravagent item, but
experience brought wisdom, and a cheaper form of con-
struction was had recourse to which was found sufficiently
substantial for all the earlier requirements of the traffic.
With its wide and regular thoroughfares, and houses
380 ADVANCE JAPAN.
constructed of white pine, with shingle roofs, dominated
by its stately Court-house a miniature of the Capitol of
Washington in the central square, the city of Sapporo
presented in 1873 all the appearance of a typical Far
West Settlement.
Railway** in YeBo. Railways have been con-
structed from Sapporo to its northern coast port,
Otarunai, about 22 miles, and to Poronai, where there
are extensive coal mines, 34 miles more, with a branch
to Ikushunbetsu. South of Sapporo the railway line
extends to Shin-moraran, about 90 miles, the latter place
being a fine port on Volcano Bay, marked on old charts
as Endermo harbour. ,
The telegraph follows the same route, and has been of
immense service in opening up the territory, which, in
many districts, is remarkable for splendid pastures on
which herds of cattle are maintained during the greater
part of the year.
Three large coal mines are in operation, at Poronai,
Sorachi, and Ikushunbetsu, on the Ishikari River coal-
field, the deposit being computed at 650 millions of
tons.
Sapporo has a large grist mill for grinding the corn
grown in its vicinity, and thousands of farms now show
through the clearings in the woods as the train whirls the
traveller through what was, not manyyears ago, the track-
less forest. The perseverance of the settlers has been pro-
ductive of amazing results. Indian corn, melons, pump-
kins, cucumbers, onions, asparagus, and other crops are
found in profusion. Fruit trees border every field. The
COLONISATION AND TRADE. 381
homesteads shelter horses, cattle, and pigs, and some
sheep are bred successfully. The elm, ash, oak, and
pine are indigenous, and provide excellent timber, as
does also the Yeso fir. a wood obtained in great perfec-
tion and of high value.
The Sapporo mill saws easily 12,000 feet of lumber a
day, and furnishes the settlers with tongued and grooved
boarding.
Everything that can be grown in the temperate zone
can be produced in Yeso, and the marvel is to note what
physical force, unaided to any great extent by mechanical
means, has been able to accomplish on the farms.
The JaimiieMe in Formosa* In Formosa the
Japanese Government will have secured an island which
is not only fruitful, but which, taken in conjunction with
the adjacent group of the Pescadores Isles, is capable of
development as a strategical post of high value. In this
chapter, however, I am endeavouring to show how the
Government will probably find in it a suitable field for
the exercise of its colonising proclivities, as already ex-
emplified in the island of Yeso.
Near Keelung and Tamsui there are coal-fields, for
example coal being constantly shipped from the port
of Kcclung. A shaft was sunk nearly 20 years ago,
and a highly bituminous coal, not unlike that mined at
Miike, has been found in a three-feet scam. The output
has been as high as 50,000 tons, and the Japanese
will probably throw more vigour into the work than the
Chinese have exhibited. The mine has sufficed, however,
to supply the southern navy of China for years.
382 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Tea cultivation is capable of considerable extension
in Formosa. The Banka district is already favourably
known, and Japanese settlers will soon have the hill-sides
terraced, for the accommodation of the shrub, as in the
central regions of the Hondo. Probably the cultivation
of coffee may attract more attention also, and we know
that already the Hakka settlers from the Chinese coast
have for many years produced large crops of wheat,
barley, and maize.
Takow has always shipped a good deal of sugar, and
indigo is grown extensively. Hemp, jute, and millet are
likewise articles of export.
The brilliant coral-fish which inhabit the warm waters
of the Japanese gulf-stream (Kurosiwo) on the Formosan
coast may compare with those of the Great Barrier Reef.
The neighbouring seas are as well stocked with edible
fish as are those of the Japanese mainland, and the fields
and woods of the island abound with game of all kinds,
pheasants, ducks, geese, snipe, and deer, boars, wild
goats, panthers, bears, monkeys, and wild cats. Like the
dyaks of Borneo the Formosan aborigines are head
hunters, and the clans war with each other continually.
Still the natives are not irreclaimable, as the efforts of the
Chinese have already proved, and their physique is good.
The men are above the average height of the Japanese,
broad of chest and muscular, with extraordinarily large
feet and hands, broad noses, good foreheads and large
eyes, an extensive tattooing of the skin being a prevalent
custom. Probably they are of Malay origin. The con-
trol of the head-men of each village is freely recognised
-TAI-WAN -
(rttfitu)
JAPAN'S ww
Riu-Kiu
i sues
FORMOSA : JAPAN'S NK\V POSSESSION.
COLONISATION AND TRADE. 385
and they elect a council of twelve, to which only those of
40 years of age are admissible.
A demand is general among the native women for
cotton cloths, and Manchester prints and other European
goods have long been in constant use, so that Japan will
find in the island a market on a small scale for the pro-
ducts of her own looms.
Staple Industries of the Empire. Silk bids fair
to become more and more the staple of the Japanese
export trade. Possibly it already has a monetary value
to the country of four millions sterling, and with the
introduction of improved machinery the output may
considerably increase and advance in quality. As far
as the raw material is concerned, nothing better can be
expected, but the manipulation may come in time to
show fewer imperfections. Already the filatures of some
provinces, notably that of Shinano, on the Tosando cir-
cuit, produce white silks of such brilliancy and purity that
they have no rival, and the progress which has already
been made towards perfect workmanship in the districts
near the Capital, such as Kai,Mino,K6dzuke\and Shimot-
suke, augurs well for the growing importance to Japan
of this industry. The raw silk actually produced, reeled,
is scarcely less than 2,500 tons per annum, whilst nearly
that quantity of waste silk and other less valuable pro-
ducts must be credited to this branch of trade. Hardly
any part of Japan is unfavourable to the growth of the
mulberry save the extreme northern island of Yeso, but
the centre of the industry is in the centre of Hondo.
C C
386 ADVANCE JAP AX.
Japan will shortly quadruple the number of her
spindles, and her manufactured cottons will have a
large market in China. The standard of both countries
is a silver standard. Wages are paid in silver, an
operative receiving not more than 4d. to 7d. per day as
an average rate of pay. Coal is cheap, Miike coal being
delivered at the existing cotton mills at a price of some-
thing under 6s. per ton. All these advantages when
combined will presently make it very difficult for Lan-
cashire or India to compete with Japan in the Chinese
markets. Cotton-spinning is flourishing at a dozen
places, particularly in Osaka, that city which has been
termed the Venice of Japan, but which might not
inappropriately, in regard to its manufactures, be re-
garded as the Japanese Manchester. There are over
40 cotton-spinning companies in all (vide Appendix).
In Osaka, glass is made^ with economy and success,
boots and clothing of all sorts are made for half the nation,
woven and knitted garments being among its specialties.
Firebricks are also produced on a paying scale.
It may surprise some who have not had occasion to
look closely into the trade of Japan to find that her
exports are now but very slightly below her imports.
Roughly speaking, the imports were of a value in 1894 of
a little less than 11,750,000 sterling, whilst the exports
were about equal to 11,325,000. One-tenth of the
imports were duty free.
Of the imports 3,480,000 or nearly a third came
from Great Britain, whilst the goods despatched to the
COLONISATION AND TRADE. 387
United Kingdom had a value of a little over a million
sterling. The United States and France both take
more merchandise from Japan than does the United
Kingdom, but send in considerably less. China ranks
next to ourselves, indeed, with regard to the amount of
goods she forwards to the people of Japan.
Import** and Exports* Perhaps it may serve the
purpose of illustration if, in addition to the figures given
in Appendix X., a few of the principal features of the
export and import trade of Japan are here enumerated,
as it will enable the reader to judge of the direction in
which the increased facilities which are so soon to be
afforded will be likely to lead to expansion of business.
Japan exports raw silk and cocoons to the value of
about 3# millions sterling, but imports cotton yarn,
calico, and piece goods to the extent of a million and a
half, all from the United Kingdom.
She sends out tea valued at .800,000, and receives
sugar in return worth about 1,150,000.
Her export of coal, valued at half a million sterling, is
just about balanced by her import of petroleum, for lamps.
Rice she exports to precisely the same value, but re-
ceives considerably more in the way of foreign provisions
and beverages (principally for the foreign population),
the actual amount being computed at 850,000. Silk
textiles she exports to the extent of close upon a million
sterling, which indicates in some measure the popularity
Japanese dress fabrics have attained among the ladies
of the West ; but, on the other hand, Japan imports
c c 2
388 ADVANCE JAPAN.
wool and woollen goods to the value of 650,000, be-
cause she can rear no sheep.
She sends away a little of her own tobacco, but buys
a great deal of Virginia, both being used for cigarettes.
She spends large sums (they amounted to over a million
and a quarter sterling in 1893) in machinery, ships, and
metals ; but she sells copper, bronze, porcelain, and lac-
quered goods value half a million annually, and likewise
(mainly to China) dried fish, seaweed, mushrooms, and
fish oil, value another half million.
Miscellaneous exports include a small sum for wheat
and other cereals, vegetable wax, fans, camphor, and
various drugs, and a host of minor items too numerous
to particularise ; and in the same way the imports cover
small quantities of glass and leather, and half a million's
worth of dyes, paints, and drugs, with some three millions'
worth of miscellaneous articles which it would be vain to
enumerate.
There can be no doubt that the export trade, which
has necessarily been crippled by the war with China, will
vastly expand as a consequence of the conclusion of peace
between the two countries, and that Japan will send a
great deal more of her general produce into the Celestial
Empire than she has been able to sell there hitherto.
Cotton-Spinning. The cotton-spinning industries
have been considerably dislocated of late, not only by
the stoppage of the raw supply from the Asiatic con-
tinent, but by the loss of a good market for the moment
of the manufactured article.
COLONISATION AND TRADE. 389
The trade of Japan has been by no means paralysed,
however, by her quarrel with China, and the returns,
when complete, will in all probability show that she has
manufactured silk, cotton, and other textiles during
1894 to the value of five and a half millions sterling,
the cotton yarn produced being, moreover, of fully
1 20,000,000 Ibs. weight.
Opium. The Japanese Government prohibits the use
opium of entirely, by the Chinese residents in Japan, as
well as by its own subjects, and it may be expected that
in any future relationship which may exist between the
officials of Japan and the bulk of the Chinese people,
with whom they may come in contact, the influence of
Japan will be altogether thrown into the scale against
the pernicious employment of the drug for other than
medicinal purposes. In that shape only does it figure
in the returns.
The Finherien. Japan's resources are largely de-
pendent upon her fisheries. In addition to the fresh
fish consumed by her own population, she exports large
quantities of the produce of her seas to China and else-
where. Some idea of the extent to which this trade is
carried on may be gathered from the fact that she salts
or dries the fish taken on her coasts to the weight of
about 80,000 tons annually. She exports or uses sea-
weed as food to the weight of 48,000 tons a year, and
she extracts oil from the captured fish, and turns the
bones into manure to the extent of close upon 96,000
tons per annum.
39 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Needless to say, a very large proportion of the popu-
lation of Japan are fishermen, or are engaged wholly or
partly in connection with the fisheries. The actual
numbers so employed in 1894 cannot have been fewer
than two and a half millions out of the total of 41
millions of inhabitants.
But though so many of the Mikado's subjects make
their living on or from the sea, his agricultural people
are not less busily employed in gathering a harvest,
though it be of another kind.
Cereals. It is estimated, by competent authorities,
based on actual recorded figures in previous years, that
the crop of wheat garnered from a little over a million
acres so sown, per annum, is fifteen and a quarter millions
of bushels.
In the United Kingdom we have, of course, a much
greater area under wheat cultivation, but the staple food
of the people of Japan is rice. They have six and three-
quarter millions of acres bearing a rice crop, yielding
an annual return of about 206 millions of bushels.
Barley is grown on 1,600,000 acres, with a result to the
farmers of 34 million bushels. Japanese barley yields
well.
Rye is cultivated to precisely the same extent, but
yields 30 millions of bushels only.
Naturally we should expect to find an immense
amount of tea gathered, and this assumption is borne
out by the actual figures, which show that in the Mi-
kado's realm about 67 millions of pounds of tea were
COLONISATION AND TRADE. 391
produced, out of which 36 millions of pounds were
sent to the United States.
Notwithstanding that sugar is largely imported from
abroad, nearly 41 thousand tons were produced in the
Japanese islands. The cane flourishes in the southern
portion of Hondo and in Kiushiu.
It may not be entirely uninteresting to mention that
Japan's horses number not more than 1,560,000, while
there are, at a rough computation, a little over 1,090,000
head of cattle.
Shipping. The trade of Japan has become already
so extensive that it needs the constant use of a large
number of steam and sailing vessels. It is computed
that fully 44.0 Japanese steam-ships enter or clear from
the local custom houses at ports now open to trade
every year, with about 650 sailing vessels. Foreign-
owned vessels, mainly flying the British flag, enter or
clear in about the proportion of 1,200 steamers and 150
sailing ships every year. These numbers will be
doubled or trebled when the commanders may load or
discharge anywhere instead of being limited to a half-
dozen "treaty ports." The tonnage of foreign vessels
entering Japanese ports now averages a little over two
million tons in a year, the actual average being about 1,490
tons to each steamer, and 630 tons to each sailing ship.
The average measurement of the purely British
steamers engaged in the Japan trade, however taking
small and large is about 1,700 tons.
Japan's mercantile navy actually comprises 643
392 ADVANCE JAPAN.
steamers of foreign build or type, aggregating 102,332
tons burthen, or an average of 159 tons; 778 sailing
vessels of foreign design, having a total tonnage of
45,944 tons, equal to 59 tons each on the average ; and
829 native junks of more than 50 tons burthen, aggre-
gating 63,458 tons, or about 76 tons each. The smaller
junks are, of course, simply innumerable.
Xew Treaty. The Treaty entered into between
Japan and Great Britain last year provides for the
opening of the country to unrestricted foreign trade
and intercourse in the year 1899. Japan will acquire
the right to slightly increase the tariff on all the most
important articles of commerce, and to act as she may
please in regard to the levies on smaller articles, the
increased assessment to be in force for 12 years. By
this regulation Japan will practically assume the power
eventually to frame her own Customs policy.
British traders will be as free to come and go, to enter
into business relations with the people of the interior,
and otherwise to embark upon commercial speculations
as they are in the United Kingdom.
Mr. R. Tayui, Chancellor of the Japanese Consulate in
London, has just issued a Commercial Guide to the trade
of Japan, which deals exhaustively with the prospects
opened to British merchants under this new Treaty.
Banking. The Yokohama Specie Bank (Shokin
Ginko) may be taken as a fair example of Japanese en-
terprise in this direction. Its latest balance-sheet shows
that a dividend is declared at the rate of 1 5 per cent.
Illustrations of Japanese Bank-notes are here appended.
i
o
*
*?
o
397
CHAPTER XVI.
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN.
QUARTER of a century
ago there was much specula-
tion in the minds of people
who had business or other
relations with the Far East,
regarding the probable future
of the Japanese Empire. To-
day the problem still remains
unsolved, and it is as fascinating as ever.
A fear was often expressed, at the time when railways
and telegraphs were being introduced, that the nation
would grow as suddenly tired of its new toys as it had
been precipitate in its acquirement of them.
It was freely prophesied that, within a decade, Japan
would close her gates to Occidentals as resolutely as
she had shut and barred them centuries before. The
pessimists were found in all ranks, and not only among
those who dwelt at a distance, but among people who
had already enjoyed the hospitality of the country for
years.
398
ADVANCE JAPAN.
Happily their predictions were never at any time in
the way to be realised, and it has become pretty well
understood that the changes which startled Europe in
1867 and 1868 were due to the forceful upheaval of a
political system which had been undermined by natural
agencies of long standing. It may be regarded, indeed,
as not less insulting to our own common-sense than it
is to the feelings of the Japanese people, to view the
THE CRUISER " YOSHINO."
vital changes which they have made in the past three
decades, as having been undertaken on the spur of the
moment.
A Policy of Selection. It has been the aim of the
writer to show that -the transition was by no means so
sudden as many have supposed, for the way had been
well paved beforehand. Japan, notwithstanding the
THE FUTURE GF JAPAN. 399
assertions so often made to that effect, did not put on
" Western civilisation " as though it were a mantle. She
endeavoured to select for herself those things which were
best calculated to advance her interests, and has steadily
pursued this policy to the present hour, no matter
whether the methods introduced, or principles adopted,
have had their origin in the Occident or in the Orient.
She is always ready to improve herself, always alive to
the world's progress, but, nevertheless, weighs well the
question of their suitability or unsuitability before she
commits herself to foreign innovations.
To attribute her present position among nations ex-
clusively to the adoption within her borders of the
civilised practices of the West would be ridiculous in
the extreme, for though she is an admirer of the arts
and sciences which have made the West so powerful,
she is by no means unmindful of the fact that the West
itself owes much to the East.
Japan has a civilisation of her own, with which Europe
can often claim but little sympathy, and the high stan-
dard to which the nation has attained is the result of a
careful admixture of Eastern and Western methods.
Japan will never abandon many of the habits and cus-
toms to which she has for centuries been so firmly
attached, for she regards them as superior to those
which she observes to be in vogue with nations claiming
to stand higher than herself.
The alleged conflict between Oriental conservatism
and Western civilisation can scarcely be said to exist in
400 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Japan. It may, and probably does, exist in China. But
Japan makes room for Western civilisation by the side
of her Oriental civilisation, and binds the two in an
indissoluble union so complete that even the line of
junction is well-nigh imperceptible. In her readiness to
adapt herself to circumstances lies partly the secret of
Japan's success, but not a little is due to the thorough-
ness with which she enters into an undertaking, and the
determination with which she pursues her object to its
complete fruition.
Europe has scarcely yet realised the position in which
Japan and China now stand with regard to each other.
Whereas in times past the Japanese people were students
of Chinese literature and science, to an extent which has
induced China ever since to regard Japan as existing in
.a state of tutelage, the tables have recently been turned
in so palpable a manner as to convince China at last
that the pupil is capable of administering a sharp lesson
to the master. What will be the result to China, now
that this conviction has been borne in upon her states-
men ? Will they recognise the fact that Japan is now
able to teach them something beneficial ?
She will open China. I venture to think they
will. But I believe that Japan will take measures to
bring about a friendly feeling as promptly as possible,
on the basis of a common cause against Western aggres-
sion. China had always had a dread of Russian in-
vasion, and, in a less degree, Japan had felt anxiety on
the same score. But China's fear of her neighbours
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 401
on the northern boundary was never so intense as her
jealousy of her progressive neighbour and former pupil
on the east. China indulged the belief that Japan, in
arming herself as she has done of late years, had a
desire to settle old scores, and probably the conviction
was not altogether without foundation. There were a
good many causes for resentment of which the people of
Western nations could have little or no conception.
Chinese intrigue had, for one thing, been very busy in
Korea.
Japan will urge Railways on China* And how
thoroughly imbued with the danger from the eastward
were the foremost Chinese patriots, as far back as 1881,
may be comprehended from a study of the memorials
addressed to the Dragon Throne by the famous trio Liu
Ming Chu'an, Li Hung Chang, and Tso Tsung Tang.
It will avail little to quote these in full, but the gist of
their argument was that as the " situation of the Chinese
Empire was daily becoming more critical, immediate
consideration should be given to the question of the
introduction of railways" by which to augment the
Imperial power. Japan, it was pointed out, had already
adopted Western mechanical arts, and her ruler, notwith-
standing the diminutiveness of his territory, " relies upon
the possession of railways to behave arrogantly toward
China." Evidently, in the opinion of this triumvirate,
the railway system was an indispensable adjunct to suc-
cess in war, and their views have been verified to the
letter. Japan had assumed the attitude of a mantis,
D I)
402 ADVANCE JAPAN.
they said, and, like that insect does occasionally, " had
put on an air of defiance, affecting to despise China,
and giving no small amount of trouble on the least pre-
text."
It was urged that if the years were allowed to pass
without any steps being taken to strengthen China's
position, vain indeed would be that repentance which
might come too late !
Poignant must be the regret of the governing body
of China that the memorials were practically disregarded,
but great will be the activity which will follow the
cessation of hostilities, and in no direction will more
energy be displayed than in the construction of railways,
for Japan has indisputably proved to China's sorrow
something which she was half prepared to believe before
that in railways there is strength.
They have Something in Common. It may be
expected that Japan will turn this fact to distinct advan-
tage, and it is open to her to do so, now that peace has
been restored, by offering to aid China in the construc-
tion of these contemplated railways. It is certain that
an ancient bond unites China and Japan in the shape of
the written characters common to both countries. A
Japanese fully comprehends the meaning of Chinese
ideographs, and can read and write, therefore, with ease
and fluency. On the other hand, an educated Chinaman
can understand what his Eastern neighbour may write.
As a consequence, if it were not for their violent an-
tagonism, the two peoples would not meet as strangers
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 405
when visiting in each other's countries, and, indeed, the
Japanese courts have had a certain jurisdiction over
Chinamen in Japan all along, and have regarded them
as on altogether a more familiar footing than Europeans
for generations past.
And if the projects of the aged statesman and his col-
leagues should be carried into effect, they would entail
not only an immense outlay, but a staff of qualified pro-
fessional men to survey and supervise the construction,
such as China does not herself possess, though Japan
has them in abundance. No fewer than four trunk lines,
radiating from Peking, were advocated to begin with,
and these would have to be largely supplemented by
lines south of the Yang-tsu-Kiang. The scheme em-
braced lines to connect :
1. Peking with Chin Kiang via Chihli, Shantung, and
Kiang-su provinces, a distance of not less than 620
miles.
2. Peking with Hankow, through Honan and Hupeh
provinces, about 670 miles.
3. Peking and Shing-King (Moukden), about 430
miles, a large proportion of which, from Tientsin to
Shanhai Kwan, is already in existence and in full work.
4. Peking and Kansu vid Shansi and Shensi, about
900 miles.
Profltn to Pny Indemnity. The profits to be de-
rived from the railways would go far to pay to Japan
the indemnity which she now exacts, and it may not
improbably be found that the proposed arrangement
406 ADVANCE JAPAN,
whereby payment is to be distributed over a lengthy
term of years is contingent upon the bonds being issued
on the security of railway earnings, and the employment
by China of Japanese engineering skill in the con-
struction of lines.
Li Hung Chang's contention has always been that
these profits would suffice to maintain an efficient
Army. He wished to see the various provinces united
by railways, so that each might furnish its quota of
men to the Imperial standard without the fatal loss of
time which has hitherto destroyed China's chances
of successfully coping with an invasion. Had there
been such means of rapid transport and concentration
of forces upon a threatened district, one soldier, in
Liu Ming Chu'an's opinion, would have been worth ten
under the conditions which actually prevailed at the out-
break of the last war, and his estimate may not have
been overdrawn.
But regrets are useless, and China has now to face the
problem of paying the indemnity and strengthening her
resources to meet the demands of the future. By the
establishment of railways she will develop her mines to
bring into the market the coal and iron which she un-
doubtedly possesses. She will be able to transport the
grain tribute to the Capital without the expense and
delay entailed by shipment in coasting steamers.
Li Hung Chang's advocacy of railways is safe, sooner
or later, to bear fruit, and it is by their means that China
will be rescued from her present unenviable position.
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 407
He set forth the advantages in detail 14 years ago,
and pointed out that it would be necessary to raise
money abroad to build the lines, though he insisted
that it should be a railway loan, altogether independent
of the security of the Maritime Customs for its repay-
ment. Japan can step into the breach, and under terms
to be arranged, can assist in the establishment of the one
thing needful to develop the resources of the Celestial
Empire. Her railway engineers have gained experience
in their own country which will fit them to act in China
as technical efficers ; and there is reason to think that
their offer of service, when backed by the prestige
their Government has acquired by its undeniable sue--
cess, would find more favour in Chinese eyes than would
an offer from Europeans at this juncture.
Japaneae Drill-Sergeants for China* The cause
of the former antagonism China's patronising attitude,
and altogether gratuitous affectation of displeasure at
Japan's progress has been removed. The canker has
been expelled by cauterisation, and the wound will heal,
possibly, without leaving more than a trifling scar. If
this prediction should be verified there is little or nothing
to prevent China accepting Japan's good offices to aid in
the establishment of those very agents which have made
Japan so strong. The rough material is not lacking in
China to form a defensive army of two millions within
a twelvemonth, if competent drill-sergeants and execu-
tive officers were procurable. Who so qualified by their
course of education, knowledge of the written language,
408 ADVANCE JAPAN.
and experience in warfare with foreign weapons to in-
struct and drill a Chinese force as the men who have just
been arrayed against them?
No one who has seen Japanese troops undergoing drill,
and has followed the records of their campaign in Korea
and Manchuria, can doubt the substantial efficiency of
the training. No one doubts that the main source of the
weakness of the Chinese armies as at present constituted
is the incompetency of the commissioned and non-com-
missioned officers.
It is even'open to Japan to enter into an arrangement
with China by which the united forces of the two nations
may make common cause against an invader. She may
send to China a military and a naval " Mission," just as
similar missions were provided at Japan's request by
France and Great Britain to organise the nuclei of the
existing forces of Japan. Her ancient enemy, but new
ally, may thus be strengthened to resist encroachments
from the direction of Siberia, for Japan's fleet, and the
associated land forces of Japan and China, all combined,
would, to use a familiar term, require a lot of beating.
Japan can Supply Arms. The project of an
alliance between the two Powers of the Far East is
not so difficult of accomplishment, or so remote, per-
haps, as might be imagined. Japan is certain to secure
for herself a market for her industrial products, notably
in manufactured cottons, in the Flowery Kingdom, to
the partial or complete exclusion of Lancashire and
India. She can provide China not only with goods of
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 411
this class, but with rifles, and every appliance, including
field-guns, for the ultimate equipment of a vast army.
She can take payment in bonds which will make China
her debtor, instead of China having recourse to foreign
bankers. Japan can be the lever to set the Chinese
mass in motion, but her influence will tend towards the
consolidation of the Chinese Empire, rather than to its
disintegration.
She will have a large Market in China* Japan
has very considerably enlarged her boundaries already,
and the universal recognition of her standing, as an
Eastern Power to be reckoned with, must speedily
THE CRUISER " SUMA " (BUILT IN JAPAN).
follow. She has wrested from her neighbour the out-
lying islands of Formosa and the Pescadores, and has
secured the independence of the Kingdom of Korea.
These are achievements directly ascribable to the pro-
gress she has made as a naval and military Power on the
flank of Asia, and one need not peer far into futurity to
find the King of Korea owning allegiance to the Mika-
do instead of to the Empire of China. The enterprise
of the Japanese nation is not to be confined to mere
412
ADVANCE JAPAN.
territorial extension, however, for she will endeavour,
beyond doubt, to constitute in the Middle Kingdom as
well as in Korea a gigantic market for her wares. Much
has already been done to stimulate local manufactures
in the central provinces of Japan by the introduction
of improved machinery. This is particularly noticeable
in the case of textile fabrics, and the output can be
increased almost indefinitely. Cotton can be grown all
THE CRUISER "HASHIDATE" (BUILT AT YOKOSUKA).
over the south of Japan, and the production might be
multiplied tenfold if a market were open to it. As
matters stand, the crop is limited to the national require-
ments, but the present standard of cultivation affords
no index to the capacity of the cotton lands. In the
peace negotiations carried on between the plenipoten-
tiaries the opportunity has not been lost sight of, we may
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 413
be sure, to make arrangements whereby the imports
from Japan, at certain of the ports presently to be
opened, will command such attention in China as will
warrant the Japanese manufacturers in embarking upon
an extensive and highly lucrative trade. The looms of
Osaka, and other towns where textile industries are
carried on, will be largely engaged in the near future in
supplying that immense Chinese market to which Japan
now holds the key.
Japan will V'se her Power Wisely. China, in
other words, is at the mercy of her conqueror, but as the
Mikado's principles incline him towards those peaceful
triumphs which are to be wrought by the development
of his people's commerce, rather than to territorial
aggrandisements terms are such as pave the way to
improved relations of a material character between the
two Empires. Hitherto the most sturdy opposition has
been offered to Li Hung Chang's schemes by the
Tsung-li Ya-men, mainly, as it would seem, on account
of that blind belief which the bulk of Chinese statesmen
entertained in the invulnerability of their Empire. Japan
has disabused them of this impression, and has relent-
lessly pushed her advantage to an extent which has
left the ultra-conservative party at Peking not a vestige
of excuse for longer ignoring the real facts. Other
foreign Powers have at various times had occasion to
chastise China, but not one of them has gone the length
which Japan has done, and the impression produced has
been of comparatively transient character. As Liu Ming
414 ADVANCE JAPAN.
Chu'an candidly observed, in regard to Russian aggres-
sion, " China has been content to yield to demands, and
make compromises, regardless of money, to avert the
dangers of war." As soon as the monetary difficulty
has been surmounted, China's confidence has returned,
and she has invariably relapsed into her old condition
of haughty indifference to the world's progress.
Japan Fought China in Earnest. But in Japan
she found herself confronted by an enemy whose ad-
vances could not be stalled off in this simple fashion.
Japan had determined to make an impression on China
which should be lasting, for her own sake, for it has
been a source of perpetual anxiety to her that the
representatives of the Celestial Empire have chosen to
foment discord on her borders. So long as the Chinese
Government was allowed to treat Japan with super-
cilious contempt, the Cabinet of Tokio could not hope
to preserve peace and contentment within the Mikado's
Empire. The Samurai spirit brooks no insult, and for
the last two decades the internal difficulties which
have beset the Government of Japan have been due
more or less directly to the action of China. The
Saga insurrection in 1874, and the Satsuma rebellion in
1877, both arose to a certain extent from the unwilling-
ness of the Tokio Government to be drawn into a
squabble with China at the bidding of the southern
clans, and China's arrogance and intrigue continued to
emphasise that very trouble in Korea which was at the
bottom of the whole affair. The Samurai clamoured to
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 417
bs allowed to avenge the insults levelled at their
nation, and chafed under restraint to a degree which
culminated in internal disorder, but it was China's be-
haviour which fanned the flame, and so long as the
Mikado's Government was harassed by external diffi-
culties of this description true prosperity could not be
looked for.
Japan will now make -Mil more Rapid Pro-
sreBg* The cause of this obstacle to Japan's material
progress has now been eliminated, and she may con-
fidently look forward to an era of unfettered advance-
ment. Knowing what she has accomplished under
conditions far from being the most favourable, we are
justified in looking forward to evidence of even more
rapid development within the remaining years of the
present century. Hitherto all that she has done has
been of a character to enable her to take the field in
competition with other nations. She has educated her
sons during circumstances of no little adversity, and
they have now attained an age when they may repay
to some extent the loving care she has bestowed
upon them. They will go out into the world and
give proof of the soundness and thoroughness of their
training.
To Japan will belong the credit of having aroused
China to a sense of her inability to withstand invasion,
and of the paramount necessity of taking measures to
protect herself for the future. What form those meas-
ures will take is not so clear, though it is reasonable
E E
418 ADVANCE JAPAN.
to suppose that extensive engineering works will be
undertaken in connection with coast defence. If China
has learned one lesson from the war, it is that her men
can hold out fairly well when placed within fortified
positions. The forts of Liu-Kung-tao, at Wei-hai-Wei,
made the best stand in the whole struggle. It is no
new thing to find the rank and file of the Chinese
Army fight with some approach to determination under
such conditions, though they are useless in the open.
With good training and skilled leadership they might
prove efficient for defence, and it is possible that China
has by this time realised that her rdle should strictly be
defence and not defiance.
Japan will Introduce Mechanical V i i-. To
Japan will equally belong the opportunity of introduc-
ing mechanical arts on a greater scale than anything
hitherto attempted. Chinamen are nothing if not prac-
tical, and now that they know what can be accomplished
with weapons which they have only disdainfully regarded
hitherto, they are as likely as not to apply themselves to
a diligent study of the causes which have led to their
discomfiture. All that Europe and America have been
privileged to accomplish in China hitherto amounts to
very little when the immense size of the country and
vast population are taken into consideration. Civilisa-
tion has penetrated no further than the threshold as yet,
and it will need great pressure from without to open
wide the still half-closed door. But Japan is apply-
ing that pressure, and will be the first to enter freely.
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 419
The Western Powers have lost ground, it is to be
feared, with both the combatants in the war now at its
close. China owes nothing to the good offices of any
particular nation, and has to thank the Emperor of
Japan for moderation, rather than to acknowledge
indebtedness to any foreign Power for bringing the
conflict to an end. China is not unlikely to feel
aggrieved, indeed, that her plea for intervention was
so lightly regarded by her former friends, and that
feeling may induce her to look with favour upon any
advances towards a better understanding, for the time
to come, which Japan may think fit to make. After all,
Japan understands how to deal with China better than
any other nation does, for she has not a few things in
common with her big neighbour. On the other hand,
the Japanese people were prone to look upon even the
suggestion of interference by Western Powers in the
affair as altogether ill-timed and unwarrantable. The
effort, had it really been made, would have been vigor-
ously resented, for it was felt in Japan that Occidental
commentators often attributed motives to the Mikado's
Ministers which were far from being justified by the
facts, and very frequently misrepresented historical
events. That this was done purposely was not for a
moment asserted, though the irritation in the Japanese
mind was not less difficult to allay on that account. It
was well that they were left to fight out their quarrel
with China undisturbed. It would have been more
agreeable to Japan if even the allusion to intervention
K i: 2
420 ADVANCE JAPAN.
had never been put forward. A risk was run of wound-
ing the susceptibilities of a rising nation, with but the
faintest prospect of the suggestion, however well-meant,
meeting with success.
In the matter of the armistice, Japan again showed
that she knew how to deal with the authorities at Peking.
No loophole was left by which they could escape the just
consequences of the national defeat. Either they must
come to terms within three weeks, or submit to an occu-
pation of their Capital, the hostilities in the south in the
meantime to be prosecuted as fiercely as ever. Total
cessation of the combat would have afforded China time
partially to recover, and Japan would have had to com-
mence her labours anew. China would have employed
the interval solely in bringing up fresh troops from a
distance, and at the end of the time would have showed
front once more. Mistaken kindness at this crisis would
have prolonged the contest indefinitely and disastrously,
for Japan's resources are not illimitable, either in money
or men.
Japan wan Resolutely in Earnest. The con-
spicuous features of the campaign have been the
thoroughly-in-earnest fashion in which Japan set about
her rival, the determination to leave nothing to chance,
to listen to no plea for breathing-space to spare no
effort to thrash' her enemy within an inch of her life.
Half-measures were known to be of no effect with China.
Japan took the risk of meeting with a reverse, and of
coming out of the conflict with consequences which would
THE FUTURE OF JAPAN.
421
have been fatal to herself. But those who knew how
well Japan was prepared, knew how infinitesimal was the
risk. All the world knows it now, and will be prepared
to accept the statement that she will continue to advance
to power and influence in the same resolute, irresistible
way.
423
APPENDIX I.
The Tokaido Route.
Miles
from the
Capital.
Town.
Population.
Remarks.
18
Yokohama
1 43 ,7 54
55
Odawara
22,000
Ancient seat of Government,
thirteenth century.
70
Miyanoshita ... 4,000
Natural sulphur springs.
72
Hakone" ... 3,ooo
Mountain Pass 3,500 feet
above sea level.
75
Atami 3,ooo
Natural springs. Sea bath-
ing.
80
Mishima
15,000
120
Shidzuoka
36,343
Seat of former Shogun.
I6 7
Hamamatsu
25,000
Extensive general trade.
IQI
Toyohashi or
Yoshida
18,000
Large junk trade.
209
Okazaki
2I,OOO
Crape and cotton goods.
233
Nagoya...
185,776
Pottery, silk, and general
large trade.
252
Gifu j 32,406
Crape and silk fabrics.
287
Hikone ... 17,000
Old Castle Town.
318
Otsu 3i>279
Mart for lake-borne mer-
chandise.
330
Kioto 308,266 Porcelain, lacquer, and other
specialities. Former seat
of Imperial Government.
252
Osaka ...
479,546 : The Manchester of Japan.
Greatest trade.
376 Kobe*
148,625
Foreign Treaty Port, with
extensive trade.
424
APPENDIX II.
I li Ko-Mhiu Kai-do Route*
Miles
Remarks.
from the
Capital.
Town.
Population.
24
Hachioji
8,000
Silk.
53
Sarubashi
3,000
Curious cantilever bridge.
82
Kofu
33,408
Silk.
Claret.
The IVakasendo Route (C'entral Mountain
Road).
Miles
from
Tokio.
Town.
Population.
Remarks.
8l
Yokokawa
2,OOO
Reached by railway from
the Capital.
8?
Karuisawa ... 1,500
Summer retreat near Asama
Mountain.
140
Shimo-no-Suwa 3,000
On Lake Suwa. Hot mine-
ral springs.
164
Narai ...
2,400
Near ancient battle - field,
sixteenth century.
I 7 8
Fukushima
7,000
Magnificent mountain scen-
ery.
236
Ota
3,000
On river Kiso.
251
Gifu
32,406
Silk fabrics (Gifu chirimen).
Here join Tokaido.
The Nakasendo is justly celebrated for its natural beauty ; the
road surmounts pass after pass, amid the finest scenery of the
Japanese islands.
425
APPENDIX III.
The Sanyodo Route*
Distance
(Eng. Miles)
from
Kobe". I Tokio.
Town.
Population .
Rema rks.
376
Kobe"
148,625
Foreign Treaty Port.
35
411
Himeji
28,000 Leather wall papers. Sil-
ver mines at Ikuno, 25
miles distant.
86
462
Okayama
50,114 Extensive rice-growing dis-
trict.
84
134
132
460
510
508
Ushimado ...
Onomichi
Tomotsu
9i Prosperous grain ports on
17000 ) the Inland Sea -
173
549
Hiroshima ...
90,901
Recent Army Headquar-
ters, Chinese War.
174
550
Kure
7,000 Naval Station.
204
580
Iwakuni
12,000 Famous bridge of Kintai-
bashi.
242
618
Mitajiri
17,500
Thriving sea-port in Suwo.
280
656
Shimonoseki
33,000
Principal grain port of the
South.
This road for the greater part of its length borders the " Inland
Sea."
426
APPENDIX IV.
The San-iii-do Route.
Miles
from
Kioto.
Town.
Population.
Remarks.
Kioto
308,266
Ancient capital.
40
Fukuchiyama ...
8,OOO
Inland town ; agricultural
produce. Noteworthy old
castle.
57
Miyadzu
I4,OOO
Rising sea-port. Steamers
to Shimonoseki. Grain
and dried fish.
72
Toyooka
17,000
Chief town of Tajima.
99
Tottori ...
25,000
Close to sea ; extensive
trade in silk and cotton.
,56
Yonago...
14,500
Port for Oki Islands.
168
169
Matsuye
Sakai
45,526
46,566
^Thriving sea-port of west
coast. Much paper manu-
(. factured.
236
Hamada
19,000
Chief town of Iwami.
298
Yamaguchi
19,000
Sulphur springs.
334
Shimonoseki ...
33,000
Joins Sanyodo route near
Yamaguchi.
This road for the most part borders the Sea of Japan.
427
APPENDIX V.
The ToMando (Omhiu-Ivai-do)*
Miles
from
the
Capital.
Town.
Population.
Remarks.
65
Utsu-no-miya ...
33,334
Ancient castle. Chief town
of Tochigi Ken.
114
Shirak a
24,50
Seat of War in 1868. Silk.
On fine river Abukuma.
154
Nihonmatsu ...
16,500
Large silk trade.
1 68
Fukushima
29,000
Exports of raw silk and
silkworms' eggs. Thriv-
ing town.
217
Sendai
70,558
Large prosperous town.
Grand old castle.
272
Ichinoseki
12,000 Near sea-port of Kozenji.
329
Morioka
32,044
Iron ore. Spun-silk goods.
Excellent fruits.
372
Ichinohe"
13,000
445
Aomori
28,400
Large well-built town. Lac-
quer ware. Extensive
salmon fisheries.
A good road branches off" at Sendai to Akita on the north-west
coast, about 160 miles, practicable throughout fat jin-riki-sha,
At Ishinomaki, near Sendai, shipbuilding is a prominent feature
of the trade, and there are slate-quarries. Steamers call.
428
APPENDIX VI.
\:m- K :ii-li (iHland of Mhiltoku).
Distance.
English
Miles.
Town.
Population.
Remarks.
Matsuyama
34,76
Sea-port in lyo, on Inland
Sea
58
Kochi
34,533
Steamer from Kobe" : 15
hours' passage. Thriving
city. Fine public build-
52
Uwajima
21,000
ings.
Paper. Noted sardine fish-
eries.
27
Matsuyama to
Nagahama
Kochi to
13,000
Port on Inland Sea, mouth
of River Hiji
H3
8?
70
Tokushima
Takamatsu
Marugame
62,218
35,594
17,000
On fine river Yoshino.
Largest town in Island.
Grain exports.
Busy port on Inland Sea.
The neighbourhood of the rapids of the River Yoshino affords
splendid views.
In Tosa province t\vo crops of rice are grown annually.
429
APPENDIX VII.
Nai-Kai-do (Island of Kiusniu).
English
Miles.
Town.
Population.
Remarks.
Moji
11,000
Opposite Shimonoseki.
Large export of coal.
7
Kokura...
13,000
Ancient stronghold of his-
torical interest.
48
Hakata
56,003
Also called Fukuoka ; di-
vided by river only.
70
Kurume
26,OOO
Castle. Agricultural town.
105
Takase
19,000
Battle-field of 1877.
121 Kumamoto
59,089
Ancient castle, besieged in
1877.
140 ; Misumi
8,000
Rising port. Large coal
exports.
147
Yatsushiro
17,000
Busy sea-port.
254
Kagoshima
55,812
Porcelain. Cloth. Ancient
fortress.
Kokura to
33
Nakatsu
12,750
Busy port on Inland Sea.
80 Oita
30,100
Thriving sea-port ; trades
to Kobe, Osaka, etc. Hot
springs near.
'37
Nobeoka
27,500
Large town on river Gokase*.
196
Miyazaki
19,000
Kurume to
17
Saga
29,600
Cireat rice-producing dis-
trict. Splendid castle.
9'
Nagasaki
63,038
Treaty Port. Ancient Dutch
Settlement.
430
APPENDIX VIII.
Hokkaido (Inland i Yeao).
English
Miles.
Town.
Population.
Remarks.
Hakodate
53,000
Treaty Port. Considerable
general trade.
67
Fukuyama
23,000
Formerly Matsumaye. An-
cient castle town.
217
Sapporo
(Capital)
12,500
Around Volcano Bay.
2 3 6
Poronai...
9,500
Coal mines. Daily output,
900 tons.
239
Otarunai
(Temiya)
26,000
Great herring fisher)'.
Kushiro
13,000
Steamer from Hakodate".
Coal and sulphur exports.
16
Shibetcha
2,500
Railway to Iwo-San (Sul-
phur Mountain), whence
large quantities of pure
sulphur are exported.
42
Akkeshi
8,500
Thriving Port. Great oyster
reefs.
79
Nemuro
I I,OOO
Agricultural College.
At Kushiro are many relics of the Stone Age.
4.11
APPENDIX IX.
Population.
Contrary to general belief, Japan has many centenarians, as the
following table, compiled from the official census taken 3ist
December, 1893, will show.
The entire population consists of:
Males 20,752,366
Females ... ... 20,337,574
Total ... 41,089,940
Of whom... 4,892,415 were under 5 years.
... 4,413,215 were between 5 and 10
4,396,477
IO
'5
4,077,702
15 ,,
20
6,340,779
20
3
5,400,230
30
40
4,779,647
40
5o
3,183,270
50
60
2,350,755
60
70
1,028,823
70
80
216,271
80
90
7,723
90
100
72
100
104
10
104
1 08
2,551 ages were uncertain.
One female and one male have attained the patriarchal age of
108 years.
432
APPENDIX X.
Trade at Port* : 1894.
The relative value of the Trade conducted at the following ports
of the Japanese Empire, only the first six of which are yet open to
Foreign Commerce as " Treaty Ports," may not be without interest
in consideration of the new compact entered into last year. At
present Exchange rates the yen about equals one florin.
Part.
Total Value of
Exports and Imports,
in Silver Yen.
Total Customs
Dues Collected,
in Silver Yen.
M , Yokohama
I Kobe-Hiogo...
SH 1 Osaka
'; Nagasaki
j5 / Hakodate
H Niigata
Shimonoseki
Moji ..
123,463,049
86,348,616
4,779,180
8,972,458
723,893
44,367
2,780,167
I.4I7.QS8
3,397,885
2,111,969
108,419
185,879
39,158
2,511
18,542
6.4O s
Hakata
IQ OSQ
218
Karatsu
252,842
9IO
Kuchi-no-tsu
Misumi
1,568,051
22.l87
4,172
ce
Idzugahara ...
44 CQ2
1,072
Shishimi
I 6.O43
4 16
Sasuna
12 668
^l J.
Fushiki
28.o;8
I, ^60
Mororan
28,627
05
Otaru
2O!?.7O2
1,607
Last year the Total Value of Japanese Produce
and Manufactures Exported amounted to ... 112,171,175 Yen.
Of Foreign Produce Exported (to Korea, &c.) 1,074,910
The Total Value of Foreign Produce and Manu-
factures Imported amounted to
113,246,085 Yen.
117,371,361 Yen.
Of Japanese Produce Imported (from Korea, c.) 1 10,594
117,481,955 Yen.
433
APPENDIX XI.
Meteorological Observations*
The Japanese Government has established a very complete
system, under which observations are recorded hourly at 10 sta-
tions, and every four hours at 38 other stations, storm- warnings
being telegraphed to the harbours on the coast, and signals
hoisted for the benefit of mariners.
The range extends from Naba, in the Loo-Choo Islands, to Cape
Soya, in the extreme north of Yeso.
Seven of the stations are in the island of Kiushiu, three in Shi-
koku, ten in Yeso, one in Tsu-shima, one in the Loo-Choo group,
and twenty-six on the mainland of Hondo.
The maximum temperature of the air is observed in July and
August at Kochi, Osaka, and Kanazawa, being slightly above 35
Celsius at these places.
The minimum is of course to be found recorded at the stations
in Yeso, where 19 Celsius has been met with, even at Hakodate,
in mid- December.
At Tokio the extremes were 34 4' on the i6th August and 6 8'
on the 22nd January 
