IBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CAL [FORNIA
LOS ANGELES
IN MEMORY OF
CARROLL ALCOTT
PRESENTED BY
CARROLL ALCOTT MEMORIAL
LIBRARY FUND COMMITTEE
Deliverance of the Iloly Saint Nichireu from the Executioner of Hojo.— [Page 165.
THE
MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
BOOK I.
HISTORY OF JAPAN,
From 660 B.C. to 1872 A.D.
BOOK II.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, OBSERVATIONS,
AND STUDIES IN JAPAN,
1870-1874.
By WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS, A.M.,
LATE OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF TOKJO, JAPAN.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1876.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
TO
JAPANESE LOVERS OP KNOWLEDGE IN EVERY AGE :
THE DEAD,
WHO FIRST KINDLED THE SACRED FIRE, WHO PASSED ON THE TORCH;
THE MARTYRS,
WHO SUFFERED DEATH FOR THEIR LOYALTY, PATRIOTISM, DEVOTION TO NATIONAL
UNITY, RESTORATION, AND REGENERATION;
THE STUDENTS,
WHO, IN NOBLE THIRST FOR TRUTH, FOUND HONORED GRAVES IN ALIEN SOIL ;
THE LIVING,
WITH WHOM RESTS THE FUTURE OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL LAND,
THIS SKETCH
OF THEIR COUNTRY AND PEOPLE, MADE IN THE INTEREST OF TRUTH, AND
SET DOWN WITHOUT EXTENUATION OR MALICE, IS,
WITH FRATERNAL REGARD,
DEDICATED
BY THEIR COMRADE AND FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
JAPAN, once in the far-off Orient, is now our nearest Western neigh-
bor. Her people walk our streets ; her youth sit, peers and rivals of
our students, in the class-room ; her art adorns our homes, and has
opened to us a new Gate Beautiful. The wise men from the West
are, at this writing, opening their treasures of tea, silk, gold-lacquer,
bronzes, and porcelain at the first centennial of our nation's birth.
We hail the brightness of the rising of this first among Asiatic na-
tions to enter modern life, to win and hold a place among the fore-
most peoples of the earth. It is time that a writer treated Japan as
something else than an Oriental puzzle, a nation of recluses, a land of
fabulous wealth, of universal licentiousness or of Edenic purity, the
fastness of a treacherous and fickle crew, a Paradise of guileless chil-
dren, a Utopia of artists and poets. It is time to drop the license of
exaggeration, and, with the light of common day, yet with sympathy
and without prejudice, seek to know what Dai Nippon is and has been.
It has been well said by a literary critic and reader of all the books
on the subject that to write a good history of Japan is difficult, not so
much from lack of materials, but from the differences in psychology.
This I realize. My endeavor, during eight years' living contact with
these people, has been, from their language, books, life, and customs, to
determine their mental parallax, and find out how they think and feel.
I have not made this book in libraries at home, but largely on the
soil of the mikado's empire. I have slight obligation to acknowledge
to foreign writers, except to those working scholars in Japan who
have written during the last decade with knowledge of the language.
To them I owe much ; first and most of all to Mr. Ernest Satow, who,
in the special department of historical research, stands leader. To
Messrs. Aston, Mitford, Pfoundes, Hepburn, Brown, Blakiston, Von
Brandt, and Parkes, I am also indebted. I am under many obligations
8 PREFACE.
to the editor of The Japan Mail. This scholarly paper, published in
Yokohama, is a most valuable mirror of contemporaneous Japanese
history, and a rich store-house of facts, especially the papers of the
Asiatic Society of Japan. The Japan Herald and The Japan Gazette
have also been of great service to me, for which I here thank the
proprietors. The constant embarrassment in treating many subjects
has been from wealth of material. I have been obliged to leave out
several chapters on important subjects, and to treat others with mere
passing allusions.
In the early summer of 1868, two Higo students, Ise and Numaga-
wa, arrived in the United States. They were followed by retainers of
the daimios of Satsuma and Echizen, and other feudal princes. I was
surprised and delighted to find these earnest youth equals of Ameri-
can students in good-breeding, courtesy, and mental acumen. Some
of them remained under my instruction two years, others for a short-
er time. Among my friends or pupils in New Brunswick, New Jer-
sey, are Mr. Yoshida Kiyonari, H. I. J. M. Minister Plenipotentiary at
Washington ; Mr. Takagi Samro, H. I. J. M. Vice-consul at San Fran-
cisco ; Mr. Tomita Tetsunosuke, H. I. J. M. Consul at New York ; Mr.
Hatakeyama Yoshinari, President of the Imperial University of Ja-
pan ; Captain Matsumura Junzo, of the Japanese navy. Among oth-
ers were the two sons of Iwakura Tomomi, Junior Prime Minister of
Japan ; and two young nobles of the Shimadzu family of Satsuma.
I also met Prince Adzuma, nephew of the mikado, and many of the
prominent men, ex-daimios, Tokugawa retainers, soldiers in the war of
1868, and representatives of every department of service under the old
shogunate and new National Government. Six white marble shafts in
the cemetery at New Brunswick, New Jersey, mark the resting-place
of Kusukabe Taro, of Fukui, and his fellow-countrymen, whose devo-
tion to study cost them their lives. I was invited by the Prince of
Echizen, while Regent of the University, through the American super-
intendent, Rev. G. F. Verbeck, to go out to organize a scientific school
on the American principle in Fukui, Echizen, and give instruction in
the physical sciences. I arrived in Japan, December 29th, 1870, and
remained until July 25th, 1874. During all my residence I enjoyed the
society of cultivated scholars, artists, priests, antiquaries, and students,
both in the provincial and national capitals. From the living I bore
letters of introduction to the prominent men in the Japanese Govern-
ment, and thus were given to me opportunities for research and obser-
vation not often afforded to foreigners. My facilities for regular and
PREFACE. 9
extended travel were limited only by my duties. Nothing Japanese
was foreign to me, from palace to beggar's hut. I lived in Dai Nip-
pon during four of the most pregnant years of the nation's history.
Nearly one year was spent alone in a daimio's capital far in the in-
terior, away from Western influence, when feudalism was in its full
bloom, and the old life in vogue. In the national capital, in the time
well called " the flowering of the nation," as one of the instructors in
the Imperial University, having picked students from all parts of the
empire, I was a witness of the marvelous development, reforms, dan-
gers, pageants, and changes of the epochal years 1872, 1873, and
1874. With pride I may say truly that I have felt the pulse and
heart of New Japan.
I have studied economy in the matter of Japanese names and titles,
risking the charge of monotony for the sake of clearness. The schol-
ar will, I trust, pardon me for apparent anachronisms and omissions.
For lack of space or literary skill, I have had, in some cases, to con-
dense with a brevity painful to a lover of fairness and candor. The
title justifies the emphasis of one idea that pervades the book.
In the department of illustrations, I claim no originality, except in
their selection. Many are from photographs taken for me by natives
in Japan. Those of my artist - friend, Ozawa, were nearly all made
from life at my suggestion. I have borrowed many fine sketches
from native books, through Aime Humbert, whose marvelously beau-
tiful and painstaking work, "Japon Illustre," is a mine of illustra-
tion. Few artists have excelled in spirit and truth Mr. A. Wirgman,
the artist of The London Illustrated News, a painter of real genius,
whose works in oil now adorn many home parlors of ex-residents in
Japan, and whose gems, fine gold, and dross fill the sprightly pages of
The Japan Punch. Many of his sketches adorn Sir Rutherford Al-
cock's book on the vicissitudes of diplomatists, commonly called " The
Capital of the Tycoon," or " Three Years in Japan." I am indebted
both to this gentleman and to Mr. Laurence Oliphant, who wrote the
charming volume, " Lord Elgin's Mission to China and Japan," for
many illustrations, chiefly from native sketches. Through the liberal-
ity of my publishers, I am permitted to use these from their stores of
plates. I believe I have in no case reproduced old cuts without new
or correct information that will assist the general reader or those who
wish to study the various styles of the native artists, five of which are
herein presented. Hokusai, the Dickens, and Kamo, the Audubon
of Japanese art, are well represented. The photographs of the living
10 PREFACE.
and of the renowned dead, from temples, statues, or old pictures, from
the collections of daimios and nobles, are chiefly by Uchida, a native
photographer of rare ability, skill, and enthusiasm, who unfortunately
died in 1875. Four vignettes are copied from the steel-plate engrav-
ings on the greenbacks printed in New York for the Ono National
Banking Company of Tokio, by the Continental Bank-note Company
of New York.
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance derived from native schol-
ars in Fukui and Tokio, especially Messrs. Iwabuchi, Takakashi, and
Ideura, my readers and helpers. To the members of the Mei Roku
Sha, who have honored me with membership in their honorable body,
I return my best thanks. This club of authors and reformers includes
such men as Fukuzawa, Arinori Mori, Nakamura Masanawo, Kato Hi-
royuki, Nishi Shiu, the Mitsukuri brothers, Shuihei and Rinsho, Uchi-
da Masawo, Hatakeyama Yoshinari, and others, all names of fame and
honor, and earnest workers in the regeneration of their country. To
my former students now in New York, who have kindly assisted me
in proof-reading, and last and first of all to Mr. Tosui Imadate, my
friend and constant companion during the last six years, I return my
thanks and obligations. I omit in this place the names of high offi-
cers in the Japanese Government, because the responsibility for any
opinion advanced in this work rests on no native of Japan. That is
all my own. To my sister, the companion, during two years, of sev-
eral of my journeys and visits in the homes of the island empire, I
owe many an idea and inspiration to research. To the publishers of
the North American Review, Appletons1 Journal, and The Independent
my thanks are due for permission to print part of certain chapters
first published in these periodicals.
I trust the tone of the work will not seem dogmatic. I submit
with modesty what I have written on the Ainos. I am inclined to
believe that India is their original home ; that the basic stock of the
Japanese people is Aino ; and that in this fact lies the root of the
marvelous difference in the psychology of the Japanese and their
neighbors, the Chinese.
" Can a nation be born at once ?" " With God all things are pos-
sible."
W. E. G.
New York, May I0t?i, 1876.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
HISTORY OF JAPAN FROM 660 B.C. TO 1872 A.D.
OIIArTEB • PAOB
I. THE BACKGROUND 17
II. THE ABORIGINES 26
III. MATERIALS OF HISTORY 36
IV. JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY 48
V. THE TWILIGHT OF FABLE 54
VI. SOJIN, THE ClVILIZER 60
VII. YAMATO-DAKE, THE CONQUEROR OF THE KUANTO 68
VIII. THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CIVILIZATION 75
IX. LIFE IN ANCIENT JAPAN 86
X. THE ANCIENT RELIGION 96
XI. THE THRONE AND THE NOBLE FAMILIES 101
XII. THE BEGINNING OF MILITARY DOMINATION 115
XIII. YORITOMO AND THE MlNAMOTO FAMILY 134
XIV. CREATION OF THE DUAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 140
XV. THE GLORY AND THE FALL OF THE HOJO FAMILY 146
XVI. BUDDHISM IN JAPAN 158
XVII. THE INVASION OF THE MONGOL TARTARS 176
XVIII. THE TEMPORARY MIKADOATE 182
XIX. THE WAR OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS 187
XX. THE ASHIKAGA PERIOD 193
XXI. LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 197
XXII. THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM 214
XXIII. NOBUNAGA, THE PERSECUTOR OF THE BUDDHISTS 229
XXIV. HIDEYOSHI'S ENTERPRISES.— THE INVASION OF COREA 236
XXV. CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS 247
XXVI. IYEYASU, THE FOUNDER OF YEDO 264
XXVII. THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM 270
XXVIII. THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN 291
BOOK II.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, OBSERVATIONS, AND STUDIES IN
JAPAN, 1870-1875.
I. FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN 327
II. A RIDE ON THE TOKAIDO 353
12 CONTENTS.
OtIAPTBB PAGE
III. IN TOKIO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL 363
IV. SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN A PAGAN TEMPLE 378
V. STUDIES IN THE CAPITAL 391
VI. AMONG THE MEN OF NEW JAPAN 399
VII. IN THE HEART OF JAPAN 405
VIII. RECEPTION BY THE DAIMIO. — MY STUDENTS 426
IX. LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE 435
X. CHILDREN'S GAMES AND SPORTS 452
XI. HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS 466
XII. THE MYTHICAL ZOOLOGY OF JAPAN 477
XIII. FOLK-LORE AND FIRESIDE STORIES 491
XIV. JAPANESE PROVERBS 504
XV. THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM 512
XVI. A. TRAMP THROUGH JAPAN 541
XVII. THE POSITION OF WOMAN 551
XVIII. NEW JAPAN... .. 562
NOTES AND APPENDICES:
THE JAPANESE ORIGIN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 579
ASSOCIATED IDEAS IN ART AND POETRY 581
THE LEGACY OF IYEYASU 583
THE TOKUGAWA FEUDAL SYSTEM 586
PAPERS ON JAPANESE SUBJECTS 587
METEOROLOGICAL TABLES 588
POSTAL STATISTICS _»_ 590
THE BOMBARDMENT OF KAGOSHIMA 592
THE SHIMONOSEKI AFFAIR 593
THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT 595
NAVY AND MERCANTILE MARINE 597
THE NATIONAL FINANCES 598
OUTLINE OF JAPANESE CHRONOLOGY 599
TEA CROP OF 1875 599
CENSUS OF JAPAN FOR 1872 AND 1873 600
MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES 602
LAND AND AGRICULTURE 605
MINT AND PUBLIC WORKS 607
SILK CROP OF 1875 608
INDEX.. 609
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Map of Dai Nippon (the Empire of Japan) faces page 17
1. Nichiren and the H6J6 Executioner. (Humbert, from a temple painting) Frontispiece.
1. High and Low Type of Face. (Hoknsai school) 30
3. An Aino Chief from Yezo. (Photograph by Uchida) 32
4. His Imperial Majesty, Mutsuhito. (Photograph by Uchida) 37
6. Passage in the Inland Sea. (Alcock) 57
6. Mikado's Method of Travel in very Ancient Times. (Native drawing) 62
7. Imperial or Government Seal. (Native drawing) 66
8. Imperial Crest, or Mikado's SeaL (Native drawing) 67
9. Japan, as known to the Ancient Mikados. (From the series of historical maps in the
"Nihon Riyaku Shi") 69
10. Junk in the Bay of Yedo. (Native drawing) 71
11. Her Imperial Majesty Haruko. (Photograph by Uchida) 81
12. Shinto Wayside Shrine. (Alcock) 89
13. The Peasant of To-day. (Hokusai) 91
14. A Court Noble in Ancient Japan. (Native drawing) 93
15. The Mikado on his Throne. (Native drawing) 102
16. A Samurai in Winter Traveling-dress. (Alcock) 108
17. A Japanese Farmer. (Hokusai) 107
18. View in the Inland Sea. (Alcock) 118
19. View near Hiogo. (Alcock) 120
20. Tametomo defying the Taira Men. (Bank-note vignette) 121
21. The Mountains and Lake of Hakone. (Alcock) 129
22. War-junk of the Twelfth Century. (Bank-note vignette) 136
23. Kojima writing on the Cherry-tree. (Bank-note vignette) 153
24. Nitta Yoshisada casting the Sword into the Sea. (Bank-note vignette) 156.
25. Kobe Daishi. (Photograph from a temple statue) 162
26. The Mother's Memorial. (Nankoku f)zawa) 168
27. Belfry of a Buddhist Temple. (Alcock, from a photograph) 172
28. Repulse of the Mongol Tartars. (Native painter) 180
29. Ashikaga Takauji. (Photograph from a temple statue) 186
30. Temple-bell from Kioto. (Humbert) 200
31. Chasing Floral Designs on Copper. (Humbert) 203
32. Picnic Booth. (Humbert) 206
33. Court Lady in Kioto. (Humbert) 209
34. Kusunoki Masatsura. (Native drawing) 220
35. The Challenge. (Hokusai) 223
36. Archer on Castle Rampart. (Humbert) 226
37. Symbols of the Carpenter's Guild. (Humbert) 227
38. View of the Castle of Ozaka. (Alcock) 234
39. Nobunaga's Victims : Priest and Monk. (Alcock) 236
40. A Familiar Country Scene. (Hokusai school) 236
41. Camp of Hideyoshi, before Fukui. (Humbert) 239
42. Image of Deified Hero. (Native drawing) 241
43. Ear Monument in Kioto. (Photograph) 246
44. " The Tarpeian Rock of Japan." (Oliphant) 268
45. Hollander on Deshima. (Alcock) 260
46. Crest of the Tokugawa Family. (Native drawing) 271
14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
47. The Four Classes of Society. (Nankoku 5zawa) Page 281
48. Fire-lookouts in Yedo. (Native drawing. " Brocade " style) 286
49. Matsudaira Yoshinaga, ex-Daiunio of Echizen. (Photograph) 308
60. Keiki, the last Shogun of Japan. (Photograph) 314
51. Push-cart in Yokohama. (Hoknsai) 333
52. The Jin-riki-sha, or " Pull-man Car " of Japan. (Photograph) 335
53. Young Girl carrying her Baby Brother. (Alcock) 354
54. Coolie waiting for a Job. (Alcock) 355
55. Coopers Hooping a Vat. (Pupil of Hokusai) 357
56. Crossing the Rokugo River. (Hokusai) 360
57. Nitsuki, or Ivory Button. (Oliphant) 365
68. Pattern Designer. (Hokusai) _. 365
69. " Nihon Bashi " in Tokio. The Kosatsu. (Nankoku Ozawa) 368
60. View of Fuji, from Suruga Dai. (Reduced " brocade " picture) 374
61. Artist at Work. (Hokusai) 379
62. Pagoda Spire, or Kiu-do. (" Brocade " picture) 381
63. A Flower Fair at Night in Tokio. (Nankoku Ozawa) 386
64. Sakurada Avenue and Easumiya Street. (" Brocade " picture) 395
65. Travelers in a Snow-storm. Fuji San. (Native drawing) 404
66. Buddhist Pilgrims. (Alcock) 407
67. The Samisen. (Oliphant) 408
68. Bringing Water to wash Travelers' Feet. (Hokusai) 416
69. A Norimono. (Alcock) 417
70. Village in Echizen. (Native drawing) , 421
71. Fac-simile of Kinsatsu. Issue of 1869 425
72. On the Tow-path. (Hokusai) 426
73. A Little Daimio. (Photograph by Uchida) 429
74. Servant before his Master. (Alcock) 430
75. Student burning Midnight Oil. (Photograph) 432
76. The Studious Gate-keeper. (Native drawing) 436
77. The Wedding Party. • (Alcock, from native painting) 438
78. Boys playing on Bamboo Bars. (Hokusai) 441
79. The Grip of Victory. (Hokusai [?]) 442
80. Gonji in a Brown Study. (Alcock) .445
81. Night Scene on the River Flats. (Hokusai) : 447
82. Father and Children. (Humbert) 450
83. Children's Games and Sports. (Humbert) 453
84. Boys' Games. (Humbert) 458
86. Boys' Games. (Humbert) 459
. 86. The Feast of Dolls. (Nankoku Ozawa) 462
87. Children's Sports. (Humbert) 464
88. The Jealous Avenger. (Nankoku Ozawa) 475
89. The Rain Dragon. (Kamo) 479
90. Futen, the Wind-imp. (Native drawing) 483
91. Raiden, the Thunder-drummer. (Native drawing) 484
92. Tengu going on a Picnic. (Hokusai) 487
93. Grandmother telling Stories. (Nankoku Ozawa) 490
94. Pipe, Pipe-case, and Tobacco-pouch. (Oliphant) 500
95. What follows a Meal on Horse-flesh. (Alcock) 517
96. Kioto Fan-makers. (Humbert) 519
97. Seven-stroke Sketch of Wild Horse." (Kamo) 522
98. Whispering behind the Screen. (Hokusai school) 524
99. Samurai, in Kami-shimo Dress. (Alcock) 525
100. The Siesta. (Hokusai) 628
101. The Game of Dakiu, or " Polo." (Alcock, from native drawing) 530
102. Rope-dikes, or " Snake-baskets." (Alcock) 531
103. My House in Fukui. (From a photograph) 532
104. Wild Goose in Flight. (Native drawing) . 537
105. How we rode to Odani. (Alcock) ... 544
106. Japanese Naval Officer. (Photograph) 564
107. Japanese Steam Corvette Tsukuba Kan. (Photograph) 564
108. Court Scene. Old Style. (Humbert) 569
BOOK I.
HISTORY OF JAPAN FROM 660 B.C. TO 1872 A.D.
THE ORTHOGRAPHY AND PRONUNCIATION OF JAPANESE
WORDS.
IT is impossible to represent Japanese words exactly by any foreign alphabet;
but a knowledge of the sounds as heard in Japan, and the use of vocables which
have each one invariable value, will enable a foreigner to reproduce Japanese
names with tolerable accuracy. When the native authors and grammarians do
not agree, absolute unanimity among foreign scholars is not to be expected ; but
palpable absurdities, impossible combinations of letters, and mistakes arising out
of pure ignorance of the language may be avoided. The system given below, and
used throughout this work, is, at least, rational, and is based on the structure and
laws of combination in the language itself. This system is substantially (the dif-
ferences aiming to secure greater simplicity) that of Hepburn's Japanese-English
and English-Japanese, and of Satow's English-Japanese dictionary ; the Roman-
ized version of the Scriptures, published by the American Bible Society ; of the
"American Cyclopaedia;" the revised editions of Worcester's, and Webster's, dic-
tionary; in Brown's, Aston' s, Satow's, Brinckley's, and Hepburn's grammar and
works on the Japanese language ; Monteith's, Mitchell's, Cornell's, Warren's,
and Harper's (American), and the Student's (English) geography and atlas ;
Mitford's " Tales of Old Japan ;" Adams's " History of Japan ;" the official docu-
ments of the Japanese Government, Department of Education, schools, and col-
leges ; the British and American Legations and Consulates ; the Anglo-Japanese
press, and almost all scholars and writers who make accuracy a matter of con-
cern.
The standard language (not the local dialect) of Tokio— now the literary as
well as the political capital of the nation— is taken as the basis, and the words
are then transliterated from the katagana spelling, as given by the best native
scholars. The vowels are sounded as follows :
a has the sound of a in father, arm ;
of has the sound of of in aisle, or f in bite ;
f has the sound of f in pique, machine ;
u has the sound of u in rale, or oo in boot ;
ita has the sound of ua in quarantine ;
e has the sound of e in prey, they ;
ei has the sound of ef in deign, feign ;
o has the sound of o in bore, so.
Long vowels are marked thus, 6, u ; short vowels, u, i.
The combination uai is sounded as wai; iu as yu; E or ^, as e in prey ; but e,
as in men; g is always hard, and * soft, as in sit, sap.
C before a vowel, g soft ; I, q, s surd ; x, and the digraphs ph and th, are
not used.
The map facing page 17 is reduced, and the names transliterated from the
large copper-plate map of the empire compiled and published by the Japanese
War Department in 1872. The numerals refer to the provinces on page 601.
Dai Nippon (the Empire of Japan).
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
i.
THE BACKGROUND.
IT is manifest that to understand a people and their national life,
the physical conditions under which they live must be known. To
enjoy the picture, we must study the background.
Dai Nippon, as the natives call their beautiful land, occupies a sig-
nificant position on the globe. Lying in the Pacific Ocean, in the
temperate zone, it bends like a crescent off the continent of Asia.
In the extreme north, at the island of Saghalin, the distance from
the main-land of Asia is so slight that the straits may be crossed eas-
ily in a canoe. From Kiushiu, with the island of Tsushima lying be-
tween, the distance from Corea is but one day's sail in a junk. For
4000 miles eastward from the main island stretches the Pacific, shored
in by the continent of America. From Yezo to Kamtchatka, the Ku-
riles stretch like the ruins of a causeway, prolonged by the Aleutian
Islands, to Alaska. The configuration of the land is that resulting
from the combined effects of volcanic action and the incessant mo-
tion of the corroding waves. The area of the empire is nearly equal
to that of our Middle and New England States. Of the 150,000
square miles of surface, two-thirds consist of mountain land. The
island of Saghalin (ceded to Russia in May, 1875) is one mountain
chain ; that of Yezo one mountain mass. On the main island,* a
solid backbone of mountainous elevations runs continuously from
* Dai Nippon, or Ninon, means Great Japan, and is the name of the entire em-
pire, not of the main island. The foreign writers on Japan have almost unani-
mously blundered in calling the largest island " Niphon." Hondo is the name
given to the main island in the Military Geography of Japan (Heiyo Nippon Chiri
Yoshi, Tokio, 1872) published by the War Department, and which is used in this
work throughout.
18 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Kikuoku to Shinano, whence it branches off into subordinate chains
that are prolonged irregularly to Nagato and into Kiushiu and Shiko-
ku. Speaking generally, the heights of the mountains gradually in-
crease from the extremities to the centre. In Saghalin, they are low ;
in Yezo, they are higher : increasing gradually on the north of the
main island, they culminate in the centre in the lofty ranges of Shi-
nano, and the peaks of Nantaizan, Yatsugadake, Hakuzan (nine thou-
sand feet high), and Fuji, whose summit is over twelve thousand feet
above the sea. Thence toward the south they gradually decrease in
height. There are few high mountains along the sea-coast. The
land slopes up gradually into hills, thence into lesser peaks, and final-
ly into lofty ranges.
As Fuji, with his tall satellites, sweeps up from the land, so Japan
itself rises up, peak-like, from the sea. From the shores the land
plunges abruptly down into deep water. Japan is but an emerged
crest of a submarine mountain — perhaps the edge of hard rock left
by the submergence of the earth-crust which now floors the Sea of
Japan and the Gulf of Tartary. There seems little reason to doubt
that Saghalin, Yezo, Hondo, and Kiushiu were in geologic ages united
together, forming one island. Surrounded on all sides by swift and
variable currents, the islands everywhere on the sea -borders exhibit
the effect of their action. At most points the continual detritus is
such as to seriously encroach on the land area, and the belief holds
among certain native sea -coast dwellers, strengthened by the tradi-
tional tales of past ravages, that in process of time the entire country,
devoured by successive gnawings of the ocean, will finally sink into
its insatiable maw.
The geological formations of the country — the natural foundations
— are not as yet accurately determined. Enough, however, is known
to give us a fair outline of fact, which future research and a thorough
survey must fill up.* Of the soil, more is known.
* Baron Richthofen, in a paper read before the Geological Society of Berlin,
June 4th, 1873, thus generalizes the geology of Japan : The west and east por-
tion of the aggregate body of the Japanese islands is in every way the direct con-
tinuation of the mountain system which occupies the south-eastern portion of
China, the axial chain of which extends from the f rentier of An nam to the island
of Chusan, in the direction of W. 30° S., E. 30° N. It is accompanied on either
side by a number of parallel chains. The prolongation of this group of linear
chains passes through the island of Kiushiu to the great bend of Japan (Suruga
and Shinano). Through Kiushiu and the southern part of the main island, the
structure of the hills and the rocks of which they are made up (chiefly Silurian
THE BACKGROUND. 19
Even in a natural state, without artificial fertilization, most of the
tillable land produces good crops of grain or vegetables. On myriads
and Devonian strata, accompanied by granite) and the lines of strike are the
same as those observed in South-eastern China. This system is intersected at
either end by another, which runs S.S. W., N.N.E. On the west it commences in
Kiushiu, and extends southward in the direction of the Liu Kiu Islands, while on
the east it constitutes the northern branch of the main island, and, with a slight
deviation in its course, continues through the islands of Yezo and Saghalin. A
third system, which properly does not belong to Japan, is indicated by the S.W.
and N.E. line of the Kuriles.
The above outline throws light on the distribution of volcanoes. The first
system, where it occupies the breadth of the country for itself alone, is as free
from volcanoes, or any accumulation of volcanic rocks, as it is in South-eastern
China. The second system is accompanied by volcanoes. But the greatest ac-
cumulation of volcanic rocks, as well as of the extinct volcanoes, is found in the
places of interference, or those regions where the lines of the two systems cross
each other, and, besides, in that region where the third system branches off from
the second. To the same three regions the volcanoes which have been active in
historic times have been confined.
In the geological structure of Kinshiu, the longer axis is from N. to S., but in-
tersected by several solid bars made up of very ancient rocks, and following the
strike of W. 80° S., E. 30° N. They form high mountain barriers, the most cen-
tral of which, south of the provinces of Higo and Bungo, rises to over seven
thousand feet, and is extremely wild and rugged. In Satsuma, the various fam-
ilies of volcanic rocks have arrived at the surface in exactly the same order of
succession as in the case of Hungary, Mexico, and many other volcanic regions,
viz., first, propylite, or trachytic greenstone; second, andesite; third, trachyte
and rhyolite ; fourth, the basaltic rocks. The third group was not visited by
him. Thomas Antisell, M.D., and Professor Benjamin J. Lyman, M.E., and Hen-
ry S. Munroe, M.E., American geologists in Yezo, have also elucidated this inter-
esting problem. From the first I quote. The mountain systems of Yezo and
farther north are similar to those in the northern part of the main island. There
are in Yezo two distinct systems of mountains. One, coming down directly from
the north, is a continuation of the chain in Karafto (Saghalin), which, after pass-
ing down south along the west shore of Yezo, is found in Rihuoku, Ugo, Uzen,
and farther south. The second enters Yezo from the Kuriles Islands and Kamt-
chatka, running N. 20-25° E. and S. 20-25° W., and crossing in places the first sys-
tem. It is from the existence and crossing of these chains that Yezo derives its
triangular form. The two systems possess very different mineral contents for
their axes. The first has an essentially granitic and feldspathic axis, produced,
perhaps, by shrinkage, and is slow of decomposition of its minerals forming
the soils. The second has an axis, plutonic or volcanic, yielding basalts, traps,
and diorites, decomposing readily, producing deep and rich soils. Hence the
different kinds of vegetation on the two chains. Where the two chains cross,
also, there is found a form of country closed up in the north and east by hills, the
valleys opening to the south and west. This volcanic chain is secondary in the
main island of Japan ; but in Yezo and in Kiushiu it attains great prominence.
Professor Benjamin S. Lyman, an American geologist, has also made valuable
surveys and explorations in Yezo, the results of which are given in the " Reports
of Horace Capron and his Foreign Assistants," Tokio, 1875.
20 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
of rice-fields, which have yielded richly for ages, the fertility is easily
maintained by irrigation and the ordinary application of manure, the na-
tives being proficient in both these branches of practical husbandry.
The rivers on such narrow islands, where steep mountains and
sharply excavated valleys predominate, are of necessity mainly useless
for navigation. Ordinarily they are little more than brooks that flow
lazily in narrow and shallow channels to the sea. After a storm, in
rainy weather, or in winter, they become swollen torrents, often miles
wide, sweeping resistlessly over large tracts of land which they keep
perpetually desolate — wildernesses of stones and gravel, where fruitful
fields ought to be. The area of land kept permanently waste in Ja-
pan on this account is enormous. The traveler, who to-day crosses a
clear brook on a plank, may to-morrow be terrified at a roaring flood
of muddy water in which neither man, beast, nor boat can live a mo-
ment. There are, however, some large plains, and in those we must
look to find the navigable rivers. In the mountains of Shinano and
Kodzuke are found the sources of most of the streams useful for nav-
igation on the main island. On the plains of the Kuanto (from Suru-
ga to Iwaki), Oshiu (Rikuchiu and Rikuzen), Mino, and Echigo, are a
few rivers on which one may travel in boats hundreds of miles. One
may go by water from Tokio to Niigata by making a few portages, and
from Ozaka to the end of Lake Biwa by natural water. In the north-
ern part of Hondo are several long rivers, notably the Kitagami and
Sakata. In Yezo is the Ishikari. In Shikoku are several fine streams,
which are large for the size of the islands. Kiushiu has but one or
two of any importance. Almost every one of these rivers abounds in
fish, affording, with the surrounding ocean, an inexhaustible and easily
attainable supply of food of the best quality. Before their history
began, the aboriginal islanders made this brain-nourishing food their
chief diet, and through the recorded centuries to the quick-witted Jap-
anese proper it has been the daily meat.
In the geologic ages volcanic action must have been extremely vio-
lent, as in historic time it has been almost continual. Hundreds, at
least, of mountains, now quiet, were once blazing furnaces. The ever-
greenery that decks them to-day reminds one of the ivy that mantles
the ruins, or the flowers that overgrow the neglected cannon on the bat-
tle-field. Even within the memory of men now living have the most
awful and deadly exhibitions of volcanic desolation been witnessed.
The annals of Japan are replete with the records of these flame-and-
lava-vomiting mountains, and the most harrowing tales of human life
THE BACKGROUND. 21
destroyed and human industry overwhelmed are truthfully portrayed
by the pencil of the artist and the pen of the historian in the native
literature. Even now the Japanese count over twenty active and hun-
dreds of dormant volcanoes. As late as 1874, the volcano of Taromai,
in Yezo, whose crater had long since congealed, leaving only a few
puffing solfataras, exploded, blowing its rocky cap far up into the air,
and scattering a rain of ashes as far as the sea-shore, many miles dis-
tant. Even the nearly perfect cone of Shiribeshi, in Yezo, is but one
of many of nature's colossal ruins. Asama yama, never quiet, puffs
off continual jets of steam, and at this moment of writing is groan-
ing and quaking, to the terror of the people around it. Even the
superb Fuji, that sits in lordly repose and looks down over the lesser
peaks in thirteen provinces, owes its matchless form to volcanic ac-
tion, being clothed by a garment of lava on a throne of granite. Ha-
kuzan, on the west coast, which uprears its form above the clouds,
nine thousand feet from the sea-level, and holds a lakelet of purest
water in its bosom, once in fire and smoke belched out rocks and ul-
cered its crater jaws with floods of white and black lava. Not a few
of these smoking furnaces by day are burning lamps by night to the
mariner. Besides the masses and fields of scoria one everywhere
meets, other evidences of the fierce unrest of the past are noticed.
Beds of sulphur abound. Satsuma, Liu Kiu, and Yezo are noted for
the large amount they easily produce. From the sides of Hakuzan
huge crystals of sulphur are dug. Solfataras exist in active operation
in many places. Sulphur-springs may be found in almost every prov-
ince. Hot-springs abound, many of them highly impregnated with
mineral salts, and famous for their geyser-like rhythm of ebb and flow.
In Shinano and Echigo the people cook their food, and the farmer
may work in his fields by night, lighted by the inflammable gas which
issues from the ground, and is led through bamboo tubes.
Connected with volcanic are the seismic phenomena. The records
of Japan from the earliest time make frequent mention of these devas-
tating and terrifying visitations of subterranean disorder. Not only
have villages, towns, and cities been shaken down or ingulfed, but in
many neighborhoods tradition tells of mountains that have disap-
peared utterly, or been leveled to earth. The local histories, so nu-
merous in Japan, relate many such instances, and numerous gullies
and depressions produced by the opening and partial closure of the
earth-lips are pointed out. One, in the province of Echizen, is over a
mile long, and resembles a great trench.
22 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
In addition to a good soil, Japan has been generously endowed by
the Creator with mineral riches. Most of the useful varieties of stone
are found throughout the empire. Granite and the harder rocks,
through various degrees of softness, down to the easily carved or
chipped sandstones and secondary formations useful for fortifications,
buildings, tombs, walks, or walls, exist in almost every province.
Almost all the useful metals long known to man are found in this
island empire. Gold and silver in workable quantities are found in
many places. The island of Sado is a mass of gold-bearing quartz.
Copper is very abundant, and of the purest kind. Lead, tin, antimo-
ny, and manganese abound. Of zinc and mercury there is but little.
Iron is chiefly in the form of magnetic oxide. It occurs in the dilu-
vium of rivers and along the sea-coast, lying in beds, often of great
thickness. The first quality of iron may be extracted from it. Iron-
stone and many other varieties of ore are also found. Petroleum
issues from the ground in Echigo, Suruga, Echizen, Yezo, and in Sag-
halin ; the ocean at some portions on the coast of the latter is said
to be smeared with a floating scum of oil for miles.
The botanical wealth of Japan is very great. A considerable num-
ber of vegetable species have doubtless been introduced by human
agency into Japan from the Asiatic continent, but the indigenous
plants and those imported by natural means are very numerous.
The timber of the main island, Kiushiu, and Shikoku is superb in
appearance and growth, of great variety, beauty, and adaptability to
the uses of man. Yezo is one vast boom and lumber yard. Thirty-
six varieties of useful timber-trees, including true oak, are found there.
The Kuriles also afford rich supplies, and are capable of becoming to
the empire proper what forest-clad Norway is to England. Yamato,
on the main-land, is also famous for its forests, ranging from tallest
evergreen trees of great size, fineness of grain, and strength of fibre, to
the soft and easily whittled pines ; but the incessant demands for fir-
ing and carpentry make devastating inroads on the growing timber.
Split wood for cooking, and charcoal for warmth, necessitate the sys-
tem of forestry long in vogue in some parts of the empire requiring a
tree to be planted for every one cut down ; and nurseries of young
forest trees are regularly set out, though the custom is not universal.
Most of the trees and many of the plants are evergreen, thus keeping
the islands clothed in perpetual verdure, and reducing the visual dif-
ference between winter and summer, in the southern half of Hondo, at
least, to a nearly tropical minimum.
THE BACKGROUND. 23
The various varieties of bamboo, graceful in appearance, and by its
strength, symmetry, hollowness, and regularity of cleavage, adapted
to an almost endless variety of uses, are almost omnipresent, from the
scrub undergrowth in Yezo to that cultivated in luxuriant groves in
Satsuma so as to be almost colossal in proportion. There is, how-
ever, as compared with our own country, a deficiency of fruit-trees
and edible vegetables. The first use of most of the bread grains
and plants is historic. In very ancient times it is nearly certain
that the soil produced very little that could be used for food, except
roots, nuts, and berries. This is shown both by tradition and history,
and also by the fact that the names of vegetables in Japan are mostly
foreign.
The geographical position of the Japanese chain would lead us to
expect a flora American, Asiatic, and semi-tropical in its character.
The rapid variations of temperature, heavy and continuous rains, suc-
ceeded by scorching heats and the glare of an almost tropical sun, are
accompanied and tempered by strong and constant winds. Hence we
find semi-tropical vegetable forms in close contact with Northern tem-
perate types. In general the predominant nature of the Japan flora
is shrubby rather than herbaceous.*
The geographical position of Japan hardly explains the marked re-
semblance of its flora to that of Atlantic America,f on the one hand,
and that of the Himalaya region, on the other. Such, however, is the
* In the " Enumeratio Plantarum," which treats of all the known exogens and
conifers in Japan, 1699 species are enumerated, distributed in 643 genera, which
are collocated in 122 orders. In other words, an imperfect botanical survey of
the Nippon chain of islands shows that in it are represented nearly half the nat-
ural orders, ten per cent, of the genera, and nearly three per cent, of the species
of dicotyledons known to exist on the surface of the globe. Future research
must largely increase the number of species.
t Very large and splendidly illustrated works on botany exist in the Japanese
language. The native botanists classify according to the Linnaean system. In
their "Enuraeratio Plantarum" (Paris, 1874), Drs. A. Franchet and L. Savatier
have given a re'sumJ of all the known dicotyledonous plants in Japan. It is a work
of great research and conscientious accuracy. I have seen excellent and volumi-
nous native works, richly illustrated, on ichthyology, conchology, zoology, en-
tomology, reptilology, and mineralogy. Some of these works are in ninety vol-
umes each. Ten thousand dollars were spent by a wealthy scholar in Mino in
the publication of one of them. They would not satisfy the requirements of the
exact science of this decade, but they constitute an invaluable thesaurus to the
botanical investigator. I am indebted for most of the information concerning
the Japanese flora to a paper in the Japan Mail of September 25th, 1875, from
the pen of a competent reviewer of Dr. Savatier's great work.
24 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
fact : the Japanese flora resembles that of Eastern North America
more than that of Western North America or Europe.*
The fauna of the island is a very meagre one, and it is also quite
probable that the larger domestic animals have been imported. Of
wild beasts, the bear, deer, wolf, badger, fox, and monkey, and the
smaller ground animals, are most probably indigenous. So far as
studied, however, the types approach those of the remote American
rather than those of the near Asiatic continent.
It is most probable, and nearly certain, that prehistoric Japan did
not possess the cow, horse, sheep, or goat. Even in modern Japan,
the poverty of the fauna strikes the traveler with surprise. The birds
are mostly those of prey. Eagles and hawks are abundant. The
crows, with none to molest their ancient multitudinous reign, are now,
as always in the past, innumerable. The twittering of a noticeably
small number of the smaller birds is occasionally heard ; but bird-song
seems to have been omitted from the catalogue of natural glories of
this island empire. Two birds, the stork and heron, now, as ancient-
ly, tread the fields in stately beauty, or strike admiration in the be-
holder as they sail in perfect grace in mid-air. The wild ducks and
geese in flocks have, from time immemorial, summered in Yezo and
wintered in Hondo.
The domestic fowls consist almost entirely of ducks and chickens.
The others have, doubtless, been imported. Of sea-birds there are le-
gions on the uninhabited coasts, and from the rocks the fishermen
gather harvests of eggs.
Surrounding their land is the great reservoir of food, the ocean.
The seas of Japan are probably unexcelled in the world for the mul-
titude and variety of the choicest species of edible fish. The many
bays and gulfs indenting the islands have been for ages the happy
hunting-grounds of the fisherman. The rivers are well stocked with
* The results of Dr. Asa Gray's investigations of the herbarium brought to the
United States by the Perry expedition are summed up as follows :
43 per cent, had corresponding European representatives,
37 " " " " Western North American representatives,
61 " " " " Eastern North American representatives ;
while
27 per cent, were identical with European species,
20 " " " " " Western North American species,
23 " " " " " Eastern North American species.
"Dr. Gray's report was drawn up in 1858, when Japanese botany was little
known, and considerable alteration might be made in his figures; but there can
be little doubt that the general result would be the same."
THE BACKGROUND. 25
many varieties of fresh-water fish. In Yezo the finest salmon exist in
inexhaustible supply, while almost every species of edible shell-fish,
mollusca and Crustacea, enlivens the shores of the islands, or fertilizes
the soil with its catacombs. So abundant is fish that fish-manure is
an article of standard manufacture, sale, and use. The variety and
luxuriance of edible sea-weed are remarkable.
The aspects of nature in Japan, as in most volcanic countries, com-
prise a variety of savage hideousness, appalling destructiveness, and
almost heavenly beauty. From the mountains burst volcanic erup-
tions; from the land come tremblings; from the ocean rises the
tidal wave ; over it blows the cyclone. Floods of rain in summer
and autumn give rise to inundations and land-slides. During three
months of the year the inevitable, dreaded typhoon may be expected,
as the invisible agent of hideous ruin. Along the coast the winds
and currents are very variable. Sunken and emerging rocks line the
shore. All these make the dark side of nature to cloud the imagina-
tion of man, and to create the nightmare of superstition. But Nat-
ure's glory outshines her temporary gloom, and in presence of her
cheering smiles the past terrors are soon forgotten. The pomp of
vegetation, the splendor of the landscape, and the heavenly gentleness
of air and climate come to soothe and make vivacious the spirits of
man. The seasons come and go with well-nigh perfect regularity;
the climate at times reaches the perfection of that in a temperate zone
— not too sultry in summer, nor raw in winter. A majority of the
inhabitants rarely see ice over an inch thick, or snow more than twen-
ty-four hours old. The average lowest point in cold weather is prob-
ably 20° Fahrenheit.*
The surrounding ocean and the variable winds temper the climate
in summer ; the Euro Shiwo, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific, modifies
the cold of winter. A sky such as ever arches over the Mediterra-
nean bends above Japan, the ocean walls her in, and ever green and fer-
tile land is hers. With healthful air, fertile soil, temperate climate, a
land of mountains and valleys, with a coast -line indented with bays
and harbors, food in plenty, a country resplendent with natural beau-
ty, but liable at any moment to awful desolation and hideous ruin,
what influences had Nature in forming the physique and character of
the people who inhabit Japan ?
* For statistics relating to nearly all the subjects treated of in this chapter, see
appendices at the end of this volume.
26 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
II.
THE ABORIGINES*
IN seeking the origin of the Japanese people, we must take into
consideration the geographical position of their island chain, with ref-
erence to its proximity to the main-land, and its situation in the ocean
currents. Japanese traditions and history may have much to tell us
concerning the present people of Japan — whether they are exclusively
an indigenous race, or the composite of several ethnic stocks. From
a study, however imperfect, of the language, physiognomy, and bodily
characteristics, survivals of ancient culture, historic geology, and the
relics of man's struggle with nature in the early ages, and of the act-
ual varieties of mankind now included within the mikado's domin-
ions,! we may learn much of the ancestors of the present Japanese.
The horns of the crescent -shaped chain of Dai Nippon approach
the Asiatic continent at the southern end of Corea and at Siberia.
Nearly the whole of Saghalin is within easy reach of the continent
by canoe. At the point called Norato, a little north of the fifty-sec-
ond parallel, the opposite shore, but five miles distant, is easily seen.
The water is here so shallow that junks can not cross it at low tide.
After long prevalent favorable winds, the ground is left dry, and the
* I use the term "aborigines" for the sake of convenience, being by no means
absolutely sure that those I so designate were the first people in situ. It has
been conjectured and held by some native scholars that there was in Japan a pre-
Aino civilization ; though of this there is scarcely a shadow of proof, as there is
proof for an ancient Malay civilization higher than the present condition of the
Malays. By the term "aborigines" I mean the people found on the soil at the
dawn of history.
t In compiling this chapter I have used, in addition to my own material and
that derived from Japanese books, students, and residents in Yezo, the careful
notes of the English travelers, Captains Bridgeford and Blakiston, and Mr. Ernest
Satow, and the reports and verbal accounts of the American engineers and geolo-
gists in the service of the Kai Taku Shi (Department for the Development of
Yezo), organized in 1869 by the Imperial Government of Japan. Of these latter,
I am especially indebted to Professors B. 8. Lyman, Henry S. Munroe, and Thomas
Antisell, M.D.
THE ABORIGINES. 27
natives can walk dry-shod into Asia. During three or four months
in the year it is frozen over, so that, with dog-teams or on foot, com-
munication is often a matter of a single hour. In Japanese atlases,
on the map of Karafto, a sand -bank covered by very shallow water
is figured as occupying the space between the island and the conti-
nent. A people even without canoes might make this place a gate
of entrance into Saghalin. The people thus entering Japan from the
north would have the attraction of richer supplies of food and more
genial climate to tempt^ them southward. As matter of fact, com-
munication is continually taking place between the Asiatic main-land
and Saghalin.
Japan occupies a striking position in the ocean currents which flow
up from the Indian Ocean and the Malay peninsula. That branch of
the great equatorial current of the Pacific, called the Kuro Shiwo, or
Black Stream, on account of its color, flows up in a westerly direction
past Luzon, Formosa, and the Liu Kiu Islands, striking the south point
of Kiushiu, and sometimes, in summer, sending a branch up the Sea of
Japan. With great velocity it scours the east coast of Kiushiu, the
south of Shikoku ; thence, with diminished rapidity, enveloping both
the group of islands south of the Bay of Yedo and Oshima ; and, at
a point a little north of the latitude of Tokio, it leaves the coast of Ja-
pan, and flows north-east toward the shores of America. With the
variable winds, cyclones, and sudden and violent storms continually
arising, for which the coasts of Eastern Asia are notorious, it is easily
seen that the drifting northward from the Malay Archipelago of boats
and men, and sowing of the shores of Kiushiu, Shikoku, and the west-
ern shores of Hondo with people from the south and west, must have
been a regular and continuous process. This is shown to be the fact
in Japanese history, in both ancient and modern times, and is taking
place nearly every year of the present century.
It seems most probable that the savages descended from the north,
tempted south by richer fisheries and a warmer climate, or urged on
by successive immigrations from the continent. There is abundant
evidence from Japanese history of the habitation of the main island
by the Ainos, the savages whose descendants now occupy Yezo. Shi-
koku and Kiushiu were evidently peopled by mixed races, sprung of
the waifs from the various shores of Southern Asia. When the con-
querors landed in Kiushiu, or, in sacred Japanese phrase, "when our
divine ancestors descended from heaven to the earth," they found the
land peopled by savages, under tribal organizations, living in villages,
28 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
each governed by a head-man. Conquering first the aborigines of
Kiushiu and Shikoku, they advanced into the main island, fought and
tranquilized the Ainos, then called Ebisu, or barbarians, and fixed their
capital not far from Kioto. The Ainos were not subjugated in a
day, however, and continual military operations were necessary to keep
them quiet. Only after centuries of fighting were they thoroughly
subdued and tranquilized. The traveler to-day in the northern part
of the main island may see the barrows of the Ainos' bones slain by
Japanese armies more than a millennium ago. One of these mounds,
near Morioka, in Rikuchiu, very large, and named " Yezo mori " (Aino
mound), is especially famous, containing the bones of the aborigines
slaughtered, heaps upon heaps, by the Japanese shogun (general), Ta-
mura, who was noted for being six feet high, and for his many bloody
victories over the Ebisu.
For centuries more, the distinction between conquerors and con-
quered, as between Saxon and Norman in England, was kept up ; but
at length the fusion of races was complete, and the homogeneous Jap-
anese people is the result. The remnants of Ainos in Yezo, shut off
by the straits of Tsugaru from Hondo, have preserved the aboriginal
blood in purity.
The traditional origin of the Ainos, said to be given by them-
selves, though I suspect the story to be an invention of the conquer-
ors, or of the Japanese, is as follows: A certain prince, named
Kamui, in one of the kingdoms in Asia, had three daughters. One
of them having become the object of the incestuous passion of her
father, by which her body became covered with hair, quit his palace
in the middle of the night, and fled to the sea-shore. There she found
a deserted canoe, on board which was only a large dog. The young
girl resolutely embarked with her only companion to journey to some
place in the East. After many months of travel, the young princess
reached an uninhabited place in the mountains, and there gave birth
to two children, a boy and a girl. These were the ancestors of the
Aino race. Their offspring in turn married, some among each other,
others with the bears of the mountains. The fruits of this latter un-
ion were men of extraordinary valor, and nimble hunters, who, after
a long life spent in the vicinity of their birth, departed to the far
north, where they still live on the high and inaccessible table-lands
above the mountains ; and, being immortal, they direct, by their mag-
ical influences, the actions and the destiny of men, that is, the Ainos.
The term "Aino " is a comparatively moaern epithet, applied by the
THE ABORIGINES. 29
Japanese. Its derivation, as given by several eminent native scholars
whom I have consulted, is from inu, a dog. Others assert that it is
an abbreviation of ai no ko, " offspring of the middle ;" that is, a
breed between man and beast. Or, if the Japanese were believers in
a theory called of late years the " Darwinian," an idea by no means
unknown in their speculations, the Ainos would constitute the " miss-
ing link," or "intermediate" between man and the brutes. In the
ancient Japanese literature, and until probably the twelfth century,
the Ainos were called Ebisu, or savages.
The proofs from language of the Aino ancestry of the Japanese are
very strong. So far as studied, the Aino tongue and the Altai dia-
lects are said to be very similar. The Aino and Japanese languages
differ no more than certain Chinese dialects do from each other.
Ainos and Japanese have little difficulty in learning to speak the lan-
guage of each other. The most ancient specimens of the Japanese
tongue are found to show as great a likenesss to the Aino as to mod-
ern Japanese.
Further proofs of the general habitation of Hondo by the Ainos
appear in the geographical names which linger upon the mountains
and rivers. These names, musical in sound, and possessing, in their
significance, a rude grandeur, have embalmed the life of a past race,
as the sweet names of " Juniata" and "Delaware," or the sonorous
onomatopes of " Niagara," " Katahdin," and " Tuscarora " echo the
ancient glories of the well-nigh extinct aborigines of America, who in-
deed may be brethren of the Ainos. These names abounding in the
north, especially in the provinces north of the thirty-eighth parallel,
are rare in the south, and in most cases have lost their exact ancient
pronunciation by being for centuries spoken by Japanese tongues.
The evidences of an aboriginal race are still to be found in the rel-
ics of the Stone Age in Japan. Flint, arrow and spear heads, ham-
mers, chisels, scrapers, kitchen refuse, and various other trophies, are
frequently excavated, or may be found in the museum or in homes of
private persons. Though covered with the soil for centuries, they
seem as though freshly brought from an Aino -hut in Yezo. In scores
of striking instances, the very peculiar ideas, customs, and superstitions,
of both Japanese and Aino, are the same, or but slightly modified.
Amidst many variations, two distinctly marked types of features
are found among the Japanese people. Among the upper classes, the
fine, long, oval face, with prominent, well-chiseled features, deep-sunk-
en eye-sockets, oblique eyes, long, drooping eyelids, elevated and arch-
30 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ed eyebrows, high and narrow forehead, rounded nose, bud-like mouth,
pointed chin, small hands and feet, contrast strikingly with the round,
flattened face, less oblique eyes almost level with the face, and straight
noses, expanded and upturned at the roots. The former type prevails
among the higher classes — the nobility and gentry ; the latter, among
the agricultural and laboring classes. The one is the Aino, or north-
ern type ; the other, the southern, or Yamato type. In the accom-
The High and the Low Type of the Japanese Face— Aristocratic and Plebeian. (Lady
and Maid-servant.)
panying cut this difference is fairly shown in the strongly contrasting
types of the Japanese lady and her servant, or child's nurse. The
modern Ainos are found inhabiting the islands of Yezo, Saghalin, the
Kuriles, and a few of the outlying islands. They number less than
twenty thousand in all.
As the Aino of to-day is and lives, so Japanese art and traditions
depict him in the dawn of history : of low stature, thick - set, full-
bearded, bushy hair of a true black, eyes set at nearly right angles
with the nose, which is short and thick, and chipped at the end, mus-
cular in frame and limbs, with big hands and feet. His language, re-
ligion, dress, and general manner of life are the same as of old. He
has no alphabet, no writing, no numbers above a thousand. His rice,
tobacco, and pipe, cotton garments, and worship of Yoshitsun6, are of
course later innovations — steps in the scale of civilization. Since the
Restoration of 1868, a number of Ainos of both sexes have been liv-
THE ABORIGINES. 31
ing in Tokio, under instruction of the Kai Takfl Shi (Department for
the Colonization of Yezo). I have had frequent opportunities of study-
ing their physical characteristics, language, and manners.
Their dwellings in Yezo are made of poles covered over with thick
straw mats, with thatched roofs, the windows and doors being holes
covered with the same material. The earth beaten down hard forms
the floor, on which a few coarse mattings or rough boards are laid.
Many of the huts are divided into two apartments, separated by a
mud and wattle partition. The fire-place, with its pot-hooks, occupies
the centre. There being no chimney, the interior walls become thick-
ly varnished with creosote, densely packed with flakes of carbon, or
festooned with masses of soot. They are adorned with the imple-
ments of the chase, and the skulls of animals taken in hunting.
Scarcely any furniture except cooking-pots is visible. The empyreu-
matical odor and the stench of fish do not conspire to make the visit
to an Aino hut very pleasant.
Raised benches along two walls of the hut afford a sleeping or
lounging place, doubtless the original of the tokonoma of the modern
Japanese houses. They sit, like the Japanese, on their heels. Their
food is mainly fish and sea-weed, with rice, beans, sweet-potatoes, mil-
let, and barley, which, in Southern Yezo, they cultivate in small plots.
They obtain rice, tobacco, sake, or rice-beer, an exhilarating beverage
which they crave as the Indians do " fire-water," and cotton clothing
from their masters, the Japanese. The women weave a coarse, strong,
and durable cloth, ornamented in various colors, and ropes from the
barks of trees. They make excellent dug-out canoes from elm-trees.
Their dress consists of an under, and an upper garment having tight
sleeves and reaching to the knees, very much like that of the Japanese.
The woman's dress is longer, and the sleeves wider. They wear, also,
straw leggings and straw shoes. Their hair, which is astonishingly
thick, is clipped short in front, and falls in masses down the back and
sides to the shoulders. It is of a true black, whereas the hair of the
Japanese, when freed from unguents, is of a dark or reddish brown,
and I have seen distinctly red hair among the latter. The beard and
mustaches of the Ainos are allowed to attain their fullest develop-
ment, the former often reaching the length of twelve or fourteen inch-
es. Hence, Ainos take kindly to the " hairy foreigners," Englishmen
and Americans, whose bearded faces the normal Japanese despise, while
to a Japanese child, as I found out in Fukui, a man with mustaches ap-
pears to be only a dragon without wings or tail. Some, not all, of the
3
32
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
older men, but very few of the younger, have their bodies and limbs
covered with thick black hair, about an inch long. The term " hairy
Kuriles," applied to them as a characteristic hairy race, is a mythical
expression of book-makers, as the excessively hirsute covering supposed
to be universal among the Ainos is not to be found by the investi-
gator on the ground. Their
skin is brown, their eyes are
horizontal, and their noses
low, with the lobes well
rounded out. The women
are of proportionate stature
to the men, but, unlike them,
are very ugly. I never met
with a handsome Aino fe-
male, though I have seen
many of the Yezo women.
Their mouths seem like those
of ogres, and to stretch from
ear to ear. This arises from
the fact that they tattoo a
An Aiuo Chief from Yezo. (From a photograph wide band of dirty blue, like
taken in TOkio, 18T2.) , , , , . , ^. . .
the woad of the ancient Brit-
ons, around their lips, to the extent of three-quarters of an inch, and
still longer at the tapering extremities. The tattooing is so com-
pletely done, that many persons mistake it for a daub of blue paint,
like the artificial exaggeration of a circus clown's mouth. They in-
crease their hideousness by joining their eyebrows over the nose by a
fresh band of tattooing. This practice is resorted to in the case of
married women and females who are of age, just as that of blacken-
ing the teeth and shaving the eyebrows is among the Japanese.
They are said to be faithful wives and laborious helpmates, their
moral qualities compensating for their lack of physical charms. The
women assist in hunting and fishing, often possessing equal skill with
the men. They carry their babies pickapack, as the Japanese moth-
ers, except that the strap passing under the child is put round the
mother's forehead. Polygamy is permitted.
Their weapons are of the rudest form. The three-pronged spear is
used for the salmon. The single -bladed lance is for the bear, their
most terrible enemy, which they regard with superstitious reverence.
Their bows are simply peeled boughs, three feet long. The arrows
THE ABORIGINES. 33
are one foot shorter, and, like those used by the tribes on the coast of
Siberia and in Formosa, have no feather on the shaft. Their pipes are
of the same form as those so common in Japan and China ; and one
obtained from an Aino came from Santan, a place in Amurland.
The Ainos possess dogs, which they use in hunting, understand the
use of charcoal and candles, make excellent baskets and wicker-work
of many kinds; and some of their fine bark -cloth and ornamented
weapons for their chiefs show a skill and taste that compare very fa-
vorably with those exhibited by the North American Indians. Their
oars, having handle* fixed crosswise, or sculls made in two pieces, are
almost exactly like those of the Japanese. Their river-canoes are dug
out of a log, usually elm. Two men will fashion one in five days.
For the sea-coast, they use a frame of wood, lacing on the sides with
bark fibre. They are skillful canoe-men, using either pole or paddle.
The language of the Aino is rude and poor, but much like the Jap-
anese. It resembles it so closely, allowing for the fact that it is utter-
ly unpolished and undeveloped, that it seems highly probable it is the
original of the present Japanese tongue. They have no written char-
acter, no writing of any sort, no literature. A further study may pos-
sibly reveal valuable traditions held among them, which at present
they are not known by me to have.
In character and morals, the Ainos are stupid, good-natured, brave,
honest, faithful, peaceful, and gentle. The American and English trav-
elers in Yezo agree in ascribing to them these qualities. Their meth-
od of salutation is to raise the hands, with the palms upward, and
stroke the beard. They understand the rudiments of politeness, as
several of their verbal expressions and gestures indicate.
Their religion consists in the worship of kami, or spirits. They do
not appear to have any special minister of religion or sacred struct-
ure.* They have festivals commemorative of certain events in the
* Some visitors to the Aino villages in Yezo declare that they have noticed
there the presence of the phallic shrines and symbols. It might be interesting
if this assertion, and the worship of these symbols by the Ainos, were clearly
proved. It would help to settle definitely the question of the origin in Japan of
this oldest form of fetich worship, the evidences of which are found all over the
Nippon island-chain, including Tezo. I have noticed the prevalence of these
shrines and symbols especially in Eastern and Northern Japan, having counted
as many as a dozen, and these by the roadside, in a trip to Nikko. The barren
of both sexes worship them, or offer them ex voto. In Sagami, Kadzusa, and even
in Tokio itself, they were visible as late as 1874, cut in stone and wood. Former-
ly the toy-shops, porcelain-shops, and itinerant venders of many wares were well
supplied with them, made of various materials; they were to be seen in the cor-
34 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
past, and they worship the spirit of Yoshitsune, a Japanese hero, who
is supposed to have lived among them in the twelfth century, and
who taught them some of the arts of Japanese civilization.
The outward symbols of their religion are sticks of wood two or
three feet long, which they whittle all around toward the end into
shavings, until the smooth wand contains a mass of pendent curls, as
seen in the engraving, page 32. They insert several of these in the
ground at certain places, which they hold sacred. The Ainos also
deify mountains, the sea, which furnishes their daily food, bears, the
forests, and other natural objects, which they believe to possess intel-
ligence. These wands with the curled shavings are set up in every
place of supposed danger or evil omen. The traveler in Yezo sees
them on precipices, gorges of mountains, dangerous passes, and river>
banks.
When descending the rapids of a river in Yezo, he will notice that
his Aino boatmen from time to time will throw one of these wands
into the river at every dangerous point or turning. The Ainos pray
raising their hands above their heads. The Buddhist bonzes have in
vain attempted to convert them to Buddhism. They have rude songs,
which they chant to their kami, or gods, and to the deified sea, forest,
mountains, and bears, especially at the close of the hunting and fish-
ing season, in all affairs of great importance, and at the end of the
year. The following is given as a specimen :
" To the sea which nourishes us, to the forest that protects us, we
present our grateful thanks. You are two mothers that nourish the
same child ; do not be angry if we leave one to go to the other."
" The Ainos will always be the pride of the forest and the sea."
The inquirer into the origin of the Japanese must regret that as
yet we know comparatively little of the Ainos and their language.
Any opinion hazarded on the subject may be pronounced rash. Yet,
after a study of all the obtainable facts, I believe they unmistakably
nucopia-bannere at New-year's, paraded in the festivals, and at unexpected times
and places disturbed the foreign spectator. It was like a glimpse of life in the
antediluvian world, or of ancient India, whence doubtless they came, to see evi-
dences of this once widely prevalent form of early religion. Buddhist priests
whom I have consulted affirm, with some warmth, that they arose in the " wick-
ed time of Ashikaga," though the majority of natives, learned and unlearned, say
they are the relics of the ancient people, or aborigines. In 1872 the mikado's
Government prohibited the sale or exposure of these emblems in any form or
shape, together with the more artistic obscenities, pictures, books, carvings, and
photographs, sent out from the studios of Paris and London.
THE ABORIGINES. 35
point to the Ainos as the primal ancestors of the Japanese ; that the
mass of the Japanese people of to-day are substantially of Aino stock.
An infusion of foreign blood, the long effects of the daily hot baths
and the warm climate of Southern Japan, of Chinese civilization, of
agricultural instead of the hunter's method of life, have wrought the
change between the Aino and the Japanese.
It seems equally certain that almost all that the Japanese possess
which is not of Chinese, Corean, or Tartar origin has descended from
the Aino, or has been developed or improved from an Aino model.
The Ainos of Yezo hold politically the same relation to the Japanese
as the North American Indians do to the white people of the United
States ; but ethnically they are, with probability bordering very closely
on certainty, as the Saxons to the English.*
* I need scarcely, except to relieve, by borrowed humor, the dull weighing of
facts, and the construction of an opinion void of all dogmatism, notice the as-
sertion elaborated at length by some Americans, Scotchmen, and others too,
for aught I know, that the Ainos are the "ten lost tribes of Israel," or that
they are the descendants of the sailors and gold-hunters sent out by King Solo-
mon to gain spoil for his temple at Jerusalem. Really, this search after the
"lost tribes" — or have they consolidated into the Wandering Jew ? — is becoming
absurd. They are the most discovered people known. They have been found in
America, Britain, Persia, India, China, Japan, and in Tezo. I know of but one
haystack left to find this needle in, and that is Corea. It will undoubtedly be
found there. It has been kindly provided that there are more worlds for these
Alexanders to conquer. It is now quite necessary for the archaeological respect-
ability of a people that they be the " lost tribes." To the inventory of wonders
in Japan some would add that of her containing " the dispersed among the Gen-
tiles," notwithstanding that the same claim has been made for a dozen other
nations. It might be well for the man who is searching anxiously for his spec-
tacles to feel on the top of his head. If these would-be discoverers would dem-
onstrate that the "ten tribes of Israel " were ever "lost," in the migratory or
geographical sense, they might accomplish more satisfactory work than going
up and down the world, ringing a bell for a people whose "loss" may be as
imaginary as the spectacles on the pate aforesaid. For the benefit of such, I
beg to append one of the Japanese " Tales for Little People :"
Little Boy loq. " Old daddy, get me my kite, if you please."
Old Man. " Oh, where is it, my boy ? Is that it in the tree opposite ?"
Boy. "No; that is a fish-hawk."
Old Man. " Surely, then, it must be there in the fire. Look out !"
Boy. " No, daddy; that is a crow."
Old Man. "Then, where can it be, I wonder?"
Boy. " Why, daddy, it is there on your head — caught in your hair."
Old Man. " So It is, I declare. I thought it was a hawk that had caught me
by the hair."
36 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
III.
MATERIALS OF HISTORY.
BEFORE attempting a brief sketch of Japanese history, it may be
interesting to the reader to know something of the sources of such
history, and the character and amount of the materials. A dynasty
of rulers who ostentatiously boast of twenty-five centuries of unbroken
succession should have solid foundation of fact for their boast. The
august representatives of the mikado Mutsuhito,* the one hundred
and twenty-third of the imperial line of Dai Nippon, who, in the pres-
ence of the President and Congress of the United States, and of the
sovereigns of Europe, claimed the immemorial antiquity of the Jap-
anese imperial rule, should have credentials to satisfy the foreigner
and silence the skeptic.
In this enlightened age, when all authority is challenged, and a cent-
ury after the moss of oblivion has covered the historic grave of the
doctrine of divine right, the Japanese still cling to the divinity of
the mikado, not only making it the dogma of religion and the engine
of government, but accrediting their envoys as representatives of, and
asking of foreign diplomatists that they address his imperial Japanese
majesty as the King of Heaven (Tenno). A nation that has passed
through the successive stages of aboriginal migration, tribal govern-
ment, conquest by invaders, pure monarchy, feudalism, anarchy, and
modern consolidated empire, should have secreted the material for
much interesting history. In the many lulls of peace, scholars would
arise, and opportunities would offer, to record the history which pre-
vious generations had made. The foreign historian who will bring the
* Mutsuhito (" meek man"), the present emperor, is the second son of the
mikado Komei (1847-1867), whom he succeeded, and the Empress Fujiwara
Asako. He was born November 3d, 1850. He succeeded his father February
3d, 1867; was crowned on the 28th day of the Eighth month, 1868; and was mar-
ried on the 28th of the Twclth month, 1868, to Haruko, daughter of Ichijo Tadaka,
a noble of the second degree of the first rank. She was born on the 17th of the
Fourth month, 1850. The dowager-empress Asako, mother of the emperor, is
of the house of Kujo, and was born on the 14th day of the Twelfth month, 1833.
His Imperial Japanese Majesty, Mutsuhito, Emperor of Japan, and the 123d Mikado
of the Liue.
MATERIALS OF HISTORY. 39
necessary qualifications to the task of composing a complete history
of Japan,*, e., knowledge of the languages and literature of Japan, Chi-
na, Corea, and the dialects of the Malay Archipelago, Siberia, and the
other islands of the North Pacific, historical insight, sympathy, and
judicial acumen, has before him a virgin field.
The body of native Japanese historical writings is rich and solid.
It is the largest and most important division of their voluminous liter-
ature. It treats very fully the period between the rise of the noble
families from about the ninth century until the present time. The
real history of the period prior to the eighth century of the Christian
era is very meagre. It is nearly certain that the Japanese possessed
no writing until the sixth century A.D. Their oldest extant composi-
tion is the Kojiki, or " Book of Ancient Traditions." It may be called
the Bible of the Japanese. It comprises three volumes, composed
A.D. 711, 712. It is said to have been preceded by two similar works,
written respectively in A.D. 620 and A.D. 681 ; but neither of these
has been preserved. The first volume treats of the creation of the
heavens and earth ; the gods and goddesses, called kami ; and the
events of the holy age, or mythological period. The second and third
give the history of the mikados* from the year 1 (660 B.C.) to the
1288th of the Japanese era. It was first printed during A.D. 1624-
1642. The Nihongi, completed A.D. 720, also contains the Japanese
cosmogony, records of the mythological period, and brings down the
annals of the mikado to A.D. 699. These are the oldest books in
the language. Numerous and very valuable commentaries upon them
have been written. They contain so much that is fabulous, mythical,
* " The term 'mikado' is in general adhered to throughout this work. Other
titles found in the native literature, and now or formerly in common use, are, Ten-
shi (Son of Heaven); Tenno, or Ten O (Heaven-king) ; Kotei (Sovereign Ruler of
Nations); Kind (The Forbidden Interior); Dairi (Imperial Palace) ; Chotei (Hall
of Audience); 0-6, or Dai O (Great King); O Uji (The Great Family); Gosho
(Palace). In using these titles, the common people add sama, a respectful term,
after them. Several of them, as is evident, were used originally to denote places.
It was quite common for the people in later time to speak of the mikado as Mia-
ko sama, or Uye' sama (Superior Lord), in distinction from the shogun, whom they
designated as Yedo sama. The Chinese characters employed to express the term
'mikado' mean Honorable Gate, an idea akin to the Turkish Sublime Porte. Sa-
tow, however, derives it from mi, great, august, awful ; and to (do in composi-
tion), place; the notion being that the mikado is too far above ordinary mortals
to be spoken of directly. Hence the Gate of the Palace is used us a figure for
him. So, also, Ren-ka (Base of the Chariot, or Below the Palanquin) ; and Hei-
ka (Foot of the Throne, or of the Steps leading to the Dais), are used to denote
the imperial person. A term anciently used was Nin O (King of Men)."
40 THE MIKADO'S EMPIEE.
or exaggerated, that their statements, especially in respect of dates,
can not be accepted as true history. According to the Kojiki,
Jinmu Tenno was the first emperor; yet it is extremely doubtful
whether he was a historical personage. The best foreign scholars and
critics regard him as a mythical character. The accounts of the first
mikados are very meagre. The accession to the throne, marriage and
death of the sovereign, with notices of occasional rebellions put down,
tours made, and worship celebrated, are recorded, and interesting
glimpses of the progress of civilization obtained.
A number of works, containing what is evidently good history,
illustrate the period between the eighth and eleventh centuries. A
still richer collection of both original works and modern compilations
treat of the medieval period from the eleventh to the sixteenth cent-
ury— the age of intestine strife and feudal war. The light which
the stately prose of history casts upon the past is further heightened
by the many poems, popular romances, founded on historic fact, and
the classic compositions called monogatari, all of which help to make
the perspective of by -gone centuries melt out into living pictures.
That portion of the history which treats of the introduction, progress,
and expulsion of Christianity in Japan has most interest to ourselves ;
and concerning it there is little deficiency of material, though not of a
kind to satisfy Occidental tastes. The profound peace which followed
the victories of lyeyasu, and which lasted from 1600-1868 — the
scholastic era of Japan — gave the peaceful leisure necessary for the
study of ancient history, and the creation of a large library of histor-
ical literature, of which the magnificent works called the Dai Nihon
Shi (" History of Great Japan "), and Nihon Guai Shi (" Japanese
Outer, or Military History "), are the best examples.
Under the Tokuga'wa shoguns (1603-1868) liberty to explore, chron-
icle, and analyze the past in history was given ; but the seal of silence,
the ban of censorship, and the mandate forbidding all publication were
put upon the production of contemporary history. Hence, the peace-
ful period, 1600 to 1853, is less known than others in earlier times.
Several good native annalists have treated of the post-Perry period
(1853-1872), and the events leading to the Restoration.
In the department of unwritten history, such as unearthed relics,
coins, weapons, museums, memorial stones, tablets, temple records, etc.,
there is much valuable material. Scarcely a year passes but some
rich trover is announced to delight the numerous native archaeologists.
The Japanese are intensely proud of their history, and take great
MATERIALS OF HISTORY. 41
care in making and preserving records. Memorial - stones, keeping
green the memory of some noted scholar, ruler, or benefactor, are
among the most striking sights on the highways, or in the towns, vil-
lages, or temple-yards, betokening the desire to defy the ravages of
oblivion and resist the inevitable tooth of Time.
Almost every large city has its published history ; towns and villages
have their annals written and preserved by local antiquarians ; family
records are faithfully copied from generation to generation ; diaries,
notes of journeys or events, dates of the erections of buildings, the
names of the officiating priests, and many of the subscribing worship-
ers, are religiously kept in most of the large Buddhist temples and
monasteries. The bonzes (Jap. bozu) delight to write of the lives of
their saintly predecessors and the mundane affairs of their patrons.
Almost every province has its encyclopedic history, and every high-
road its itineraries and guide-books, in which famous places and events
are noted. Almost every neighborhood boasts its Old Mortality, or
local antiquary, whose delight and occupation are to know the past.
In the large cities professional story-tellers and readers gain a lucrative
livelihood by narrating both the classic history and the legendary lore.
The theatre, which in Japan draws its subjects for representation al-
most exclusively from the actual life, past or present, of the Japanese
people, is often the most faithful mirror of actual history. Few peo-
ple seem to be more thoroughly informed as to their own history :
parents delight to instruct their children in their national lore ; and
there are hundreds of child's histories of Japan.
Besides the sober volumes of history, the number of books purport-
ing to contain truth, but which are worthless for purposes of historical
investigation, is legion. In addition to the motives, equally operative
in other countries for the corruption or distortion of historical narra-
tive, was the perpetual desire of the Buddhist monks, who were in
many cases the writers, to glorify their patrons and helpers, and to
damn their enemies. Hence their works are of little value. So
plentiful are these garbled productions, that the buyer of books always
asked for jitsu-roku, or " true records," in order to avoid the "zu-zan"
or "editions of Zu," so called from Zu, a noted Chinese forger of
history.
In the chapters on the history of Japan, I shall occasionally quote
from the text of some of the standard histories in literal translation.
I shall feel only too happy if I can imitate the terse, vigorous, and
luminous style of the Japanese annalists. The vividness and pictorial
42 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
detail of the classic historians fascinate the reader who can analyze
the closely massed syntax. Many of the pages of the Nikon Guai
Shi, especially, are models of compression and elegance, and glow
with the chastened eloquence that springs from clear discernment and
conviction of truth, gained after patient sifting of facts, and groping
through difficulties that lead to discovery. Many of its sentences are
epigrams. To the student of Japanese it is a narrative of intensest
interest.
The Kojiki and Nihongi, which give the only records of very an-
cient Japan, and on which all other works treating of this period are
based, can not be accepted as sober history. Hence, in outlining the
events prior to the second century of the Christian era, I head the
chapters, not as the " Dawn of History," but the " Twilight of Fable."
From these books, and the collections of ancient myths (Koshi Seibun),
as well as the critical commentaries and explanations of the Japanese
rationalists, which, by the assistance of native scholars, I have been
able to consult, the two following chapters have been compiled.*
* In the following chapters, I use throughout the modern names of places and
provinces, to avoid confusion. The ancient name of Kiushiu was Tsukushi,
which was also applied to the then united provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo.
Buzen and Bungo were anciently one province, called Toyo. Higo and Hizen
are modern divisions of Hi no kuui ("The Land of Fire"). Tamba, corrupted
from Taniwa, and Tango ("Back of Taniwa") were formerly one. Kadzusa and
Shimosa, contracted from Kami-tsu-fusa and Shimo-tsu-fusa (kami, upper; shimo,
lower; isu, ancient form of no; fusa, a proper name, tassel), were once united.
Kodzuke and Shimotsuke", formed like the preceding, were "Upper" and "Low-
er" K& All the region north of Echizen, known and unknown, including Echi-
zen, Etchiu, Echigo, Kaga, Noto, Uzen, and Ugo, was included under the name
Koshi no kuni. Later synonyms for Kiushiu are Saikoku (Western Provinces),
or Chinzei in books. Chiugoku (Central Provinces) is applied to the region from
Tamba to Nagato. Kamigata is a vague term for the country around and toward
Kioto.
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY. 43
IV.
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY.
IN the beginning all things were in chaos. Heaven and earth were
not separated. The world floated in the cosmic mass, like a fish in
water, or the yolk in an egg. The ethereal matter sublimed and
formed the heavens, the residuum became the present earth, from the
warm mold of which a germ sprouted and became a self-animate be-
ing, called Kuni-toko-tachi no mikoto.* Two other beings of like gen-
esis appeared. The names, translated, of the primal three, are
Original Being of the Country,
Space-cleaving Being,
Beautifier of the Land.
Then sprang into existence twelve other beings :
Offspring of Heaven and Earth,
Offspring of the Gods,
Offspring of the Ground,
Offspring of the Heavens,
Offspring like the Original Being of the Country,
Kami (god) of Abundant Vegetation,
Kami of the Earth,
Kami of the Sand,
Kami of Useful Timber,
Kami of Standing Timber,
Kami of Harvests,
Kami of Husbandry,
Kami of Primeval Habitations,
Kami of Primitive Dwelling-places.
Proceeding now to the work of creation, the kami separated the
primordial substance into the five elements — wood, fire, metal, earth,
* It will be seen at once that the Japanese scheme of creation starts without
a Creator, or any First Cause; and that the idea of space apart from matter is
foreign to the Japanese philosophical system. Mikoto (masc.), mikami (fern.),
mean " augustness." It is not the same term as mikado. Ab la the particle of.
44 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
and water — and ordained to each its properties and combination. As
yet, the division into sexes had not taken place. In [Chinese] philo-
sophical language, the male (yo) and female (in) principles that per-
vade all things had not yet appeared. The first manifestation of the
male essence was Izanagi ; of the female, Izanami. Standing togeth-
er on the floating bridge of heaven, the male plunged his jeweled fal-
chion, or spear, into the unstable waters beneath them, and withdraw-
ing it, the trickling drops formed an island, upon which they descend-
ed. The creative pair, or divine man and woman, designing to make
this island a pillar for a continent, separated — the male to the left, the
female to the right — to make a journey round the island. At their
meeting, the female spirit spoke first, " How joyful to meet a lovely
man !" The male spirit, offended that the first use of the tongue had
been by a woman, required the circuit to be repeated. On their
second meeting, the man cried out, "How joyful to meet a lovely
woman !" They were the first couple ; and this was the beginning of
the art of love, and of the human race. The island (Awaji), with
seven other large, and many thousand small ones, became the Everlast-
ing Great Japan.* At Izanami's first conception, the female essence
* The various names of Japan to be found in the native literature are as fol-
lows : 1. Dai Nihon Koku (Country of Great Japan ; or, Land of the Sun-source).
Japan is the foreigner's corruption of the Chinese Ji pun ; Japanese, Ni hon, Ni-
chi hon=Nitsu pon=Nippon or Nihon. The name may have been given by the
Chinese or Coreans to the land lying east of them, where the sun rose; or, as is
very probable, by the ancient inhabitants of the south-western provinces of
Japan, as being the source from which the sun was seen to rise daily. 2. Nihon.
3. 0 Yashima no Kuni (Country of the Eight Great Islands), created by Izanagi and
Izanami. 4. Onokorojima (Island of the Congealed Drop), from the legend of the
thrusting of the heavenly falchion of Izanagi in the waters of chaos, and the drip-
pings solidifying into land. 5. Shiki Shima (Outspread Islands), like the step-
ping-stones in a Japanese garden: 6. Isojirojima (Cliff-fortress Island), from the
resemblance of the cliffs of the coast to a castellated fortress. 7. Toyofiara Naka-
su Kuni (The Country between Heaven and Earth). 8. Toyoakitsu (Dragon-fly
Form), from the resemblance, easily seen on old native maps, to a spread-out
dragon-fly. 9. Nichi Iki (Sun-land). 10. Ni To (Sun's Nest). 11. Toyo Ashi-wara
(Fertile Plain of Sweet Flags). 12. Kishi Koku (The Princess Country), from
Amaterasu, the creatrix of the country. 13. 0 Tamato no Kuni (Land of Great
Gentleness), in allusion to the courtesy and gentleness of the people. 14. Tamato
(Peaceful Land). 15. Tamagaki no Uchitsu Kuni (The Country within the Boun-
daries). 15. Uragusu no Kuni (Country of Peaceful Shores), from the absence of
foreign enemies. 16. Fuso Koku. Fuso is the name of a tree that is said to pet-
rify ; and hence is the emblem of a country that in the course of ages has become
solidified and perduring. 17. Hodzuma no Kuni (Beautiful Country). 18. Yomo-
giga SMma (Artemisia Island), referring to the upright growth of that plant, and
emblematic of the lofty aspirations of the people. 19. Nan Sen Bu, Shiu (South-
JAPANESE MTTIIOLOOT. 45
in being more powerful, a female child was born, greatly to the cha-
grin of the father, who wished for male offspring. The child was
named Ama-terasu 6 mikami, or, the Heaven -illuminating Goddess.
She shone beautifully, and lighted the heavens and the earth. Her
father, therefore, transferred her from earth to heaven, and gave her
the ethereal realm to rule over. At this time the earth was close to
heaven, and the goddess easily mounted the pillar, on which heaven
rested, to her kingdom.
The second child was also a female, and was called Tsuki no kami,
and became the Goddess of the Moon. The third child, Hiruko (leech),
was a male, but not well formed. When three years old, being still
unable to stand, his parents made an ark of camphor-wood, and set
him adrift at sea. He became the first fisherman, and was the God of
the Sea and of Storms.
After two girls and a cripple had thus been born, the father was de-
lighted with the next fruit of his spouse, a fine boy, whom they named
Sosanoo no mikoto. Of him they entertained the highest hopes.
He grew up, however, to be a most mischievous fellow, killing people,
pulling up their trees, and trampling down their fields. He grew
worse as he grew up. He was made ruler over the blue sea ; but he
never kept his kingdom in order. He let his beard grow down over
his bosom. He cried constantly ; and the land became a desert, the
rivers and seas dried up, and human beings died in great numbers.
His father, inquiring the reason of his surly behavior, was told that he
wished to go to his mother, who was in the region under the earth.
He then made his son ruler over the kingdom of night. The august
scape-grace still continued his pranks, unable to refrain from mischief.
One day, after his sister, the Sun-goddess, had planted a field with rice,
he turned a wild horse loose, which trampled down and spoiled all her
work. Again, having built a store-house for the new rice, he defiled it
so that it could not be used. At another time, his sister was sitting
at her loom, weaving. Sosanoo, having skinned a live horse by draw-
ing its skin off from the tail to the head, flung the reeking hide over
the loom, and the carcass in the room. The goddess was so frightened
that she hurt herself with the shuttle, and, in her wrath, retired to a
crn Country of Brave Warriors). 20. Kuashiboku Kitaru no Kuni (Country ruled
by a Slender Sword), from the slenderness of the Japanese swords in comparison
with the unwieldy weapons of the soldiers on the continent of Asia. 21. On
Koku (Honorable Country). 33. Shin Koku (Land of the Holy Spirits). 23. Kami
no Kuni (Land of the Gods). 34. Ko Koku (The Mikado's Empire).
46 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
cave, closing the mouth with a large rock. Heaven, earth, and the
four quarters became enshrouded in darkness, and the distinction be-
tween day and night ceased. Some of the turbulent and ill-mannered
gods took advantage of the darkness to make a noise like the buzzing
of flies, and the confusion was dreadful.
Then all the gods (eight hundred thousand in number) assembled
on the heavenly river-plain of Yasu, to discuss what was to be done
to appease the anger of the great goddess. The wisest of the gods
was intrusted with the charge of thinking out a stratagem to entice
her forth. The main part of the plan was to make an image of the
self-imprisoned goddess, which was to be more beautiful than herself,
and thus excite at once her curiosity and her jealousy. It was to be
a round mirror like the sun.
A large rock from near the source of the river was taken to form
an anvil. To make the bellows, they took the whole skin of a deer,
and, with iron from the mines of heaven, the blacksmith-god made
two mirrors, which successively failed to please the gods, being too
small. The third was large and beautiful, like the sun.
The heavenly artisans now prepared to make the finest clothes and
jewelry, and a splendid palace for the Sun-goddess, when she should
come out. Two gods planted the paper-mulberry and hemp, and pre-
pared bark and fibre ; while three other gods wove them into coarse,
striped, and fine cloth, to deck her dainty limbs. Two gods, the first
carpenters, dug holes in the ground with a spade, erected posts, and
built a palace. Another deity, the first jeweler, made a string of ma-
gatama (curved jewels), the material for a necklace, hair-pins, and
bracelets. Two other gods held in their hands the sacred wands,
called tama-gushi.
Two gods were then appointed to find out, by divination, whether
the goddess was likely to appear. They caught a buck, tore out a
bone from one of its forelegs, and set it free again. The bone was
placed in a fire of cherry-bark, and the crack produced by the heat in
the blade of the bone was considered a satisfactory omen.
A sakaki-tree was then pulled up by the roots. To the upper
branches was hung the necklace of jewels, to the middle was attached
the mirror, and from the lower branches depended the coarse and fine
cloth. This was called a gohei. A large number of perpetually crow-
ing cocks was obtained from (what had been) the region of perpetual
day. These irrepressible chanticleers were set before the cave, and be-
gan to crow lustily in concert. The God of Invincibly Strong Hands
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY. 47
was placed in concealment near the rocky door, ready to pull the god-
dess out at her first peering forth. A goddess with a countenance
of heavenly glossiness, named Uzum6, was appointed manager of the
dance. " She first bound up her flowing sleeves close to her body, un-
der the armpits, by a creeping plant, called masaki, and donned a head-
dress made of long moss. While she blew a bamboo tube, with holes
pierced in it between the joints, the other deities kept time to the mu-
sic with two flat, hard pieces of wood, which they clapped together.
Another kami took six bows, and, from the long moss hanging from
the pine-trees on the high hills, she strung the bows, and made the
harp called the koto. His son made music on this instrument by
drawing across the strings grass and rushes, which he held in both
hands. Bonfires were now lighted before the door of the cavern, and
the orchestra of fifes, drums, cymbals, and harp began. The goddess
Uzume now mounted the circular box, having a baton of twigs of
bamboo grass in one hand, with a spear of bamboo twined with grass,
on which small bells tinkled. As she danced, the drum-like box pre-
pared for her resounded, and she, becoming possessed by a spirit of
folly, sung a song in verses of six syllables each, which some inter-
pret as the numerals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 100, 1000, 10,000.
The goddess, as she danced, loosened her dress, exposing her nude
charms. All this was caused by the spirit which possessed her. It
so excited the mirth of the gods that they laughed so loudly that
heaven shook. The song and its interpretations are :
" Hito, futa, miyo One, two, three, four,
Itsu, muyu, nana Five, six, seven,
Ya, koko-no, tari Eight, nine, ten,
Momo, chi, yorodzu Hundred, thousand, ten thousand."
" Ye gods, behold the cavern doors !
Majesty appears — hurra !
Our hearts are quite satisfied ;
Behold my charms."
or,
" Gods, behold the door!
Lo ! the majesty of the goddess !
Shall we not be filled with rapture?
Are not my charms excellent?"
The Sun-goddess within, unable to account for the ill-timed mirth,
since heaven and earth were in darkness, rose, and approaching the
rocky door, listened to the honeyed words of one of the gods, who
was praising her. Impelled further by curiosity, she opened the
4
48 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
»
door slightly, and asked why Uzume danced and the gods laughed?
Uzume replied, " I dance because there is an honorable deity who sur-
passes your glory." As she said this, the exceedingly beauteous god
Futodama showed the mirror. The Sun-goddess within, astonished at
her own loveliness, which she now first beheld in the reflection, step-
ped out a little further to gratify her curiosity. The God of Invinci-
bly Strong Hands, who stood concealed, pulled the rock door open,
caught her by the hand, and dragged her forth. The wisest of the
gods, who superintended the whole proceedings, took a rope of twist-
ed rice-straw, passed it behind her, and said, " Do not go behind this."
They then removed the Sun -goddess to her new palace, and put a
straw rope around it to keep off evil gods. Her wicked brother was
punished by having each particular hair of his head pulled out, and
his finger and toe nails extracted. He was then banished.
Izanami's fifth child, the last in whose conception the two gods
shared, was a son, called the God of Wild Fire. In bringing him
forth the goddess suffered great pain ; and from the matter which she
vomited in her agony sprung the God and Goddess of Metal. She aft-
erward created the gods of Clay and Fresh Water, who were to pacify
the God of Fire when inclined to be turbulent. Izanami had enjoined
her consort not to look at her during her retirement, but he disre-
garded her wish. She fled from him, and departed to the nether re-
gions. Izanagi, incensed at the God of Fire, clove him in three pieces
with his sword. From these fragments sprung the gods of Thunder,
of Mountains, and of Rain. He then descended into the region of
night to induce Izanami to come back to the earth. There he met
his consort, who would not return. He found the region to be one
of perpetual and indescribable foulness, and, before he left, he saw
the body of his wife had become a mass of putrefaction. Escaping
into the upper world, he washed himself in the sea, and, in the act of
escape and purification, many gods were created. According to one
version, Amaterasu was produced out of his left eye, and Sosanoo
out of his nose. Those deities created out of the filth from which he
cleansed himself became the wicked gods, who now war against the
good gods and trouble mankind. The God of Clay and the Goddess
of Fresh Water married. Their offspring was Naka musubi. From
his head grew the mulberry and silk-worm, and from his navel sprung
the five cereals, rice, wheat, beans, millet, and sorghum.
Another legend, changing the sex of Sosanoo, says the Sun-goddess
spoke to Sosanoo (the Moon^oddess), who reigned jointly with her
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY. 49
over the high plain of heaven, and said, " I have heard that there is
a food-possessing goddess in the central country of luxuriant reedy
moors (Japan). Go and see." Descending from heaven, he came to
the august abode of the Goddess of Food, and asked for refreshment.
The goddess, creating various forms of food, such as boiled rice from
the land, fish from the sea, beasts, with coarse and fine hair, from the
hills, set them on a banqueting-table before Sosanoo, who, enraged at
the manner of the creation of the food, killed her.
Reporting the matter in heaven, Amaterasu was angry at Sosanoo,
and degraded her (the Moon-goddess) from joint rule, and condemned
her to appear only at night, while she, the Sun-goddess, slept. Ama-
terasu then sent a messenger the second time to see whether the
Food-goddess was really dead. This was found to be the case. Out
of the dead body were growing, millet on the forehead ; silk- worms
and a mulberry-tree on the eyebrows ; grass on the eyes ; on the belly,
rice, barley, and large and small beans. The head finally changed
into a cow and horse. The messenger took them all, and presented
them to Amaterasu. The Sun -goddess rejoiced, and ordained that
these should be the food of human beings, setting apart rice as the
seed of the watery fields, and the other cereals as the seed of the dry
fields. She appointed lords of the villages of heaven, and began for
the first time to plant the rice-seeds. In the autumn the drooping
ears ripened in luxuriant abundance. She planted the mulberry-trees
on the fragrant hills of heaven, and rearing silk-worms, and chewing
cocoons in her mouth, spun thread. Thus began the arts of agricult-
ure, silk-worm rearing, and weaving.
When Sosanoo was in banishment, there was a huge eight-headed
dragon that had devastated the land and eaten up all the fair virgins.
Sosanoo enticed the monster to partake of an intoxicating liquor set
in eight jars, and then slew him while in stupor. In the tail of the
dragon he found a sword of marvelous temper, which he presented
to Amaterasu. This sword, called " Cloud-cluster," afterward became
one of the three sacred emblems constituting the regalia of the Jap-
anese sovereigns. In these last days of commerce, Sosanoo's exploit
is pictured on the national paper money. He is also said to have in-
vented poetry. Being as irregularly amorous as the Jupiter of anoth-
er mythology, he was the father of many children by various mothers.
One of the most illustrious of his offspring was Daikoku, now wor-
shiped in every household as the God of Fortune. In the later stages
of the mythology, heaven and earth are found peopled with myriads
50 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
of kami, some of whom have inhabited heaven from the beginning,
while those on the earth have been ruling or contending together
from an indefinite period. Finally, before ushering in the third or
final stage of the mythical history, there are general war and confu-
sion among the gods on earth, and Amaterasii resolves to bring order
out of the troubles, and to subdue and develop the land for herself.
She desired to make a son of her own a ruler over the terrestrial
world. One had been produced from her necklace, called Oshi-ho-
mi no mikoto, who married Tamayori hime no mikoto, one of the
granddaughters of Izanagi and Izanami. Their offspring was Ninigi
no mikoto. After much delay, caused by the dispatch and failure of
envoys to the gods of the earth, he prepared to descend from heaven
to his realm on earth. The Sun -goddess gave her grandson various
treasures, chief of which were the mirror, emblem of her own soul,
and now worshiped at Ise, the sword Cloud-cluster, taken by Sosanoo
from the dragon's tail, and a stone or seal. Concerning the mirror
she said, " Look upon this mirror as my spirit ; keep it in the same
house and on the same floor with yourself, and worship it as if you
were worshiping my actual presence."
Another version of this divine investiture is given in these words :
" For centuries upon centuries shall thy followers rule this kingdom.
Herewith receive from me the succession and the three crown talis-
mans. Should you at any future time desire to see me, look in this
mirror. Govern this country with the pure lustre that radiates from
its surface. Deal with thy subjects with the gentleness which the
smooth rounding of the stone typifies. Combat the enemies of thy
kingdom with this sword, and slay them on the edge of it."
Accompanied by a number of inferior gods of both sexes, he de-
scended on the floating bridge of heaven, on which the first pair had
stood when separating the dry land from the water, to the mountain
of Kirishima, between Hiuga and Osumi, in Kiushiu. After his de-
scent, the sun and earth, which had already receded from each other
to a considerable distance, became further separated, and communica-
tion by the floating bridge of heaven ceased. According to the com-
mentators on the sacred books, as Japan lay directly opposite to the
sun when it separated from the earth, it is clear (to a devout Japanese)
that Japan lies on the summit of the globe. As it was created first,
it is especially the Land of the Gods, the Holy Land, the Country of
the Divine Spirits. All other countries were formed later by the
spontaneous consolidation of the foam and mud of the sea. All for-
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY. 51
eign countries were of course created by the power of the heavenly
gods, but they were not begotten by Izanagi and Izanami, nor did
they give birth to the Sun-goddess, which is the cause of their in-
feriority. Japan is superior to all the world for the reasons given
above. The traditions current in other countries as to the origin of
the world are of course incorrect, since, being so far from the sources
of truth, they can not be accurate, and must be greatly distorted.
From the fact of the divine descent of the Japanese people proceeds
their immeasurable superiority to the natives of other countries in
courage and intelligence. This opinion, long held by Japanese in
general, still lingers among the fanatical Shinto scholars, and helps to
explain the intense hatred and contempt manifested toward foreigners
as late as within the last decade.
Ninigi no mikoto descended on Kirishima yama, and was received
with due honors by one of the kami of the place. He had a son, who
lived five hundred and eighty years. This son married a sea-monster,
who appeared to him in the form of a woman, and by her he had a
son, who became ruler, and was succeeded by a son born of an aunt.
Ninigi, the heavenly descendant, was thus the great - grandfather of
Jimmu Tenno, the first emperor of Japan.
It is not easy to weave into a continuous and consistent whole the
various versions of the Japanese accounts of creation and the acts of
the gods, or to be always safe in deciding their origin, sex, or relations
to each other ; for these spirits act like Milton's, and " as they please,
they limb themselves." These myths arising among the primitive
Japanese people of various localities, who never attempted to formulate
them, are frequently at hopeless variance with each other ; and the in-
genuity and ability of the learned native commentators on the sacred
books, especially the Nihongi and Kojiki, are exercised to the highest
degree to reconcile them.
One author devotes twenty volumes of comment to two of the text
of the Kojiki in these earnest efforts, making his works a rich mine
to the student of Japanese antiquities. Translated into English, in the
spirit of a devout Japanese, an exalted Biblical or Miltonic style should
be used. Mr. Aston thus renders a passage from the Nakatomi no
harai, one of the most ancient monuments of the language, describing
the descent of the god Ninigi to the earth (Japan) : " They caused
him to thrust from him heaven's eternal throne, to fling open heaven's
eternal doors, to cleave with might his way from out heaven's many-
piled clouds, and then to descend from heaven."
52 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
A literal, or even free, translation into plain English could not,
however, be made in a book to be read, unexpurgated, in the family
circle. Many physiological details, and not a few references probably,
pure to the native pure, would not be suffered by the tastes or moral
codes in vogue among the mass of readers in Europe or America.
Like the mythology of Greece, that of Japan is full of beauty, pathos,
poetic fancy, charming story, and valorous exploit. Like that, it forms
the soil of the national art, whether expressed in bronze, porcelain,
colors ; or poetry, song, picture, the dance, pantomime, romance, sym-
bolism ; or the aesthetics of religion.
In spite of Buddhism, rationalism, and skeptical philosophy, it has
entered as fully into the life and art and faith of the people of Japan
as the mythology of the Aryan nations has entered into the life and
art of Europe. Like that of the nations classic to us, the Japanese
mythology, when criticised in the light of morals, and as divorced
from art, looked at by one of alien clime, race, and faith, contains
much that is hideous, absurd, impure, and even revolting. Judged as
the growth and creation of the imagination, faith, and intellect of the
primitive inhabitants of Japan, influenced by natural surroundings, it
is a faithful mirror of their country, and condition and character,
before these were greatly modified by outside religion or philoso-
phy. Judged as a religious influence upon the descendants of the an-
cient Nihonese — the Japanese, as we know them — it may be fairly
held responsible for much of the peculiar moral traits of their charac-
ter, both good and evil. The Japanese mythology is the doctrinal ba-
sis of their ancient and indigenous religion, called Kami no michi, or
Shinto (way or doctrine of the gods, or, by literal rendering, theology).
One of the greatest pleasures to a student of Japanese art, antiqui-
ties, and the life as seen in the Japan of to-day, is to discover the sur-
vivals of primitive culture among the natives, or to trace in their cus-
toms the fashions and ceremonies current tens of centuries ago, whose
genesis is to be sought in the age of the gods. Beneath the poetic
and mythical costume are many beautiful truths.
One of the many Japanese rationalistic writers explains the hiding
of Amaterasu in the cave as an eclipse of the sun. Ebisu, the third
child of the first pair, is now worshiped, especially by fishermen and
traders, and as the God of Daily Food, catching fish and selling them
being considered the first commercial transaction, and fish the staple
article of daily food. One need not go far from Kioto to find the
identical spots of common earth which the fertile imagination of
JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY. 53
the children of Nippon has transfigured into celestial regions. Thus,
the prototype of " the dry bed of the river Amc no yasu " is now to
be seen in front of the city of Kioto, where the people still gather for
pleasure or public ceremony. The " land of roots," to which Sosanoo
was banished, is a region evidently situated a few miles north-west of
Kioto. The dancing of Suzume before the cavern is imitated in the
pantomimic dance still seen in every Japanese village and city street.
The mirror made from iron in the mines of heaven by the Blacksmith-
god was the original of the burnished disks before which the Japanese
beauty of to-day, sitting for hours on knee and heels, and nude to the
waist, heightens her charms. A mask of Suzume, representing the
laughing face of a fat girl, with narrow forehead, having the imperial
spots of sable, and with black hair in rifts on her forehead, cheeks
puffed out, and dimpled chin, adorns the walls of many a modern Jap-
anese house, and notably on certain festival days, and on their many
occasions of mirth. The stranger, ignorant of its symbolic import,
could, without entering the palace, find its prototype in five minutes,
by looking around him, from one of the jolly fat girls at the well or
the rice-bucket. The magatama jewels, curved and perforated pieces
of soap-stone occasionally dug up in various parts of Japan, show the
work of the finger of man, and ancient pictures depict the chiefs of
tribes decked with these adornments. In the preparations made to
attract forth the Sun-goddess, we see the origin of the arts of music by
wind and stringed instruments, dancing, divination, adornment, weav-
ing, and carpentry. To this day, when the Japanese female is about
to sweep, draw water, or perform household duties, she binds up her
sleeves to her armpits, with a string twisted over her shoulders, like
the sleeve - binder of the dancing goddess. Before Shinto shrines,
trees sacred to the kami, at New-year's-day before gates and doors,
and often in children's plays, one sees stretched the twisted ropes of
rice-straw. In the month of August especially, but often at the fairs,
festivals, and on holidays, the wand of waving jewels, made by sus-
pending colored paper and trinkets to a branch of bamboo, and some-
thing like a Christmas-tree, is a frequent sight. The gohei is still the
characteristic emblem seen on a Shinto shrine. All these relics, triv-
ial and void of meaning to the hasty tourist, or the alien, whose only
motive for dwelling on the island is purely sordid, are, in the eye of
the native, and the intelligent foreigner, ancient, sacred, and productive
of innocent joy, and to the latter, sources of fresh surprise and enjoy-
ment of a people in themselves intensely interesting.
54 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
V.
THE TWILIGHT OF FABLE.
BETWEEN the long night of the unknown ages that preceded the
advent of the conquerors, and the morning of what may be called real
history, there lies the twilight of mythology and fabulous narration.
The mythology of Nippon, though in essence Chinese, is Japanese
in form and coloring, and bears the true flavor of the soil from
whence it sprung. The patriotic native or the devout Shintoist may
accept the statements of the Kojiki as genuine history ; but in the
cold, clear eye of an alien they are the inventions of men shaped to ex-
alt the imperial family. They are a living and luxurious growth of
fancy around the ruins of facts that in the slow decay of time have
lost the shape by which recognition is possible. Chinese history does
indeed, at certain points, corroborate what the Japanese traditions de-
clare, and thus gives us some sure light; but for a clear understand-
ing of the period antedating the second century of the Christian era,
the native mythology and the fabulous narrations of the Kojiki are
but as moonlight.
Jimmu Tenno, the first mikado, was the fifth in descent from the
Sun-goddess. His original name was Kan Yamato Iware Hiko no
mikoto. The title Jimmu Tenno, meaning " spirit of war," was post-
humously applied to him many centuries afterward. When the Ko~
jiki was compiled, pure Japanese names only were in use. Hence, in
that book we meet with many very long quaint names and titles
which, when written in the .Chinese equivalents, are greatly abbrevi-
ated. The introduction of the written characters of China at a later
period enabled the Japanese to express almost all their own words,
whether names, objects, or abstract ideas, in Chinese as well as Japa-
nese. Thus, in the literature of Japan two languages exist side by
side, or imbedded in each other. This applies to the words only.
Japanese syntax, being incoercible, has preserved itself almost entirely
unchanged.
The Kojiki states that Jimmu was fifty years old when he set out
THE TWILIGHT OF FABLE. 55
upon his conquests. He was accompanied by his brothers and a few
retainers, all of whom are spoken of as kami, or gods. The coun-
try of Japan was already populated by an aboriginal people dwelling
in villages, each under a head-man, and it is interesting to notice how
the inventors of the Kojiki account for their origin. They declare,
and the Japanese popularly believe, that these aboriginal savages were
the progeny of the same gods (Izanagi and Izanami) from whom Jim-
mu sprung ; but they were wicked, while Jimmu was righteous.
The interpretation doubtless is, that a band of foreign invaders land-
ed in Hiuga, in Kiushiu, or they were perhaps colonists, who had oc-
cupied this part of the country for some time previous. The territory
of Hiuga could never satisfy a restless, warlike people. It is mount-
ainous, volcanic, and one of the least productive parts of Japan.
At the foot of the famous mountain of Kirishima, which lies on
the boundary between Hiuga and Ozumi, is the spot where Jimmu re-
sided, and whence he took his departure.
Izanagi and Izanami first, and afterward Ninigi, the fourth ancestor
of Jimmu, had descended from this same height to the earth. Every
Japanese child who lives within sight of this mountain gazes with
reverent wonder upon its summit, far above the sailing clouds and
within the blue sky, believing that here the gods came down from
heaven.
The story of Jimmu's march is detailed in the Kojiki, and the nu-
merous popular books based upon it. A great many wonderful creat-
ures and men that resembled colossal spiders were encountered and
overcome. Even wicked gods had to be fought or circumvented.
His path was to Usa, in Buzen ; thence to Okada ; thence by ship
through the windings of the Suwo Nada, a part of the Inland Sea,*
* The " Inland Sea" (Se'to Uchi) is a name which has been given by foreigners,
and adopted by the Japanese, who until modem times had no special name for
it as a whole. Indeed, the whole system of Japanese geographical nomenclature
proves that the generalizations made by foreigners were absent from their con-
ceptions. The large bays have not a name which unifies all their parts and limbs
into one body. The long rivers possess each, not one name, but many local ap-
pellations along their length. The main island was nameless, so were Shikoku
and Kiushiu for many centuries. Yezo, to the native, is a region, not an island.
Even for the same street in a city a single name, as a rule, is not in use, each
block receiving a name by itself. This was quite a natural proceeding when the
universe, or "all beneath heaven," meant Japan. The Se'to Uchi has been in Jap-
anese history what the Mediterranean was to the course of empire in Europe, due
allowance being made for proportions, both physical and moral. It extends near-
ly east and west two hundred and forty miles, with a breadth varying from ten to
56 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
landing in Aki. Here he built a palace, and remained seven years.
He then went to the region of Bizen, and, after dwelling there eight
years, he sailed to the East. The waves were very rough and rapid
at the spot near the present site of Ozaka,* where he finally succeeded
in landing, and he gave the spot the name Nami Haya (swift waves).
This afterward became, in the colloquial, and in poetry, Naniwa.
Hitherto the career of the invaders had been one of victory and
easy conquest, but they now received their first repulse. After severe
fighting, Jimmu was defeated, and one of his brothers was wounded.
A council of war was held, and sacred ceremonies celebrated to dis-
cover the cause of the defeat. The solemn verdict was that as chil-
dren of the Sun -goddess they had acted with irreverence and pre-
sumption in journeying in opposition to the course of the sun from
west to east, instead of moving, as the sun moves, from east to west.
Thereupon they resolved to turn to the south, and advance westward.
Leaving the ill-omened shores, they coasted round the southern point
thirty miles, with many narrow passages. It has six divisions (nada), taking
their names from the provinces whose shores they wash. It contains avast num-
ber of islands, but few known dangers, and has a sea-board of seven hundred
miles, densely populated, abounding with safe and convenient anchorages, dotted
with many large towns and provincial capitals and castled cities, and noted for
the active trade of its inhabitants. It communicates with the Pacific by the chan-
nels of Kii on the east, Bungo on the south, and by the Straits of Shimonose"ki
(" the Gibraltar of Japan"), half a mile wide, on the west. It can be navigated
safely at all seasons of the year by day, and now, under ordinary circumstances,
by night, thanks to the system of light-houses thoroughly equipped with the latest
instruments of optical science, including dioptric and catoptric, fixed and revolv-
ing, white and colored lights, in earthquake-proof towers, erected by English en-
gineers in the service of the mikado's Government. The tides and currents of
the Se'to Uchi are not as yet perfectly known, but are found to be regular at the
east and west entrances, the tide-waves coming from the Pacific. In many parts
they run with great velocity. The cut on page 57 shows one of these narrow
passages where the eddying currents rush past a rock in mid-channel, scouring
the shores, and leaving just enough room for the passage of a large steamer.
A very destructive species of mollusk inhabits the Inland Sea, which perfo-
rates timber, making holes one -third of an inch in diameter. Sailing-vessels
bound to Nagasaki sometimes find it better in winter to work through the Inland
Sea rather than to beat round Cape Chichakoff against the Kuro Shiwo. This lat-
ter feat is so difficult that sailors are apt to drop the o from the Japanese name
(Satano) of this cape (misaki) and turn it into an English or Hebrew word. Those
who are trying to prove that the Japanese are the " lost tribes " might make one
of their best arguments from this fact. Kaempfer, it may be stated, derived the
Japanese, by rapid transit, from the Tower of Babel, across Siberia to the islands.
* The spelling of Ozaka (accent on the 6) is in accordance with the require-
ments of Japanese rules of orthography, and the usage of the people in Ozaka
and Kioto.
THE TWILIGHT OF FABLE. 57
of Kii, and landed at Arasaka. Here a peaceful triumph awaited
them, for the chief surrendered, and presented Jimmu with a sword.
A representation of this scene, engraved on steel, now adorns the green-
back of one of the denominations of the national bank - notes issued
in 1872. The steps of the conqueror were now bent toward Yamato.
The mountain-passes were difficult, and the way unknown ; but by act
of one of the gods, Michi no Omi no mikoto, who interposed for their
guidance, a gigantic crow, having wings eight feet long, went before the
host, and led the warriors into the rich land of Yamato. Here they
were not permitted to rest, for the natives fought stoutly for their soiL
A Narrow Passage iii the Inland Sea.
On one occasion the clouds lowered, and thick darkness brooded
over the battle-field, so that neither of the hosts could discern each
other, and the conflict stayed. Suddenly the gloom was cleft by the
descent from heaven of a bird like a hawk, which, hovering in a flood
of golden effulgence, perched upon the bow of Jimmu. His adver-
saries, dazzled to blindness by the awful light, fled in dismay. Jim-
mu, being now complete victor, proceeded to make his permanent
abode, and fixed the miako, or capital, at Kashiwabara, some miles
distant from the present site of Kioto. Here he set up his govern-
ment, and began to rule over all the lands which he had conquered.
Peace was celebrated with rejoicings, and religious ceremonies of im-
posing magnificence. He distributed rewards to his soldiers and offi-
cers, and chose his chief captains to be rulers over provinces, appor-
tioning them lands, to be held in return for military service. It will
58 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
be noticed that this primal form of general government was a species
of feudalism. Such a political system was of the most rudimentary
kind ; only a little better than the Council of the Six Nations of the
Iroquois, or was similar to that of the Aztecs of Mexico.
The country being now tranquilized, weapons were laid aside, and
attention was given to the arts of peace. Among the first things ac-
complished was the solemn deposit of the three sacred emblems — mir-
ror, sword, and ball — in the palace. Sacrifices were offered to the
Sun-goddess on Torimino yama.
Jirnmu married the princess Tatara, the most beautiful woman in
Japan, and daughter of one of his captains. During his life-time his
chief energies were spent in consolidating his power, and civilizing
his subjects. Several rebellions had to be put down. After choosing
an heir, he died, leaving three children, at the age of one hundred and
twenty-seven years, according to the Nihongi, and of one hundred and
thirty-seven, according to the KojiTd.
It is by no means certain that Jimmu was a historical character.
The only books describing him are but collections of myths and fa-
bles, in which exists, perhaps, a mere skeleton of history. Even the
Japanese writers, as, for instance, the author of a popular history
(Dai Nihon Koku Kai Biaku Yuraii Ki\ interpret the narratives
in a rationalistic manner. Thus, the " eight-headed serpents " in the
Kojiki are explained to be persistent arch-rebels, or valorous enemies ;
the " ground-spiders," to be rebels of lesser note ; and the " spider-pits
or holes," the rebels' lurking-places. The gigantic crow, with wings
eight feet long, that led the host into Yamato was probably, says the
native writer, a famous captain whose name was Karasu (crow), who
led the advance-guard into Yamato, with such valor, directness, and
rapidity, that it seemed miraculous. The myth of ascribing the guid-
ance of the army to a crow was probably invented later. A large
number of the incidents related in the Kojiki have all the character-
istics of the myth.
Chinese tradition ascribes the peopling of Japan to the following
causes : The grandfather (Taiko) of the first emperor (Buwo) of the
Shu dynasty (thirty-seven emperors, eight hundred and seventy-two
years, B.C. 1120—249) in China, having three sons, wished to bequeath
his titles and estates to his youngest son, notwithstanding that law
and custom required him to endow the eldest. The younger son re-
fused to receive the inheritance ; but the elder, knowing that his father
Taiko would persist in his determination, and unwilling to cause trou-
THE TWILIGHT OF FABLE. 59
ble, secretly left his father's house and dominions, and sailed away
to the South of China. Thence he is supposed to have gone to
Japan and founded a colony in Hiuga. His name was Taihaku KL*
This event took place about forty-six years before the usually acceptr
ed date of Jimmu's departure from Hiuga upon his career of conquest
Whatever may be the actual facts, Jimmu Tenno is popularly be-
lieved to have been a real person, and the first emperor of Japan.
He is deified in the Shinto religion, and in thousands of shrines ded-
icated to him the people worship his spirit. In the official list of
mikados, he is named as the first. The reigning emperor refers to
him as his ancestor from whom he claims unbroken descent. The
7th day of the Fourth month (April 7th) is fixed as the anniversary
of his ascension to the throne, and that day is a national holiday, on
which the iron-clad navy of modern Japan fires salutes, from Krupp
and Armstrong guns, in his honor, and the military, in French uni-
forms, from Snider and Remington rifles, burn in memoriam powder.
The era of Jimmu is the starting-point of Japanese chronology, and
the year 1 of the Japanese era is that upon which he ascended the
throne at Kashiwabara.f A large number of Japanese students and
educated men who have been abroad, or who, though remaining at
home, 'have shed their old beliefs, and imbibed the modern spirit of
nihilism, regard Jimmu as a myth. The majority, however, cling to
their old belief that the name Jimmu represents a historical verity,
and hold it as the sheet-anchor of their shifting faith. A young Jap-
anese, fresh from several years' residence in Europe, was recently ral-
lied concerning his belief in the divinity of the mikado and in the
truth of the Kojiki. His final answer was, "It is my duty to believe
in them."
* The twelfth name of Japan (see foot-note, p. 44), Kishi koku, is also translated
"country of the Ki family," from this legend (shi, family; koku, country); and
the Chinese still apply this name to Japan.
t Dr. J. J. Hoffman, who has written the best Japanese grammar yet published,
in expressing the exact date given in the Kojiki, in terms of the Julian style,
says the 19th of February (660 B.C.) was the day of Jimmu's ascension. Pro-
fessor F. Kaiser has found out by calculation that at eight A.M. on that day of
the said year there was a new moon at the miako. " Therefore," says this gram-
marian, leaping on the wings of his own logic to a tremendous conclusion, and
settling down into assured satisfaction, "the correctness of the Japanese chro-
nology may not be called in question." (See page 157, and note of "A Japanese
Grammar," J. J. Hoffman, Leyden, 1868.)
CO THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
vt
SUJIN, THE CIVTLIZER.
FROM the death of Jimmu Tenno to that of Kimmei, in whose
reign Buddhism was introduced (A.D. 571), there were, according to
the Dai Nihon Shi, thirty -one mikados. During this period of
twelve hundred and thirty-six years, believed to be historic by most
Japanese, the most interesting subjects to be noted are the reforms of
Sujin Tenno, the military expeditions to Eastern Japan by Yamato
Dake, the invasion of Corea by the Empress Jingu Kogo, and the in-
troduction of Chinese civilization and of Buddhism.
The Nihongi details the history and exploits of these ancient rulers
with a minuteness and exactness of circumstance that are very sus-
picious. It gives the precise birthdays and ages of the emperors, who
in those days attained an incredible longevity. Takenouchi, the Japa-
nese Methusaleh, lived to be over three hundred and fifty years old,
and served as prime minister to five successive emperors. Twelve
mikados lived to be over one hundred years old. One of them ruled
one hundred and one years. The reigns of the first seventeen aver-
aged over sixty-one years. From the seventeenth to the thirty-first,
the average reign is little over twelve years. In the list there are
many whose deeds, though exaggerated in the mirage of fable, are, in
the main, most probably historic.
Sujin, also called Shujin or Sunin (B.C. 97-30), was, according to
the Dai Nihon Shi, a man of intense earnestness and piety. The
traits of courage and energy which characterized his youth gave him
in manhood signal fitness for his chosen task of elevating his people.
He mourned over their wickedness, and called upon them to forsake
their sins, and turn their minds to the worship of the gods. A great
pestilence having broken out, and the people being still unrepentant,
the pious monarch rose early in the morning, fasted, and purified his
body with water, and called on the kami to stay the plague. After
solemn public worship the gods answered him, and the plague abated.
A revival of religious feeling and worship followed. In his reign
dates the building of special shrines for the adoration of the gods.
SffJIN, THE CIVILIZES, 61
Hitherto the sacred ceremonies had been celebrated in the open air.
Further, the three holy regalia (mirror, sword, and ball) had hith-
erto been kept in the palace of the mikado. It was believed that
the efficacy of the spirit was so great that the mikado dwelling with
the spirit was, as it were, equal to a god. These three emblems had
been placed within the palace, that it might be said that where they
were dwelt the divine power. A rebellion having broken out during
his reign, he was led to believe that this was a mark of the disfavor
of the gods, and in consequence of his keeping the emblems under
his own roof. Reverencing the majesty of the divine symbols, and
fearing that they might be defiled by too close proximity to his car-
nal body, he removed them from his dwelling, and dedicated them in
a temple erected for the purpose at Kasanui, a village in Yamato.
He appointed his own daughter priestess of the shrine and custodian
of the symbols — a custom which has continued to the present time.
The shrines of Uji, in Ise, which now hold these precious relics of
the divine age, are always in charge of a virgin princess of imperial
blood. Later, being warned by the goddess Amaterasu to do so, she
carried the mirror from province to province, seeking a suitable lo-
cality ; but having grown old in their search, Yamato hime* continued
it, and finally, after many changes, they were deposited in their pres-
ent place A.D. 4. Copies of the mirror and sword were, however,
made by Sujin, and placed in a separate building within the palace
called the "place of reverence." This was the origin of the chapel
still connected with the mikado's imperial palace.
From the most early time the dwelling and surroundings of the mi-
kado were characterized by the most austere simplicity, quite like the
Shinto temples themselves, and the name miya was applied to both.
In imagining the imperial palace in Japan, the reader on this side the
Pacific must dissolve the view projected on his mind at the mention
of the term " palace." Little of the stateliness of architecture or the
splendor and magnificence of the interior of a European palace belongs
to the Japanese imperial residence. A simple structure, larger than an
ordinary first-class dwelling, but quite like a temple in outward appear-
ance, and destitute of all meretricious or artistic ornamentation within,
marks the presence of royalty, or semi-divinity, in Japan. Even in Ki-
oto, for centuries, the palace, except for its size and slightly greater el-
* The suffix hime after female proper names means " princess." It is still used
by the ladies of the imperial family, and by the daughters of the court nobles.
Jfaye, with no, was also added to names of ladies of rank.
62
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
evation, could not be distinguished from the residences of the nobles,
or from a temple. All this was in keeping with the sacredness of the
personage enshrined within. For vain mortals, sprung from inferior or
wicked gods, for upstart generals, or low traders bloated with wealth,
luxury and display were quite seemly. Divinity needed no material
show. The circumstances and attributes of deity were enough. The
indulgence in gaudy display was opposed to the attributes and char-
acter of the living representative of the Heavenly Line. This rigid
simplicity was carried out even after death. In striking contrast with
the royal burial customs of the nations of Asia are those of Japan.
The Mikado's Method of Travel in very Ancient Times.
All over the East, the tombs of dead dynasties are edifices of all oth-
ers the most magnificent. The durable splendor of the homes of the
departed far exceed that of the palaces of the living. But in Japan,
in place of the gorgeous mausoleums and the colossal masterpieces of
mortuary architecture of continental Asia, the sepulchres of the mika-
dos seem monuments of chaste poverty. Nearly all of the imperial
tombs are within the three provinces of Yamato, Yamashiro, and Set-
tsu. A simple base of stone, surmounted by a low shaft, set upon a
hillock, surrounded by a trench, and inclosed with a neat railing of
timber, marks the resting-places of the dead emperors. All this is in
accordance with the precepts of Shinto.
80JIN, THE CIVILIZER.
63
The whole life of Sujin was one long effort to civilize his half-
savage subjects. He ordained certain dayn when persons of both
sexes must lay aside their regular employment, and give the Govern-
ment his or her quantum of labor. The term for the labor of the
men means " bow-point," and of the women " hand-point," implying
that in the one case military service was the chief requirement, and
in the other that of the loom or the field. He endeavored, in or-
der to secure just taxation, to inaugurate a regular periodical census,
and to reform the methods of dividing and recording time.* He
encouraged the building of boats, in order to increase the means of
transportation, promote commerce, and to bring the people at the
extremities of the country in contact with each other. Communi-
cation between Corea and Kiushiu was rendered not only possible,
but promised to be regular and profitable. We read that, during
his reign, an envoy, bringing presents, arrived from Mimana, in Co-
rea, B.C. 33. Six years later, it is recorded that the prince, a chief of
Shiraki, in Corea, came to Japan to live. It is evident that these Co-
reans would tell much of what they had seen in their own country,
and that many useful ideas and appliances would be introduced under
the patronage of this enlightened monarch. Sujin may be also called
the father of Japanese agriculture, since he encouraged it by edict and
example, ordering canals to be dug, water-courses provided, and irriga-
tion to be extensively carried on. Water is the first necessity of the
rice-fanner of Asia. It is to him as precious a commodity as it is to
the miner of California. Rice must be sown, transplanted, and grown
under water. Hence, in a country where this cereal is the staple crop,
immense areas of irrigated fields are necessary. One of the unique
forms of theft in rice-countries, which, in popular judgment, equals in
•* The twenty -four divisions of the solar 3Tear (according to the lunar calendar),
by which the Japanese farmers have for centuries regulated their labors, are as
follows :
' Beginning of Spring" February 3.
' Rain-water " February 19.
'Awakening of the Insects". . .March 5.
' Middle of the Spring" March 20.
' Clear Weather" April 5.
'Seed Rain" April 20.
' Beginning of Summer" May 5.
' Little Plenty " May 20.
1 Transplanting the Rice " June 5.
' Height of the Summer" June 21.
' Little Heat" July «.
' Great Heat". July 23.
' Beginning of Autumn " August 7.
' Local Heat" August 23.
' White Dew" September 8.
' Middle of Autumn " September 23.
' Cold Dew" October S.
' Fall of Hoar-frost" October 23.
' Beginning of Winter" November 7.
'Little Snow" November 22.
' Great Snow" December 7.
' Height of the Winter" December 22.
' Little Frost" January 6.
1 Great Frost" January 20.
64 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
iniquity the stealing of ore at the mines, or horses on the prairies,
is the drawing off water from a neighbor's field. In those old rude
times, the Japanese water-thief, when detected, received but little more
mercy than the horse-robber in the West. The immense labor neces-
sary to obtain the requisite water-supply can only be appreciated by
one who has studied the flumes of California, the tanks of India, or
the various appliances in Southern Asia. In Japan, it is very com-
mon to terrace, with great labor, the mountain gulches, and utilize the
stream in irrigating the platforms, thus changing a noisy, foaming
stream into a silent and useful servant. In many cases, the water is
led for miles along artificial canals, or ditches, to the fertile soil which
needs it. On flat lands, at the base of mountains, huge reservoirs are
excavated, and tapped as often as desired. In the bosom of the Ha-
kone Mountains, between Sagami and Suruga, is a deep lake of pure
cold water, over five thousand feet above the sea-level. On the plain
below are few or no natural streams. Centuries ago, but long after
Sujin's time, the mountain wall was breached and tunneled by man-
ual labor, and now through the rocky sluices flows a flood sufficient
to enrich the millions of acres of Suruga province. The work begun
by Sujin was followed up vigorously by his successor, as we read that,
in the year A.D. 6, a proclamation was issued ordering canals and sluices
to be dug in over eight hundred places.
The emperor had two sons, whom he loved equally.1' Unable to de-
termine which of them should succeed him, he one day told them to
tell him their dreams the next morning, and he should decide the
issue by interpretation. The young princes accordingly washed their
bodies, changed their garments, and slept. Next day the elder son
said, " I dreamed that I climbed up a mountain, and, facing the east,
I cut with the sword and thrust with the spear eight times." The
younger said, " I climbed the same mountain, and, stretching snares
of cords on every side, tried to catch the sparrows that destroy the
grain." The emperor then interpreted the dream, "Yotf, my son,"
said he to the elder, "looked in one direction. You will go to the
East, and become its governor." " You, my son," said he to the
younger, " looked in every direction. You will govern on all sides.
You will become my heir." It happened as the father had said. The
younger became emperor, and a peaceful ruler. The elder became the
governor of, and a warrior in, the East.
The story is interesting as illustrating the method of succession to
the throne. Usually it was by primogeniture, but often it depended
SffJIN, THE CIVILIZES. 65
upon the will or whim of the father, the councils of his chiefs, or the
intrigues of courtiers.
The energies of this pious mikado were further exerted in devising
and executing a national military system, whereby his peaceably dis-
posed subjects could be protected and the extremities of his domin-
ions extended. The eastern and northern frontiers were exposed to
the assaults of the wild tribes of Ainos who were yet unsubdued.
Between the peaceful agricultural inhabitants who owned the sway of
the ruler in Yamato, and the untamed savages who gloried in their
freedom, a continual border-war existed. The military division of the
empire into four departments was made, and a shogun, or general, was
appointed over each. These departments were the To, Nan, and Sai
kai do, and Hokurokudo, or the East, Southland West-sea Circuits,
and the Northern-land Circuit. The strict division of the empire into
do, or circuits, according with the natural features and partitions of
the country, which is still recognized, was of later time ; but already,
B.C. 25, it seems to have been foreshadowed by Sujin.
One of these shoguns, or generals, named Obiko, who was assigned
to the Northern Department, lying north of Yamato and along the
west coast, holds a high place of renown among the long list of
famous Japanese warriors. It is said that when, just after he had
started to join his command, he heard of a conspiracy against the
mikado, returning quickly, he killed the traitor, restored order, and
then resumed his duties in the camp at the North. His son held com-
mand in the East. In the following reign, it is written that military
arsenals and magazines were established, so that weapons and rations
were ready at any moment for a military expedition to repel incursions
from the wild tribes on the border, or to suppress insurrections within
the pale of the empire. The half -subdued inhabitants in the extremes
of the realm needed constant watching, and seem to have been as
restless and treacherous as the Indians on our own frontiers. The
whole history of the extension and development of the mikado's em-
pire is one of war and blood, rivaling, if not exceeding, that of our
own country in its early struggles with the Indians. This constant
military action and life in the camp resulted, in the course of time, in
the creation of a powerful and numerous military class, who made war
professional and hereditary. It developed that military genius and
character which so distinguish the modern Japanese, and mark them
in such strong contrast with other nations of Eastern Asia. The long-
sustained military operations also served to consolidate the empire.
66 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
In these ancient days, however, there was no regular army, no special
class of warriors, as in later times. Until the eighth century, the
armies were extemporized from the farmers and people generally, as
occasion demanded. The war over, they returned to their daily em-
ployments. The mikados were military chiefs, and led their armies,
or gave to their sons or near relatives only, the charge of expeditions.
It is not my purpose to follow in detail the long series of battles,
Imperial or Japanese Government Seal for Public Business. The Chrysanthemum.
or even court conspiracies and intrigues, which fill the Japanese his-
tories, and lead some readers to suppose that war was the normal con-
dition of the palace and empire. I prefer to show the condition
of the people, their methods of life, customs, ideas, and beliefs. Al-
though wars without and intrigues within were frequent, these by no
means made up the life of the nation. Peace had its victories, no
less renowned than those of war. A study of the life of the people,
showing their progress from barbarism to civilization, will, I think, be
of more interest to the reader than details concerning imperial rebels,
poisoners, or stabbers.
In the Japanese histories, and in official language, literature, and eti-
quette of later days, there exists the conception of two great spheres
of activity and of two kinds of transactions, requiring two methods of
, THE CIVILIZER.
67
treatment. They are the nai and guai, the inner and the outer, the in-
terior and exterior of the palace, or the throne and the empire. Thus
the Nikon Guai Shi, by Rai Sanyo, or " External History of Japan,"
treats of the events, chiefly military, outside the palace. His other
work, Nikon Seiki, treats rather of the affairs of the " forbidden in-
terior" of the palace. In those early days this conception had not
been elaborated.
Imperial Crest, or the Mikado's Seal, for Private or Palace Business. Leaf and Blossoms
of the Paulawnia imperialis (kiri.)
The mikado from ancient times has had two crests, answering to
the coats of arms in European heraldry. One is a representation of a
chrysanthemum (kiku), and is used for government purposes outside
the palace. It is embroidered on flags and banners, and printed on
official documents. Since the Restoration, in 1868, the soldiers of the
imperial army wear it as a frontlet on their caps. The other crest,
representing a blossom and leaves of the Paulownia imperialis (kiri),
is used in business personal to the mikado and his family. The an-
cient golden chrysanthemum has, since 1868, burst into new bloom,
like the flowering of the nation itself, and has everywhere displaced
the trefoil of the parvenus of later feudalism — the Tokugawas, the
only military vassals of the mikado who ever assumed the preposter-
ous title of " Tycoon."
68 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
VII.
7AMATO-DAKE, THE CONQUEBOK OF THE KUANTO*
A NEW hero appears in the second century, whose personality seems
so marked that it is impossible to doubt that within the shell of fabu-
lous narration is a rich kernel of history. This hero, a son of the
twelfth emperor, Keiko (71-130 A.D.), is pictured as of fair mien, manly
and graceful carriage. In his youth he led an army to put down a re-
bellion in Kiushiu ; and, wishing to enter the enemy's camp, he dis-
guised himself as a dancing-girl, and presented himself before the sen-
tinel, who, dazed by the beauty and voluptuous figure of the supposed
damsel, and hoping for a rich reward from his chief, admitted her to
the arch-rebel's tent. After dancing before him and his carousing
guests, the delighted voluptuary drew his prize by the hand into his
own tent. Instead of a yielding girl, he found more than his match in
the heroic youth, who seized him, held him powerless, and took his
life. For this valorous effort he received the name Yamato-Dake, or,
the Warlike. Thirteen years after this victory, A.D. 110, the tribes in
eastern Japan revolted, and Yamato-Dake went to subdue them. He
stopped at the shrine of the Sun-goddess in Ise, and, leaving his own
sword under a pine -tree, he obtained from the priestess the sacred
sword, one of the holy emblems enshrined by Sujin. Armed with
this palladium, he penetrated into the wilds of Suruga, to fight the
Ainos, who fled before him from the plains into the woods and mount-
ain fastnesses. The Aino method of warfare, like that of our North
American Indians, was to avoid an encounter in the open field, and to
* Kuanto (east of the barrier). The term Kuanto was, probably as early as the
ninth century, applied to that part of Japan lying east of the guard-gate, or bar-
rier, at Ozaka, a small village on the borders of Yamashiro and Omi. It included
thirty-three provinces. The remaining thirty-three provinces were called Kuan-
sei (west of the barrier). In modern times and at present, the term Kuanto (writ-
ten also Kant6) is applied to the eight provinces (Kuan-hasshiu) east of the Ha-
kone" range, consisting of Sagami, Musashi, Kodzuke", Shimotsuke", Kadzusa, Awa,
Shimosa, and Hitachi. Sometimes Idzu, Kai, and the provinces of Hondo north
of the thirty-eighth parallel, formerly called Mutsu and De" wa, are also included.
YAMATO-DAKE, THE CONQUEROR OF THE KUANTO. 69
fight in ambush from behind trees, rocks, or in the rank undergrowth,
using every artifice by which, as pursued, they could inflict the great-
est damage upon an enemy with the least loss and danger to them-
selves. In the lore of the forest they were so well read that they felt
at home in the most tangled wilds. They were able to take advan-
tage of every sound and sign. They were accustomed to disguise
themselves in bear-skins, and thus act as spies and scouts. Fire was
one of their chief means of attack. On a certain occasion they kin-
Japan, as known to the Ancient Mikados before the Fifth Century.
died the underbrush, which is still seen so densely covering the un-
cleared portions of the base of Fuji. The flames, urged by the wind,
threatened to surround and destroy the Japanese army — a sight which
the Ainos beheld with yells of delight. The Sun-goddess then ap-
peared to Yamato-Dake, who, drawing the divinely bestowed sword —
Murakumo, or "Cloud-cluster" — cut the grass around him. So invin-
cible was the blade that the flames ceased advancing and turned to-
ward his enemies, who were consumed, or fled defeated. Yamato-Dake
70 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
then gratefully acknowledging to the gods the victory vouchsafed to
him, changed the name of the sword to Kusanagi (Grass-mower).
Crossing the Hakone Mountains, he descended into the great plain
of the East, in later days called the Kuanto, which stretches from the
base of the central ranges and table-land of Hondo to the shores of
the Pacific, and from Sagami to Iwaki. On reaching the Bay of Yedo
at about Kamizaki, near Uraga, off which Commodore Perry anchored
with his steamers in 1853, the hills of the opposite peninsula of Awa
seemed so very close at hand, that Yamato-Dake supposed it would be
a trifling matter to cross the intervening channel. He did not know
what we know so well now, that at these narrows of the bay the
winds, tides, currents, and weather are most treacherous. Having
embarked with his host, a terrific storm arose, and the waves tossed
the boat so helplessly about that death seemed inevitable. Then the
frightened monarch understood that the Sea-god, insulted by his dis-
paraging remark, had raised the storm to punish him. The only way
to appease the wrath of the deity was by the sacrifice of a victim.
Who would offer? One was ready. In the boat with her lord was
his wife, Tachibana hime. Bidding him farewell, she leaped into the
mad waves. The blinding tempest drove on the helpless boat, and
the victim and the saved were parted. But the sacrifice was accepted.
Soon the storm ceased, the sky cleared, the lovely landscape unveiled
in serene repose. Yamato-Dake landed in Kadzusa, and subdued the
tribes. At the head of the peninsula, at a site still pointed out within
the limits of modern Tokio, he found the perfumed wooden comb of
his wife, which had floated ashore. Erecting an altar, he dedicated the
precious relic as a votive offering to the gods. A Shinto shrine still
occupies the site where her spirit and that of Yamato-Dake are wor-
shiped by the fishermen and sailors, whose junks fill the Bay of Yedo
with animation and picturesque beauty. As usual, a pine-tree stands
near the shrine. The artist has put Mount Fuji in the distance, a
beautiful view of which is had from the strand. Yamato-Dak6 then
advanced northward, through Shimosa, sailing along the coast in
boats to the border, as the Japanese claimed it to be, between the
empire proper and the savages, which lay at or near the thirty-eighth
parallel. The two greatest chiefs of the Ain5s, apprised of his com-
ing, collected a great army to overwhelm the invader. Seeing his
fleet approaching, and awed at the sight, they were struck with con-
sternation, and said, " These ships must be from the gods. If so, and
we draw bow against them, we shall be destroyed." No sooner had
YAMA.TO-DAKE, TH& CONQUEROR OF THE KUANTO. 71
Yamato-Dak6 landed than they came to the strand and surrendered.
The hero kept the leaders as hostages, and having tranquilizcd the
tribes, exacting promise of tribute, he set out on the homeward jour-
ney. His long absence from the capital in the wilds of the East
doubtless disposed him to return gladly. He passed through Hitachi
and Shimosa, resting temporarily at Sakura, then through Musashi
and Kai. Here he is said to have invented the distich, or thirty-one-
syllable poem, so much used at the present day. After his army had
been refreshed by their halt, he sent one of his generals into Echizen
and Echigo to tranquilize the North-west and meet him in Yamato.
Junk in the Bay of Yedo, near the Shrine of Tachibana him6.
He himself marched into Shinano. Hitherto, since crossing the
Hakone range, he had carried on his operations on the plains. Shi-
nano is a great table-land averaging twenty-five hundred, and rising
in many places over five thousand, feet above the sea-level, surrounded
and intersected by the loftiest peaks and mountain ranges in Japan.
Ninety-five miles north-west of Tokio is the famous mountain pass of
TJsui Toge, the ascent of which from Sakamoto, on the high plain be-
low, is a toilsome task. At this point, twenty-six hundred feet above
Sakamoto, unrolls before the spectator a magnificent view of the Bay
of Yedo and the plain below, one of the most beautiful and impress-
ive in Japan. Here Yamato stood and gazed at the land and water,
72 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
draperied in the azure of distance, and, recalling the memory of his
beloved wife, who had sacrificed her life for him, he murmured, sadly,
"Adzuma, adzuma" (My wife, my wife). The plain of Yedo is still,
in poetry, called Adzuma. One of the princes of the blood uses Ad-
zuma as his surname; and the ex-Confederate iron-clad ram Stone-
wall, now of the Japanese navy, is christened Adzuma-kuan.
To cross the then almost unknown mountains of Shinano was a
bold undertaking, which only a chief of stout heart would essay.*
To travel in the thinly populated mountainous portions of Japan even
at the present time, at least to one accustomed to the comfort of the
palace-cars of civilization, is not pleasant. In those days, roads in the
Kuanto were unknown. The march of an army up the slippery as-
cents, through rocky defiles, over lava-beds and river torrents, required
as much nerve and caution as muscle and valor. To their superstitious
fancies, every mountain was the abode of a god, every cave and defile
the lurking-place of spirits. Air and water and solid earth were pop-
ulous with the creatures of their imagination. Every calamity was
the manifestation of the wrath of the local gods ; every success a proof
that the good kami were specially favoring them and their leaders.
The clouds and fogs were the discomfiting snares of evil deities to
cause them to lose their path. The asphyxiating exhalations from
volcanoes, or from the earth, which to this day jet out inflammable
gas, were the poisonous breath of the mountain gods, insulted by the
daring intrusion into their sacred domain. On one occasion the god
of the mountain came to Yamato-Dake, in the form of a white deer, to
trouble him. Yamato-Dake, suspecting the animal, threw some wild
garlic in its eye, causing it to smart so violently that the deer died.
* The cold in winter in the high mountain regions of Shinano is severe, and
fires are needed in the depth of summer. Heavy falls of snow in winter make
traveling tedious and difficult. I went over this part of Yamato-Dake' s journey
in 1873, completing a tour of nine hundred miles. As I have gone on foot over
the mountain toges (passes) from Takata, in Echigo, to Tokio, in Musashi, and
likewise have been a pedestrian -up and over the pass of St. Bernard, I think, all
things considered, the achievement of Yamato-Dake" fully equal in courage, skill,
daring, patience, and romantic interest to that of Napoleon. The tourist to-day
who makes the trip over this route is rewarded with the most inspiring views of
Fuji, Asama yama, Yatsugadake", and other monarchs in this throne-room of nat-
ure in Japan. In the lowlands of Kodzuke" also is the richest silk district in all
Japan, the golden cocoons, from which is spun silver thread, covering the floors
of almost every house during two summer months, while the deft fingers of Jap-
anese maidens, pretty and otherwise, may be seen busily engaged in unraveling
the shroud of the worm, illustrating the living proverb, " With time and patience
even the mulberry-leaf becomes silk."
YAMATO-DAKE, THE CONQUEROR OF THE KUANTO. 73
Immediately the mountain was shrouded in mist and fog, and the path
disappeared. In the terror and dismay, a white dog — a good kami in
disguise — appeared, and led the way safely to the plains of Mino.
Again the host were stricken by the spirit of the white deer. All
the men and animals of the camp were unable to stand, stupefied by
the mephitic gas discharged among them by the wicked kami. Hap-
pily, some one bethought him of the wild garlic, ate it, and gave to
the men and animals, and all recovered. At the present day in Japan,
partly in commemoration of this incident, but chiefly for the purpose
of warding off infectious or malarious diseases, garlic is hung up be-
fore gates and doors in time of epidemic, when an attack of disease is
apprehended. Thousands of people believe it to be fully as effica-
cious as a horseshoe against witches, or camphor against contagion.
Descending to the plains of Mino, and crossing through it, he came
to Ibuki yama, a mountain shaped like a truncated sugar-loaf, which
rears its colossal flat head in awful majesty above the clouds. Yama-
to-Dake attempted to subdue the kami that dwelt on this mountain.
Leaving his sword, " Grass-mower," at the foot of the mountain, he
advanced Unarmed. The god transformed himself into a serpent, and
barred his progress. The hero leaped over him. Suddenly the heav-
ens darkened. Losing the path, Yamato-Dake swooned and fell. On
drinking of a spring by the way, he was able to lift up his head.
Henceforward it was called Same no idzumi, or the Fountain of Re-
covery. Reaching Otsu, in Ise, though still feeble, he found, under
the pine-tree, the sword which he had taken off before, and forthwith
composed a poem : " O pine, were you a man, I should give you this
sword to wear for your fidelity." He had been absent in the Kuanto
three years. He recounted before the gods his adventures, difficulties,
and victories, made votive offerings of his weapons and prisoners, and
gave solemn thanks for the deliverance vouchsafed him. He then re-
ported his transactions to his father, the mikado, and, being weak and
nigh to death, he begged to see him. The parent sent a messenger
to comfort his son. When he arrived, Yamato-Dake' was dead. He
was buried at Nobono, in Ise. From his tomb a white bird flew up ;
and on opening it, only the chaplet and robes of the dead hero were
found. Those who followed the bird saw it alight at Koto-hiki hara
(Plain of the Koto-players) in Yamato, which was henceforth called
Misazaki Shiratori (Imperial Tomb of the White Bird). His death
took place A.D. 113, at the age of thirty-six. Many temples in the
Kuanto and in various parts of Japan are dedicated to him.
74 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
I have given so full an account of Yamato-Dake to show the style
and quality of ancient Japanese tradition, and exhibit the state of
Eastern Japan at that time, and because under the narration there is
good history of one who extended the real boundaries of the early
empire.* Yamato-Dake was one of the partly historic and partly ideal
heroes that are equally the cause and the effect of the Japanese mili-
tary spirit. It may be that the future historians of Japan may con-
sider this chapter as literary trash, and put Yamato-Dake and all his
deeds in the same limbo with Romulus and his wolf-nurse, William
Tell and his apple ; but I consider him to have been a historical per-
sonage, and his deeds a part of genuine history.
* The names of the various provinces of Japan are given below. Each name
of Japanese origin has likewise a synonym compounded of the Chinese word shiu
(province), affixed to the pronunciation of the Chinese character with which the
first syllable of the native word is written. In some cases the Chinese form is
most in use, in which case it is italicized. In a few cases both forms are current.
Go Kinai (Five Home Provinces).
Hokurikudo (Continued).
Yamashiro, or Joshiu.
Echigo, " Esshiu.
Yamato, " Washiu.
Sado (island), " Sashiu.
Kawachi, " Kashiu.
Idzumi, " Senshiu.
Sanindo (Mountain-back Region).
Settsu, " Sesshiu.
Tamba, or Tanshiu.
Tokaido (Eastern-sea Region).
Tango, " Tanshiu.
Tajima, " Tanshiu.
Iga, or Ishin.
Iimba, " Inshiu.
Ise, Seishiu.
Hoki, " Hakushiu.
Shima, Shishiu.
Idzumo, " Unshiu.
Owari, Bishiu.
Mikawa, Sanshiu.
Iwami, " Sekishiu.
Oki (islands).
Totomi, Enshiu.
Suruga, Sunshiu.
Sanyodo (Mountain-front Region).
Idzu, Dznshiu.
Harima, or Banshiu.
Kai, Koshiu.
Mimasaka, ' Sakushiu.
Sagami, Soshiu.
Bizen, ' Bishiu.
Musaski. Bushiu.
Bitchiu, Bishiu.
Awa, Boshiu.
Bingo, Bishiu.
Xadzusa, Soshin.
Aki, Geishiu.
Shimdsa, Soshiu.
Suwo, Boshiu.
Hitachi, Joshiu.
Nagato, Choshiu.
Tozando (Eastern-mountain Region).
<5mi, or Gdshiu.
Mino, Nosniu.
Hida, Hishin.
Nankaido (Southern-sea Region).
Kii, or Kishiu.
Awaji (island), Tanshin.
Awa Ashiu.
Shinano. Shinshiu.
Kodzuke, . Joshiu.
Shimotsuk6, <£ Yashiu.
flwashi, ~) 5S
Sanuki, Sanshin.
lyo, Yoshiu.
Tosa, Toshiu.
g Iwashiro, g
Saikaido (Western-sea Region).
^ J. Rikuzen, > a " Oshin.
g Riknchin, '3
. I Michinoku,] -o
CO >TT \ Q>
Chikuzen, or Chikushiu.
Chikugo, Chiknshiu.
Buzen, Hoshin.
> f Uzen, \ *5 TT
Bungo, Hoshiu.
J2 \Ugo, j >
Hizen, Hishin.
Q
Hifio, llisliiu.
Hokurikudo (Northern-land Region).
Wakasa, or Jakushiu.
Echizen, " Esphin.
Hiuga, Nisshiu.
Ozumi, Oushin.
Satsnma, Sasshin.
Kafia, " Kashiu.
The " Two Islands."
Koto, " Noshiu.
Tsushima, or Taishiu.
Etchiu, " Esshiu.
ltd, " Ishiu.
THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CIVILIZATION. 75
VIII.
THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CIVILIZATION.
IF Japan is to Asia what Great Britain is to Europe — according to
the comparison so often made by the modern Japanese — then Corea
was to Dai Nippon what Norman France was to Saxon England.
Through this peninsula, and not directly from China, flowed the influ-
ences whose confluence with the elements of Japanese life produced
the civilization which for twelve centuries has run its course in the
island empire. The comparison is not perfect, inasmuch as Japan
sent the conqueror to Corea, whereas Normandy sent William across
the Channel. In the moral and {esthetic conquest of Rome by Greece,
though vanquished by Roman arms, we may perhaps find a closer re-
semblance to the events of the second triad of the Christian centuries
in the history of Japan. i
Is it true among historic nations that anciently the position of
woman was higher than in later times ? It has been pointed out by
more than one writer on Greece " that in the former and ruder period
women had undoubtedly the higher place, and their type exhibited
the highest perfection." This is certainly the case in Japan. The
women of the early centuries were, according to Japanese history,
possessed of more intellectual and physical vigor, filling the offices of
state, religion, and household honors, and approaching more nearly
the ideal cherished in those countries in which the relation of the
sexes is that of professed or real equality. Certain it is that, whereas
there are many instances of ancient Japanese women reaching a high
plane of social dignity and public honor, in later ages the virtuous
woman dwelt in seclusion ; exemplars of ability were rare ; and the
courtesan became the most splendid type of womanhood. This must
be more than the fancy of poets. As in the Greece of Homer and
the tragedians, so in early Nippon, woman's abilities and possibilities
far surpassed those that were hers in the later days of luxury and civ-
ilization. To a woman is awarded the glory of the conquest of Co-
rea, whence came letters, religion, and civilization to Japan.
76 THE MIKADO'S UMPIRE.
In all Japanese tradition or history, there is no greater female char-
acter than the empress Jingu (godlike exploit). Her name was Okina-
ga Tarashi hime, but she is better known by her posthumous title of
Jingu Kogo, or Jingu, the wife or spouse of the mikado. She was
equally renowned for her beauty, piety, intelligence, energy, and mar-
tial valor. She was not only very obedient to the gods, but they de-
lighted to honor her by their inspiration. She feared neither the
waves of the sea, the arrows of the battle-field, nor the difficulties that
wait on all great enterprises. Great as she was in her own person,
she is greater in the Japanese eyes as the mother of the god of war.
In the year 193 a rebellion broke out at Kumaso, in Kiushiu. The
mikado Chiuai (191—200) headed his army, and marched to subdue
the rebels. Jingu Kogo, or Jingu, the empress, followed him by ship,
embarking from Tsuruga, in Echizen — a port a few miles north-west
of the head of Lake Biwa — meeting her husband at Toyo no ura, near
the modern Shimonoseki, of indemnity fame. While worshiping on
one of the islands of the Inland Sea, the god spoke to her, and said,
" Why are you so deeply concerned to conquer Kumaso ? It is but a
poor, sparse region, not worth conquering with an army. There is a
much larger and richer country, as sweet and lovely as the face of a
fair virgin. It is dazzling bright with gold, silver, and fine colors, and
every kind of rich treasures is to be found in Shiraki (in Corea). Wor-
ship me, and I will give you power to conquer the country without
bloodshed ; and by my help, and the glory of your conquest, Kumaso
shall be straightway subdued." The emperor, hearing this from his
wife, which she declared was the message of the gods, doubted, and,
climbing to the summit of a high mountain, looked over the sea, and
seeing no land to the westward, answered her : " I looked everywhere
and saw water, but no land. Is there a country in the sky ? If not,
you deceived me. My ancestors worshiped all the gods : is there any
whom they did not worship ?"
The gods, answering through the inspired empress, made reply :
" If you believe only your doubts, and say there is no country when
I have declared there is one, you blaspheme, and you shall not go
thither ; but the empress, your wife, has conceived, and the child
within her shall conquer the country." Nevertheless, the emperor
doubted, and advanced against Kumaso, but was worsted by the rebels.
While in camp, he took sick and died suddenly. According to an-
other tradition, he was slain in battle by an arrow. His minister,
Takenouchi, concealed his death from the soldiers, and carried the
THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CIVILIZATION. 77
corpse back to Toyo no ura, in Nagato. The brave Jingu, with the
aid of Takenouchi, suppressed the rebellion, and then longed for con-
quest beyond the sea.
While in Hizen, in order to obtain a sign from the gods she went
down to the sea-shore, and baited a hook with a grain of boiled rice,
to catch a fish. " Now," said she, " I shall conquer a rich country if a
fish be caught with this grain of rice." The bait took. A fish was
caught, and Jingu exultingly accepted the success of her venture as a
token of celestial approval of her design. " M&lzurashiki mono!"
(wonderful thing), exclaimed the royal lady. The place of the omen
is still called Matsura, corrupted from the words she used. In further
commemoration, the women of that section, every year, in the first
part of the Fourth month, go fishing, no males being allowed the priv-
ilege on that day. The pious Jingu prepared to invade Corea; but
wishing another indication of the will of the kami, she on one occa-
sion immersed her hair in water, saying that, if the gods approved of
her enterprise, her tresses would become dry, and be parted into two
divisions. It was as she desired. Her luxuriant black hair came
from the water dry, and parted in two. Her mind was now fixed.
She ordered her generals and captains to collect troops, build ships,
and be ready to embark. Addressing them, she said: "The safety
or destruction of our country depends upon this enterprise. I intrust
the details to you. It will be your fault if they are not carried out.
I am a woman, and young ; I shall disguise myself as a man, and un-
dertake this gallant expedition, trusting to the gods, and to my troops
and captains. We shall acquire a wealthy country. The glory is
yours, if we succeed ; if we fail, the guilt and disgrace shall be mine."
Her captains, with unanimity and enthusiasm, promised to support
her and carry out her plans. The enterprise was a colossal one for
Japan at that time. Although the recruiting went on in the various
provinces, and the ships were built, the army formed slowly. Chaf-
ing at the delay, but not discouraged, again she had recourse to the
efficacy of worship and an appeal to the gods. Erecting a tabernacle
of purification, with prayers and lustrations and sacrifices she prayed
the kami to grant her speedy embarkation and success. The gods
were propitious. Troops came in. The army soon assembled, and
all was ready, A.D. 201.
Before starting, Jingu issued orders to her soldiers, as follows :
"No loot.
" Neither despise a few enemies nor fear many.
78 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
" Give mercy to those who yield, but no quarter to the stubborn.
" Rewards shall be apportioned to the victors ; punishments shall be
meted to the deserters."
Then the words of the gods came, saying, " The Spirit of Peace will
always guide you and protect your life. The Spirit of War will go
before you and lead your ships."
Jingu again returned thanks for these fresh exhibitions of divine
favor, and made her final preparations to start, when a new impedi-
ment threatened to delay hopelessly the expedition, or to rob it of its
soul and leader, the Amazonian chief. She discovered that she was
pregnant. Again the good favor of the gods enabled her to triumph
over the obstacles which nature, or the fate of her sex, might throw in
the path of her towering ambition. She found a stone which, being
placed in her girdle, delayed her accouchement until her return from
Corea,
It does not seem to have been perfectly clear in the minds of those
ancient filibusters where Corea was, or for what particular point of the
horizon they were to steer. They had no chart or compass. The
sun, stars, and the flight of birds were their guides. In a storm they
would be helpless. One fisherman had been sent to sail westward
and report. He came back declaring there was no land to be seen.
Another man was dispatched, and returned, having seen the mount-
ains on the main-land. The fleet sailed in the Tenth month. Winds,
waves, and currents were all favorable. The gods watched over the
fleet, and sent shoals of huge fishes to urge on the waves that by their
impact lifted the sterns and made the prows leap as though alive.
The ships beached safely in Southern Corea, the Japanese army land-
ed in the glory of sunlight and the grandeur of war in splendid array.
The king of this part of Corea had heard from his messengers of the
coming of a strange fleet from the East, and, terrified, exclaimed, " We
never knew there was any country outside of us. Have our gods for-
saken us ?" The invaders had no fighting to do as they expected. It
was a bloodless invasion. The Coreans came, holding white flags, and
surrendered, offering to give up their treasures. They took an oath
that they would be tributary to Japan, that they would never cause
their conquerors to dispatch another expedition, and that they would
send hostages to Japan. The rivers might flow backward, or the peb-
bles in their beds leap up to the stars, yet would they not break their
oath. Jingu set up weapons before the gate of the king in token of
peace. By his order eighty ships well laden with gold and silver, ar-
THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CIVILIZATION. 79
tides of wealth, silk and precious goods of all kinds, and eighty hos-
tages, men of high families, were put on board.
The stay of the Japanese army in Corea was very brief, and the
troops returned in the Twelfth month. Jingu was, on her arrival, de-
livered of a son, who, in the popular estimation of gods and mortals,
holds even a higher place of honor than his mother, who is believed
to have conquered Southern Corea through the power of her yet un-
born illustrious offspring. After leaving her couch, the queen-regent
erected in Nagato (Choshiu) a shrine, and in it dedicated the Spirit of
War that had guided her army. She then attended to the funeral
rites of her deceased husband, and returned to the capital.
The conquest of Corea, more correctly a naval raid into one of the
southern provinces, took place A.D. 203. The motive which induced
the invasion seems to have been the same as that carried out by Hide-
yoshi in 1583, and contemplated in 1873 — mere love of war and con-
quest. The Japanese refer with great pride to this their initial ex-
ploit on foreign soil. It was the first time they had ever gone in
ships to a foreign country to fight. For the first time it gave them
the opportunity of displaying their valor in making " the arms of Ja-
pan shine beyond the seas " — a pet phrase which occurs in many docu-
ments in Japan, even in this 2536th year of the Japanese empire, and
of our Lord 1876. Nevertheless, the honor of the exploit is given to
the unborn son on whom dwelt the Spirit of War, rather than to the
mother who bore him.
The queen-mother is worshiped in many temples as Kashii dai mio
jin. The son, Ojin, afterward a great warrior, was, at his death, 313
A.D., deified as the god of war ; and down through the centuries he
has been worshiped by all classes of people, especially by soldiers, who
offer their prayers, pay their vows, and raise their votive offerings to
him. Many of the troops, before taking steamer for Formosa, in 1874,
implored his protection. In his honor some of the most magnificent
temples in Japan have been erected, and almost every town and vil-
lage, as well as many a rural grove and hill, has its shrine erected to
this Japanese Mars. He is usually represented in his images as of
frightful, scowling countenance, holding, with arms akimbo, a broad
two-edged sword. One of the favorite subjects of Japanese artists of
all periods is the group of figures consisting of the snowy-bearded
Takenouchi, in civil dress, holding the infant of Jingu Kogo in his
arms, the mother standing by in martial robes. Jingu is the heroine
and model for boys, not of the girls. In the collection of pictures,
6
80 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
images, and dolls which in Japanese households on the 5th of May,
every year, teach to the children the names and deeds of the national
heroes, and instill the lessons taught by their example, this warrior-
woman is placed among the male, and not among the female, groups.
Nine empresses in all have sat upon the throne of Japan as rulers,
four of whom reigned at the capital, Nara. None have won such mar-
tial renown as Jingu. It is not probable, however, that military enter-
prise will ever again give the nation another ideal woman like the
conqueror of Corea. It is now, in modern days, given to the Empress
of Japan to elevate the condition of her female subjects by graciously
encouraging the education of the girls, and setting a noble example,
not only of womanly character and of active deeds of benevolence,
but also in discarding the foolish and barbarous customs of past ages,
notably that of blacking the teeth and shaving off the eyebrows. This
the present empress, Haruko, has done. Already this chief lady of the
empire has accomplished great reforms in social customs and fashions,
and, both by the encouragement of her presence and by gifts from her
private purse, has greatly stimulated the cause of the education and the
elevation of woman in Japan. Haply, it may come to pass that this
lady in peaceful life may do more for the good and glory of the em-
pire than even the renowned queen-regent, Jingu Kogo.
The early centuries of the Christian era, from the third to the
eighth, mark that period in Japanese history during which the future
development and character of the nation were mightily influenced by
the introduction, from the continent of Asia, of the most potent fac-
tors in any civilization. They were letters, religion, philosophy, liter-
ature, laws, ethics, medicine, science, and art. Heretofore the first un-
foldings of the Japanese intellect in the composition of sacred hymns,
odes, poems, myths, and tradition had no prop upon which to train,
and no shield against oblivion but the unassisted memory. The Jap-
anese were now to have records. Heretofore religion was simply the
rude offspring of human imagination, fear, and aspiration, without
doctrinal systems, moral codes, elaborate temples, or sacerdotal caste.
Henceforth the Japanese were to be led, guided, and developed in
morals, intellect, and worship by a religion that had already brought
the nations of Asia under its sway — a strong, overpowering, and ag-
gressive faith, that was destined to add Japan to its conquests. Bud-
dhism, bringing new and greater sanctions, penalties, motives, and a
positive theology and code of morals, was to develop and broaden the
whole nature of the individual man, and to lead the entire nation
Her Imperial Japanese Majesty, the Empress of Japan, Uaruko, nee Ichijo Haruko.
(From a photograph taken at Tokio, 1874.)
THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CIVILIZATION. 83
forward. Chinese philosophy and Confucian morals were to form
the basis of the education and culture of the Japanese statesman,
scholar, and noble, to modify Shinto, and with it to create new
ideals of government, of codes, laws, personal honor, and household
ordering. Under their influence, and that of circumstances, have
been shaped the unique ideals of the samurai; and by it a healthy
skepticism, amidst dense superstition, has been maintained. The com-
ing of many immigrants brought new blood, ideas, opinions, methods,
improvements in labor, husbandry, social organization. Japan received
from China, through Corea, what she is now receiving from America
and Europe — a new civilization.
For nearly a century after the birth of Ojin, the record of events is
blank. In 249 A.D. a Japanese general, Arata, was sent to assist one
state of Corea against another. Occasional notices of tribute-bearers
arriving from Corea occur. In 283 a number of tailors, in 284 excel-
lent horses, were sent over to Japan. In 285, Wani, a Corean schol-
ar, came over to Japan, and, residing some time at the court, gave
the mikado's son instruction in writing. If the Nihongi — the author-
ity for the date of Wani's arrival in Japan — could be trusted in
its chronology, the introduction of Chinese writing, and probably
of Buddhism, would date from this time ; but the probabilities are
against positive certainty on this point. If it be true, it shows that
the first missionary conquest of this nation was the work of four cent-
uries, instead of as many decades. Wani died in Japan, and his
tomb stands near Ozaka. In A.D. 403 a court annalist was chosen.
Envoys and tribute-bearers came, and presents were exchanged. In
462 mulberry-trees were planted — evidently brought, together with
the silk-worm, for whose sustenance they were intended — from China
or Corea. Again, tailors in 471, and architects in 493, and learned
men in 512, arrived. An envoy from China came in 522. The ar-
rival of fresh immigrants and presents from Corea in 543 is noted.
In 551, during a famine in Corea, several thousand bushels of barley
were dispatched thither by Japan. In 552, a company of doctors,
diviners, astronomers, and mathematicians from Corea came to live at
the Japanese court. With them came Buddhist missionaries. This
may be called the introduction of continental civilization. Begin-
ning with Jingu, there seems to have poured into the island empire a
stream of immigrants, skilled artisans, scholars, and teachers, bringing
arts, sciences, letters and written literature, and the Buddhist religion.
This was the first of three great waves of foreign civilization in Japan.
84 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The first was from China, through Corea in the sixth ; the second
from Western Europe, in the fifteenth century; the third was from
America, Europe, and the world, in the decade following the advent of
Commodore Perry. These innovations were destined to leaven might-
ily the whole Japanese nation as a lump. Of these none was so pow-
erful and far-reaching in effects as that in the sixth century, and no one
element as Buddhism. This mighty force was destined to exert a re-
sistless and unifying influence on the whole people. Nothing, among
all the elements that make up Japanese civilization, has been so potent
in forming the Japanese character as the religion of Buddha, That
the work of these new civilizers may be fully appreciated, let us
glance at life in Dai Nippon before their appearance.*
* The Empress Jingu, after her return, made a very important change in the
divisions of the empire. Seimu Tenno (A.D. 131-190) had divided the empire into
provinces, the number of which was thirty-two in all, the land above the thirty-
eighth parallel being still unknown, and inhabited by the wild tribes of Aiuos.
Jingu, imitating the Corean arrangement, divided the empire into five home
provinces, and seven do, or circuits, naming them in relation to their direction
from the capital. These are analogous to our "Eastern," "Middle," "South-
ern," "Western," "Trans-Mississippi," and "Pacific-coast" divisions of States.
The "five home provinces" (Go Kinai) are Yamashiro, Yamato, Kawachi, Idzu-
mi, and Settsn. The Tokaido, or Eastern-sea Circuit, comprised the provinces
skirting the Pacific Ocean from Iga to Hitachi, including Kai.
The Tdzando, or Eastern-mountain Circuit, included those provinces from <3mi
to the end of the main island, not on the Sea of Japan, nor included within the
Tokaido.
The Hokurokudo, or Northern -land Circuit, comprised the provinces from
Wakasa to Echigo inclusive, bordering on the Sea of Japan, and Sado Island.
The Sanindo, or Mountain -back Circuit, comprised with the Oki group of
islands the provinces from Tamba to Iwami, bordering on the Sea of Japan.
The Sanyddo, or Mountain-front Circuit, comprised the provinces from Hari-
ma to Nagato (or Choshiu) bordering the Inland Sea.
The NankaidS, or Southern-sea Circuit, comprises the province of Kii, the four
provinces of lyo, Sanuki, Awa, and Tosa, in Shikoku («M, four: koku, province)
and the Island of Awaji.
The Saikaido, or Western -sea Circuit, comprises nine provinces of Kiushiu
(Wu, nine; shiu, province).
The " two islands " are Ik! and Tsushima.
This division accords with the' physical features of the country, and has ever
since been retained, with slight modifications as to provinces. It is very proba-
thut in the time of Jingu, the Japanese did not know that Hondo was an
A foreigner looking at the map of the empire, or a globe representing
world, could hardly imagine that the Japanese have no special and universal
y used name for the main island. Yet such is the fact, that neither they nor
books popularly apply any particular name to the main island. It may be
!ven doubted whether the people in general ever think of the main island as be-
ing a particular division requiring a name, as the foreigner conceives it and thus
THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINENTAL CIVILIZATION. 85
feels a name to be a necessity. This necessity has given rise to the error of ap-
plying the term " Niphon " (Nihon, Nippon, or Nifon), first done by Kaempfer.
The Japanese had no more necessity to apply a special name to the main ittlund
than the early American colonists had to give a name to the region beyond the
Mississippi. Even now we have no name in general use for that now well-known
part of our country. To foreigners, the absence of a name for the largest island
seems an anomaly. In the Japanese mind it never existed. He rarely spoke
even of Kiushiu or Shikoku as names of islands, always using the names of the
do, or circuits, just as an American speaks of the New England or the Eastern
States. In modern times, native scholars who have, from their study, compari-
sons, and foreign methods of thought, felt the need of a distinctive name, have
used Hondo (main continent or division), Honjima (main island), or Honjiu
(main country). Of these, Hondo seems to be the best ; and as it is used in the
official geography recently issued by the War Department, I have made use of
it. Nippon is not, nor ever was, the name of the main island, as Kaempfer first
asserted. Nippon, or Dai Nippon, is the name of the whole empire. The word
is Chinese, and must have been applied in very ancient times, as the Nihongi con-
tains the three characters with which the name is written. The very name of the
book, Nippongi, or, more elegantly, Nihongi, shows that the use of the term Nip-
pon antedates the eighth century. Tenshi Tenno, in A.D. 670, first officially de-
clared Nippon to be the name of Japan. It has been asserted that the use of Dai
(Great) before Nippon is quite recent, and that the motive of the modern natives
of Japan in thus designating their empire is " from a desire to imitate what they
mistake for the pride or vainglory of Great Britain, not knowing that the term
Great was used there to distinguish it from a smaller French province of the
same name." To this remarkable statement it is sufficient to answer, that one
of the most ancient names of Japan is O Yamato, the word 6 meaning great, and
the Japanese equivalent of the Chinese word tai or dai. When Chinese writing
was introduced, the Japanese, in seeking an equivalent for O Yamato, found it in
Dai Nippon, as may be seen in the Nihongi. The Chinese have always been in
the habit of prefixing dai or tai to whatever relates to their country, govern-
ment, or any thing which they in their pride consider very superior. Anciently
they called China Dai To, and they now call it Dai Tsin (or Dai Chin), Great
China. The Japanese have done the same analogous thing for at least twelve,
probably for fifteen, centuries. That the use of Dai (Great) before Nippon is not
the fashion of the present century is proved by the fact that the Japanese ency-
clopedia San Sai Dzu Ye, finished in 1712, contains the name with the pronuncia-
tion as now used, and that it is found in the very name Dai Nihon Shi, a book
completed in 1715. The use of Nippon (or Niphon, or Nipon), applied to the
main island, is altogether unwarrantable and confusing. The Japanese have
very properly protested against this improper naming of their chief island, and,
notwithstanding the long use of the name in Europe and America, I believe it
should be expunged. The Japanese have some geographical rights which we are
bound to respect.
86 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
IX.
LIFE IN ANCIENT JAPAN.
THE comparatively profound peace from the era of SQjin Tenno to
the introduction of Chinese civilization was occasionally interrupted
by insurrections in the southern and western parts of the empire, or
by the incursions of the unsubdued aborigines in the North and East.
During these centuries there continued that welding of races — the
Aino, Malay, NigritoJ Corean, and Yamato — into one ethnic compos-
ite— the Japanese — and the development of the national temperament,
molded by nature, circumstances, and original bent, which have pro-
duced the unique Japanese character. Although, in later centuries,
Japan borrowed largely from China, blood, language, religion, letters,
education, laws, politics, science, art, and the accumulated treasures of
Chinese civilization, her children are to-day, as they have ever been, a
people distinct from the Chinese, ethnologically, physically, and morally.
Though frequent fighting was necessary, and many of the aborigi-
nes were slaughtered, the great mass of them were tranquilized. To
rude men, in a state of savagery whose existence is mainly animal, it
matters little who are their masters, so long as they are not treated
with intolerable cruelty. The aborigines attached to the land roamed
over it to hunt, or remained upon it to till it, and, along the water-
courses and sea-coast, to fish. With a soil that repaid generously the
rude agriculture of that day, an ample food-supply in the sea, without
severe labor, or exorbitant tribute to pay, the conquered tribes, when
once quieted, lived in happiness, content, and peace. The govern-
ment of them was the easiest possible. The invaders from the very
beginning practiced that system of concubinage which is practical
polygamy, and filled their harems with the most attractive of the
young native females. The daughter of the former chief shared the
couch of the conqueror, and the peasant became the wife of the sol-
dier, securing that admixture of races that the merest tyro in ethnol-
ogy notices in modern Japan. In certain portions, as in the extreme
north of Hondo, the Aino type of face and head, and the general
physical characteristics of skin, hair, eyes, and form, have suffered the
LIFE IN ANCIENT JAPAN. 87
least modification, owing to later conquest and less mixture of foreign
blood. In Southern and Central Japan, where the fusion of the races
was more perfect, the oval face, oblique eyes, aquiline nose, prominent
features, and light skin prevail. Yet even here are found compara-
tively pure specimens of the Malay and even Nigrito races, besides the
Aino and Corean types. The clod-hopper, with his flat, round face, up-
turned nose, expanded at the roots and wide and sunken at the bridge,
nostrils round, and gaping like the muzzle of a proboscidian, bears in
his veins the nearly pure blood of his aboriginal ancestors. Intellectu-
ally and physically, he is the developed and improved Aino — the re-
sultant of the action upon the original stock of the soil, food, climate,
and agricultural life, prolonged for more than twenty centuries.
In the imperial family, and among the kuge, or court-nobles, are to
be oftener found the nearest approach to the ideal Japanese of high
birth. Yet even among these, who claim twenty - five centuries of
semi-divine succession, and notably among the daimios, or territorial
nobles — the parvenus of feudalism — the grossly sensual cast, the ani-
mal features, the beastly expression, the low type, the plebeian face
of some peasant ancestor re-appear to plague the descendant, and to
imbitter his cup of power and luxury. This phenomenon is made
abundant capital of by the native fiction - writers, caricaturists, and
dramatists. The diversity of the two types is shown, especially by
the artists, in strongly marked contrast. In the pictures illustrative
of legendary or historic lore, and notably on the Japanese fans, now
so fashionably common among us, the noble hero, the chivalrous
knight, or the doughty warrior, is delineated with oblique eyes, high
eyebrows, rounded nose, oval face, and smooth skin ; while the peas-
ant, boor, vanquished ruffian, or general scape-goat, is invariably a man
of round, flat face, upturned and depressed nose, gaping nostrils, hori-
zontal eyes, and low eyebrows. In painting the faces of actors, sing-
ing-girls, and those public characters who, though the popular idols,
are of low birth and blood, the fan-artist exaggerates the marks of
beauty to the delight of his native, and to the disgust of his foreign,
patrons. What depreciates the value of his wares in the eyes of the
latter enhances it in those of the natives.
All savages worship heroes, and look upon their conquerors, who
have been able apparently to overcome not only themselves, but even
the gods in whom they trusted, if not as gods themselves, at least as
imbued with divine power. The Ainos of Yezo to this day adore the
warrior Yoshitsune. Their fathers doubtless considered Jimmu and
88 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
his followers as gods or men divinely assisted. The conquerors were
not slow in cultivating such a belief for their own benefit, and thus
what was once the fancy of savages became the dogma of religion
and the tool of the magistrate. The reverence and obedience of the
people were still further secured by making the government pure-
ly theocratic, and its general procedure and ceremonial identical with
those of worship. The forms of local authority among the once
independent tribes were but little interfered with, and the govern-
ment exercised over them consisted at first chiefly in the exaction
of tribute. The floating legends, local traditions, and religious ideas
of the aborigines, gathered up, amplified by the dominant race, trans-
formed and made coherent by the dogmatics of a theocracy, became
the basis of Shinto, upon which a modified Chinese cosmogony and
abstract philosophical ideas were afterward grafted. It was this back-
ground that has made the resultant form of Shinto different from
what is most probably its prototype, the ante-Confucian Chinese re-
ligion. In its origin, Shinto is from the main -land of Asia. In
growth and development it is " a genuine product of Japanese soil."
As yet, before the advent of Buddhism and Chinese philosophy,
there were no moral codes, no systems of abstract doctrines, no
priestly caste. These were all later developments. There were then
no colossal temples with their great belfries and immense bells whose
notes quivered the air into leagues of liquid melody ; no sacred court-
yards decked with palm-trees; no costly shrines decked out in the
gaudy magnificence characteristic of Buddhism, or impure Shinto.
No extensive monasteries, from which floated on the breeze the chant-
ing of priests or the droning hum of students, were then built. No
crimson pagodas peeped out from camphor groves, or cordons of fire-
warding firs and keyaki-trees. No splendid vestments, gorgeous ritual,
waves of incense, blazing lights, antiphonal responses, were seen or
heard in the thatched huts which served as shrines of the kami. No
idols decked the altars. No wayside images dotted the mountain or
the meadow paths. No huge portals (torii) of stone or red-lacquered
timber stood fronting or opening the path to holy edifices.
On the hill-top, or river-side, or forest grove, the people assembled
when invocations were offered and thanksgiving rendered to the gods.
Confession of sin was made, and the wrath of the kami, therefore, was
deprecated. The priest, after fasting and lustrations, purified himself
and, robed in white, made offerings of the fruits of the earth or the
trophies of the net and the chase.
LIFE IN ANCIENT JAPAN.
89
At the court, a shrine of the Sun-goddess had been set up and sac-
rifices offered. Gradually in the towns and villages similar shrines
were erected, and temples built; but for long centuries among the
mountains, along the rivers and sea-coasts, the child of the soil set up
his fetich, made the water-worn stone, the gnarled tree, or the storm-
cloud his god. Wherever evil was supposed to lurk, or malignity re-
side, there were the emblems of the Aino religion. On precipice, in
gorge, in that primeval landscape, stood the plume of curled shavings
to ward off the evil influences. In agony of terror in presence of the
Shinto Wayside Shrine in Modern Japau.
awful phenomenon of nature, earthquake, typhoon, flood, or tidal wave,
the savage could but supplicate deified Nature to cease from wrath
and tumult, and restore her face in peace of sunshine and calm.
The houses of the ancient Japanese were oblong huts, made by
placing poles of young trees, with the bark on, upright in the ground,
with transverse poles to make the frame, and fastened together with
ropes made of rushes or vines. The walls were of matted grass,
boughs, or rushes, the rafters of bamboo, and the sloping roof of
grass-thatch, fastened down by heavy ridge-poles. The two larger
rafters at each end projected and crossed each other, like two bayonets
90 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
in a stack of guns. Across the ridge-pole, and beneath it and anoth-
er heavy tree laid lengthwise on top of the thatch, projected at right
angles on either side short, heavy logs, which by their weight, and
from being firmly bound by withes running under the ridge-pole,
kept the thatch firmly in its place. This primeval hut is the model
of the architecture of a pure Shinto temple. A short study of one
easily reveals the fact. The floor, of hardened earth, had the fire in
the centre ; the doors and windows were holes covered at times with
mats— in short, the Aino hut of to-day. The modern Japanese dwell-
ing is simply an improvement upon that ancient model.
The clothing of that period consisted of skins of animals, coarsely
woven stuff of straw, grass, bark, palm-fibre, and in some cases of
asbestos. Silk and cotton fabrics were of later invention and use.
It is evident, even from modern proof, as exhibited in the normal
Japanese of to-day, that the wearing of many garments was not con-
genial to the ancient people. As for straw and grass, these materials
are even now universally used in town and country for hats, rain-coats,
leggings, sandals, and a great variety of wearing apparel. A long
loose garment, with the breech, or loin-cloth, and girdle, leggings, and
sandals of straw, comprised a suit of ancient Japanese clothing. The
food of the people consisted chiefly of fish, roots, and the flesh of ani-
mals. They ate venison, bear-meat, and other flesh, with untroubled
consciences, until Buddhism came with its injunctions. The conquer-
ors evidently brought cereals with them, and taught their cultivation ;
but the main reliance of the masses was upon the spoils of the rivers
and sea. Even now the great centres and lines of the population are
rivers and the sea-coast. Roots, sea-weed, and edible wild vegetables
were, as at present, an important portion of native diet.
The landscape of modern Japan is one of minute prettiness. It is
one continued succession of mountains and valleys. The irregularities
of the surface render it picturesque, and the labors of centuries have
brought almost every inch of the cultivable soil in the populous dis-
tricts into a state of high agricultural finish. The peasant of to-day
is in many cases the direct descendant of the man who first plunged
mattock and hoe into the rooty soil, and led the water from a distance
of miles to his new-made fields. The gullies, gorges, and valleys are
everywhere terraced for the growth of rice. Millions of irrigated
fields without fences or live-stock, bounded by water-courses, and ani-
mate with unharmed and harmless wild -fowl, the snowy heron, and
the crane, and whose fertility astonishes the stranger, and the elaborate
LIFE IN ANCIENT JAPAN.
91
system of reservoirs, ditches, and flumes, are the harvest of twenty
centuries of toil. The face of nature
has been smoothed ; the unkempt lux-
uriance of forest and undergrowth has
been sobered; the courses of rivers
have been bridled ; the once inaccess-
ible sides of mountains graded, and
their summits crossed by the paths
of the traveler or pilgrim. The earth
has been honey-combed by miners in
quest of its metallic wealth.
In the primeval landscape of Japan
there were no meadows, hedges, cat-
tle, horses, prairies of ripening rice,
irrigated fields, and terraced gulches.
Then also, as now, the landscape was
nude of domestic animal life. Instead
Of castled cities, fortified hills, gar- The Peasant of To-day. (Carrying Home
the Sheaves of Rice.) Hokusai.
dens, and hedges, were only thatched
villages, or semi-subterranean huts. There were no roads, no dikes.
No water -courses had been altered, no slopes or hills denuded of
timber. The plethora of nature was unpruned; the scrub bamboo,
wild flowers, or grass covered the hills. The great plains of the
East and North were luxuriant moors, covered with grass, reeds, or
bamboo, populous with wild animal life. No laden junks moved up
the rivers. The mulberry and tea plantations had not yet been set
out. The conquerors found a virgin soil and a land of enrapturing
beauty. They brought with them, doubtless, a knowledge of agricul-
ture and metals. Gradually the face of nature changed. The hunter
became a farmer. The women learned to spin and weave cotton and
hemp. Division of labor began. The artisan and merchant appear-
ed. Arts, sciences, skilled agriculture, changed the face of the land.
Society emerged from its savage state, and civilization began.
As yet there was no writing. All communications were oral, all
teachings handed down from father to son. Memory was the only
treasury of thought. There is, indeed, shown in Japan at the present
day a so-called ancient Japanese alphabet — the kami, or god, letters
— which it is asserted the ancient Japanese used. This assertion is
voided of truth by the testimony of the best native scholars to the
contrary. No books or ancient inscriptions exist in this character. I
92 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
have myself sought in vain, in the grave-yards of Kioto and other an-
cient places, to discover any of these characters upon the old tombs.
The best authorities, scholars who have investigated the subject, pro-
nounce the so-called god-letters a forgery, that reveals their artificial
and modern character upon a slight examination. They consist al-
most entirely of a system of straight lines and circles, which has, doubt-
less, either been borrowed from Corea, or invented by some person in
modern times. Yet the morning of literature had dawned before
writing was known. Poems, odes to the gods, prayers, fragments of
the Shinto liturgy, which still exist in the Kojiki and Nihongi, had
been composed. From these fragments we may presume that a much
larger unwritten literature existed, which was enjoyed by the men who,
in those early days, by thought and reflection, attained to a certain de-
gree of culture above their fellows. The early sovereigns worshiped
the gods in person, and prayed that their people might enjoy a suf-
ficiency of food, clothing, and shelter from the elements ; and twice
a year, in the Sixth and Twelfth months, the people assembled at
the river-side, and, by washings and prayer, celebrated the festival of
General Purification, by which the whole nation was purged of of-
fenses and pollutions. This was the most characteristic of Shinto
festivals, and the liturgy used in celebrating it is still in vogue at the
present day. Time was measured by the phases of the moon, and
the summer and winter solstices. The division of months and years
was in use. The ancient laws and punishments were exceedingly se-
vere. Besides the wager of battle to decide a quarrel, the ordeal still
in use among the Ainos was then availed of. The persons involved
immersed their hands in boiling water. He whose hand was scald-
ed most was the guilty one. The wholly innocent escaped without
scath, or was so slightly injured that his hand rapidly healed.
Japanese art had its birth in mercy, about the time of Christ's ad-
vent on earth. A custom long adhered to among the noble classes
was the burial of the living with the dead (jun-shi, dying with the
master). The wife, and one or more servants, of the deceased lord
committed suicide, and were inhumed with him. The mikado Suinin,
son of Sujin, attempted (B.C. 2) to abolish the cruel rite by imperial
edict. Yet the old fashion was not immediately abandoned. In A.D.
3, the empress died. Nomi no Tsukune", a courtier, having made
some clay images, succeeded in having these substituted for the living
victims. This was the birth of Japanese art. Henceforth these first
products of man's unfolding genius stood vicarious for the breathing
LIFE IN ANCIENT JAPAN.
93
beings they simulated. For this reform, the originator was given the
honorable designation, Haji (ha, clay; ski, ji, teacher = clay - image
teacher, or artist).
The domestic life and morals of those days deserve notice. There
were no family names. The institution of marriage, if such it may be
called, was upon the same basis as that among the modern Ainos
or North American Indians. Polygamy was common. Marriage be-
tween those whom we consider brothers and sisters was frequent, and
a thing not to be condemned. Children of the same fathers by dif-
ferent mothers were not considered fraternally related to each other,
and hence could marry ; but marriage between a brother and sister
born of the same mother was prohibited as immoral.
The annexed illustration is taken from a native work, and represents
a chief or nobleman in ancient
Japan. It will be noticed that
beards and mustaches were
worn in those days. The art-
ist has depicted his subject
with a well - wrinkled face to
make him appear venerable,
and with protruding cheeks to
show his lusty physique, recall-
ing the ideals of Chinese art,
in which the men are always
portly and massive, while the
women are invariably frail and
slender. His pose, expression,
folded arms, and dress of fig-
ured material (consisting of one
long loose robe with flowing
sleeves, and a second garment,
like very wide trousers, girded
at the waist with straps of the
same material) are all to be
seen, though in modified forms,
in modern Japan. The fash- A Court Noble in Ancient Japan. (From a Na-
ions of twenty centuries have tive Drawins->
changed but slightly. Suspended from his girdle may be seen the
magatama chatelaine, evidently symbolizing his rank. The magatama
are perforated and polished pieces of soap-stone or cornelian, of various
colors, shaped something like a curved seed-pod. They were strung
94 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE,
together like beads. Other ornaments of this age were the kudatama,
jewels of gold, silver, or iron. The ancient sword was a straight,
double-edged blade, about three feet long.
Buddhists and Confucianists assert that there existed no words in
their language for benevolence, justice, propriety, sagacity, and truth.
Doubtless these virtues existed, though not as necessary principles, to
be taught, formulated, and incorporated into daily life. Chastity and
restraint among the unmarried were not reckoned as necessary virtues ;
and the most ancient Japanese literature, to say nothing of their
mythology, proves that marriage was a flimsy bar against the excursions
of irregular passion. Great feasts and drinking-bouts, in which ex-
cessive eating was practiced, were common. They were fond of the
chase, and hunting-parties were frequent from the most ancient times.
Among the commendable features of their life were the habit of daily
bathing and other methods of cleanliness. They treated their wom-
en with comparative kindness and respect. They loved the beautiful
in Nature, and seemed to have been ever susceptible to her charms.
In brief, they had neither the virtues nor vices of high civilization.
The arts were in the rudest state. Painting, carving, and sculpture
were scarcely known. No theatre existed. Sacred dancing with masks,
at the holy festivals, was practiced as part of the public worship, with
music from both wind and stringed instruments.
Until the seventh century of our era, when the Chinese centralized
system was adopted, the government of the Japanese empire was a
species of feudalism. The invaders, on conquering the land, divided
it into fiefs that were held sometimes by direct followers of Jimmu,
or by the original Aino chiefs, or nobles of mixed blood, on their
rendition of homage or tribute to the conqueror. The frequent de-
fection of these native or semi-Japanese chiefs was the cause of the
numerous rebellions, the accounts of which enter so largely into the
history of the first centuries of the empire. The mikado himself
ruled over what is now called the Kinai, or Five Home Provinces, a
space of country included between Lake Biwa and the bays of Ozaka
and Owari. The provinces in Shikoku, Kiushiu, and the circuits
west, north, and east, were ruled by tributary chiefs who paid homage
to the mikado as their suzerain, but most probably allowed him to
interfere to a slight extent in the details of the administration of
their lands. In cases of dispute between them, the mikado doubtless
acted as umpire, his geographical position, superior power, and the
sacredness of person insuring his supremacy at all times, even in the
height of turbulence and riot so often prevailing.
LIFE IN ANCIENT JAPAN. 95
In the ancient mikadoate, called by the Japanese the Osei era, or
the government of monarchs, there were several features tending to
increase the power of the suzerain, or central chief. The first was the
essentially theocratic form of the government. The sovereign was
the centre of that superstitious awe, as well as of loyalty and personal
reverence, which still exists. There grew into being that prestige,
that sense of hedging divinity and super-mortal supremacy of the
mikado that still forms the most striking trait of the Japanese char-
acter, and the mightiest political, as it is a great religious and moral,
force in Japan, overshadowing even the tremendous power of Bud-
dhism, which is, as Shinto is not, armed with the terrors of eternity.
In both a theological and political sense, in him dwelt the fullness of
the gods bodily. He was their hypostasis. He was not only their
chosen servant, but was himself a god, and the vicegerent of all the
gods. His celestial fathers had created the very ground on which
they dwelt His wrath could destroy, his favor appease, celestial an-
ger, and bring them fortune and prosperity. He was their preserver
and benefactor. In his custody were the three sacred symbols. It
was by superior intellect and the dogmatism of religion, as well as
with superior valor, weapons, and skill, that a handful of invaders con-
quered and kept a land populated by millions of savages.
To the eye of a foreigner and a native of Japan, this imperfect pict-
ure of primitive Japan which I have given appears in very different
lights. The native who looks at this far-off morning of Great Japan,
the Holy Country, sees his ancestors only through the atmosphere in
which he has lived and breathed. The dim religious light of reverent
teaching of mother, nurse, father, or book falls on every object to re-
veal beauty and conceal defects. The rose-tints which innocent child-
hood casts upon every object here makes all things lovely. Heaven
lies about his country's infancy. The precepts of his religion make
the story sacred, and forbid the prying eye and the sandaled foot.
The native loves, with passionate devotion, the land that nursed his
holy ancestors, and thrills at the oft-told story of their prowess and
their holy lives. He makes them his model of conduct.
The foreigner, in cold blood and with critical eye, patiently seeks
the truth beneath, and, regarding not the dogma which claims to rest
upon it, looks through dry light. To the one Nippon is the Land of
the Gods, and the primal ages were holy. To the other, Japan is
merely a geographical division of the earth, and its beginnings were
from barbarism.
7
96 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
X.
THE ANCIENT RELIGION.
THE ancient religion of the Japanese is called Kami no michi (way
or doctrine of the gods ; i. e., theology). The Chinese form of the
same is Shinto. Foreigners call it Shintoism, or Sintooism. Almost
all the foreign writers* who have professed to treat of Shinto have
described only the impure form which has resulted from the contact
with it of Buddhism and Chinese philosophy, and as known to them
since the sixteenth century. My purpose in this chapter is to give a
mere outline of ancient Shinto in its purity. A sketch of its tradi-
tional and doctrinal basis has been given. Only a very few Shinto
temples, called miya, have preserved the ancient purity of the rites
and dogmas during the overshadowing influences of Buddhism.
In Japanese mythology the universe is Japan, the legends relating
to Japan exclusively. All the deities, with perhaps a few exceptions,
are historical personages ; and the conclusion of the whole matter of
cosmogony and celestial genealogy is that the mikado is the descend-
ant and representative of the gods who created the heavens and earth
(Japan). Hence, the imperative duty of all Japanese is to obey him.
Its principles, as summed up by the Department of Religion, and pro-
mulgated throughout the empire so late as 1872, are expressed in the
following commandments :
1. " Thou shalt honor the Gods, and love thy country.
2. "Thou shalt clearly understand the principles of Heaven and
the duty of man.
3. "Thou shalt revere the Mikado as thy sovereign, and obey the
will of his court."
* By far the best writing on Slants, based on profound researches, is the long
article of Mr. Ernest Satow, entitled " The Revival of Pure Shinto," in the Japan
Mail, 1874, and contained in the " Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Japan "
for the same year. Also on "The Shinto Temples of Ise"," by the same writer.
A scholarly article, by Mr. P. Kemperman, secretary to the German legation in
Japan, was published in the Japan Mail of August 26th, 1874.
THE ANCIENT RELIGION. 97
The chief characteristic, which is preserved in various manifesta-
tions, is the worship of ancestors, and the deification of emperors, he-
roes, and scholars. The adoration of the personified forces of nature
enters largely into it. It employs no idols, images, or effigies in its
worship. Its symbols are the mirror and the gohei — strips of notched
white paper depending from a wand of wood. It teaches po doctrine
of the immortality of the soul, though it is easy to see that such a
dogma may be developed from it, since all men (Japanese) are de-
scended from the immortal gods. The native derivation of the term
for man is hito ("light -bearer"); and the ancient title of the mi-
kado's heir-apparent was " light-inheritor." Fire and light (sun) have
from earliest ages been the objects of veneration.
Shinto has no moral code, no accurately defined system of ethics
or belief. The leading principle of its adherents is imitation of the
illustrious deeds of their ancestors, and they are to prove themselves
worthy of their descent by the purity of their lives. A number of
salient points in their mythology are recognized as maxims for their
guidance. It expresses great detestation of all forms of uncleanness,
and is remarkable for the fullness of its ceremonies for bodily purifi-
cation. Birth and death are especially polluting. Anciently, the
corpse and the lying-in woman were assigned to buildings set apart,
which were afterward burned. The priest must bathe and don clean
garments before officiating, and bind a slip of paper over his mouth,
lest his breath should pollute the offerings. Many special festivals
were observed for purification, the ground dedicated for the purpose
being first sprinkled with salt. The house and ground were defiled
by death, and those who attended a funeral must also free themselves
from contamination by the use of salt. The anqient emperors and
priests in the provinces performed the actual ablution of the people,
or made public lustrations. Later on, twice a year, at the festivals of
purification, paper figures representing the people were thrown into
the river, allegorical of the cleansing of the nation from the sins of
the past six months. Still later, the mikado deputized the chief min-
ister of religion at Kioto to perform the symbolical act for the peo-
ple of the whole country.
After death, the members of a family in which death had occurred
must exclude themselves from all intercourse with the world, attend
no religious services, and, if in official position, do no work for a
specified number of days.
Thanksgiving, supplication, penance, and praise are all represented
98 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
in the prayers to the gods, which are offered by both sexes. The em-
peror and nobles often met in the temple gardens to compose hymns
or sacred poems to the gods. Usually in prayer the hands are clap-
ped twice, the head or the knees bowed, and the petition made in
silence. The worshiper does not enter the temple, but stands before
it,. and first pulls a rope dangling down over a double gong, like a
huge sleigh-bell, with which he calls the attention of the deity. The
kami are believed to hear the prayer when as yet but in thought, be-
fore it rises to the lips. Not being intended for human ears, elo-
quence is not needed. The mikado in his palace daily offers up peti-
tions for all his people, which are more effectual than those of his sub-
jects. Washing the hands and rinsing out the mouth, the worshiper
repeats prayers, of which the following is an example : " O God, that
dwellest in the high plain of heaven, who art divine in substance and
in intellect, and able to give protection from guilt and its penalties,
to banish impurity, and to cleanse us from uncleanness — hosts of
gods, give ear and listen to these our petitions." Or this : " I say with
awe, deign to bless me by correcting the unwitting faults which, seen
and heard by you, I have committed; by blowing off and clearing
away the calamities which evil gods might inflict ; by causing me to
live long, like the hard and lasting rock ; and by repeating to the
gods of heavenly origin, and to the gods of earthly origin, the peti-
tions which I present every day, along with your breath, that they
may hear with the sharp-earedness of the forth-galloping colt."
The offerings, most commonly laid with great ceremony by the
priest, in white robes, before the gods, were fruit and vegetables in
season, fish and venison. At night they were removed, and became
the property of the priest. Game and fowls were offered up as an
act of worship, but with the peculiarity that their lives were not sacri-
ficed. They were hung up by the legs before the temple for some
time, and then permitted to escape, and, being regarded as sacred to
the gods, were exempt from harm. The new rice and the products
furnished by the silk-worm and the cotton-plant were also dedicated.
Before each temple stood a torii, or bird-rest. This was made of
two upright tree-trunks. On the top of these rested a smoother tree,
with ends slightly projecting, and underneath this a smaller horizontal
beam. On this perched the fowls offered up to the gods, not as food,
but as chanticleers to give notice of day-break. In later centuries the
meaning of the torii was forgotten, and it was supposed to be a gate-
way. The Buddhists attached tablets to its cross-beam, painted or
THE ANCIENT RELIGION. 99
coppered its posts, curved its top-piece, made it of stone or bronze,
and otherwise altered its character. Resembling two crosses with
their ends joined, the torii is a conspicuous object in the landscape,
and a purely original work of Japanese architecture.
All the miyas were characterized by rigid simplicity, constructed
of pure wood, and thatched. No paint, lacquer, gilding, or any mer-
etricious ornaments were ever allowed to adorn or defile the sacred
structure, and the use of metal was avoided. Within, only the gofiei
and the daily offerings were visible. Within a closet of purest wood
is a case of wood containing the "august spirit-substitute," or "gods'-
seed," in which the deity enshrined in the particular temple is be-
lieved to reside. This spirit-substitute is usually a mirror, which in
some temples is exposed to view. The principal Shinto temples are
at Ise, in which the mirror given by Amaterasu to Ninigi, and brought
down from heaven, was enshrined. Some native writers assert that
the mirror was the goddess herself ; others, that it merely represented
her. All others in Japan are imitations or copies of this original.
The priests of Shinto are designated according to their rank. They
are called kannushi (shrine-keepers). Sometimes they receive titles
from the emperor, and the higher ranks of the priesthood are court
nobles. They are, in the strictest sense of the word, Government offi-
cials. The office of chief minister of religion was hereditary in the
Nakatomi family. Ordinarily they dress like other people, but are
robed in white when officiating, or in court -dress when at court.
They marry, rear families, and do not shave their heads. The office
is usually hereditary. Virgin priestesses also minister at the shrines.
After all the research of foreign scholars who have examined the
claims of Shinto on the soil, and by the aid of the language, and the
sacred books and commentators, many hesitate to decide whether
Shinto is " a genuine product of Japanese soil," or whether it is not
closely allied with the ancient religion of China, which existed before
the period of Confucius. The weight of opinion inclines to the latter
belief. Certain it is that many of the Japanese myths are almost ex-
actly like those of China, while many parts of the cosmogony can be
found unaltered in older Chinese works. The Kojiki (the Bible of
the Japanese believers in Shinto) is full of narrations ; but it lays
down no precepts, teaches no morals or doctrines, prescribes no ritual.
Shinto has very few of the characteristics of a religion, as understood
by us. The most learned native commentators and exponents of Shin-
to expressly maintain the view, that Shinto has no moral code. Mo-
100 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
toori, the great modern revivalist of Shinto, teaches, with polemic em-
phasis, that morals were invented by the Chinese because they were
an immoral people ; but in Japan there was no necessity for any sys-
tem of morals, as every Japanese acted aright if he only consulted his
own heart The duty of a good Japanese consists in obeying the
commands of the mikado without questioning whether these com-
mands are right or wrong. It was only immoral people, like the
Chinese, who presumed to discuss the character of their sovereigns.
Among the ancient Japanese, government and religion were the same.*
* In this chapter, I have carefully endeavored to exclude mere opinions and
conjectures, and to give the facts only. I append below the views held by gen-
tlemen of cosmopolitan culture, and earnest students of Shinto on the soil, whose
researches and candor entitle them to be heard.
" Shinto, as expounded by Motoori, is nothing else than an engine for reducing
the people to a condition of mental slavery." — ERNEST SATOW, English, the fore-
most living Japanese scholar, and a special student of Shinto.
" There is good evidence that Shinto resembles very closely the ancient religion
of the Chinese." "A distinction should be drawn between the Shinto of ancient
times and the doctrine as developed by writers at the court of the mikado in
modern times." "The sword and dragon, the thyrsus staff and ivy, the staff of
/K#culapius and snakes, most probably had the same significance as the Japanese
gohei; and, as Siebold has remarked, it symbolized the union of the two elements,
male and female. The history of the creation of the world, as given by the Japa-
nese, bore the closest resemblance to the myths of China and India; while little
doubt existed that these (symbol and myth) were imported from the West, the
difficulty being to fix the date. Little was known of Shinto that might give it
the character of a religion as understood by Western nations." — J. A. VON BRANDT,
German, late minister of the German empire to Japan, and now to Peking, a student of
Japanese archaology, and founder of the German Asiatic Society of Japan.
" Japanese, in general, are at a loss to describe what Shinto is ; but this cir-
cumstance is intelligible if what was once an indigenous faith had been turned,
in later days, into a political engine." " Infallibility on the part of the head of
the state, which was naturally attributed to rulers claiming divine descent, was
a convenient doctrine for political purposes in China or Japan, as elsewhere."
" We must look to early times for the meaning of Shinto." " Its origin is close-
ly allied to the early religion of the Chinese." "The practice of putting up
sticks with shavings or paper attached, in order to attract the attention of the
spirits, is observable among certain hill tribes of India, as well as among the Ainos
of Yezo. The Hindoos, Burmese, and Chinese have converted these sticks into
flags, or streamers." " If Shinto had ever worked great results, or had taken
deep hold on the Japanese people, it would scarcely have been superseded so
completely as it had been by Buddhism."— Sir HARRY S. PARKES, British minister
plenipotentiary in Japan, a fine scholar, and long resident in both China and Japan.
"The leading idea of Shinto is a reverential feeling toward the dead." "As to
the political use of it, the state is quite right in turning it to account in support
of the absolute government which exists in Japan." " The early records of Ja-
pan are by no means reliable."— ARINORI MORI, Japanese, formerly charge d'af-
faires of Japan at Washington, U. S. A., now Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs in Japan.
THE THRONE AND THE NOBLE FAMILIES. 101
XL
THE THRONE AND THE NOBLE FAMILIES.
FROM the beginning of the Japanese empire, until the century aft-
er the introduction of Buddhism, the mikados were the real rulers of
their people, having no hedge of division between them and their
subjects. The palace was not secluded from the outer world. No
screen hid the face of the monarch from the gaze of his subjects.
No bureauocracy rose, like a wall of division, between ruler and ruled.
No hedge or net of officialdom hindered free passage of remonstrance
or petition. The mikado, active in word and deed, was a real ruler,
leading his armies, directing his Government. Those early days of
comparative national poverty when the mikado was the warrior-chief
of a conquering tribe ; and, later, when he ruled a little kingdom in
Central Japan, holding the distant portions of his quasi -empire in
tribute ; and, still later, when he was the head of an undivided em-
pire— mark the era of his personal importance and energy. Then, in
the mikado dwelt a manly soul, and a strong mind in a strong body.
This era was the golden age of the imperial power. He was the true
executive of the nation, initiating and carrying out the enterprises of
peace or war. As yet, no military class had arisen to make themselves
the arbiters of the throne ; as yet, that throne was under no proprie-
torship ; as yet, there was but one capital and centre of authority.
Gradually, however, there arose families of nobility who shared and
dictated the power, and developed the two official castes of civilian
and military officials, widening the distance between the sovereign and
his subjects, and rendering him more and more inaccessible to his
people. Then followed in succession the decay of his power, the cre-
ation of a dual system of government, with two capitals and centres
of authority ; the domination of the military classes ; the centuries of
anarchy ; the progress of feudalism ; the rending of the empire into
hundreds of petty provinces, baronies, and feudal tenures. Within
the time of European knowledge of Japan, true national unity has
scarcely been known. The political system has been ever in a state
102 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
of unstable equilibrium, and the nation but a conglomeration of units,
in which the forces of repulsion ever threatened to overcome the forces
of cohesion. Two rulers in two capitals gave to foreigners the im-
pression that there were two "emperors" in Japan— an idea that has
been incorporated into most of the text -books and cyclopedias of
Christendom. Let it be clearly understood, however, that there never
was but one emperor in Japan, the mikado, who is and always was
The Mikado on bis Throne. Time, from the Seventh to the Twelfth Century.
the only sovereign, though his measure of power has been very dif-
ferent at various times. Until the rise and domination of the milita-
ry classes, he was in fact, as well as by law, supreme. How the mi-
kado's actual power ebbed away shall form the subject of this and the
following chapter.
From the death of Nintoku Tenno, the last of the long-lived mika-
dos, to Kimmei (540-571), in whose time continental civilization was
introduced, a period of one hundred and forty-one years, fourteen em-
perors ruled, averaging a little over ten years each. From Kimmei
THE THRONE AND THE NOBLES. 103
to Gotoba (A.D. 1198) fifty-three emperors reigned, averaging eleven
years each. (See list of emperors, p. 123.)
In A.D. 603, the first attempt to create orders of nobility for the
nobles, already numerously existing, was made by the Empress Suiko.
Twelve orders were instituted, with symbolic names, after the Chinese
custom — such as Virtue, Humanity, Propriety, etc. — distinguished
by the colors of the caps worn. In 649, this system was changed for
that having nine ranks, with two divisions. In each of the last six
were two subdivisions, thus in reality making thirty grades. The first
grade was a posthumous reward, given only to those who in life had
held the second. Every officer, from the prime minister to the offi-
cial clerks, had a rank attached to his office, which was independent
of birth or age. All officers were presented, and all questions of pre-
cedence were settled, in accordance with this rank.
The court officials, at first, had been very few, as might be imagined
in this simple state of society without writing. The Jin Gi Kuan,
which had existed from very ancient times, supervised the ceremonies
of religion, the positions being chiefly held by members of the Naka-
tomi family. This was the highest division of the Government. In
A.D. 603, with the introduction of orders of nobility, the form of gov-
ernment was changed from simple feudalism to centralized monarchy,
with eight ministries, or departments of state, as follows :
1. Nakatsukasa no Sho (Department of the Imperial Palace).
2. Shiki bu Sho (Department of Civil Office and Education).
3. Ji bu Sho (Department of Etiquette and Ceremonies).
4. Mini bu Sho (Department of Revenue and Census).
5. Hio bu Sho (Department of War).
6. Gio bu Sho (Department of Justice).
7. 0 kura Sho (Department of Treasury).
8. Ku nai Sho (Department of Imperial Household).
The Jin Gi Kuan (Council of Religion ; literally, Council of the Gods
of Heaven and Earth), though anciently outranking the Dai Jo Kuan
(Great Government Council), lost its prestige after the introduction
of Buddhism. The Dai Jo Kuan, created A.D. 786, superintended the
eight boards and ruled the empire by means of local governors ap-
pointed from the capital. In it were four ministers :
1. Dai Jo Dai Jin (Great Minister of the Great Government).
2. Sa Dai Jin (Great Minister of the Left).
3. U Dai Jin (Great Minister of the Right).
4. Nai Dai Jin (Inner Great Minister).
104 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Of the eight departments, that of War ultimately became the most
important. A special department was necessary to attend to the pub-
lic manners and forms of society, etiquette being more than morals,
and equal to literary education. The foreign relations of the empire
were then of so little importance that they were assigned to a bureau
of the above department. The treasury consisted of imperial store-
houses and granaries, as money was not then in general use. Rice
was the standard of value, and all taxes were paid in this grain.
The introduction of these orders of nobility and departments of
state from China brought about the change from the species of feu-
dalism hitherto existing to centralized monarchy, the rise of the noble
families, and the fixing of official castes composed, not, as in most
ancient countries, of the priestly and warrior classes, but, as in China,
of the civilian and military.
The seeds of the mediaeval and modern complex feudalism, which
lasted until 1872, were planted about this time. A division of all
the able-bodied males into three classes was now made, one of which
was to consist of regular soldiers permanently in service. This was
the " military class," from which the legions kept as garrisons in the
remote provinces were recruited. The unit of combination was the
go, consisting of five men. Two go formed a kua, five kua a tai,
two tai a rid, ten rid a dan. These terms may be translated " file,"
" squad," " company," " battalion," " regiment." The dan, or regi-
ment, could also be regularly divided into four detachments. The
generals who commanded the army in the field were in many cases
civil officials, who were more or less conversant with the rude military
science of the day. In their time, success in war depended more on
disciplined numbers and personal valor, and was not so much a prob-
lem of weight, mathematics, machinery, and money as in our day.
The expeditions were led by a shogun, or general, who, if he com-
manded three regiments, was called a tai -shogun, or generalissimo.
The vice-commanders were called fuku-shogun. Thus it will be seen
that the term " shogun " is merely the Japanese word for " general."
All generals were shoguns, and even the effete figure-head of the great
usurpation at Yedo, with whom Commodore Perry and those who fol-
lowed him made treaties, supposing him to be the " secular emperor,"
was nothing more.
Muster-rolls were kept of the number of men in the two remaining
classes that could be sent in the field on an emergency ; and whenever
an insurrection broke out, and a military expedition was determined
THE THRONE AND THE NOBLES. 105
upon, orders were sent to the provinces along the line of march to be
ready to obey the imperial command, and compare the quota required
with the local muster-rolls. An army would thus be quickly assem-
bled at the capital, or, starting thence, could be re-enforced on the
route to the rebellious province. All that was necessary were the or-
ders of the emperor. When war was over, the army was dissolved,
and the army corps, regiments, and companies were mustered out of
service into their units of combination, go of five men. The general,
doffing helmet, made his votive offering to the gods, and returned to
garrison duty.
Until about the twelfth century, the Japanese empire, like the old
Roman, was a centre of civilization surrounded by barbarism, or, rath-
er, like a wave advancing ever farther northward. The numerous re-
volts in Kiushiu, Shikoku, and even in the North and East of Hondo,
show that the subjugation of these provinces was by no means com-
plete on their first pacification. The Kuanto needed continual mili-
tary care, as well as civil government; while the northern provinces
were in a chronic state of riot and disorder, being now peaceful and
loyally obedient, and anon in rebellion against the mikado. To keep
the remote provinces in order, to defend their boundaries, and to col-
lect tribute, military occupation became a necessity ; and, accordingly,
in each of the distant provinces, especially those next to the frontier,
beyond which were the still unconquered savages, an army was per-
manently encamped. This, in the remote provinces, was the perma-
nent military force. Throughout the country was a reserve militia,
or latent army ; and in the capital was the regular army, consisting
of the generals and " the Six Guards," or household troops, who form-
ed the regular garrison of Kioto in peace, and in war became the nu-
cleus of the army of chastisement.
This system worked well at first, but time showed its defects, and
wherein it could be improved. Among that third of the population
classed as soldiers, some naturally proved themselves brave, apt, and
skillful; others were worthless in war, while in the remaining two-
thirds many who were able and willing could not enter the army.
About the end of the eighth century a reform was instituted, and a
new division of the people made. The court decided that all those
among the rich peasants who had capacity, and were skilled in arch-
ery and horsemanship, should compose the military class, and that the
remainder, the weak and feeble, should continue to till the soil and
apply themselves to agriculture. The above was one of the most sig-
106
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
nificant of all the changes in the history of Japan. Its fruits are seen
to-day in the social constitution of the Japanese people. Though
there are many classes, there are but two great divisions of the Japa-
nese, the military and the agricultural. It wrought the complete sev-
erance of the soldier and the fanner. It lifted up one part of the peo-
ple to a plane of life on which travel, adventure, the profession and
the pursuit of arms, letters, and the cultivation of honor and chivalry
were possible, and by which
that brightest type of the
Japanese man, the samurai,
was produced. This is the
class which for centuries has
monopolized arms, polite learn-
ing, patriotism, and intellect
of Japan. They are the men
whose minds have been ever
open to learn, from whom
sprung the ideas that once
made, and which later over-
threw, the feudal system,which
wrought the mighty reforms
that swept away the shogunate
in 1868, restored the mikado
to ancient power, who intro-
duced those ideas that now
J rule Japan, and sent their sons
=^~ abroad to study the civilization
A Samurai, in Winter Traveling-dress. Qf the Wegt To the samurai
Japan looks to-day for safety in war, and progress in peace. The
samurai is the soul of the nation. In other lands the priestly and the
military castes were formed. In Japan one and the same class held
the sword and the pen — liberal learning and secular culture. The
other class — the agricultural — remained unchanged. Left to the soil
to till it, to live and die upon it, the Japanese farmer has remained
the same to-day as he was then. Like the wheat that for successive
ages is planted as wheat, sprouts, beards, and fills as wheat, the peas-
ant, with his horizon bounded by his rice-fields, his water-courses, or
the timbered hills, his intellect laid away for safe -keeping in the
priests' hands, is the son of the soil ; caring little who rules him, un-
less he is taxed beyond the power of flesh and blood to bear, or an
THE T1IKONE AND THE NOBLES. 107
V
A Japanese Farmer. (Seed-beds of rice protected from the birds by strings and slips of
wood.)*
overmeddlesome officialdom touches his land to transfer, sell, or re-
divide it : then he rises as a rebel. In time of war, he is a disinter-
ested and a passive spectator, and he does not fight. He changes
masters with apparent unconcern. Amidst all the ferment of ideas
induced by the contact of Western civilization with Asiatic within the
last two decades, the farmer stolidly remains conservative : he knows
not, nor cares to hear, of it, and hates it because of the heavier taxes
it imposes upon him.
* In the above sketch by Hokusai, the farmer, well advanced in life, bent and
bald, is looking: dubiously over a piece of newly tilled land, perhaps just reclaim-
ed, which he defends from the birds by the device of strings holding strips of
thin wood and bamboo stretched from a pole. With his ever-present bath-towel
and headkerchief on his shoulders, his pipe held behind him, he stands in medi-
tative attitude, in his old rice-straw sandals, run down and out at the heels, his
well-worn cotton coat, darned crosswise for durability and economy, wondering
whether he will see a full crop before he dies, or whether he can pay his taxes,
and fill his children's mouths with rice. The writing at side is a proverb which
has two meanings: it may be read, "A new field gives a small crop," or "Hu-
man life is but fifty years." In either case, it has pregnant significance to the
farmer. The pathos and humor are irresistible to one who knows the life of
these sons of toil.
108 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
To support the military, a certain portion of rice was set apart per-
manently as revenue, and given as wages to the soldiers. This is the
origin of the pensions still enjoyed by the samurai, and the burden of
the Government and people, which in 1876, after repeated reductions,
amounts to nearly $20,000,000.
Let us notice how the noble families originated. To this hour
these same families, numbering one hundred and fifty -five in all,
dwell in Tokio or Kioto, intensely proud of their high descent from
the mikados and the heavenly gods, glorying in their pedigree more
than the autochthons of Greece gloried in their native soil. The ex-
istence of this feeling of superiority to all mankind among some of
the highest officials under the present mikado's government has been
the cause of bitter quarrels, leading almost to civil war. Under the
altered circumstances of the national life since 1868, the officials of
ancient lineage, either unable to conceal, or desirous of manifesting
their pride of birth, have on various occasions stung to rage the ris-
ing young men who have reached power by sheer force of merit.
Between these self-made men, whose minds have been expanded by
contact with the outer world, and the high nobles nursed in the at-
mosphere of immemorial antiquity, and claiming descent from the
gods, an estrangement that at times seems irreconcilable has grown.
As the chasm between the forms and spirit of the past and the pres-
ent widens, as the modern claims jostle the ancient traditions, as vig-
orous parvenuism challenges effete antiquity, the difficulty of harmo-
nizing these tendencies becomes apparent, adding another to the cat-
alogue of problems awaiting solution in Japan. I have heard even
high officers under the Government make the complaint I have indi-
cated against their superiors; but I doubt not that native patience
and patriotism will heal the wound, though the body politic must
suffer long.
The kuge, or court nobles, sprung from mikados. From the first,
polygamy was common among both aborigines and conquerors. The
emperor had his harem of many beauties who shared his couch. In
very ancient times, as early, as Jimmu, it was the custom to choose
one woman, called kogo, who was wife or empress in the sense of re-
ceiving special honor, and of having her offspring most likely to suc-
ceed to the throne. In addition to the wife, the mikado had twelve
concubines, whose offspring might fill the throne in case of failure of
issue by the wife. To guard still further against desinence, four fam-
ilies of imperial descent were afterward set apart, from which an heir
THE THRONE AND THE NOBLES. 109
to the throne or a husband of the mikado's daughter might be sought
In either case the chosen one became mikado. Only those sons,
brothers, or grandsons of the sovereign, to whom the title was spe-
cially granted by patent, were called princes of the blood. There
were five grades of these. Surnames were anciently unknown in Ja-
pan; individuals only having distinguishing appellatives. In 415,
families were first distinguished by special names, usually after those
of places. Younger sons of mikados took surnames and founded ca-
det families. The most famous in the Japanese peerage are given
below. By long custom it came to pass that each particular family
held the monopoly of some one high office as its prerogative. The
Nakatomi family was formerly charged with the ceremonies of Shinto,
and religious offices became hereditary in that family. The Fujiwara
(Wistaria meadow) family is the most illustrious in all Japan. It was
founded by Kamatari, who was regent of the empire (A.D. 645-649),
who was said to have been descended from Ame no ko yane no
mikoto, the servant of the grandfather of Jimmu. The influence of
this family on the destinies of Japan, and the prominent part it has
played in history, will be fully seen. At present ninety-five of the
one hundred and fifty -five families of kuge are of Fujiwara name and
descent. The office of Kuambaku, or Regent, the highest to which a
subject could attain, was held by members of this family exclusively.
The Sugawara family, of which six families of kuge are descendants,
is nearly as old as the Fujiwara. Its members have been noted for
scholarship and learning, and as teachers and lecturers on religion.
The Taira family was founded by Takamochi, great grandson of
the Emperor Kuammu (A.D. 782-805), and became prominent as the
great military vassals of the mikado. But five kuge families claim
descent from the survivors.
The Minamoto family was founded by Tsunemoto, grandson of
the Emperor Seiwa (839-880). They were the rivals of the Taira.
Seventeen families of kuge are descended from this old stock. The
office of Sei-i Tai Shogun, or Barbarian-chastising Great General, was
monopolized by the Minamoto, and, later, by other branches of the
stock, named Ashikaga and Tokugawa.
Though so many offices were created in the seventh century, the
kuge were sufficiently numerous to fill them. The members of the
Fujiwara family gradually absorbed the majority, until almost all of
the important ones at court, and the governorships of many provinces,
were filled by them. When vacancies occurred, no question was
110 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
raised as to this or that man's fitness for the position : it was simply
one of high descent, and a man of Fujiwara blood was sure to get the
appointment, whether he had abilities or not. This family, in spite
of its illustrious name and deeds, are to be credited with the forma-
tion of a "ring" around the mikado, which his people could not
break, and with the creation of one of the most accursed systems of
nepotism ever seen in any country. Proceeding step by step, with
craft and signal ability, they gradually obtained the administration of
the government in the mikado's name. Formerly it had been the
privilege of every subject to petition the sovereign. The Fujiwara
ministers gradually assumed the right to open all such petitions, and
decide upon them. They also secured the appointment of younger
sons, brothers, nephews, and kinsmen to all the important positions.
They based their hold on the throne itself by marrying their daugh-
ters to the mikado, whose will was thus bent to their own designs.
For centuries the empresses were chiefly of Fujiwara blood. In this
way, having completely isolated the sovereign, they became the virtual
rulers of the country and the proprietors of the throne, and dictated
as to who should be made emperor. Every new office, as fast as cre-
ated, was filled by them. In the year 888, the title of Kuambaku
(literally, " the bolt inside the gate," but meaning " to represent to
the mikado ") was first used and bestowed on a Fujiwara noble. The
Kuambaku was the highest subject in the empire. He was regent
during the minority of the emperor, or when an empress filled the
throne. The office of Kuambaku, first filled by Fujiwara Mototsune,
became hereditary in the family, thus making them all powerful. In
time the Fujiwaras, who had increased to the proportions of a great
clan, were divided into five branches called the Sekke, or Regent fam-
ilies, named Konoye, Kujo, Nijo, Ichijo, and Takadzukasa.
So long as the succession to the throne was so indefinite, and on
such a wide basis, it was easy for this powerful family to choose the
heir whenever the throne was empty, as it was in their power to make
it empty when it so suited them, by compelling the mikado to abdicate.
In A.D. 794 the capital was removed to Kioto, seven miles from
Lake Biwa, and there permanently located. Before that time it was
at Kashiwabara, at Nara,* or at some place in the Home Provinces
* The ancient town of Nara, one of the most interesting in all Japan, lies about
twenty miles due east of Ozaka, in Yamato. The town and neighborhood abound
with antiquities, mikado's tombs, grand old temples, and colossal images of
Buddha. Seven sovereigns, of whom four were females, ruled at Nara from A.D.
THE THRONE AND THE NOBLES. \\\
(kinai) of Yamato, Yamashiro, or Settsu. So long as the course of
empire was identified with that of a central military chief, who was
the ruler of a few provinces and suzerain of tributaries, requiring him
to be often in camp or on the march, government was by the sword
rather than by the sceptre, and the permanent location of a capi-
tal was unnecessary. As the area of dominion increased and became
more settled the government business grew apace, in amount and
complexity, and division of labor was imperative, and a permanent
capital was of prime importance. The choice was most felicitous.
The ancient city of Heianjo, seven miles south-west of the southern
end of Lake Biwa, was chosen. The Japanese word meaning capital,
or large city, is miako, of which kid or kioto is the Chinese equiva-
lent. The name Heianjo soon fell into disuse, the people speaking of
the city as the miako. Even this term gave way in popular usage to
Kioto. Miako is now chiefly used in poetry, while the name most
generally applied has been and is Kioto, the miako by excellence.
Kioto remained the capital of Japan until 1 868, when the miako was
removed to Yedo, which city having become the kid, was re-named
Tokio, or Eastern capital. The name Yedo is no longer in use among
the Japanese. No more eligible site could have been chosen for the
purpose. Kioto lies not mathematically, but geographically and prac-
tically in respect of the distribution of population and habitable area,
in the centre of Japan. It is nearly in the middle of the narrowest
neck of land between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean. It
lies at the foot, and stands like a gate between the great mountain
ranges, diverging north and south, or east and west. Its situation at
the base of the great central lake of Biwa, or Omi, forty miles from
whose northern point is the harbor and sea-port of Tsuruga, makes it
708-782. Their reigns were prosperous and glorious, and were distinguished for
the cultivation of the arts, literature, and religion. Here, in 711, the Kojiki was
written, and in 713, by orders of the imperial court, sent to all the governors of
provinces ; a book, in sixty-six volumes, descriptive of the provinces, cities, mount-
ains, rivers, valleys, and plains, plants, tre.es, birds, and quadrupeds, was begun,
and finished in 1634. Only fragments of this fine work are now extant. In the
period 708-715 copper was discovered. In 739, the colossal gilded copper image
of Buddha, fifty-three feet high, was cast and set up. Many envoys from China,
and Buddhist priests from Siam, India, and China, visited Nara, one of the lat-
ter bringing a library of five thousand volumes of Buddhist literature. In 749
it was forbidden by imperial edict to slaughter animals in Japan. A large col-
lection of the personal and household articles in the possession of the mikados
of the eighth century was exhibited at Nara in June, 1875, the inventories made
at that ancient period being accessible for comparison.
112 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
acccessible to the ships coining from the entire west coast and from
Yezo. On the west and east the natural mountain roads and passes
slope down and open toward it. Forty miles to the south are the
great harbors lining the bay of Ozaka, the haven of all ships from
northern or southern points of the eastern coast. Easy river com-
munications connect Ozaka with Kioto.
The rniako is beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole empire
of Japan. The tone of reverential tenderness, of exulting joy, the
sparkling of the eyes with which Japanese invariably speak of Kioto,
witness to the fact of its natural beauty, its sacred and classic associa-
tions, and its place in the affections of the people. The city stands
on an elliptical plain walled in on all sides by evergreen hills and
mountains, like the floor of a huge flattened crater no longer choked
with lava, but mantled with flowers. On the south the river Kamo,
and on the north, east, and west, flowing in crystal clearness, the afflu-
ents of Kamo curve around the city, nearly encircle it, uniting at the
south-west to form the Yodo River. Through the centre and in sev-
eral of the streets the branches of the river flow, giving a feeling of
grateful coolness in the heats of summer, and is the source of the
cleanliness characteristic of Kioto. The streets run parallel and cross
at right angles, and the whole plan of the city is excellent. The
mikado's palace is situated in the north-eastern quarter. Art and
nature are wedded in beauty. The monotony of the clean squares
is broken by numerous groves, temples, monasteries, and cemeteries.
On the mountain overlooking the city peep out pagodas and shrines.
The hill-slopes blossom with gardens. The suburbs are places of de-
light and loveliness. The blue Lake of Biwa,. the tea-plantations of
Uji, the thousand chosen resorts of picnic groups in the adjacent
shady hills, the resorts for ramblers, the leafy walks for the poet, the
groves for the meditative student or the pious monk, the thousand
historical and holy associations invest Kioto with an interest attaching
to no other place in Japan. Here, or in its vicinity, have dwelt for
seventeen centuries the mikados of Japan.
As the children and descendants of the mikados increased at the
capital there was formed the material for classes of nobility. It was
to the interest of these nobles to cherish with pride their traditions
of divine descent. Their studied exaltation of the mikado as their
head was the natural consequence. The respect and deference of dis-
tant tributary princes wishing to obtain and preserve favor at court
served only to increase the honor of these nobles of the capital. The
THE THRONE AND THE NOBLES. 113
fealty of the distant princes was measured not only by their trib-
ute and military assistance, but by their close conformity to the cus-
toms of the miako, which naturally became the centre of learning and
civilization.
Previous to the era of Sujin, the observance of the time of begin-
ning the new year, as well as the celebration of the sacred festivals to
the gods, was not the same throughout the provinces. The acceptance
of a uniform calendar promulgated from the capital was then, as now,
a sign of loyalty of far greater significance than would appear to us
at first sight. This was forcibly shown in Yokohama, as late as 1872,
after the mikado had abolished the lunar, and ordered the use of
the solar, or Gregorian, calendar in his dominions. The resident Chi-
nese, in an incendiary document, which was audaciously posted on
the gates of the Japanese magistrate's office, denounced the Japanese
for having thus signified, by the adoption of the barbarians' time,
that they had yielded themselves up to be the slaves of the " foreign
devils."
The mikado has no family name. He needs none, because his
dynasty never changes. Being above ordinary mortals, no name is
necessary to distinguish him from men. He need be personally dis-
tinguished only from the gods. When he dies, he will enter the
company of the gods. He is deified under some name, with Tenno
(son, or king, of heaven) affixed. It was not proper (until 1872,
when the custom was abrogated) for ordinary people to pronounce
the name of the living mikado aloud, or to write it in full : a stroke
should be left out of each of the characters.
Previous to the general use of Chinese writing, the mikados, about
fifty in all, had long names ending in " mikoto," a term of respect equiv-
alent to " augustness," and quite similar to those applied to the gods.
These extremely long names, now so unmanageable to foreign, and
even to modern native, tongues, gave place in popular use to the great-
ly abbreviated Chinese equivalents. A complete calendar of the names
of the gods and goddesses, mikados and empresses and heroes, was
made out in Chinese characters. It is so much more convenient to
use these, that I have inserted them in the text, even though to do so
seems in many an instance an anachronism. The difference in learned
length and thundering sound of the Japanese and the Chinese form
of some of these names will be easily seen and fully appreciated after
a glance, by the Occidental reader who is terrified at the uncouthness
of both, or who fears to trust his vocal organs to attempt their pro-
114 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
nunciation. Amaterasu 6 mikami becomes Ten Sho Dai Jin ; Oki-
naga Tarashi Hime becomes Jingu Kogo.
After the Chinese writing became fashionable, the term mikoto
was dropped. The mikados after death received a different name
from that used when living : thus Kan Yamato Iware hiko no mikoto
became, posthumously, Jimmu Tenno.
The Golden Age of the mikado's power ceased after the introduc-
tion of Buddhism and the Chinese system of officialdom. The de-
cadence of his personal power began, and steadily continued. Many
of the high ministers at court became Buddhists, as well as the mi-
kados. It now began to be a custom for the emperors to abdicate
after short reigns, shave off their hair in token of renunciation of
the world, become monks, and retire from active life, taking the title
Ho-o (ho, law of Buddha; 6, mikado = cloistered emperor). During
the eighth century, while priests were multiplying, and monasteries
were everywhere being established, the court was the chief propaganda.
The courtiers vied with each other in holy zeal and study of the sacred
books of India, while the minds of the empresses and boy-emperors
were occupied with schemes for the advancement of Buddhism. In
741, the erection of two great temples, and of a seven-storied pagoda
in each province, was ordered. The abdication after short reigns
made the mikados mere puppets of the ministers and courtiers. In-
stead of warriors braving discomforts of the camp, leading armies in
battle, or fighting savages, the chief rulers of the empire abdicated,
after short reigns, to retire into monasteries, or give themselves up to
license. This evil state of affairs continued, until, in later centuries,
effeminate men, steeped in sensual delights, or silly boys, who droned
away their lives in empty pomp and idle luxury, or became the tools
of monks, filled the throne. Meanwhile the administration of the
empire from the capital declined, while the influence of the military
classes increased. As the mikado's actual power grew weaker, his
nominal importance increased. He was surrounded by a hedge of
etiquette that secluded him from the outer world. He never appeared
in public. His subjects, except his wife and concubines and highest
ministers, never saw his face. He sat on a throne of mats behind a
curtain. His feet were never allowed to touch the earth. When he
went abroad in the city, he rode in a car closely curtained, and drawn
by t bullocks. The relation of emperor and subject thus grew mythic-
al, jand the way was paved for some bold usurper to seize the actual-
ity of power, while the name remained sacred and inviolate.
THE BEGINNING OF MILITARY DOMINATION.
XII.
THE BEGINNING OF MILITARY DOMINATION.
WITH rank, place, and power as the prizes, there were not want-
ing rival contestants to dispute the monopoly of the Fujiwara. The
prosperity and domineering pride of the scions of this ancient house,
instead of overawing those of younger families that w,ere forming in
the capital, served only as spurs to their pride and determination to
share the highest gifts of the sovereign. It may be easily supposed
that the Fujiwara did not attain the summit of their power without
the sacrifice of many a rival aspirant. The looseness of the marriage
tie, the intensity of ambition, the greatness of the prize — the throne
itself — made the court ever the fruitful soil of intrigue, jealousies,
proscription, and even the use of poison and the dagger. The fate
of many a noble victim thus sacrificed on the altars of jealousy and
revenge forms the subject of the most pathetic passages of the Jap-
anese historians, and the tear-compelling scenes of the romance and
the drama. The increase of families was the increase of feuds. Ar-
rogance and pride were matched by craft and subtlety that finally led
to quarrels which rent the nation, to civil war, and to the almost utter
extinction of one of the great families.
The Sugawara were the most ancient rivals of the Fujiwara. The
most illustrious victim of court intrigue bearing this name was Suga-
wara Michizan6. This polished courtier, the Beauclerc of his age,
had, by the force of, his talents and learning, risen to the position of
inner great minister. As a scholar, he ranked among the highest of
his age. At different periods of his life he wrote, or compiled, from
the oldest records various histories, some of which are still extant.
His industry and ability did not, however, exempt him from the jeal-
ous annoyances of the Fujiwara courtiers, who imbittered his life by
poisoning the minds of the emperor and courtiers against him. One
of them, Tokihira, secured an edict banishing him to Kiushiu. Here,
in the horrors of poverty and exile, he endeavored to get a petition
to the mikado, but failed to do so, and starved to death, on the 25th
116 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
day of the Second month, 903. Michizane is now known by his
posthumous name of Tenjin. Many temples have been erected in his
honor, and students worship his spirit, as the patron god of letters
and literature. Children at school pray to him that they may become
good writers, and win success in study. Some of his descendants are
still living.
When Michizane died, the Sugawara were no longer to be dreaded
as a rival family. Another brood were springing up, who were des-
tined to become the most formidable rivals of the Fujiwara. More
than a century before, one of the concubines, or extra wives, of the
Emperor Kuammu had borne a son, who, having talents as well as im-
perial blood, rose to be head of the Board of Civil Office, and master
of court ceremonies — an office similar to the lord high chamberlain
of England.* To his grandson Takamochi was given the surname of
Taira in 889 — one hundred and one years before the banishment of
Michizane.
The civil offices being already monopolized by the Fujiwara, the
members of the family of Taira early showed a fondness and special
fitness for military life, which, with their experience, made them most
eligible to the commands of military expeditions. The Fujiwara had
become wholly wedded to palace life, and preferred the ease and lux-
ury of the court to the discomforts of the camp and the dangers of
the battle-field. Hence the shoguns, or generals, were invariably ap-
pointed among sons of the Taira or the Minamoto, both of which
families became the military vassals of the crown. While the men
led the armies, fought the foe, and returned in triumph, the mothers
at home fired the minds of their sons with the recital of the deeds of
their fathers. Thus bred to arms, inured to war, and living chiefly in
the camp, a hardy race of warriors grew up and formed the military
caste. So long as the Taira or Minamoto leaders were content with
war and its glory, there was no reason for the Fujiwara to fear dan-
ger from them as rivals at court. But in times of peace and inaction,
the minds of these men of war longed to share in the spoils of peace ;
or, having no more enemies -to conquer, their energies were turned
against their fellows. The peculiar basis of the imperial succession
opened an equally wide field for the play of female ambition ; and
* Princes of the blood were eligible to the following offices : Minister of the
imperial household, lord high chamberlain, minister of war, president of the
censorate, and the governorships of K6dzuk6, Kadzusa, and Hitachi. The act-
ual duties of the office were, however, performed by inferior officials.
THE BEGINNING OF MILITARY DOMINATION. 11.7
while Taira and Minamoto generals lusted after the high offices held
by Fujiwara courtiers, Taira and Minamoto ladies aspired to become
empresses, or at least imperial concubines, where they might, for the
glory of their family, beard the dragon of power in his own den.
They had so far increased in influence at court, that in 1008, the
wife of the boy-emperor, Ichijo, was chosen from the house of Mi-
namoto.
The Minamoto family, or, as the Chinese characters express the
name, Genji, was founded by Tsunemoto, the grandson of Seiwa
(859-880) and son of the minister of war. His great-grandson Yori-
yoshi became a shogun, and was sent to fight the Ainos ; and the
half-breeds, or rebels of mixed Aino and Japanese blood, in the east
and extreme north of Hondo. Yoriyoshi's son, Yoshiiye", followed
his father in arms, and was likewise made a shogun. So terrible was
Yoshiiy6 in battle that he was called Hachiman taro. The name Taro
is given to the first-born son. Hachiman is the Buddhist form of
Ojin, the deified son of Jingu Kogo, and the patron of warriors, or
god of war. After long years of fighting, he completely tranquilized
the provinces of the Kuanto. His great-grandson Yoshitomo* became
* The family name (uji) precedes the personal, or what we call the baptismal
or Christian name. Thus the full name of the boy Kotaro, son of Mr. Ota,
would be Ota Kotaro. Family names nearly always have a topographical mean-
ing, having been taken from names of streets, villages, districts, rivers, mount-
ains, etc. The following are specimens, taken from the register of my students
in the Imperial College in Tokio, many of whom are descendants of the illustri-
ous personages mentioned in this book, or in Japanese history. The great bulk
of the Samurai claim descent from less than a hundred original families: Plain-
village, Crane-slope, Hill-village, Middle -mountain, Mountain -foot, Grove-en-
trance, High-bridge, East-river, River-point, Garden-mountain, River-meadow,
Pine-village, Great-tree, Pine-well, Shrine-promontory, Cherry-well, Cedar-bay,
Lower-field, Stone-pine, Front-field, Bamboo-bridge, Large-island, Happy-field,
Shrine-plain, Temple-island, Hand-island, North-village, etc., etc. It was not the
custom to have godparents, or namesakes, in our sense of these words. Mid-
dle names were not given or used, each person having but a family and a person-
al name. Neither could there be a senior and junior of exactly the same name
in the same family, as with us. The father usually bestowed on his son half of
his name ; that is, he gave him one of the Chinese characters with which his own
was written. Thus, Toriyoshi named his first-born son Yoshiiye", i. e., Yoshi
(good) and iye (house or family). Yoshiiye' had six sons, named, respectively,
Yoshimune', Yoshichika, Yoshikuni, Yoshitada, Yoshitoki, and Yoshitaka. The
Taira nobles retained the mori in Tadamori, in their own personal names. Fe-
male names were borrowed from those of beautiful and attractive objects or of
auspicious omens, and were usually not changed at marriage or throughout life.
Males made use during life of a number of appellations given them, or assumed
on the occasions of birth, reaching adult age, official promotion, change of life ;
118
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the greatest rival of the Taira, and the father of Yoritomo, one of the
ablest men in Japanese history. The star of Minamoto was in the
ascendant.
Meanwhile the Taira shoguns, who had the military oversight of
the South and West, achieved a succession of brilliant victories. As
a reward for his services, the court bestowed the island of Tsushima
on Tadamori, the head of the house. It being a time of peace, Ta-
damori came to Kioto to live, and while at court had a liaison with
one of the palace lady attendants, whom he afterward married. The
fruit of this union was a son, who grew to be a man of stout physique.
In boyhood he gave equal indications of his future greatness and his
View in the Inland Sea.
future arrogance. He wore unusually high clogs — the Japanese equiv-
alent for " riding a high horse." His fellows gave the strutting roist-
erer the nickname of koheda ("high clogs"). Being the son of a
soldier, he had abundant opportunity to display his valor. At this
or on account of special events, entering a monastery, and after death. This cns-
tom as a police measure, as well as for other reasons, was abolished in 1872. Oft-
en a superior rewarded an inferior by bestowing upon him a new name, or by al-
lowing him to incorporate one of the syllables expressed vividly to the eye by a
Chinese character, of the superior's name. It was never the custom to name
children after great men, as we do after our national heroes. Formerly the gen-
itive particle no (of) was used; as Minamoto no Toritomo means Yoritomo of
the Minamoto family. In 1872, the peasantry were allowed to have family as
well as individual names.
THE BEGINNING OF MILITARY DOMINATION. 119
time the seas swarmed with pirates, who ravaged the coasts and were
the scourge of Corea as well as Japan. Kiyomori, a boy full of fire
and energy, thirsting for fame, asked to be sent against the pirates.
At the age of eighteen he cruised in the Sea of lyo, or the Suwo
Nada, which is part of the Inland Sea, a sheet of water extremely
beautiful in itself, and worthy, in a high degree, to be called the
Mediterranean of Japan. While on shipboard, he made himself a
name by attacking and capturing a ship full of the most desperate
villains, and by destroying their lurking-place. His early manhood
was spent alternately in the capital and in service in the South. In
1153, at the age of thirty-six, he succeeded his father as minister of
justice. The two families of Minamoto and Taira, who had together
emerged from comparative obscurity to fame, place, and honor, had
dwelt peacefully together in Kioto, or had been friendly rivals as sol-
diers in a common cause on distant battle-fields, until the year 1156,
from which time they became implacable enemies. In that year the
first battle was fought between the adherents of two rival claimants
of the throne. The Taira party was successful, and obtained posses-
sion of the imperial palace, which gave them the supreme advantage
and prestige which have ever since been possessed by the leader or
party in whose hands the mikado is. The whole administration of
the empire was now at Kiyomori's disposal. The emperor, who thus
owed his elevation to the Taira, made them the executors of his poli-
cy. This was the beginning of the domination of the military classes
that lasted until 1868. The ambition of Kiyomori was now not only
to advance himself to the highest position possible for a subject to
occupy, but also to raise the influence and power of his family to the
highest pitch. He further determined to exterminate the only rivals
whom he feared — the Minamoto. Not content with exercising the
military power, he filled the offices at court with his own relatives,
carrying the policy of nepotism to a point equal to that of his rivals,
the Fujiwara, In 1167, at the age of thirty-six, having, by his ener-
gy and cunning, made himself the military chief of the empire, hav-
ing crushed not only the enemies of the imperial court, but also his
own, and having tremendous influence with the emperor and court,
he received the appointment of Dai Jo Dai Jin.
Kiyomori was thus, virtually, the ruler of Japan. In all his meas-
ures he was assisted, if not often instigated to originate them by the
ex-emperor, Go - Shirakawa, who ascended the throne in 1156, and
abdicated in 1159, but was the chief manager of affairs during the
120
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
reigns of his son and two grandsons. This mikado was a very im-
moral man, and the evident reason of his resigning was that he might
abandon himself to debauchery, and wield even more actual power
than when on the throne. In 1169, he abdicated, shaved off his hair,
and took the title of Ho-d, or " cloistered emperor," and became a
Buddhist monk, professing to retire from the world. In industrious
seclusion, he granted the ranks and titles created by his predecessor
in lavish profusion. He thus exercised, as a monk, even more influ-
ence than when in actual office. The head of the Taira hesitated not
to use all these rewards for his own and his family's private ends.
In him several offices were held by one person. He argued that as
View wear lliogo, from near the Site of the Taira Palace.
others who had done no great services for court or emperor had
held high offices, he who had done so much should get all he could.
Finally, neither court nor emperor could control him, and he banished
kuye, and even moved the capital and court at his pleasure. In
1168, the power of the Taira- family was paramount. Sixty men of
the house held high offices at court, and the lands from which they
enjoyed revenue extended over thirty provinces. They had splendid
palaces in KiSto and at Fukuwara, where the modern treaty-port of
Hiogo now stands overlooking the splendid scenery of the Inland Sea.
Hesitating at nothing that would add to his glory or power, Kiyo-
mori, in 1171, imitating his predecessors, made his daughter the con-
THE BEGINNING OF MILITARY DOMINATION.
121
cubine, and afterward the wife, of the Emperor Takakura, a boy eleven
years old. Of his children one was now empress, and his two sons
were generals of highest rank. His cup of power was full.
The fortunes of the Fujiwara and Minamoto were under hopeless
eclipse, the former having no military power, the latter being scat-
tered in exile. Yoshitomo, his rival, had been killed, while in his bath,
by Osada, his own traitorous retainer, who was bribed by Kiyomori to
do the deed. The head of Yoshitomo's eldest son had fallen under
the sword at Kioto, and his younger sons — the last of the Minamoto,
as he supposed — were in banishment, or immured in monasteries.
4. .
Tametomo defying the Taira men, after sinking their Ship. (From the vignette on
the greenback national-bank notes, drawn by a native artist.)
The most famous archer, Minamoto Tametomo, took part in many
of the struggles of the two rival families. His great strength, equal
to that of many men (fifty, according to the legends), and the fact
that his right arm was shorter than his left, enabled him to draw a
bow which four ordinary warriors could not bend, and send a shaft
five feet long,- with enormous bolt -head. The court, influenced by
the Taira, banished him, in a cage, to Idzu (after cutting the muscles
of his arm), under a guard. He escaped, and fled to the islands of
Oshima and Hachijo, and the chain south of the Bay of Yedo. His
arm having healed, he ruled over the people, ordering them not to
send tribute to Idzu or Kioto. A fleet of boats was sent against
him. Tametomo, on the strand of Oshima, sped a shaft at one of the
122 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
approaching vessels that pierced the thin gunwale and sunk it. He
then, after a shout of defiance, shut himself up, set the house on fire,
and killed himself. Another account declares that he fled to the Liu
Kiu Islands, ruled over them, and founded the family of Liu Kiu
kings, being the father of Sunten, the first historical ruler of this
group of islands. A picture of this doughty warrior has been chosen
to adorn the greenback currency of the banks of modern Japan.
" Woe unto thee, O land, when thy king is a child !" The mika-
dos* during the Taira period were nearly all children. Toba began
to reign at six, abdicating at seventeen in behalf of his son Shiutoku,
four years old ; who at twenty-four resigned in favor of Konoye, then
four years old. The latter died at the age of sixteen, and was suc-
ceeded by Go-Shirakawa, who abdicated after three years in favor of
Nijo, sixteen years old, who died after six years, when Rokujo, one
year old, succeeded. After three years, Takakura, eight years old,
ruled thirteen years, resigning to Antoku, then three years of age.
It is easily seen that the real power lay not with these boys and ba-
bies, but with the august wire-pullers behind the throne.
The ffeike Monogatari, or the " Historic Romance of the Taira," is
one of the most popular of the many classic works of fiction read by
all classes of people in Japan. In this book the chief events in the
lives, and even the manners and personal appearance, of the principal
actors of the times of the Taira are seen, so that they become more
than shadows of names, and seem to live before us, men of yesterday.
The terms Heike and G-enji, though Chinese forms of the names Taira
and Minamoto, were, from their brevity, popularly used in preference
to the pure native, but longer, forms of Taira and Minamoto.
* For convenience of reference, the following chronological list of the sover-
eigns of Japan is here appended. It is based on the list given in the Nihon Riya-
ku Shi (Abridgment of Japanese History), Tokio, 1874 — a book from which I have
drawn freely in this work. The dates of their reigns, in terms of the Gregorian
calendar, are obtained chiefly from a comparative almanac of Chinese, Japanese,
and Western dates, compiled by a learned native scholar, who brings down this
invaluable chronological harmony to the third day of the Twelfth month of Meiji
(January 1st, 1874), when the solar- or Gregorian calendar was adopted in Japan.
The year dates approximate to within a few weeks of exactness. The names in
italics denote female sovereigns. In two instances (37 and 39, 48 and 50), one em-
press reigned twice, and has two posthumous titles. I have put the name of
Jingu K6g6 in the list, though the Dai Nihon Shi does not admit it, she having
never been crowned or formally declared empress by investiture with the regalia
of sovereignty. In several cases the duration of the reign was less than a year.
The five "false emperors," printed in black spaces, are omitted from this list.
Only the posthumous titles under which the mikados were apotheosized are here
THE BEGINNING OF MILITARY DOMINATION.
123
given, though their living names, and those of their parents, are printed in the
Nihon Kiyaku Shi. Including Jingu, there were 123 sovereigns. The average
length of the reigns of 122 was nearly twenty-one years. There has been but one
dynasty in Japan. In comparison, the present emperor of China is the 273d, and
the dynasty the 23d or 24th.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF JAPANESE EMPERORS.
1
Potthumout
Title.
Attest
Death.
Date iii'Ki-i>m.
i
Po*thnmou*
Title.
A (cent
Death.
Date of Reign.
1
127
660-685 B.O.
63.
Murakami
42
047- 967 A. D.
2
Siii-ci
84
681-649 "
64
Keizei
62
968- 969 '•
3.
Annel
67
648-511 "
66.
Enniu
33
970- 984 M
4
Itokn
77
610-477 "
66.
41
985- 9S6 '
g
Mi'- In"'
114
475-393 "
67
Ichijo
32
987-101 1 '
g
Koan
137
392-291 "
68
Sanjo
43
1012-1016 '
7
Korei
128
290-216 "
69.
Go-Ichijo
29
1017 1036 '
s
Kf><*en
116
214-158 "
70.
Go-Shnjaku
87
1037 1046 '
9
Kuaika
115
157- 98 "
71.
44
1047 1068 '
10
Snjin
119
97- 30 "
72.
Go-Sanjo
40
1069 1072 '
11
Sninin
141
29 D.O. to 70 A.U.
73.
Shirakawn
77
1078-1086 '
1?
Keiko
143
71-130 "
74.
Horikawa
29
1087-1107 '
13
Sri lull
108
131-191 "
75.
Tobft
66
1108-1123 '
11
China!
52
192-200 '
76.
Shlutokn
46
1124-1141 '
15
•Tingu K6"6.
100
201-209 '
77.
Konoye
IT
1142 1155 '
16
Ojiu
111
270-310 '
78.
Go-Shirnkn wa
66
1156-1168 '
17
Nintoku.
110
313-399 '
79
NijS
23
1169 1165 '
18
Richiu
77
400-405 '
80.
Koknju
13
1166-1168 '
19
Hansho
60
400-411 '
81.
Takaknra
21
1169-1180 '
00
InkiO
80
412-453 '
82
Antoku
8
1181-1185 '
01
Anko
56
454-456 «
83.
Gotoba
60
1184-1198 '
22.
03
Yuriyaku...
Seine!
62
41
467-479 '
480-484 '
84.
85.
Tsuchimikado
Jnntoku
37
46
1199-1210 '
1211 1221 •
04
Keuso
33
485-487 "
86.
Chiukio
17
1222 1222 •
<»5
Ninken
51
488-498 "
87.
Go-Horikawa
23
1222 1232 "
06
Buretsu
67
499-506 "
8&
Shijo
18
1233-1242 "
07
Keitai
82
607-531 "
89.
Go-Saga
63
1243 1246 "
OS
An kaii
70
634-635 "
90.
Go-Fukakusa. . . .
62
1247 1289 "
09
Senkua
73
630-539 '
91.
K an h vama
87
1260-1274 "
30
Kimniei
63
640-571 '
92.
Go-Uda
68
1275-1287 "
31
Bidatsu ....
48
672-585 '
93.
Fushimi
63
1288-1293 "
30
Yomei
69
686-587 «
94.
Go-Fnehinii
49
1299-1301 •'
33
Snjnn
73
688-592 '
95.
Go-NijS
24
1302-1307 "
34
Suiko
76
593-628 '
96.
Hauazono
62
1308-1318 "
35
Jomei
49
629-641 '
97.
Go-Daigo
62
1319 1338 "
36
Koqioku ....
68
642-644 '
98.
Go-Murakami
41
1339-1367 "
3T
Kutoku
69
645-654 '
99.
Chokei
1368-1383 "
38.
30
Saimei
Tench!
58
655-661 '
668-672 '
100.
101.
Go-Kamey atna
Go-Komatsn
78
67
1383-1392 "
1393 1412 "
40
Kobun
25
672-672 '
102.
Shoko
28
1413-1428 "
41
Temma
65
673-686 '
103.
Go-Hanazono
62
1429 1464 •«
40
Jitd
58
690-696 '
104.
Go-Tsuchimikado..
59
1465-1600 "
43.
44
Momma —
Gemmid
25
61
697-707 '
708-714 '
105.
106.
Go-Kashiwara
Go-Nara
63
62
1501-1526 "
1527-1557 "
45
Oenshd
69
715-723 '
107.
( ) k i ii i ;ic 1 1 i
76
1558-1586 "
46
Shoma
66
724-748 «
108.
Goyozei
47
1687 1611 "
4T
Koken
63
749-758 •
109.
Gomiwo
86
1612-1629 "
48
Junnin
33
759 764 '
110.
74
1630-1643 "
41
Shotnku
765-769 '
111.
Go-K6mio
22
1644-1654 "
50
Kunin
73
770-T81 '
112.
( ; i isa i
49
1655-1662 "
51
Knammu...
70
782-805 '
113.
Reigen
79
1663-16S6 "
50
Heijo
51
806-809 '
114.
35
1687-1709 "
53
Saga
67
810-823 '
115.
37
1710-1735 "
54.
55
Juuwa
Nimmio ....
65
41
824-833 '
834-850 '
116.
117.
Sakuramachi
Momozono
31
22
1736-1746 "
1747-1762 "
56.
57.
5^
Montoku . . .
Seiwa
Yozei
32
31
82
851-858 '
859-876 «
877-884 '
118.
119.
120.
Go- Sakuramachi. . .
Go-Momozono
Kokaku
74
22
70
1763-1770 "
1771-1779 "
1780-1816 "
59
Koko
63
885-887 «
121.
Ninko
47
1817 1846 "
00
Uda
65
888-897 '
122.
87
1847 1866 "
61
Daigo
46
898-930 '
123.
Mutsuhito
1867 "
62.
Shnjaku ....
30
931-946 '
124 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XIII.
TORITOMO AND THE MINAMOTO FAMILY.
NEXT to portraying the beauties of nature, there is no class of sub-
jects in which the native artists delight more than in the historical
events related in their classics. Among these there are none treated
with more frequency and spirit than the flight of Yoshitomo's concu-
bine, Tokiwa, after the death of her lord at the hands of bribed trai-
tors. After the fight with the Taira in Kioto, in 1159, he fled east-
ward, and was killed in a bath-room by three hired assassins at Ut-
sumi, in Owari. Tokiwa was a young peasant-girl of surpassing beau-
ty, whom Yoshitomo had made his concubine, and who bore him three
children. She fled, to escape the minions of Taira. Her flight was
in winter, and snow lay on the ground. She knew neither where to
go nor how to subsist ; but, clasping her babe to her bosom, her two
little sons on her right, one holding his mother's hand, the other car-
rying his father's sword, trudged on. That babe at her breast was
Yoshitsune — a name that awakens in the breast of a Japanese youth
emotions that kindle his enthusiasm to emulate a character that was
the mirror of chivalrous valor and knightly conduct, and that saddens
him at the thought of one who suffered cruel death at the hands of
a jealous brother. Yoshitsune, the youngest son of Yoshitomo, lives,
and will live, immortal in the minds of Japanese youth as the Bayard
of Japan.
Kiyomori, intoxicated with success, conceived the plan of extermi-
nating the Minamoto family root and branch. Not knowing where
Tokiwa and her children had fled, he seized her mother, and had her
brought to Kioto. In Japan,- as in China, filial piety is the highest
duty of man, filial affection the strongest tie. Kiyomori well knew
that Tokiwa's sense of a daughter's duty would prevail over that of
a mother's love or womanly fear. He expected Tokiwa to come to
Kioto to save her mother.
Meanwhile the daughter, nearly frozen and half starved, was met in
her flight by a Taira soldier, who, pitying her and her children, gave
YORITOMO AND THE MINAMOTO FAMILY. 125
her shelter, and fed her with his own rations. Tokiwa heard of her
mother's durance at Kioto. Then came the struggle between mater-
nal and filial love. To enter the palace would be the salvation of her
mother, but the death of her children. What should she do? Her
wit showed her the way of escape. Her resolution was taken to go
to the capital, and trust to her beauty to melt the heart of KiyomorL
Thus she would save her mother and the lives of her sons.
Her success was complete. Appearing in the presence of the
dreaded enemy of her children, Kiyomori was dazed by her beauty,
and wished to make her his concubine. At first she utterly refused ;
but her mother, weeping floods of tears, represented to her the mis-
ery of disobedience, and the happiness in store for her, and Tokiwa
was obliged to yield. She consented on condition of his sparing her
offspring.
Kiyomori's retainers insisted that these young Minamotos should
be put to death ; but by the pleadings of the beautiful mother, backed
by the intercession of Kiyomori's aunt, their lives were spared. The
babe grew to be a healthy, rosy-cheeked boy, small in stature, with a
ruddy face and slightly protruding teeth. In spirit he was fiery and
impetuous. All three of the boys, when grown, were sent to a monas-
tery near Kioto, to be made priests : their fine black hair was shaved,
and they put on the robes of Buddhist neophytes. Two of them re-
mained so, but Yoshitsune gave little promise of becoming a grave
and reverend bonze, who would honor his crape, and inspire respect
by his bald crown and embroidered collar. He refused to have his
hair shaved off, and in the monastery was irrepressibly merry, lively,
and self-willed. The task of managing this young ox (Ushi-waka, he
was then called) gave the holy brethren much trouble, and greatly
scandalized their reverences. Yoshitsune, chafing at his dull life,
and longing to take part in a more active one, and especially in the
wars in the North, of which he could not but hear, determined to es-
cape. How to do it was the question.
Among the outside lay-folk who visited the monastery for trade
or business was an iron-merchant, who made frequent journeys from
Kioto to the north of Hondo. In those days, as now, the mines of
Oshiu were celebrated for yielding the best iron for swords and other
cutting implements. This iron, being smelted from the magnetic ox-
ide and reduced by the use of charcoal as fuel, gave a steel of singular
purity and temper which has never been rivaled in modern times.
Yoshitsune begged the merchant to take him to Mutsu. He, be-
126 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ing afraid of offending the priest, would not at first consent. Yoshi-
tsune persuaded him by saying that the priests would be only too
glad to be rid of such a troublesome boy. The point was won, and
Yoshitsune went off. The boy's surmises were correct. The priest
thought it excellent riddance to very bad rubbish.
While in the East, they stopped some time in Kadzusa, then infest-
ed with robbers. Here Yoshitsune gave signal proof of his mettle.
Among other exploits, he, on one occasion, single-handed and un-
armed, seized a bold robber, and, on another, assisted a rich man to
defend his house, killing five of the ruffians with his own hand.
Yorishige, his companion and bosom-friend, begged him not to in-
dulge in any unnecessary displays of courage, lest the Taira would
surely hear of him, and know he was a Minamoto, and so destroy him.
They finally reached their destination, and Yoshitsune was taken to
live with Hidehira, a nobleman of the Fujiwara, who was prince of
Mutsu. Here he grew to manhood, spending his time most conge-
nially, in the chase, in manly sports, and in military exercises. At the
age of twenty-one, he had won a reputation as a soldier of peerless
valor and consummate skill, and the exponent of the loftiest code of
Japanese chivalry. He became to Yoritomo, his brother, as Ney to
Napoleon. Nor can the splendor of the marshal's courage outshine
that of the young Japanese shogun's.
Yoritomo, the third son of Yoshitomo, was born in the year 1146,
and consequently was twelve years old when his brother Yoshitsune
was a baby. After the defeat of his father, he, in the retreat, was
separated from his companions, and finally fell into the hands of a
Taira officer. On his way through a village called Awohaka, in Omi, a
girl, the child of the daughter of the head-man whom Yoshitomo had
once loved, hearing this, said, " I will follow my brother and die with
him." Her people stopped her as she was about to follow Yoshitomo,
but she afterward went out alone and drowned herself. The Taira
officer brought his prize to Kioto, where his execution was ordered,
and the day fixed ; but there, again, woman's tender heart and suppli-
cations saved the life of one -destined for greater things. The boy's
captor had asked him if he would like to live. He answered, " Yes ;
both my father and brother are dead ; who but I can pray for their
happiness in the next world ?" Struck by this filial answer, the officer
went to Kiyomori's step-mother, who was a Buddhist nun, having be-
come so after the death of her husband, Tadamori. Becoming inter-
ested in him, her heart was deeply touched ; the chambers of her
YORITOMO AND THE MINAMOTO FAMILY. 127
memory were unlocked when the officer said, " Yoritomo resembles
Prince Uma." She had borne one son of great promise, on whom
she had lavished her affection, and who had been named Uma. The
mother's bosom heaved under the robes of the nun, and, pitying Yori-
tomo, she resolved to entreat Kiyomori to spare him. After import-
unate pleadings, the reluctant son yielded to his mother's prayer, but
condemned the youth to distant exile — a punishment one degree less
than death, and Yoritomo was banished to the province of Idzu. He
was advised by his former retainers to shave off his hair, enter a mon-
astery, and become a priest ; but Morinaga, one of his faithful serv-
ants, advised him to keep his hair, and with a brave heart await the
future. Even the few that still called themselves vassals of Minamoto
did not dare to hold any communication with him, as he was under
the charge of two officers who were responsible to the Taira for the
care of their ward. Yoritomo was a shrewd, self-reliant boy, gifted
with high self-control, restraining his feelings so as to express neither
joy nor grief nor anger in his face, patient, and capable of great en-
durance, winning the love and respect of all. He was as "Prince
Hal." He afterward became as " bluff King Harry," barring the lat-
ter's bad eminence as a marrier of many wives.
Such was the condition of the Minamoto family. No longer in
power and place, with an empress and ministers at court, but scat-
tered, in poverty and exile, their lives scarcely their own. Yoritomo
was fortunate in his courtship and marriage, the story of which is one
of great romantic interest.* His wife, Masago, is one of the many fe-
* Yoritomo had inquired which of the daughters of Hojo Tokimasa was most
beautiful. He was told the eldest was most noted for personal charms, but the
second, the child of a second wife, was homely. Yoritomo, afraid of a step-moth-
er's jealousy (though fearing neither spear nor sword), deemed it prudent to pay
his addresses to the homely daughter, and thus win the mother's favor also. He
sent her a letter by the hand of Morinaga, his retainer, who, however, thought
his master's affection for the plain girl would not last; so he destroyed his mas-
ter's letter, and, writing another one to Masago, the eldest, sent it to her. It so
happened that on the previous night the homely daughter dreamed that a pigeon
came to her, carrying a golden box in her beak. On awaking, she told her dream
to her sister, who was so interested in it that, after eager consideration, she re-
solved "to buy her sister's dream," and, as a price, gave her toilet mirror to her
sister, saying, as the Japanese always do on similar occasions, " The price I pay
is little." The homely sister, perhaps thinking some of Masago's beauty might
be reflected to hers, gladly bartered her unsubstantial happiness. Scarcely had
she done this, than Yoritomo's (Morinaga's) letter came, asking her to be his
bride. It turned out to be a true love-match. Masago was then twenty-one
years of age — it being no ungallantry to state the age of a Japanese lady, living
128 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
male characters famous in Japanese history. She contributed not a
little to the success of her husband and the splendor of the Kamakura
court, during her life, as wife and widow. She outlived her husband
many years. Her father, Hojo Tokimasa, an able man, in whose veins
ran imperial blood, made and fulfilled a solemn oath to assist Yori-
tomo, and the Hojo family subsequently rose to be a leading one in
Japan.
The tyranny and insolence of Kiyomori at Kioto had by this time
(1180), one year before his death, become so galling and outrageous
that one of the royal princes, determining to kill the usurper, con-
spired with the Minamoto men to overthrow him. Letters were sent
to the clansmen, and especially to Yoritomo, who wrote to Yoshitsune
and to his friends to join him and take up arms. Among the for-
mer retainers of his father and grandfather were many members of the
Miura family. Morinaga personally secured the fealty of many men
of mark in the Kuanto ; but among those who refused to rise against
the Taira was one, Tsunetoshi, who laughed scornfully, and said,
"For an exile to plot against the Heishi [Taira] is like a mouse
plotting against a cat."
At the head of the peninsula of Idzu is a range of mountains, the
outjutting spurs of the chain that trends upward to the table-lands of
Shinano, and thus divides Eastern from Western Japan. This range
is called Hakone, and is famous not only as classic ground in history,
but also as a casket enshrining the choicest gems of nature. It is
well known to the foreign residents, who resort hither in summer to
enjoy the pure air of its altitudes. Its inspiring scenery embraces a
lake of intensely cold pure water, and of great depth and elevation
above the sea-level, groves of aromatic pines of colossal size, savage
gorges, sublime mountain heights, overcrowned by cloud-excelling Fuji,
foaming cataracts, and boiling springs of intermittent and rhythmic
flow, surrounded by infernal vistas of melted sulphur enveloped in
clouds of poisonous steam, or incrusted with myriad glistening crys-
tals of the same mineral. Over these mountains there is a narrow
pass, which is the key of the Kuanto. Near the pass, above the vil-
or dead. Masago's father, on hia way home from Kioto, not knowing of the be-
trothal of the young couple, promised Masago to Kane"taka, a Taira officer. On
coming home, he would not break his word, and so married her to Kane'taka.
But early on the wedding night Masago eloped with Yoritomo, who was at hand.
Kane'taka searched in vain for the pair. Tokimasa outwardly professed to be
very angry with Yoritomo, but really loved him.
YORITOMO AND THE MINAMOTO FAMILY. 131
lage of Yumoto, is Ishi Bashi Yama (Stone-bridge Mountain), and
here Yoritomo's second battle was fought, and his first defeat experi-
enced. " Every time his bowstring twanged an enemy fell," but final-
ly he was obliged to flee. He barely escaped with his life, and fort-
unately eluded pursuit, secreting himself in a hollow log, having first
sent his father-in-law to call out all his retainers and meet again. He
afterward hid in the priest's wardrobe, in one of the rooms of a tem-
ple. Finally, reaching the sea-shore, he took ship and sailed across
the bay to Awa. "At this time the sea and land were covered with
his enemies." Fortune favored the brave. Yoritoino, defeated, but
not discouraged, while on the water met a company of soldiers, all
equipped, belonging to the Miura clan, who became his friends, and
offered to assist him. Landing in Awa, he sent out letters to all the
Minamoto adherents to bring soldiers and join him. He met with
encouraging and substantial response, for many hated Kiyomori and
the Taira ; and as Yoritomo's father and grandfather had given pro-
tection and secured quiet in the Kuanto, the prestige of the Minamoto
party still remained. The local military chieftains had fought under
Yoritomo's father, and were now glad to join the son of their old
leader. He chose Kamakura as a place of retreat and permanent resi-
dence, it having been an old seat of the Minamoto family. Yoriyoshi
had, in 1063, built the shrine of Hachiman at Tsurugaoka, near the
village, in gratitude for his victories. Yoritomo now organized his
troops, appointed his officers, and made arrangements to establish a
fixed commissariat. The latter was a comparatively easy thing to do
in a fertile country covered with irrigated rice-fields and girdled with
teeming seas, and where the daily food of soldier, as of laborer, was
rice and fish. Marching up around the country at the head of the
Bay of Yedo through Kadzusa, Shimosa, Musashi, and Sagami, cross-
ing, on his way, the Sumida River, which flows through the modern
Tokio, many men of rank, with their followers and horses, joined
him. His father-in-law also brought an army from Kai. In a few
months he had raised large forces, with many noted generals. He
awakened new life in the Minamoto clan, and completely turned the
tide of success. Many courtiers from Kioto, disappointed in their
schemes at court, or in any way chagrined at the Taira, flocked to
Yoritomo as his power rose, and thus brought to him a fund of expe-
rience and ability which he was not slow to utilize for his own bene-
fit. Meanwhile the Taira had not been idle. A large army was dis-
patched to the East, reaching the Fuji River, in Suruga, about the
132 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
same time that the Minamoto, headed by Yoritomo, appeared on the
other side. The Taira were surprised to see such a host in arms.
Both armies encamped on opposite banks, and glared at each other,
eager for the fight, but neither attempting to cross the torrent. This
is not to be wondered at. The Fujikawa bears the just reputation of
being the swiftest stream in Japan. It rises in the northern part of
Kai, on the precipitous side of the group of mountains called Yatsu
dake, or "eight peaks," and, winding around the western base of
the lordly Fuji, collecting into its own volume a host of impetuous
tributaries born from the snows of lofty summits, it traverses the rich
province of Suruga in steep gradient, plunging across the Tokaido, in
arrowy celerity and volcanic force, into the sea near the lordly mount-
ain which it encircles. To cross it at any time in good boats is a feat
requiring coolness and skill ; in a flood, impossibility ; in the face of a
hostile attack, sure annihilation. Though supremely eager to measure
swords, neither party cared to cross to the attack, and the wager of
battle was postponed. Both armies retired, the Taira retreating first.
It is said that one of the Taira men, foreseeing that the tide would
turn in favor of Yoritomo, went to the river flats at night, and scared
up the flocks of wild fowl ; and the Taira, hearing the great noise, im-
agined the Minamoto host was attacking them, and fled, panic-stricken.
Yoritomo returned to Kamakura, and began in earnest to found a city
that ultimately rivaled Kioto in magnificence, as it excelled it in pow-
er. He gathered together and set to work an army of laborers, car-
penters, and armorers. In a few months a city sprung up where once
had been only timbered hills and valleys, matted with the perennial
luxuriance of reeds or scrub bamboo, starred and fragrant with the
tall lilies that still abound. The town lay in a valley surrounded by
hills on every side, opening only on the glorious sea. The wall of
hills was soon breached by cuttings which served as gate-ways, giving
easy access to friends, and safe defense against enemies. While the
laborers delved and graded, the carpenters plied axe, hooked adze, and
chisel, and the sword-makers and armorers sounded a war chorus on
their anvils by day, and lighted up the hills by their forges at night.
The streets marked out were soon lined with shops ; and merchants
came to sell, bringing gold, copper, and iron, silk, cotton, and hemp,
and raw material for food and clothing, war and display. Store-
houses of rice were built and filled ; boats were constructed and
launched ; temples were erected. In process of time, the wealth of
the Kuanto centred at Kamakura. While the old Taira chief lay dy-
YORITOMO AND TIIE MINAMOTO FAMILY. 133
ing in Kioto, praying for Yoritomo's head to be laid on his new tomb,
this same head, safely settled on vigorous shoulders, was devising the
schemes, and seeing them executed, of fixing the Minamoto power
permanently at Kamakura, and of wiping the name of Taira from the
earth.
The long night of exile, of defeat, and defensive waiting of the
Minarnoto had broken, and their day had dawned with sudden and
unexpected splendor. Henceforward they took the initiative. While
Yoritomo carried on the enterprises of peace and the operations of
war from his sustained stronghold, his uncle, Yukiiye, his cousin,
Yoshinaka, and his brother, Yoshitsune, led the armies in the field.
Meanwhile, in 1181, Kiyomori fell sick at Kioto. He had been a
monk, as well as a prime minister. His death was not that of a saint.
He did not pray for his enemies. The Nihon Guai Shi thus describes
the scene in the chamber where the chief of the Taira lay dying : In
the Second leap-month, his sickness having increased, his family and
high officers assembled round his bedside, and asked him what he
would say. Sighing deeply, he said, " He that is born must necessa-
rily die, and not I alone. Since the period of Heiji (1159), I have
served the imperial house. I have ruled under heaven (the empire)
absolutely. I have attained the highest rank possible to a subject.
I am the grandfather of the emperor on his mother's side. Is there
still a regret ? My regret is only that I am dying, and have not yet
seen the head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto. After my decease, do
not make offerings to Buddha on my behalf ; do not read the sacred
books. Only cut off the head of Yoritomo of the Minamoto, and
hang it on my tomb. Let all my sons and grandsons, retainers and
servants, each and every one, follow out my commands, and on no ac-
count neglect them." So saying, Kiyomori died at the age of sixty-
four. His tomb, near Hiogo, is marked by an upright monolith and
railing of granite. Munemori, his son, became head of the Taira
house. Strange words from a death-bed; yet such as these were
more than once used by dying Japanese warriors. Yoritomo's head
was on his body when, eighteen years afterward, in 1199, he died
peacefully in his bed.
Nevertheless, while in Kamakura, his bed-chamber was nightly guard-
ed by chosen warriors, lest treachery might cut off the hopes of the
Minamoto. The flames of war were now lighted throughout the
whole empire. From Kamakura forces were sent into the provinces
of Hitachi, in the East, and of Echizen and Kaga, North and West,
134 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
destroying the authority of the Kioto bureaucracy. Victory and in-
crease made the army of the rising clan invincible. After numerous
bloody skirmishes, the victors advanced through Omi, and swooped
on the chief prize, and Kioto, the coveted capital, was in their hands.
The captors of the city were Yukiiye and Yoshinaka, the uncle and
cousin of Yoritomo respectively. The Taira, with the young mikado,
Antoku, and his wife, Kiyomori's daughter, fled. Gotoba, his broth-
er, was proclaimed mikado in his stead, and the estates and treasures
of the Taira were confiscated, and divided among the victors.
Yoshinaka was called the Asahi shogun (Morning-sun General), on
account of the suddenness and brilliancy of his rising. Being now in
command of a victorious army at the capital, swollen with pride, and
intoxicated with sudden success, and with the actual power then in
his hands, he seems to have lost his head. He was elevated to high
rank, and given the title and office of governor of Echigo ; but hav-
ing been bred in the country, he could not endure the cap and dress
of ceremony, and was the subject of ridicule to the people of Kioto.
He became jealous of his superior, Yoritomo, who was in Kamakura,
two hundred miles away. He acted in such an arbitrary and over-
bearing spirit that the wrath of the cloistered emperor Goshirakawa
was roused against him. Being able to command no military forces,
he incited the monks of the immense monasteries of Hiyeizan and
Miidera, near the city, to obstruct his authority. Before they could
execute any schemes, Yoshinaka, with a military force, seized them,
put the ex-mikado in prison, beheaded the abbots, and deprived the
high officers of state of their honors and titles. He then wrested
from the court the title of Sei-i Shogun (Barbarian-subjugating Gen-
eral). His exercise of power was of brief duration, for Yoshitsune
was invested with the command of the forces in the West, and, sent
against him, he was defeated and killed,* and the ex-mikado was re-
* The details of this struggle are graphically portrayed in the Nikon Guai Shi.
Toshinaka had married the lady Fujiwara, daughter of the court noble, Motofusa.
When the Kamakura arrny was approaching Kioto, and quite near the city, he
left his troops, and called at the palace to take leave of his wife. A long while
having elapsed before he appeared, and every moment being critical, two of his
samurai, grieved at his unseasonable delay, remonstrated with him, and then
committed suicide. This hastened his movements. He attempted to carry off
the cloistered emperor, but was repulsed by Yoshitsune" in person, and fled.
His horse, falling into a quagmire in a rice-field, fell, and he, turning around to
look at Kuip-hini, his faithful vassal, was hit by an arrow in the forehead and fell
dead. He was thirty-one years old. Kane'hira, having but eight arrows left in
his quiver, shot down eight of the enemy's horsemen ; and then, hearing a cry
TORITOMO AND THE MINAMOTO FAMILY. 135
leased, and the reigning emperor set free from the terrorism under
which he had been put.
Meanwhile the Taira men, in their fortified palace at Fukuwara,
were planning to recover their lost power, and assembling a great
army in the South and West. The Minamoto, on the other hand,
were expending all their energies to destroy them. The bitter ani-
mosity of the two great families had reached such a pitch that the
extermination of one or the other seemed inevitable. In 1184, Yoshi-
tsune laid siege to the Fukuwara palace, and, after a short time, set it
on fire. The son of Kiyomori and his chief followers fled to Sanuki,
in Shikoku. Thither, as with the winged feet of an avenger, Yoshi-
tsune followed, besieged them at the castle of Yashima, burned it,
and drove his enemies, like scattered sheep, to the Straits of Shimo-
noseki.
Both armies now prepared a fleet of junks, for the contest was to
be upon the water. In the Fourth month of the year 1185, all was
ready for the struggle. The battle was fought at Dan no ura, near
the modern town of Shimonoseki, where, in 1863, the combined
squadrons of England, France, Holland, and the United States bom-
barded the batteries of the Choshiu clansmen. In the latter instance
the foreigner demonstrated the superiority of his artillery and disci-
pline, and, for the sake of trade and gain, wreaked his vengeance as
savage and unjust as any that stains the record of native war.
In 1185, nearly seven centuries before, the contest was between
men of a common country. It was the slaughter of brother by broth-
er. The guerdon of ambition was supremacy. The Taira clan were
at bay, driven, pursued, and hunted to the sea-shore. Like a wound-
ed stag that turns upon its pursuers, the clan were about to give final
battle ; by its wager they were to decide their future destiny — a grave
in a bloody sea, or peace under victory. They had collected five hun-
among the enemy that his lord was dead, said, " My business is done," and, put-
ting his sword in his mouth, fell skillfully from his horse so that the blade should
pierce him, and died. His beautiful sister, Tomoye, was a concubine of Yoshi-
naka ; and being of great personal strength, constantly followed her lord in bat-
tle, sheathed in armor and riding a swift horse. In this last battle she fought in
the van, and, among other exploits, cut off the head of Iye"yoshi, one of Yoshi-
tsune^s best men. When her lord fled, she asked to be allowed to die with him.
He refused to allow her, and, in spite of her tears, persisted in his refusal. Doff-
ing her armor, she reached Shinano by private paths, and thence retired into
Echigo, shaved off her hair, became a nun, and spent the remainder of her life
praying for the eternal happiness of Yoshinaka.
136
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
dred vessels. They hurried on board their aged fathers and mothers,
their wives and children. Among them were gentle ladies from the
palace, whose silken robes seemed sadly out of place in the crowded
junks. There were mothers, with babes at breast, and little children,
too young to know the awful passions that kindle man against man.
Among the crowd were the widow and daughter of Kiyomori, the
former a nun, the latter the empress-dowager, with the dethroned mi-
kado, a child six years old. With them were the sacred insignia of
imperial power, the sword and ball.
The Minamoto host was almost entirely composed of men, unin-
cumbered with women or families. They had seven hundred junks.
Both fleets were gayly
fluttering with flags and
streamers. The Taira pen-
nant was red, the Minamo-
to white, with two black
bars near the top. The
junks, though clumsy,
were excellent vessels for
fighting purposes — fully
equal to the old war-gal-
leys of Actium.
On one side were brave
men flushed with victory,
with passions kindled by
hate and the memory of
awful wrongs. On the
other side were brave
men nerved with the cour-
age of despair, resolved to die only in honor, scorning life and country,
wounds and death.
The battle began. With impetuosity and despair, the Taira drove
their junks hard against the Minamoto, and gained a temporary ad-
vantage by the suddenness of their onset. Seeing this, Yoshitsune,
ever fearless, cried out and encouraged his soldiers. Then came a
lull in the combat. Wada, a noted archer of the Minamoto, shot an
arrow, and struck the junk of a Taira leader. " Shoot it back !" cried
the chief. An archer immediately plucked it out of the gunwale, and,
fitting it to his bow before the gaze of the crews of the hostile fleet,
let fly. The arrow sped. It grazed the helmet of one, and pierced
A Japanese War-jnuk of the Twelfth Century.
(Vignette illustration on the national bank-notes.)
YORITOMO AND TI1E MINAMOTO FAMILY. 137
another warrior. The Minamoto were ashamed. "Shoot it back!"
thundered Yoshitsune. The archer, plucking it out and coolly ex-
amining it, said, " It is short and weak." Drawing from his quiver an
arrow of fourteen fists' length, and fitting it to the string, he shot it.
The five-feet length of shaft leaped through the air, and, piercing the
armor and flesh of the Taira bowman who reshot the first arrow, fell,
spent, into the sea beyond. Elated with the lucky stroke, Yoshitsune
emptied his quiver, shooting with such celerity and skill that many
Taira fell. The Minamoto, encouraged, and roused to the highest
pitch of enthusiasm, redoubled their exertions with oar and arrow,
and the tide of victory turned. The white flag triumphed. Yet the
Taira might have won the day had not treachery aided the foe. The
pages of Japanese history teem with instances of the destruction of
friends by traitors. Perhaps the annals of no other country are richer
in the recitals of results gained by treachery. The Arnold of the Taira
army was Shigeyoshi, friend to Yoshitsun6. He had agreed upon a
signal, by which the prize could be seen, and when seen could be sur-
rounded and captured. Yoshitsune, eagerly scanning the Taira fleet,
finally caught sight of the preconcerted signal, and ordered the cap-
tains of a number of his junks to surround the particular one of the
Taira. In a trice the junks of the white pennant shot along-side the
devoted ship, and her decks were boarded by armed men. Seeing
this, a Taira man leaped from his own boat to kill Yoshitsune in close
combat. Yoshitsune jumped into another junk. His enemy, thus
foiled, drowned himself. In the hand-to-hand fight with swords, To-
momori and six other Taira leaders were slain.
Seeing the hopeless state of affairs, and resolving not to be capt-
ured alive, the nun, Kiyomori's widow, holding her grandson, the
child emperor, in her arms, leaped into the sea. Taigo, the emperor's
mother, vainly tried to save her child. Both were drowned. Mune-
mori, head of the Taira house, and many nobles, gentlemen, and
ladies, were made prisoners.
The combat deepened. The Minamoto loved fighting. The Taira
scorned to surrender. Revenge lent its maddening intoxication.
Life, robbed of all its charms, gladly welcomed glorious death. The
whizzing of arrows, the clash of two-handed swords, the clanging of
armor, the sweep of churning oars, the crash of colliding junks, the
wild song of the rowers, the shouts of the warriors, made the storm-
chorus of battle. One after another the Taira ships, crushed by the
prows of their opponents, or scuttled by the iron bolt-heads of the
138 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Minamoto archers, sunk beneath the bubbling waters, leaving red whirl-
pools of blood. Those that were boarded were swept with sword and
spear of their human freight. The dead bodies clogged the decks, on
which the mimic tides of blood ebbed and flowed and splashed with
the motion of the waves, while the scuppers ran red like the spouts
of an abattoir. The warriors who leaped into the sea became tar-
gets for the avenger's arrows. Noble and peasant, woman and babe,
rower and archer, lifting imploring arms, or sullenly spurning mercy,
perished by hundreds.
That May morning looked upon a blue sea laughing with unnum-
bered ripples, and glinting with the steel of warriors decked in all
the glory of battle-array, and flaunting with the gay pennants of the
fleet which it seemed proud to bear. At night, heaving crimson like
the vat of a dyer, defiled by floating corpses, and spewing its foul cor-
ruption for miles along the strand, it bore awful though transient
witness to the hate of man.
The Taira, driven off the face of the earth, were buried with war's
red burial beneath the sea, that soon forgot its stain, and laughed
again in purity of golden gleam and deep-blue wave. The humble
fisherman casting his nets, or trudging along the shore, in astonish-
ment saw the delicate corpses of the court lady and the tiny babe,
and the sun-bronzed bodies of rowers, cast upon the shore. The child
who waded in the surf to pick up shells was frightened at the wave-
rolled carcass of the dead warrior, from whose breast the feathered ar-
row or the broken spear-stock protruded. The peasant, for many a
day after, burned or consigned to the burial flames many a fair child
whose silken dress and light skin told of higher birth and gentler
blood than their own rude brood.
Among a superstitious people dwelling by and on the sea, such an
awful ingulfing of human life made a profound impression. The
presence of so many thousand souls of dead heroes was overpowering.
For years, nay, for centuries afterward, the ghosts of the Taira found
naught but unrest in the sea in which their mortal bodies sunk. The
sailor by day hurried with bated breath past the scene of slaughter
and unsubstantial life. , The mariner by night, unable to anchor, and
driven by wind, spent the hours of darkness in prayer, while his vivid
imagination converted the dancing phosphorescence into the white
hosts of the Taira dead. Even to-day the Choshiu peasant fancies he
sees the ghostly armies baling out the sea with bottomless dippers,
condemned thus to cleanse the ocean of the stain of centuries ago.
YORITOMO AND THE M1NAMOTO FAMILY. 139
A few of the Taira escaped and fled to Kiushiu. There, secluded
in the fastnesses of deep valleys and high mountains, their descend-
ants, who have kept themselves apart from their countrymen for near-
ly seven hundred years, a few hundred in number, still live in poverty
and pride. Their lurking-place was discovered only within the last
century. Of the women spared from the massacre, some married
their conquerors, some killed themselves, and others kept life in their
defiled bodies by plying the trade in which beauty ever finds ready
customers. At the present day, in Shimonoseki,* the courtesans de-
scended from the Taira ladies claim, and are accorded, special privi-
leges.
The vengeance of the Minamoto did not stop at the sea. They
searched every hill and valley to exterminate every male of the doom-
ed clan. In Kioto many boys and infant sons of the Taira family
were living. All that were found were put to death. The Herod of
Kamakura sent his father-in-law to attend to the bloody business.
In the Fourth month the army of Kamakura returned to Kioto, en-
joying a public triumph, with their spoils and prisoners, retainers of
the Taira. They had also recovered the sacred emblems. For days
the streets of the capital were gay with processions and festivals, and
the coffers of the temples were enriched with the pious offerings of
the victors, and their walls with votive tablets of gratitude.
Munemori was sent to Kamakura, where he saw the man whose
head his father had charged him on his death-bed to cut off and hang
on his tomb. His own head was shortly afterward severed from his
body by the guards who were conducting him to Kioto.
* Shimonoseki is a town of great commercial importance, from its position at
the entrance of the Inland Sea. It consists chiefly of one long street of two
miles, at the base of a range of low steep hills. It lies four miles from the west-
ern entrance of Hayato no se"to, or strait of Shimonoseki. The strait is from
two thousand to five thousand feet wide, and about seven miles long. Mutsur^
Island (incorrectly printed as "Rockuren" on foreign charts) lies near the en-
trance. On Hiku Island, and at the eastern end of the strait, are light-houses
equipped according to modern scientific requirements. Four beacons, also, light
the passage at night. The current is very strong. A submarine telegraphic ca-
ble now connects the electric wires of Nagasaki, from Siberia to St. Petersburg;
and of Shanghae (China) to London and New York, with those of Tokio and Ha-
kodate. On a ledge of rocks in the channel is a monument in honor of Antoku,
the young emperor who perished here in the arms of his grandmother, Tokiko,
the Nil no ama, a title composed of Nii, noble of the second rank, and oma, nun,
equal to "the noble nun of the second rank."
14Q THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XIV.
CREATION OF THE DUAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.
MEANWHILE Yoritomo was strengthening his power at Kamakura,
and initiating that dual system of government which has puzzled so
many modern writers on Japan, and has given rise to the supposition
that Japan had " two emperors, one temporal, the other spiritual."
The country at this time was distracted with the disturbances of
the past few years; robbers were numerous, and the Buddhist mon-
asteries were often nests of soldiers. Possessed of wealth, arms, and
military equipments, the bonzes were ever ready to side with the par-
ty that pleased them. The presence of such men and institutions
rendered it difficult for any one ruler to preserve tranquillity, since it
was never known at what moment these professedly peaceful men
would turn out as trained bands of military warriors. To restore or-
der, prosperity, revenue, and firm government was now the professed
wish of Yoritomo. He left the name and honor of government at
Kioto. He kept the reality in Kamakura in his own hands, and for
his own family.
In 1 1 84, while his capital was rapidly becoming a magnificent city,
he created the Mandokoro, or Council of State, at which all the gov-
ernment affairs of the Kuanto were discussed, and through which the
administration of the government was carried on. The officers of the
Internal Revenue Department in Kioto, seeing which way the tide of
power was flowing, had previously come to Kamakura bringing the
records of the department, and became subject to Yoritomo's orders.
Thus the first necessity, revenue, was obtained. A criminal tribunal
was also established, especially for the trial of the numerous robbers,
as well as for ordinary cases. He permitted all who had objections
to make or improvements to suggest to send in their petitions. He
requested permission of the mikado to reward all who had performed
meritorious actions, and to disarm the priests, and to confiscate their
war materials. These requests, urged on the emperor in the interest
of good government, were no sooner granted, and the plans executed,
CREATION OF THE DUAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 141
than the news of the destruction of the Taira family at Dan no ura
was received. Then Yoritomo prayed the mikado that five men of
his family name might be made governors of provinces. The peti-
tion was granted, and Yoshitsune was made governor of lyo by spe-
cial decree.
Here may be distinctly seen the first great step toward the military
government that lasted nearly seven centuries.
The name of the shogun's government, and used especially by its
opposers, was bakufu — literally, curtain government, because anciently
in China, as in Japan, a curtain (baku) surrounded the tent or head-
quarters of the commanding general. Bakufu, like most technical
military terms in Japan, is a Chinese word.
The appointing of five military men as governors of provinces was
a profound innovation in Japanese governmental affairs. Hitherto it
had been the custom to appoint only civilians from the court to those
offices. It does not appear, however, that Yoritomo at first intended
to seize the military control of the whole empire ; but his chief min-
ister, Oye no Hiromoto, president of the Council of State, conceived
another plan which, when carried out, as it afterward was, threw all
real power in Yoritomo's hands. As the Kuanto was tranquil and
prosperous under vigorous government, and as the Kuanto troops
were used to put down rebels elsewhere, he proposed that in all the
circuits and provinces of the empire a special tax should be levied
for the support of troops in those places. By this means a permanent
force could be kept, by which the peace of the empire could be main-
tained without the expense and trouble of calling out the Eastern
army. Also — and here was another step to military government and
feudalism — that a shiugo — a military chief, should be placed in each
province, dividing the authority with the kokushiu, or civil governor,
and a jito, to be appointed from Kamakura, should rule jointly with
rulers of small districts, called shoyen. Still further — another step
in feudalism — he proposed that his own relations who had perform-
ed meritorious service in battle should fill these offices, and that they
should all be under his control from Kamakura. This was done, and
Yoritomo thus acquired the governing power of all Japan.
It seems, at first sight, strange that the mikado and his court should
grant these propositions; yet they did so. They saw the Kuanto —
half the empire — tranquil under the strong military government of
Yoritomo. Hojo, his father-in-law, was commanding the garrison at
Kioto. The mikado, Gotoba, may be said to have owed his throne to
142 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Yoritomo, whose ancestors had conquered, almost added to the realm,
all the extreme Northern and Eastern parts of Japan. This portion,
merely tributary before, was now actually settled and governed like
the older parts of the empire.
In 1 1 80, Yoritomo made a campaign in that part of Japan north of
the thirty-seventh parallel, then called Mutsu and Dewa. On his re-
turn, being now all -victorious, he visited the court at Kioto. The
quondam exile was now the foremost subject in the empire. His re-
ception and treatment by the reigning and cloistered emperors were in
the highest possible scale of magnificence. The splendor of his own
retinue astonished even the old courtiers, accustomed to the gay pag-
eants of the capital. They could scarcely believe that such wealth ex-
isted and such knowledge of the art of display was cultivated in the
Kuanto. Military shows, athletic games, and banquets were held for
many days, and the costliest presents exchanged, many of which are
still shown at Kamakura and Kioto. Yoritomo returned, clothed
with the highest honor, and with vastly greater jurisdiction than had
ever been intrusted to a subject. With all the civil functions ever
held by the once rival Fujiwara, he united in himself more military
power than a Taira had ever wielded.
In 1192, he attained to the climax of honor, when the mikado ap-
pointed him Sei-i Tai Shogun (Barbarian-subjugating Great General), a
title and office that existed until 1868. Henceforth the term shogun
came to have a new significance. Anciently all generals were called
shoguns ; but, with new emphasis added to the name, the shogun ac-
quired more and more power, until foreigners supposed him to be a
sovereign. Yet this subordinate from first to last — from 1194 until
1868 — was a general only, and a military vassal of the emperor.
Though he governed the country with a strong military hand, he did
it as a vassal, in the name and for the sake of the mikado at Kioto.
Peace now reigned in Japan. The soldier-ruler at Kamakura spent
the prime of his life in consolidating his power, expecting to found a
family that should rule for many generations. He encouraged hunt-
ing on Mount Fuji, and sports calculated to foster a martial spirit in
the enervating times of peace. In 1195, he made another visit to
Kioto, staying four months. Toward the end of 1198, he had a fall
from his horse, and died early in 1199. He was fifty-three years old,
and had ruled fifteen years.
Yoritomo is looked upon as one of the ablest rulers and greatest
generals that ever lived in Japan. Yet, while all acknowledge his
CREATION OF THE DUAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 143
consummate ability, many regard him as a cruel tyrant, and a heart-
less and selfish man. His treatment of his two brothers, Noriyori
and Yoshitsune, are evidences that this opinion is too well founded.
Certain it is that the splendor of Yoritomo's career has never blinded
the minds of posterity to his selfishness and cruelty ; and though, like
Napoleon, he has had his eulogists, yet the example held up for the
imitation of youth is that of Yoshitsune, and not Yoritomo. Mori
says of the latter : " He encouraged each of his followers to believe
himself the sole confidant of his leader's schemes, and in this cunning
manner separated their interests, and made them his own. Nearly all
of those around him who became possible rivals in power or populari-
ty were cruelly handled when he had exhausted the benefit of their
service." His simple tomb stands at the top of a knoll on the slope
of hills a few hundred yards distant from the great temple at Kama-
kura, overlooking the fields on which a mighty city once rose, when
called into being by his genius and energy, which flourished for cent-
uries, and disappeared, to allow luxuriant Nature to again assert her
sway. The rice-swamps and the millet-fields now cover the former
sites of his proudest palaces. Where metropolitan splendor and lux-
ury once predominated, the irreverent tourist bandies his jests, or the
toiling farmer stands knee-deep in the fertile ooze, to win from classic
soil his taxes and his daily food.
The victory over the Taira was even greater than Yoritomo had
supposed possible. Though exulting in the results, he burned with
jealousy that Yoshitsune had the real claim to the honor of victory.
While in this mood, there were not wanting men to poison his mind,
and fan the suspicions into fires of hate. There was one Kajiwara,
who had been a military adviser to the expedition to destroy the Taira.
On one occasion, Yoshitsune advised a night attack in full force on
the enemy. Kajiwara opposed the project, and hindered it. Yoshi-
tsune, with only fifty men, carried out his plan, and, to the chagrin
and disgrace of Kajiwara, he won a brilliant victory. This man, in-
censed at his rival, and consuming with wrath, hied to Yoritomo with
tales and slanders, which the jealous brother too willingly believed.
Yoshitsune, returning as a victor, and with the spoils for his brother,
received peremptory orders not to enter Kamakura, but to remain
in the village of Koshigoye, opposite the isle of Enoshima. While
there, he wrote a touching letter, recounting all his toils and dangers
while pursuing the Taira, and appealing for clearance of his name
from slander and suspicion. It was sent to Oye no Hiromoto, chief
10
144 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
councilor of Yoritomo, whom Yoshitsune begged to intercede to his
brother for him. This letter, still extant, and considered a model of
filial and fraternal affection, is taught by parents to their children. It
is among the most pathetic writings in Japanese literature, and is
found in one of the many popular collections of famous letters.
Wearying of waiting in the suburbs of the city, Yoshitsune went to
Kioto. Yoritomo's troops, obeying orders, attacked his house to kill
him. He fled, with sixteen retainers, into Yamato. There he was
again attacked, but escaped and fled. He now determined to go to
Oshiu, to his old friend Hidehira. He took the route along the west
coast, through Echizen, Kaga, and Echigo, and found a refuge, as he
supposed, with Hidehira. The spies of his brother soon discovered
his lurking-place, and ordered him to be put to- death. The son of
Hidehira attacked him. According to popular belief, Yoshitsune, aft-
er killing his wife and children with his own hands, committed hara-
kiri. His head, preserved in sake, was sent to Kamakura.
The exact truth concerning the death of Yoshitsune is by no means
yet ascertained. It is declared by some that he escaped and fled to
Yezo, where he lived among the Ainos for many years, and died
among them, either naturally or by hara-kiri. The Ainos have a
great reverence for his deeds, and to this day worship his spirit, and
over his grave in Hitaka they have erected a shrine. Others assert
that he fled to Asia, and became the great conqueror, Genghis Khan.*
Concerning this last, a Japanese student once remarked, "Nothing
but the extraordinary vanity of the Japanese people could originate
such a report."
* In a Chinese book called Seppu, a collection of legends and historical mis-
cellanies, published in China, it is stated that Genghis Khan was one Yoshitsu-
ne', who came from Japan. The Chinese form of Minamoto Yoshitsune" is Gen
Gike". He was also called, after his reputed death, Temujin (or Tenjin). As is
well known, the Mongol conqueror's name was originally, on his first appear-
ance, Temujin. The Japanese Ainos have also apotheosized Yoshitsune' under
the title Hanguan Dai Mio Jin — Great Illustrious Lawgiver. Yoshitsune" was
born in 1159 ; he was thirty years old at the time of his reputed death. Genghis
Khan was born, according to the usually received data, in 1160, and died 1227. If
Gen Gike" and Genghis Khan, or Gengis Kan, were identical, the hero had thirty-
eight years for his achievements. Genghis Khan was born, it is said, with his
hand full of blood. Obeying the words of a shaman (inspired seer), he took the
name Genghis (greatest), and called his people Mongols (bold). The conquest of
the whole earth was promised him. He and his sons subjugated China and Co-
rea, overthrew the caliphate of Bagdad, and extended the Mongolian empire as
far as the Oder and the Danube. They attempted to conquer Japan, as we shall
see in the chapter headed " The Invasion of the Mongol Tartars."
CREATION OF THE DUAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 145
Nevertheless, the immortality of Yoshitsun6 is secured. Worshiped
as a god by the Ainos, honored and beloved by every Japanese youth
as an ideal hero of chivalry, his features pictured on boys' kites, his
mien and form represented in household effigies displayed annually
at the boys' great festival of flags, glorified in art, song, and story,
Yoshitsune, the hero warrior and martyr, will live in unfading memo-
ry so long as the ideals of the warlike Japanese stand unshattered or
their traditions are preserved.*
* The struggles of the rival houses of Gen and Hei form an inexhaustible mine
of incidents to the playwright, author, poet, and artist. I can not resist the
temptation of giving one of these in this place. The artist's representation of
it adorns many a Japanese house. At the siege of Ichinotani, a famous captain,
named Naozane", who fought under the white flag, while in camp one day invest-
ing the Taira forces, saw a boat approach the beach fronting the fort. Shortly
after, a Taira soldier rode out of the castle-gate into the waves to embark. Nao-
zane saw, by the splendid crimson armor and golden helmet of the rider, that he
was a Taira noble. Here was a prize indeed, the capture of which would make
the Kuanto captain a general. Naozane" thundered out the challenge: "Do my
eyes deceive me ? Is he a Taira leader ; and is he such a coward that he shows
his back to the eye of his enemy ? Come back and flght I" The rider was in-
deed a Taira noble, young Atsumori, only sixteen years of age, of high and gen-
tle birth, and had been reared in the palace. Naozane" was a bronzed veteran of
forty years. Both charged each other on horseback, with swords drawn. After
a few passes, Naozane" flung away his sword, and, unarmed, rushed to grasp his
foe. Not yet to be outdone in gallantry, Atsumori did the same. Both clinched
while in the saddle, and fell to the sand, the old campaigner uppermost. He
tore off the golden helmet, and, to his amazement, saw the pale, smooth face and
noble mien of a noble boy that looked just like his own beloved son of the same
age. The father was more than the soldier. The victor trembled with emotion.
"How wretched the life of a warrior to have to kill such a lovely boy! How
miserable will those parents be who find their darling is in an enemy's hand !
Wretched me, that I thought to destroy this life for the sake of reward !" He
then resolved to let his enemy go secretly away, and make his escape. At that
moment a loud voice shouted angrily, " Naozane" is double-hearted : he captures
an enemy, and then thinks to let him escape." Thus compelled, Naozane" steeled
his heart, took up his sword, and cut offAtsumori's head. He carried the bloody
trophy to Yoshitsune, and, while all stood admiring and ready to applaud, Nao-
zane' refused all reward, and, to the amazement of his chief and the whole camp,
begged leave to resign. Doffing helmet, armor, and sword, he shaved off his
hair, and became a disciple of the holy bonze Honen, learned the doctrines of
Buddha, and, becoming profoundly versed in the sacred lore, he resolved to spend
the remnant of his days in a monastery. He set out for the Kuanto, riding with
his face to the tail of the animal, but in the direction of paradise. Some one
asked him why he rode thus. He replied,
"In the Clear Land, perchance they're me reputing
A warrior brave,
Because I turn my back, refusing
• * Fame, once so dear."
146 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XV.
THE GLORY AND THE FALL OF THE HOJ6 FAMILY.
THOUGH there may be some slight justification of Yoritomo's set-
ting up a dual system of government to control and check the in-
trigues of courtiers at Kioto, yet at best it was a usurpation of the
power belonging only to the mikado. The creation of a duarchy was
the swift and sure result of Japan having no foreign enemies.
So long as the peace or existence of the empire was threatened by
the savages on the frontier, or by invading fleets on the sea-coast,
there was an impelling cause to bind together the throne and people ;
but when the barbarians were tranquilized, China and Corea gave no
signs of war ; and especially when the nobility were divided into the
civil and military classes, and the mikado was no longer a man of
physical and mental vigor, a division of the governing power natural-
ly arose.
From the opening of the thirteenth century, the course of Japanese
history flows in two streams. There were now two capitals, Kioto
and Kamakura, and two centres of authority : one, the lawful but
overawed emperor and the imperial court ; the other, the military vas-
sal, and a government based on the power of arms. It must never be
forgotten, however, that the fountain of authority was in Kioto, the
ultimate seat of power in the ancient constitution. Throughout the
centuries the prestige of the mikado's person never declined. The
only conditions under which it was possible for this division of po-
litical power to exist was the absence of foreigners from the soil of
Japan. So soon as Japan entered into political relations with outside
nations, which would naturally seek the real source of power, the du-
archy was doomed.
When Yoritomo died, all men wondered whether the power would
remain at Kamakura, the country rest peaceful, and his successors
reign with ability. The Japanese have a proverb conveying a bitter
truth, learned from oft-repeated experience, "Taisho ni tane ga nashi"
(The general has no child, or, There is no seed to a great man). The
THE GLORY AND FALL OF THE HOJd FAMILY. 147
spectacle of a great house decaying through the inanity or supineness
of sons is constantly repeated in their history. The theme also forms
the basis of their standard novels. Yoritomo's sons, not inheriting
their father's ability, failed to wield his personal power of administra-
tion. From the day of his death, it may be said that the glory of
the Minaraoto family declined, while that of the Hojo began.
Yet it seemed strange that the proverb should be verified in this
case. Yoritomo had married no ordinary female. His wife, Masago,
was a woman of uncommon intellectual ability, who had borne him a
son, Yoriiye". This young man, who was eighteen years old at his
father's death, was immediately appointed chief of all the military
officers in the empire, and it was expected he would equal his father
in military prowess and administrative skill. His mother, Masago,
though a shorn nun, who had professed retirement from the world,
continued to take a very active part in the government.
The parental authority and influence in Japan, as in China, is often
far greater than that of any other. Not even death or the marriage
relation weakens, to any great extent, the hold of a father on a child.
With affection on the one hand, and cunning on the other, an un-
scrupulous father may do what he will. We have seen how the Fuji-
wara and Taira families controlled court, throne, and emperor, by mar-
rying their daughters to infant or boy mikados. We shall now find
the Hojo dispensing the power at Kamakura by means of a crafty
woman willing to minister to her father's rather than to her son's
aggrandizement.
Hojo Tokimasa was the father of Masago, wife of Yoritomo. The
latter always had great confidence in and respect for the abilities of
his father-in-law. At his death, Tokimasa became chief of the coun-
cil of state. Instead of assisting and training Yoriiye in government
affairs, giving him the benefit of his experience, and thus enabling
the son to tread in his father's footsteps, he would not allow Yori iy6
to hear cases in person, or to take active share in public business.
When the youth plunged into dissipation and idleness, which termi-
nated in a vicious course of life, his mother often reproved him,
while Tokimasa, doubtless rejoicing over the fact, pretended to know
nothing of the matter. All this time, however, he was filling the of-
fices of government, not with the Minamoto adherents, but with his
own kindred and partisans. Nepotism in Japan is a science; but
cursed as the Japanese have been, probably none exceeded in this
subtle craft the master, Tokimasa ; though Yoriiye, receiving his fa-
148 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ther's office, had been appointed Sei-i Tai Shogun, with the rank ju-
ni-i (second division of the second rank), his grandfather still kept
the real power. When twenty-two years of age, while he was suffer-
ing from sickness — probably the result of his manner of life — his
mother and Tokimasa, who instigated her, attempted to compel him
to resign his office, and to give the superintendency of the provincial
governors to his infant son, and set over the Kuansei, or Western
Japan, his younger brother, aged twelve years. This was the old
trick of setting up boys and babies on the nominal seat of power, in
order that crafty subordinates might rale.
Yoriiye heard of this plan, and resolved to avert its execution. He
failed, and, as is usual in such cases, was compelled to shave off his
hair, as a sign that his interest in political affairs had ceased. He
was exiled to a temple in Idzu. There he was strangled, while in his
bath, by the hired assassins sent by Tokimasa.
Sanetomo, brother of Yoriiye, succeeded in office. The boy was
but twelve years old, and very unlike his father. He cared nothing
for hunting or military exercises. His chief occupation was in play-
ing foot-ball — a very mild game, compared with that played in this
country — and composing poetry. His time was spent with fair girls
and women, of whom he had as many as he wished. All this was in
accordance with the desire and plans of the Hojo family, who mean-
while wielded all power. Sanetomo lived his luxuriant life in the
harem, the bath, and the garden, until twenty-eight years old. Mean-
while, Kugio, the son of Yoriiye, who had been made a priest, grew
up, and had always looked upon Sanetomo, instead of Tokimasa, as
his father's murderer. One night as Sanetomo was returning from
worship at the famous shrine of Tsurugaoka — the unusual hour of
nine having been chosen by the diviners — Kugio leaped out from be-
hind a staircase, cut off Sanetomo's head, and made off with it, but
was himself beheaded by a soldier sent after him. The main line of
the Minamoto family was now extinct. Thus, in the very origin and
foundation of the line of shoguns, the same fate befell them as in
the case of the emperors — the power wielded by an illustrious ances-
tor, when transferred to descendants, was lost. A nominal ruler sat
on the throne, while a wire-puller behind directed every movement.
This is the history of every line of shoguns that ruled from the first,
in 1196, until the last, in 1868.
The usurpation of the Hojo was a double usurpation. Properly,
they were vassals of the shogun, who was himself a vassal of the mi-
THE GLOItY AND FALL OF THE HOjO FAMILY. 149
kado. It must not be supposed that the emperor at Kioto calmly
looked on, caring for none of these things at Kamakura. The meshes
of the Minamoto had been woven completely round the imperial au-
thority. Now the Hojo, like a new spider, was spinning a more fatal
thread, sucking from the emperor, as from a helpless fly, the life-
blood of power.
The Hojo family traced their descent from the mikado Kuammu
(782-805) through Sadamori, a Taira noble, from whom Tokimasa
was the seventh in descent. Their ancestors had settled at Hojo, in
Idzu, whence they took their name. While the Minainoto rose to
power, the Hojo assisted them, and, by intermarriage, the two clans
had become closely attached to each other.
The names of the twelve rulers, usually reckoned as seven genera-
tions, were : Tokimasa, Yoshitoki, Yasutoki, Tsunetoki, Tokiyori, Masa-
toki, Tokimun6, Sadatoki, Morotoki, Hirotoki, Takatoki, and Moritoki.
Of these, the third, fourth, and fifth were the ablest, and most de-
voted to public business. It was on the strength of their merit and
fame that their successors were so long able to hold power. Yasu-
toki established two councils, the one with legislative and executive,
and the other with judicial powers. Both were representative of the
wishes of the people. He promulgated sixty regulations in respect to
the method of judicature. This judicial record is of great value to
the historian; and long afterward, in 1534, an edition of Yasuto-
ki's laws, in one volume, with a commentary, was published. In later
times it has been in popular use as a copy-book for children. He
also took an oath before the assembly to maintain the same with
equity, swearing by the gods of Japan, saying, " We stand as judges
of the whole country ; if we be partial in our judgments, may the
Heavenly Gods punish us." In his private life he was self-abnegative
and benevolent, a polite and accomplished scholar, loving the society
of the learned. Tsunetoki faithfully executed the laws, and carried
out the policy of his predecessor. Tokiyori, before he became regent,
traveled, usually in disguise, all over the empire, to examine into the
details of local administration, and to pick out able men, so as to put
them in office when he should need their services. In his choice he
made no distinction of rank. Among the upright men he elevated to
the judges' bench was the Awodo, who, for conscientious reasons, never
wore silk garments, nor a lacquered scabbard to his sword, nor ever
held a bribe in his hand. He was the terror of venal officials, injustice
and bribery being known to him as if by sorcery ; while every detected
150 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
culprit was sure to be disgracefully cashiered. Hojo Akitoki estab-
lished a library, consisting of Chinese, Confucian, Buddhistic, and na-
tive literature, at Kanazawa, in Sagami. Here scholars gathered,
and students flocked, to hear their lectures and to study the classics,
or the tenets of the faith, nearly all the learned men of this period
being priests. "While the writer of the Guai Shi attacks the Hojo for
their usurpations, he applauds them for their abilities and excellent
administration.
The line of shoguns who nominally ruled from 1199 to 1333 were
merely their creatures; and that period of one hundred and forty
years, including seven generations, may be called the period of the
Hojo. The political history of these years is but that of a monoto-
nous recurrence of the exaltation of boys and babies of noble blood,
to whom was given the semblance of power, who were sprinkled with
titles, and deposed as soon as they were old enough to be trouble-
some. None of the Hojo ever seized the office of Shogun, but in
reality they wielded all and more of the power attaching to the office,
under the title of shikken. It was an august game of state-craft, in
which little children with colossal names were set up like nine-pins,
and bowled down as suited the playful fancies of subordinates who
declined name and titles, and kept the reality of power. The count-
ers were neglected, while the prize was won.
After the line of Yoritomo became extinct, Yoritomo's widow, Ma-
sago, requested of the imperial court at Kioto that Yoritsune, a Fuji-
wara baby two years old, should be made shogun. The Fujiwara no-
bles were glad to have even a child of their blood elevated to a posi-
tion in which, when grown, he might have power. The baby came
to Kamakura. He cast the shadow of authority twenty-five years,
when he was made to resign, in 1244, in favor of his own baby boy,
Yoshitsugu, six years old. This boy-shogun when fourteen years old,
in 1252, was deposed by Hojo Tokiyori, and sent back to Kioto.
Tired of the Fujiwara scions, the latter then obtained as shogun a
more august victim, the boy Munetaka, a son of the emperor Go-Saga,
who after fourteen years fell ill, in 1266, with that very common Jap-
anese disease— official illness. He was probably compelled to feign
disease. His infant son, three years of age, was then set up, and,
when twenty-three years of age (1289), was bowled down by Hojo
Sadatoki, who sent him in disgrace, heels upward, in a palanquin to
Kioto. Hisaakira, the third son of the emperor Go-Fukakusa, was
set up as shogun in 1289. The Hojo bowled down this fresh dum-
THE GLORY AND FALL OF THE HOJO FAMILY. 161
my in 1308, and put up Morikuni, his eldest son. This was the last shd-
gun of imperial blood. The game of the players was now nearly over.
The ex-emperor, Gotoba, made a desperate effort to drive the usurp-
ing llojo from power. A small and gallant army was raised ; fighting
took place ; but the handful of imperial troops was defeated by the
overwhelming hosts sent from Kamakura. Their victory riveted the
chains upon the imperial family. To the arrogant insolence of the
usurper was now added the cruelty of the conscious tyrant.
Never before had such outrageous deeds been committed, or such
insults been heaped upon the sovereigns as were done by these up-
starts at Kamakura. Drunk with blood and exultation, the Hojo
wreaked their vengeance on sovereign and subject alike. Banish-
ment and confiscation were the order of their day. The ex-emperor
was compelled to shave off his hair, and was exiled to the island of
Oki The reigning mikado was deposed, and sent to Sado. Two
princes of the blood were banished to Tajima and Bizen. The ex-em-
peror Tsuchimikado — there were now three living emperors — not
willing to dwell in palace luxury while his brethren were in exile, ex-
pressed a wish to share their fate. He was sent to Awa. To com-
plete the victory and the theft of power, the Hojo chief Yasutoki
confiscated the estates of all who had fought on the emperor's side,
and distributed them among his own minions. Over three thousand
fiefs were thus disposed of. No camp-followers ever stripped a dead
hero's body worse than these human vultures tore from the lawful
sovereign the last fragment of authority. All over Japan the patriots
heard, with groans of despair, the slaughter of the loyal army, and the
pitiful fate of their emperors. The imperial exile died in Sado of a
broken heart. A nominal mikado at Kioto, and a nominal shogun at
Kamakura, were set up, but the Hojo were the keepers of both.
The later days of the Hojo present a spectacle of tyranny and mis-
government such as would disgrace the worst Asiatic bureaucracy.
The distinguished and able men such as at first shed lustre on the
name of this family were no more. The last of them were given to
luxury and carousal, and the neglect of public business. A horde of
rapacious officials sucked the life-blood and paralyzed the energies of
the people. To obtain means to support themselves in luxury, they
increased the weight of taxes, that ever crushes the spirit of the Asi-
atic peasant. Their triple oppression, of mikado, shogun, and people,
became intolerable. The handwriting was on the wall. Their days
were numbered.
152 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
In 1327, Moriyoshi, son of the Emperor Go-Daigo, began to mature
plans for the recovery of imperial power. By means of the ubiqui-
tous spies, and through treachery, his schemes were revealed, and he
was only saved from punishment from Hojo by being ordered by his
father to retire into a Buddhist monastery. This was ostensibly to
show that he had given up all interest in worldly affairs. In reality,
however, he assisted his father in planning the destruction of Hojo.
He lived at Oto, and was called, by the people, Oto no miya. The
Emperor Go-Daigo, though himself put on the throne by the king-
makers at Kamakura, chafed under the galling dictatorship of those
who were by right his vassals. He resolved to risk life, and all that
was dear to him, to overthrow the dual system, and establish the orig-
inal splendor and prestige of the mikadoate. He knew the reverence
of the people for the throne would sustain him, could he but raise suf-
ficient military force to reduce the Hojo.
He secured the aid of the Buddhist priests and, in, 1330, fortified
Kasagi, in Yamato. Kusunoki Masashige about the same time arose
in Kawachi, making it the aim of his life to restore the mikadoate.
The next year Hojo sent an army against Kasagi, attacked and burned
it. The emperor was taken prisoner, and banished to Oki. Ku-
sunoki, though twice besieged, escaped, and lived to win immortal
fame.
Connected with this mikado's sad fate is one incident of great
dramatic interest, which has been enshrined in Japanese art, besides
finding worthy record in history. While Go-Daigo was on his way
to banishment, borne in a palanquin, under guard of the soldiers
of Hojo, Kojima Takanori attempted to rescue his sovereign. This
young nobleman was the third son of the lord of Bingo, who occupied
his hereditary possessions in Bizen. Setting out with a band of re-
tainers to intercept the convoy and to release the imperial prisoner, at
the hill of Funasaka he waited patiently for the train to approach,
finding, when too late, that he had occupied the wrong pass. Has-
tening to the rear range of hills, they learned that the objects of their
search had already gone by. • Kojima's followers, being now disheart-
ened, returned, leaving him alone. He, however, cautious, followed
on, and for several days attempted in vain to approach the palanquin
and whisper a word of hope in the ear of the imperial exile. The
vigilance of the Hojo vassals rendering all succor hopeless, Kojima
hit upon a plan that baffled his enemies and lighted hope in the bosom
of the captive. Secretly entering the garden of the inn at which the
THE GLORY AND FALL OF THE HOJO FAMILY.
153
party was resting at night, Kojima scraped off the bark of a cherry-
tree, and wrote in ink, on the inner white membrane, this poetic stanza,
" Ten K6sen wo horobosu nakard
Toki ni Hanrei naki ni shimo aradzu."
(O Heaven ! destroy not Kosen,
While Hanrei still lives.)
The allusion, couched in delicate phrase, is to Kosen, an ancient king
in China, who was dethroned and made prisoner, but was afterward
restored to honor and power by the faithfulness and valor of his re-
tainer, Hanrei.
Kojima Writing on the Cherry-tree. (Vignette upon the greenback national-bank notes.)
The next morning, the attention of the soldiers was excited by the
fresh handwriting on the tree. As none of them were able to read,
they showed it to the Emperor Go-Daigo, who read the writing, and its
significance, in a moment. Concealing his joy, he went to banish-
ment, keeping hope alive during his loneliness. He knew that he
was not forgotten by his faithful vassals. Kojima afterward fought to
restore the mikado, and perished on the battle-field. The illustration
given above is borrowed from a picture by a native artist, which now
adorns the national-bank notes issued under the reign of the present
mikado.
154 THE MIKADOES EMPIRE.
This darkest hour of the mikado's fortune preceded the dawn.
Already a hero was emerging from obscurity who was destined to be
the destroyer of Kamakura and the Hojo. This was Nitta Yoshisada.
The third son of Minarnoto Yoshi-iy6, born A.D. 1057, had two
sons. The elder son succeeded his father to the fief of Nitta, in the
province of Kodzuke. The second inherited from his adopted father,
Tawara, the fief of Ashikaga, in Shimotsuke. Both these sons found-
ed families which took their name from their place of hereditary pos-
session. At this period, four hundred years later, their illustrious de-
scendants became conspicuous. Nitta Yoshisada, a captain in the
army of Hojo, had been sent to besiege Kusunoki, one of the mika-
do's faithful vassals ; but, refusing to fight against the imperial forces,
Nitta deserted with his command. He sent his retainer to Oto no
miya, son of the emperor, then hiding in the mountains, who gave
him a commission in the name of his exiled father. Nitta immediate-
ly returned to his native place, collected all his retainers, and before
the shrine of the village raised the standard of revolt against Hojo.
His banner was a long white pennant, crossed near the top by two
black bars, beneath which was a circle bisected with a black zone.
Adopting the plan of attack proposed by his brother, and marching
down into Sagami, he appeared at Inamura Saki, on the outskirts of
Kamakura, in thirteen days after raising his banner as the mikado's
vassal.
At this point, where the road from Kamakura to Enoshima strikes
the beach, a splendid panorama breaks upon the vision of the be-
holder. In front is the ocean, with its rolling waves and refreshing
salt breeze. To the south, in imposing proportions, and clothed in
the blue of distance, is the island of Oshima; and farther on are the
mountains of the peninsula of Idzu. To the right emerges, fair and
lovely, in perpetual green, the island of Enoshima. Landward is the
peak of Oyama, with its satellites ; but, above all, in full magnificence
of proportion, stands Fuji, the lordly mountain. Here Nitta perform-
ed an act that has become immortal in song and poem, and the artist's
colors.
On the eve before the attack, Nitta, assembling his host at the
edge of the strand, and removing his helmet, thus addressed his war-
riors : " Our heavenly son (mikado) has been deposed by his traitor-
ous subject, and is now in distant exile in the Western Sea, I, Yoshi-
sada, being unable to look upon this act unmoved, have raised an
army to punish the thieves yonder. I humbly pray thee, 0 God of
THE GLORY AND FALL OF THE HOJO FAMILY.
155
the Sea, to look into my loyal heart ; command the tide to ebb and
open a path." Thus saying, he bowed reverently, and then, as Rai
says, removed his helmet (though the artist has overlooked the state-
ment), and in the sight of heaven cast his sword into the waves as a
prayer-offering to the gods that the waves might recede, in token of
their righteous favor. The golden hilt gleamed for a moment in the
air, and the sword sunk from sight. The next morning the tide had
ebbed, the strand was dry, and the army, headed by the chief whom
the soldiers now looked upon as the chosen favorite of Heaven, marched
Nitta Yoshisada casting the Sword into the Sea.
notes.)
(Vignette from the national -bank
resistlessly on. Kamakura was attacked from three sides. The fight-
ing was severe and bloody, but victory everywhere deserted the ban-
ners of the traitors, and rested upon the pennons of the loyal. Nitta,
after performing great feats of valor in person, finally set the city on
fire, and in a few hours Kamakura was a waste of ashes.
Just before the final destruction of the city, a noble named Ando,
vassal of the house of Hojo, on seeing the ruin around him, the sol-
diers slaughtered, and the palaces burned, remarking that for a hun-
dred years no instance of a retainer dying for his lord had been
known, resolved to commit hara-kiri. The wife of Nitta was his
niece. Just as he was about to plunge his dirk into his body, a serv-
156 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ant handed him a letter from her, begging him to surrender. The old
man indignantly exclaimed : " My niece is the daughter of a samurai
house. Why did she make so shameless a request? And Nitta, her
husband, is a samurai. Why did he allow her to do so ?" He then
took the letter, wrapped it round his sword, which he plunged into
his body, and died. A great number of vassals of Hojo did likewise.
While Nitta was fighting at Kamakura, and thus overthrowing the
Hojo power in the East, Ashikaga Takauji had drawn sword in Kioto,
and with Kusunoki re-established the imperial rule in the West. The
number of the doomed clan who were slain in battle, or who commit-
ted hara-kiri, as defeated soldiers, in accordance with the code of honor
already established, is set down at six thousand eight hundred.
All over the empire the people rose up against their oppressors and
massacred them. The Hojo domination, which had been paramount
for nearly one hundred and fifty years, was utterly broken.
From A.D. 1219 until 1333, the mikados at Kioto were:
Jnntoku 1211-1231
Chiukio (reigned four months) 1222
Go-Horikawa. 1222-1232
Shijo 1233-1242
Go-Saga 1243-1246
Go-Fukakusa 1247-1259
Kam^yama 1260-1274
Go-Uda 1275-1287
Fushimi 1288-1298
Go-Fushimi 1299-1301
Go-Nijo 1302-1307
Hanazono 1308-1318
Go-Daigo 1319-1338
From the establishment of Kamakura as military capital, the sho-
guns were :
MINAMOTO.
Toritomo 1185-1199
Yori-iy6 1201-1203
San6tomo 1203-1219
FUJIWARA.
Yoritsune" 1220-1243
Yoritsuga 1244-1251
EMPEKOR'S SONS.
Mune-taka 1252-1265
Kor^yasu 1266-1289
Hisaakira 1289-1307
Morikuni 1308-1333
THE GLORY AND FALL OF THE 1IOJQ FAMILY. 157
The Hojo have never been forgiven for their arbitrary treatment
of the mikados. The author of the Nikon Guai Shi terms them
" serpents, fiends, beasts," etc. To this day, historian, dramatist, novel-
ist, and story-teller delight to load them with vilest obloquy. Even
the peasants keep alive the memory of the past. One of the most
voracious and destructive insects is still called the " Hojo bug." A
great annual ceremony of extermination of these pests keeps alive the
hated recollection of their human namesakes. The memory of the
wrongs suffered by the imperial family goaded on the soldiers in the
revolution of 1868, who wreaked their vengeance on the Tokugawas,
as successors of the Hojo. In fighting to abolish forever the hated
usurpation of six hundred years, and to restore the mikado to his an-
cient rightful and supreme authority, they remembered well the deeds
of the Hojo, which the Nikon Guai Ski so eloquently told. In 1873,
envoys sent out from the imperial court in Tokio, proceeded to the
island of Sado, and solemnly removing the remains of the banished
emperor, who had died of a broken heart, buried them, with due pomp,
in the sacred soil of Yamato, where sleep so many of the dead mikados.
I have given a picture of the Hojo rule and rulers, which is but the
reflection of the Japanese popular sentiment, and the opinion of na-
tive scholars. There is, however, another side to the story. It must
be conceded that the Hojo were able rulers, and kept order and peace
in the empire for over a century. They encouraged literature, and
the cultivation of the arts and sciences. During their period, the re-
sources of the country were developed, and some branches of useful
handicraft and fine arts were brought to a perfection never since sur-
passed. To this time belong the famous image-carver, sculptor, and
architect, Unkei, and the lacquer-artists, who are the "old masters"
in this branch of art. The military spirit of the people was kept
alive, tactics were improved, and the methods of governmental admin-
istration simplified. During this period of splendid temples, monaster-
ies, pagodas, colossal images, and other monuments of holy zeal, Hojo
Sadatoki erected a monument over the grave of Kiyomori at Hiogo.
Hojo Tokimune raised and kept in readiness a permanent war-fund,
so that the military expenses might not interfere with the revenue
reserved for ordinary government expenses. To his invincible cour-
age, patriotic pride, and indomitable energy are due the vindication
of the national honor and the repulse of the Tartar invasion.
158 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XVI.
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN.
THE religion founded by Buddha, which is older by six centuries
than that founded by Christ, which is professed by nearly one-third
of the human race, which has a literature perhaps larger than all other
religious literatures combined, I shall not attempt to treat of except in
the broadest terms. My object in this chapter is to portray the en-
trance and development of Buddhism in Japan, to outline its rise and
progress, and to show its status in that now fermenting nation in
which its latest fruits are found.
Christians must surely be interested in knowing of the faith they
are endeavoring to destroy, or, at least, to displace. When it is con-
sidered that Buddhist temples are already erected upon American soil,
that a new development of this ancient faith may yet set itself up as
a rival of Christianity in the Western part of our country, that it has
already won admirers, if not professors, in Boston, London, and Ber-
lin, the subject will be seen to possess an immediate interest.
Buddhism originated as a pure atheistic humanitarianism, with a
lofty philosophy and a code of morals higher, perhaps, than any
heathen religion had reached before, or has since attained. Its three
great distinguishing characteristics are atheism, metempsychosis, and
absence of caste. First preached in a land accursed by secular and
spiritual oppression, it acknowledged no caste, and declared all men
equally sinful and miserable, and all equally capable of being freed
from sin and misery through knowledge. It taught that the souls of
all men had lived in a previous state of existence, and that all the sor-
rows of this life are punishments for sins committed in a previous
state. Each human soul has whirled through countless eddies of ex-
istence, and has still to pass through a long succession of birth, pain,
and death. All is fleeting. Nothing is real. This life is all a de-
lusion. After death, the soul must migrate for ages through stages
of life, inferior or superior, until, perchance, it arrives at last in Nir-
vana, or absorption in Buddha.
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 159
The total extinction of being, personality, and consciousness is the
aspiration of the vast majority of true believers, as it should be of
every suffering soul, i. e., of all mankind. The true estate of the hu-
man soul, according to the Buddhist of the Buddhists, is blissful an-
nihilation. The morals of Buddhism are superior to its metaphysics.
Its commandments are the dictates of the most refined morality.
Besides the cardinal prohibitions against murder, stealing, adultery,
lying, drunkenness, and unchastity, " every shade of vice, hypocrisy,
anger, pride, suspicion, greediness, gossiping, cruelty to animals, is
guarded against by special precepts. Among the virtues recommend-
ed, we find not only reverence of parents, care of children, submission
to authority, gratitude, moderation in time of prosperity, submission
in time of trial, equanimity at all times ; but virtues such as the duty
of forgiving insults, and not rewarding evil with evil." Whatever the
practice of the people may be, they are taught, as laid down in their
sacred books, the rules thus summarized above.
Such, we may glean, was Buddhism in its early purity. Besides its
moral code and philosophical doctrines, it had almost nothing. An
"ecclesiastical system" it was not in any sense. Its progress was
rapid and remarkable. Though finally driven out of India, it swept
through Burmah, Siam, China, Thibet, Manchuria, Eastern Siberia,
and finally, after twelve centuries, entered Japan. By this time the
bare and bald original doctrines of Shaka (Buddha) were glorious in
the apparel with which Asiatic imagination and priestly necessity had
clothed and adorned them. The ideas of Shaka had been expanded
into a complete theological system, with all the appurtenances of a
stock religion. It had a vast and complicated ecclesiastical and mo-
nastic machinery, a geographical and sensuous paradise, definitely lo-
cated hells and purgatories, populated with a hierarchy of titled de-
mons, and furnished after the most approved theological fashion. Of
these the priests kept the keys, regulated the thermometers, and timed
or graded the torture or bliss. The system had, even thus early, a
minutely catalogued hagiology. Its eschatology was well outlined,
and the hierarchs claimed to be as expert in questions of casuistry as
they were at their commercial system of masses still in vogue. Gen-
eral councils had been held, decrees had been issued, dogmas defined
or abolished ; Buddhism had emerged from philosophy into religion.
The Buddhist missionaries entered Japan having a mechanism perfect-
ly fitted to play upon the fears and hopes of an ignorant people, and
to bring them into obedience to the new and aggressive faith.
11
160 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
If there was one country in which the success of Buddhism as a
popular religion seemed foreordained, that country was Japan. It
was virgin soil for any thing that could be called a religion. Before
Buddhism came, very little worthy of the name existed. Day by
day, each new ray of the light of research that now falls upon that
gray dawn of Japanese history* shows that Shinto was a pale and
shadowy cult, that consisted essentially of sacrificing to the spirits of
departed heroes and ancestors, with ceremonies of bodily purification,
and that the coming of Buddhism quickened it, by the force of oppo-
sition, into something approaching a religious system. Swarms of
petty deities, who have human passions, and are but apotheosized his-
torical heroes, fill the pantheon of Shinto. The end and aim of even
its most sincere adherents and teachers is political. Strike out the
dogma of the divinity of the mikado and the duty of all Japanese to
obey him implicity, and almost nothing is left of modern Shinto but
Chinese cosmogony, local myth, and Confucian morals.*
If the heart of the ancient Japanese longed after a solution of the
questions whence? whither? why? — if it yearned for religious truth,
as the hearts of all men doubtless do — it must have been ready to wel-
come something more certain, tangible, and dogmatic than the bland
emptiness of Shinto. Buddhism came to touch the heart, to fire the
imagination, to feed the intellect, to offer a code of lofty morals, to
point out a pure life through self-denial, to awe the ignorant, and to
terrify the doubting. A well fed and clothed Anglo-Saxon, to whom
* " I have long endeavored to find out what there is in Shinto, but have long
given it up, unable to find any thing to reward my labor, excepting a small book
of Shinto prayers, in which man was recognized as guilty of the commission of
sin, and in need of cleansing." — J. C. HEPBURN, M.D., LL.D., American, seventeen
years resident in Japan, author of the '•'•Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dic-
tionary.''''
"Shinto is In no proper sense of the term a religion." "It is difficult to see
how it could ever have been denominated a religion." "It has rather the look
of an original Japanese invention." — Rev. S. R. BROWN, D.D., American, author
of "A Grammar of Colloquial Japanese," seventeen years resident in Japan.
My own impressions of Shinto,- given in an article in The Independent in 1871,
remain unaltered after five years' further study and comparison of opinions, pro
and con: "In its higher forms, Shinto is simply a cultured and intellectual athe-
ism. In Its lower forms, it is blind obedience to governmental and priestly dic-
tates." The united verdict given me by native scholars, and even Shinto officials,
in Fukui and Tokio, was, " Shinto is not a religion : it is a system of government
regulations, very good to keep alive patriotism among the people." The effect-
ual, and quite justifiable, use made of this tremendous political engine will be
seen in the last chapter of Book I., entitled " The Recent Revolutions in Japan."
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 161
conscious existence seems the very rapture of joy, and whose soul
yearns for an eternity of life, may not understand how a human soul
could ever long for utter absorption of being and personality, even in
God, much less for total annihilation.
But, among the Asiatic poor, where ceaseless drudgery is often the
lot for life, where a vegetable diet keeps the vital force low, where
the tax-gatherer is the chief representative of government, where the
earthquake and the typhoon are so frequent and dreadful, and where
the forces of nature are feared as malignant intelligences, life does
not wear such charms as to lead the human soul to long for an eterni-
ty of it. No normal Japanese would thrill when he heard the unex-
plained announcement, " The gift of God is eternal life," or, " Whoso-
ever believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Such
words would be painful to him, announcing only a fateful fact. To
him life is to be dreaded ; not because death lies at the end of it, but
because birth and life again follow death, and both are but links in an
almost endless chain. Herein lies the power of Buddhist preaching :
" Believe in the true doctrine, and live the true believer's life," says
the bonze, " and you will be born again into higher states of existence,
thence into higher and higher heavens, until from paradise you rise
as a purified and saintly soul, to be absorbed in the bosom of holy
Buddha. Reject the truth, or believe false doctrine (e; g., Christiani-
ty), and you will be born again thousands of times, only to suffer
sickness and pain and grief, to die or be killed a thousand times, and,
finally, to sink into lower and lower hells, before you can regain the
opportunity to rise higher." This is really the popular form of
Shaka's doctrine of metempsychosis. The popular Buddhism of Ja-
pan, at least, is not the bare scheme of philosophy which foreign
writers seem to think it is. It is a genuine religion in its hold on
man. It is a vinculum that binds him to the gods of his fathers.
This form of Buddhism commended itself to both the Japanese sage
and the ignorant boor, to whom thought is misery, by reason of its
definiteness, its morals, its rewards, and its punishments.
Buddhism has a cosmogony and a theory of both the microcosm
and the macrocosm. It has fully as much, if not more, " science " in
it than our mediaeval theologians found in the Bible. Its high intel-
lectuality made noble souls yearn to win its secrets, and to attain the
conquests over their lusts and passions, by knowledge.
Among the various sects of Buddhism, however, the understanding
of the doctrine of Nirvana varies greatly. Some believe in the total
162 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
nonentity of the human soul, the utter annihilation of consciousness ;
while others, on the contrary, hold that, as part of the divine whole,
the human soul enjoys a measure of conscious personality.
Persecution and opposition at first united together the adherents of
the new faith, but success and prosperity gave rise to schisms. New
sects were founded in Japan, while many priests traveled abroad to
Corea and China, and came back as new lights and reformers, to found
new schools of thought and worship. Of these the most illustrious
was Kobo, famed not only as a scholar in Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese,
Kubd Dnishi, Inventor of the Japanese Syllabary. (Prom a photograph, taken from a
wooden statue in a temple at Kioto.)
but as an eminently holy bonze, and the compiler of the Japanese al-
phabet, or syllabary, i, ro, ha, ni, ho, he, to, etc., in all forty-seven char-
acters, which, with diacritical points, may be increased to the number
of seventy. The katagana is the square, the hiragana is the script
form. Kobo was born A.D. 774 ; and died A.D. 835. He founded a
temple, and the sect called Shin Gon (True Words). Eight sects
were in existence in his time, of which only two now survive.
The thirteenth of the Christian era is the golden century of Japa-
nese Buddhism; for then were developed those phases of thought
peculiar to it, and sects were founded, most of them in Kioto, which
are still the most flourishing in Japan. Among these were, in 1202,
the Zen (Contemplation); in 1211, the Jodo (Heavenly Road); in
1262, the Shin (New) ; in 1282, the Nichiren. In various decades of
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 163
the same century several other important sects originated, and the
number of brilliant intellects that adorned the priesthood at this pe-
riod is remarkable. Of these, only two can be noticed, for lack of
space.
In A.D. 1222, there was bom, in a suburb of the town of Kominato,
in Awa, a child who was destined to influence the faith of millions,
and to leave the impress of his character and intellect indelibly upon
the minds of his countrymen. He was to found a new sect of
Buddhism, which should grow to be one of the largest, wealthiest,
and most influential in Japan, and to excel them all in proselyting
zeal, polemic bitterness, sectarian bigotry, and intolerant arrogance.
The Nichiren sect of Buddhists, in its six centuries of history, has
probably furnished a greater number of brilliant intellects, uncompro-
mising zealots, unquailing martyrs, and relentless persecutors than
any other in Japan. No other sect is so fond of controversy. The
bonzes of none other can excel those of the Nichiren shiu (sect) in
proselyting zeal, in the bitterness of their theological arguments, in
the venom of their revilings, or the force with which they hurl their
epithets at those who differ in opinion or practice from them. In
their view, all other sects than theirs are useless. According to their
vocabulary, the adherents of Shin Gon are " not patriots ;" those of
Ritsu are " thieves and rascals ;" of Zen, are " furies ;" while those of
certain other sects are sure and without doubt to go to hell. Among
the Nichirenites are to be found more prayer-books, drums, and other
noisy accompaniments of revivals, than in any other sect. They ex-
cel in the number of pilgrims, and in the use of charms, spells, and
amulets. Their priests are celibates, and must abstain from wine, fish,
and all flesh. They are the Ranters of Buddhism. To this day, a re-
vival-meeting in one of their temples is a scene that often beggars de-
scription, and may deafen weak ears. What with prayers incessantly
repeated, drums beaten unceasingly, the shouting of devotees who
work themselves into an excitement that often ends in insanity, and
sometimes in death, and the frantic exhortation of the priests, the
wildest excesses that seek the mantle of religion in other lands are by
them equaled, if not excelled. To this sect belonged Kato Kiyomasa,
the bloody persecutor of the Christians in the sixteenth century, the
" vir ter execrandus " of the Jesuits, but who is now a holy saint in
the calendar of canonized Buddhists.
Nichiren (sun-lotus) was so named by his mother, who at concep-
tion had dreamed that the sun (nichi) had entered her body. This
164 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
story is also told of other mothers of Japanese great men, and seems
to be a favorite stock-belief concerning the women who bear children
that afterward become men of renown or exalted holiness. The boy
grew up surrounded by the glorious scenery of mountain, wave, shore,
and with the infinity of the Pacific Ocean before him. He was a
dreamy, meditative child. He was early put under the care of a holy
bonze, but when grown to manhood discarded many of the old doc-
trines, and, being dissatisfied with the other sects, resolved to found
one, the followers of which should be the holders and exemplars of
the pure truth.
Nichiren was a profound student of the Buddhist classics, or sutras,
brought from India, and written in Sanskrit and Chinese, for the en-
tire canon of Buddhist holy books has at various times been brought
from India or China, and translated into Chinese in Japan. Here-
tofore, the common prayer of all the Japanese Buddhists had been
"JVamu, Amida Butsu " (Hail, Amida Buddha ! or, Save us, Eternal
Buddha!). Nichiren taught that the true invocation was " Namu
mid ho ren ge kid " (Glory to the salvation-bringing book of the law ;
or, literally, Hail, the true way of salvation, the blossom of doctrine).
This is still the distinctive prayer of the Nichiren sect. It is inscribed
on the temple curtains, on their tombstones and wayside shrines, and
was emblazoned on the banners carried aloft by the great warriors on
sea and land who belonged to the sect. The words are the Chinese
translation of Mamah Saddharma-pundarika-sutra, one of the chief
canonical books of the Buddhist Scriptures, and in use by all the sects.
Nichiren professed to find in it the true and only way of salvation,
which the other expounders of Shaka's doctrine had not properly
taught. He declared that the way as taught by him was the true
and only one.
Nichiren founded numerous temples, and was busy during the
whole of his life, when not in exile, in teaching, preaching, and itin-
erating. He published a book called Ankoku Ron ("An Argument to
tranquilize the Country "). The bitterness with which he attacked oth-
er sects roused up a host of enemies against him, who complained to
Hojo Tokoyori, the shikken, or holder of the power, at Kamakura, and
prayed to have him silenced, as a destroyer of the public peace, as in-
deed the holy man was. The title of his book was by no means an
exponent of its tone or style.
Nichiren was banished to Cape Ito, in Idzu, where he remained
three years. On his release, instead of holding his tongue, he allowed
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 165
it to run more violently than ever against other sects, especially de-
crying the great and learned priests of previous generations. II6J6
Tokoyori again arrested him, confined him in a dungeon below
ground, and condemned him to death.
The following story is told, and devoutly believed, by his followers :
On a certain day he was taken out to a village on the strand of the
bay beyond Kamakura, and in front of the lovely island of Enoshima.
This village is called Koshigoye. At this time Nichiren was forty-
three years old. Kneeling down upon the strand, the saintly bonze
calmly uttered his prayers, and repeated "Namu mid ho ren ge kid "
upon his rosary. The swordsman lifted his blade, and, with all his
might, made the downward stroke. Suddenly a flood of blinding
light burst from the sky, and smote upon the executioner and the offi-
cial inspector deputed to witness the severed head. The sword-blade
was broken in pieces, while the holy man was unharmed. At the
same moment, Ho jo, the Lord of Kamakura, was startled at his revels
in the palace by the sound of rattling thunder and the flash of light-
ning, though there was not a cloud in the sky. Dazed by the awful
signs of Heaven's displeasure, Hojo Tokoyori, divining that it was on
account of the holy victim, instantly dispatched a fleet messenger to
atay the executioner's hand and reprieve the victim. Simultaneously
the official inspector at the still unstained blood-pit sent a courier to
beg reprieve for the saint whom the sword could not touch. The
two men, coming from opposite directions, met at the small stream
which the tourist still crosses on the way from Kamakura to Enoshi-
ma, and it was thereafter called Yukiai (meeting on the way) River, a
name which it retains to this day. Through the pitiful clemency and
intercession of Hojo Tokimune, son of the Lord of Kamakura, Nichi-
ren was sent to Sado Island. He was afterward released by his bene-
factor in a general amnesty. Nichiren founded his sect at Kioto, and
it greatly flourished under the care of his disciple, his reverence Ni-
chizo. After a busy and holy life, the great saint died at Ik£gami, a
little to north-west of the Kawasaki railroad station, between Yokoha-
ma and Tokio, where the scream of the locomotive and the rumble of
the railway car are but faintly heard in its solemn shades. There are
to be seen gorgeous temples, pagodas, shrines, magnificent groves and
cemeteries. The dying presence of Nichiren has lent this place pecul-
iar sanctity ; but his bones rest on Mount Minobu, in the province of
Kai, where was one of his homes when in the flesh. See Frontispiece.
While in Japan, I made special visits to many of the places rendered
166 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
most famous by Nichiren, of his birth, labors, triumph, and death, and
there formed the impressions of his work and followers which I have
in this chapter set forth. So far as I am able to judge, none of the
native theologians has stamped his impress more deeply on the relig-
ious intellect of Japan than has Nichiren. It may be vain prophecy,
but I believe that Christianity in Japan will find its most vigorous
and persistent opposers among this sect, and that it will be the last to
yield to the now triumphing faith that seems clasping the girdle of
world-victory in Japan.
Their astonishing success and tremendous power, and their intoler-
ance and bigotry, are to be ascribed to the same cause — the precision,
distinctness, and exclusiveness of the teachings of their master. In
their sacred books, and in the sermons of their bonzes, the Nichirenites
are exhorted to reflect diligently upon the peculiar blessings vouch-
safed to them as a chosen sect, and to understand that they are fa-
vored above all others in privilege, that their doctrines are the only
true ones, and that perfect salvation is attainable by no other method
or system. It is next to impossible for them to fraternize with other
Buddhists, and they themselves declare that, though all the other sects
may combine into one, yet they must remain apart, unless their tenets
be adopted. The proscription of other sects, and the employment of
reviling and abuse as a means of propagation introduced by Nichiren,
was a comparatively new thing in Japan. It stirred up persecution
against the new faith and its followers ; and this, coupled with the in-
vincible fortitude and zeal of the latter, were together as soil and seed.
The era and developments of Nichiren may be called the second
revival of Buddhism in Japan, since it infused into that great religion,
which had, at the opening of the thirteenth century, reached a stage
of passive quiescence, the spirit of proselytism which was necessary to
keep it from stagnant impurity and heartless formality.
Though the success of Nichiren inaugurated an era of zeal and big-
otry, it also awoke fresh life into that power which is the best repre-
sentative of the religious life of the nation. Whether we call Bud-
dhism a false or a true religion, even the most shallow student of the
Japanese people must acknowledge that the pure religious, as well as
the superstitious, character of the masses of the Japanese people has
been fostered and developed more by Buddhism than by any and all
other influences.
Some of the superstitions of the Nichirenites are gross and revolt-
ing, but among their beliefs and customs is the nagare kanjo (flowing
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 169
invocation). I shall call it " the mother's memorial." It is practiced
chiefly by the followers of Nichiren, though it is sometimes employed
by other sects.
A sight not often met with in the cities, but in the suburbs and
country places frequent as the cause of it requires, is the nagare
kanjo (flowing invocation). A piece of cotton cloth is suspended by
its four corners to stakes set in the ground near a brook, rivulet, or,
if in the city, at the side of the water-course which fronts the houses
of the better classes. Behind it rises a higher, lath-like board, notched
several times near the top, and inscribed with a brief legend. Rest-
ing on the cloth'at the brookside, or, if in the city, in a pail of water,
is a wooden dipper. Perhaps upon the four corners, in the upright
bamboo, may be set bouquets of flowers. A careless stranger may
not notice the odd thing, but a little study of its parts reveals the
symbolism of death. The tall lath tablet is the same as that set be-
hind graves and tombs. The ominous Sanskrit letters betoken death.
Even the flowers in their bloom call to mind the tributes of affection-
ate remembrance which loving survivors set in the sockets of the mon-
uments in the grave-yards. On the cloth is written a name such as
is given to persons after death, and the prayer, "Namu mid ho ren
ge kio " (Glory to the salvation-bringing Scriptures). Waiting long
enough, perchance but a few minutes, there may be seen a passer-by
who pauses, and, devoutly offering a prayer with the aid of his rosary,
reverently dips a ladleful of water, pours it upon the cloth, and waits
patiently until it has strained through, before moving on.
All this, when the significance is understood, is very touching. It
is the story of vicarious suffering, of sorrow from the brink of joy, of
one dying that another may live. It tells of mother-love and mother-
woe. It is a mute appeal to every passer-by, by the love of Heaven,
to shorten the penalties of a soul in pain.
The Japanese (Buddhists) believe that all calamity is the result of
sin either in this or a previous state of existence. The mother who
dies in childbed suffers, by such a death, for some awful transgression,
it may be in a cycle of existence long since passed. For it she must
leave her new-born infant, in the full raptures of mother-joy, and sink
into the darkness of Hades, to wallow in a lake of blood. There
must she groan and suffer until the " flowing invocation " ceases, by
the wearing-out of the symbolic cloth. When this is so utterly worn
that the water no longer drains, but falls through at once, the freed
spirit of the mother, purged of her sin, rises to resurrection among
170 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the exalted beings of a higher cycle of existence. Devout men, as
they pass by, reverently pour a ladleful of water. Women, especial-
ly those who have felt mother-pains, and who rejoice in life and lov-
ing offspring, repeat the expiatory act with deeper feeling; but the
depths of sympathy are fathomed only by those who, being mothers,
are yet bereaved. Yet, as in presence of nature's awful glories the
reverent gazer is shocked by the noisy importunity of the beggar, so
before this sad and touching memorial the proofs of sordid priest-
craft chill the warm sympathy which the sight even from the heart
of an alien might evoke.
The cotton cloth inscribed with the prayer and the name of the de-
ceased, to be efficacious, can be purchased only at the temples. I have
been told, and it is no secret, that rich people are able to secure a
napkin which, when stretched but a few days, will rupture, and let the
water pass through at once. The poor man can get only the stout-
est and most closely woven fabric. The limit of purgatorial penance
is thus fixed by warp and woof, and warp and woof are gauged by
money. The rich man's napkin is scraped thin in the middle. Nev-
ertheless, the poor mother secures a richer tribute of sympathy from
her humble people ; for in Japan, as in other lands, poverty has many
children, while wealth mourns for heirs ; and in the lowly walks of
life are more pitiful women who have felt the woe and the joy of
motherhood than in the mansions of the rich.
In Echizen, especially in the country towns and villages, the custom
is rigidly observed; but though I often looked for the nagare kanjo
in Tokio, I never saw one. I am told, however, that they may be
seen in the outskirts of the city. The drawing of one seen near Ta-
kefu, in Echizen, was made for me by my artist-friend Ozawa, a num-
ber of whose sketches appear in this work.
The Protestants of Japanese Buddhism are the followers of Shin
shiu, founded by his reverence Shinran, in 1262. Shinran was a
pupil of Honen, who founded the Jodo shiu, and was of noble de-
scent. While in Kioto, at thirty years of age, he married a lady of
noble blood, named Tamayori- hime, the daughter of the Kuambaku.
He thus taught by example, as well as by precept, that marriage was
honorable, and that celibacy was an invention of the priests, not war-
ranted by pure Buddhism. Penance, fasting, prescribed diet, pil-
grimages, isolation from society, whether as hermits or in the cloister,
and generally amulets and charms, are all tabooed by this sect. Nun-
neries and monasteries are unknown within its pale. The family
Belfry of a Buddhist Temple iu Ozaka.
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 173
takes the place of monkish seclusion. Devout prayer, purity, and
earnestness of life, and trust in Buddha himself as the only worker of
perfect righteousness, are insisted upon. Other sects teach the doc-
trine of salvation by works. Shinran taught that it is faith in Buddha
that accomplishes the salvation of the believer.
Buddhism seems to most foreigners who have studied it but Roman
Catholicism without Christ, and in Asiatic form. The Shin sect hold
a form of the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith, believing
in Buddha instead of Jesus. Singleness of purpose characterizes this
sect. Outsiders call it Ikko, from the initial word of a text in their
chief book, Murioju Kid (" Book of Constant Life "). By others it
is spoken of as Monto (gate-followers), in reference to their unity of
organization. The Scriptures of other sects are written in Sanskrit
and Chinese, which only the learned are able to read.
Those of Monto are in the vernacular Japanese writing and idiom.
Other sects build temples in sequestered places among the hills. The
Shin - shiuists erect theirs in the heart of cities, on main streets, in
the centres of population. They endeavor, by every means in their
power, to induce the people to come to them. In Fukui their twin
temples stood in the most frequented thoroughfares. In Tokio, Oza-
ka, Kioto, Nagasaki, and other cities, the same system of having twin
temples in the heart of the city is pursued, and the largest and finest
ecclesiastical structures are the duplicates of this sect. The altars are
on a scale of imposing magnificence, and gorgeous in detail. A com-
mon saying is, "As handsome as a Monto- altar." The priests marry,
rear families, and their sons succeed them to the care of the temples.
In default of male issue, the husband of the daughter of the priest,
should he have one, takes the office of his father-in-law. Many mem-
bers of the priesthood and their families are highly educated, perhaps
more so than the bonzes of any other sect. Personal acquaintance
with several of the Monto priests enables me to substantiate this fact
asserted of them.
The followers of Shinran have ever held a high position, and have
wielded vast influence in the religious development of the people.
Both for good and evil they have been among the foremost of active
workers in the cause of religion. In time of war the Monto bonzes
put on armor, and, with their families and adherents, have in numer-
ous instances formed themselves into military battalions. We shall
hear more of their martial performances in succeeding chapters.
After the death of Shinran, Rennio, who died in 1500, became the
174 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
revivalist of Monto, and wrote the Ofumi, or sacred writings, which
are now daily read by the disciples of this denomination. With the
characteristic object of reaching the masses, they are written in the
common script hirogana writing, which all the people of both sexes
can read. Though greatly persecuted by other sectaries, they have
continually increased in numbers, wealth, and power, and now lead all
in intelligence and influence. To the charges of uncleanness which
others bring against them, because they marry wives, eat and drink
and live so much like unclerical men, they calmly answer, the bright
rays of the sun shine on all things alike, and that it is not for them to
call things unclean which have evidently been created for man's use ;
that righteousness consists neither in eating nor drinking, nor in absti-
nence from the blessings vouchsafed to mortals in this vale of woe ;
and that the maxims and narrow-minded doctrines, with the neglect
of which they are reproached, can only have proceeded from the folly
or vanity of men. They claim that priests with families are purer
men than celibates in monasteries, and that the purity of society is
best maintained by a married priesthood. Within the last two decades
they were the first to organize their theological schools on the model
of foreign countries, that their young men might be trained to resist
Shinto or Christianity, or to measure the truth in either. The last
new charge urged against them by their rivals is that they are so
much like Christians, that they might as well be such out and out.
Liberty of thought and action, an incoercible desire to be free from
governmental, traditional, ultra-ecclesiastical, or Shinto influence — in
a word, Protestantism in its pure sense, is characteristic of the great
sect founded by Shinran.
To treat of the doctrinal difference and various customs of the dif-
ferent denominations would require a volume. Japanese Buddhism
richly deserves thorough study, and a scholarly treatise by itself.* The
* It is a question worthy the deepest research and fullest inquiry, as to the
time occupied in converting the Japanese people to the Buddhist faith. It is
not probable, as some foreigners believe, that Wani (see page 76) brought the
knowledge of the Indian religion to Japan. The Nihvngi gives the year 552 as
that in which Buddhist books, images, rosaries, altar furniture, vestments, etc.,
were bestowed as presents at the imperial palace, and deposited in the court of
ceremony. The imported books were diligently studied by a few court nobles,
and in 584 several of them openly professed the new faith. In 585, a frightful pes-
tilence that broke out was ascribed by the patriotic opponents of the foreign faith
to the anger of the gods against the new religion. A long and bitter dispute fol-
lowed, and some of the new temples and idols were destroyed. In spite of patri-
otism and conservative zeal, the worship and ritual were established in the pal-
BUDDHISM IN JAPAN. 175
part played by the great Buddhist sects in the national drama of histo-
ry in later centuries will be seen as we proceed in our narrative.
ace, new missionaries were invited from Corea, and in 634 two bonzes were given
niiii-i.il rank, as primate and vice-primate. Temples were erected, and, at the
death of a bonze, in 700, his body was disposed of by cremation — a new thing in
Japan. In 741, an imperial decree, ordering the erection of two temples and a
seven-storied pagoda in each province, was promulgated. In 765, a priest became
Dai J6 Dai Jin. In 827, a precious relic— one of Shaka's (Buddha's) bones— was
deposited in the palace. The masterstroke of theological dexterity was made
early in the ninth century, when K6b6, who had studied three years in China,
achieved the reconciliation of the native belief and the foreign religion, made
patriotism and piety one, and laid the foundation of the permanent and univer-
sal success of Buddhism in Japan. This Japanese Philo taught that the Shinto
deities, or gods, of Japan were manifestations, or transmigrations, of Buddha in
that country, and, by his scheme of dogmatic theology, secured the ascendency
of Buddhism over Shinto and Confucianism. Until near the fourteenth century,
however, Buddhism continued to be the religion of the official, military, and edu-
cated classes, but not of the people at large. Its adoption by all classes may be
ascribed to the missionary labors of Shinran and Nichiren, whose banishment
to the North and East made them itinerant apostles. Shinran traveled on foot
through every one of the provinces north and east of Kioto, glorying in his exile,
everywhere preaching, teaching, and making new disciples. It may be safely
said that it required nine hundred years to convert the Japanese people from
fetichism and Shinto to Buddhism.
It is extremely difficult to get accurate statistics relating to Japanese Bud-
dhism. The following table was compiled for me by a learned bonze of the Shin
denomination, in the temple of Nishi Honguanji, in Tsukiji, Tokio. I have com-
pared it with data furnished by an ex-priest in Fukui, and various laymen.
The ecclesiastical centre of Japan has always been at Kioto. The chief temples
and monasteries of each sect were located there.
TABULAR LIST OF BUDDHIST SECTS IN JAPAH.
ChWSecUCShiu). ToUl Number
of Temple*.
I. TendaL Founded by Chisha, in China : 3 sub-sects 6,391
II. Shiugon. Founded by Kobo, in Japan, A.B. 813: 3 sub-sects 15,603
IIL Zen. Founded by Darma, in Japan : 6 sub-sects 21,647
IV. Jodo. Founded by Honen, in Japan, 1173 : 2 sub-sects 9,819
V. Shin. Founded by Shiuran, in Japan, 1213 : 5 sub-secte 13,718
VI. Nichiren. Founded by Nichiren, in Japan, 1262: 2 sub-sects
VH. Ji. Founded by Ippen, in Japan, 1288 686
Besides the above, there are twenty-one "irregular," "local," or "independ-
ent" sects, which act apart from the others, and in some cases have no temples
or monasteries. A number of other sects have originated in Japan, flourished for
a time, decayed, and passed out of existence. According to the census of 1872,
there were in Japan 211,846 Buddhist religtewx of both sexes and all grades and
orders. Of these, 75,925 were priests, abbots, or monks, 9 abbesses ; 37,327 were
reckoned as novices or students, and 98,585 were in monasteries or families
(mostly of Shin sect) ; 151,677 were males, 60,159 were females, and 9,621 were
nuns. By the census of 1875, the returns gave 207,669 Buddhist religieitx, of
whom 148,807 were males, and 58,862 females.
12
176 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XVII.
THE INVASION OF THE MONGOL TARTARS.
DURING the early centuries of the Christian era, friendly intercourse
was regularly kept up between Japan and China. Embassies were
dispatched to and fro on various missions, but chiefly with the mutual
object of bearing the congratulations to an emperor upon his accession
to the throne. It is mentioned in the " Gazetteer of Echizen " (Echi-
zen Koku Mei Seiki Ko) that embassadors from China, with a retinue
and crew of one hundred and seventy-eight persons, came to Japan
A.D. 776, to bear congratulations to the mikado, Konin Tenno. The
vessel was wrecked in a typhoon off the coast of Echizen, and but
forty-six of the company were saved. They were fed and sheltered in
Echizen. In A.D. 779, the Japanese embassy, returning from China,
landed at Mikuni, the sea -port of Fukui. In 883, orders were sent
from Kioto to the provinces north of the capital to repair the bridges
and roads, bury the dead bodies, and remove all obstacles, because the
envoys of China were coming that way. The civil disorders in both
countries interrupted these friendly relations in the twelfth century,
and communications ceased until they were renewed again in the time
of the Hojo, in the manner now to be described.
In China, the Mongol Tartars had overthrown the Sung dynasty,
and had conquered the adjacent countries. Through the Coreans, the
Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, at whose court Marco Polo and his
uncles were then residing, sent letters demanding tribute and hom-
age from Japan. Chinese envoys came to Kamakura, but Hojo Toki-
mune, enraged at the insolent demands, dismissed them in disgrace.
Six embassies were sent, and six times rejected.
An expedition from China, consisting of ten thousand men, was
sent against Japan. They landed at Tsushima and Iki. They were
bravely attacked, and their commander slain. All Kiushiu having
roused to arms, the expedition returned, having accomplished nothing.
The Chinese emperor now sent nine envoys, who announced their pur-
pose to remain until a definite answer was returned to their master.
They were called to Kamakura, and the Japanese reply was given by
THE INVASION OF THE MONGOL TARTARS. \^
cutting off their heads at the village of Tatsu no kuchi (Mouth of the
Dragon), near the city. The Japanese now girded themselves for the
war they knew was imminent. Troops from the East were sent to
guard Kioto. Munitions of war were prepared, magazines stored, cas-
tles repaired, and new armies levied and drilled. Boats and junks
were built to meet the enemy on the sea. Once more Chinese en-
voys came to demand tribute. Again the sword gave the answer, and
their heads fell at Daizaifu, in Kiushiu, in 1279.
Meanwhile the armada was preparing. Great China was coming to
crush the little strip of land that refused homage to the invincible con-
queror. The army numbered one hundred thousand Chinese and Tar-
tars, and seven thousand Coreans, in ships that whitened the sea as
the snowy herons whiten the islands of Lake Biwa. They numbered
thirty-five hundred in all. In the Seventh month of the year 1281,
the tasseled prows and fluted sails of the Chinese junks greeted the
straining eyes of watchers on the hills of Daizaifu. The armada
sailed gallantly up, and ranged itself off the castled city. Many of
the junks were of immense proportions, larger than the natives of
Japan had ever seen, and armed with the engines of European war-
fare, which their Venetian guests had taught the Mongols to con-
struct and work. The Japanese had small chance of success on the
water ; as, although their boats, being swifter and lighter, were more
easily managed, yet many of them were sunk by the darts and huge
stones hurled by the catapults mounted on their enemy's decks. In
personal prowess the natives of Nippon were superior. Swimming
out to the fleet, a party of thirty boarded a junk, and cut off the
heads of the crew ; but another company attempting to do so, were
all killed by the now wary Tartars. One captain, Kusanojiro, with a
picked crew, in broad daylight, sculled rapidly out to an outlying junk,
and, in spite of a shower of darts, one of which took off his left arm,
ran his boat along-side a Chinese junk, and, letting down the masts,
boarded the decks. A hand-to-hand fight ensued, and, before the ene-
my's fleet could assist, the daring assailants set the ship on fire and
were off, carrying away twenty-one heads. The fleet now ranged it-
self in a cordon, linking each vessel to the other with an iron chain.
They hoped thus to foil the cutting-out parties. Besides the cata-
pults, immense bow-guns shooting heavy darts were mounted on their
decks, so as to sink all attacking boats. By these means many of the
latter were destroyed, and more than one company of Japanese who
expected victory lost their lives. Still, the enemy could not effect a
178 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
landing in force. Their small detachments were cut off or driven into
the sea as soon as they reached the shore, and over two thousand
heads were among the trophies of the defenders in the skirmishes. A
line of fortifications many miles long, consisting of earth -works and
heavy palisading of planks, was now erected along-shore. Behind
these the defenders watched the invaders, and challenged them to
land.
There was a Japanese captain, Michiari, who had long hoped for
this invasion. He had prayed often to the gods that he might have
opportunity to fight the Mongols. He had written his prayers on pa-
per, and, learning them, had solemnly swallowed the ashes. He was
now overjoyed at the prospect of a combat. Sallying out from be-
hind the breastwork, he defied the enemy to fight. Shortly after, he
filled two boats with brave fellows and pushed out, apparently un-
armed, to the fleet. " He is mad," cried the spectators on shore.
" How bold," said the men on the fleet, " for two little boats to attack
thousands of great ships ! Surely he is coming to surrender himself."
Supposing this to be his object, they refrained from shooting. When
within a few oars-lengths, the Japanese, flinging out ropes with grap-
pling-hooks, leaped on the Tartar junk. The bows and spears of the
latter were no match for the two-handed razor-like swords of the Jap-
anese. The issue, though for a while doubtful, was a swift and com-
plete victory for the men who were fighting for their native land.
Burning the junk, the surviving victors left before the surrounding
ships could cut them off. Among the captured was one of the high-
est officers in the Mongol fleet.
The whole nation was now roused. Re - enforcements poured in
from all quarters to swell the host of defenders. From the monas-
teries and temples all over the country went up unceasing prayer to
the gods to ruin their enemies and save the land of Japan. The em-
peror and ex-emperor went in solemn state to the chief priest of Shin-
to, and, writing out their petitions to the gods, sent him as a messen-
ger to the shrines at Is6. It is recorded, as a miraculous fact, that at
the hour of noon, as the sacred envoy arrived at the shrine and offered
the prayer — the day being perfectly clear — a streak of cloud appeared
in the sky, which soon overspread the heavens, until the dense masses
portended a storm of awful violence.
One of those cyclones, called by the Japanese tai-fu, or okaze, of
appalling velocity and resistless force, such as whirl along the coasts
of Japan and China during late summer and early fall of every year,
TUB INVASION OF THE MONGOL TARTARS. 181
btirst.upon the Chinese fleet. Nothing can withstand these maelstroms
of the air. We call them typhoons ; the Japanese say tai-fu, or «/•/..•
(great wind). Iron steamships of thousands of horse -power are al-
most unmanageable in them. Junks are hdpless : the Chinese ships
were these only. They were butted together like mad bulls. They
were impaled on the rocks, dashed against the cliffs, or tossed on land
like corks from the spray. They were blown over till they careened
and filled. Heavily freighted with human beings, they sunk by hun-
dreds. The corpses were piled on the shore, or floating on the water
so thickly that it seemed almost possible to walk thereon. Those
driven out to sea may have reached the main-land, but were probably
overwhelmed. The vessels of the survivors, in large numbers, drifted to
or were wrecked upon Taka Island, where they established themselves,
and, cutting down trees, began building boats to reach Corea. Here
they were attacked by the Japanese, and, after a bloody struggle, all the
fiercer for the despair on the one side and the exultation on the other,
were all slain or driven into the sea to be drowned, except three, who
were sent back to tell their emperor how the gods of Japan had de-
stroyed their armada. The Japanese exult in the boast that their gods
and their heaven prevailed over the gods and the heaven of the Chinese.
This was the last time that China ever attempted to conquer Japan,
whose people boast that their land has never been defiled by an invad-
ing army. They have ever ascribed the glory of the destruction of
the Tartar fleet to the interposition of the gods at Ise, who thereafter
received special and grateful adoration as the guardian of the seas and
winds. Great credit and praise were given to the lord of Kamakura,
Hojo Tokimune, for his energy, ability, and valor. The author of
the Guai Shi says, " The repulse of the Tartar barbarians by Toki-
mune, and his preserving the dominions of our Son of Heaven, were
sufficient to atone for the crimes of his ancestors."
Nearly six centuries afterward, when " the barbarian " Perry anchor-
ed his fleet in the Bay of Yedo, in the words of the native annalist,
" Orders were sent by the imperial court to the Shinto priests at Ise
to offer up prayers for the sweeping-away of the barbarians." Mill-
ions of earnest hearts put up the same prayers as their fathers had
offered, fully expecting the same result.
To this day the Japanese mother in Kiushiu hushes her fretful in-
fant by the question, "Do you think the Mogu (Mongols) are com-
ing ?" This is the only serious attempt at invasion ever made by any
nation upon the shores of Japan.
182 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XVIII.
THE TEMPORARY MIKADO ATE.
THE first step taken after the overthrow of the military usurpation
at Kamakura was to recall the mikado Go-Daigo from exile. With
the sovereign again in full power, it seemed as though the ancient and
rightful government was to be permanently restored. The military or
dual system had lasted about one hundred and fifty years, and patriots
now hoped to see the country rightly governed, without intervention
between the throne and the people. The rewarding of the victors
who had fought for him was the first duty awaiting the restored exile.
The methods and procedure of feudalism were now so fixed in the
general policy of the Government, that Go-Daigo, falling into the
ways of the Minamoto and Hojo, apportioned military fiefs as guer-
dons to his vassals. Among them was Ashikaga Takauji, to whom
was awarded the greatest prize, consisting of the rich provinces of
Hitachi, Musashi, and Shimosa. To Kusunoki Masashige were given
Settsu and Kawachi; and to Nitta, Kodzuke and Harima, besides
smaller fiefs to many others.
This unfair distribution of spoils astounded the patriots, who ex-
pected to see high rank and power conferred upon Nitta and Kusuno-
ki, the chief leaders in the war for the restoration, and both very able
men. It would have been well had the emperor seen the importance
of disregarding the claims and privileges of caste, and exalted to high-
est rank the faithful men who were desirous of maintaining the dig-
nity of the throne, and whose chief fear was that the duarchy would
again arise. Such a fear was by no means groundless, for Ashikaga,
elated at such unexpected favor, became inflamed with a still higher
ambition, and already meditated refounding the shogunate at Kama-
kura, and placing his own family upon the military throne. Being of
Minamoto stock, he knew that he had prestige and popularity in his
favor, should he attempt the re-erection of the shogunate. Most of
the common soldiers had fought rather against Hojo than against du-
archy. The emperor was warned against this man by his ministers ;
THE TEMPORARY MIKADO ATE. 183
but in this case a woman's smiles and caresses and importunate words
were more powerful than the advice of sages. Ashikaga had bribed
the mikado's concubine Kadoko, and had so won her favor that she
persuaded her imperial lord to bestow excessive and undeserved honor
on the traitor.
The distribution of spoils excited discontent among the soldiers,
who now began to lose all interest in the cause for which they had
fought, and to murmur privately among themselves. " Should such
an unjust government continue," said they, " then are we all servants
of concubines and dancing -girls and singing -boys. Rather than be
the puppets of the mikado's amusers, we would prefer a shogun again,
and become his vassals." Many of the captains and smaller clan-leaders
were also in bad humor over their own small shares. Ashikaga Taka-
uji took advantage of this feeling to make himself popular among the
disaffected, especially those who clung to arms as a profession and
wished to remain soldiers, preferring war to peace. Of such inflamma-
ble material the latent traitor was not slow to avail himself when it
suited him to light the flames of war.
Had the mikado listened to his wise counselor, and also placed Ku-
sunoki in an office commensurate with his commanding abilities, and
rewarded Nitta as he deserved, the century of anarchy and bloodshed
which followed might have been spared to Japan.
Go-Daigo, who in the early years of his former reign had been a
man of indomitable courage and energy, seems to have lost the best
traits of his character in his exile, retaining only his imperious will
and susceptibility to flattery. To this degenerate Samson a Delilah
was not wanting. He fell an easy victim to the wiles of one man,
though the shears by which his strength was shorn were held by a
woman. Ashikaga was a consummate master of the arts of adulation
and political craft. He was now to further prove his skill, and to
verify the warnings of Nitta and the ministers. The emperor made
Moriyoshi, his own son, shogun. Ashikaga, jealous of the appoint-
ment, and having too ready access to the infatuated father's ear, told
him that his son was plotting to get possession of the throne. Mori-
yoshi, hating the flatterer, and stung to rage by the base slander,
marched against him. Ashikaga now succeeded by means of his ally
in the imperial bed in making himself, in the eyes of the mikado, the
first victim to the conspiracies of the prince. So great was his power
over the emperor that he obtained from the imperial hand a decree to
punish his enemy Moriyoshi as a ckotelri, or rebel, against the mikado.
184 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Here we have a striking instance of what, in the game of Japanese
state-craft, may be called the checkmate move, or, in the native idiom,
Ote, " king's hand." It is difficult for a foreigner to fully appreciate
the prestige attaching to the mikado's person — a prestige never dimin-
ishing. No matter how low his actual measure of power, the meanness
of his character, or the insignificance of his personal abilities, he was
the Son of Heaven, his word was law, his command omnipotent. He
was the fountain of all rank and authority. No military leader, how-
ever great his resources or ability, could win the popular heart or
hope for ultimate success unless appointed by the emperor. He who
held the Son of Heaven in his power was master. Hence it was the
constant aim of all the military leaders, even down to 1868, to obtain
control of the imperial person. However wicked or villainous the
keeper of the mikado, he was master of the situation. His enemies
were choteki, or rebels against the Son of Heaven ; his own soldiers
were the kuan-gun, or loyal army. Even might could not make right.
Possession of the divine person was more than nine-tenths — it was
the whole — of the law.
Moriyoshi, then, being choteki, was doomed. Ashikaga, having the
imperial order, had the kuan-gun, and was destined to win. The sad
fate of the emperor's son awakens the saddest feelings, and brings
tears to the eyes of the Japanese reader even at the present day. He
was seized, deposed, sent to Kamakura, and murdered in a subter-
ranean dungeon in the Seventh month of the year 1335.
His child in exile, the heart of the emperor relented. The scales
fell from his eyes. He saw that he had wrongly suspected his son,
and that the real traitor was Ashikaga. The latter, noticing the
change that had come over his master, left Kioto secretly, followed by
thousands of the disaffected soldiery, and fled to Kamakura, which he
had rebuilt, and began to consolidate his forces with a view of again
erecting the Eastern capital, and seizing the power formerly held by
the Hojo. Nitta had also been accused by Ashikaga, but, having
cleared himself in a petition to the mikado, he received the imperial
commission to chastise his rival. In the campaign which followed,
the imperial forces were so hopelessly defeated that the quondam im-
perial exile now became a fugitive. With his loyal followers he left
Kioto, carrying with him the sacred emblems of authorit}%
Ashikaga, though a triumphant victor, occupied a critical position.
He was a choteki. As such he could never win final success. He
had power and resources, but, unlike others equally usurpers, was not
THE TEMPORARY MIKADO ATE. 185
clothed with authority. He was, in popular estimation, a rebel of the
deepest dye. In such a predicament he could not safely remain a
day. The people would take the side of the emperor. What should
he do J His vigor, acuteness, and villainy were equal. The Hojo had
deposed and set up emperors. It was Ashikaga who divided the alle-
giance of the people, gave Japan a War of the Roses (or Chrysanthe-
mums), tilled the soil for feudalism, and lighted the flames of war
that made Kioto a cock-pit, abandoned the land for nearly two cent-
uries and a half to slaughter, ignorance, and paralysis of national prog-
ress. To clothe his acts with right, he made a new Son of Heaven.
He declared Kogen, who was of the royal family, emperor. In 1 336,
this new Son of Heaven gave Ashikaga the title of Sei-i Tai Shogun.
Kamakura again became the military capital. The duarchy was re-
stored, and the War of the Northern and the Southern Dynasties be-
gan, which lasted fifty-six years.
Ashikaga Takanji, Sei-i Tai Shogan. (From a photograph taken from a wooden statne
in a temple in Kioto.)
The period 1333-1336, though including little more than two
years of time, is of great significance as marking the existence of a
temporary mikadoate. The fact that it lasted so short a time, and
that the duarchy was again set up on its ruins, has furnished both na-
tives and foreigners with the absurd and specious, but strongly urged,
argument that the Government of Japan, by a single ruler from a sin-
gle centre, is an impossibility, and that the creation of a dual sys-
tem with a " spiritual " or nominal sovereign in one part of the em-
pire, and a military or "secular" ruler in another, is a necessity.
186 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
During the agitation of the question concerning the abolition of the
dual system, and the restoration of the mikado in 1860-1868, one of
the chief arguments of the adherents of the shogunate against the
scheme of the agitators, was the assertion that the events of the period
1333-1336 proved that the mikado could not alone govern the coun-
try, and that it must have duarchy. Even after the overthrow of the
"Tycoon" in 1868, foreigners, as well as natives, who had studied
Japanese history, fully believed and expected that in a year or two
the present mikado's Government would be overthrown, and the " Ty-
coon " return to power, basing their belief on the fact that the mika-
doate of 1333-1336 did not last. Whatever force such an argu-
ment might have had when Japan had no foreign relations, and no
aliens on her soil to disturb the balance between Kioto and Kama-
kura, it is certain that it counts for naught when, under altered condi-
tions, more than the united front of all Japan is now required to cope
with the political pressure from without. To talk seriously, as men
outside the lunatic asylum still do in this 8th year of Meiji (En-
lightened Peace), of the Japanese empire the 2536th, and of our
Lord 1876, in Japanese and English about "the return of the 'Ty-
coon' to power" is to utter drivel and solecism exceeding those of
Rip Van Winkle on his return to Sleepy Hollow.
THE WAR OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 187
XIX.
THE WAR OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS.
THE dynasty of the imperial rulers of Japan is the oldest in the
world. No other family line extends so far back into the remote
ages as the nameless family of mikados. Disdaining to have a fami-
ly name, claiming descent, not from mortals, but from the heavenly
gods, the imperial house of the Kingdom of the Rising Sun occupies
a throne which no plebeian has ever attempted to usurp. Through-
out all the vicissitudes of the imperial line, in plenitude of power or
abasement of poverty, its members deposed or set up at the pleasure
of the upstart or the political robber, the throne itself has remained
unshaken. Unclean hands have not been laid upon the ark itself.
As in the procession of life on the globe the individual perishes, the
species lives on, so, though individual mikados have been dethroned,
insulted, or exiled, the prestige of the line has never suffered. The
loyalty or allegiance of the people has never swerved. The soldier
who would begin revolution, or who lusted for power, would make
the mikado his tool ; but, however transcendent his genius and abili-
ties, he never attempted to write himself mikado. No Japanese Caesar
ever had his Brutus, nor Charles his Cromwell, nor George his Wash-
ington. Not even, as in China, did one dynasty of alien blood over-
throw another, and reign in the stead of a destroyed family. Such
events are unknown in Japanese annals. The student of this people
and their unique history can never understand them or their national
life unless he measures the mightiness of the force, and recognizes the
place of the throne and the mikado in the minds and hearts of its
people.
There are on record instances in which the true heirship was de-
clared only after bitter intrigue, quarrels, or even bloodshed. In the
tenth century, Taira no Masakado, disappointed in not being appoint-
ed Dai Jo Dai Jin, left Kioto, went to Shimosa in the Kuanto, and set
himself up as Shinno, or cadet of the imperial line, and temporarily
188 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ruled the eight provinces of the East as a pseudo-mikado.* In 1139,
the military families of Taira and Minamoto came to blows in Kioto
over the question of succession between the rival heirs, Shutoku and
Go-Shirakawa. The Taira being victors, their candidate became mikado.
During the decay of the Taira, they fled from Kioto, carrying with
them, as true emperor, with his suite and the sacred insignia, Antoku,
the child, five years old, who was drowned in the sea when the Taira
were destroyed. The Minamoto at the same time recognized Gotoba.
It may be more analogical to call the wars of the Gen and Hei, with
their white and red flags, the Japanese Wars of the Roses. Theirs was
the struggle of rival houses. Now, we are to speak of rival dynasties,
each with the imperial crysanthemum.
In the time of the early Ashikagas (1336-1390) there were two
mikados ruling, or attempting to rule, in Japan. The Emperor Go-
Daigo had chosen his son Kuniyoshi as his heir, but the latter died
in 1326. Kogen, son of the mikado Go-Fushimi (1299-1301), was
* Taira no Masakado, or, as we should say, Masakado Taira, was a man of great
energy and of unscrupulous character. He was at first governor of Shimosa, but
aspired to rule over all the East. He built a palace on the same model as that
of the mikado, at Sajima, in Shimotsuke", and appointed officers similar to those
at the imperial court. He killed his uncle, who stood in the way of his ambition.
To revenge his father's death, Sadamori, cousin to Masakado, headed two thou-
sand men, attacked the false mikado, and shot him to death with an arrow, car-
rying his head as trophy and evidence to Kioto, where it was exposed on the pil-
lory. Shortly after his decease, the people of Musashi, living on the site of mod-
era Tokio, being greatly afflicted by the troubled and angry spirit of their late
ruler, erected a temple on the site within the second castle enceinte near Kanda
Bridge, and in that part of the city district of Kanda (God's Field) now occupied
by the Imperial Treasury Department. This had the effect of soothing the un-
quiet ghost, and the land had rest ; and later generations, mindful of the power
of a spirit that in life ruled all the Kuanto, and in death could afflict or give peace
to millions at will, worshiped Masakado under the posthumous name of Kanda
Mio Jin (Illustrious Deity of Kanda), his history having been forgotten, or trans-
figured into the form of a narrative, which to doubt was sin. When Iye"yasu, in
the latter end of the sixteenth century, made Yedo his capital, he removed the
shrine to a more eligible location on the hill in the rear of the Kanda River and
the Suido, where, later, the university stood, and erected an edifice of great splen-
dor, surrounded by groves and grounds of surpassing loveliness. This was per-
haps only policy, to gain the popular favor by honoring the local gods ; but it
stirred up some jealousy among the " mikado-reverencers " and students of his-
tory who knew the facts. Some accused him of treasonable designs like those of
Masakado. In 1868, when the mikado's troops arrived in Yedo, they rushed to
the temple of Kanda Mio Jin, and, pulling out the idol or image of the deified
Masakado, hacked it to pieces with their swords, wishing the same fate to all
traitors. Thus, after nine centuries, the traitor received a traitor's reward, a
clear instance of historic justice in the eyes of native patriots.
THE WAR OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 189
then made heir. Go - Daigo's third son Moriyoshi, however, as he
grew up, showed great talent, and his father regretted that he had
consented to the choice of Kogen, and wished his own son to succeed
him. He referred the matter to Hojo at Kamakura, who disapproved
of the plan. Those who hated Hojo called Kogen the " false emper-
or," refusing to acknowledge him. When Nitta destroyed Kamakura,
and Go-Daigo was restored, Kogen retired to obscurity. No one for
a moment thought of or acknowledged any one but Go-Daigo as true
and only mikado. When, however, Ashikaga by his treachery had
alienated the emperor from him, and was without imperial favor, and
liable to punishment as a rebel, he found out and set up Kogen as
mikado, and proclaimed him sovereign. Civil war then broke out.
Into the details of the war between the adherents of the North-
ern emperor, Ashikaga, with his followers, on the one side, and Go-
Daigo, who held the insignia of authority, backed by a brilliant array
of names famous among the Japanese, on the other, I do not propose
to enter. It is a confused and sickening story of loyalty and treach-
ery, battle, murder, pillage, fire, famine, poverty, and misery, such as
make up the picture of civil wars in every country. Occasionally in
this period a noble deed or typical character shines forth for the ad-
miration or example of succeeding generations. Among these none
have exhibited more nobly man's possible greatness in the hour of
death than Nitta Yoshisada and Kusunoki Masashige.
On one occasion the army of Nitta, who was fighting under the flag
of Go-Daigo, the true emperor, was encamped before that of Ashika-
ga. To save further slaughter, Nitta sallied out alone, and, approach-
ing his enemy's camp, cried out : " The war in the country continues
long. Although this has arisen from the rivalry of two emperors,
yet its issue depends solely upon you and me. Rather than millions
of the people should be involved in distress, let us determine the ques-
tion by single combat." The retainers of Ashikaga prevailed on their
commander not to accept the challenge. In 1338, on the second day
of the Seventh month, while marching with about fifty followers to
assist in investing a fortress in Echizen, he was suddenly attacked in
a narrow path in a rice-field near Fukui by about three thousand of
the enemy, and exposed without shields to a shower of arrows. Some
one begged Nitta, as he was mounted, to escape. " It is not my de-
sire to survive my companions slain," was his response. Whipping
up his horse, he rode forward to engage with his sword, making him-
self the target for a hundred archers. His horse, struck when at full
190 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
speed by an arrow, fell. Nitta, on clearing himself and rising, was hit
between the eyes with a white-feathered shaft, and mortally wounded.
Drawing his sword, he cut off his own head — a feat which the war-
riors of that time were trained to perform — so that his enemies might
not recognize him. He was thirty-eight years old. His brave little
band were slain by arrows, or killed themselves with their own hand,
that they might die with their master. The enemy could not recog-
nize Nitta, until they found, beneath a pile of corpses of men who
had committed hara-kiri, a body on which, inclosed in a damask bag,
was a letter containing the imperial commission in Go-Daigo's hand-
writing, " I invest you with all power to subjugate the rebels." Then
they knew the corpse to be that of Nitta. His head was carried to
Kioto, then in possession of Ashikaga, and exposed in public on a
pillory. The tomb of this brave man stands, carefully watched and
tended, near Fukui, in Echizen, hard by the very spot where he fell.
I often passed it in my walks, when living in Fukui in 1871, and no-
ticed that fresh blooming flowers were almost daily laid upon it — the
tribute of an admiring people. A shrine and monument in memoriam
were erected in his native place during the year 1875.
The brave Kusunoki, after a lost battle at Minatogawa, near Hiogo,
having suffered continual defeat, his counsels having been set at
naught, and his advice rejected, felt that life was no longer honorable,
and solemnly resolved to die in unsullied reputation and with a sol-
dier's honor. Sorrowfully bidding his wife and infant children good-
bye, he calmly committed hara-kiri, an example which his comrades,
numbering one hundred and fifty, bravely followed.
Kusunoki Masashige was one of an honorable family who dwelt in
Kawachi, and traced their descent to the great-grandson of the thirty-
second mikado, Bidatsu (A.D. 572-585). The family name, Kusunoki
(" Camphor "), was given his people from the fact that a grove of
camphor-trees adorned the ancestral gardens of the mansion. The
twelfth in descent was the Vice-governor of lyo. The father of Masa-
shige held land assessed at two thousand koku. His mother, desiring
a child, prayed to the god Bishamon for one hundred days, and Ma-
sashige was born after a pregnancy of fourteen months. The mother,
in devout gratitude, named the boy Tamon (the Sanskrit name of Bish-
amon), after the god who had heard her prayers. The man-child was
very strong, and at seven could throw boys of fifteen at wrestling.
He received his education in the Chinese classics from the priests in
the temple, and exercised himself in all manly and warlike arts. In
THE WAR OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 191
his twelfth year he cut off the head of an enemy, and at fifteen stud-
ied the Chinese military art, and made it the solemn purpose of his
life to overthrow the Kamakura usurpation, and restore the mikado to
power. In 1330, he took up arms for Go-Daigo. He was several
times besieged by the Hojo armies, but was finally victorious with
Nitta and Ashikaga. When the latter became a rebel, defeated Nitta,
and entered Kioto in force, Kusunoki joined Nitta, and thrice drove
out the troops of Ashikaga from the capital. The latter then fled
to the West, and Kusunoki advised the imperialist generals to follow
them up and annihilate the rebellion. His superiors, with criminal
levity, neglecting to do this, the rebels collected together, and again
advanced, with increased strength by land and water, against Kioto,
having, it is said, two hundred thousand men. Kusunoki's plan of
operations was rejected, and his advice ignored. With Nitta he was
compelled to bear the brunt of battle against overwhelming forces at
Minato gawa, near Hiogo, and was there hopelessly defeated. Kusu-
noki, now feeling that he had done all that was possible to a subordi-
nate, and that life was no longer honorable, retired to a farmer's house
at the village of Sakurai, and there, giving him the sword bestowed
on himself by the mikado, admonished his son Masatsura to follow
the soldier's calling, cherish his father's memory, and avenge his fa-
ther's death. Sixteen of his relatives, with unquailing courage, like-
wise followed their master in death.
Of all the characters in Japanese history, that of Knsunoki Masa-
shige stands pre-eminent for pureness of patriotism, unselfishness of
devotion to duty, and calmness of courage. The people speak of him
in tones of reverential tenderness, and, with an admiration that lacks
fitting words, behold in him the mirror of stainless loyalty. I have
more than once asked my Japanese students and friends whom they
considered the noblest character in their history. Their unanimous
answer was " Kusunoki Masashige." Every relic of this brave man is
treasured up with religious care ; and fans inscribed with poems writ-
ten by him, in fac-simile of his handwriting, are sold in the shops and
used by those who burn to imitate his exalted patriotism.* His son
Masatsura lived to become a gallant soldier.
* I make no attempt to conceal my own admiration of a man who acted ac-
cording to his light, and faced his soldierly ideal of honor, when conscience and
all his previous education told him that his hour had come, and that to flinch
from the suicidal thrust was dishonor and sin. No enlightened Japanese of to-
day would show himself brave by committing hara-kiri, as the most earnest writers,
13
192 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The war, which at first was waged with the clearly defined object
of settling the question of the supremacy of the rival mikados, gradual-
ly lost its true character, and finally degenerated into a melee and free
fight on a national scale. Before peace was finally declared, all the
original leaders had died, and the prime object had been, in a great
measure, forgotten in the lust for land and war. Even the rival em-
perors lost much of their interest, as they had no concern in brawls
by which petty chieftains sought to exalt their own name, and increase
their territory by robbing their neighbors. In 1392, an envoy from
Ashikaga persuaded Go-Kameyama to come to Kioto and hand over
the regalia to Go-Komatsu, the Northern emperor. The basis of
peace was that Go-Kameyama should receive the title of Dai Jo
Tenno (ex-emperor), Go-Komatsu be declared emperor, and the throne
be occupied alternately by the rival branches of the imperial family.
The ceremony of abdication and surrender of regalia, on the one
hand, and of investiture, on the other, were celebrated with due
pomp and solemnity in one of the great temples in the capital, and
the war of fifty-six years' duration ceased. All this redounded to
the glory and power of the Ashikaga.
The period 1336-1392 is of great interest in the eyes of all native
students of Japanese history. In the Dai Nihon Shi, the Southern
dynasty are defended as the legitimate sovereigns, and the true de-
scendants of Ten Sho Dai Jin, the sun -goddess; and the Northern
dynasty are condemned as mere usurpers. The same view was taken
by Kitabatake Chikafusa, who was the author of the Japanese Red-
book, who warned the emperor Go-Daigo against Ashikaga, and in
1339 wrote a book to prove that Go-Daigo was mikado, and the
Ashikaga's nominee a usurper. This is the view now held in modern
Japan, and only those historians of the period who award legitimacy
to the Southern dynasty are considered authoritative. The Northern
branch of the imperial family after a few generations became extinct.*
thinkers, and even soldiers admit. Fukuzawa, the learned reformer and peda-
gogue, and a chaste and eloquent writer, in one of his works condemns the act
of Kusunoki, not mentioning him by name, however, as lacking the element of
true courage, according to the enlightened view. He explains and defends the
Christian ideas on the subject of suicide. His book created great excitement
and intense indignation in the minds of the samurai at first; but now he car-
ries with him the approbation of the leading minds in Japan, especially of the
students.
* The names of the "Northern," or "False," emperors are Kogen, Kornio,
Shinko, Go-K6gon, Go-Enyiu, and Go-Komatsu.
THE ASHIKAGA PERIOD. 193
XX.
THE ASHIKAGA PERIOD.
THE internal history of Japan during the period of time covered by
the actual or nominal rule of the thirteen shoguns of the Ashikaga
family, from 1336 until 1573, except that portion after the year 1542,
is not very attractive to a foreign reader. It is a confused picture of
intestine war.
Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the line, was a descendant of the
Minamoto Yoshikuni, who had settled at Ashikaga, a village in Shi-
motsuke, in the eleventh century. He died in 1356. His grandson
Yoshimitsu, called the Great Ashikaga, was made shogun when ten
years old, and became a famous warrior in the South and West Aft-
er the union of the two dynasties, he built a luxurious palace at Kio-
to, and was made Dai Jo Dai Jin. He enjoyed his honors for one
year. He then retired from the world to become a shaven monk in
a Buddhist monastery.
Under the Hojo, the office of shogun was filled by appointment of
the imperial court ; but under the Ashikaga the office became heredi-
tary in this family. As usual, the man with the title was, in nearly
every case, but a mere figure-head, wielding little more personal power
than that of the painted and gilded simulacrum of the admiral that
formerly adorned the prow of our old seventy-four-gun ships. During
this period the term Kubo sama, applied to the shoguns, and used so
frequently by the Jesuit fathers, came into use. The actual work of
government was done by able men of inferior rank. The most noted
of these was Hosokawa Yoriyuki, who was a fine scholar as well as a
warrior. It was through his ordering that the young shogun Yoshi-
mitsu was well trained, and had for his companions noble youths who
excelled in literary and military skill. This was vastly different from
Hojo Tokimasa's treatment of the sons of Yoritomo. He attempted
the reform of manners and administration. He issued five mottoes
for the conduct of the military and civil officers. They were : 1. Thou
shalt not be partial in amity or enmity. 2. Thou shalt return neither
194 -THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
favor nor vengeance. 3. Thou shalt not deceive, either with a right
or a wrong [motive]. 4. Thou shalt not hope dishonestly [for a
bribe]. 5. Thou shalt not deceive thyself.
The pendulum of power during this period oscillated between Kio-
to and Kamakura ; a tai (or " great ") shogun ruling at the former,
and a shogun at the latter place. An officer called the shikken was
the real ruler of the capital and the central provinces ; and another
called the kuan-rei (Governor of the Kuanto), of Kamakura and the
East. War was the rule, peace the exception. Feudal fights ; border
brawls; the seizure of lands; the rise of great clans; the building,
the siege, and the destruction of castles, were the staple events. Every
monastery was now a stronghold, an arsenal, or a camp. The issue
of a combat or a campaign was often decided by the support which
the bonzes gave to one or the other party. The most horrible ex-
cesses were committed, the ground about Kioto and Kamakura, both
of which were captured and recaptured many times, became like the
chitama (blood-pits) of the execution-ground. Villages, cities, temples,
monasteries, and libraries were burned. The fertile fields lay waste,
blackened by fire, or covered from sight, as with a cloth, by dense
thickets of tall weeds, which, even in one summer's time, spring with
astonishing fecundity from the plethoric soil of Japan. The people
driven from their homes by war returned to find a new wilderness, re-
sounding with the din of devouring insects. The people of gentle
birth fled to mountain caves. Education was neglected. The com-
mon herd grew up in ignorance and misery. Reading and writing,
except among the priests and nobles, were unknown arts which the
warriors scorned. War was the only lucrative trade, except that of
the armorers or sword-makers. Famine followed on the footsteps of
war, and with pestilence slew her tens of thousands. Pirates on the
seas ravaged not only the coasts of Japan, but those of China and
Corea, adding pillage and rapine to the destruction of commerce.
The Chinese mothers at Ningpo even now are heard to frighten their
children by mentioning the names of the Japanese pirates. On land
the peasantry were impressed' in military service to build castles or in-
trenched camps; or, the most daring, becoming robbers, made their
nests in the mountains and plundered the traveler, or descended upon
the merchant's store-house. Japan was then the paradise of thieves.
To all these local terrors were added those gendered in the mind of
man by the convulsions of nature. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
floods, tidal waves, typhoons, and storms seem to have been abnormal-
THE ASHIKAGA PERIOD. 195
ly frequent during this period. The public morals became frightfully
corrupted, religion debased. All kinds of strange and uncouth doc-
trines came into vogue. Prostitution was never more rampant. It
was the Golden Age of crime and anarchy.
The condition of the emperors was deplorable. With no revenues,
and dwelling in a capital alternately in the possession of one or the
other hostile army ; in frequent danger from thieves, fire, or starva-
tion ; exposed to the weather or the dangers of war, the narrative of
their sufferings excites pity in the mind of even a foreign reader, and
from the native draws the tribute of tears. One was so poor that he
depended upon the bounty of a noble for his food and clothing ; an-
other died in such poverty that his body lay unburied for several
days, for lack of money to have him interred. The remembrance of
the wrongs and sufferings of these poor emperors fired the hearts and
nerved the arms of the men who in 1868 fought to sweep away for-
ever the hated system by which such treatment of their sovereign be-
came possible.
So utterly demoralized is the national, political, and social life of
this period believed to have been, that the Japanese people make it
the limbo of all vanities. Dramatists and romancers use it as the
convenient ground whereon to locate every novel or play, the plot of
which violates all present probability. The chosen time of the bulk of
Japanese dramas and novels written during the last century or two is
that of the late Ashikagas. The satirist or writer aiming at contem-
porary folly, or at blunders and oppression of the Government, yet
wishing to avoid punishment and elude the censor, clothes his charac-
ters in the garb and manners of this period. It is the potter's field
where all the outcasts and Judases of moralists are buried. By com-
mon consent, it has become the limbo of playwright and romancer,
and the scape-goat of chronology.
The act by which, more than any other, the Ashikagas have earned
the curses of posterity was the sending of an embassy to China in
1401, bearing presents acknowledging, in a measure, the authority of
China, and accepting in return the title of Nippon 0, or King of Ja-
pan. This, which was done by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the third of
the line, was an insult to the national dignity for which he has never
been forgiven. It was a needless humiliation of Japan to her arro-
gant neighbor, and done only to exalt the vanity and glory of the
usurper Ashikaga, who, not content with adopting the style and equi-
page of the mikado, wished to be made or called a king, and yet dared
196 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
not usurp the imperial throne.* The punishment of Ashikaga is the
curse of posterity. In 1853, when the treaty with the United States
was made, a similar insult to the sovereign and the nation, as well as
a contemptible deception of the American envoy and foreigners, was
practiced by the shogun calling himself "Tycoon" (Great King, or
Sovereign of Japan). In this latter instance, as we know, came not
the distant anathema of future generations, but the swift vengeance of
war, the permanent humiliation, the exile to obscurity, of the Tokugawa
family, and the abolition of the shogunate and the dual system forever.
It was during the first of the last three decades of the Ashikaga
period that Japan became known to the nations of Europe; while
fire-arms, gunpowder, and a new and mighty faith were made known
to the Japanese nation.
* The Ashikaga line of shoguns comprised the following :
1. Takauji 1335-1357
2. Yoshinori 1358-1367
3. Yoshmitsu 1368-1393
4. Yoshimochi 1394-1422
5. Yoshikadzu 1423-1425
6. Yoshinori 1428-1440
7. Yoshikateu 1441-1448
8. Yoshimasa 1449-1471
9. Yoshihisa 1472-1489
10. Yoshitane 1490-1493
11. YoBhiznmi 1494-1507
12. Yoshitane (same as
the 10th) 1508-1520
13. Yoshiharu 1521-1545
14. Yoshitern 1546-1567
15. Yoshiaki ;... 1568-1573
The term Kubo sama, so often nsed by the Jesuit and Dutch writers, was not
an official title of the shogun, but was applied to him by the common people.
When at first anciently used, it referred to the mikado, or, rather, the mikado
who had abdicated, or preceded the ruling sovereign ; but later, when the people
saw in the Kamakura court and its master so close an imitation of the imperial
style and capital, they began gradually to speak of the shogun as the Kubo, with,
however, only the general meaning of " the governing power," or the nobleman
who enjoyed the right of riding to the court in a car, and entering the imperial
palace. The term was in use until 1868, but was never inherent in any office, be-
ing rather the exponent of certain forms of etiquette, privilege, and display, than
of official duties. The Jesuit fathers nearly always speak of the mikado as the
Dairi (see page 39), and at first erroneously termed the daimios " kings." Later
on, they seemed to have gained a clear understanding of the various titles and
official relations. In some works the Kuambaku (with dowo, lord, attached) is
spoken of as " emperor." Nobunaga, who became Nai Dai Jin, is also called
"emperor." During the supremacy of the military rulers at Kamakura and
Yedo, the offices and titles, though purely civil, once exclusively given to no-
bles at the mikado's court, were held by the officials of the shogunate.
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES, 197
XXI.
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
HISTORY, as usually written, gives the impression that the normal
condition of mankind is that of war. Japanese students who take up
the history of England to read, lay it down convinced that the En-
glish people are a blood -loving race that are perpetually fighting.
They contrast their own peaceful country with the countries of Eu-
rope, to the detriment of the latter. They turn most gladly from the
monotonous story of battle, murder, and sieges, to Buckle, Guizot, or
Lecky, that they may learn of the victories no less renowned than
those of war which mark as mile-stones the progress of the race. I
greatly fear that from lack of literary skill my readers will say that
my story of Japan thus far is a story of bloody war; but such, in-
deed, it is as told in their own histories. Permanent, universal peace
was unknown in Japan until, by the genius of lyeyasu in the six-
teenth century, two centuries and a half of this blessing were secured.
Nevertheless, in the eight centuries included between the eighth and
the sixteenth of our era were many, and often lengthened, intervals of
peace. In many sequestered places the sandal of the warrior and the
hoof of the war-horse never printed the soil. Peace in the palace, in
the city, in the village, allowed the development of manners, arts,
manufactures, and agriculture. In this period were developed the
characteristic growths of the Japanese intellect, imagination, social
economy, and manual skill that have made the hermit nation unique
in the earth and Japanese art productions the wonder of the world.
In this chapter, I shall simply glance at some of the salient features
of life in Japan during the Middle Ages.
The introduction of continental or Chinese civilization into Japan
was not a simple act of adoption. It was rather a work of selection
and assimilation. As in this nineteenth century, the Japanese is no
blind copyist, he improves on what he borrows. Although the travel-
er from China entering Japan can see in a moment whence the Japa-
nese have borrowed their civilization, and though he may believe the
198 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Japanese to be an inferior type to that of the Chinese, he will ac-
knowledge that the Japanese have improved upon their borrowed ele-
ments fully as much as the French have improved upon those of
Roman civilization. Many reflecting foreigners in Japan have asked
the question why the Japanese are so unlike the Chinese, and why
their art, literature, laws, customs, dress, workmanship, all bear a stamp
peculiar to themselves, though they received so much from them ?
The reason is to be found in the strength and persistence of the
primal Japanese type of character, as influenced by nature, enabling
it to resist serious alteration and radical change. The greatest con-
quests made by any of the imparted elements of continental civiliza-
tion was that of Buddhism, which became within ten centuries the
universally popular religion. Yet even its conquests were but partial.
Its triumph was secured only by its adulteration. Japanese Buddhism
is a distinct product among the many forms of that Asiatic religion.
Buddhism secured life and growth on Japanese soil only by being
Japanized, by being grafted on the original stock of ideas in the Japa-
nese mind. Thus, in order to popularize the Indian religion, the an-
cient native heroes and the local gods were all included within the
Buddhist pantheon, and declared to be the incarnations of Buddha in
his various forms. A class of deities exist in Japan who are worship-
ed by the Buddhists under the general name of gongen. They are all
deified Japanese heroes, warriors, or famous men. Furthermore, many
of the old rites and ceremonies of Shinto were altered and made use
of by the bonzes. It may be doubted whether Buddhism could have
ever been popular in Japan, had it not become thoroughly Japanized.
Some of the first-fruits of the success of the new religion was the
erection of temples, pagodas, idols, wayside shrines, monasteries, and
nunneries ; the adoption of the practice of cremation, until then un-
known ; and the cessation of the slaughter of animals for food. The
largest and richest of the ecclesiastical structures were in or near Kioto.
The priests acted as teachers, advisers, counselors, and scribes, besides
officiating at the altars, shriving the sick, and attending the sepulture
of the dead.
Among the orders and sects which grew and multiplied were many
similar to those in papal Europe — mendicants, sellers of indulgences,
builders of shrines and images, and openers of mountain paths. The
monasteries became asylums for the distressed, afflicted, and perse-
cuted. In them the defeated soldier, the penniless and the dissatisfied,
the refugee from the vendetta, could find inviolate shelter. To them
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 199
the warrior after war, the prince and the minister leaving the palace,
the honors and pomp of the world, could retire to spend the remnant
of their days in prayer, worship, and the offices of piety. Often the
murderer, struck with remorse, or the soldier before his bloody victim,
would resolve to turn monk. Not rarely did men crossed in love, or the
offspring of the concubine displaced by the birth of the legitimate son,
or the grief-stricken father, devote himself to the priestly life. In
general, however, the ranks of the bonzes were recruited from orphans
or piously inclined youth, or from overstocked families. To the nun-
neries, the fertile soil of bereavement, remorse, unrequited love, wid-
owhood furnished the greater number of sincere and devout nuns.
In many cases, the deliberate choice of wealthy ladies, or the necessity
of escaping an uncongenial marriage planned by relatives, undesirable
attentions, or the lusts of rude men in unsettled times, gave many an
inmate to the convents.
In general, however, natural indolence, a desire to avoid the round
of drudgery at the well, the hoe, or in the kitchen, or as nurse, sent
the majority of applicants to knock at the convent doors. Occasion-
ally a noble lady was won to recluse life from the very apartments
of the emperor, or his ministers, by the eloquence of a bonze who
was more zealous than loyal. In a few of the convents, only ladies
of wealth could enter. The monk and nun, in Japanese as in Eu-
ropean history, romance, and drama, and art, are staple characters.
The rules of these monastic institutions forbade the eating of fish or
flesh, the drinking of sake, the wearing of the hair or of fine clothes,
indulgence in certain sensuous pleasures, or the reading of certain
books. Fastings, vigils, reflection, continual prayer by book, bell,
candle, and beads, were enjoined. Pious pilgrimages were undertaken.
The erection of a shrine, image, belfry, or lantern by begging contri-
butions was a frequent and meritorious enterprise. There stand to-
day thousands of these monuments of the piety, zeal, and industry of
the mediaeval monks and nuns. Those at Nara and Kamakura are the
most famous. The Kamakura Dai Butstt (Great Buddha) has been
frequently described before. It is a mass of copper 44 feet high, and
a work of high art. The image at Nara was first erected in the eighth
century, destroyed during the civil wars, and recast about seven hun-
dred years ago. Its total height is 53^ feet; its face is 16 feet long,
and 9-^ feet wide. The width of its shoulders is 28-j^j- feet. Nine
hundred and sixty-six curls adorn its head, around which is a halo 78
feet in diameter, on which are sixteen images, each 8 feet long. The
200
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
casting of the idol is said to have been tried seven times before it was
successfully accomplished, and 3000 tons of charcoal were used in the
operation. The metal, said to weigh 450 tons* is a bronze composed
of gold (500 pounds), mercury (1954 pounds), tin (16,827 pounds),
and copper (986,080 pounds). Many millions of tons of copper were
mined and melted to make these idols. Equally renowned were the
great temple-bells of Kioto, and of Miidera, and various other monas-
teries. Some of these were ten feet high, and adorned with sacred
Temple -bell from Kioto, with Dragon -bow, Inscriptions, Representation of Ten-nin
(angel), and of Buddha in Nirvana on the Lotus.
texts from the Buddhist Scriptures, and images of heavenly beings,
or Buddha on the sacred lotus in Nirvana, in high relief. As usual,
the nimbus, or halo, surrounds his head. Two dragon-heads formed
the summit, and ear, by which it was hung to its beam by an iron
link. The bell was struck on a raised round spot, by a hammer of
wood — a small tree-trunk swung loosely on two ropes. After impact,
the bellman held the beam on its rebound, until the quivering mono-
tone began to die away. Few sounds are more solemnly sweet than
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 201
the mellow music of a Japanese temple-bell. On a still night, a cir
cumference of twenty miles was flooded by the melody of the great
bell of Zozoji. The people learned to love their temple-bell as a dear
friend, as its note changed with the years and moods of life.
The casting of a bell was ever the occasion of rejoicing and public
festival. When the chief priest of the city announced that one was
to be made, the people brought contributions in money, or offerings of
bronze gold, pure tin, or copper vessels. Ladies gave with their own
hands the mirrors which had been the envy of lovers, young girls laid
their silver hair-pins and bijouterie on the heap. When metal enough
and in due proportion had been amassed, crucibles were made, earth-
furnaces dug, the molds fashioned, and huge bellows, worked by stand-
ing men at each end, like a seesaw, were mounted; and, after due
prayers and consultation, the auspicious day was appointed. The
place selected was usually on a hill or commanding place. The peo-
ple, in their gayest dress, assembled in picnic parties, and with song
and dance and feast waited while the workmen, in festal uniform,
toiled, and the priests, in canonical robes, watched. The fires were
lighted, the bellows oscillated, the blast roared, and the crucibles were
brought to the proper heat and the contents to fiery fluidity, the joy
of the crowd increasing as each stage in the process was announced.
When the molten flood was finally poured into the mold, the excite-
ment of the spectators reached a height of uncontrollable enthusiasm.
Another pecuniary harvest was reaped by the priests before the crowds
dispersed, by the sale of stamped kerchiefs or paper containing a holy
text, or certifying to the presence of the purchaser at the ceremony,
and the blessing of the gods upon him therefor. Such a token be-
came an heir-loom ; and the child who ever afterward heard the sol-
emn boom of the bell at matin or evening was constrained, by filial
as well as holy motives, to obey and reverence its admonitory call
The belfry was usually a separate building apart from the temple, with
elaborate cornices and roof. (See page 172.)
In addition to the offices of religion, many of the priests were use-
ful men, and real civilizers. They were not all lazy monks or idle
bonzes. By the Buddhist priests many streams were spanned with
bridges, paths and roads made, shade or fruit trees planted, ponds and
ditches for purposes of irrigation dug, aqueducts built, unwholesome
localities drained, and mountain passes discovered or explored. Many
were the school-masters, and, as learned men, were consulted on sub-
jects beyond the ken of their parishioners. Some of them, having a
202 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
knowledge of medicine, acted as physicians. The sciences and arts in
Japan all owe much to the bonzes who from Corea personally intro-
duced many useful appliances or articles of food. Several edible veg-
etables are still named after the priests, who first taught their use.
The exact sciences, astronomy and mathematics, as well as the human-
ities, owe much of their cultivation and development to clerical schol-
ars. In the monasteries, the brethren exercised their varied gifts in
preaching, study, calligraphy, carving, sculpture, or on objects of ec-
clesiastical art.
The monuments by which the memory of many a saintly bonze is
still kept green exist to-day as treasures on the altars, or in the tem-
ple or its shady precincts, in winged words or material substance. A
copy of the Buddhist Scriptures, a sacred classic, in roll or bound vol-
ume, might occupy a holy penman before his brush and ink-stone for
years. The manuscript texts which I have often seen in the hall of
worship on silky paper bound in damask, in Japanese monasteries,
could not be improved in elegance and accuracy by the printer's art.
The transcription of a sutra on silk, made to adorn the wall of a shrine,
in many cases performed its mission for centuries.
Another monk excelled in improvisation of sacred stanzas, another
painted the pictures and scrolls by which the multitude were taught
by the priest, with his pointer in hand, the mysteries of theology,
the symbols of worship, the terrors of the graded hells and purgato-
ries, and the felicities of Nirvana. Another of the fraternity, with
cunning hand, compelled the wonder of his brethren by his skill in
carving. He could, from a log which to-day had its bark on, bring
forth in time the serene countenance of Buddha, the ravishing beauty
of Kuanon, the Goddess of Mercy, the scowling terrors of the God
of War, the frightful visage of Fudo, or the hideous face of the Lord
of Hell. Another was famous for molding the clay for the carver, the
sculptor, or the bronze-smith. Many articles of altar furniture, even
to the incense-sticks and flowers, were often made entirely by clerical
hands.
During the Middle Ages, the arts of pottery, lacquering, gilding,
bronze-casting, engraving and chasing, chisel and punch work, sword-
making, goldsmith's work, were brought to a perfection never since
excelled, if indeed it has been equaled. In enameled and inlaid metal
work the hand of the Japanese artisan has undoubtedly lost its cun-
ning. Native archaeologists assert that a good catalogue of "lost
arts " may be made out, notably those of the composition and appli-
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
203
cation of violet lacquer, and the ancient cloisonne enamel. The deli-
cacy of tact, freedom of movement, and perfection of finish visible on
Japanese work, are the result of long hereditary application and con-
centrated skill. Hidden away in sequestered villages, or occupying the
same workshop in cities for centuries, generations of craftsmen wrought
upon one class of objects, until from the workman's hand is born the
offspring of a long pedigree of thought and dexterity. Japanese an-
tiquarians fix the date of the discovery of lacquer-ware variously at
A.D. 724 and 900. Echizen, from the first, has been noted for the
abundance and luxuriant yield of lacquer -trees, and the skill of her
Chasiug Floral Designs from Nature on Copper.
workmen in extracting the milk-white virgin sap, which the action of
the air turns to black, and which by pigments is changed to various
colors. In the thirteenth century the art of gold-lacquering attained
the zenith of perfection. Various schools of lacquer art were founded,
one excelling in landscape, another in marine scenery, or the delinea-
tion, in gold and silver powder and varnish, of birds, insects, and flow-
ers. The masters who flourished during the Hojo period still rule the
pencil of the modern artist.
Kioto, as the civil and military as well as ecclesiastical capital of
the empire, was the centre and standard of manners, language, and
204 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
etiquette, of art, literature, religion, and government. No people are
more courtly and polished in their manners than the Japanese, and
my visit to Kioto in 1873 impressed me with the fact that the citizens
of this proud miako surpass all others in Japan in refined manners,
and the graces of address and etiquette. The direct influences of
court life have made themselves perceptibly felt on the inhabitants of
the city.
From this centre radiated the multifarious influences which have
molded the character of the nation. The country priest came as pil-
grim to the capital as to the Holy City, to strengthen his faith and
cheer his soul amidst its inspirations, to see the primate and magnates
of his sect, to pray at the famous shrines, to study in the largest mon-
asteries, under the greatest lights and holiest teachers. Returning to
his parish, new sanctity was shed from his rustling robes. His
brethren welcomed him with awe, and the people thronged to see and
venerate the holy man who had drunk at the very fountains of the
faith. The temple coffers grew heavy with the weight of offerings
because of him. The sons of the noblemen in distant provinces were
sent to Kioto to be educated, to learn reading and writing from the
priests, the perfection of the art of war in the army, the etiquette of
palace life as pages to, or as guests of, the court nobles. The artisan
or rich merchant from Oshiu or Kadzusa, who had made the journey
to Kioto, astonished his wondering listeners at home with tales of the
splendor of the processions of the mikado, the wealth of the temples,
the number of the pagodas, the richness of the silk robes of the court
nobles, and the wonders which the Kioto potters and vase -makers,
sword -forgers, goldsmiths, lacquerers, crystal-cutters, and bronze-mold-
ers, daily exposed in their shops in profusion.
In Kioto also dwelt the poets, novelists, historians, grammarians,
writers, and the purists, whose dicta were laws. By them were writ-
ten the great bulk of the classic literature, embracing poetry, drama,
fiction, history, philosophy, etiquette, and the numerous diaries and
works on travel in China, Corea, and the remote provinces of the
country, and the books called •" mirrors " (kagami} of the times, now
so interesting to the antiquarian student. Occasionally nobles or
court ladies would leave the luxury of the city, and take up their
abode in a castle, tower, pagoda, or temple room, or on some mountain
overlooking Lake Biwa, the sea, or the Yodo River, or the plains of
Yamato ; and amidst its inspiring scenery, with tiny table, ink-stone
and brush, pen some prose epic or romance, that has since become an
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
205
immortal classic. Almost every mansion of the nobles had its " look-
ing-room," or " Chamber of Inspiring View," whence to gaze upon the
landscape or marine scenery. Rooms set apart for this aesthetic pleas-
ure still form a feature of the house of nearly every modern native of
means. On many a coigne of vantage may be seen also the summer-
houses or rustic booths, where gather pleasure parties on picnics.
Picnic Booth, overlooking Lake Biwa.
In the civil administration of the empire, the chief work was to
dispense justice, punish offenders, collect taxes, and settle disputes.
After the rude surveys of those days, the boundaries of provinces and
departments were marked by inscribed posts of wood or stone. Be-
fore the days of writing, the same end was secured by charcoal buried
in the earth at certain points, the durability of which insured the
mark against decay. The peasants, after the rice-harvest was over,
brought their tribute, or taxes, with joyful ceremony, to the govern-
ment granaries in straw bags, packed on horses gayly decorated with
scarlet housings, and jingling with clusters of small bells. A relic of
this custom is seen in the bunches of bells suspended by red cotton
206 THE MIKADO'S UMPIRE.
stuff from the rear of the pack-saddle, which dangle musically from
the ungainly haunches of the native sumpters.
From earliest times there existed seki (guard gates or barriers) be-
tween the various provinces at mountain passes or strategic points.
As feudalism developed, they grew more numerous. A fence of pal-
isades, stretched across the road, guarded the path through which, ac-
cording to time, or orders of the keepers, none could pass with arms,
or without the pass-word or passport. Anciently they were erected at
the Hakone and other mountain passes, to keep up the distinction be-
tween the Ainos and the pure Japanese. The possession of these bar-
riers was ever an important object of rival military commanders, and
the shifts, devices, and extraordinary artifices resorted to by refugees,
disguised worthies, and forbidden characters, furnish the historian, the
novelist, and dramatist with some of their most thrilling episodes.
It is related of Yoshitsune, after he had escaped from the monas-
tery with Benkei, his servant, that he arrived at a guard gate in Kaga,
kept by some Taira soldiers who would have been sure to arrest him
had they discovered his august personality. Disguised as wandering
priests of the Buddhist sect Yama-bushi, they approached the gate,
and were challenged by the sentinel, who, like most of his class at
that time, was ignorant of writing. Benkei, with great dignity, draw-
ing from his bosom a roll of blank paper, began, after touching it
reverently to his forehead, to extemporize and read aloud in choicest
and most pious language a commission from the high-priest at the
temple of Hokoji, in Kioto, in which stood the great image of Buddha,
authorizing him to collect money to cast a colossal bell for the tem-
ple. At the first mention of the name of his reverence the renowned
priest, so talismanic in all the empire, the soldier dropped down on
his knees with face to the ground, and listened with reverent awe, un-
aware that the paper was as blank as the reader's tongue was glib.
To further lull suspicion, Benkei apologized for the rude conduct of
his servant-boy, who stood during the reading, because he was only a
boor just out of the rice-fields; and, giving him a kick, bid him get
down on his marrow-bones, arid not stand up in the presence of a gen-
tleman and a soldier. The ruse was complete. The illustrious youth
and his servant passed on.
Medical science made considerable progress in the course of cent-
uries. The materia medica, system, practice, and literature of the
healing art were borrowed from China ; but upon these, as upon most
other matters, the Japanese improved. Acupuncture, or the introduc-
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 207
tion of needles into the living tissues for remedial purposes, was invent-
ed by the Japanese. The puncturing needles were as fine as a hair, were
made of gold, silver, or tempered steel, by experts. The bones, large
nerves, or blood-vessels were carefully avoided in the process, which
enjoyed great repute in cases of a peculiar violent colic, to which the
natives are subject, and which sometimes becomes endemic. On the
theory that this malady was caused by wind, holes were made in the
stomach or abdomen, to the mystic number of nine — corresponding to
the nine apertures of the body. Moxa (Japanese, mokusa ; mo, fire,
from moyeru, to burn, and kusa, herb, grass), or the burning of a
small cone of cottony fibres of the artemisia, on the back or feet, was
practiced as early as the eleventh century, reference being made to it
in a poem written at that time. A number of ancient stanzas and
puns relating to Mount Ibuki, on the sides of which the mugwort
grows luxuriantly, are still extant. To this day it is an exception to
find the backs of the common people unscarred with the spots left by
the moxa. The use of mercury in corrosive sublimate was very an-
ciently known. The do-sha powder, however, which was said to cure
various diseases, and to relax the rigid limbs of a corpse, was manu-
factured and sold only by the bonzes (Japanese, bozu) of the Shin Gon
sect. It is, and always was, a pious fraud, being nothing but uneffica-
cious quartz sand, mixed with grains of mica and pyrites.*
Of the mediaeval sports and pastimes within and without of doors,
the former were preferred by the weak and effeminate, the latter by
the hale and strong. Banquets and carousals in the palace were fre-
quent. The brewing of sake from rice was begun, according to record,
* See in Titsingh a long account of the wonderful virtues and effects claimed
for the do-sha ("dosia") powder, and in various other old writers on Japan, who
have gravely described this humbug. I once tested this substance thoroughly by
swallowing a tea-spoonful, without experiencing any effects. It might cause, but
not cure, a headache. I also used up a packageful of the holy sand, purchased at
an orthodox Shin Gon temple, upon a stiffened corpse that had but a short time
previous become such, but no unlimbering of the rigid body took place. I also
fused a quantity of the certified "drug" with some carbonate of soda, dissolved
the resultant mass in distilled water, and upon adding a few drops of hydrochloric
acid, a precipitate of gelatinous silica was the result. I also subjected the do-sha
to careful microscopic examination, finding it only quartz sand, with flakes of
other minerals. That the "corpse" in my experiment was that of an old dog
does not affect the validity of the test. It may be remembered also that gelati-
nous silica is the substance sometimes used to adulterate butter. The main ob-
jection to such butter is that one can buy sand in a cheaper form ; and the
same may be said of that nostrum in the ecclesiastical quackery and materia the-
dogica of Japan called do-sha.
208 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
in the third century, and the office of chief butler even earlier. The
native sauce, sko-yu, made of fermented wheat and beans, with salt
and vinegar, which the cunning purveyors of Europe use as the basis
of their high-priced piquant sauces, was made and used as early as the
twelfth century. The name of this saline oil (sho, salt ; yu, oil) ap-
pears as " soy " in our dictionaries, it being one of the three words
(soy, bonze, moxa) which we have borrowed from the Japanese. At
the feasts, besides the wine and delicacies to please the palate, music,
song, and dance made the feast of reason and the flow of soul, while
witty and beautiful women lent grace and added pleasure to the fes-
tivities.
In long trailing robes of white, crimson, or highly figured silk, with
hair flowing in luxuriance over the shoulders, and bound gracefully in
one long tress which fell below the waist behind, maids and ladies
of the palace rained glances and influence upon the favored ones.
They fired the heart of admirers* by the bewitching beauty of a well-
formed hand, foot, neck, face, or form decked with whatever added
charms cosmetics could bestow upon them. Japanese ladies have
ever been noted for neatness, good taste, and, on proper occasions,
splendor and luxuriance of dress. With fan, and waving long sleeve,
the language of secret but outwardly decorous passion found ample ex-
pression. Kisses, the pressure of the hand, and other symbols of love
as expressed in other lands, were then, as now, unknown. In humble
life also, in all their social pleasures the two sexes met together to
participate in the same delights, with far greater freedom than is
known in Asiatic countries. As, however, wives or concubines had
not always the attractions of youth, beauty, wit, maidenly freshness,
* The following is the native ideal of a Japanese woman, given by a young
Japanese gentleman at the International Congress of Orientalists held at Paris
in 1873 : " I will commence, gentlemen, with the head, which is neither too large
nor too small. Figure to yourself large black eyes, surmounted by eyebrows
of a strict arch, bordered by black lashes ; a face oval, white, very slightly rose-col-
ored on the cheeks, a straight high nose ; a small, regular, fresh mouth, whose
thin lips disclose, from time to time, white teeth ranged regularly ; a narrow
forehead, bordered by long, black hair, arched with perfect regularity. Join
this head by a round neck to a body large, but not fat, with slender loins, hands
and feet small, but not thin ; a breast whose swell (sattlie) is not exaggerated.
Add to these the following attributes : a gentle manner, a voice like the night-
ingale, which makes one divine its artlessness; a look at once lively, sweet,
gracious, and always charming; witty words pronounced distinctly, accompa-
nied by charming smiles ; an air sometimes calm, gay, sometimes thoughtful, and
always majestic ; manners noble, simple, a little proud, but without ever incur-
ring the accusation of presumption."
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGE
209
or skill at the koto, the geisha, or singing-girl, then as now, served the
sake, danced, sung, and played, and was rewarded by the gold or gifts
of the host, or perhaps became his Hagar. The statement that the
empress was attended only by " vestals who had never beheld a man "
is disproved by a short study of the volumes of poetry, amorous and
otherwise, written by them, and still quoted as classic. As to the
standard of virtue in those days, I believe it was certainly not below
that of the later Roman empire, and I am inclined to believe it was
far above it.
In the court at Kioto, besides games of skill or chance in the house,
were foot -ball, cock-fighting, falconry, horsemanship, and archery.
The robust games of the military classes were hunting the boar, deer,
bear, and smaller game. Hunting by falcons, which had been intro-
duced by some Corean em-
bassadors in the time of
Jingu Kogo, was almost as
extensively practiced as in
Europe, almost every feu-
dal lord having his perch of
falcons. Fishing by cor-
morants, though a useful
branch of the fisherman's
industry, was also indulged
in for pleasure. The se-
vere exercise of hunting for
sport, however, never be-
came as absorbing and pop-
ular in Japan as in Europe,
being confined more to the
professional huntsman, and
the seeker for daily food.
Court Lady in Kioto.
210 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The court ladies shaved off their eyebrows, and painted two sable
bars or spots on the forehead resembling false eyebrows. In addition
to the gentle tasks of needle-work and embroidery, they passed the
time in games of chess, checkers, painted shells, and a diversion pe-
culiar to the palace, in which the skill of the player depended on
her sensitiveness in appreciating perfumes, the necessary articles being
vials of fragrant extracts. Their pets were the peculiar little dogs
called chin. They stained their teeth black, like the women of the
lower classes ; an example which the nobles of the sterner sex followed,
as they grew more and more effeminate. One of the staple diversions
of both sexes at the court was to write poetry, and recite it to each
other. The emperor frequently honored a lady or noble by giving
the chosen one a subject upon which to compose a poem. A happy
thought, skillfully wrought stanza, a felicitous grace of pantomime,
often made the poetess a maid of honor, a concubine, or even an
empress, and the poet a minister or councilor.
Another favorite means of amusement was to write and read or tell
stories — the Scheherezade of these being a beautiful lady, who often
composed her own stories. The following instance is abbreviated
from the Onna Dai Gaku (" Woman's Great Study ") : Ise no Taiyu
was a daughter of Sukeichika, the mikado's minister of festivals, and
a highly accomplished lady. None among the ladies of the court could
equal her. One day a branch of luxuriant cherry-blossoms was
brought from Nara. The emperor gave it to her, and asked her to
extemporize a verse. She did so, and the courtiers were all astonished
at the beauty and delicate sentiment of the verse.
Here is another : Murasaki Shikibu was the daughter of the lord
of Echizen. One day a lady of Kamo asked if there was any new
entertaining literature or novels, as the empress - dowager wished to
read something new. The lady invited Murasaki to write some sto-
ries. She, knowing that the great Chinese scholar Shomei completed
his collection of the essays of ancient writers by building a high house
and secluding himself in it, had a high tower erected at Ishiyama
overlooking Lake Biwa, and affording a glorious view of the mount-
ains, especially in the moonlight. There she retired, and one night
when the full moon shone upon the waters she was so inspired that
she wrote in one night two chapters of the Genji Monogatari* a book
* The various forms of inarticulate language, by pantomime, flowers, art, and
symbolism, in Japan differ in many respects from those expressed by us. Among
the gestures partly or wholly unknown to them are nictation, kissing, shaking
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AOES. 211
containing fifty-four chapters in all, which she finished in a few weeks.
She presented it to the empress-dowager, who gave it to the mikado.
To this day it is a classic.
Seisho Nagon was the daughter of Kiyowara no Motosakd. She was
one of the imperial concubines. She was well read in Japanese and
Chinese literature, and composed poetry almost from infancy, having
a wonderful facility of improvisation. One day, after a fall of snow,
she looked out from the southern door of the palace. The emperor,
having passed round the wine-cup to his lords and ladies at the usual
morning assembly of the courtiers and maids of honor, said, " How is
hands, shrugging the shoulders, and the contemptuous gyratory motion of the
thumb set against the nose, witli the fingers upright. Flirtation is practiced not
by the use of the fan or the handkerchief (which is of puper), but with a wave of
the right hand, with palms downward, or by the fair charmer waving her long
sleeve. Instead of winking, they convey the same meaning by twitching the left
corner of the mouth, or rolling the eyeballs to the right or left. The girls simper
by letting their eyelids fall, and the language of woman's eyes is in other respects
the same as with us, as Japanese poetry shows. Jealousy is indicated by the
erecting the two forefingers on the forehead, in allusion to the monster which in
Japan has horns and black hide, but not green eyes. A jilt who wishes to give
her lover "the mitten" sends him a branch of maple, the color (tro) of whose
leaves has changed, like her love (iro).
Turning up the nose and curling the lip in scorn are achieved with masterly
skill. In agony, the hands are not clasped, but put upright, palm to palm, at
length. People shake their heads to mean " no," and nod them to mean " yes."
Among the peculiarities in their code of etiquette, eructation is permissible in
company at all times, and after a hearty meal is rather a compliment to the host.
On the other hand, to attend to the requirements of nasal etiquette, except with
face apart from the company, is very bad manners. Toothpicks must not be
used, but in a semi-secret way, and with the left hand covering the mouth. At
banquets, the fragrant bark on these is carved ornamentally, and under a shaving
loosened from the white wood is written in tiny script a pun, witticism, bon-
mot, or sentimental proposal, like that on the "secret papers" on bonbons at
our refreshments. At feasts or daily meals, all such matters as carving, slicing,
etc., are looked upon as out of place, and properly belonging to servant's work
and in the kitchen. In clothing, the idea that garments ought to be loose and
flowing, so as to conceal the shape of the body and its parts, and give no striking
indication of sex, as among us, was never so general as in China. In hair-dress-
iug, besides marking age and sex, the female coiffure had a language of its own.
Generally a keen observer could distinguish a maiden, a married wife, a widow
who was willing to marry the second time, and the widow who intended never
to wed again. As marks of beauty, besides the ideals spoken of on page 80, large
ears were thought desirable, especially those with long lobes. Fat people were
much admired, and a rotund physique considered a good gift of nature. Many of
the striking details of military and social etiquette, such as falling on hands and
knees, with forehead on the floor or on the prone hand, and the simultaneous
noisy sucking-in of the breath, which sounds and seems BO ridiculous to the for-
eigner, are very ancient.
212 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the snow of Kuroho?" No one else understood the meaning, but
Seisho instantly stepped to the veranda, drew up the curtains, reveal-
ing the mountains decked in fresh-fallen snow. The emperor was de-
lighted, and bestowed upon her a prize. Seisho had understood his
allusion to the line in an ancient poem which ran thus :
"The snow of Kuroho is seen by raising the curtains."
Once when a certain kuge was traveling in a province, he came, on
a moonlight night, to a poor village in which the cottages had fallen
into picturesque decay, the roofs of which gleamed like silver. The
sight of the glorified huts inspired the noble with such a fine frenzy
that he sat up all night gazing rapturously on the scene, anon compos-
ing stanzas. He was so delighted that he planned to remain in the
place several days. The next morning, however, the villagers, hear-
ing of the presence of so illustrious a guest among them, began busily
to repair the ruin, and to rethatch the roofs. The kuge, seeing all
his poetic visions dispelled by this vandal industry, ordered his bullock-
car, and was off, disgusted.
During the first centuries of writing in Japan, the spoken and the
written language were identical. With the study of the Chinese liter-
ature, and the composition of works by the native literati almost ex-
clusively in that language, grew up differences between the colloquial
and literary idiom and terminology. The infusion of a large number
of Chinese words into the common speech steadily increased ; while
the learned affected a pedantic style of conversation, so interlarded
with Chinese words, names, and expressions, that to the vulgar their
discourse was almost unintelligible. Buddhism also made Chinese the
vehicle of its teachings, and the people everywhere became familiar,
not only with its technical terms, but with its stock phrases and forms
of thought. To this day the Buddhist, or sham-religious, way of talking
is almost a complete tongue in itself, and a good dictionary always
gives the Buddhistic meaning of a word separately. In reading or
hearing Japanese, the English-speaking resident continually stumbles
on his own religious cant and orthodox expressions, which he believes
to be peculiar to his own atmosphere, that have a meaning entirely
different from the natural sense: "this vale of tears," "this evil
world," " gone to his reward," " dust and ashes," " worm of the dust,"
and many phrases which so many think are exclusively Christian or
evangelical, are echoed in Japanese. So much is this true, that the
missionaries, in translating religious books, are at first delighted to
LIFE iy THE MIDDLE AGES. 213
find exact equivalents for many expressions desirable in technical
theology, or for what may fairly be termed pious slang, but will not
use them, for fear of misleading the reader, or rather of failing to
lead him out of his old notions into the new faith which it is desired
to teach. So general have the use and affectation of Chinese become,
that in many instances the pedantic Chinese name or word has been
retained in the mouths of the people, while the more beautiful native
term is almost lost In general, however, only the men were devoted
to Chinese, while the cultivation of the Japanese language was left to
the women. This task the women nobly discharged, fully maintain-
ing the credit of the native literature. Mr. W. G. Aston says, " I be-
lieve no parallel is to be found in the history of European letters, to
the remarkable fact that a very large proportion of the best writings
of the best age of Japanese literature was the work of women." The
Genji Monogatari is the acknowledged standard of the language for
the period to which it belongs, and the parent of the Japanese novel
This, with the classics Ise Monogatari and Makura Zoshi, and much
of the poetry of the time, are the works of women.
It is to be noted that the borrowed Chinese words were taken en-
tirely from the written, not the colloquial, language of China, the lat-
ter having never been spoken by the Japanese, except by a few in-
terpreters at Nagasaki. The Japanese literary style is more concise,
and retains archaic forms. The colloquial abounds in interjectional
and onomatopoetic words and particles, uses a more simple inflection
of the verb, and makes profuse use of honorific and polite terms.
Though these particles defy translation, they add grace and force to
the language. As in the English speech, the child of the wedded Saxon
and Norman, the words which express the wants, feelings, and concerns
of every-day life — all that is deepest in the human heart — are for the
most part native ; the technical, scientific, and abstract terms are for-
eign. Hence, if we would find the fountains of the musical and beau-
tiful language of Japan, we must seek them in the hearts, and hear
them flow from the lips, of the mothers of the Island Empire. Among
the anomalies with which Japan has surprised or delighted the world
may be claimed that of woman's achievements in the domain of letters.
It was woman's genius, not man's, that made the Japanese a litera-
ry language. Moses established the Hebrew, Alfred the Saxon, and
Luther the German tongue in permanent form; but in Japan, the
mobile forms of speech crystallized into perennial beauty under the
touch of woman's hand.
214 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XXII.
THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM.
JAPAN, of all the Asiatic nations, seems to have brought the feu-
dal system to the highest state of perfection. Originating and devel-
oping at the same time as in Europe, it became the constitution of
the nation and the condition of society in the seventeenth century.
When in Europe the nations were engaged in throwing off the feudal
yoke and inaugurating modern government, Japan was riveting the
fetters of feudalism, which stood intact until 1871. From the begin-
ning of the thirteenth century, it had come to pass that there were
virtually two rulers in Japan, and as foreigners, misled by the Hol-
landers at Deshima, supposed, two emperors.
The growth of feudalism in Japan took shape and form from the
early division of the officials into civil and military. As we have seen,
the Fujiwara controlled all the civil offices, and at first, in time of
emergency, put on armor, led their troops to battle, and braved the
dangers of war and the discomforts of the camp. In time, however,
this great family, yielding to that sloth and luxury which ever seem,
like an insidious disease, to ruin greatness in Japan, ceased to take the
field themselves, and delegated the uncongenial tasks of war to certain
members of particular noble families. Those from which the greatest
number of shoguns were appointed were the Taira and Minamoto, that
for several centuries held the chief military appointments. As luxury,
corruption, intrigue, and effeminacy increased at the capital, the diffi-
culty of keeping the remote parts of the empire in order increased,
especially in the North and East. The War J)epartment became dis-
organized, and the generals at Kioto lost their ability to enforce their
orders.
Many of the peasants, on becoming soldiers, had, on account of their
personal valor or merit, been promoted to the permanent garrison of
household troops. Once in the gay capital, they learned the details of
intrigue and politics. Some were made court pages, or attendants on
men of high rank, and thus learned the routine of official duty. They
TUB GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM. 215
caught the tone of life at court, where every man was striving for
rank and his own glory, and they were not slow to imitate their au-
gust examples. Returning to their homes with the prestige of having
been in the capital, they intrigued for power in their native districts,
and gradually obtained rule over them, neglecting to go when duty
called them to Kioto, and ignoring the orders of their superiors in the
War Department. The civil governors of the provinces dared not to
molest, or attempt to bring these petty tyrants to obedience. Having
armor, horses, and weapons, they were able to train and equip their
dependents and servants, and thus provide themselves with an armed
following.
Thus was formed a class of men who called themselves warriors,
and were ever ready to serve a great leader for pay. The natural con-
sequence of such a state of society was the frequent occurrence of vil-
lage squabbles, border brawls, and the levying of black-mail upon de-
fenseless people, culminating in the insurrection of a whole province.
The disorder often rose to such a pitch that it was necessary for the
court to interfere, and an expedition was sent from Kioto, under the
command of a Taira or Minamoto leader. The shogun, instead of
waiting to recruit his army in the regular manner — a process doubt-
ful of results in the disorganized state of the War Department and
of the country in general — had immediate recourse to others of
these veteran " warriors," who were already equipped, and eager for a
fray.
Frequent repetition of the experience of the relation of brothers in
arms, of commander and commanded, of rewarder and rewarded, grad-
ually grew into that of lord and retainers. Each general had his spe-
cial favorites and followers, and the professional soldier looked upon
his commander as the one to whom his allegiance was directly due.
The distant court at Kioto, being utterly unable to enforce its author-
ity, put the whole power of quieting the disturbed districts, whenever
the disorder increased beyond the ability of the civil magistrate to re-
press it, into the hands of the Minamoto and Taira. These families
thus became military clans and acquired enormous influence, enjoyed
the monopoly of military patronage, and finally became the virtual
rulers of the land.
The power of the sword was, as early as the twelfth century, lost to
the court, which then attempted, by every means in its power, to check
the rising influence of the military families and classes. They began
by denying them high rank, thus putting them under social ban.
216 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
They next attempted to lay an interdict upon the warriors by forbid-
ding them to ally themselves with either the Taira or the Minamoto.
This availed nothing, for the warriors knew who rewarded them.
They then endeavored, with poor success, to use one family as a check
upon the other. Finally, when the Minamoto, Yoriyoshi, and Yoshiiye
conquered all the north of Hondo, and kept in tranquillity the whole
of the Kuanto for fifteen years, even paying governmental expenses
from their private funds, the court ignored their achievements. When
they petitioned for rewards to be bestowed on their soldiers, the dila-
tory and reluctant, perhaps jealous, nobles composing the court not
only neglected to do so, but left them without the imperial commis-
sion, and dishonored their achievements by speaking of them as " pri-
vate feuds." Hence they took the responsibility, and conferred upon
their soldiers grants of the conquered land in their own name. The
Taira followed the same policy in the south and west.
When Yoritomo became Sei-i Tai Shogun at Kamakura, erected the
dual system, and appointed a military with a civil governor of each
province in the interest of good order, feudalism assumed national pro-
portions. Such a distribution soon ceased to be a balance, the milita-
ry pan in the scale gained weight and the civil lost until it kicked the
beam. At the end of the Hojo domination, the court had lost the
government of the provinces, and the kuge (court nobles) had been
despoiled and impoverished by the buke (military). So thoroughly
had feudalism become the national polity, that in the temporary mika-
doate, 1534-1536, the Emperor Go-Daigo rewarded those who had re-
stored him by grants of land for them to rule in their own names as
his vassals.
Under the Ashikagas, the hold of even the central military author-
ity, or chief daitnio, was lost, and the empire split up into fragments.
Historians have in vain attempted to construct a series of historical
maps of this period. The pastime was war — a game of patchwork in
which land continually changed possessors. There was no one great
leader of sufficient power to overawe all ; hence might made right ;
and whoever had the ability, valor, or daring to make himself pre-emi-
nent above his fellows, and seized more land, his power would last
until he was overcome by a stronger, or his family decayed through
the effeminacy of his descendants. During this period, the great clans
with whose names the readers of the works of the Jesuits and Dutch
writers are familiar, or which have been most prominent since the
opening of the empire, took their rise. They were those of Hosokawa
THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM. 217
Uy6sugi, Satako, Tak6da, the " later Hojo of Odawara," Mori, Otomo,
Shimadzu, Kinzoji, Ota, and Tokugawa.
As the authority of the court grew weaker and weaker, the alle-
giance which all men owed to the mikado, and which they theoretic-
ally acknowledged, was changed into loyalty to the military chief.
Every man who bore arms was thus attached to some " great name "
(daimio), and became a vassal (kerai). The agricultural, and gradual-
ly the other classes, also put themselves, or were forcibly included,
under the protection of some castle lord or nobleman having an armed
following. The taxes, instead of being collected for the central gov-
ernment, flowed into the treasury of the local rulers. This left the
mikado and court without revenue. The kuge, or Kioto nobles, were
thus stripped of wealth, until their poverty became the theme for the
caricaturist. Nevertheless, the eye of their pride never dimmed. In
their veins, they knew, ran the blood of the gods, while the daimi5s
were only " earth - thieves," and the parvenus of feudalism. They
still cherished their empty titles ; and to all students of history their
poverty was more honorable than all the glitter of the shogun's train,
or the splendor of the richest daimio's mansion.
The daimios spent their revenues on their retainers, their personal
pleasures, and in building castles. In almost every feudal city, or place
of strategic importance, the towers, walls, and moats of these charac-
teristic specimens of Japanese architecture could be seen. The strict-
est vigilance was maintained at the castle-gates, and a retainer of an-
other daimio, however hospitably entertained elsewhere, was never al-
lowed entrance into the citadel. A minute code of honor, a rude
sort of chivalry, and an exalted sense of loyalty were the growth of
the feudal system.
Many of the mediaeval military customs were very interesting.
During this period the habit originated of the men shaving the hair
off their temples and from the middle of the scalp, and binding the
long cue into a top-knot, which was turned forward and laid on the
scalp. The object of this was to keep the hair out of the eyes during
battle, and also to mark the wearer as a warrior. Gradually it became
a universal custom, extending to all classes.
When, in 1873, the reformers persuaded the people to cut off their
knots and let their hair grow, the latter refused to " imitate the for-
eigners," and supposed they were true conservatives, when, in reality,
the ancient Japanese knew nothing of shaven faces and scalps,-' or of
top -knots. The ancient warriors wore mustaches, and even beards.
218 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The practice of keeping the face scrupulously bare, until recently so
universally observed except by botanists and doctors, is comparatively
modern.
The military tactics and strategic arts of the Japanese were ancient-
ly copied from the Chinese, but were afterward modified as the nature
of the physical features of their country and the institutions of feud-
alism required. No less than seven distinct systems were at different
times in vogue ; but that perfected by Takeda and Uyesugi, in the
Ashikaga period, finally bore off the palm. These tactics continued
to command the esteem and practice of the Japanese until the revolu-
tion wrought by the adoption of the European systems in the present
century. The surface of the country being so largely mountainous,
uneven, and covered with rice-swamps, cavalry were but little employ-
ed. A volley of arrows usually opened the battle, followed by a gen-
eral engagement along the whole line. Single combats between com-
manders of hostile armies were of frequent occurrence. When they
met on the field, their retainers, according to the strict etiquette of
war, gave no aid to either, but encouraged them by shouts, as they
called out each other's names and rushed to the combat. The battle
slackened while the leaders strove, the armies becoming spectators.
The victor cut off the head of his antagonist, and, holding it up,
shouted his name and claimed the victory. The triumph or defeat of
their leaders often decided the fate of the army. Vengeance against
the victor was not permitted to be taken at the time, but must be
sought again, the two armies again joining battle. The fighting over,
those who had slain distinguished personages must exhibit their heads
before their chiefs, who bestowed rewards upon them. This practice
still continues; and during the expedition in Formosa in 1874, the
chief trophies were the heads of the Boutan cannibals; though the
commander, General Saigo, attempted to abolish the custom. Who-
ever saved his chieftain's life on the field was honored with the place
of highest rank in the clan. These customs had a tremendous in-
fluence in cultivating valor and a spirit of loyalty in the retainer to-
ward the prince. The meanest soldier, if brave and faithful, might
rise to the highest place of honor, rank, emolument, and influence.
The bestowal of a reward, the investiture of a command, or military
promotion, was ever an occasion of impressive ceremony.
Even in time of peace the samurai never appeared out-of-doors
unarmed, invariably wearing their two swords in their girdle. The
offensive weapons — spears long and short, the bows, arrows, and quiv-
THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM. 219
er, and battle-axes — were set on their butts on the porch or vestibule
in front of the house. Within doors, in the tokonoma, or recess, were
ranged in glittering state the cuirass, helmet, greaves, gauntlets, and
chain-mail. Over the sliding partitions, on racks, were the long hal-
berds, which the women of the house were trained to use in case of
attack during the absence of the men.
The gate of a samurai, or noble's, house was permanently guarded by
his armed retainers, who occupied the porter's lodge beside it. Stand-
ing upright and ready were three long instruments, designed to en-
tangle, throw down, and pin to the earth a quarrelsome applicant.
Familiar faces passed unchallenged, but armed strangers were held at
bay till their business was known. A grappling-iron, with barbed
tongues turned in every direction, making a ball of hooks like an iron
hedgehog, mounted on a pike-staff ten feet long, thrust into the Japa-
nese loose clothing, sufficed to keep at a wholesome length any swash-
buckler whose sword left its sheath too easily. Another spiked weapon,
like a double rake, could be thrust between his legs and bring him to
the earth. A third, shaped like a pitchfork, could hold him helpless
under its wicket arch. Three heavy quarter staves were also ready, to
belabor the straggling wight who would not yield, while swords on
the racks hung ready for the last resort, or when intruders came in
numbers. On rows of pegs hung wooden tickets about three inches
square, branded or inscribed with the names of the retainers and serv-
ants of the lord's house, which were handed to the keeper of the gate
as they passed in or out.
The soldiers wore armor made of thin scales of iron, steel, hardened
hide, lacquered paper, brass, or shark -skin, chain -mail, and shields.
The helmet was of iron, very strong, and lined within by buckskin.
Its flap of articulated iron rings drooped well around the shoulders.
The visor was of thin lacquered iron, the nose and mouth pieces being
removable. The eyes were partially protected by the projecting front
piece. A false mustache was supposed to make the upper lip of the
warrior dreadful to behold. On the frontlet were .the distinguishing
symbols of the man, a pair of horns, a fish, an eagle, dragon, buck-
horns, or flashing brass plates of various designs. Some of the hel-
mets were very tall. Kato Kiy omasa's was three feet high. On the
top was a hole, in which a pennant was thrust, or an ornament shaped
like a pear inserted. The " pear-splitter " was the fatal stroke in com-
bat and the prize-cut in fencing. Behind the corslet on the back was
another socket, in which the clan flag was inserted. The breastplate
220
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
was heavy and tough ; the arms, legs, abdomen, and thighs were pro-
tected by plates joined by woven chains. Shields were often used;
and for forlorn-hopes or assaults, cavalrymen made use of a stuffed bag
resembling a bolster, to receive a volley of arrows. Besides being
missile-proof, it held the arrows as spoils. On the shoulders, hanging
loosely, were unusually wide and heavy brassarts, designed to deaden
the force of the two-handed sword-stroke. Greaves and sandals com-
pleted the suit, which was laced and bound with iron clamps, and
cords of buckskin and silk, and decorated with crests, gilt tassels, and
glittering insignia. Suits of armor were of black, white, purple, crim-
son, violet, green, golden, or silver colors.
Kusnnoki Masatsura. (From a photograph takeii from a native drawing.)
The rations of the soldiers were rice, fish, and vegetables. Instead
of tents, huts of straw or boughs were easily erected to form a camp.
The general's head - quarters were inclosed by canvas, stretched on
posts six feet high, on which his armorial bearings were wrought.
The weapons were bows and arrows, spear, sword, and, rarely, battle-
axes and bow-guns ; for sieges, fire-arrows. The general's scabbard was
of tiger-skin. Supplies of this material were obtained from Corea,
where the animal abounds. His baton was a small lacquered wand,
with a cluster of strips of thick white paper dependent from the point.
Flags, banners, and streamers were freely used ; and a camp, castle, or
moving army, in time of war, with its hundreds and thousands of flags,
presented a gay and lively appearance. Drums, hard-wood clappers,
and conch-shells sounded the reveille, the alarm, the onset, or the re-
treat.
Owing to the nature of the ground, consisting chiefly of mountains
and valleys, or plains covered with rice-swamps intersected by narrow
THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM. 221
paths, infantry were usually depended upon. In besieging a castle,
the intrenchments of the investing army consisted chiefly of a line of
palisades or heavy planks, propped up from within by hinged supports,
at an angle of forty-five degrees, behind which the besiegers fought or
lived in camp life, while sentinels paced at the gates. Lookouts were
posted on overlooking hills, in trees, or in towers erected for the pur-
pose. Sometimes huge kites able to sustain a man were flown, and a
bird's-eye view of the interior of the enemy's castle thus obtained.
Fire, treachery, stratagem, starvation, or shooting at long range having
failed to compel surrender, an assault took place, in which the gates
were smashed in, or the walls scaled. Usually great loss resulted be-
fore the besiegers were driven off, or were victorious. Rough surgery
awaited the wounded. An arrow-barb was usually pulled out by a
jerk of the pincers. A sabre-cut was sewed or bound together with
tough paper, of which every soldier carried a supply. The wonderful-
ly adhesive, absorptive, and healing power of the soft, tough, quickly
wet, easily hardening, or easily kept pliable, Japanese paper made ex-
cellent plasters, bandages, tourniquets, cords, and towels. In the dress-
ing of wounds, the native doctors to this day, as I have often had oc-
casion to witness, excel.
Seppuku (belly-cut) or hara-kiri also came into vogue about the
time of the beginning of the domination of the military classes. At
first, after a battle, the vanquished wounded fell on their swords, drove
them through their mouth or breast, or cut their throats. Often a fa-
mous soldier, before dying, would flay and score his own face beyond
recognition, so that his enemies might not glory over him. This grew
into a principle of honor ; and frequently the unscathed survivors, de-
feated, and feeling the cause hopeless, or retainers whose master was
slain, committed suicide. Hence arose, in the Ashikaga period, the
fashion of wearing two swords ; one of which, the longer, was for en-
emies ; the other, shorter, for the wearer's own body. The practice of
hara-kiri as a judicial sentence and punishment did not come into
vogue until in the time of the Tokugawas.
Thrust into a tiny scabbard at the side of the dirk, or small sword,
was a pair of chopsticks to eat with in camp. Anciently these were
skewers, to thrust through the top-knot of a decapitated enemy, that the
head might be easily carried. Besides, or in lieu of them, was a small
miniature sword, ko-katana (little sword), or long, narrow knife. Al-
though this was put to various trivial uses, such as those for which we
employ a penknife, yet its primary purpose was that of the card of
222 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the owner. Each sword was adorned with some symbol or crest,
which served to mark the clan, family, or person of the owner.
The Satsuma men wore swords with red-lacquered scabbards. Later,
the Tokugawa vassals, who fought in the battle of Sekigahara, were
called " white hilts," because they wore swords of extraordinary length,
with white hilts. The bat, the falcon, the dragon, lion, tiger, owl, and
hawk, were among the most common designs wrought in gold, lacquer,
carving, or alloy on the hilts, handles, or scabbard ; and on the ko-ka-
tana was engraved the name of the owner.
Feudalism was the mother of brawls innumerable, and feuds be-
tween families and clans continually existed. The wife whose hus-
band was slain by the grudge-bearer brought up her sons religiously
to avenge their father's death. The vendetta was unhindered by law
and applauded by society. The moment of revenge selected was
usually that of the victim's proudest triumph. After promotion to
office, succession to patrimony, or at his marriage ceremony, the sword
of the avenger did its bloody work. Many a bride found herself a
widow on her wedding-night. Many a child became an orphan in
the hour of the father's acme of honor. When the murder was secret,
at night, or on the wayside, the head was cut off, and the avenger,
plucking out his ko-katana, thrust it in the ear of the victim, and let
it lie on the public highway, or sent it to be deposited before the
gate of the house. The ko-katana, with the name engraved on it, told
the whole story.
Whenever the lord of a clan wished his rival or enemy out of the
way, he gave the order of Herodias to her daughter to his faithful re-
tainers, and usually the head in due time was brought before him, as
was John's, on a charger or ceremonial stand.
The most minutely detailed etiquette presided over the sword, the
badge of the gentleman. The visitor whose means allowed him to be
accompanied by a servant always left his long sword in his charge
when entering a friend's house ; the salutation being repeated bowing
of the forehead to the floor while on the hands and knees, the breath
being sucked in at the same time with an impressive sound. The de-
gree of obeisance was accurately graded according to rank. If alone,
the visitor laid his sword on the floor of the vestibule. The host's
servants, if so instructed by their master, then, with a silk napkin in
hand, removed it inside and placed it, with all honor, on the sword-
rack. At meetings between those less familiar, the sheathed weapon
was withdrawn from the girdle and laid on the floor to the right, an
THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM. 223
indication of friendship, since it could not be drawn easily. Under
suspicious circumstances, it was laid to the left, so as to be at hand.
On short visits, the dirk was retained in the girdle ; on festal occasions,
or prolonged visits, it was withdrawn. To clash the sheath of one's
sword against that of another was a breach of etiquette that often re-
sulted in instantaneous and bloody reprisal. The accompanying cut by
Ilokusai represents such a scene. The story is a true one, and well
The Challenge.
told by Mitford. Fuya Banzaemon — he of the robe marked with the
nuretsubami (swallow in a shower) — and Nagoya Sanzaburo — he of
the coat figured with the device of lightning — both enemies, and ronin,
as their straw hats show, meet, and intentionally turn back to back
and clash scabbards, holding their hands in tragic attitude. In a
moment more, so the picture tells us, the insulted scabbards will be
empty, and the blades crossed in deadly combat. In the story, which
has been versified and dramatized, and which on the boards will hold
an audience breathless, Nagoya finally kills Fuya. The writing at the
side of the sketch gives the clue to the incident : saya-ate (scabbard-
collision), equivalent to our "flinging down the gauntlet"
To turn the sheath in the belt as if about to draw was tantamount
to a challenge. To lay one's weapon on the floor of a room, and kick
the guard toward a person, was an insult that generally resulted in a
combat to the death. Even to touch another's weapon in any way
was a grave offense. No weapon was ever exhibited naked for any
15
224 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
purpose, unless the wearer first profusely begged pardon of those
present. A wish to see a sword was seldom made, unless the blade
was a rare one. The owner then held the back of the sword to the
spectator, with the edge toward himself, and the hilt, wrapped in the
little silk napkin which gentlemen always carry in their pocket-books,
or a piece of white paper, to the left. The blade was then withdrawn
from the scabbard, and admired inch by inch, but never entirely with-
drawn unless the owner pressed his guest to do so, when, with much
apology, the sword was entirely withdrawn and held away from those
present. Many gentlemen took a pride in making collections of
swords, and the men of every samurai family wore weapons that were
heir-looms, often centuries old. Women wore short swords when
traveling, and the palace ladies in time of fires armed themselves.
In no country has the sword been made an object of such honor
as in Japan. It is at once a divine symbol, a knightly weapon, and
a certificate of noble birth. "The girded sword is the soul of the
samurai." It is "the precious possession of lord and vassal from
times older than the divine period." Japan is "the land of many
blades." The gods wore and wielded two-edged swords. From the
tail of the dragon was born the sword which the Sun-goddess gave to
the first emperor of Japan. By the sword of the -clustering clouds of
heaven Yamato dake subdued the East. By the sword the mortal
heroes of Japan won their fame.
" There's naught 'twixt heaven and earth that man need fear, who
carries at his belt this single blade." " One's fate is in the hands of
Heaven, but a skillful fighter does not meet with death." " In the
last days, one's sword becomes the wealth of one's posterity." These
are the mottoes graven on Japanese swords.
Names of famous swords belonging to the Taira, Minamoto, and
other families are, "Little Crow," " Beard - cutter," "Knee -divider."
The two latter, when tried on sentenced criminals, after severing the
heads from the body, cut the beard, and divided the knee respective-
ly. The forging of these swords occupied the smith sixty days. No
artisans were held in greater honor than the sword-makers, and some
of them even rose to honorary rank. The forging of a blade was
often a religious ceremony. The names of Mur6chika, Masamure,
Yoshimitsu, and Muramasa, a few out of many noted smiths, are
familiar words in the mouths of even Japanese children. The names,
or marks and dates, of famous makers were always attached to their
blades, and from the ninth to the fifteenth century were sure to be
THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM. 225
genuine. In later times, the practice of counterfeiting the marks of
well-known makers came into vogue. Certain swords considered of
good omen in one family were deemed unlucky in others.
I had frequent opportunities of examining several of the master-
pieces of renowned sword -makers while in Japan, the property of
kug6s, daimios, and old samurai families, the museum at Kamakura
being especially rich in famous old blades. The ordinary length of a
sword was a fraction over two feet for the long and one foot for the
short sword. All lengths were, however, made use of, and some of
the old warriors on horseback wore swords over six feet long.
The Japanese sword -blade averages about an inch in width, about
seven-eighths of which is a backing of iron, to which a face of steel is
forged along its entire length. The back, about one-fourth of an inch
thick, bevels out very slightly to near the centre of the blade, which
then narrows to a razor edge. The steel and the forging line are
easily distinguished by a cloudiness on the mirror-like polish of the
metal. An inch and a quarter from the point, the width of the blade
having been decreased one -fourth, the edge is ground off to a semi-
parabola, meeting the back, which is prolonged, untouched ; the curve
of the whole blade, from a straight line, being less than a quarter of
an inch. The guard is often a piece of elaborate workmanship in
metal, representing a landscape, water -scene, or various emblems.
The hilt is formed by covering the prolonged iron handle by shark-
skin and wrapping this with twisted silk. The ferule, washers, and
elects are usually inlaid, embossed, or chased in gold, silver, or alloy.
The rivets in the centre of the handle are concealed by designs, often
of solid gold, such as the lion, dragon, cock, etc.
In full dress, the color of the scabbard was black, with a tinge of
green or red in it, and the bindings of the hilt of blue silk. The
taste of the wearer was often displayed in the color, size, or method
of wearing his sword, gay or proud fellows affecting startling colors
or extravagant length. Riven through ornamental ferules at the side
of the scabbards were long, flat cords of woven silk of various tints,
which were used to tie up the flowing sleeves, preparatory to fighting.
Every part of a sword was richly inlaid, or expensively finished.
Daimios often spent extravagant sums on a single blade, and small
fortunes on a collection. A samurai, however poor, would have a
blade of sure temper and rich mountings, deeming it honorable to suf-
fer for food, that he might have a worthy emblem of his social rank
as a samurai. A description of the various styles of blade and scab-
226
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
bard, lacquer, ornaments, and the rich vocabulary of terms minutely
detailing each piece entering into the construction of a Japanese
sword, the etiquette to be observed, the names, mottoes, and legends
relating to them, would fill a large volume closely printed. A consid-
erable portion of native literature is devoted to this one subject.
Archer on Castle Rampart. (From a native drawing.)
The bow and arrows were the chief weapons for siege ana long-
range operations. A Japanese bow has a peculiar shape, as seen in
the engraving. It was made of well-selected oak (kashi), incased on
both sides with a semi-cylinder of split bamboo toughened by fire.'
The three pieces composing the bow were then bound firmly into one
piece by thin withes of rattan, making an excellent combination of
lightness, strength, and elasticity. The string was of hemp. Arrows
were of various kinds and lengths, according to the arms of the arch-
THE GROWTH AND CUSTOMS OF FEUDALISM.
227
er. The average length of the war-arrow was three feet. The " tur-
nip-head," " frog - crotch," " willow - leaf," " armor - piercer," "bowel-
raker," were a few of the various names for arrows. The "turnip-
top," so named from its shape, made a singing noise as it flew. The
" frog-crotch," shaped like a pitchfork, or the hind legs of a leaping-
frog, with edged blades, was used to cut down flags or sever helmet
lacings. The " willow-leaf " was a two-edged, unbarbed head, shaped
like the leaf of a willow. The " bowel - raker " was of a frightful
shape, well worthy of the name ; and the victim whose diaphragm it
penetrated was . not likely to stir about afterward. The " armor-
piercer" was a plain bolt-head, with
nearly blunt point, well calculated to
punch through a breastplate. Barbs
of steel were of various shape ; some-
times very heavy, and often handsome-
ly .open- worked. The . shaft was of
cane bamboo, with string-piece of bone
or horn, whipped on with silk. Quiv-
ers were of leather, water-proof paper,
or thin lacquered wood, and often
splendidly adorned. Gold-inlaid weap-
ons were common among the rich sol-
diers, and the outfit of an officer often
cost many hundreds of dollars. Not
a few of these old tools of war have
lost their significance, and have be-
come household adornments, objects
of art, or symbols of peace. Such
especially are the emblems of the car-
penter's guilds, which consist of the
half - feathered " turnip - head " arrow,
wreathed with leaves of the same suc-
culent, and the " frog-crotch," inserted
in the mouth of a dragon, crossed
upon the ancient mallet of the craft.
These adorn temples or houses, or are
carried in the local parades and festi-
vals.
As Buddhism had become the pro- Sy<ambols of ^°&t?™ier'» t
Singing or " Turnip-top," and Cutting
fessed religion of the entire nation, or Knife-prong, Arrows, and Mallet.
228 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the vast majority of the military men were Buddhists. Each had
his patron or deity. The soldier went into battle with an image of
Buddha sewed in his helmet, and after victory ascribed glory to his
divine deliverer. Many temples in Japan are the standing monuments
of triumph in battle, or vows performed. Many of the noted captains,
notably Kato, inscribed their banners with texts from the classics or
the prayers, " Namu Ainida Butsu," or " Namu mio ho," etc., ac-
cording to their sect. Amulets and charms were worn almost without
exception, and many a tale is told of arrows turned aside, or swords
broken, that struck on a sacred image, picture, or text. Before enter-
ing a battle, or performing a special feat of skill or valor, the hero
uttered the warrior's prayer, " Namu Hachiman Dai-bosatsu " (Glory to
Hachiman, the incarnation of Great Buddha). Though brave heroes
must, like ordinary men, pass through purgatory, yet death on the
battle-field was reckoned highly meritorious, and the happiness of the
warrior's soul in the next world was secured by the prayers of his
wife and children.
NOBUNAOA, THE PERSECUTOR OF TOE BUDUUISTii. 229
XXIII.
NOBUNAGA, THE PERSECUTOR OF THE BUDDHISTS.
IN the province of Echizen, a few miles from Fukui, on the sea-
coast, stands the mountain of Ochi, adorned with many a shrine and
sacred portal, and at its foot lies the village of Ota. Tradition states
that nearly a thousand years ago the pious bonze, Tai Cho, ascended
and explored this mountain, which is now held sacred and resorted to
by many a pilgrim. Here, in uninterrupted harmony, dwelt for cent-
uries priests of both the native Shinto and Buddhist cultus, until
1868, when, in the purification, all Shinto shrines were purged of Bud-
dhist symbolism and influences, as of a thing unclean. The priests
were wont to make occasional journeys to Kioto, the ecclesiastical cen-
tre of the country. Centuries before the troublous times of Ashikaga,
and during the period of the Taira and Minamoto, one of the Shinto
priests, while on his way through Omi, stopped at Tsuda, and lodged
with the nanushi, or head-man of the village, and asked him for one
of his sons for the priesthood. The host gave him his step-son, whom
the priest named Ota Chikazan6.
That boy was of Taira blood, the great-grandson of Kiyomori. His
father, Sukemori, had been killed by the Minamoto, but his mother
had fled to Omi, and the head-man of the village of Tsuda had mar-
ried her.
The mother, though grieving for the loss of her son, doubtless, as a
pious woman, rejoiced to see him in such excellent hands. The lad
was returned to Ota, and lived in the village. He grew up, married
as became a kannushi (custodian of a Shinto shrine), and founded a
family of Shinto priests. He was the common ancestor of the famous
hero of Echizen, Shibata Katsuiye, and of the renowned Nobunaga,
who deposed the Ashikaga, persecuted the Buddhists, encouraged the
Jesuits, and restored, to a great extent, the supremacy of the mikado.
In the " History of the Church," a portrait is given of Nobunaga,
which is thus translated by Dr. Walter Dixoh. He is described as " a
prince of large stature, but of a weak and delicate complexion, with a
230 . THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
heart and soul that supplied all other wants ; ambitious above all man-
kind ; brave, generous, and bold, and not without many excellent mor-
al virtues ; inclined to justice, and an enemy to treason. With a quick
and penetrating wit, he seemed cut out for business. Excelling in mili-
tary discipliner he was esteemed the fittest to command an army, man-
age a siege, fortify a town, or mark out a camp, of any general in Ja-
pan, never using any heads but his own. If he asked advice, it was
more to know their hearts than to profit by their advice. He sought
to see into others, and to conceal his own counsel, being very secret in
his designs. He laughed at the worship of the gods, convinced that
the bonzes were impostors abusing the simplicity of the people, and
screening their own debauches under the name of religion."
Nobunaga had four generals, whom the people in those days were
wont to nickname, respectively, "Cotton," "Rice," "Attack," "Re-
treat." The one was so fertile. of resources that he was like cotton,
that can be put to a multitude of uses; the second .was as absolutely
necessary as rice, which,, if the people be without for a day, they die ;
the third excelled in onset ; the fourth, in skillful retreat. They were
Hideyoshi, Goroza, Shibata, and Ikeda. A fifth afterward joined him,
whose name was Tokugawa lyeyasu. These three .names, Nobunaga,
Hideyoshi, and lyeyasu, are the most renowned in Japan.
Nobunaga first appears on the scene in 1542, His father, after the
fashion of the times, was a warrior, who, in the general scramble for
land, was bent on securing a fair slice of territory. He died in 1549,
leaving to his son his arms, his land, and his feuds. Nobunaga gained
Suruga, Mino, Omi and Mikawa, Ise and Echizen, in succession. Hav-
ing possession of Kioto, he built the fine castle of Nijo, and took the
side of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who by his influence was made shogun in
1558. Six years later, the two quarreled. Nobunaga arrested and
deposed him, and the power of this family, which had lasted two hun-
dred and thirty-eight years, eame to an end. From this time there
was no Sei-i Tai Shogun, until lyeyasu obtained the office, in 1604.
By the aid of his commanders, Hideyoshi and lyeyasu, he brought
large, portions of the empire under his authority, and nominally that
of the mikado, in whose name he governed. He became Naidaijin
(inner great minister), but never shogun. The reason of this, doubt-
less, was that the office of shogun was by custom monopolized by the
Minamoto family and descendants, whereas Nobunaga was of Taira de-
scent. Like Yoritpmo, he was a skillful and determined soldier, but
was never able to subdue the great clans. Unlike him, he lacked ad-
NOBUNAGA, THE PERSECUTOR OF THE BUDDHISTS. 231
ministrative power, and was never able to follow up in peace the vic-
tories gained in war.
He met his death in Kioto, when in the fullness of his power and
fame, in the following manner. Among his captains was Akechi, a
brave, proud man, who had taken mortal offense at his leader. One
day, while in his palace, being in an unusually merry and familiar
mood, Nobunaga put Akechi's head under his arm, saying he would
make a drum of it, struck it with his fan, like a drumstick, playing a
tune. Ak6chi did not relish the joke, and silently waited for revenge.
His passion was doubtless nursed and kept warm by a previous desire
to seize the place and power and riches of his chief.
In those days treachery was a common and trivial occurrence, and
the adherent of to-day was the deserter of to-morrow. The opportu-
nity did not delay. Nobunaga had sent so large a re-enforcement into
the west, to Hideyoshi, who was fighting with Mori, that the garrison
at the capital was reduced to a minimum. Akechi was also ordered
to Kiushiu, and pretended to march thither. Outside the city he dis-
closed his plan of killing Nobunaga, whom he denounced to his offi-
cers, and promised them rich booty. They returned to Kioto, and sur-
rounded the temple of Honnoji, where their victim was then residing.
Hearing of the unexpected presence of so many soldiers in armor
around his dwelling, he drew aside the window of his room to ascer-
tain the cause. He was struck by an arrow, and instantly divined the
situation, and that escape was impossible. He then set the temple on
fire, and committed suicide. In a few minutes the body of the great
hero was a charred crisp.
An uninscribed tomb of polygonal masonry, built in his honor,
stands in the ten-shiu, or keep, of his most famous castle, Azuchi yama,
on a high hill looking out upon the white walls of the fortress of Hi-
kone, the blue lake of Biwa, and the towering grandeur of Ibuki yama.
He died at the age of forty-nine.
The position of Ota Nobunaga in Japanese history would be illy
understood were the reader to regard him merely as a leader in clan
fights, who by genius and vigor rose above the crowd of petty milita-
ry adventurers, or even as one who wished to tranquilize and unify all
Japan for the mikado. We must inquire why it is that no man has
won more execration and anathemas from the Buddhists in Japan
than he. They look upon him as an incarnate demon sent to destroy
their faith.
The period of the Ashikaga was that in which the Buddhist priests
232 TELE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
reached the acme of power. Their monasteries were often enormous
stone-walled and moated fortresses. The bonzes kept armor and ar-
senals full of weapons to don and use themselves, or to equip the
armies in their pay when it suited their pleasure to cope with or as-
sist either of the changing sides, or to take spoil of both. Many
bloody battles took place between rival sects, in which temples were
burned down, villages fired, and hundreds on both sides killed. Part
of what is now the immense castle of Ozaka belonged to the Ikko or
Shin sect.
At Hiyeizan, on Lake Biwa, was the most extensive monastery in
Japan. The grounds, adorned and beautified with the rarest art of
the native landscape gardener, inclosed thirteen valleys and over five
hundred temples, shrines, and priestly dwellings. Here thousands of
monks were congregated. They chanted before gorgeous altars, cele-
brated their splendid ritual, reveled in luxury and licentiousness, drank
their sake, eat the forbidden, viands, and dallied with their concubines,
or hatched plots to light or fan the flames of feudal war, so as to make
the quarrels of the clans and chiefs redound to their aggrandizement.
They trusted profoundly to their professedly sacred character to shield
them from all danger.
For these bonzes Nobunaga had no respect. His early life among
the priests had doubtless destroyed whatever reverence he might have
had for their sanctity. His education as a Shintoist made him hate
the Buddhists as enemies. The bonzes continually foiled his schemes,
and he saw that, even if war between the .clans ceased, the existence
of these monasteries would jeopard the national peace. He resolved
to destroy them.
In the Ninth month, 1571, says the Nihon Guai Shi, he encamped
at Seta, and ordered his generals to set Hiyeizan on fire. The gener-
als, surprised at the order, lost countenance, and exhorted him not to
do it, saying, " Since Kuammu Tenno [782-806] built this monastery,
nearly a thousand years ago, it has been esteemed the most vigilant
against the devil. No one has yet dared to injure these temples ; but
now, do you intend to do so 3 How can it be possible?" To this
Nobunaga answered : " I have put down the thieves against the em-
peror [kokuzoku, robbers of country] ; why do you hinder me thus ?
I intend to tranquilize the whole land, and revive the declining power
of the imperial Government. I continually make light of my life for
the mikado's sake, and hence I have no rest for a single day. Last
year I subdued Settsu, and both castles were about to be surrendered,
NOBUNAQA, THE PERSECUTOR OF THE BUDDHISTS. 233
when Yoshikag6 [Daimio of Echizen] and Nagamasa [DaimiS of Omi]
attacked my rear, and I was obliged to raise the siege and retrace my
steps. My allowing the priests to remain on this mountain was in or-
der that I might destroy them. I once dispatched a messenger to the
priests, and set before them happiness and misery. The bonzes nev-
er obeyed my word, but stoutly assisted the wicked fellows, and so
resisted the imperial army [oshi, or kuangun\. Does this act not
make them \kokuzoku\ country-thieves? If I do not now take them
away, this great trouble will continue forever. Moreover, I have heard
that the priests violate their own rules; they eat fish and stinking
vegetables [the five odorous plants prohibited by Buddhism — common
and wild leek, garlic, onions, scallions], keep concubines, and roll up
the sacred books [never untie them to read them or pray]. -How can
they be vigilant against evil, or preserve justice ? Then surround their
dwellings, burn them down, suffer no one to live."
The generals, incited by the speech of their commander, agreed.
On the next day an awful scene of butchery and conflagration ensued.
The soldiers set fire to the great shrines and temples ; and while the
stately edifices were in flames, plied sword, lance, and arrow. None
were permitted to escape. Without discrimination of age or sex, the
toothless dotard, abbot, and bonze, maid -servant and concubine and
children, were speared or cut down without mercy. This was the first
great blow at Buddhism.
In 1579, the two great sects of Nichiren and Jodo held a great dis-
cussion upon religious subjects, which reached such a point of acri-
mony that the attention of the Government was called to it, and it
was continued and finished before Nobunaga, at his castle at Azuchi
yama, on the lands of which he had already allowed the Jesuits to
build churches. A book called Azuchi fton, still extant, contains the
substance of the argument on both sides. One result of the wordy
contest was the suppression of a sub -sect of Jodo, whose doctrines
were thought to be dangerous to the State.
The immense fortified temple and monastery called Honguanji, in
Ozaka, was the property of the Monto, or Shin sect of Buddhists, and
the retreat and hiding-place of Nobunaga's enemies. The bonzes
themselves were his most bitter haters, because he had so encouraged
the Jesuits. They had taken the side of his enemies for over twelve
years. At last, when some of his best captains had been killed by
' • grass-rebels," or ambuscaders, who fled into the monastery, he laid
siege to it in earnest, with the intention of serving the inmates as he
234
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
did those of Hiyeizan. Within the enceinte, crowded in five connect-
ing fortresses, were thousands of women and children, besides the
warriors and priests. Another frightful massacre seemed imminent.
The place was so surrounded that every attempt of the garrison to
escape was cut off. On an intensely dark night, under cover of a
storm then raging, several thousands of the people, of all sexes and ages,
attempted to escape from one of the forts. They were overtaken and
slaughtered. The main garrison shortly afterward learned the fate of
their late comrades by seeing a junk, dispatched by the victors, laden
with human ears and noses, approach the castle with its hideous cargo.
View of the Castle of Ozaka (takeii ill 1861), from the Kice-flelds.
Another outpost of the castle was surrendered. In the second month
of the siege, a sortie in force was repelled by showers of arrows and
matchlock balls ; but, in the fighting, Nobunaga's best officers were
slain. The besieging army finally occupied three of the five in the
net-work of fortresses. Thousands (" twenty thousand ") of the gar-
rison had been killed by arrow and ball, or had perished in the flames,
and the horrible stench of burning flesh filled the air for miles. The
fate of the main body within the walls was soon to be decided.
The mikado, grieving over the shedding of so much blood, sent
three court nobles and a priest of another sect to persuade the gam-
NOBUNAQA, THE PERSECUTOR OF THE BUDDHISTS, 235
son to yield. A conference of the abbot and elders was called, and a
surrender decided upon. The castle was turned over to Nobunaga,
and from that day until the present has remained in the hands of the
Government. Pardon was granted to the survivors, and the bonzes
scattered to the other large monasteries of their sect. To this day,
the great sects in Japan have never fully recovered from the blows
dealt by Nobunaga. Subsequently, rulers were obliged to lay violent
hands upon the strongholds of ecclesiastical power that threatened so
frequently to disturb the peace of the country ; but they were able to
do it with comparative ease, because Nobunaga had begun the work
with such unscrupulous vigor and thoroughness.
Nobunaga's Victims : Types of Buddhist Priesthood and Monastic Ordere.
236
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XXIV.
HIDEYOSHrS ENTERPRISES.— THE INVASION OF COREA.
THERE are hundreds of mura, or villages, in Japan, called Nakamu-
ra (naka, middle ; mura, village), for the same reason that there are
many Middletowns in English-speaking countries, but none of them
claim to be the birthplace of Hideyoshi except that in the district of
Aichi, in Owari. There, in 1536, lived a peasant called Yasuke, whose
wife bore a wizen-faced, pithecoid baby, who grew up to be a cunning
and reckless boy. Instead of going out to the hill-sides, grass-hook
in hand and basket on back, to cut green fodder for horses, or stand-
ing knee-deep in the mud-
pulp of the rice-fields weed-
ing the young plants, re-
turning at night, with hoe
on shoulder, he lived on
the streets, and sharpened
his wits, afraid of no one.
While a mere boy, he be-
came a betto, or groom, to
Nobunaga, who noticed the
boy's monkey face and rest-
less eyes, and encouraged
him to become a soldier,
which he did.
The number and variety
of names possessed by him
in his life -time illustrate
well the confusing custom
in vogue among the Japa-
B| nese of frequently changing
their names. The reader
A Familiar Country Scene: Boys going up n Mount- nf *},„ nat;vp litwitiirp r»r
ain to cut Grass ; Peasant Woman, with Hoe on her C
Shoulder. of foreign works of Japan
H1DEYOSHPS ENTERPSISES.— INVASION OF COREA. 237
is perplexed, among the multitude of names and titles, to distinguish
the personage to whom they belong. When there are many actors in
the scene, and each is known by a half-dozen aliases, confusion becomes
confounded, and the patience is sorely taxed.
In this work I designate one person by one name, although appar-
ent anachronisms must thereby be committed, and the eyes of the
scholar be often annoyed. It has, until recently, in Japan been the
custom for every samurai to be named differently in babyhood, boy-
hood, manhood, or promotion, change of life or residence, in com-
memoration of certain events, or on account of a vow, or from mere
whim. Thus, at his birth, Hideyoshi's mother having, as it is said,
dreamed that she had conceived by the sun, called him Hiyoshi maro
(good sun). Others dubbed him Ko chiku (small boy), and afterward
Saru matsu (monkey-pine). As a soldier, he enlisted as Kinoshita To-
kichiro, the first being his father's name. As he grew famous, he was
nicknamed Momen Tokichi (" Cotton " Tokichi). When a general,
from a mere whim, he made himself a name by uniting two syllables,
ha and shiba, making Hashiba, from the names of two of his generals,
Ni-wa or ha, and Shibata, which the Jesuits wrote, as the Portuguese
orthography required, Faxiba.
When, in 1586, he attained the rank of Kuambaku (Cambaku dono
of the Jesuits), or premier, his enemies, who were jealous of the par-
venu, spoke of him as Saru Kuan ja, or crowned monkey. How he
obtained this high office, even with all the limitless store of cunning
impudence and egotism, is not known, for no one except nobles of
Fujiwara blood had ever filled that office, it being reserved exclusively
for members of that family. He obtained from the emperor the pat-
ent of a family name, and he and his successors are known in history
as the Toyotomi family, he being Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1591 he
resigned his high office, and was succeeded by his son. Hence he
took the title of tailed, and the people referred to him as Taiko sama,
just as they put the term sama (Mr., or Sir, Honorable, etc.) after the
titles of emperor, shogun, other, titled officials, or after the name of
any person. Japanese address foreigners as " Smith sama," or " Smith
san," or an infant as " baby san," instead of " Mr. Smith," "the baby,"
etc. The term sama fulfills, in a measure, the function of the definite
article or demonstrative pronoun, or serves as a social handle. Hence,
in foreign works, Hideyoshi, the taiko ; or that one of the many taiko,
called Hideyoshi, is referred to as Taiko sama.
Hideyoshi was a man of war from his youth up. His abilities and
238 TEE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
soldierly qualities made him a favorite commander. His banner con-
sisted of a cluster of gourds. At first it was a single gourd. After
each battle another was added, until at last it became an imposing
sheaf. The standard-bearer carried aloft at the head of the columns a
golden representation of the original model, and wherever Hideyoshi's
banner moved there was the centre of victory.
At the death of Nobunaga, the situation was as follows : His third
son, Nobutaka, was ruler over Shikoku ; Shimadzu (Satsuma) was
fighting with Otomo, and seizing his land in Kiushiu. Hideyoshi and
Nobuwo, second son of Nobunaga, with the imperial army, was fight-
ing with Mori, Prince of Choshiu, who held ten provinces in the West,
lye'yasu, ruler of eight provinces in the Kuanto, was in the field against
Hojo of Odawara. Shibata held Echizen. Hideyoshi and lyeyasu
were the rising men, but the former attained first to highest power.
Immediately on hearing of Nobunaga's death, Hideyoshi made terms
with Mori, hastened to Kioto, and defeated and slew Akechi. The
fate of this assassin has given rise to the native proverb, " Akechi ruled
three days." His name and power were now paramount. The prizes
of rank were before him, for the mikado and court could not oppose
his wishes. Of his master's sons, one had died, leaving an infant ; the
second son was assisted by lyeyasu, with whom Hideyoshi had made
a compromise ; the third, Nobutaka, was weak, and endeavored, sec-
onded by his chief captain, Shibata, who had married the sister of No-
bunaga, to maintain his rights. Hideyoshi marched into Mino, de-
feated him, pursued Shibata into Echizen, and, after several skirmishes,
burned his castle. The account of this, as given by the Jesuits, is as
follows : "Among the confederates of Nobutaka was one Shibata dono,
brother-in-law to Nobunaga. He was besieged in the fortress of Shi-
bata [in what is now Fukui] ; and seeing no way of escape, he, having
dined with his friend's wife and children and retainers, set fire to his
castle, first killing his wife, his children, and the female servants ; and
his friends, following his example, afterward committed suicide, and
lay there wallowing in their blood, till the fire kindled, and burned
them to ashes."
My residence in Fukui, during the year 1871, was immediately on
the site of part of Shibata's old castle. His tomb stands under some
venerable old pine-trees some distance from the city. When I visited
it, the old priest who keeps the temple, since erected, brought out sev-
eral old boxes carefully labeled, and reverently opened them. One
contained the rusty breastplate and other portions of Shibata's armor,
HIDtiYOSHPS ENTERPRISES.— INVASION OF CORE A. 239
picked up after the fire. Other
relics saved from the ashes were
shown me. The story, as it fell
from the old bonze's lips, and
was translated by my interpret-
er, is substantially that given by
the native historians.
Having fled, after many de-
feats, he reached the place now CamP of Hideyoshi on Atago Mountain, be-
, _ . __. fore FnkuL
called b ukui. Hidey oshi, in hot
pursuit, fixed his camp on Atagoyama, a mountain which overlooks
the city, and began the siege, which he daily pressed closer and
closer. Being hopelessly surrounded, and succor hopeless, Shibata,
like a true Epicurean, gave a grand feast to all his captains and re-
tainers, in anticipation of the morrow of death. All within the
doomed walls eat, drank, sung, danced and made merry, for the mor-
16
240 .V THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
row was not to see them in this world. At the height of the ban-
quet, Shibata, quaffing the parting cup before death, addressed his
wife thus : " You may go out of the castle and save your life.
You are a woman ; but we are men, and will die. You are at liberty
to marry another." His wife, the sister of Nobunaga, with a spirit
equal to his, was moved to tears, thanked her lord for his love and
kindness, and declared she would never marry another, but would die
with her husband. She then composed a farewell stanza of poetry,
and, with a soul no less brave because it was a woman's, received her
husband's dirk into her heart.
Like true Stoics, Shibata and his companions put all the women
and children to the death they welcomed, and for which they gave
thanks ; and then, with due decorum and ceremony, opening their own
bodies by hara-kiri, they died as brave Japanese ever love to die, by
their own hands, and not by those of an enemy.
Hideyoshi, on his return to Kioto, began a career of usefulness, devel-
oping the resources of the empire and strengthening the power of the
emperor. Knowing it was necessary to keep his captains and soldiers
busy in time of inaction, and having a genius for the works of peace as
well as war, he built splendid palaces at Kioto, improved the city, and
paved the bed of the river Kamo with broad, flat stones. He laid the
foundations of the future commercial greatness of Ozaka by enlarging
the site of the monastery destroyed by Nobunaga, building the immense
fortress, only part of which still remains, the pride of the city, enlarged
and deepened the river, and dug many of the hundreds of canals which
give this city whatever right it may have to be called the Venice of
Japan. It had, when I saw it in 1871, over eleven hundred bridges,
one of them of iron. He fortified Fushimi, the strategic key of Kioto,
with a triple-moated castle, erected colossal towers and pagodas in many
places. He sequestrated the flourishing commercial port of Nagasaki
from the Daimio of Omura, and made it the property of the crown.
Neither Deshima nor Pappenberg was then historic ; but the lovely
scenery was as much the subject of admiration as it is now. His policy
was to forgive those who had fought against4 him, and not to put them
to death, as Nobunaga had done, who, in the course of his life, had
killed his brother, father-in-law, and many of his enemies. He reform-
ed the revenues. His rule was highly popular, for, in his execution of
justice, he cared little for rank, name, or family line, or services done
to himself. He was successful in inducing lyeyasu, after the latter
had secured the taiko's mother as hostage, to come to Kioto and pay
HIDEYOSHPS ENTERPRISES.— INVASION OF COREA. 241
homage to the emperor ; and the two rivals becoming friends, lyeyasQ
married the taiko's sister. Mori, lord of the Western provinces, 'also
came to the capital, and acknowledged him as his superior.
Among his other works, Hiddyoshi followed out the policy of No-
bunaga, destroyed the great monastery at Kumano, the bonzes of which
claimed the province of Kii. He was never made shogun, not being
of Minamoto blood ; but having become Kuambaku, and being sur-
rounded by nobles of high birth and the lofty etiquette of the court,
he felt the need of a pedigree. No one at court knew who his grand-
father was, if, indeed, he was aware himself. lie made out that his
mother was the daughter of a kug6, who, in the disturbed times of
Ashikaga, had fled from Kioto, and, while in poverty and great distress,
had married his father, but had conceived him before her marriage.
In his youth he had wedded a peasant girl ; but as he rose step by
step to eminence, he kept on marrying until he had a number equal
to that of the polygamous English king, Henry VIII. ; but, unlike that
monarch, he enjoyed them all at once, and caused none of them to
lose her head. The last two of his spouses were, respectively, a daugh-
ter of the house of Mae'da, of the rich province of Kaga, and the
Princess Azai, of Bizen, daughter of the wife of Shibata Katsuiye,
whom the Jesuits, under the name
of Kita Mandocoro, say was the
first wife of the taikd, " sweetest
and best beloved." He had no son
until in old age.
The immoderate ambition of
Hideyoshi's life was to conquer
Corea, and even China. It had
been his dream when a boy, and
his plan when a man. When un-
der Nobunaga, he had begged of
him the revenue of Kiushiu for
one year and weapons, while he
himself would provide the ships
and provisions, offering to subdue
Corea, and with an army of Co-
reans to conquer China, and thus image of Japanese Deified Hero, seen in
make the three countries one. His Shinto Shrines,
master laughed, but he kept thinking of it. When in the Kuanto,
he visited Kamakura, and saw an image of Yoritomo, such as one
242 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
may still see in the temple of Tsurugaoka. Rubbing and patting
its back, the parvenu thus addressed the illustrious effigy: "You
are my friend. You took all the power under Heaven (in Japan).
You and I, only, have been able to do this ; but you were of a famous
family, and not like me, sprung from peasants. I intend, at last, to
conquer all the earth, and even China. What think you of that?"
Hideyoshi used to say, " The earth is the earth's earth " — a doctrine
which led him to respect very slightly the claim of any one to land
which he coveted, and had won by his own efforts.
Under the declining power of Ashikaga, all tribute from Corea had
ceased, and the pirates who ranged the coasts scarcely allowed a pre-
carious trade to exist. The So family, who held Tsushima, however,
had a small settlement in Corea, Some Chinese, emigrating to Japan,
told Hideyoshi of the military disorganization and anarchy in China,
which increased his desire to " peep into China." He then sent two
embassies in succession to Corea to demand tribute. The second was
successful. He also sent word to the Emperor of China by some Liu
Kiu tribute-bearers that if he (the Emperor of China) would not hear
him, he would invade his territory with an army. To the Corean en-
voy he recounted his exploits, and announced his intentions definitely.
Several embassies crossed and recrossed the sea between Corea and
Japan, Hideyoshi meanwhile awaiting his best opportunity, as the
dispatch of the expedition depended almost entirely on his own will.
His wife, Azai, had borne him a child, whom he loved dearly, but it
died, and he mourned for it many months. One day he went out to
a temple, Kiyomidzu, in Kioto, to beguile the sad hours. Lost in
thought, in looking over the western sky beyond the mountains, he
suddenly exclaimed to his attendant, " A great man ought to employ
his army beyond ten thousand miles, and not give way to sorrow."
Returning to his house, he assembled his generals, and fired their en-
thusiasm by recounting their exploits mutually achieved. He then
promised to march to Peking, and divide the soil of China in fiefs
among them. They unanimously agreed, and departed to the various
provinces to prepare troops and material. Hideyoshi himself went to
Kiushiu.
On his way, some one suggested that scholars versed in Chinese
should accompany the expedition. Hideyoshi laughed, and said, " This
expedition will make the Chinese use our literature." After worship-
ing at a shrine, he threw up a handful of one hundred " cash " in front
of the shrine, and said, " If I am to conquer China, let the heads show
ENTERPRISES.— INVASION OF COREA. 243
it" The Japanese copper and iron zeni, or kat, have Chinese charac-
ters representing the chronological period of coinage on one side, and
waves representing their circulation as money on the reverse. The
lettered side is " head," the reverse is " tail." All the coins which the
taiko flung up came down heads. The soldiers were delighted with
the omen. Maps of Corea were distributed among the commanders
of the eight divisions, and the plan of the expedition and their co-op-
eration explained.
Kato Kiyomasa, who hated the Christians, and who afterward be-
came their bitterest persecutor, was commander of the first ; and Koni-
shi Yukinaga, the Christian leader, and a great favorite of the Jesuits,
of the second. These divisions were alternately to lead the van. The
naval and military force that embarked is set down in the Guai Ski
at five hundred thousand men. A reserve of sixty thousand was kept
ready in Japan as re-enforcements. Many of the generals, captains,
and private soldiers were of the Christian faith. Kato despised Ko-
nishi, and they were not friends. The latter was the son of a druggist,
and persisted, to the disgust of the high-born Kato, in carrying a ban-
ner representing a paper medicine-bag, such as can be seen swinging
in front of a native drug-shop to-day. He probably took his cue from
the august parvenu, the taiko.
Hideyoshi expected to lead the army himself ; but being sixty years
old, and infirm, and his aged mother sorrowing so that she could not
eat on account of it, he remained behind. He gave Kato a flag, say-
ing, " This was given me by Ota [Nobunaga] when I marched against
Mori [Choshiu]." To Konishi he presented a fine horse, saying, " With
this I galloped over the bearded savages [Ainos]." All being ready,
the fleet set sail amidst the shouts of the army and the thunder of
cannon on the shore. Hideyoshi had attempted to buy or charter two
Portuguese ships, but was unsuccessful, and the fleet consisted of large
junks. They were detained off Ike Island by stormy weather. As
soon as it was calm, Konishi, well acquainted with the route, sailed
away with his division, arrived at Fusan, in Southern Corea, first, and
seized the castle. Without allowing his troops to rest, he urged them
on to other triumphs, that the glory might be theirs alone, and not be
shared by the other troops, who would soon arrive. Another large
castle was stormed, several towns captured, and brilliant victories won.
Three days later, Kato arrived, and heard, to his chagrin, of his rival's
advance into the interior. He exclaimed, "The boy has taken my
route ; I shall not follow in his tracks." He then burned the town,
244 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
which Konishi had spared, and advanced into the country by another
way.
Corea was divided into eight circuits, and the taiko's plan had been
for each corps of the army to conquer a circuit. The Corean king ap-
pointed a commander-in-chief, and endeavored to defend his country,
but the Japanese armies were everywhere victorious. After many bat-
tles fought, and fortresses stormed, nearly all the provinces of the eight
circuits were subdued, and the capital, Kenkitai, was taken. The king
and his son fled. At one great battle, ten thousand Coreans are said
to have been killed, and their ears cut off and preserved in salt or sake.
The forts were garrisoned by Japanese troops. The Coreans asked
the aid of China, and a Chinese army of assistance was sent forward,
and after several severe battles the Japanese were compelled to fall
back. Reserves from Japan were dispatched to Corea, and the Japa-
nese were on the point of invading China, when, in 1598, the death of
the taiko was announced, and orders were received from their Govern-
ment to return home. A truce was concluded, and Corean envoys ac-
companied Konishi to Japan.
The conquest of Corea, thus ingloriously terminated, reflects no
honor on Japan, and perhaps the responsibility of the outrage upon a
peaceful nation rests wholly upon Hideyoshi. The Coreans were a
mild and peaceable people, wholly unprepared for war. There was
scarcely a shadow of provocation for the invasion, which was nothing
less than a huge filibustering scheme. It was not popular with the
people or the rulers, and was only carried through by the will of the
taiko. While Japan was impoverished by the great drain on its re-
sources, the soldiers abroad ruthlessly desolated the homes and need-
lessly ravaged the land of the Coreans. While the Japanese were de-
stroying the liberties of the Coreans, the poor natives at home often
pawned or sold themselves as slaves to the Spaniards and Portuguese
slave-traders. The sacrifice of life on either side must have been
great, and all for the ambition of one man. Nevertheless, a party in
Japan has long held that Corea was, by the conquests of the third
and sixteenth centuries, a part of the Japanese empire, and the reader
will see how in 1872, and again in 1875, the cry of "On to Corea!"
shook the nation like an earthquake.
The taiko died on the 15th of September, 1598. Before his death,
he settled the form of government, and married his son Hideyori, then
six years old, to the granddaughter of lyeyasu, and appointed five
tairo, or ministers, who were to be guardians of the boy, and to ac-
HIDfiYOSlIPS ENTERPRISES.— INVASION OF COSEA. 245
knowledge him as his father's successor. As lydyasu was the rising
man, the taiko hoped thus to gain his influence, so that the power
might descend in his own family. The last thoughts of the hero
were of strengthening the citadel at Ozaka The old hero was buried
in the grounds of Kodaiji, in Kioto.
The victorious army, returning from Corea, brought much spoil,
and fine timber to build a memorial temple to the memory of the
dead hero. Among other trophies were several thousands of ears,
which, instead of heads, the Japanese carried back to raise a barrow in
Kioto. The temple was erected on a hill on the west side of Kioto
by his wife, who, after the death of her husband, became a nun. This
splendid edifice was afterward burned, and the site of the taiko's re-
mains is uncertain.
Alimidzuka (Ear Monument), in Kioto. (From a photograph.)
In the city still stands the Mimidzuka (ear-tomb), a monument of
characteristic appearance. It consists of a cube, sphere, and pagoda-
curve, surmounted by two spheroids, the top-stone rising to a point.
The mound is seven hundred and twenty feet in circumference, and
ninety feet in height ; the pedestal at the top being twelve feet square,
and the monument twelve feet high. As usual on Buddhist tombs or
ecclesiastical edifices, a Sanskrit letter is carved on each side of the
four faces of the cube. Beneath this tomb is a barrow, covering the
dissevered ears of thousands of Coreans ; but the most enduring monu-
ments of the great taiko were the political institutions, and the works
of peace reared by his genius and labor.
246 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
It is not difficult to account for the tone of admiration and pride
with which a modern Japanese speaks of " the age of taiko." In his
time, the arts and sciences were not only in a very flourishing condi-
tion, but gave promise of rich development. The spirit of military
enterprise and internal national improvement was at its height. Con-
tact with the foreigners of many nations awoke a spirit of inquiry and
intellectual activity ; but it was on the seas that genius and restless
activity found their most congenial field.
This era is marked by the highest perfection in marine architecture,
and the extent and variety of commercial enterprises. The ships
built in this century were twice or thrice the size, and vastly the
superior in model, of the junks that now hug the Japanese shores, or
ply between China and Japan. The pictures of them preserved to the
present day show that they were superior in size to the vessels of
Columbus, and nearly equal in sailing qualities to the contemporary
Dutch and Portuguese galleons. They were provided with ordnance,
and a model of a Japanese breech-loading cannon is still preserved in
Kioto. Ever a brave and adventurous people, the Japanese then
roamed the seas with a freedom that one who knows only of the
modern shore-bound people would scarcely credit. Voyages of trade,
discovery, or piracy had been made to India, Siam, Burmah, the Phil-
ippines, Southern China, the Malay Archipelago, and the Kuriles, on
the north, even in the fifteenth century, but were most numerous in
the sixteenth. The Japanese gave the name to the island of Boson
(Luzon), and the descendants of Japanese pirates or traders are still to
be found in numbers in this archipelago. In the city of Ayuthaya,
on the Menam, in Siam, a flourishing sea-port, the people call one part
of the place the " Japanese quarter." The Japanese literature contains
many references to these adventurous sailors; and when the records
of the Far East are thoroughly investigated, and this subject fully
studied, very interesting results will be obtained, showing the wide-
spread influence of Japan at a time when she was scarcely known by
the European world to have existence.
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 247
XXV.
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS*
IT seems now nearly certain that when Columbus set sail from
Spain to discover a new continent, it was not America he was seek-
ing ; for of that he knew nothing. His quest was the land of Japan.
Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler, had spent seventeen years (1275-
1292) at the court of the Tartar emperor, Kublai Khan, and while in
Peking had heard of a land lying to the eastward called, in the lan-
guage of the Chinese capital, Jipangti, from which our modern name,
Japan, has been corrupted. Columbus was an ardent student of Polo's
book, which had been published in 1298. lie sailed westward across
the Atlantic to find this kingdom of the sun-source. He discovered,
not Japan, but an archipelago in America, on whose shores he eagerly
inquired concerning Jipangtt. The torch of modern discovery thus
kindled by him was handed on by Vasco da Gama, and a host of
brave Portuguese navigators, who drove their keels into the once un-
known seas of the Orient, and came back to tell of densely populated
empires enriched with the wealth that makes civilization possible, and
of which Europe had scarcely heard. Their accounts fired the hearts
of the zealous who longed to convert the heathen, aroused the cupidity
of traders who thirsted for gold, and kindled the desire of monarchs to
found empires in Asia.
As the Spaniards had founded an empire in America, Portugal was
then nearing the zenith of her maritime glory. Mendez Pinto, a Por-
tuguese adventurer, seems to have been the first European who landed
on Japanese soil. On his return to Europe, he told so many wonder-
ful stories that he was dubbed, by a pun on his Christian name, " the
* In compiling this chapter, I have made use of Hildreth's "Japan as it Was
and Is;" L^on Page's "Histoire de la Religion Chrelienne au Japon;" Char-
levoix's" Histoire duChristianismeau Japon;" Dixon's" Japan;" "Shimabara: A
Japanese Account of the Christian Insurrection in 1637;" the Japanese Encyclo-
paedia, San Sai Dzu Ye; and the able paper of Herr Von Brandt (Minister of the
North German Confederation in Japan) read before the German Asiatic Society
of Japan.
248 ..... THE MIKA.DWS EMPIRE.
mendacious." His narrative was, however, as we now know, substan-
tially correct. Pinto, while in China, had got on board a Chinese
junk, commanded by a pirate. They were attacked by another cor-
sair, their pilot was killed, and the vessel was driven off the coast by
a storm. They made for the Liu Kiu Islands ; but, unable to find a
harbor, put to sea, and after twenty-three days beating about, sighted
the island of Tane (Tanegashima, island of the seed), off the south of
Kiushiu, and landed. The name of the island was significant. The
arrival of those foreigners was the seed of troubles innumerable. The
crop was priestcraft of the worst type, political intrigue, religious per-
secution, the Inquisition, the slave-trade, the propagation of Christian-
ity by the sword, sedition, rebellion, and civil war. Its harvest was
garnered in the blood of sixty thousand Japanese.
The native histories recount the first arrival of Europeans on Tane-
gashima in 1542, and note that year as the one in which fire-arms
were first introduced. Pinto and his two companions were armed
with arquebuses, which delighted this people, ever ready to accept
whatever will tend to their advantage. They were even more im-
pressed with the novel weapons than by the strangers. Pinto was in-
vited by the Daimio of Bungo to visit him, which he did. The na-
tives began immediately to make guns and powder, the secret of which
was taught them by their visitors. In a few years, as we know from
Japanese history, fire-arms came into general use. To this day many
country people call them " Tanegashima." Thus, in the beginning,
hand-in-hand came foreigners, Christianity, and fire-arms. To many a
native they are still each and equal members of a trinity of terrors, and
one is a synonym of the other. Christianity to most of " the heathen "
still means big guns and powder.
In those days commerce and piracy, war and religion, were closely
united ; and the sword and the cross were twin weapons, like the cime-
ter and the Koran of the Turks, by which the pious robbers of the
most Christian empires of Spain and Portugal went forth to conquer
weak nations.
The pirate-trader who brought Pinto to Japan cleared twelve hun-
dred per cent, on his cargo, and the three Portuguese returned, loaded
with presents, to China. This new market attracted hundreds of Por-
tuguese adventurers to Japan, who found a ready welcome at the hands
of the impressible people. The daimios vied with each other in at-
tracting the foreigners to their shores, their object being to obtain the
weapons, and get the wealth which would increase their power, as the
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 249
authority of the Ashikaga shoguns had before this time been cast off,
and each chief was striving for local supremacy.
The missionary followed the merchant. Already the Portuguese
priests and Franciscan friars were numerous in India and the straits.
A native of Satsuma named Anjiro, who, having killed a man, had
fled to Pinto's boat, and was carried off by him, after the long suffer-
ings of remorse reached Goa, becoming a convert to Christianity.
Learning to read and write Portuguese, and having mastered the whole
Christian doctrine, he became Xavier's interpreter. To the question
whether the Japanese would be likely to accept Christianity, Anjiro
answered — in words that seem fresh, pertinent, and to have been ut-
tered but yesterday, so true are they still — that " his people would not
immediately assent to what might be said to them, but they would
investigate what I might affirm respecting religion by a multitude of
questions, and, above all, by observing whether my conduct agreed with
my words. This done, the king (daimio), the nobility, and adult pop-
ulation would flock to Christ, being a nation which always follows rea-
son as a guide." The words are recorded by Xavier himself.
In 1 549, the party of two Jesuits and two Japanese landed at Ka-
goshima, in Satsuma. Xavier, after studying the rudiments of the lan-
guage, beyond which he never advanced, and making diligent use of
the pictures of the Virgin and Child, soon left the capital of this war-
like clan, for the city had not been favored with the commerce of the
Portuguese ; and, as the missionaries had not come to improve the
material resources of the province, they were not warmly welcomed.
He then went to Bungo and Nagato. Besides having an interpreter,
though unable to preach, he used to read the Gospel of Matthew trans-
lated by Anjiro into Japanese, and Romanized. Though unable to
understand much of it, he read it in public with great effect. There
trade was flourishing and enriching the daimios, and he was warmly
received by them. His next step was a journey to Kioto. There, in-
stead of the extraordinary richness of the sovereign's palace, which he
had expected to see plated with gold on the roofs and ceilings, with
tables of the same metal, and all the other wonders as related by Mar-
co Polo, he found it but a city which wars and fires had rendered des-
olate, and almost uninhabitable, except as a camp. Here he employed
the policy of austerity and poverty, his appearance being that of a beg-
gar, though later he used wealth and great display in his ministrations,
with marked effect. The mikado's (dairi) authority, he found, was
merely nominal ; the shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, ruled only over a
250 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
few provinces around the capital. Every one's thoughts were of war,
and battle was imminent The very idea of an interview with the mi-
kado was an absurdity, and one with the Kubo sama (shogun) an im-
possibility, his temporary poverty not permitting him to make a pres-
ent effectively large enough for the latter, and rendering him con-
temptible in the eyes of the people. He attempted to preach several
times in the streets, but, not being master of the language, failed to se-
cure attention, and after two weeks left the city disgusted. Not long
after, having turned his attention to the furtherance of trade and di-
plomacy, he departed from Japan, disheartened by the realities of mis-
sionary work He had, however, inspired others, who followed him,
and their success was amazingly great. Within five years after Xavier
visited Kioto, seven churches were established in the vicinity of the
city itself, while scores of Christian communities had sprung up in the
south-west. In 1581, there were two hundred churches, and one hun-
dred and fifty thousand native Christians. In Bungo, where Xavier
won his way by costly gifts, as he did in Suwo by diplomacy ; in Hari-
ma and Omura, the daimios themselves had professed the new faith,
while Nobunaga, the hater of the Buddhists, openly favored the Chris-
tians, and gave them eligible sites upon which to build dwellings and
churches. Ready to use any weapons against the bonzes, Nobunaga
hoped to use the foreigners as a counterpoise to their arrogance.
In 1583, an embassy of four young noblemen was dispatched by
the Christian daimios of Kiushiu to the pope, to declare themselves
vassals of the Holy See. Eight years afterward, having had audience
of Philip II. of Spain, and kissed the feet of the pope at Rome, they
returned, bringing with them seventeen Jesuit missionaries — an im-
portant addition to the many Portuguese religious of that order al-
ready in Japan. Spanish mendicant friars from the Philippine Isl-
ands, with Dominicans and Augustans, also flocked into the country,
preaching and zealously proselyting. The number of " Christians " at
the time of the highest success of the missionaries in Japan was, ac-
cording to their own figures, six hundred thousand — a number which
I believe is no exaggeration, the quantity, not quality, being consid-
ered. The Japanese, less accurately, set down a total of two million
nominal adherents to the Christian sects, large numerical statements
in Japanese books being untrustworthy, and often worthless. Among
their converts were several princes, and large numbers of lords and
gentlemen in high official position, generals and captains in the army,
and the admiral and officers of the Japanese fleets. Several of the la-
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 251
dies of the households of Hideyoshi, Hideyori, and lyeyasti, besides
influential women of noble blood in many provinces whose rulers were
not Christians, added to their power, while at the seat of government
the chief interpreter was a Jesuit father. Churches, chapels, and resi-
dences of the fathers were numbered by thousands, and in some prov-
inces crosses and Christian shrines were as numerous as the kindred
evidences of Buddhism had been before. The fathers and friars had
traveled or preached from one end of the western half of Hondo to
the other; northward in Echizen, Kaga, Echigo, and Oshiu, and in
the provinces of the Tokaido. They had also one church in Yedo.
The causes of this astonishingly rapid success of the Jesuits are to be
sought in the mental soil which the missionaries found ready prepared
for their seed. It was in the later days of the Ashikaga, when Xavier
arrived in Japan. Centuries of misrule and anarchy had reduced the
people, on whom the burdens of war fell, to the lowest depths of pov-
erty and misery. The native religions then afforded little comfort or
consolation to their adherents. Shinto had sunk to a myth almost
utterly unknown to the people, and so overshadowed by Buddhism
that only a few scholars knew its origin. Buddhism, having lost its
vitalizing power, had degenerated into a commercial system of prayers
and masses, in which salvation could be purchased only by the merit
of the deeds and prayers of the priests. Nevertheless, its material and
outward splendor were never greater. Gorgeous vestments, blazing
lights, imposing processions, altars of dazzling magnificence, and a
sensuous worship captivated the minds of the people, while indulgences
were sold, and saints' days and holidays and festivals were multiplied.
The Japanese are an intensely imaginative people; and whatever
appeals to the aesthetics of sense, or fires the imagination, leads the
masses captive at the will of their religious leaders. The priests of
Rome came with crucifixes in their hands, eloquence on their lips, and
with rich dresses, impressive ceremonies, processions, and mysteries
out-dazzled the scenic display of the Buddhists. They brought pict-
ures, gilt crosses, and images, and erected gorgeous altars, which they
used as illuminated texts for their sermons. They preached the doc-
trine of an immediate entrance into paradise after death to all be-
lievers, a doctrine which thrilled their hearers to an uncontrollable
pitch of enthusiasm. Buddhism promises rest in heaven only after
many transformations, births, and the repeated miseries of life and
death, the very thought of which wearies the soul. The story of the
Cross, made vivid by fervid eloquence, tears, and harrowing pictures
252 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
and colored images, which bridged the gulf of remoteness, and made
the act of Calvary near and intensely real, melted the hearts of the
impressible natives. Furthermore, the transition from the religion of
India to that of Rome was extremely easy. The very idols of Buddha
served, after a little alteration with the chisel, for images of Christ.
The Buddhist saints were easily transformed into the Twelve Apostles.
The Cross took the place of the torii. It was emblazoned on the hel-
mets and banners of the warriors, and embroidered on their breasts.
The Japanese soldiers went forth to battle like Christian crusaders.
In the roadside shrine Kuanon, the Goddess of Mercy, made way for
the Virgin, the mother of God. Buddhism was beaten with its own
weapons. Its own artillery was turned against it. Nearly all the
Christian churches were native temples, sprinkled and purified. The
same bell, whose boom had so often quivered the air announcing the
orisons and matins of paganism, was again blessed and sprinkled, and
called the same hearers to mass and confession ; the same lavatory
that fronted the temple served for holy-water or baptismal font ; the
same censer that swung before Amida could be refilled to waft Chris-
tian incense; the new convert could use unchanged his old beads,
bells, candles, incense, and all the paraphernalia of his old faith in
celebration of the new.
Almost every thing that is distinctive in the Roman form of Chris-
tianity is to be found in Buddhism : images, pictures, lights, altars,
incense, vestments, masses, beads, wayside shrines, monasteries, nun-
neries, celibacy, fastings, vigils, retreats, pilgrimages, mendicant vows,
shorn heads, orders, habits, uniforms, nuns, convents, purgatory, saint-
ly and priestly intercession, indulgences, works of supererogation,
pope, archbishops, abbots, abbesses, monks, neophytes, relics and relic-
worship, exclusive burial-ground, etc., etc., etc.
The methods which the foreign priests employed to propagate the
new faith were not such as commend themselves to a candid mind.
The first act of propagation was an act of Mariolatry. They brought
with them the spirit of the Inquisition, then in full blast in Spain and
Portugal, which they had used there for the reclamation of native and
Dutch heretics. In Japan they began to attack most violently the
character of the native bonzes, and to incite their converts to insult
the gods, destroy the idols, and burn or desecrate the old shrines.
They made plentiful use of the gold furnished liberally by the kings
of Portugal and Spain, under the name of " alms." In two years and
a half Xavier received one thousand doubloons (fifteen thousand dol-
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 253
lars) for the support of his mission. This abundance of the foreign
precious metal was noticed especially by the native rulers. In Kiu-
shiu the daimios themselves became Christians, and they compelled
their subjects to embrace their religion. The people of whole districts
of country were ordered to become Christians, or to leave their land
and the homes of their fathers, and go into banishment. The bonzes
were exiled or killed ; and fire and sword, as well as preaching, were
employed as instruments of conversion. Furthermore, fictitious mira-
cles were frequently got up to utilize the credulity of the superstitious
iu furthering the spread of the faith, glowing accounts of which may
be found in Leon Page's " Histoirc de la R. C." Not only do the na-
tive Japanese writers record these things as simple matter of fact, but
the letters of the Jesuits themselves, and the books written by them,
teem with instances of ferocious cruelty and pious fraud wrought in
their behalf, or at their instigation. The following passages from the
Jesuit Charlevoix's " Histoire du Christianisme au Japon " are trans-
lated by Dr. Walter Dixon in his " Japan :" " Sumitanda, King of
Omura, who had become a Christian in 1562, declared open war
against the devils [bonzes]. He dispatched some squadrons through
his kingdom to ruin all the idols and temples without any regard to
the bonzes' rage.".... "In 1577, the lord of the island of Ama-
cusa [Amakusa] issued his proclamation, by which his subjects —
whether bonzes or gentlemen, merchants or tradesmen — were required
either to turn Christians, or to leave the country the very next day.
They almost all submitted, and received baptism, so that in a short
time there were more than twenty churches in the kingdom. God
wrought miracles to confirm the faithful in their belief." The Daimio
of Takaski, in Settsu, " labored with a zeal truly apostolic to extirpate
the idolaters out of his states. He sent word that they should either
receive the faith, or be gone immediately out of his country, for he
would acknowledge none for his subjects but such as acknowledged
the true God. The declaration obliged them all to accept instruction,
which cut out work enough for all the fathers and missionaries at
Meaco [Miako]."
The Daimio of Bungo at one time, during war, destroyed a most
prodigious and magnificent temple, with a colossal1 statue, burning
three thousand monasteries to ashes, and razing the temples to the
ground. The comment of the Jesuit writer on this is, " This ardent
zeal of the prince is an evident instance of his faith and charity."
This does not, however, sound like an echo of the song once heard
254 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
above the Bethlehem hills, few echoes of which the Japanese have as
yet heard.
As the different orders, Jesuits, Franciscans, and Augustinians, in-
creased, they began to trench upon each other's parishes. This gave
rise to quarrels, indecent squabbles, and mutual vituperation, at which
the pagans sneered and the bonzes rejoiced. While the friars of
these orders were rigorously excommunicating each other, thinking
heathen were not favorably impressed with the new religion. Chris-
tianity received her sorest wound in the house of her friends.
At this time, also, political and religious war was almost universal
in Europe, and the quarrels of the various nationalities followed the
buccaneers, pirates, traders, and missionaries to the distant seas of
Japan. The Protestant, Dutch, and English stirred up the hatred
and fear of the Japanese against the papists, and finally against each
other. Spaniards and Portuguese blackened the character of the here-
tics, and as vigorously abused each other when it served their interest.
All of which impelled the shrewd Japanese to contrive how to use
them one against the other, an art which they still understand. All
foreigners, but especially Portuguese, then were slave-traders, and
thousands of Japanese were bought and sold and shipped to Macao,
in China, and to the Philippines. The long civil wars, and the misery
caused by them, and the expedition to Corea, had so impoverished the
people that slaves became so cheap that even the Malay and negro
servants of the Portuguese, speculated in the bodies of Japanese slaves
who were bought and sold and transported, jlideyoshi repeatedly
issued decrees threatening with death these slave-traders, and oven the
purchasers. The sea-ports of Hirado and Nagasaki were the resort
of the lowest class of adventurers from all European nations, and the
result was a continual series of uproars, broils, and murders among
the foreigners, requiring ever and anon the intervention of the native
authorities to keep the peace. To the everlasting honor of some of
the Jesuit bishops and priests be it said, they endeavored to do all
they could to prevent the traffic in the bodies of men.
Such a picture of foreign influence and of Christianity, which is
here drawn in mild colors, as the Japanese saw it, was not calculated
to make a permanently favorable impression on the Japanese mind.
While Nobunaga lived, and the Jesuits basked in his favor, all was
progress and victory. Jlideyoshi, though at first favorable to the new
religion, issued, in 1587, a~3ecf6e^of bafiishment against the foreign
missionaries. The Jesuits closed their churches and chapels, ceased
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 255
_to^ preach in public, but carried on their proselyting work in private
as vigorously as ever, averaging ten thousand converts a year, until
1 590. The Spanish mendicant friars, pouring in from the Philippines,
openly defied the Japanese laws, preaching in their usual garb in pub-
lic, and in their intemperate language. This aroused Hid^yoshi's
attention, and his decree of expulsion was renewed. Some of the
churches were burned. In 1596, six Franciscan, three Jesuit, and sev-
enteen Japanese converts were taken to Nagasaki, and there crucified.
Still the Jesuits resided in the country, giving out to the people that
the Spaniards nourished the political designs against Japan, and that
the decrees of expulsion had been directed against the priests of that
nation, and that the late outburst of persecution was an explosion of
zeal on the part of a few subordinate officials. Several of the gener-
als of the army in Corea still openly professed the Christian faith.
When the taiko died, affairs seemed to take a more favorable turn,
but only for a few years. The Christians looked to Hideyoshi as
their friend and quasi-leader. The battle of Sekigahara, and the de-
feat of Hideyori's following, blew their hopes to the winds ; and the
ignominious death of Ishida, Konishi, and Otani, the Christian gener-
als who had witnessed a good confession both as warriors and as up-
holders of the faith in Corea and at home, drove their adherents to
the verge of despair. lyeyasu. re-adjusted the feudal relations of his
vassals in Kiushiu ; and as the taiko had also re-arranged the fiefs, the
political status of the Christians was profoundly altered. The new
daimios, carrying the policy of their predecessors as taught them by
the Jesuits, but reversing its direction, began to persecute their Chris-
tian subjects, and to compel them to renounce their faith. The native
converts resisted even to blood and the taking-up of arms. This was
an entirely new thing under the Japanese sun. Hitherto the attitude
of the peasantry to the Government had been one of passive obedi-
ence and slavish submission. The idea of armed rebellion among the
farmers was something so wholly new that lyeyasu suspected foreign
instigation. Color was given to this idea by the fact that the foreign-
ers still secretly or openly paid court to Hideyori, and at the same
time freely dispersed gold and gifts, in addition to religious comfort,
_to the persecuted. lyeyasu became more vigilant as his suspicions in-
creased, and, resolving to crush this spirit of independence and intimi-
date the foreign emissaries, met every outbreak with bloody reprisals.
In 1606, an edict from Yedo forbade the exercise of the Christian re-
ligion, but an outward show of obedience warded off active persecu-
17
256 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
tion. In 1610, the Spanish friars again aroused the wrath of the Gov-
ernment by defying its commands, and exhorting the native converts
to do likewise. In 1611, lyeyasu obtained documentary proof of
what he had long suspected, viz., the existence of a plot on the part of
the native converts and the foreign emissaries to reduce Japan to the
position of a subject state. The chief conspirator, Okubo, then Gov-
ernor of Sado, to which place thousands of Christian exiles had been
sent to work the mines, was to be made hereditary ruler by the for-
eigners. The names of the chief native and foreign conspirators were
written down, with the usual seal of blood from the end of the middle
finger of the ringleader. With this paper was found concealed, in an
iron box in an old well, a vast hoard of gold and silver.
lyeyasu now put forth strenuous measures to root out utterly what
he believed to be a pestilent breeder of sedition and war. Fresh edicts
were issued, and in 1614 twenty-two Franciscan, Dominican, and Au-
gustinian friars, one hundred and seventeen Jesuits, and hundreds of
native priests and catechists, were embarked by force on board junks,
and sent out of the country.
In 1615, lyeyasu pushed matters to an extreme with Hideyori, who
was then entertaining some Jesuit priests ; and, calling out the troops
of Kiushiu and the Kuanto, laid siege to the castle of Ozaka. A bat-
tle of unusual ferocity and bloody slaughter raged, on the 9th of June,
1615, ending in the burning of the citadel, and the total defeat and
death of Hideyori and thousands of his followers. The Jesuit fathers
say that one hundred thousand men perished in this brief war, of
which vivid details are given in the " Histoire de la Religion Chretienne."
The Christian cause was now politically and irretrievably ruined. Hil-
dredth remarks that Catholicism in Japan " received its death-blow in
that same year in which a few Puritan pilgrims landed at Plymouth
to plant the obscure seeds of a new and still growing Protestant em-
pire."
The exiled foreign friars, however, kept secretly returning, apparent-
ly desirous of the crown of martyrdom. Hidetada, the shogun, now
pronounced sentence of death against any foreign priest found in the
country. lyemitsu, his successor, restricted all foreign commerce to
Nagasaki and Hirado ; all Japanese were forbidden to leave the coun-
try on pain of death; and in 1624 all foreigners, except Dutch and
Chinese, were banished from Japan, and an edict was issued command-
ing the destruction of all vessels beyond a certain diminutive size, and
restricting the universal model in ship-building to that of the coasting
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIQNBB8. 257
junk. Fresh persecutions followed, many apostate lords and gentry
now favoring the Government. Fire and sword were used to extir-
pate Christianity, and to paganize the same people who in their youth
were Christianized by the same means. Thousands of the native con-
verts fled to China, Formosa, and the Philippines. All over the em-
pire, but especially at Ozaka and in Kiushiu, the people were com-
pelled to trample on the cross, or on a copper plate engraved with the
representation of " the Christian criminal God." The Christians suf-
fered all sorts of persecutions. They were wrapped in straw sacks,
piled in heaps of living fuel, and set on fire. All the tortures that
barbaric hatred or refined cruelty could invent were used to turn thou-
sands of their fellow-men into carcasses and ashes. Yet few of the
natives quailed, or renounced their faith. They calmly let the fire of
wood cleft from the crosses before which they once prayed consume
them, or walked cheerfully to the blood-pit, or were flung alive into
the open grave about to be filled up. Mothers carried their babes at
their bosoms, or their children in their arms to the fire, the sword, or
the precipice's edge, rather than leave them behind to be educated in
the pagan faith. If any one doubt the sincerity and fervor of the
Christian converts of to-day, or the ability of the Japanese to accept a
higher form of faith, or their willingness to suffer for what they be-
lieve, they have but to read the accounts preserved in English, Dutch,
French, Latin, and Japanese, of various witnesses to the fortitude of
the Japanese Christians of the seventeenth century. The annals of
the primitive Church furnish no instances of sacrifice or heroic con-
stancy, in the Coliseum or the Roman arenas, that were not paralleled
on the dry river-beds and execution-grounds of Japan.
Finally, in 1637, at Shimabara, the Christians rose by tens of thou-
sands in arms, seized an old castle, repaired and fortified it, and raised
the fla"- of rebellion. Annies from Kiushiu and the KuantO, emu-
O '
posed mainly ^of veterans of Corea and Ozaka, were sent by the sho-
<jun to besiege it. Their commanders expected an easy victory, and
sneered at the idea of having any difficulty in subduing these farmers
and peasants. A siege of two months, by land and water, was, how-
ever, necessary to reduce the fortress, which was finally done with the
aid of Dutch cannon, furnished under compulsion by the traders at
Deshima. The intrepid garrison, after great slaughter, surrendered,
and then the massacre of thirty-seven thousand Christians began, and
was finished by the hurling of thousands more from the rock of Pap-
pcnberg, in Nagasaki harbor. Thousands more were banished to va-
258
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
rious provinces, or put to death by torture. Others escaped, and
fled to the island of Formosa, joining their brethren already there.
The edicts prohibiting the " evil sect " were now promulgated and
published permanently all over the empire, and new ones commanded
that, as long as the sun should shine, no foreigners should enter Ja-
pan, or natives leave it The Dutch gained the privilege of a paltry
trade and residence on the little fan-shaped island of Deshima (outer
island), in front of Nagasaki. Here, under degrading restrictions and
constant surveillance, lived a little company of less than twenty Hol-
landers, who were allowed one ship per annum to come from the
"The Tarpeian Hock of Japan:" the Island of Pappenberg, iu Nagasaki Harbor,
need as a picnic resort.)
(Now
Dutch East Indies and exchange commodities of Japan for those of
Holland.
After" nearly a hundred years of Christianity and foreign inter-
course, the only apparent results of this contact with another religion
and civilization were the adoption of gunpowder, and fire-arms as
weapons, the use of tobacco, and the habit of smoking, the making
of sponge-cake (still called Castira — the Japanese form of Castile),
the naturalization into the language of a few foreign words, the intro-
duction of new and strange forms of disease, among which the Japa-
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 259
nese count the scourge of the venereal virus, and the permanent addi-
tion to that catalogue of terrors which priest and magistrate in Asiat-
ic countries ever hold as weapons to overawe the herd. For centuries
the mention of that name would bate the breath, blanch the cheek,
and smite with fear as with an earthquake shock. It was the syno-
nym of sorcery, sedition, and all that was hostile to the purity of the
home and the peace of society. All over the empire, in every city,
town, village, and hamlet ; by the roadside, ferry, or mountain pass ;
at every entrance to the capital, stood the public notice-boards, on
which, with prohibitions against the great crimes that disturb the
relations of society and government, was one tablet, written with a
deeper brand of guilt, with a more hideous memory of blood, with a
more awful terror of torture, than when the like superscription was
•affixed at the top of a cross that stood between two thieves on a little
hill outside Jerusalem. Its daily and familiar sight startled ever and
anon the peasant to clasp hands and utter a fresh prayer, the bonze
to add new venom to his maledictions, the magistrate to shake his
head, and to the mother a ready word to hush the crying of her fret-
ful babe. That name was Christ. So thoroughly was Christianity,
or the "Jashiu m&n" (corrupt sect), supposed to be eradicated before
the end of the seventeenth century, that its existence was historical,
remembered only as an awful scar on the national memory. No ves-
tiges were supposed to be left of it, and no knowledge of its tenets
was held, save by a very few scholars in Yedo, trained experts, who
were kept, as a sort of spiritual blood-hounds, to scent out the adher-
ents of the accursed creed.
So perfect was the work done, that the Government believed fully,
as Europeans, and among them Mr. Lecky, who uses the example to
strengthen his argument, that " persecution had extirpated Christian-
ity in Japan." It was left to our day, since the recent opening of
Japan, for them to discover that a mighty fire had been smoldering
for over two centuries beneath the ashes of persecutions. As late as
1829, seven persons, six men and an old woman, were crucified in
Ozaka, on suspicion of being Christians and communicating with for-
eigners. When the French brethren of the Mission Apostolique, of
Paris, came to Nagasaki in 1860, they found in the villages around
them over ten thousand people who held the faith of their fathers of
the seventeenth century.
A few interesting traces and relics of the century of Christianity
and foreigners still exist in Japan. In the language the names of
260
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
God (Deus), Holy Spirit (Espiritu Santo), Jesus (Yesu), and Christ
(Kirishito) have remained. Castira is still the name of sponge-cake,
so universally used, and the making of which was first taught by the
men of Castile ; and the Japanese having no I, change that letter into r.
The Japanese have no word for bread ; they use the Latin pan. The
words taffel (table), Dontaku (Sunday), cuppu (cup), rauda (lauda-
num), yerikter (electricity), bouton (button), briki (tin), and many of
the names of drugs and medicines, and rare metals and substances,
terms in science, etc., and even some in common use, are but the Jap-
anized forms of the Dutch words. I have seen " Weird Specifica "
Hollander on Deshima looking for the Arrival of a Ship.
and " Voum Von Mitter " in large Roman letters, or in katagana, ad-
vertised on the hanging signs of the drug-shops in every part of the
country I have been in, from Kobe to near Niigata, and other trav-
elers have noticed it nearly everywhere in Japan. It is the old or
incorrect spelling of the name of some Dutch nostrum.
The natives speak of Christianity as the religion of the " Lord of
Heaven." The destruction of the Christian churches, crosses, images,
etc., was so thorough that the discovery of relics by modern seekers
has been very rare. A few years ago, shortly after Perry's arrival,
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 261
there was in Suruga a cave, to which the country people resorted in
large numbers, on account of the great efficacy believed to reside in an
image of the mother of Shaka (Buddha), with her infant in her arms.
The idol was reputed to have healed many diseases. An educated
samurai, who hated all foreigners and their ways and works, especially
the " Jesus doctrine," happening to enter the cave, perceived in a mo-
ment that the image was a relic of the old Christian worship. It was
nothing else than an image of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus.
The samurai dashed it to pieces.
The attempts of the English and French to open a permanent trade
with Japan are described in Hildredth's "Japan as It Was and Is."
Captain John Saris, with the ships Clove, Thomas, and Hector, left
England in April, 1611, with letters from the king, James VI. of En-
gland, to the " emperor " (shogun) of Japan. Landing at Hirado, he
was well received, and established a factory in charge of Mr. Richard
Cocks. With Will Adams and seventeen of his company, Saris set
out to see lyeyasfi, who was then living at the modern Shidzuoka.
He touched at Hakata, traversed the Inland Sea, past Shimonos6ki, to
Ozaka ; thence by boat to Fushimi, thence by horse and palanquin to
Sumpu (Shidzuoka). In the interview accorded the English captain,
lyeyasu invited him to visit his son, Hidetada, the ruling shogun at
Yedo. Saris went to Yedo, visiting, on his way, Kamakura and the
great copper image of Dai Butsu, some of the Englishmen going in-
side of it and shouting in it for the fun of the thing. They also
wrote their own names inside of it, as foreign tourists, visitors, and
even personal friends of republican rulers do to this day, and as the
natives have always done, to immortalize themselves. After a stay
in Yedo, they touched at Uraga ; thence returned to Sumpu, where a
treaty, or privileges of trade, in eight articles, was signed and given to
Saris. It bore the signature of Minamoto Iy6yasu.
After a tour of three months, Saris arrived at Hirado again, having
visited Kioto, where he saw the splendid Christian churches and Jes-
uit colleges, on his way. After discouraging attempts to open a trade
with Siam, Corea, and China, and hostilities having broken out be-
tween them and the Dutch, the English abandoned the project of per-
manent trade with Japan; and all subsequent attempts to reopen it
failed.
Will Adams, who was an English pilot, and the first of his nation
in Japan, is spoken of frequently, and in no flattering terms, by the
Jesuit fathers. He arrived in Japan in 1607, and lived in or near
262 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Yedo till he died, in 1620. By the sheer force of a manly, honest
character, this sturdy Briton, " who may have seen Shakspeare and
Ben Jonson" and Queen Elizabeth, rose into favor with lyeyasu,
and gained the regard of the people. His knowledge of ship-build-
ing, mathematics, and foreign affairs made him a very useful man.
Although treated with honor and kindness, he was not allowed to
leave Japan. He had a wife and daughter in England. He was
made an officer, and given the revenues of the village of Hemi, in Sa-
gami, near the modern Yokosuka, where are situated the dry-docks,
machine-shops, and ship-building houses in which the modern war-ves-
sels of the imperial navy are built and launched — a fitting location, so
near the ground made classic by this exile from the greatest marine
nation in the world. Will Adams had a son and daughter born to
him in Japan, and there are still living Japanese who claim descent
from him. One of the streets of Yedo was named after him, Anjin
Cho (Pilot Street), and the people of that street still hold an annual
celebration on the 15th of June in his honor, one of which I attended
in 1873. When Adams died, he, and afterward his Japanese wife,
were buried on the summit of one of the lovely hills overlooking the
Bay of Yedo, Goldsborough Inlet, and the surrounding beautiful and
classic landscape. Adams chose the spot himself. Ths people of
Yedo erected memorial-stone lanterns at his tomb. Perry's fleet, in
1854, anchored within the very shadow of the Englishman's sepul-
chre. In May, 1872, Mr. Walters, of Yokohama, after a study of Hil-
dreth and some search, discovered the tomb, which others had sought
for in vain. Two neat stone shafts, in the characteristic style of na-
tive monumental architecture, set on a stone pediment, mark the spot.
I visited it, in company of the bonze in charge of the Shin shiu tem-
ple of the village, in July, 1873.
In Charlevoix's " Histoire du Christianisme au Japon," it is related
that the Abbe Sidotti, an Italian priest, came to Manila, with the in-
tention of landing in Japan, and once more attempting to regain Japan
to Christianity. After several years' waiting, he persuaded the cap-
tain of a vessel to take him to Satsuma and set him ashore. This
was done in 1709. He was arrested and sent to Yedo. There he was
confined in a house in the city district, called Koishikawa, on the
slope of a hill ever since called Kirishitan zaka (Christian slope), as
the valley at the foot is called Kirishitan dane (Christian valley), and
the place Kirishitan gui (Christian neighborhood). Here the censors,
judges, scholars, and interpreters assembled, and for many days ex-
CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGNERS. 263
amined him, asking many questions and gaining much information
concerning foreign countries. In another building near by, an old
man and woman who had professed Christianity, and had been com-
pelled to recant, were confined. After the abbe's arrival, exhorted by
him, they again embraced their old faith. The abb6 gave his name
as Jean Baptiste. He made a cross of red paper, which he pasted on
the wall of his room. He was kept prisoner, living for several years
after his arrival, in Yedo, and probably died a natural death.
About ten years ago, the Rev. S. R. Brown, D.D., discovered a
book called Sei Yd Ki Bun (Annals of Western Nations), in three
volumes, written by the Japanese scholar who examined the abbe.
The books contain a summary of the history and judicial proceedings
in the case, and the information gained from the Italian. The whole
narrative is of intensest interest. While in Tokio, in 1874, 1 endeav-
ored to find the site of the Inquisition, and the martyr's tomb.
Tradition says that the abbe was buried on the opposite slope of
the valley corresponding to that on which he lived, under an old pine-
tree, near a spring. Pushing my way through scrub bamboo along a
narrow path scarcely perceptible for the undergrowth, I saw a name-
less stone near a hollow, evidently left by a tree that had long since
fallen and rotted away. A little run of water issued from a spring
hard by. At the foot was a rude block of stone, with a hollow for
water. Both were roughly hewn, and scarcely dressed with the chisel.
Such stones in Japan mark the graves of those who die in disgrace,
or unknown, or uncared for. This was all that was visible to remind
the visitor of one whose heroic life deserved a nobler monument.
The influence of a century of Papal Christianity in Japan on the
national ethics and character was nil. A careful examination has not
revealed any trace of new principles of morals adopted by the Japa-
nese from foreigners in the sixteenth, as has been gained in the nine-
teenth century, though the literary, scientific, and material gains were
great. The Japanese mental constitution and moral character have
been profoundly modified in turn by Buddhism and Confucianism,
but the successive waves of Christianism that passed over Japan left
no sediment teeming with fertility, rather a barren waste like that
which the river-floods leave in autumn. I should be glad to see these
statements disproved, Let us hope that the Christianity of the present,
whether Catholic, Protestant, or Russo-Greek, may work a profounder
and more beneficent revolution in faith and moral practice, and that
only that kingdom may be established which is not of this world.
264 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE,
XXVI.
IYEYASU, THE FOUNDER OF TEDO.
THE last of struggles of rival military factions for the possession of
power is now to be narrated, and the weary record of war and strife
closed. Since 1159, when the Taira and Minamoto came to blows in
the capital, and the imperial palace fell into the hands of armed men,
and the domination of the military families began, until the opening
of the seventeenth century the history of Japan is but that of civil
war and slaughter. The history of two centuries and a half that fol-
lowed the triumphs of lyeyasu is that of profound peace. Few na-
tions in the world have enjoyed peace so long.
The man who now stood foremost among men, who was a legislator
as well as warrior, who could win a victory and garner the fruits of it,
was Tokugawa lyeyasu, the hero of Sekigahara, the most decisive bat-
tle in Japanese history, the creator of the perfected dual system and
of feudalism, and the founder of Yedo.
Yedo is not an ancient city. Its site becomes historic when Yama-
to Dake, in the second century of our era, marched to conquer the
Eastern tribes. In later times, the Minamoto chieftains subdued the
plains of the Kuanto. Until the twelfth century, the region around
the Bay of Yedo was wild, uncivilized, and sparsely populated, and
the inhabitants were called by the polished Kioto people "Adzuma
Ebisu," or Eastern boors.
In the fifteenth century, a small castle was built on the rising
ground within the western circuit of the present stronghold, and near
Koji machi (Yeast Street), where now stands the British Legation.
East of the castle was a small relay village, 0 Temna Cho, near the
modern site of the prison, at which officials or travelers, on their way
to Kamakura or Kioto, vi& the Tokaido, might stop for rest and re-
freshment, or to obtain fresh kagos (palanquins), bearers, and bag-
gage-carriers. The name of the commander of the castle, Ota Do-
kuan, a retainer of the shogun at Kamakura, and a doughty warrior,
is still preserved in the memories of the people, and in poetry, song,
lYEYASt, THE FOUNDER OF YEDO. 205
art, and local lore. A hill in the north of the city, a delightful pic-
nic resort, bears his name, and the neighborhood of Shiba was his
favorite drill-ground and rendezvous before setting out on forays or
campaigns.
One romantic incident, in which a maiden of equal wit and beauty
bore chief part, has made him immortal, though the name of the fair
one has been forgotten. One day, while out hawking near Yedo, a
heavy shower of rain fell. Dismounting from his horse, he, with his
attendant, approached a house, and in very polite terms begged the
loan of a grass rain-coat (mino). A pretty girl, daughter of the man
of the house, came out, listened, blushing, to the request, but, answer-
ing not a word, ran to the garden, plucked a flower, handed it, with
mischief in her eyes, to the hero, and then coquettishly ran away.
Ota, chagrined and vexed at such apparently frivolous manners and
boorish inhospitality, and the seeming slight put upon his rank, re-
turned in wrath, and through the rain, to his castle, inwardly cursing
the "Adzuma Ebisu," who did not know how to treat a gentleman.
It happened that, shortly after, some court nobles from Kioto were
present, sharing the hospitalities of the castle at Ycdo, to whom he
related the incident. To his own astonishment, the guests were de-
lighted. " Here," said they, " in the wilderness, and among the 'Ad-
zuma Ebisu,' is a gentle girl, who is not only versed in classic poetry,
but had the wit and maidenly grace to apply it in felicitous style."
Ota had asked for a rain-coat (mino) ; the little coquette was too po-
lite to acknowledge she had none. How could she say " no " to such
a gallant ? Rather, to disguise her negative, she had handed him a
mountain camellia ; and of this flower the poet of Yamato had, centu-
ries ago, sung : " Although the mountain camellia has seven or eight
petals, yet I grieve to say it has no seed " (mino).
After the death of Ota, no name of any great note is attached to
the unimportant village or fortress; but in 1590, at the siege of Oda-
wara, Hideyoshi suggested to his general, ly^yasu, Yedo as the best
site for the capital of the Kuanto. After the overthrow of the " later
Hojo " clan, and the capture of their castle at Odawara, Iy6yasti went
to Yedo and began to found a city. He set up his court, and watched
his chances.
lyeyasu was born at Okasaki, in Mikawa, in 1542 ; he served with
,Nobunaga and with Hideyoshi; again fought with the latter, and
again made terms with him. His first possessions were Mikawa and
Suruga. In the latter province he built a fine castle at Sumpu (now
266 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
called Shidzuoka), and made it his residence for many years. He seems
to have had little to do with the Corean expedition. While busy in
building Yedo in 1598, he received news of the taiko's sickness, at-
tended his death-bed, and swore to protect and advance the interests
of the child Hideyori, then six years old.
The prospects of the boy were not very fine. In the first place, few
people believed him to be the son of the taiko. In the second place,
the high-spirited lords and nobles, who prided themselves on their blood
and lineage, detested Hideyoshi as an upstart, and had been kept in
curb only by his indomitable will and genius. They were still more
incensed at the idea of his son Hideyori, even if a true son, succeed-
ing. Again : . Hidenobu, the nephew of Nobunaga, was living, and
put in a claim for power. His professed conversion to Christianity
gave him a show of support among the Christian malcontents. As
for lyeyasu, he was suspected of wishing to seize the military power
of the whole empire. The strong hand of the taiko wa& no longer
felt. The abandonment of the Corean invasion brought back a host
of men and leaders, flushed with victory and ambition. Differences
sprung up among the five governors. With such elements at work —
thousands of men, idle, to whom war was pastime and delight, princes
eager for a fray in which land was the spoil, more than one man aspir-
ing to fill the dead master's place — only a spark was needed to kindle
the blaze of war.
The governors suspected lyeyasu. They began to raise an army,
lyeyasu was not to be surprised. He followed the example of his
rivals, and watched. I shall not tax the patience of the reader to fol-
low through the mazes of the intricate quarrels which preceded the
final appeal to arms. Suffice to say, that after the seizure and reseiz-
ure of the citadel of Ozaka and the burning of the taiko's splendid
palace in Fushimi, the army of the league and the army of lyeyasu
met at Sekigahara (plain of the barrier), in Omi, near Lake Biwa.
By this battle were decided the condition of Japan for over two
centuries, the extinction of the claims of the line of Nobunaga and
Hideyoshi, the settlement of the Tokugawa family in hereditary suc-
cession to the shogunate, the fate of Christianity, the isolation of Ja-
pan from the world, the fixing into permanency of the dual system
and of feudalism, the glory and greatness of Yedo, and peace in Japan
for two hundred and sixty-eight years.
In the army of the league were the five governors appointed by the
taiko, and the lords and vassals of Hideyoshi, and most of the generals
1Y&YASU, THE FOUNDER OF YEDO. 267
and soldiers who had served in the Corean campaigns. Among them
were the clans of Satsuma, ChOshiu, Uy^sugi, Ukita, Asano, and the
famous Christian generals, Konishi and Ishida. This army, one hun-
dred and eighty thousand strong, was a heterogeneous mass of veter-
ans, acting under various leaders, and animated by various interests.
As the leaders lacked unity of purpose, so the army was made the vic-
tim of discordant counsels and orders. On the other hand, the army
of one man, lyeyasQ, had one soul, one discipline, and one purpose.
The Castle of Gifu, in Mino, was captured by one of his captains. On
the 1st of October, 1600, lyeyasu marched from Yedo over the T5-
kaidd with a re-enforcement of thirty thousand troops. His standard
was a golden fan and a white flag embroidered with hollyhocks. The
diviners had declared " the road to the West was shut." Iy6yasii
answered, "Then I shall open it by knocking." On the thirteenth
day he arrived at Gifu, where he effected a junction with his main
body. Some one offered him a persimmon (ogaki). He said, as it
fell in his hand, " Ogaki waga te ni otsuru " (" Ogaki has fallen into
my hand "). He threw it down, and allowed his attendants to eat the
good-omened and luscious pieces.
The battle-field at Sekigahara is an open, rolling space of ground,
lying just inside the eastern slope of hills on the west wall of Lake
Biwa, and part of the populous plain drained by the Kiso gawa, a
branch of which crosses the field and winds round the hill, on which,
at that time, stood a residence of the Portuguese missionaries. The
Nakasendo,* one of the main roads between Yedo and Kioto, enters
from Omi, and bisects the field from west to east, while from the north-
west, near the village of Sekigahara, the road enters from Echizeu. By
* The Nakasendo (Central Mountain Road) is three hundred and eighty-one
miles long. It begins at the Bridge of Sanjo, over the river at Kioto, and ends at
Nihon Bridge in Tokio. It was used, in part, as early as the second century, but
was more fully opened in the early part of the eighth century. It passes through
Omi, Mino, Shinano, Kodzuke", terminating in Musashi. It can be easily trav-
ersed in fourteen days ; but the tourist who can understand and appreciate all
he sees would be reluctant to perform the tour, if for pleasure, in less than a
month. There are on the route nine toge (mountain passes). It carries the trav-
eler through the splendid scenery of Shinano, which averages twenty-five hun-
dred feet above the sea-level, along Lake Biwa, and nearly its whole length is
classic ground. The Nakasendo is sometimes called the Kisokaido. An excel-
lent guide-book, in seven volumes, full of good engravings, published in 1805,
called Kisoji Meisho Dzuye (" Collection of Pictures of Famous Places on the Na-
kasendo"), furnishes the information that makes a sight of the famous places
very enjoyable. The heights of the toge are as follows : 620, 2150, 3060, 4340, 3680,
5590, 3240, and 4130 feet, respectively.
268 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
this road the writer, in 1872, came to reach the classic site and study
the spot around which cluster so many stirring memories. The lead-
ers of the army of the league, having arranged their plans, marched
out from the Castle of Ogaki at early morn on the fifteenth day of
the Ninth month. They built a fire on a hill overlooking the narrow
path, to guide them as they walked without keeping step. It was
raining, and the armor and clothes of the soldiers were very wet. At
five o'clock they reached the field, the Satsuma clan taking up their
position at the foot of a hill facing east. Konishi, the Christian hero
of Corea, commanded the left centre, Ishida the extreme left. Four
famous commanders formed, with their corps, the right wing. Re-
serves were stationed on and about the hills facing north. The cav-
alry and infantry, according to the Guai Shi figures, numbered one
hundred and twenty-eight thousand.
At early morn of the same day one of the pickets of lyeyasu's out-
posts hastened to the tent of his general and reported that all the en-
emy had left the Castle of Ogaki. Other pickets, from other points,
announced the same reports simultaneously. lyeyasu, in high glee,
exclaimed, " The enemy has indeed fallen into my hand." He order-
ed his generals to advance and take positions on the field, himself
leading the centre. His force numbered seventy-five thousand.
This was the supreme moment of lyeyasu's life. The picture as
given us by native artist and tradition is that of a medium-sized and
rotund man, of full, round, and merry face, who loved mirth at the
right time and place, and even when others could not relish or see its
appropriateness. Of indomitable will and energy, and having a gen-
ius for understanding men's natures, he astonished his enemies by ce-
lerity of movement and the promptitude with which he followed up
his advantages. Nevertheless, he was fond of whims. One of these
was to take a hot bath before beginning a battle ; another was to is-
sue ambiguous orders purposely when he wished to leave a subordi-
nate to act according to his own judgment. On the present occasion,
his whim was to go into battle with armor donned, but with no hel-
met on, knotting his handkerchief over his bare forehead. A dense
fog hung like a pall over the battle-field, so that one could not see far-
ther than a few feet.
The two armies, invisible, stood facing each other. However, lye-
yasu sent an officer with a body of men with white flags, who ad-
vanced six hundred feet in front of the main army, to prevent surprise.
At eight o'clock the fog lifted and rolled away, and the two hosts de-
IYEYAS&, THE FOUNDER OF YEDO. 269
scried each other. After a few moments' waiting, the drums and
concha of the centre of each army sounded, and a sharp fire of match-
locks and a shower of arrows opened the battle. The easterners at
first wavered, and till noon the issue was doubtful. Cannon were
used during the battle, but the bloodiest work was done with the
sword and spear. One of the corps in the army of the league deserted
and joined the side of lyeyasti. At noon, the discipline and unity of
the eastern army and the prowess and skill of lyeyasu triumphed.
Ordering his conch-blowers and drummers to beat a final charge, and
the reserves having joined the main body, a charge was made along
the whole line. The enemy, routed, broke and fled. Nearly all the
wounded, and hundreds of unscathed on the battle-field, committed
hara-kiri in order not to survive the disgrace. The pursuers cut off
the heads of all overtaken, and the butchery was frightful. The grass
was dyed red, and the moor became literally, not only an Aceldama,
but a Golgotha. According to the Ouai Shi's exaggerated figures,
forty thousand heads were cut off. Of the Eastern army four thousand
were slain, but no general was killed. The soldiers assembled, accord-
ing to custom, after the battle in the centre of the field, to show their
captives and heads. On this spot now stands a memorial mound of
granite masonry within a raised earthen embankment, surrounded and
approached from the road by rows of pine-trees. On the Kioto side
of the village, near the shrine of Hachiman, may be seen a kubidzuka
(barrow, or pile of heads), the monument of this awful slaughter, and
one of the many such evidences of former wars which careful travelers
in Japan so often notice.
lyeyasu went into the fight bare-headed. After the battle he sat
down upon his camp-stool, and ordered his helmet to be brought. All
wondered at this. Donning it with a smile, and fastening it securely,
he said, quoting the old proverb, "After victory, knot the cords of
your helmet." The hint was taken and acted upon. Neither rest nor
negligence was allowed.
The Castle of Hikone, on Lake Biwa, was immediately invested and
captured. Ozaka was entered in great triumph. Fushimi and Kioto
were held; Choshiu and Satsuma yielded. Konishi and Ikeda were
decapitated on the execution-ground in Kioto. The final and speedy
result was that all Japan submitted to the hero who, after victory, had
knotted the cords of his helmet.
270 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XXVII.
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM.
WE have traced the rise and fall of no fewer than six families that
held governing power in their persons or in reality. These were in
succession the Sugawara, \Fujiwara, Taira, Minamoto, Hojo, and Ashi-
kaga. The last half of the sixteenth century witnessed the rise, not
of great families, but of individuals, the mark of whose genius and en-
ergy is stamped upon Japanese history. These three individuals were
Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and lyeyasu. Who and what were they ?
Nobunaga was one of many clan-leaders who, by genius and dar-
ing, rose above the crowd, and planned to bring all the others in sub-
jection to himself, that he might rule them in the mikado's name.
From having been called Baka Dono (Lord Fool) by his enemies, he
rose to be Nai Dai Jin, and swayed power equal to a shogun, but he
never received that name or honor ; for not being a Minamoto, he was
ineligible. But for this inviolable precedent, Nobunaga might have be-
come Sei-i Tai Shogun, and founded a family line as proud and pow-
erful as that of the Tokugawas of later time.
Who was Hideyoshi? This question was often asked, in his own
time, by men who felt only too keenly what he was. This man, who
manufactured his own ancestry on paper, was a parvenu from the
peasant class, who, from grooming his master's horses in the stable,
continued his master's work, as shogun, in the field, and, trampling
on all precedent, amazed the Fujiwara peers by getting the office of
kuambaku.
Who was lyeyasu ? Neither of his two predecessors had Minamoto
blood. lyeyasu, though at first an obscure captain under Nobunaga,
was of true Genji stock. The blood of mikados, and of the great
conquerors of Eastern Japan, was in his veins. He was destined to
eclipse even the splendor of his forefathers. He was eligible, by right
of descent, to become Sei-i Tai Shogun, or chief of all the daimios.
The family of Tokugawa took its name from a place and river in
Shimotsuke, near Ashikaga and Nitta — which are geographical as
THE PERFECTION OF DVARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 271
well as personal names — claimed descent from the mikado Seiwa
through the Minamoto Yoshiiy6, thence through that of Nitta Yoshi-
sada. Tokugawa Shiro, the father of Iy6yasu, lived in the village of
Matsudaira, in Mikawa. lyeyasu always signed the documents sent
to foreigners, Minamoto no lyeyastt.
As it is the custom in Japan, as in Europe, to name families after
places, the name of this obscure village, Matsudaira, was also taken as
a family name by nearly all vassals, who held their lands by direct
grant from Iy6yasti. In 1867, no fewer than fifty-four daimios were
holding the name Matsudaira. The title of the daimid in whose capi-
tal the writer lived in 1871, was Matsudaira Echizen no Kami
Crest of the Tokugawa Family.
The Tokugawa crest was a circle inclosing three leaves of the awoi
(a species of mallow, found in Central Japan) joined at the tips, the
stalks touching the circle. This gilded trefoil gleamed on the Govern-
ment buildings and property of the shogun, and on the official docu-
ments, boats, robes, flags, and tombs. On Kaempfer's and Hildreth's
books there is printed under it the misleading legend, " Insignia Im-
peratoris Japonici." The trefoil flag fluttered in the breeze when
Commodore Perry made his treaty under its shadow. To this day
many foreigners suppose it to be the national flag of Japan. It was
simply the family crest of the chief daimio in Japan.
The imperial court, yearning for peace, and finding in lyeyastt the
person to keep the empire in order, command universal obedience, and
18
272 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
satisfy the blood requirements of precedent to the office, created him
Sei-i Tai Shogun, and it was left to Minamoto Tokugawa lyeyasu to
achieve the perfection of duarchy and Japanese feudalism.
Let us see how he arranged the chess-board of the empire. There
were his twelve children, a number of powerful princes of large landed
possessions whom he had not conquered, but conciliated ; the lesser
daimios, who had joined him in his career ; his own retainers of every
grade ; and a vast and miscellaneous array of petty feudal superiors,
having grants of land and retinues of from three to one hundred fol-
lowers. The long hereditary occupation of certain lands had given
the holders a right which even lyeyasu could not dispute. Out of
such complexity and chaos, how was such a motley array of proud
and turbulent men to be reduced to discipline and obedience ? Upon
such a palimpsest, how was an accurate map to be drawn, or a durable
legible record to be written? lyeyasu had force, resources, and pa-
tience. He was master of the arts of conciliation and of letting alone.
He could wait for time to do its work. He would give men the op-
portunity of being conquered by their own good sense.
Of lyeyasti's twelve children, three daughters married the daimios
of Mimasaka, Sagami, and Hida. Of his nine sons, Nobuyasu died
before his father became shogun. Hideyasu, his second son, had been
adopted by the taiko, but a son was born to the latter. lyeyasu then
gave his son the province of Echizen. Hence the Echizen clansmen,
as relatives of the shogunal family, were ever their stanchest sup-
porters, even until the cannon fired at Fushimi in 1868. Their crest
was the same trefoil as that of their suzerain. When Hideyasu was
enfeoffed with Echizen, many prominent men and heads of old families,
supposing that he would, of course, succeed his father in office, followed
him to his domain, and lived there. Hence in Fukui, the capital of
Echizen, in which I lived during the year 1871, 1 became acquainted
with the descendants of many proud families, whose ancestors had
nursed a profound disappointment for over two centuries ; for lyeyasu
chose his third son, Hidetada, who had married a daughter of the
taiko, to succeed him in the shogunate.
Tadayashi, fifth son of lyeyasu, whose title was Matsudaira Satsuma
no Kami, died young. At his death five of his retainers disemboweled
themselves, that they might follow their young master into the happy
land. This is said to be the last instance of the ancient custom of
jun-shi (dying with the master), such as we have noticed in a former
chapter. During the early and medieval centuries occur authentic in-
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 273
stances of such immolation, or the more horrible test of loyalty in the
burial of living retainers to their necks in the earth, with only the head
above ground, who were left to starve slowly to death. Burying a man
alive under the foundations of a castle about to be built or in the pier
of a new bridge, was a similar instance of lingering superstitions.
In the Bu Kan (" Mirror of the Military Families of Japan "), a com-
plete list of the " Yedo nobility," or clans, no record is given of lye-
yasu's sixth and ninth male children. On his three last sons were
bestowed the richest fiefs in the empire, excepting those of Satsuma,
Kaga, Mutsu, Higo, and a few others — all-powerful daimios, whose
lands lyeyasu could not touch, and whose allegiance was only secured
by a policy of conciliation. These three sons were invested with the
principalities of Owari, Kii, and Mito. They founded three families,
who were called Gosanke (the three illustrious families), and from
these, in case of failure of heirs in the direct line, the shogun was
to be chosen. The assessed revenue of these families were 610,500,
555,000, and 350,000 koku of rice, respectively. They were held in
great respect, and wielded immense influence. Their yashikis in Yedo
were among the largest, and placed in the most conspicuous and com-
manding sites of the city. At the tombs of the shoguns at Shiba and
Uyeno, the bronze memorial lanterns presented in honor of the de-
ceased ruler are pre-eminent above all others for their size and beauty.
In the course of history down to 1868, it resulted that the first sev-
en_ah^guns_were_d£sc_endants of lyeyasu in the line of direct heirs.*
From the eighth, and thence^ downward to the sixteenth, or next to the
last, the shoguns were all really of the blood of Kii. The Owari fam-
ily was never represented on the seat of lyeyasu. It was generally
believed, and is popularly stated, that as the first Prince of Mito had
* SHOGUNS OF THE TOKUGAWA FAMILY.
1. ly^yasQ 1603-1604
2. Hi<tetada 1605-1633
3. ly&nitsu 1633-1649
4. ly^tsuna 1650-1680
5. Tsunayoshi 1681-1708
6. ly^nobu 1709-1713
7. lyStsugu 1713-1716
8. Yoshimun(§... ,. 1717-1744
9. Iy6shig<§ 1745-1763
10. ly^haru 1763-1786
11. Iy<§nori 1787-1837
12. lydyoshi 1838-1853
13. Iy<§sada* 1853-1858)
14. Iy<§mochi 1858-1866 [•
15. Noriyoshit 1866-1868'
* First shogun ever styled Tai-knn (" Tycoon ") in a treaty document. The last three
shoguus were styled Tai-knn by themselves and foreigners.
t Keiki, or Hitotsubashi, the last Sei-i Tai Shogun, still living (1376) at Shidzuoka, in Su-
274 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
married the daughter of an enemy of lyeyasu, the Mito family could
not furnish an heir to the shogunate. In 1867, however, as we shall
see, Keiki, a son of Mito, but adopted into the Hitotsubashi family, be-
came the thirty-ninth and last Sei-i Tai Shogun of Japan, the fifteenth
and last of Tokugawa, and the fourth and last " Tycoon " of Japan.
Next to the Gosanke ranked the Kokushiu (koku, province ; shiu,
ruler) daimios, the powerful leaders whom lyeyasu defeated, or won
over to obedience, but never tamed or conquered. He treated them
rather as equals less fortunate in the game of war than himself. Some
of them were direct descendants of the Kokushiu appointed by Yori-
tomo, but most were merely successful military adventurers like lye-
yasu himself. Of these, Kaga was the wealthiest. He ruled over
Kaga, Noto, and Etchiu, his chief city and castle being at Kanezawa.
His income was 1,027,000 koku. The family name was Maeda.
There were three cadet families ranking as Tozama, two with incomes
of 100,000, the other of 10,000 koku. The Maeda crest consisted of
five circles, around ten short rays representing sword-punctures. The
Shimadzu family of Satsuma ruled over Satsuma, Ozumi, Hiuga, and
the Liu Kiu Islands — revenue, 710,000 koku; chief city, Kagoshima.
There was one cadet of the house of Shimadzu, with a revenue of
27,000 koku. The crest was a white cross* within a circle.
The Datte family ruled over the old northern division of Hondo,
called Mutsu; capital, Sendai; revenue, 325,000 koku. There were
three cadet families, two having 30,000 koku ; and one, Uwajima, in
lyo, 100,000. Their crest was two sparrows within a circle of bamboo
and leaves.
The Hosokawa family ruled Higo ; income 540,000 : the chief city
is Kumamoto, in which is one of the finest castles in Japan, built by
Kato Kiy omasa. Of three cadets whose united incomes were 81,300
koku, two had cities in Higo, and one in Hitachi ; crest, eight disks
around a central smaller disk.
The Kuroda family ruled Chikuzen ; revenue, 520,000 ; chief city
Fukuoka ; crest, a black disk. One cadet in Kadzusa had 30,000
koku ; crest, a slice of cucumber. Another in Chikuzen ; revenue,
50,000 ; crest, Wistaria flowers.
* This cruciform figure of the Greek pattern puzzled Xavier, who suspected
theology in it. It has been a perpetual mare's-nest to the many would-be anti-
quarians, who burn to immortalize themselves by unearthing Christian relics in
Japan. It is a standard subject of dissertation by new-comers, who help to give
a show of truth to the platitude of the ports, that " the longer one lives in Japan,
the less he knows about it."
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 275
The Asano family ruled Aki; chief city, Hiroshima; revenue,
426,000 ; one cadet.
The Mori family ruled Choshiu ; chief city, Hagi ; revenue, 369,000.
Of three cadet families, two were in Nagato, one was in Suwo. Their
united incomes, 100,000 koku ; crest, a kind of water-plant.
The above are a few specimens from the thirty-six families outside
of the Tokugawa, and the subject (fudai) clans, who, though not of
the shogunal family, took the name of Matsudaira. There were, in
1862, two hundred and sixty-seven feudal families, and as many dai-
mios of various rank, income, and landed possessions. Japan was thus
divided into petty fragments, without real nationality, and utterly un-
prepared to bear the shock of contact with foreigners.
The Tozama [outside (of the shogunal family) nobility] were cadet
families of the Kokushiu, or the smaller landed lords, who held heredi-
tary possessions, and who sided with lyeyasu in his rise to power.
There were, in 1862, ninety whose assessed revenue ranged from ten
to one hundred thousand koku each.
The Fudai (literally, successive generations) were the generals, cap-
tains, and retainers, both civil and military, on whom lyeyasu be-
stowed land as rewards. They were the direct vassals of the Toku-
gawa family. The shogun could order any of them to exchange their
fiefs, or could increase or curtail their revenues at will. They were to
the shogun as the old " Six Guards " of Kioto, or household troops of
the mediaeval mikadoate. There were, in 1862, one hundred and fif-
teen of this class, with lands assessed at from ten to one hundred
thousand koku. It was only the fudai, or lower-grade daimios, who
could hold office under the Yedo bakufu, and one became regent, as
we shall see.
When once firmly seated on the throne, lyeyasu found himself
master of almost all Japan. His greatest care was to make such a
disposal of his lands as to strike a balance of power, and to insure
harmony among the host of territorial nobility, who already held or
were about to be given lands. It must not be forgotten that lydyastt
and his successors were, both in theory and reality, vassals of the em-
peror, though they assumed the protection of the imperial person.
Neither the shogun nor the daimios were acknowledged at Kioto as
nobles of the empire. The lowest kuge was above the shogun in
rank. The shogun could obtain his appointment only from the mi-
kado. He was simply the most powerful among the daimios, who
had won that pre-eminence by the sword, and who, by wealth and
276 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
power, and a skillfully wrought plan of division of land among the
other daimios, was able to rule for over two and a half centuries.
Theoretically, he was primus inter pares ; in actuality, he was supreme
over inferiors. The mikado was left with merely nominal power, de-
pendent upon the Yedo treasury for revenue and protection, but he
was still the fountain of honor and preferment, and, with his court,
formed what was the lawful, and, in the last analysis, the only true
power. There was formed at Yedo the de facto, actual administrative
government of the empire. With the imperial family, court, and no-
bles, lyeyasu had nothing to do except as vassal and guardian. He
simply undertook to settle the position and grade the power of the
territorial nobles, and rule them by the strong hand of military force.
Nevertheless, real titles were bestowed only by the emperor ; and an
honor granted, however empty of actual power, from the Son of
Heaven in Kioto was considered immeasurably superior to any gift
which the awe-compelling chief daimio in Yedo could bestow. The
possession of rank and official title is the ruling passion of a Japanese.
The richest daimios, not content with their power and revenue, spent
vast sums of money, and used every influence at the Kioto court, to
win titles, once, indeed, the exponent of a reality that existed, but,
since the creation of the duarchy and the decay of the mikado's ac-
tual power, as absurdly empty as those of the mediatized princes of
Germany, and having no more connection with the duties implied
than the title of Pontifex Maximus has with those of Chief Bridge-
builder in Rome.
The head of the proud Shimadzii family, with his vast provinces
of Satsuma, Hiuga, Ozumi, and the Liu Kiu Islands, cared as much
for the pompous vacuity of Shuri no daibu (" Chief of the Office of
Ecclesiastical Carpenters ") as to be styled Lord of Satsuma.
It is in the geographical distribution of his feudal vassals that the
genius of lyeyasu is seen. Wherever two powerful clans that still
bore a grudge against the Tokugawa name were neighbors, he put be-
tween them one of his own relatives or direct vassals, which served to
prevent the two daimios from combining or intriguing. Besides dis-
posing of his enemies so as to make them harmless, his object was
to guard the capital, Kioto, so that aspiring leaders could never again
seize the person of the mikado, as had been repeatedly done in times
past. He thus removed a chronic element of disorder.
Echizen commands Kioto from the north ; it was given to his eldest
son. Omi guards it from the east; it was divided among his direct
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHT AND FEUDALISM. 277
vassals, while Owari and Kii were assigned to his sons. His fudai
vassals, or " household troops," were also ranged on the west, while
to the south-west was Ozaka, a city in the government domain, ruled
by his own officials. Thus the capital was completely walled in by
friends of Tokugawa, and isolated from their enemies.
Mori, once the lord of ten provinces, and the enemy of Tokugawa,
was put away into the extreme south-west of Hondo, all his territories
except Nagato (Choshiu) being taken from him, and given to Toku-
gawa's direct vassals. Opposite to Nagato were Kokura and Chikuzen,
enemies of Nagato. We shall see the significance of this when we
treat of events leading to the Restoration (1853-1868). Shikoku
was properly divided, so as to secure a preponderance of Tokugawa's
most loyal vassals. Kiushiu was the weakest part of the system ; yet
even here Satsuma was last and farthest away, and Higo, his feudal
rival and enemy, was put next, and the most skillful disposition possi-
ble made of the vassals and friends of Tokugawa.
In the daimioates succession to their lands was hereditary, but not
always to the oldest son, since the custom of adoption was very preva-
lent, and all the rights of a son were conferred on the adopted one.
Often the adopted child was no relation of the ruler. Sickly infants
were often made to adopt a son, to succeed to the inheritance and keep
up the succession. One of the most curious sights on occasions of
important gatherings of samurai, was to see babies and little boys
dressed in men's clothes, as " heads of families," sustaining the dignity
of representing the family in the clan. I saw such a sight in 1871.
One great difference between the Japanese system and that of en-
tails in Europe lay in this, that the estate granted to each daimio
could not be added to, or diminished, either by marriage, or by pur-
chase, or by might, except by express permission and grant from the
shogun, the superior of all.
Next to the daimios ranked the hatamoto, or flag-supporters (Aata,
flag ; moto, root, under), who were vassals of the shogun — his special
dependence in war time — having less than ten thousand koku reve-
nue. Each had from three to thirty retainers in his train. They
were, in most cases, of good family, descendants of noted warriors.
They numbered eighty thousand in various parts of the empire, but
the majority lived in Yedo. They formed the great body of military
and civil officials. The gokenin, many of the descendants of lyeya-
su's private soldiers, were inferior in wealth and rank to the hatamoto,
but with them formed the hereditary personal following of the slid-
278 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
gun, and constituted the Tokugawa clan proper, whose united reve-
nues amounted to nearly nine million koku. The shogun, or chief
daimio of the empire, has thus unapproachable military resources, fol-
lowing, and revenue, and could overawe court and emperor above,
princes and vassals beneath.
All included within the above classes and their military retainers
were samurai, receiving hereditary incomes of rice from the Govern-
ment. They were privileged to wear two swords, to be exempt from
taxes. They may be styled the military-literati of the country. To the
great bulk of these samurai were given simply their daily portion of
rice ; to others, rations of rice for from two to five persons. Some of
them received small offices or positions, to which land or other sources
of income were attached. The samurai's ideas of honor forbade him
to do any work or engage in any business. His only duty was to keep
perfunctory watch at the castle or his lord's house, walk in his lord's
retinue, or on stated occasions appear in ceremonial dress. His life
was one of idleness and ease ; and, as may be imagined, the long cent-
uries of peace served only to develop the dangerous character of this
large class of armed idlers. Some, indeed, were studious, or engaged
with zeal in martial exercises, or became teachers ; but the majority
spent their life in eating, smoking, and lounging in brothels and tea-
houses, or led a wild life of crime in one of the great cities. When
too deeply in debt, or having committed a crime, they left their homes
and the service of their masters, and roamed at large. Such men were
called ronins, or " wave-men." Usually they were villains, ready for
any deed of blood, the reserve mercenaries from which every conspir-
ator could recruit a squad. Occasionally, the ronin was a virtuous cit-
izen, who had left the service of his lord for an honorable purpose.
Ill fared it with the merchants. They were considered so low in
the social scale that they had no right in any way to oppose or to
remonstrate with the samurai. Among the latter were many noble
examples of chivalry, men who were ever ready to assist the oppress-
ed and redress their wrongs, often becoming knights-errant for the ben-
efit of the wronged orphan and the widow, made so by a murderer's
hand. But among the hatamoto and gokenin, especially among the
victors of Sekigahara, cruelties and acts of violence were not only fre-
quent and outrageous, but winked at by the Government officials.
These blackmailers, in need of funds for a spree, would extort money
under various pretexts, or none at all, from helpless tradesmen ; or
their servants would sally out to a tea-house, and, having eaten or
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 279
drunk their fill, would leave without paying, swaggering, drunk, and
singing between their tipsy hiccoughs. Remonstrances from the
landlord would be met with threats of violence, and it was no rare
thing for them, in their drunken fury, to slash off his head. Yet
these same non-producers and genteel loafers were intensely sensitive
on many points of honor, and would be ready at any moment to die
for their master. The possession of swords, and the arrogance bred
of their superiority as a privileged class, acted continually as a temp-
tation to brawls and murder.
Edinburgh, in the old days of the clans, is perhaps the best illustra-
tion of Yedo during the Tokugawa times. Certain localities in Yedo
at night would not suffer by a comparison with the mining regions
of California during the first opening of the diggings, when to " eat "
a man, or to kill an Indian before breakfast, was a feather in the cap
of men who lived with revolvers constantly in their belts. As there
were always men in the gulches of whom it was a standing prophecy
that they would " die with their boots on," so there was many a man
in every city of Japan of whom it would be a nine days' wonder
should he die with his head on. Of such men it was said that their
death would be inujini (in a dog's place).
Yet the merchant and farmer were not left utterly helpless. The
Otokodate were gallant and noble fellows, not of the samurai class,
but their bitter enemies. The swash-bucklers often met their match
in these men, who took upon themselves to redress the grievances of
the unarmed classes. The Otokodate were bound together into a
sort of guild to help each other in sickness, to succor each other in
peril, to scrupulously tell the truth and keep their promises, and never
to be guilty of meanness or cowardice. They lived in various parts
of Japan, though the most famous dwelt in Yedo. They were the
champions of the people, who loved and applauded them. Many a
bitter conflict took place between them and the overbearing samurai,
especially the " white-hilts." The story of their gallant deeds forms
the staple of many a popular story, read with delight by the common
people.
Below the samurai, or gentry, the three great classes were the farm-
ers, artisans, and merchants. These were the common people. Be-
neath them were the etas, who were skinners, tanners, leather-dressers,
grave-diggers, or those who in any way handled raw -hide or buried
animals. They were the pariahs, or social outcasts, of Japan. They
were not allowed to enter a house, or to eat or drink, sit or cook at
280 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the same fire with other persons. These people were said by some to
be descendants of Corean prisoners ; by others, to have been original-
ly the people who killed animals for feeding the imperial falcons. As
Buddhism prohibited the eating of animals as food, the eta were left
out of the pale of society. The hinin (not human) were the lowest
class of beggars, the squatters on waste lands, who built huts along the
road, and existed by soliciting alms. They also attended to the execu-
tion of criminals and the disposal of their corpses. In general, they
were filthy and disgusting, in their rags and dirt.
There were thus, according to one division, eight classes of society :
1st, the kuge, Kioto or court nobility; 2d, the daimios, Yedo or ter-
ritorial nobles ; 3d, the buke, or hatamoto, or samurai of lower rank
than that of daimio and priest ; 4th, landed proprietors without title,
and farmers, called hiyakusho ; 5th, artisans, carpenters, etc., called
shokonin ; 6th, merchants, shop-keepers, and traders, called akindo ;
7th, actors, prostitutes, genteel beggars, etc. ; 8th, tanners, skinners,
hinin, and eta.
Another division is that into four classes: 1st, military and official
— samurai; 2d, agricultural — farmer; 3d, laboring — artisan; 4th,
trading — merchant. Below the level of humanity were the eta and
hinin.
This was the constitution of society in Japan during the rule of
the Tokugawa until 1868.
lyeyasu, in 1600 and the years following, employed an army of
300,000 laborers in Yedo, in enlarging the castle, digging moats and
canals, grading streets, filling marshes, and erecting buildings. His
fleets of junks brought granite from Hiogo for the citadel and gate
buttresses, and the river -boats the dark stone for the walls of the en-
ceinte. His faith in the future of the city was shown in his ordering
an immense outer ditch to be dug, which far more than completely
encircled both castle and city, and gates and towers to be built, when
as yet there was no wall connecting, or dwelling-houses within them,
and city people sauntered out into the country to see and laugh at
them. According to tradition, the great founder declared that walls
would be built, and the city extend far beyond them. The prediction
was verified ; for it is probable that within fifty years, as we know
from old maps of Yedo, the land east of the river was built upon, and
the city had spread to within two -thirds of its present proportions,
and before the year 1700 had a population of over 500,000 souls.
Yedo never did have, as the Hollanders guessed, and as our old text-
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCUY AND FEUDALISM. 283
books, in stereotyped phrase, told us, 2,500,000 souls. It is probable
that, in 1857, when Mr. Townsend Harris, the American envoy, first
entered it, it had as many as 1,000,000. In 1872, by official census,
the population of Tokio, including that of the villages around it and
under the municipal jurisdiction, was 925,000; of the city proper,
790,000 permanent residents, to which should be added nearly 100,000
floating population.
Outside of Yedo, the strength of the great unifier was spent on the
public roads and highways, especially the Tokaido, or road skirting
the Eastern Sea, which begins at Kioto and ends at Tokio. He ar-
ranged fifty -three stations (skiki, relays, or post -stations), at which
were hotels, pack-horses, baggage - coolies, and palanquin - bearers. A
regular code of regulations to govern the movements of the daimios
and nobles when traveling — the etiquette to be observed, the scale of
prices to be charged — was duly arranged, and continued in force until
1868. The roads, especially the mountain-passes, bridges, and ferries,
were improved, and one ri (measure of two and two -fifth miles) hill-
ocks to mark the distances set up. The regulations required that the
main roads should be thirty -six feet wide, and be planted with pine-
trees along their length. Cross-roads should have a width of eighteen
feet ; foot - paths, six ; and of by - paths through the fields, three feet.
At the ferry-landing on either bank of a river there was to be an open
space of about three hundred and sixty feet. Various other regula-
tions, pertaining to minute details of life, sumptuary laws, and feudal
regulations, were promulgated, and gradually came into force through-
out the empire.
To defend the Kuanto, and strengthen his position as military ruler
of the empire, he built or improved the nine castles of Mito, Utsuno-
miya, Takasaki, Odawara, and five others in the Kuanto. At Sumpu,
Ozaka, and Nijo, in Kioto, were also fine castles, and to their command
officers were assigned. All these, and many other enterprises, required
a vast outlay of money. The revenue of the empire amounted to near-
ly 30,000,000 koku (165,000,000 bushels) of rice. Of this, nearly
9,000,000 koku were retained as the revenue of the Tokugawas. The
mines were government property ; and at this time the gold of Sado
was discovered, which furnished Iy6yasu with the sinews of war and
peace. This island may be said to be a mass of auriferous quartz, and
has ever since been the natural treasure-house of Japan.
lyeyasu had now the opportunity to prove himself a legislator, as
well as a warrior. He began by granting amnesty to all who would
284 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
accept it. He wished the past forgotten. He regretted that so much
blood had been spilled. He entered upon a policy of conciliation that
rapidly won to his side all the neutral and nearly all the hostile clans.
There were some who were still too proud or sullen to submit or ac-
cept pardon. These were left quietly alone, the great unifier waiting
for the healing hand of time. He felt sure of his present power, and
set himself diligently to work during the remainder of his life to con-
solidate and strengthen that power so that it would last for centuries.
lyeyasu was created Sei-i Tai Shogun in 1603. Only twice during
his life-time was peace interrupted. The persecution of the Christians
was one instance, and the brief campaign against Hideyori, the son
of the taiko, was the second. Around this young man had gather-
ed most of the malcontents of the empire. lyeyasu found or sought
a ground of quarrel against him, and on the 3d of June, 1615, at-
tacked the Castle of Ozaka, which was set on fire. A bloody battle,
the last fought on the soil for two hundred and fifty-three years, re-
sulted in the triumph of lyeyasu, and the disappearance of Hideyori
and his mother, who were probably consumed in the flames. His
tomb, however, is said to be in Kagoshima. It is most probably a
cenotaph.
The greatest of the Tokugawas spent the last years of his life at
Sumpu (Shidzuoka), engaged in erasing the scars of war, securing the
triumphs of peace, perfecting his plans for fixing in stability his sys-
tem of government, and in collecting books and manuscripts. He be-
queathed his " Legacy," or code of laws (see Appendix), to his chief
retainers, and advised his sons to govern in the spirit of kindness.
He died on the 8th of March, 1616. His remains were deposited tem-
porarily at Kuno Zan, a few miles from Snmpu, on the side of a love-
ly mountain overlooking the sea, where the solemnity of the forest
monarchs and the grandeur of sea and sky are blended together.
Acting upon the dying wish of his father, Hidetada had caused to be
erected at Nikko Zan, one hundred miles north of Yedo, a gorgeous
shrine and mausoleum. The spot chosen was on the slope of a hill,
on which, eight centuries before, the saintly bonze Shodo, following
Kobo Daishi's theology, had declared the ancient Shinto deity of the
mountain to be a manifestation of Buddha to Japan, and named him
the Gongen of Nikko. Here Nature has glorified herself in snow-
ranges of mighty mountains, of which glorious Nantaizan reigns king,
his feet laved by the blue splendors of the Lake Chiuzenji, on which
his mighty form is mirrored. Nikko means sunny splendor; and
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 286
through Japanese poetry and impassioned rhetoric ever sparkle the
glories of the morning's mirror in Chiuzenji, and the golden floods of
light that bathe Nantaizan. The water-fall of Kiri Take (falling mist),
over seven hundred feet high; the lake's outlet; the foaming river,
grassy green in its velocity; the colossal forests and inspiring scen-
ery, made it the fit resting-place of the greatest character in Japanese
history.
In 1617, his remains were removed from Kuno, and in solemn pag-
eantry moved to Nikko, where the imperial envoy, vicar of the mikado,
court nobles from Kioto, many of his old lords and captains, daimios,
and the shogun Hidetada, awaited the arrival of the august ashes.
The corpse was laid in its gorgeous tomb, before which the vicar of
majesty presented the gohei, significant of the apotheosis of the mighty
warrior, deified by the mikado as the divine vice-regent of the gods of
heaven and earth, under the title Sho ichi i To Sho Dai Gongen, or
" Noble of the first Degree of the first Rank, Great Light of the East,
Great Incarnation of Buddha." During three days, a choir of Bud-
dhist priests, in their full canonical robes, intoned the Hokke sacred
classic ten thousand times. It was ordained that ever afterward th'3
chief priest of Nikko should be a prince of the imperial blood, under
the title of Rinnoji no miya.
Of Hidetada, the successor of lyeyasu, there is little to record. The
chief business of his life seems to have been to follow out the policy
of his father, execute his plans, consolidate the central power, establish
good government throughout the empire, and beautify, strengthen, and
adorn Yedo.
lyemitsu, the grandson of lyeyasu, is acknowledged to have been
the ablest ruler of all the Tokugawas after the founder, whose system
he brought to perfection. In 1623, he went to Kioto to do homage
to the mikado, who invested him with the title of Sei-i Tai Shogun.
By this time many of the leaders and captains who had fought under
lyeyasu, or those who most respected him for his prowess, were dead
or superannuated, and had been succeeded by their sons, who, as
though fated to follow historical precedent, failed to possess the vigor
of their fathers, their associations being those of peace, luxury, and
the effeminacy which follows war.
lyemitsu was a martinet as well as a statesman. He proposed that
all the daimios should visit and reside in Yedo during half the year.
Being at first treated as guests, the shogun coming out to meet them
in the suburbs, they swore allegiance to his rules, sealing their signa-
286
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
tares, according to custom, with blood drawn from the third finger of
the right hand. Gradually, however, these rules became more and
more restrictive, until the honorable position degenerated into a con-
dition tantamount to mere vassalage. Their wives and children were
kept as hostages in Yedo, and the rendition of certain tokens of re-
spect, almost equivalent to homage to the shogun, became imperative.
During his rule the Christian insurrection and massacre at Shimabara
took place. The Dutch were confined to Deshima. Yedo was vastly
improved. Aqueducts, still
in excellent use, were laid, to
supply the city with water.
To guard against the ev-
er-threatening enemy, fife,
watch-towers, or lookouts,
such as are to be seen in
every city, were erected in
great numbers. Bells are
hung at the top and a code
--**— — ™ I *"^ 31 \ ^Na! °^ S^gna^s» an(l a prescribed
' *J^ ^~ ' number of taps give the lo-
cality and progress of the
conflagration. Mints were
established, coins struck,
weights and measures fixed ;
the system of official espion-
age, checks, and counter-
checks established; a gen-
eral survey of the empire
executed ; maps of the vari-
Pire-lookonts in Yedo. (Height shown by a kite OUS provinces and plans of
flown by a boy in the street.) ^ daimi5s> castleg were
made, and their pedigrees made out and published ; the councils called
Hiojo-sho (Discussion and Decision), and Wakadoshi (Assembly of
Elders), established, and Corean'envoys received.
The height of pride and ambition which lyemitsu had already
reached is seen in the fact that, in a letter of reply from the bakufu
to Corea, the shogun is referred to as Tai Kun (" Tycoon "), a title
never conferred by the mikado on any one, nor had lyemitsu any le-
gal right to it. It was assumed in a sense honorary or meaningless to
any Japanese, unless highly jealous of the mikado's sovereignty, and
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHT AND FEUDALISM. 287
was intended to overawe the " barbarian " Coreans. It is best explain-
able in the light of the Virgilian phrase, magna pars fui, or the less
dignified " Big Indian I."
The building of the fine temples of Toyeizan, at Uyeno, in Yedo,
and at Nikko, were completed in lyemitsii's time, he making five jour-
neys thither. He died in 1649, after a prosperous rule of twenty-six
years, and was buried with his grandfather at Nikko.
The successors of lyeyasu, the shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty,
fourteen in all, were, with one exception, buried alternately in the
cemeteries of Zozoji and Toyeizan, in the city districts of Shiba and
Uy6no. These twin necropolises of the illustrious departed were the
chief glories of Yedo, which was emphatically the city of the Toku-
gawas. The remains of six of them lie in Uyeno, and six in Shiba,
while two are at Nikko.
During the summer of 1872, in company with an American friend
and three of my brightest students, I made a journey to Nikko, and
for nearly a week reveled in its inspiring scenery and solemn asso-
ciations. During my three years' residence in Tokio, I visited these
twin sacred places many times, spending a half -day at a visit. No
one has described these places better than Mr. Mitford, in his " Tales
of Old Japan." He says : " It is very difficult to do justice to their
beauty in words. I have the memory before me of a place green in
winter, pleasant and cool in the hottest summer, of peaceful cloisters,
of the fragrance of incense, of the subdued chant of richly robed
priests, and the music of bells of exquisite designs, harmonious color-
ing, and rich gilding. The hum of the vast city outside is unheard here,
lyeyasu himself, in the mountains of Nikko, has no quieter resting-place
than his descendants in the heart of the city over which he ruled."
Passing through an immense red portal on the north side of Shiba,
we enter the precincts of the sacred place through a long, wide ave-
nue, lined by overarching firs, and rendered solemnly beautiful by
their shade. A runner is usually on hand to conduct visitors to the
gate, inside of which a priest is waiting. We enter a pebbled court-
yard, in which are ranged over two hundred large stone lanterns.
These are the gifts of the fudai daimios. Each lantern is inscribed
with the name of the donor, the posthumous title of the deceased sho-
gun, the name of the temple at Shiba, and the province in which it is
situated, the date of the offering, and a legend, which states that it is
reverently offered. On the following page is the reading on one, and
will serve as a specimen :
19
288 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
TO THE
ILLUSTRIOUS TEMPLE OF LEARNING*
[Posthumous title of the sixth Shogun lyenobu]
THIS STONE LANTERN,
SET UP BEFORE THE TOMB AT THE TEMPLE OF ZOZOJI,
IN MUSASHI,
IS REVERENTLY OFFERED
BY THE
RULING DA1MIO,
NOBLE OF THE FIFTH RANK,
MASUYAMA FUJIWARA MASATO,
LORD OF TSUSHIMA,
IN THE SECOND YEAR OF THE PERIOD OF STRICT VIRTUE,
IN THE CYCLE OF THE WATER DRAGON
[1711].
Passing through a handsomely gilt and carved gate-way, we enter
another court -yard, the sides of which are gorgeously adorned.
Within the area are bronze lanterns, the gift of the Kokushiu daimios.
The six very large gilded lanterns standing by themselves are from
the Go San Ke, the three princely families, in which the succession to
the office of shogun was vested. To the left is a monolith lavatory ;
and to the right is a splendid building, used as a depository of sacred
utensils, such as bells, gongs, lanterns, etc., used only on matsuri, or
festival days. Passing through another handsome gate which eclipses
the last in richness of design, we enter a roofed gallery somewhat like
a series of cloisters. In front is the shrine, a magnificent specimen of
native architecture.
Sitting down upon the lacquered steps, we remove our shoes, while
the shaven bonze swings open the gilt doors, and reveals a transept
and nave, laid with finest white matting, and ceiled in squares wrought
with elaborate art. The walls of the transept are arabesqued, and the
panels carved with birds and flowers — the fauna of Japan, both real
and mythical — and the various" objects in Japanese sacred and legend-
ary art. In each panel the subjects are different, and richly repay
* The Tidmio, or posthumous titles of thirteen Tokugawa shoguns, are : 1, Great
Light of the East ; 2, Chief Virtue ; 3, Illustrious Enterprise ; 4, Strict Holding ;
5, Constant System ; 6, Literary Brightness ; 7, Upholder of the Plan ; 8, Up-
holder of Virtue ; 9, Profound Faith ; 10, Steady Brightness ; 11, Learned Rever-
ence ; 12, Learned Carefulness ; 13, Rigid Virtue.
THE PERFECTION OF DUARCHY AND FEUDALISM. 280
study. The glory of motion, the passionate life of the corolla, and
the perfection of nature's colors have been here reproduced in inani-
mate wood by the artist. At the extremity of the nave is a short
flight of steps. Two massive gilt doors swing asunder at the touch of
priestly hands, and across the threshold we behold an apocalypse of
splendor. Behind the sacred offertories, on carved and lacquered
tables, are three reliquaries rising to the ceiling, and by their outer
covering simulating masses of solid gold. Inside are treasured the
tablets and posthumous titles of the august deceased. Descending
from this sanctum into the transept again, we examine the canonical
rolls, bell, book, and candles, drums and musical instruments, with
which the Buddhist rites are celebrated and the liturgies read. Don-
ning our shoes, we pass up a stone court fragrant with blossoming
flowers, and shaded with rare and costly trees of every variety, form,
and height, but overshadowed by the towering firs. We ascend a
flight of steps, and arc in another pebbled and stone-laid court, in
which stands a smaller building, called a haiden, formerly used by the
living shogun as a place of meditation and prayer when making his
annual visit to the tombs of his forefathers. Beyond it is still another
flight of stone steps, and in the inclosure is a plain monumental urn,
"This is the simple ending to so much magnificence" — the solemn
application of the gorgeous sermon.
The visitor, on entering the cemetery by the small gate to the right
of the temple, and a few feet distant from the great belfry, will see
three tombs side by side. The first to the left is that of lyenobu,
the sixth of the line, who ruled in 1709-1713. The urn and gates of
the tomb are of bronze. The tomb in the centre is that of lyeyoshi,
the twelfth, who ruled 1838-1854. The third, to the right, is that of
lyemochi, the fourteenth shogun, who ruled 1858-1866, and was the
last of his line who died in power.
From the tomb of lyemochi, facing the east and looking to the
left, we may see the tombs of lyetsugu (l 7 13-1 7 16), the seventh, and
of lyeshige (1745-1762), the ninth, shogun. Descending the steps
and reaching the next stone platform, we may, by looking down to
the left, see the tombs of a shogun's wife and two of his children.
The court -yards and shrines leading to the tombs of lyetsugu and
lyeshige are fully as handsome as the others. Hidetada (1606-
1623), the second prince of the line, is buried a few hundred yards
south of the other tombs. The place is easily found. Passing down
the main avenue, and turning to the right, we have a walk of a fur-
290 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
long or two up a hill, on the top of which, surrounded by cameiiia-
trees, and within a heavy stone palisade, is a handsome octagon edi-
fice of the same material. A mausoleum of gold lacquer rests up-
right on a pedestal. The tomb, a very costly one, is in a state of
perfect preservation. On one side of the path is a curiously carved
stone, representing Buddha on his death-bed. The great temple of
Zozoji belonged to the Jodo sect, within whose pale the Tokugawas
lived and died.*
* This splendid temple and belfry was reduced to ashes on the night of Decem-
ber 31st, 1874, by a fanatic incendiary. It had been sequestrated by the Imperial
Government, and converted into a Shinto miya. On a perfectly calm midnight,
during a heavy fall of snow, the sparks and the flakes mingled together with in-
describable effect. The new year was ushered in by a perpendicular flood of
dazzling green flame poured up to an immense height. The background of tall
cryptomeria trees heightened the grandeur of the fiery picture. As the volatil-
ized gases of the various metals in the impure copper sheathing of the roof and
sides glowed and sparkled, and streaked the iridescent mass of flame, it afforded
a spectacle only to be likened to a near observation of the sun, or a view through
a colossal spectroscope. The great bell, whose casting had been superintended
by Iye"mitsu, and by him presented to the temple, had for two hundred years
been the solemn monitor, inviting the people to their devotions. Its liquid
notes could be heard, it is said, at Odawara. On the night of the fire the old
bell-ringer leaped to his post, and, in place of the usual solemn monotone, gave
the double stroke of alarm, until the heat had changed one side of the bell to
white, the note deepening in tone, until, in red heat, the ponderous link softened
and bent, dropping its burden to the earth. It is to be greatly regretted that
the once sacred grounds of Shiba groves are now desecrated and common. " Sic
transit gloria Tokugawarum."
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 291
XXVIII.
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN*
IT is the popular impression in the United States and in Europe
that the immediate cause of the fall of the shogun's Government, the
restoration of the mikado to supreme power, and the abolition of the
dual and feudal systems was the presence of foreigners on the soil of
Japan. No one who has lived in Dai Nippon, and made himself fa-
miliar with the currents of thought among the natives, or who has
studied the history of the country, can share this opinion. The for-
eigners and their ideas were the occasion, not the cause, of the de-
struction of the dual system of government, which would certainly
have resulted from the operation of causes already at work before the
foreigners arrived. Their presence served merely to hasten what was
already inevitable.
I purpose in this chapter to expose the true causes of the recent
marvelous changes in Japan. These comprise a three-fold political
revolution within, a profound alteration in the national policy toward
foreigners, and the inauguration of social reforms which lead us to
hope that Japan has rejected the Asiatic, and adopted the European,
ideal of civilization. I shall attempt to prove that these causes oper-
ated mainly from within, not f r6m without ; from impulse, not from
impact ; and that they were largely intellectual.
The history of Japan, as manifested in the current of events since
the advent of Commodore Perry, has its sources in a number of dis-
tinct movements, some logically connected, others totally distinct from
the rest. These were intended to effect: 1. The overthrow of the
shogun, and his reduction to his proper level as a vassal ; 2. The res-
toration of the true emperor to supreme power; 3. The abolition of
the feudal system and a return to the ancient imperial regime; 4.
The abolition of Buddhism, and the establishment of pure Shinto as
* Reprinted and enlarged from the North American Review of April, 1875.
292 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the national faith and the engine of government. These four move-
ments were historically and logically connected. The fifth was the
expulsion of the foreign "barbarians," and the dictatorial isolation
of Japan from the rest of the world ; the sixth, the abandonment of
this design, the adoption of Western civilization, and the entrance of
Japan into the comity of nations. The origin of the first and second
movements must be referred to a time distant from the present by a
century and a half ; the third and fourth, to a period within the past
century ; the fifth and sixth, to an impulse developed mainly within
the memory of young men now living.
There existed, long before the advent of Perry, definite conceptions
of the objects to be accomplished. These lay in the minds of earnest
thinkers, to whom life under the dual system was a perpetual winter
of discontent, like snow upon the hills. In due season the spring
would have come that was to make the flood. The presence of Perry
in the Bay of Yedo was like an untimely thaw, or a hot south-wind in
February. The snow melted, the streams gathered. Like houses built
upon the sand, the shogunate and the feudal system were swept away.
They were already too rotten and worm-eaten to have the great fall
which the simile might suggest. The mikado and the ancient ark of
state floated into power. Buddhism stood as upon a rock, damaged,
but firm. The foreigner, moored to the pile-driven foundations of his
treaties, held his own more firmly than before. The flood in full mo-
mentum was swollen by a new stream and deflected into a new chan-
nel. Abandoning the attempt to defy the gravitation of events, to
run up the hill of a past forever sloping backward into the impossi-
ble, the flood found surcease with the rivers of nations that make the
ocean of human solidarity.
The chief motors of these movements were intellectual. Neither
the impact of foreign cannon-balls at Kagoshima or Shimonoseki (see
Appendix), nor the heavy and unjust indemnities demanded from the
Japanese, wrought of themselves the events of the last ten years, as
foreigners so complacently believe. An English writer resident in
Japan concludes his translation of the " Legacy of lyeyasu " by refer-
ring to it as the " constitution under which this country [Japan] was
governed until the time within the recollection of all, when it gave
way to the irresistible momentum of a higher civilization." The
translator evidently means that the fall of the dual form of govern-
ment and the feudal system was the direct result of contact with the
higher civilization of Europe and America. English writers on Japan
THE JiECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 293
seem to imply that the bombardment of Kagoshima was the para-
mount cause that impelled Japan to adopt the foreign civilization.
Much, also, has been said and written in praise of Japan for her
abolition of the feudal system by a " stroke of the pen," and thus
"achieving in one day what it required Europe centuries to accom-
plish." An outsider, whose knowledge of Dai Nippon is derived from
our old text-books and cyclopedias, or from non-resident book-makers,
may be so far dazed as to imagine the Japanese demi-gods in state-
craft, even as the American newspapers make them all princes. To
the writer, who has lived in a daimio's capital before, during, and
after the abolition of feudalism, the comparison suggests the reason
why the Irish recruit cut off the leg instead of the head of his enemy.
Long before its abolition, Japanese feudalism was ready for its grave.
The overthrow of the sh5gun left it a headless trunk. To cut off its
legs and bury it was easy, and in reality this was what the mikado's
Government did, as I shall show.
As it would be vain to attempt to comprehend our own late civil
war by beginning at Sumter, or even with the Compromise measures
of 1851 ; so one will be misled who, in attempting to understand the
Japan of to-day, looks only at events since Perry's time. The roots
of the momentous growth of 1868 are to be found within the past
centuries.
Yoritomo's acts were in reality the culmination of a long series of
usurpations, begun by the taira. Under the plea of military necessity,
he had become an arch-usurper. In the period 1184-1199 A.D. began
that dual system of government which has been the political puzzle
of the world ; which neither Kaempfer, nor the Deshima Hollanders,
nor the Portuguese Jesuits seem ever to have fully understood ; which
has filled our cyclopedias and school-books with the misleading non-
sense about " two emperors," one " spiritual " and the other " secular ;"
which led the astute Perry and his successors to make treaties with an
underling ; which gave rise to a vast mass of what is now very amus-
ing reading, embracing much prophecy, fiction, and lamentations, in
the Diplomatic Correspondence from Japan ; and which keeps alive
the drivel and solecism heard among a few Rip Van Winkles in Ja-
pan, who talk, both in Japanese and English, about the " return of the
tycoon to power." There never was but one emperor in Japan ; the
shogun was a military usurper, and the bombastic title "tycoon" a
diplomatic fraud.
WP have seen how the policy of Yoritomo was continued by the
294 THE MIKADO'S E1IP1RE.
Hojo, the Ashikaga, and the Tokugawas, who consummated the per-
manent separation of the throne and the camp. The custom of the
shoguns going to Kioto to do the mikado homage fell into desuetude
after the visit of lyemitsu. The iron-handed rule of the great com-
mander at Yedo was felt all over the empire, and after centuries of
war it had perfect peace. Learning flourished, the arts prospered.
So perfect was the political machinery of the bakufu that the power
of the mikado seemed but a shadow, though in reality it was vastly
greater than foreigners ever imagined.
The dwellings of the two rulers at Yedo and Kioto, of the domi-
neering general and the overawed emperor, were typical of their posi-
tions. The mikado dwelt, unguarded, in a mansion surrounded by
gardens inclosed within a plaster wall, in a city which was the chosen
centre of nobles of simple life, highest rank, and purest blood, men of
letters, students, and priests, and noted for its classic history and
sacred associations, monasteries, gardens, and people of courtly man-
ners and gentle life. The shogun lived in a fortified and garrisoned
castle, overlooking an upstart city full of arsenals, vassal princes, and
military retainers. The feelings of the people found truest expression
in the maxim, " The shogun all men fear ; the mikado all men love."
The successors of lyeyasu, carrying out his policy, having extermi-
nated the "corrupt sect" (Christianity), swept all foreigners out of
the empire, and bolting its sea-barred gates, proceeded to devise and
execute measures to eliminate all disturbing causes, and fix in eternal
stability the peaceful conditions which were the fruit of tlie toils of
his arduous life. They deliberately attempted to prevent Chronos
from devouring his children.
According to their scheme, the intellect of the nation was to be
bounded by the Great Wall of the Chinese classics, while to the hie-
rarchy of Buddhism — one of the most potent engines ever devised for
crushing and keeping crashed the intellect of the Asiatic masses — was
given the ample encouragement of government example and patron-
age. An embargo was laid upon all foreign ideas. Edicts commanded
the destruction of all boats built upon a foreign model, and forbade
the building of vessels of any size or shape superior to that of a junk.
Death was the penalty of believing in Christianity, of traveling abroad,
of studying foreign languages, of introducing foreign customs. Be-
fore the august train of the shogun men must seal their upper win-
dows, and bow their faces to the earth. Even to his tea-jars and cook-
ing-pots the populace must do obeisance with face in the dust. To
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 295
study ancient history, which might expose the origin of the sh6gun-
ate, was forbidden to the vulgar, and discouraged among the higher.
A rigid censorship dried the life-blood of many a master spirit, while
the manufacture and concoction of false and garbled histories which
extolled the reigning dynasty, or glorified the dual system of govern-
ment as the best and only one for Japan, were encouraged. There
were not wanting poets, fawning flatterers, and even historians, who in
their effusions styled the august usurper the 0-gimi (Chinese, tai-kun,
or "tycoon"), a term meaning great prince, or exalted ruler, and
properly applied only to the mikado. The blunders, cruelties, and op-
pressions of the Tokugawa rulers were, in popular fiction and drama,
removed from the present, and depicted in plots laid in the time of
the Ashikagas, and the true names changed. One of the most perfect
systems of espiouage and repression ever devised was elaborated to
fetter all men in helpless subjection to the great usurper. An incred-
ibly large army of spies was kept in the pay of the Government.
Within such a hedge, the Government itself being a colossal fraud,
rapidly grew and flourished public and private habits of lying, and de-
ceit in all its forms, until the love of a lie apparently for its own sake
became a national habit. When foreigners arrived in the Land of the
Gods during the decade following Perry's arrival, they concluded that
the lying which was everywhere persistently carried on in the Govern-
ment and by private persons with such marvelous facility and unique
originality was a primal characteristic of Japanese human nature. The
necessity of hoodwinking the prying eyes of the foreigners, lest they
should discover the fountain of authority, and the true relation of the
shogun, gave rise to the use of official deception that seemed as varie-
gated as a kaleidoscope and as regular as the laws of nature. The ma-
jority of the daimios who had received lands and titles from the sho-
gun believed their allegiance to be forever due to him, instead of to
the mikado, a belief stigmatized as rank treason by the students of
history. As for the common people, the great mass of them forgot,
or never knew, that the emperor had ever held power or governed his
people ; and being officially taught to believe him to be a divine per-
sonage, supposed he had lived thus from time immemorial. Knowing
only of the troubled war times before the " great and good " Tokuga-
was, they believed devoutly in the infallibility, paternal benevolence,
and divine right of the Yedo rulers.
The line of shoguns, founded by lyeyasu, was the last that held, or
ever will hold, the military power in Japan. To them the Japanese
296 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
people owe the blessing of nearly two hundred and seventy years of
peace. Under their firm rule the dual form of government seemed
fixed on a basis unchangeable, and the feudal system in eternal stabili-
ty. There did not exist, nor was it possible there should arise, causes
such as undermined the feudalism of Europe. The Church, the Em-
pire, free cities, industrialism — these were all absent. The eight classes
of the people were kept contented and happy. A fertile soil and ge-
nial clime gave food in unstinted profusion, and thus was removed a
cause which is a chronic source of insurrection in portions of China.
As there was no commerce, there was no vast wealth to be accumu-
lated, nor could the mind of the merchant expand to a limit danger-
ous to despotism by fertilizing contact with foreigners. All learning
and education, properly so called, were confined to the samurai, to
whom also belonged the sword and privilege. The perfection of the
governmental machinery at Yedo kept, as was the design, the daimios
poor and at jealous variance with each other, and rendered it impossi-
ble for them to combine their power. No two of them ever were al-
lowed to meet in private or to visit each other without spies. The
vast army of eighty thousand retainers of the Tokugawas, backed by
the following of some of the richest clans, such as Owari, Kii, Mito,
and Echizen (see Appendix), who were near relatives of the shogunal
family, together with the vast resources in income and accumulation,
made it appear, as many believed, that the overthrow of the Tokuga-
was, or the bakuf u, or the feudal system, was a moral impossibility.
Yet all these fell to ruin in the space of a few months ! The baku-
fu is now a shadow of the past. The Tokugawas, once princes and
the gentry of the land, whose hands never touched other tools than
pen and sword, now live in obscurity or poverty, and by thousands
keep soul and body together by picking tea, making paper, or digging
the mud of rice-fields they once owned, like the laborers they once
despised. Their ancestral tombs at Ktmo, Shiba, Uyeno, and Nikko,
once the most sacred and magnificently adorned of Japanese places
of honor, are now dilapidating in unarrested neglect, dishonor, and de-
cay. The feudal system, at the touch of a few daring parvenus, crum-
bled to dust like the long undisturbed tenants of catacombs when sud-
denly moved or exposed to the light of day. Two hundred and fifty
princes, resigning lands, retainers, and incomes, retired to private life in
Tokio at the bidding of their former servants, acting in the name of
the mikado. They are now quietly waiting to die. They are the
" dead facts stranded on the shores of the oblivious years."
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 297
What were the causes of these three distinct results? When be-
gan the first gathering of the waters which burst into flood in 1868,
sweeping away the landmarks of centuries, floating the old ship of
state into power, impelling it, manned with new men and new ma-
chinery, into the stream of modern thought, as though Noah's ark had
been equipped with engines, steam, and propellers? To understand
the movement, we must know the currents of thought, and the men
who produced the ideas.
There were formerly many classes of people in Japan, but only
three of these were students and thinkers. The first comprised the
court nobles, the literati of Kioto ; the second, the priests, who brought
into existence that mass of Japanese Buddhistic literature, and origi-
nated and developed those phases of the India cultus which have
made Japanese Buddhism a distinct product of thought and life
among the manifold developments of the once most widely professed
religion in the world. This intellectual activity and ecclesiastical
growth culminated in the sixteenth century. Since that time Japa-
nese thought has been led by the samurai, among whom we may in-
clude the priests of Shinto. The modern secular intellectual activity
of Japan attained its highest point during the latter part of the last
and the first quarter of the present century. Even as far back as the
seventeenth century, the students of ancient history began to under-
stand clearly the true nature of the duarchy, and to see that the sho-
gunate could exist only while the people were kept in ignorance.
From that time Buddhism began to lose its hold on the intellect of
the samurai and lay educated classes. The revival of Chinese learn-
ing, especially the Confucian and Mencian politico - ethics, followed.
Buddhism was almost completely supplanted as a moral force. The
invasion of Corea was one of the causes tributary to this result, which
was greatly stimulated by the presence of a number of refugee schol-
ars, who had fled from China on the overthrow of the Ming dynasty.
The secondary influence of the fall of Peking and the accession of
the Tartars became a parallel to the fall of Constantinople and the
dispersion of the Greek scholars through Europe in the thirteenth
century. The relation between the sovereign (mikado) and vassal
(shogun) had become so nearly mythical, that most Japanese fathers
could not satisfy the innocent and eager questions of their children
as to who was sovereign of Japan. The study of the Confucian moral
scheme of " The Five Relations " (i. «., sovereign and minister, parent
and child, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and between
298 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
friends), in which the first and great requirement is the obedience of
the vassal to his lord, aroused an incoercible desire among the samurai
to restore and define that relation so long obscured. This spirit in-
creased with every blunder of the bakuf u ; and when the revolution
opened, " the war-cry that led the imperial party to victory was Daigi
meibun, or the 'King and the subject;' whereby it was understood
that the distinction between them must be restored, and the shogun
should be reduced to the proper relation of subject or servant to his
sovereign."*
The province of Mito was especially noted for the number, ability,
and activity of its scholars. In it dwelt the learned Chinese refugees
as guests of the daimio. The classic, which has had so powerful an
influence in forming the public opinion which now upholds the mi-
kado's throne, is the product of the native scholars, who submitted
their text for correction to the Chinese scholars. The second Prince
of Mito, who was born 1622, and died 1700, is to be considered, as
was first pointed out by Mr. Ernest Satow, as " the real author of the
movement which culminated in the revolution of 1868." Assembling
around him a host of scholars from all parts of Japan, he began the
composition of the Dai Nikon Shi, or " History of Japan." It is writ-
ten in the purest Chinese, which is to Japan what Latin is to learning
in Europe, and fills two hundred and forty-three volumes, or matter
about equal to Mr. Bancroft's "History of the United States." It
was finished in 1715, and immediately became a classic. Though dil-
igently studied, it remained in manuscript, copied from hand to hand
by eager students, until 1£51, when the wide demand for it induced
its publication in print. The tendency of this book, as of most of the
many publications of Mito,f was to direct the minds of the people to
the mikado as the true and only source of authority, and to point out
the historical fact that the shogun was a military usurper. Mito, be-
ing a near relative of the house of Tokugawa, was allowed greater lib-
erty in stating his views than could have been granted to any other
person. The work begun by Mito was followed up by the famous
scholar, Rai Sanyo, who in 1827, after twenty years of continuous la-
bor, completed his Nihon Guai Shi (" External History of Japan "), in
which he gives the history of each of the military families, Taira, Mi-
namoto, Hojo, Ashikaga, etc., who held the governing power from the
* Arinori Mori : Introduction to " Education in Japan," p. 26.
t See article Japan, Literature of, in the "American Cyclopaedia."
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 299
period of the decadence of the mikados. This work had to pass the
ordeal of the censorate at Yedo, and some of the volumes were re-
peatedly purged by the censors before they were allowed to be pub-
lished. The unmistakable animus of this great book is to show that
the mikado is the only true ruler, in whom is the fountain of power,
and to whom the allegiance of every Japanese is due, and that even
the Tokugawas were not free from the guilt of usurpation.
The long peace of two centuries gave earnest patriots time to think.
Though the great body of the people, both the governing and the gov-
erned classes, enervated by prolonged prosperity and absence of dan-
ger, cared for none of these things, the serious students burned to see
the mikado again restored to his ancient authority. This motive alone
would have caused revolution in due time. They felt that Japan had
retrograded, that the military arts had sunk into neglect, that the war
spirit slumbered. Yet on all sides the " greedy foreigners " were ey-
ing the Holy Country. Already the ocean, once a wall, was a high-
way for wheeled vessels. The settlement of California and the Pacif-
ic coast made the restless Americans their neighbors on the east, with
only a wide steam ferry between. American whalers cruised in Japa-
nese waters, and hunted whales in sight of the native coasters. Amer-
ican ships repeatedly visited their harbors to restore a very few of the
human waifs which for centuries in unintermitted stream had drifted
up the Kuro Shiwo and across the Pacific, giving her shores wrecks
and spoils, her tribes men, her tongues words, and perhaps the civiliza-
tion which in Peru and Mexico awoke the wonder and tempted the
cupidity of the Spanish marauders (see Appendix). Defying all prec-
edent, and trampling on Japanese pride and isolation, the American
captains refused to do as the Hollanders, and go to Nagasaki, and ap-
peared even in the Bay of Yedo. The long scarfs of coal-smoke were
becoming daily matters of familiar ugliness and prognostics of doom.
The steam-whistle heard by the junk sailors — as potent as the rams'
horns of old — had already thrown down their walls of exclusion.
The "black ships" of the "barbarians" passing Matsumae in one
year numbered eighty-six. Russia, on the north, was descending upon
Saghalin ; the English, French, Dutch, and Americans were pressing
their claims for trade and commerce. The bakufu was idle, making
few or no preparations to resist the fierce barbarians. Far-sighted
men saw that, in presence of foreigners, a collision between the two
centres of government, Yedo and Kioto, would be immediate as it was
inevitable. When it should come, in the nature of the case, the sho-
300 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
gunate must fall. The samurai would adhere to the mikado's side,
and the destruction of the feudal system would follow as a logical ne-
cessity. It was the time of luxury, carousal, and the stupor of licen-
tious carnival with most of the daimios, but with others of gloomy
forebodings.
Another current of thought was flowing in the direction of a re-
stored mikadoate. It may be called the revival of the study of pure
Shinto, and, in examining the causes of the recent revolution, can not
be overlooked. The introduction of Buddhism and Chinese philoso-
phy greatly modified or " corrupted " the ancient faith. A school of
modern writers has attempted to purge modern Shinto, and present
it in its original form.
According to this religion, Japan is pre-eminently the Land of the
Gods, and the mikado is their divine representative and vicegerent.
Hence the duty of all Japanese implicitly to obey him. During the
long reign of the shoguns, and of Buddhism, which they favored and
professed, few, indeed, knew what pure Shinto was. Its Bible is the
Kojiki, compiled A.D. 712. Several other works, such as the Nihongi,
Manyoshiu, are nearly as old and as valuable in the eyes of Shinto
scholars as the Kojiki. They are written in ancient Japanese, and can
be read only by special students of the archaic form of the language.
The developments of a taste for the study of ancient native literature
and for that of history were nearly synchronous. The neglect of
pure Japanese learning for that of Chinese had been almost universal,
until Keichiu, Kada, and other scholars revived its critical study. The
bakufu discouraged all such investigation, while the mikado and court
at Kioto lent it all their aid, both moral and, as it is said, pecuniary.
Mabuchi (1697-1769), Motoori (1730-1801), and Hirata (1776-1843),
each successively the pupil of the other, are the greatest lights of pure
Shinto ; and their writings, which are devoted to cosmogony, ancient
history, and language, the true position of the mikado and the Shinto
cultus, exerted a lively influence at Kioto, in Mito, in Echizen, Satsuma,
and in many other provinces, where a political party was already form-
ing, with the intention of accomplishing the abolition of the bakufu
and a return to the Osei era. The necessary result of the study of
Shinto was an increase of reverence for the mikado. Buddhism, Chi-
nese influence, Confucianism, despotism, usurpation, and the bakufu
were, in the eyes of a Shintoist, all one and the same. Shinto, the
ancient true religion, all which a patriot could desire, good govern-
ment, national purity, the Golden Age, and a life best explained by the
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 301
conception of the "millennium" among Christians, were synonymous
with the mikado and his return to power. The arguments of the
Shintoists helped to swell the tide that came to its flood at Fushimi.
Throughout and after the war of 1868-1870, there were no more bit-
ter partisans who urged to the last extremes of logic and severity the
issues of the war and the " reformation." It was the study of the lit-
erature produced by the Shinto scholars and the historical writers that
formed the public opinion that finally overthrew the shogunate, the
bakufu, and feudalism.
Long before foreigners arrived, the seeds of revolution were above
the soil. The old Prince of Mito, a worthy descendant of his illustri-
ous ancestor, tired of preaching Shinto and of persuading the shogun
to hand over his authority to the mikado, resolved, in 1840, to take
up arms and to try the wager of battle. To provide the sinews of
war, he seized the Buddhist monasteries, and melted down their enor-
mous bronze bells and cast them into cannon. By prompt measures
the bakufu suppressed his preparations for war, and imprisoned him
for twelve years, releasing him only in the excitement consequent upon
the arrival of Perry.
Meanwhile Satsuma, Choshiu, and other Southern clans were mak-
ing extensive military preparations, not merely to be in readiness to
drive out the possible foreign invaders, but, as we now know, and as
events proved, to reduce the shogun to his proper level as one of many
of the mikado's vassals. The ancestors of these most powerful clans
had of old held equal rank and power with lyeyasu, until the fortunes
of war turned against them. They had been overcome by force, or
had sullenly surrendered in face of overwhelming odds. Their adhe-
sion to the Tokugawas was but nominal, and only the strong pressure
of superior power was able to wring from them a haughty semblance
of obedience. They chafed perpetually under the rule of one who
was in reality a vassal like themselves. On more than one occasion
they openly defied and ignored the bakufu's orders ; and the purpose,
scarcely kept secret, of the Satsuma and Choshiu clans was to destroy
the shogunate, and acknowledge no authority but that of the mikado.
From the Southern clans rose, finally, the voice in council, the
secret plot, the coup d'etat, and the arms in the field that wrought
the purpose for which Mito labored. Yet they would never have been
successful, had not a public sentiment existed to support them, which
the historical writers had already created by their writings. The
scholars could never have gratified their heart's wish, had not the
302 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
sword and pen, brain and hand — both equally mighty — helped each
other.
Notably pre-eminent among the Southern daimios, in personal char-
acteristics, abilities, energy, and far-sightedness, was the Prince of
Satsuma. Next to Kaga, he was the wealthiest of all the daimios
(see Appendix). Had he lived, he would doubtless have led the revo-
lutionary movement of 1868. Besides giving encouragement to all
students of the ancient literature and history, he was most active in
developing the material resources of his province, and in perfecting
the military organization, so that, when the time should be ripe for
the onslaught on the bakufu, he might have ready for the mikado the
military provision to make his government a complete success. To
carry out his plans, he encouraged the study of the Dutch and English
languages, and thus learned the modern art of war and scientific im-
provement. He established cannon - foundries and mills on foreign
principles. He saw that something more was needed. Young men
must visit foreign countries, and there acquire the theory and practice
of the arts of war and peace. The laws of the country forbade any
subject to leave it, and the bakufu was ever on the alert to catch run-
aways. Later on, however, by a clever artifice, a number of the
brightest young men, about twenty-seven in number, got away in one
vessel to Europe, and, despite the surveillance of the Yedo officials,
others followed to England and the United States. Among these
young men were some who are now high officials of the Japanese
Government.
The renown of this prince extended all over the empire, and num-
bers of young men from all parts of the country flocked to be his
pupils or students. Kagoshima, his capital, became a centre of busy
manual industry and intellectual activity. Keeping pace with the in-
tense energy of mind and hand was the growing sentiment that the
days of the bakufu were numbered, that its fall was certain, and that
the only fountain of authority was the mikado. The Satsuma samurai
and students all looked to the prince as the man for the coming crisis,
when, to the inexpressible grief of all, he sickened and died, in 1858.
He was succeeded in actual power by Shimadzvi Saburo, his younger
brother. No master ever left more worthy pupils ; and those most trust-
ed and trusting, among many others, were Saigo, Okubo, and Katsu. The
mention of these names calls up to a native the most stirring memories
of the war. Saigo became the leader of the imperial army. Okubo,
the implacable enemy of the bakufu, was the master-spirit in council,
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 303
and the power behind the throne which urged the movement to its
logical consequences. At this moment, the annihilator of the Saga
rebellion, crowned with diplomatic laurels, and the conqueror of a
peace at Peking, he stands leader of the Cabinet, and the foremost man
in Japan. Katsu advised the bakufu not to fight Choshiu, and his
master to resign his position, thus saving Yedo from destruction. The
lesser men of note, pupils of Satsuma, who now hold positions of trust,
or who have become disinterested Cincinnati, to show their patriotism,
are too many to mention.
Familiarity with the facts above exposed will enable one to under-
stand the rush of events that followed the arrival of the American en-
voy. The bakufu was apparently at the acme of power. The shogun
lyeyoshi at Yedo was faineant. The mikado at Kioto, Komei Tenno,
father of the present emperor, was a man who understood well his
true position, hated the bakufu as a nest of robbers, and all foreigners
as unclean beasts. Within the empire, all was ripe for revolution.
Beneath the portentous calm, those who would listen could hear the
rumble of the political earthquake. From without came puffs of news,
like atmospheric pulses portending a cyclone. On that 7th day of
July, 1853, the natural sea and sky wearing perfect calm, the magnifi-
cent fleet of the " barbarian " ships sailed up the Bay of Yedo. It was
the outer edge of the typhoon. The Susquehanna was leading the
squadrons of seventeen nations.
There was one spectator upon the bluffs at Yokohama who was per-
suaded in his own mind that the men who could build such ships as
those ; who were so gentle, kind, patient, firm ; having force, yet using
it not ; demanding to be treated as equals, and in return dealing with
Japanese as with equals, could not be barbarians. If they were, it
were better for the Japanese to become barbarous. That man was
Katsu, now the Secretary of the Japanese Navy.
The barbarian envoy was a strange creature. He was told to leave
the Bay of Yedo and go to Nagasaki. He impolitely refused, and
staid and surveyed, and was dignified. This was anomalous. Other
barbarians had not acted so ; they had quietly obeyed orders. Fur-
thermore, he brought letters and presents, all directed " To the Em-
peror of Japan." The shogun was not emperor, but he must make
believe to be so. It would not do to call himself the mikado's general
only. This title awed sufficiently at home ; but would the strangers
respect it ? A pedantic professor (" not the Prince of Dai Gaku ") in
20
304 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the Chinese college (Dai Gaku Ko) at Yedo was sent to treat with
the barbarian Perry. A chopper of Chinese logic, and a stickler for
exact terms, the pedant must, as in duty bound, exalt his master. He
inserted, or at least allowed to be used in the treaties the title tai-kun,
a purely Chinese word, which in those official documents signified that
he was the supreme ruler of all Japan. This title had never been be-
stowed upon the shogun by the mikado, nor had it ever been used in
the imperial official documents. The bakufu and the pedantic pro-
fessor, Hayashi, did not mean to lie to the true sovereign in Kioto.
The bakufu, like a frog, whose front is white, whose back is black,
could look both ways, and present two fronts. Seen from Kioto, the
lie was white ; that is, " meant nothing." Looked at by those unsus-
pecting dupes, the barbarians, it was black ; that is, " The august Sov-
ereign of Japan," as the preamble of the Perry treaty says. Yet to the
jealous emperor and court this white lie was, as ever white lies are, the
blackest of lies. It created the greatest uneasiness and alarm. The
shogun had no shadow of right to this bombastic figment of authority.
It was a new illustration in diplomacy of ^Esop's Fable No. 26.
The great Yedo frog puffed itself to its utmost to equal the Kioto ox,
and it burst in the attempt. The last carcass of these batrachians in
diplomacy was buried in Shidzuoka, a city ninety-five miles south-
west of Tokio, in 1868. The writer visited this ancient home of the
Tokugawas in 1872, and in a building within a mile of the actual
presence of the last and still living " tycoon," and within shouting dis-
tance of thousands of his ex -retainers, saw scores of the presents
brought by Commodore Perry lying, many of them, in mildew, rust,
or neglect. They were all labeled " Presented by the of
the United States to the Emperor of Japan." Yet the mikado never
saw them. The Japanese excel at a jibe, but when did they perpe-
trate sarcasm so huge ? The mikado's government, with Pilate's irony,
had allowed the tycoon to keep the presents, with the labels on them !
We may fairly infer that so consummate a diplomatist as Perry,
had he understood the true state of affairs, would have gone with his
fleet to Ozaka, and opened negotiations with the mikado at Kioto, in-
stead of with his lieutenant at Yedo. Perhaps he never knew that he
had treated with an underling.
The immediate results of the opening of the ports to foreign com-
merce in 1859 were the disarrangement of the prices of the necessaries
of life, and almost universal distress consequent thereon, much sickness
and mortality from the importation of foreign diseases, to which was
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 305
added an exceptional succession of destructive earthquakes, typhoons,
floods, fires, and storms. In the midst of these calamities the shogun,
lye'sada, died.
An heir must be chosen. His selection developed upon the tairo,
or regent, li, a man of great ability, daring, and, as his enemies say,
of unscrupulous villainy. li,* though socially of low rank, possessed
almost supreme power. Ignoring the popular choice of Keik6 (the
seventh son of the Daimio of Mito), who had been adopted by the
house of Hitotsubashi, he chose the Prince of Kii, a boy twelve years
of age. In answer to the indignant protests of the princes of Mito,f
Echizen, and Owari, he shut them up in prison, and thus alienated
from his support the near relatives of the house of Tokugawa, It
was his deliberate intention, say his enemies, to depose the mikado,
as the IIojo did, and set up a boy emperor again. At the same time,
all who opposed him or the bakufu, or who, in either Kioto, Yedo, or
elsewhere, agitated the restoration of the mikado, he impoverished,
imprisoned, exiled, or beheaded. Among his victims were many noble
scholars and patriots, whose fate excited universal pity.J
* The premier, II, was the Daimio of Hikone", a castled town and fief on Lake
Biwa, in Mino ; revenue, three hundred and fifty thousand koku. He was at the
head of the /udai. His personal name was Nawosuke"; his title at the emperor's
court was kamon no kami — head of the bureau of the Ku Nai Sho (imperial house-
hold)—having in charge the hangings, curtains, carpets, mats, and the sweeping
of the palace on state occasions. His rank at Kioto was Chiujo, or "general of
the second class." In the bakufu, he was prime minister, or " tairo." He had
a son, who was afterward educated in Brooklyn, New York.
t It would be impossible in brief space to narrate the plots and counterplots at
Yedo and Kioto during the period 1860-1868. As a friendly critic (in The Hifigo
News, June 9th, 1875) has pointed out, I allow that the Prince of Mito, while
wishing to overthrow the shogunate, evidently wished to see the restoration ac-
complished with his son, Koike", in a post of high honor and glory. While in
banishment, secret instructions were sent from Kioto, which ran thus: "The
bakufu has shown great disregard of public opinion in concluding treaties with-
out waiting for the opinion of the court, and in disgracing princes so closely al-
lied by blood to the shogun. The mikado's rest is disturbed by the spectacle of
such misgovernment, when the fierce barbarian is at our very door. Do you,
therefore, assist the bakufu with your advice ; expel the barbarians ; content the
mind of the people ; and restore tranquillity to his majesty's bosom." — Kinte
Shiriaku, p. 11, Satow's translation. This letter was afterward delivered up to
the bakufu, shortly after which (September, 1861) the old prince died. The Mito
clan was for many years afterward divided into two factions, the "Righteous"
and the "Wicked." There is no proof that the Prince of Mito poisoned ly&ada,
except the baseless guess of Sir Rutherford Alcock, which has a value at par with
most of that writer's statements concerning Japanese history.
I Among others was Yoshida Shoin, a samurai of Choshiu, and a student of
306 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The mikado being by right the supreme ruler, and the shogun
merely a vassal, no treaty with foreigners could be binding unless
signed by the mikado.
The shogun or his ministers had no right whatever to sign the
treaties. Here was a dilemma. The foreigners were pressing the
ratification of the treaties on the bakufu, while the mikado and court
as vigorously refused their consent. li was not a man to hesitate. As
the native chronicler writes : " He began to think that if, in the pres-
ence of these constant arrivals of foreigners of different nations, he
were to wait for the Kioto people to make up their minds, some un-
lucky accident might bring the same disasters upon Japan as China
had already experienced. He, therefore, concluded a treaty at Kana-
gawa, and affixed his seal to it, after which he reported the transac-
tion to Kioto."
This signature to the treaties without the mikado's consent stirred
up intense indignation at Kioto and throughout the country, which
from one end to the other now resounded with the cry, " Honor the
mikado, and expel the barbarian." In the eyes of patriots, the regent
was a traitor. His act gave the enemies of the bakufu a legal pretext
of enmity, and was the signal of the regent's doom. All over the
country thousands of patriots left their homes, declaring their inten-
European learning. He was the man who tried to get on board Commodore
Perry's ship at Shimoda (Perry's " Narrative," p. 485-488). He had been kept in
prison in his clan since 1854. He wrote a pamphlet against the project of taking
up arms against the bakufu, for which he was rewarded by the Tedo rulers with
his liberty. After li's arbitrary actions, Toshida declared that the shogunate
could not be saved, and must fall. When the shogun' s ministers were arresting
patriots in Kioto, Yoshida resolved to take his life. For this plot, after detection,
he was sent to Yedo in a cage, and beheaded. This ardent patriot, whose memo-
ry is revered by all parties, was one of the first far-sighted men to see that Japan
must adopt foreign civilization, or fall before foreign progress, like India. The
national enterprises now in operation were urged by him in an able pamphlet
written before his death.
Another victim, a student of European literature, and a fine scholar in Dutch
and Chinese, named Hashimoto Sanai, of Fukui, brother of my friend Dr. Hashi-
moto, surgeon in the Japanese army, fell a martyr to his loyalty and patriotism.
This gentleman was the instrument of arousing an enthusiasm for foreign science
in Fukui, which ultimately resulted in the writer's appointment to Fukui. Ha-
shimoto saw the need of opening peaceful relations with foreigners, but believed
that it could safely be done only under the restored and unified government.
Under a system of divided authority, he held that the ruin of Japan would re-
sult. Had Perry treated with the mikado, foreign war might possibly have re-
sulted, though very probably not. By treating with the counterfeit emperor in
Yedo, civil war, foreign hostilities, impoverishment of the country, and national
misery, prolonged for years, were inevitable.
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 307
tion not to return to them until the mikado, restored to power, should
sweep away the barbarians. Boiling over with patriotism, bands of
assassins, mostly ronins, roamed the country, ready to slay foreigners,
or the regent, and to die for the mikado. On the 23d of March, li
was assassinated in Yedo, outside the Sakurada gate of the castle, near
the spot where now stand the offices of the departments of War and
Foreign Affairs, and the Gothic brick buildings of the Imperial Col-
lege of Engineering. Then followed the slaughter of insolent foreign-
ers, and in some cases of innocent ones, and the burning of their lega-
tions, the chief object in nearly every case being to embroil the baku-
fu with foreign powers, and thus hasten its fall. Some of these ama-
teurs, who in foreign eyes were incendiaries and assassins, and in the
native view noble patriots, are now high officials in the mikado's
Government.
The prestige of the bakufu declined daily, and the tide of influence
and power set in steadily toward the true capital. The custom of the
shogun's visiting Kioto, and doing homage to the mikado, after an in-
terval of two hundred and thirty years, was revived, which caused his
true relation to be clearly understood even by the common people, who
then learned for the first time the fact that the rule existed, and had
been so long insolently ignored. The Prince of Echizen, by a special
and unprecedented act of the bakufu, and in obedience to orders from
the Kioto court, was made premier. By his own act, as many believe,
though he was most probably only the willing cat's-paw of the South-
ern daimios, he abolished the custom of the daimios' forced residence
in Yedo. Like wild birds from an opened cage, they, with all their
retainers, fled from the city in less than a week. Yedo's glory faded
like a dream, and the power and greatness of the Tokugawas came to
naught. Few of the clans obeyed any. longer the command of the
bakufu, and gradually the hearts of the people fell away. " And so,"
says the native chronicler, " the prestige of the Tokugawa family,
which had endured for three hundred years; which had been really
more brilliant than Kamakura in the age of Yoritomo on a moonlight
night when the stars are shining ; which for more than two hundred
and seventy years had forced the daimios to come breathlessly to take
their turn of duty in Yedo ; and which had, day and night, eighty
thousand vassals at its beck and call, fell to ruin in the space of one
morning."
The clans now gathered at the true miako, Kioto, which became a
scene of gayety and bustle unknown since the days of the Taira.
308
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Ending their allegiance to the bakufu, they began to act either ac-
cording to their own will, or only at the bidding of the court. They
filled the imperial treasury with gold, and strengthened the hands of
the Son of Heaven with their loyal devotion. Hatred of the foreign-
er, and a desire to fill their empty coffers with the proceeds of com-
merce, swayed the minds of many of them like the wind among reeds.
Others wished to open the ports in their fiefs, so as to pocket the prof-
Matendaira Yoshinaga, ex-Dairaio of Echizen, Chief Minister of State in 1862. (From a
carte-de-visite presented by him.)
its of foreign commerce, which the bakufu enjoyed as its monopoly.
A war of pamphlets ensued, some writers attempting to show that the
clans owed allegiance to the bakufu ; others condemning the idea as
treasonable, and, having the historic facts on their side, proved the mi-
kado to be the sole sovereign. The bakufu, acting upon the pressure
of public opinion in Kioto, and in hopes of restoring its prestige, bent
all its efforts to close the ports and persuade the foreigners to leave
Japan. For this purpose they sent an embassy to Europe. To has-
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 309
ten their steps, the rOnins now began the systematic assassination of all
who opposed their plans, pillorying their heads in the dry bed of the
river in front of the city. As a hint to the Tokugawa " usurpers,"
they cut off the heads of wooden images of the first three Ashikaga
shoguns, and stuck them on poles in public. The ronins were ar-
rested ; Choshiu espoused their side, while Aidzu, who was governor
of the city, threw them into prison. The mikado, urged by the clam-
orous braves, and by kuge who had never seen one of the " hairy for-
eigners," nor dreamed of their power, issued an order for their expul-
sion from Japan. The Choshiu men, the first to act, erected batteries
at Shimonoseki. The bakufu, which was responsible to foreigners,
commanded the clan to disarm. They refused, and in July, 1863, fired
on foreign vessels. They obeyed the mikado, and disobeyed the sho-
gun. During the next month, Kagoshima was bombarded by a Brit-
ish squadron.
On the 4th of September, the Choshiu cannoneers fired on a bakufu
steamer, containing some men of the Kokura clan who were enemies
of Choshiu, and who had given certain aid and comfort to foreign ves-
sels, and refused to fire on the latter. The Choshiu men in Kioto be-
sought the mikado to make a progress to Yamato, to show to the em-
pire his intention of taking the field in person against the barbarians.
The proposal was accepted, and the preliminaries arranged, when sud-
denly all preparations were stopped, Choshiu became an object of
blackest suspicion, the palace gates were doubly guarded, the city was
thrown into violent commotion ; while the deliberations of the palace
ended in the expulsion of Sanjo Saneyoshi (now Dai Jo Dai Jin),
Sawa (Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1870-'7l), and five other court
nobles, who were deprived of their rank and titles, while eighteen oth-
ers were punished, and all retainers or members of the family of Mori
(Choshiu) were peremptorily "forbidden to enter the capital" — a
phrase that made them outlaws. An army was levied, and the city
put in a state of defense.
The reason of this was, that the Choshiu men were accused of plot-
ting to get possession of the mikado's person, in order to dictate the
policy of the empire. The eighteen kuge and the six ringleaders were
suspected of abetting the plot. This, and the firing on the steamer
containing their envoys, roused the indignation of the bakufu, and the
clans loyal to it, especially Aidzu, to the highest pitch. The men of
Choshiu, accompanied by the seven kuge, fled, September 30th, 1863,
to their province.
310 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Choshiu now became the rendezvous of deserters and ronins from
all parts of Japan. In July of the following year, 1864, a body of
many hundred of irresponsible men of various clans, calling themselves
" Irregulars," arrived in Kioto from the South, to petition the mikado
to restore Mori and the seven nobles to honor, and to drive out the
barbarians. Aidzu and the shogun's vassals were for attacking these
men with arms at once. The mikado, not adopting the views of the
petitioners, returned them no answer. On July 30th, the " Irregulars"
were increased by many hitherto calm, but now exasperated, Choshiu
men, and encamped in battle array in the suburbs, where they were
joined, August 15th, by two karos, and two hundred men from Choshiu,
sent by Prince Mori to restrain his followers from violence. While
thus patiently waiting, a notification that they were to be-punished was
issued, August 19th, to them by the court, then under the influence of
Aidzu, and Keiki was put in command of the army of chastisement.
With tears and letters of sorrowful regret to their friends at court,
the Choshiu men and the ronins, in a written manifesto vindicated the
justness of their cause, swore vengeance against Aidzu, whose troops
were encamped in the imperial flower-garden, and then asking pardon
of the Son of Heaven " for making a disturbance so near the base of
the chariot " (the throne), they accepted the wager of battle, and rushed
to the attack. " The crisis had arrived," says the native chronicler,
"and the spirit of murder filled and overflowed heaven and earth.
The term choteki, which for centuries had been obsolete, now again
came into being. Many myriads of habitations were destroyed, and
millions of people were plunged into a fiery pit." On the 20th of
August, 1864, at day-dawn, the battle began, the Choshiu men advan-
cing in three divisions, numbering in all thirteen hundred men, their
design being to attack the nine gates of the imperial palace and sur-
round the flower-garden. The Tokugawa and Aidzu troops were
backed by those of Echizen, Hikone, Kuwana, and others. The bat-
tle raged furiously for two days, involving the city in a conflagration,
which, fanned by a gale, reduced large quarters of it to a level of ashes.
The fighting was by men in armor, equipped mostly with sword, ar-
row, cannon, and musket: 811 streets, 27,400 houses, 18 palaces, 44
large and 630 small yashikis, 60 Shinto shrines, 115 Buddhist temples,
40 bridges, 400 beggar's huts, and one eta village were destroyed by
the flames; 1216 fire-proof store-houses were knocked to pieces by
the cannonading kept up after the battle to prevent the Choshiu men
from hiding in them. " The capital, surrounded by a nine-fold circle
THE RECENT DEVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 311
of flowers, entirely disappeared in one morning in the smoke of the
flames of a war fire." The homeless city populace fled to the suburbs,
dwelling on roofless earth, pestered by the heat and clouds of mos-
quitoes, while men in soldiers' dress played the robber without fear
or shame. " The Blossom Capital became a scorched desert." The
Choshiu were utterly defeated, and driven out of the city. Thirty-
seven of them were decapitated in prison.
The next month the bakufu begged the imperial court to deprive
the Mori family and all its branches of their titles. Elated with suc-
cess, an order was issued to all the clans to march to the chastisement
of the two provinces of Nagato and Suwo. The Tokugawa intended
thus to set an example to the wavering clans, and give proof of the
power it still possessed. During the same month, September 5th and
6th, 1864, Shimonoseki was bombarded by an allied fleet bearing the
flags of four foreign nations. After great destruction of life and
property, the generous victors demanded an " indemnity " of three
million Mexican dollars (see Appendix). The brave clan, having de-
fied the bakufu at Kioto, dared the prowess of the " civilized world,"
and stood to their guns at Shimonoseki till driven away by over-
whelming numbers of balls and men, now prepared to face the com-
bined armies of the shogunate.
Then was revealed the result of the long previous preparation in
the South for war. The Choshiu clansmen, united and alert, were
lightly dressed, armed with English and American rifles, drilled in Eu-
ropean tactics, and abundantly provided with artillery, which they
fired rapidly and with precision. They had cast away armor, sword,
and spear. Choshiu had long been the seat of Dutch learning, and
translations of Dutch military works were numerously made and used
there. Their disciplined battalions were recruited from the common
people, not from the samurai alone, were well paid, and full of enthu-
siasm. The bakufu had but a motley, half-hearted army, many of
whom, when the order was given to march, straightway fell ill, having
no stomach for the fight. Some of the most influential clans declined
or refused outright to join the expedition, whose purpose was con-
demned by almost all the wisest leaders, notably by Katsu, the sho-
gun's adviser.
A campaign of three months, in the summer of 1 866, ended in the
utter and disgraceful defeat of the bakufu, and the triumph of Cho-
shiu. The clans not yet in the field refused to go to the front. The
prestige of the shogunate was now irretrievably ruined.
312 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The young shogun, worn out with ceaseless anxiety, died at Ozaka,
September 19th, 1866. He had secured the mikado's consent to the
treaties, on the condition that they should be revised, and that Hiogo
should never be opened as a port of foreign commerce. He was suc-
ceeded by Keiki, his former rival, who was appointed head of the To-
kugawa family by the court October, 1866. On the 6th of January,
1867, he was made shogun. He had repeatedly declined the position.
He brought to it numerous private virtues, but only the firmness of a
feather for the crisis at hand. The average Japanese lacks the stolid-
ity and obstinacy of the Chinaman, and fickleness is supposed to be
his chief characteristic. Keiki, as some of his once best friends say,
was fickleness personified. If, with the help of counselors, he could
make up his mind to one course of action, the keenest observers could
never forecast the change liable to ensue when new advisers appeared.
It is evident that the appointment of such a man at this crisis served
only to precipitate the issue. His popularity at the court most prob-
ably arose from the fact that he was opposed to the opening of Hio-
go and Ozaka to the foreigners.
In October, 1867, the Prince of Tosa openly urged the new shogun
to resign ; while many able samurai, Saigo, Okubo, Goto, Kido, Hiro-
zawa, Komatsu, backed by such men of rank as Shimadzu Saburo,
and the ex-princes of Echizen, Uwajima, Hizen, and Tosa, urged the
formation of the Government on the basis of the ante-shogun era pri-
or to 1200 A.D. They formed so powerful a combination that on the
9th of November, 1867, the vacillating Keiki, yielding to the force of
public opinion, tendered his resignation as Sei-i Tai Shogun.
This was a long step toward the ancient regime. Yet, as in Japan,
whichever party or leader has possession of the mikado is master of
the situation ; and as the Aidzu clan, the most stanchly loyal to the
Tokugawa family, kept guard at the gates of the imperial palace, it
was still uncertain where the actual power would reside — whether in
the Tokugawa clan, in the council of daimios, or, where it rightfully
belonged, with the imperial court. The influential samurai of Satsu-
ma, and Choshiu, and the princes of Tosa, Echizen, and Uwajima were
determined not to let the question hang in suspense. Gradually, small
parties of the soldiers of the combination assembled in the capital.
Saigo and Okubo, Kido, Goto, and Iwdkura, were too much in earnest
to let the supreme opportunity slip. They began to stir up the court
to take advantage of the critical moment, the mikado Komei being
dead, and, by a bold coup d'etat, abolish the office of shogun and the
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 313
bakufu, and re-establish the Government on the ancient basis, with
the young emperor at the head.
On the 3d of January, 1868, the troops of the combination (Satsu-
ma, Tosa, Echizen, Aki, and Owari) suddenly took possession of the
palace gates. The court nobles hitherto surrounding the boy emper-
or were dismissed, and only those favoring the views of the combina-
tion were admitted to the palace. The court, thus purged, issued an
edict in the name of the mikado, which stated that the government of
the country was now solely in the hands of the imperial court. The
bakufu and office of shogun were abolished. A provisional govern-
ment, with three grades of office, was formed, and the positions were
at once filled by men loyal to the new rulers. The family of Mori
was rehabilitated, and the seven banished nobles were recalled. Sanjo
and Iwakura were made assistants to the supreme administrator, Ari-
sugawa Miya, a prince of the blood.
The indignation of the retainers of Tokugawa knew no bounds.
The vacillating shogun now regretted his resignation, and wished him-
self back in power. He left Kioto with the clans still loyal to him,
with the professed intention of calming the passions of his followers,
but in reality of seizing Ozaka, and blocking up the communications
of the Southerners. Shortly after, in Yedo, on the 19th of January,
the yashikis of the Satsuma clan were stormed and burned by the
bakufu troops. The Princes of Owari and Echizen were sent by the
court to invite Keiki to join the new Government, and receive an ap-
pointment to office even higher than he had held before. He prom-
ised to do so, but no sooner were they gone than he yielded to Aidzu's
warlike counsel to re-enter Kioto in force, drive out the " bad counsel-
ors of the young emperor," and "try the issue with the sword." He
was forbidden by the court to approach the city with a military fol-
lowing. Barriers were erected across the two roads leading to the
capital, and the Southern clansmen, numbering about two thousand,
posted themselves behind them, with artillery. Keiki set out from
Ozaka on the evening of the 27th of February, with the Aidzu and
Kuwana clans in the front of his following, amounting to over ten, or,
as some say, thirty thousand men. At Fushimi his messengers were
refused passage through the barriers. The kuan-gun (loyal army,
Kioto forces) fired their cannon, and the war was opened. The sho-
gun's followers, by their last move on the political chess-board, had
made themselves choteki. Their prestige had flown.
The battle lasted three days. In the presence of overwhelming
314
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
forces, the Southern samurai showed not only undaunted valor, but
the result of previous years of military training. The battle was not
to the strong. It was to the side of intelligence, energy, coolness,
and valor. The shogun's army was beaten, and in wild disorder fled
to Ozaka, the historic castle of which was burned by the loyal army.
The chief, unrecognized, found refuge upon an American vessel, and,
reaching Yedo on one of his own ships, sought the seclusion of his
Keiki, the last ShOguu of Japan. (From a photograph.)
castle. His own family retainers and most of the subject clans (fudai),
and the daimios of Aidzu, Sendai, and others of the North and East,
urged him to renew the fight and restore his prestige. One of his min-
isters earnestly begged him to commit hara-kiri, urging its necessity
to preserve the honor of the Tokugawa clan. His exhortation being
unsuccessful, the proposer solemnly opened his own bowels. With a
large army, arsenals, munitions of war, and fleet of ships vastly exceed-
ing those of the mikado, his chances of success were very fair. But
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 315
this time the vassal was loyal, the waverer wavered no more. Refus-
ing to listen to those who advised war, abhorring the very idea of be-
ing a choteki, he hearkened to the counsel of his two highest minis-
ters, Katsft and Okubo Ichio, and declaring that he would never take
up arms against his lord, the mikado, he retired to private life. The
comparison of this man with Washington because he refused to head
an army, and thus save the country from a long civil war, does not
seem to be very happy, though I have heard it made. Personal-
ly, Keiki is a highly accomplished gentleman, though ambitious and
weak. Politically, he simply did his duty, and made discretion the
better part of valor. It is difficult to see in him any exalted traits of
character or evidences of genius ; to Katsu and Okubo is due the last and
best decision of his life. Katsu, the old pupil of Satsuma and com-
rade of Saigo, had long foreseen that the governing power must and
ought of right to revert to the mikado, and, braving odium and assas-
sination, he advised his master to resign. The victorious Southerners,
led by Saigo, were in the southern suburb of Yedo, waiting to attack
the city. To reduce a Japanese city needs but a torch, and the im-
patient victors would have left of Yedo little but ashes had there been
resistance. Katsu, meeting Saigo, assured him of the submissive tem-
per of the shogun, and begged him to spare the city. It was done.
The fanatical retainers of Keiki made the temple grounds of Uyeno
their stronghold. On the 4th of July they were attacked and routed,
and the magnificent temple, the pride of the city, laid in ashes. The
theatre of war was then transferred to the highlands of Aidzu at
Wakamatsu, and thence to Matsumae and Hakodate in Yezo. Victory
everywhere perched upon the mikado's brocade banner. By July 1st,
1869, all vestiges of the rebellion had ceased, and "the empire was
grateful for universal peace."
The mikado's party was composed of the heterogeneous elements
which a revolution usually brings forth. Side by side with high-soul-
ed patriots were disreputable vagrants and scalawags of every descrip-
tion, ronins, or low, two-sworded men, jo-i, or " foreigner-haters," " port-
closers," and Shinto priests and students. There were a few earnest
men whose darling hope was to see a representative government estab-
lished, while fewer yet eagerly wished Japan to adopt the civilization
of the West, and join the brotherhood of nations. These men had
utilized every current and eddy of opinion to forward their own views
and achieve their own purpose. The object common to all was the
exaltation of the mikado. The bond of union which held the major-
316 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ity together was a determination to expel the foreigners or to revise
the treaties so as to expunge the odious extra-territoriality clause — the
thorn that still rankles in the side of every Japanese patriot. For
eighteen months the energies of the jo-it or " foreigner-haters," were
utilized in the camp in fighting the rebellious Tokugawa retainers.
The war over, the trials of the new Government began. The low,
two-sworded men clamored for the fulfillment of the promise that the
foreigners should be expelled from Japan and the ports closed. The
Shinto officials induced the Government to persecute the native
" Christians," demanded the abolition of Buddhism, the establishment
of Shinto by edict, and the restoration of the Government on a purely
theocratic basis, and echoed the cry of " Expel the barbarian." Even
with the majority of the high officials there was no abandonment of
the purpose to expel foreigners. They intended to do it, but the
wisest of them knew that in their present condition they were not
able. Hence they simply wished to bide their time, and gain strength.
It was a matter of difficulty to keep patient thousands of swaggering
braves whose only tools for earning bread were their swords. The
first attention was given to reorganizing a national army, and to devel-
oping the military resources of the empire. All this was done with
the cherished end in view of driving out the aliens, closing the ports
of commerce, and bringing back the days of dictatorial isolation. The
desire for foreign civilization existed rather among the adherents of
Tokugawa, among whom were many enlightened gentlemen, besides
students and travelers, who had been to Europe and America, and who
wished their country to take advantage of the inventions of the for-
eigners. Yet many of the very men who once wished the foreigners
expelled, the ports closed, the treaties repudiated, who were jo-i, or
" foreigner-haters," and who considered all aliens as only a few degrees
above the level of beasts, are now members of the mikado's Govern-
ment, the exponents of advanced ideas, the defenders and executors
of philo-Europeanism, or Western civilization.
What caused the change that came over the spirit of their dreams ?
Why do they now preach the "faith they once destroyed? "It was
the lessons taught them at Kagoshima and Shimonoseki," say some.
" It was the benefits they saw would arise from commerce," say others.
" The child of the revolution was changed at nurse, and the Govern-
ment now in power was put into its cradle by mistake or design," say
others.
Cannon-balls, commerce, and actual contact with foreigners doubt-
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 317
less helped the scales to fall from their eyes, but these were helps only.
All such means had failed in China, though tried for half a century.
They would have failed in Japan also. It was an impulse from with-
in that urged the Japanese to join the comity of nations. The noblest
trait in the character of a Japanese is his willingness to change for the
better when he discovers his wrong or inferiority. This led the leaders
to preach the faith they once destroyed, to destroy the faith they once
preached.
The great work of enlightening the mikado's followers was begun
by the Japanese leaders, Okubo, Kido, Goto, all of them students,
both of the ancient native literature and of foreign ideas. It was fin-
ished by Japanese writers. The kuge, or court nobles, wished to ig-
nore the existence of foreigners, drive them out of the country, or
worry them by appointing officers of low rank in the Foreign Office,
then an inferior sub -bureau. Okubo, Goto, and Kido promptly op-
posed the plan, and sent a prince of the imperial blood, Higashi Kuze,
to Hiogo, with Date, Prince of Uwajima (see Appendix), to give the
mikado's consent to the treaties, and to invite the foreign ministers to
an audience with the emperor in Kioto. The British and Dutch min-
isters accepted the invitation ; the others declined. The train of the
British envoy was assaulted by fanatic assassins, one resisting bullet,
lance, and sabre of the English dragoons, only to lose his head by the
sweep of the sword of Goto, who rode by the side of the foreigners,
determined to secure their audience of the mikado. At first sight of
the strangers, the conversion of the kuge was thorough and instan-
taneous. They made friends with the men they once thought were
beasts.
In a memorial to the mikado, Okubo further gave expression to his
ideas in a memorial that astounded the court and the wavering dai-
mios, as follows : " Since the Middle Ages, our emperor has lived be-
hind a screen, and has never trodden the earth. Nothing of what
went on outside his screen ever penetrated his sacred ear ; the imperial
residence was profoundly secluded, and, naturally, unlike the outer
world. Not more than a few court nobles were allowed to approach
the throne, a practice most opposed to the principles of heaven. Al-
though it is the first duty of man to respect his superior, if he reveres
that superior too highly he neglects his duty, while a breach is created
between the sovereign and his subjects, who are unable to convey their
wants to him. This vicious practice has been common in all ages. But
now let pompous etiquette be done away with, and simplicity become
318 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
our first object. Kioto is in an out-of-the-way position, and is unfit
to be the seat of government. Let his majesty take up his abode tem-
porarily at Ozaka, removing his capital hither, and thus cure one of
the hundred abuses which we inherit from past ages."
The memorial produced an immediate and lively effect upon the
court. The young mikado, Mutsuhito, came in person to the meet-
ings of the council of state, and before the court nobles and daimios
took an oath, as an actual ruler, promising that " a deliberative assem-
bly should be formed ; all measures be decided by public opinion ; the
uncivilized customs of former times should be broken through ; and
the impartiality and justice displayed in the workings of nature be
adopted as a basis of action ; and that intellect and learning should be
sought for throughout the world, in order to establish the foundations
of the empire." This oath is the basis of the new Government.
These promises are either the pompous bombast of a puppet or the
pregnant utterances of a sovereign, who in magnanimity and wisdom
aspires to lead a nation into a higher life. That such words should
in that sublime moment fall from the lips of the chief of an Oriental
despotism excites our sympathetic admiration. They seem a sublime
echo of affirmation to the prophetic question of the Hebrew seer,
" Can a nation be born at once ?" They sound like a glad harbinger
of a new and higher national development, such as only those with the
strongest faith in humanity believe possible to an Asiatic nation. As
matter of fact, the words were uttered by a boy of sixteen years, who
scarcely dreamed of the tremendous significance of the language put
into his mouth by the high-souled parvenus who had made him em-
peror de facto, and who were resolved to have their ideas made the
foundations of the new Government. The result of the memorial, and
the ceaseless activity of Okubo and his colleagues, were the ultimate
removal of the Government to Yedo. It is not easy for a foreigner
to comprehend the profound sensation produced throughout the em-
pire when the mikado left Kioto to make his abode in another city.
During a millennium, Kioto had been the capital of Dai Nippon, and
for twenty-five centuries, according to popular belief, the mikados had
ruled from some spot near the site of the sacred city. A band of
fanatics, fired with the Yamato damashi, religiously opposed, but in
vain, his journey eastward. To familiarize his people with the fact
that Yedo was now the capital, its name was changed to Tokio, or
Eastern Capital.
Then was further developed the impulse to enter the path of mod-
T1IE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 319
crn civilization. While Okubo, Kido, Goto, Iwakura, Sanjo, Itagaki,
Oki, and the rising officials sought to purge and strengthen the po-
litical system, the work of enlightening the people and the upstarts
raised suddenly to power was done by Japanese writers, who for
the first time dared, without suffering death, to tell their thoughts.
A large measure of freedom of the press was guaranteed ; newspapers
sprung up in the capital. Kido, one of the prime movers and leaders,
himself established one of the most vigorous, still in existence — the
Shimbun Zasshi. The new Government acted with clemency equal to
the standard in Christian nations, and most generously to the literary
and scientific men among the retainers of the Tokugawas, and invited
them to fill posts of honor under the Government. They sent none of
the political leaders to the blood-pit, but by the gracious favor of the
mikado these were pardoned, and the conciliation of all sections of the
empire wisely attempted. Many of those who fought the loyal forces
at Fushimi, Wakamatsu, and Hakodate are now the earnest advocates
of the restoration and its logical issues. Even Enomoto is envoy of
the court of Tokio to that of St. Petersburg. All of the defeated
daimios were restored to rank and income. A complete and happy
reunion of the empire was the result. Some of the scholars declined
office until the time when even greater freedom of speech and pen was
permitted.
There w-ere men who in the old days, braving odium, and even
death, at the hands of the bakufu, had begun the study of the English
and Dutch languages, and to feed their minds at the Occidental fount-
ains. They were obliged to copy their books in manuscript, so rare
were printed copies. Later on, the bakufu, forced by necessity to have
interpreters and men skilled in foreign arts and sciences, chose these
students, and sent them abroad to study. When the civil war broke
out, they were recalled, reaching Japan shortly after the fighting be-
gan. They returned, says one of their number, " with their faces
flushed with enthusiastic sympathy with the modern civilization of
Christendom." Then they began the preparation of those original
works and translations, which were eagerly read by the new men in
power. Edition after edition was issued, bought, read, lent, and circu-
lated. In these books the history of the Western nations was faith-
fully told ; their manners and customs and beliefs were explained and
defended ; their resources, methods of thought and education, morals,
laws, systems of governments, etc., were described and elucidated.
Notably pre - eminent among these writers was the school - master, Fu-
21
320 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
kuzawa. Western ideas were texts : he clothed them in Japanese
words. He further pointed out the weaknesses, defects, and errors
of his countrymen, and showed how Japan, by isolation and the false
pride that scorned all knowledge derived from foreigners, had failed
to advance like Europe or America, and that nothing could save his
country from conquest or decay but the assimilation of the ideas
which have made the foreigners what they are. There is scarcely a
prominent or rising man in Japan but has read Fukuzawa's works, and
gratefully acknowledges the stimulus and lasting benefit derived from
them. Many of the leaders of the movement toward restoration, who
joined it with the cry, " Expel the foreigners," found themselves, after
perusal of these works, "unconsciously involved in the advance, with-
out wish or invitation," and utterly unable to explain why they were
in the movement. Fukuzawa has declined every one of the many flat-
tering offers of office and power under the Government, and still de-
votes himself to his school and the work of teaching and translation,
consuming his life in noble drudgery. He has been the interpreter of
Western ideas and life, caring little about the merely external garnish
and glitter of civilization. His books on " Western Manners and Cus-
toms," and his volumes of tracts and essays, have had an enormous
circulation.
Nakamura, also a school-master, has, besides writing original tracts,
translated a considerable body of English literature, John Stuart Mill's
" Essay on Liberty," Smiles's " Self-help," and a few smaller works on
morals and religion, which have been widely read. His memorial on
the subject of Christianity and religious liberty made a very profound
impression upon the emperor and court, and gave a powerful check to
the ultra Shintoists. Mori, Mitsukuri, Kato, Nishi, Uchida, Uriu, have
also done noble service as authors and translators. It is the writer's
firm belief, after nearly four years of life in Japan, mingling among
the progressive men of the empire, that the reading and study of books
printed in the Japanese language have done more to transform the Jap-
anese mind, and to develop an impulse in the direction of modern civ-
ilization, than any other cause or series of causes.
During the past decade the production of purely Japanese literature
has almost entirely ceased. A few histories of recent events, a few
war-poems and pamphlets urging the expulsion of the barbarians, were
issued previous to the civil war ; but since then almost the entire lit-
erary activity has been exhibited in translations, political documents,
memoirs of " mikado reverences " who had been martyrs to their faith,
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 321
and largely in the expression of Western ideas adapted to the under-
standing of the Japanese.
The war was ended by July, 1870. Rewards were distributed ; and
the Government was still further consolidated by creating definite
offices, and making all titles, which had been for nearly six centuries
empty names, to have reality and power. There was still, however,
much dead wood in the ship of state, a condition of chronic strain, a
dangerous amount of friction in the machinery, wrangling among the
crew, and a vast freight of bad cargo that the purest patriots saw the
good ship must " unload," if she was to be saved. This unloading was
accomplished in the usual way, by dismissing hundreds of officials one
day, and re-appointing on the next only those favorable to the desired
policy of the mikado.
Furthermore, it became daily more certain that national develop-
ment and peace could never be secured while the feudal system ex-
isted. The clan spirit which it fostered was fatal to national unity.
So long as a Japanese meant by " my country " merely his own clan,
loyalty might exist, but patriotism could not. The time seemed ripe
for action. The press was busy in issuing pamphlets advocating the
abolition of feudalism. Several of the great daimios, long before ready
for it, now openly advocated the change. The lesser ones knew bet-
ter than to oppose it. The four great clans, Satsuma, Choshiu, Tosa,
and Hizen (see Appendix), were the pioneers of the movement They
addressed a memorial to the throne, in which it was argued that the
daimios' fiefs ought not to be looked on as private property, but as
the mikado's own. They offered to restore the registers of their clans
to the sovereign. These were the external signs of the times. Back
of these, there were at least three men who were determined to sweep
feudalism away utterly. They were Kido, Okubo, Iwakura. The first
step was to abolish the appellation of court noble (kuge) and territo-
rial prince (daimio), and to designate both as kuazoku, or noble fami-
lies. The former heads of clans were temporarily appointed chiji
(governors of their clans). This smoothed the way. In September,
1871, the edict went forth calling the daimios to Tokio to retire to pri-
vate life. With scarcely an exception, the order was quietly obeyed.
The men behind the throne in Tokio were ready and even willing to
shed blood, should their (the mikado's) commands be resisted, and
they expected to do it. The daimios who were hostile to the measure
knew too well the character of the men who framed the edict to resist
it. The writer counts among the most impressive of all his life's ex-
322 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
periences that scene in the immense castle hall of Fukui, when the
Daimio of Echizen bid farewell to his three thousand two-sworded re-
tainers, and, amidst the tears and smiles and loving farewells of the
city's populace, left behind him lands, revenue, and obedient followers,
and retired to live as a private gentleman in Tokio.
Japan's feudalism began nearly eight centuries ago, and existed un-
til within the year 1871. It was not a tower of strength in its last
days. Long before its fall, it was an empty shell and a colossal sham.
Feudalism is only alive and vigorous when the leaders are men of
brain and action. Of all the daimios, there were not ten of any per-
sonal importance. They were amiable nobodies, great only in stom-
ach or silk robes. Many were sensualists, drunkards, or titled fools.
The real power in each clan lay in the hands of able men of inferior
rank, who ruled their masters. These are now the men who compose
the present Government of Japan. They rose against the shogun,
overthrew him, sent him to private life, and then compelled their mas-
ters, the daimios, to do likewise. They hold the emperor, and carry
on the government in his name. The mikado, however, is much more
of a ruler than his faineant ancestors. Still, the source of government
is the same. In 1872, by actual count, four-fifths of the men in the
higher offices were of the four great clans of Choshiu, Satsuma, Hizen,
and Tosa. A like census in 1876 would show a larger proportion of
officials from the northern and central provinces. Nevertheless, this
is not sectionalism. The ablest men rise to office and power in spite
of the locality of their birth. Natural ability asserts its power, and in
the Cabinet and departments are now many of the old bakufu adher-
ents, even Katsu, Obuko Ichio, Enomoto, and several scions of the
house of Tokugawa. The power has been shifted, not changed, and
is displayed by moving new machinery and doing new work.
Who are now, and who have been, the actual leaders in Japan since
1868? They are Okubo, Kido, Iwakura, Sanjo, Goto, Katsu, Soyejima,
Okuma, Oki, Ito, and many others, of whom but two or three are kuge,
while none is a daimio. Almost all were simple samurai, or retainers
of the territorial nobles.
The objects of the revolution of 1868 have been accomplished.
The shogunate and the feudal system are forever no more. The mi-
kado is now the restored and beloved emperor. The present per-
sonage, a young man of twenty-four years of age, has already shown
great independence and firmnness of character, and may in future be-
come as much the real ruler of his people as the Czar is of his. The
THE RECENT REVOLUTIONS IN JAPAN. 323
enterprise of establishing Shinto as the national faith lias failed vastly
and ignominiously, though the old Shinto temples have been purged
and many new ones erected, while official patronage and influence
give the ancient cult a fair outward show. Buddhism is still the re-
ligion of the Japanese people, though doubtless on the wane.
To summarize this chapter : the shogun was simply one of the many
vassals of the mikado of comparatively inferior grade, and historically
a usurper; the term "tycoon" was a diplomatic fraud, a title to which
the shogun had, officially, not the shadow of right ; the foreign diplo-
matists made treaties with one who had no right whatever to make
them ; the bakuf u was an organized usurpation ; the stereotyped state-
ments concerning a " spiritual " and a " secular " emperor are literary
fictions of foreign book-makers ; feudalism arose upon the decadence
of the mikado's power ; it was the chief hinderance to national unity,
and was ready for its fall before the shock came ; in all Japanese his-
tory the reverence for the mikado's person and the throne has been
the strongest national trait and the mightiest political force; the ba-
kufu exaggerated the mikado's sacredriess for its own purposes; the
Japanese are impressible and ever ready to avail themselves of what-
ever foreign aids or appliances will tend to their own aggrandizement :
nevertheless, there exists a strong tendency to conserve the national
type, pride, feelings, religion, and equality with, if not superiority to,
all the nations of the world ; the true explanation of the events of the
last eight years in Japan is to be sought in these tendencies and the
internal history of the nation ; the shogun, bakufu, and perhaps even
feudalism would have fallen, had foreigners never landed in Japan;
the movement toward modern civilization originated from within, and
was not simply the result of foreign impact or pressure ; the work of
enlightenment and education, which alone could assure success to the
movement, was begun and carried on by native students, statesmen,
and simple patriots.
|A mighty task awaited the new Government after the revolution
of 1868. It was to heal the disease of ages ; to uproot feudalism and
sectionalism, with all their abuses ; to give Japan a new nationality ; to
change her social system ; to infuse new blood into her veins ; to make
a hermit nation, half blinded by a sudden influx of light, competitor
with the wealthy, powerful, and aggressive nations of Christendom.
It was a problem of national regeneration or ruin. It seemed like en-
tering into history a second time, to be born again/)
What transcendent abilities needed for such a task ! What national
324 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
union, harmony in council, unselfish patriotism required ! What chief,
towering above his fellows, would arise, who by mighty intellect and
matchless tact could achieve what Yoritomo, or the Taiko, or lyeyasu
himself, or all, would be helpless to perform ? At home were the stol-
idly conservative peasantry, backed by ignorance, superstition, priest-
craft, and political hostility. On their own soil they were fronted
by aggressive foreigners, who studied all Japanese questions through
the spectacles of dollars and cents and trade, and whose diplomatists
too often made the principles of Shylock their system. Outside, the
Asiatic nations beheld with contempt, jealousy, and alarm the depart-
ure of one of their number from Turanian ideas, principles, and civili-
zation. China, with ill -concealed anger, Corea with open defiance,
taunted Japan with servile submission to the " foreign devils."
For the first time, the nation was represented to the world by an
embassy at once august and plenipotentiary. It was not a squad of
petty officials or local nobles going forth to kiss a toe, to play the
part of figure-heads or stool-pigeons, to beg the aliens to get out of
Japan, to keep the scales on foreign eyes, to buy gun-boats, or to hire
employes. A noble of highest rank and blood of immemorial an-
tiquity, vicar of majesty and national government, with four cabinet
ministers, set out to visit the courts of the fifteen nations having
treaties with Dai Nippon. These were Iwakura Tomomi, Okubo To-
shimiti, Kido Takayoshi, Ito Hirobumi, and Yamaguchi Masaka. They
were accompanied by commissioners representing every Government
department, sent to study and report upon the methods and resources
of foreign civilizations. They arrived in Washington, February 29th,
1872, and, for the first time in history, a letter signed by the mikado
was seen outside of Asia. It was presented by the embassadors, robed
in their ancient Yamato costume, to the President of the United States,
on the 4th of March, Mr. Arinori Mori acting as interpreter. " The first
president of the free republic " and the men who had elevated the eta
to citizenship stood face to face in fraternal accord. The one hundred
and twenty-third sovereign of an empire in its twenty-sixth centennial
saluted the citizen - ruler of a nation whose century aloe had not yet
bloomed. On the 6th of March they were welcomed on the floor of
Congress. This day marked the formal entrance of Japan upon the
theatre of universal history.
BOOK II.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, OBSERVATIONS, AND STUDIES
IN JAPAN. 1870-1875.
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 327
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN.
THE longest unbroken stretch of water statedly traversed by the keel
of steamer or sailing vessel lies between California and Japan. The
floating city, which leaves its dock in San Francisco at noon on the
first day of each month, pulses across four thousand miles of ocean,
from which rises no island, harbor, or reef. Nothing amidst all the
crowding triumphs of the genius and power of man so impresses the
reflecting mind as the thought of that mighty ark, which, by the mag-
net and the stars, is guided in safety to the desired haven. Without
a Noah, without dove or olive leaf, freighted with bird, beast, and fish,
and often with thirteen hundred human souls, over a flood of waters
that cover a world beneath, alone for weeks, that ark floats on, at the
bidding of the master.
Twenty-seven days in the solitudes of the sea seem long to the man
of this decade, who crosses the Atlantic's thousand leagues in nine
days, and the New World in a week. Even the old traveler — whose
digestion is sea-worthy ; whose appetite is like a whetted saw ; who
meets a host of genial fellow-birds of passage, and finds officers who
will answer questions ; who discovers new and readable books in the
ship's library ; and who delights in the study of steerage ethnology —
yearns in his secret soul for the sight of land again. Even the ocean
scenery, though, like God's mercies, new every morning and fresh ev-
ery evening, palls on the eye, and loses its glory before the thoughts
of the crowded city in which comforts cluster and pleasures bloom.
The waves that daily cradle the infant sun and pillow his dying splen-
dor, the effulgence of the cavernous sunsets, the wonders of spouting
whales, flying-fish, phosphorescence at night, " multitudinous smiles "
of waves by day, the circling gulls evermore, or even the fun of bury-
ing a day (Saturday, December 16th) under the 180th meridian, would
be gladly exchanged for a patch of farm or the sober glory of a wide-
spreading oak Often, indeed, the monotony of the voyage is relieved
by meeting one of the company's steamers. If the weather be fair,
328 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the pillar of cloud, or the long thin scarf of black smoke, descried afar
off, is the harbinger of the coming ship. The exchange of newspapers
and the sending homeward of letters are accomplished, to the intense
delight of passengers jaded with ennui.
Thus met in placid mid-ocean, on Sunday, December llth, 1870, the
P. M. S. S. Co.'s steamers Great Republic, Captain J. H. Freeman, from
San Francisco, and the Japan, bound to San Francisco, from the land
whither we were bound. All day long we had watched the smoke.
At 5.30 P.M. a rocket was sent up from the Japan. In a few mo-
ments our dinner-table was deserted. Within a stone's throw, the pas-
sengers on either ship shouted to each other. The stately ships, with
scores of lighted windows gleaming on the waters, parted at seven
o'clock, one moving to the home-land, one to the Mikado's Empire.
The meeting of steamers in mid-ocean is, strange to say, a matter of
dislike to a certain class of persons, who, in spite of all preventive pre-
cautions, keep up their existence. One or two " stowaways " are found
on nearly every steamer that leaves the shores of either continent.
They sneak on board the big ship while in port, and are driven from
their lair, when at sea, by hunger. When first discovered, the inquisi-
tor of the ship — the purser — uses all his skill to extort the full passage
money. If not forthcoming, the " stowaway " is consigned to purga-
tory— i. e., the fire-room, and compelled to pass coal and feed the fires.
This process refines his feelings so far that the " dross " is produced,
if on the victim's person. If he refuses to do duty, his fare being still
unpaid, he is put in irons, but, by passing through purgatory of the
furnace-room, he is " saved " from further punishment, and reaches the
paradise of firm land, " yet so as by fire."
All these incidents and accidents of sea-life cease to have any im-
portance after the oracle at the head of the table, Captain J. H. Free-
man, has announced that " we shall sight Cape King at day-break to-
morrow." We try to sleep well during our last night on the water ;
but sleep, so often won and long embraced thus far, becomes fickle and
flies our eyelids. With joyful wakefulness, our thoughts are busy with
the morrow, until at last, in the wee morning hours, our eyelids are
sealed.
I wake early on the 29th of December, 1870, and from out my
state-room window behold the eye-gladdening land within rifle-shot.
Hills, crested with timber, line the bay, and the beaches are dotted with
thatched huts and white store-houses. Fishermen's boats, manned and
moving over the bay, are near enough for us to distinguish their occu-
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 329
pants. Tall, muscular men, with skin of a dirty copper color, in long,
loose dress, their mid-scalps shaven, and the projecting cue or top-knot,
of the percussion gun-hammer style, are the first natives of Japan whom
we see at home. Though different in dress, condition, and as the bar-
ber left them, from their gay fellow-countrymen who spend plenty of
money and study hard in the United States, they, nevertheless, exactly
resemble their brethren in physiognomy and general appearance.
The dayspring in the east sifts enough of suggestive light over the
land to entice us into the belief that the Land of the Rising Sun is
one of the fairest on earth — a belief which a residence of years has
ripened into an article of faith. To the right lie the two mountainous
provinces of Awa and Kadzusa, with their numerous serrated peaks
and valleys, which may be beautiful, though now they sleep. To the
left is the village of Uraga, opposite which Commodore Perry anchored,
with his whole squadron of steamers, on the 7th of July, 1853. Re-
maining eight days at this place, he was accorded what he first de-
manded— an interview with, and the reception of President Fillmore's
letter by, an officer of high rank. After the ceremony, he gave the
place the name of Reception Bay, which it still retains. Now we pass
Perry Island, Webster Isle, and, on the opposite side, Cape Saratoga.
We must not forget, mournful though the thought be, that hereabouts
beneath us, perhaps under our keel, lies the United States war steam-
er Oneida, which was run into and sunk by the British mail steamer
Bombay, January 23d, 1870. This is sad; but the sequel is disgrace-
ful. Down under the fathoms the Oneida has lain, thus far undis-
turbed, a rich and grateful Government having failed to trouble itself
to raise the ship or do honor to the dead. The hulk was put up at
auction and sold (in 1874), with certain conditions, to a Japanese, for
fifteen hundred dollars. This is the one sad thought that casts its
shadow over the otherwise profound memories of which the Gulf of
Yedo is so suggestive to Americans. The prominent geographical
points in the bay echo familiar American names, which later geogra-
phers and a cosmopolitan community have ratified, and which com-
memorate American genius, skill, and bloodless victory.
The ship moves on, and the panoramic landscape unfolds before us.
In the background of undulating plains, under high and close cultiva-
tion, and spotted with villages, rise the crumpled backs of many ranges
of mountains ; while afar off, yet brought delusively near by the clear
air, sits the queenly mountain in her robes of snow, already wearing
the morning's crown of light, and her forehead gilded by the first ray
330 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
of the yet unrisen sun. Beyond her, in the purple air, still glitter the
jewel stars, while her own bosom trembles through many changes of
color. Far out at sea, long before land is descried, and from a land
area of thirteen provinces, the peerless cone is seen and loved. Per-
haps no view is so perfect, so impressive for a life-time, so well fitted
to inspire that intense appreciation of nature's masterpieces, whose
glory and freshness we can feel intensely but once, as is the view of
Fuji from an incoming steamer. From vast outspread base, through
mighty curves, sweeping past snow, and up to her summit, the mount-
ain is visible in queenly solitude and fullness of beauty. Gradually
the vast form is bathed in light, and the Land of the Rising Sun stands
revealed in golden glory. It is a joy to have seen it thus at first vision.
From serene and ancient Fuji, we turn to behold the bustling up-
start metropolis of the foreigners in Japan, as it appears in full daylight.
Passing Mississippi Bay and Treaty Point, we arrive in front of what
was once a little fishing village, but which is now the stately city of
Yokohama, We count the craft that lie anchored in the harbor.
From thirty to fifty are usually in port. Steamers from Hakodate,
Shanghae, and Hong-Kong, and the regular mail steamers from Mar-
seilles and Southampton, lie at their buoys. Here are wooden war-
ships and iron-clads, from which fly the British, French, Japanese,
German, or American flags. A tremendous amount of useless and
costly saluting is done by these men-of-war, whom the country folks
call " boom- boom fune." Coal -hulks, store-ships, and all the usual
evidences of an old harbor, are discovered all around us. The town
itself seems compactly built of low houses, with tiled roofs. They
are usually two-storied, though many are, in the language of the East,
" bungalows," or one-storied dwellings. The foreign settlement seems
to be arranged on a plain about a mile square. The Japanese town
spreads out another mile or more to the right. Beyond the plains is
a sort of semicircle of hills, called " The Bluff." It is covered with
scores of handsome villas and dwelling-houses, of all sizes and varieties
of architecture. To the left the Bluff runs abruptly into the sea.
To the right it sweeps away to the south-west. In local parlance, the
various parts of Yokohama are distinguished as " The Bluff," " The Set-
tlement," and the " Native " or " Japanese " town. Along the water-
front of the settlement runs a fine, wide, well-paved street, called " The
Bund," with a stout wall of stone masonry on the water-side. Private
dwellings, gardens, and hotels adorn it, facing the water. There are as
yet no docks for the shipping, but there is the English and the French
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 331
" hatoba." The former consists of a stone breakwater, or piers, rising
twelve feet or so out of the water, inclosing a large irregular quad-
rangle, with a narrow entrance at one corner. The land -side of the
English hatoba is furnished with steps, and a score or more of boats
can discharge their passengers at once. The French hatoba consists of
two parallel piers of stone projecting out into the bay. The building
of most imposing ugliness from the sea-view is the British Consulate,
and near by it is the American. The Japanese Sai Ban Sho, or Court-
house, is larger than either of the consulate buildings, and much hand-
somer. At the other extremity of the settlement, toward the Bluff,
was the French camp, and near by it the English. Three hundred
French soldiers guarded as many French civilians resident in Japan,
and three hundred English marines, who relieved the Tenth British
foot — the same that served their king on Bunker Hill — were in camp
in Yokohama in 1870, and remained until 1875.
The engines stop, and the great ship lies motionless at her buoy.
Instantly the crowd of boats which have waited, like hounds in the
leash, shoot toward the stem ports and gangway, and the steamer be-
comes walled in. First of all, the United States mail-boat, propelled
by six native scullers, is flying swiftly shoreward, to satisfy the eager
souls of the elect with its precious freight. Friends throng on board
to meet friends. Englishmen ask the news — whether there is to be
war with Russia ? French and Germans eagerly inquire for the latest
news from the seat of war. From one, I learn that the Japanese Gov-
ernment has already issued a proclamation of neutrality, for French
marines and German sailors have already come to blows in Yokohama.
Fancy creatures in velvet and diamonds, with gold on their fingers
and brass in their faces, hasten to see whether any of their guild have
arrived from San Francisco.
Leaving deck and cabin, we visit the steerage. The coal-lighters
are crowded with dirty coolies. They impress us as being the lowest
of their class. Their clothing is exceedingly scanty. An American
lady with good eyesight supposed them to be clad in very tight leath-
er-colored garments. On second sight, wondering at the perfect fit of
the dress, she found it to be the only clothing which mother Nature
provides for her children. The proprietors of the native boats have
entered the ports, and are driving a brisk trade in oranges and various
articles of diet, precious only to Asiatics. Huge dried persimmons,
which, though shrunken, are four or five inches long, and sake, are
very salable. A squad of the Chinese, so numerous in Yokohama, are
332 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
busy in furnishing small change to those who wish to go ashore. Jap-
anese tempos, and iron and copper cash, are exchanged for American
dimes, greenbacks, and Mexicans.
With the kindly aid of a friend, we prepare to go ashore. Safely
seated in one of the clean unpainted boats, in which we detect no iron,
but only here and there a cleet of copper, we enjoy the glorious beauty
of the situation. In the stern stand the two sendos, who make their
keel glide over the waves as swiftly as a Venetian gondola shoots
under and out from the Blalto. Already the Japanese boatmen have
beaten in a race with the American tars. Yonder whizzes a butcher's
boat, freshly laden from the abattoir below the city. Six naked ath-
letes of magnificent physique, chanting in wild chorus, urge on their
craft.
Sculling is the method invariably in use among the Japanese. The
long scull consists of two pieces tied together. On the handle is a
pin, on which a rope is slipped, so that the scull is held down to a
uniform height while being worked. The blade rests near where it
joins the stock, on an outrigger pivot. The sweep of the stock, at
the hand end, is nearly two feet. The sendo, planting his left foot on
an inclined board, sways his arras and body at right angles to the
boat, singing meanwhile one of his own songs, in his own way. We
soon skim over a half-mile of the blue water, pass the United States
steamer Idaho and the Prussian war-ship Hermann, and, darting within
the stone piers, land on the hatoba, and are in the mikado's empire.
The custom-house and the native officials detain us but a few mo-
ments. Passing out the gate, we receive our first invitation to part
with some small change from three fat little urchins in curious dress,
with lion's head and feathers for a cap, and with red streamers hang-
ing down their backs. They run before us and perform all kinds of
astonishing tricks, such as carrying their heads beneath their feet, mak-
ing a ball of themselves, and trundling along, etc. By our financial
dealings with these little street-tumblers, we learn that " shinjo " means
" gift," and " arigato " means " thank you," which is the beginning
of our vocabulary in Japanese. "
The fine wide streets of Yokohama are well paved and curbed.
The hard white-stone and concrete pavements are able to resist for
years the rutting action of the sharp-edged wheels of the native carts.
These wheels are ingeniously constructed, and their felloes are mor-
tised in segments. They need no tires, and have none. They are
propelled by four powerful fellows, who work in pairs, and have
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 333
scarcely more clothing than there is harness on a horse. The fore-
most pair push with hands and thighs the front cross-bar, behind
which they stand. The other pair supply the vis a tergo, applying
their shoulders to a beam which juts out obliquely from beneath and
behind the cart. The street cries in every country attract first the
Push-cart in Yokohama. Uokusai.
new-comer's ears ; and the cry of these cart coolies in Yokohama is
one of the most peculiar sounds in or out of Japan. I never after-
ward heard these cries, except in Yokohama and Tokio. While the
two men in the rear save their wind and vocal force, the two foremost
coolies utter alternately and incessantly a coarse, deep, guttural cry,
which, if spelling were possible, would be written, " Hai ! huida ! ho !
ho ! hai ! huida ! wa ! ho ! ho ! huidah !" etc. I was, at first hearing,
under the impression that the poor wretches were suffering a grievous
colic, and a benevolent inclination seized me to buy a few bottles of
Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, and distribute them on the spot. On
being told, however, that nothing was the matter with the men, it be-
ing their custom to yell in this manner, I abandoned my intention.
Rows of iron lamp-posts, with lanterns and burners trimmed and in
cleanly readiness, tell of streets well lighted with gas at night. Along
the avenue, on which stand the British and American consulates on
one side, and the Japanese court-house, bonded warehouses, and police
station on the other, are sidewalks, which, along several blocks, are
thickly planted, in a breadth of ten feet or more, with evergreens and
flowers. Among these we see the camellias in full bloom. The main
street crosses this avenue at right angles, extending from the Japanese
334 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
town to the canal at the foot of The Bluff. The sidewalks on it are
narrow ; but the street pavements are so hard, and are kept so clean,
that it is not unpleasant to walk in the street, even in wet weather.
The streets in the foreign settlement are paved, curbed, and drained.
Since 1874 they have been lighted with gas, from the gas-works of
the rich merchant, Takashimaya.
Here, for the first time, I behold that native Japanese invention, the
product of a Tokio genius, the jin-riki-sha (man-power carriage). It
has often been described. It is a baby carriage on adult wheels. It
holds one or two persons. A man in the shafts pulls it; sometimes
he is assisted by another from behind. When you wish to go fast,
you employ two men, or you may drive tandem with three. Many of
these sha are highly ornamented; for art is appreciated even by the
lowest classes in Japan, as a residence of five minutes, and afterward
four years, concur in assuring me. Some are made into the form of a
boat, with a chanticleer for a figure-head. Foreigners and natives use
them, and a wag from Yankee-land has dubbed them " Pull-man cars."
Main Street is the showiest of all — the Broadway of the " New York
of Japan." Here we pass fine stone-fronted stores, banks, hotels, and
restaurants. The magnificent show-windows and abundance of plate-
glass suggest handsome variety and solid wealth within. These outside
displays are, in most cases, but true indices of the varied articles of
merchandise within, which are obtainable at very fair prices. Nothing
eatable, drinkable, or wearable seems to be lacking to suit the tastes
or wishes of an ordinary man, beast, or angel ; though we have heard
that the entire bevy of Miss Flora M'Flimsey's cousins in Yokohama
assert most strenuously that there is " nothing to wear " at any time.
Nevertheless, to man or beast, the abundance and variety of feminine
paraphernalia visible in one of the shops in which angelic robes are
sold is simply wonderful ; and one notices that the visits of the angels
to this place are neither few nor far between. Craftsmen in the finer
arts also get their wealth in Yokohama. Several jewelers display
tempting wares, and ply a brisk trade. Young J.apan wears a watch
nowadays, and thousands are sold yearly in Yokohama. Barber's poles
salute us on several streets, and one may be shaved in French, English,
or Japanese fashion.
Photographic establishments tempt our eyes and purse with tasteful
albums of Japanese costume and scenery. First-class eating -saloons
await their crowds at the hungry hour. The several auction -rooms
seem to be well filled with native and foreign purchasers. Confection-
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JArAN. 337
era display their bait for the palate. Newspaper offices greet us ; law-
yers' and doctors' and dentists' signs seem to be sufficiently plentiful.
Carriages and " traps " add to the bustle, and several knots of Japanese
farmers, pilgrims, and new-comers from the provinces, staring surpris-
ingly at the sights they have long heard of, but which they now for
the first time behold, are met as we pass up the street. French Cath-
olic or Russian Greek priests in their cassocks, nuns in their black
robes, well-dressed Chinese, Jews from every nation under heaven,
French soldiers in blue, British soldiers in red coats, and the talkers
in a score of different languages, are met with, and help to give the
town its cosmopolitan character. Main Street, however, is only the
street of shops, shop-keepers, and the usual vulgar herd.
Let us turn into the street of " hongs " and " merchants." Be it
known that in Yokohama, and the Eastern ports generally, the dis-
tinction between a merchant and a shop-keeper is dire and radical.
With us lay folk outside of the trading world the difference is small,
and not always perceptible — a mole - hill, at the least ; but in these
Eastern ports a great gulf is fixed, socially and commercially, between
the two castes, and the difference is mountainous. With us, a shop-
keeper is a man and a brother ; in Yokohama, in the eye of the clubs,
and with the elect of wealth, fashion, and the professions, he is but a
heathen and a publican. Advertising, the use of a sign - board, and
such -like improprieties, are evidences of low caste, and consign the
offender to the outer darkness, far away from happy club men and
select visitors. This relic of English caste traditions, rank, and class
worship is not so strong now as formerly, but is sufficiently potent to
cause many a bitter pang and many heart-burnings to those who first
experience it in their new residence in the East.
The street in which the " hongs," or large business establishments,
are situated is rather gloomy, when compared with the lively Main
Street. Most of the buildings are of stone, and many of them are fire-
proof "godowns," or store - houses. From the windows of the "tea-
firing godowns" issues the fragrant aroma of the new crop of tea, which
is being " fired " or dried in deep tin basins, over charcoal fires, by na-
tive girls and women, preparatory to packing and export. Most of
the largest and wealthiest business houses are owned and managed
by those who were among the first -comers to Japan. Many of the
" hongs " are branches of houses in China, or they themselves have
agencies at Nagasaki, Hiogo, and ports in China. From five to twenty
young men form their clerical staff, backed by a small army of native
338 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
porters, coolies, packers, boatmen, etc. These large firms control near-
ly all the export trade of Yokohama, and, indeed, of Japan. The tea,
silk, copper, rice, etc., is brought from all parts of the country, though
chiefly from the West and North, and is disposed of by the native
merchants through brokers and " compradores." In most cases the
native producer, or even the broker, never sees the foreigner with
whom he deals. The most important man in many foreign firms, the
power behind and before the throne, is the " compradore." This su-
perior being is a Chinaman, who understands enough Japanese, espe-
cially with the help of the written Chinese character, to deal with the
Japanese merchant, producer, or broker. He is the provider and pay-
master of the firm in its dealings with the natives. He arranges, by
and with the advice of the merchant, the purchase, sale, and delivery
of merchandise. He hires and pays the Japanese employes, and, being
the trusted man, is a creature of imposing pretensions, and a quasi-
partner of the firm. His facilities, opportunities, and never -cloyed
desire for "squeezes" from his Japanese clients are equally abundant,
and he lives up to his privileges. Various shifts have been made use
of by the Japanese merchants to depose this obnoxious middle -man
from his position, and even to eliminate him entirely from mercantile
transactions. A bold attempt of this kind was lately made by the
plucky Governor of Yokohama, Oye Taku ; but, as the manner of the
attempt was technically illegal, it failed, and matters still remain as
they were before.
This aristocratic and highly antiquated form of doing business, in
which the merchant practically holds himself aloof from his custom-
ers, is an inheritance from the foreign merchants in the ports of
China. Ignorant of the language of that country, trusting their
affairs to a " compradore " who spoke pigeon-English, they lived and
grew rich, without troubling themselves to learn the language of the
pig-tails around them. Few of the merchants in Japan, to their dis-
credit let it be said, have seriously endeavored to master the speech of
their producers, and, being ignorant of it, the " compradore " is, in
such a state of things, a necessary evil. This old-fogy method of do-
ing business must in time give way before the enterprise and energy
of the younger firms, who refuse to employ " compradores," and the
members of which are beginning to acquire the language of the people
with whom they deal. There might have been excuses to the first-
comers for not learning a language for the acquisition of which no
teachers or apparatus at that time existed ; but at the present, thanks
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 339
to American missionaries and the gentlemen of the English civil service,
an excellent apparatus of grammars, dictionaries, and phrase-books exists.
The four great steamship agencies at present in Yokohama are the
American Pacific Mail ; the Oriental and Occidental ; the English Pen-
insular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company ; and the French Mes-
sag6ries Maritime Paquet Postes Francois. The Ocean Steamship Com-
pany lias also an agency here. The native lines of mail steamers Mit-
sui Bishi (Three Diamonds) also make Yokohama their terminus.
The coming orthodox bridal tour and round-the-world trip will soon
be made vid Japan first, then Asia, Europe, and America. Already
the circum-mundane tourists have become so frequent and temporarily
numerous in Yokohama as to be recognized as a distinct class. In the
easy language of the port, they are called " globe-trotters."
The most interesting portion of Yokohama, alike to the new-comer
and the old resident, is the Bluff. Coming to a port opened primarily
for trading purposes only, one expects to find shops and store-houses,
but few anticipate seeing such dwellings and homes as are to be found
on the Bluff. In the afternoon, when the business of the day is over,
and the high, grand, and mighty event of the day, the dinner, has not
yet been consummated, the visitor on the Bluff sees very fine speci-
mens of horseflesh, good turn-outs, and plenty of pedestrian and eques-
trian humanity out for fresh air. The trim door-yards, lawns, gardens,
fences, and hedges help to make a picture of unexpected beauty. The
villas and dwellings are not high, being bungalows of one story, or
houses of two stories. Though not remarkable as architectural tri-
umphs, they are picturesque without, and full of comfort within.
Added to home attractions, is the ever-present lovely scenery of the
bay, the distant mountains, the peerless Fuji, and the smiling valleys.
Nearly all the professional and many of the business men live on the
Bluff, and, whether from the natural altitude, the inspiring freshness
of the scenery, or otherwise, the Bluff dwellers are apt to consider
themselves of a slightly higher social order than the inhabitants of
the plain. The Bluff spreads over an irregular triangle, and its sur-
face is rather undulating. Many of the dwellings are snugly embosom-
ed amidst groves, or on the slopes and in the hollows, but most of
them crown its spurs and ridges in commanding positions. The le-
gations of the treaty powers were, until 1874, situated in especially
choice spots. Strange to say, the foreign diplomatic representatives,
instead of residing in Tokio, lived at Yokohama, preferring society to
the doubtful charms of the Japanese capital.
340 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
My opportune arrival so near New Year's, and the custom of visiting
being enthusiastically observed, enabled me to see into the homes of
many old residents, and to meet most of the social magnates and men
prominent in the diplomatic, literary, commercial, and missionary world.
Among others, I saw our hospitable American minister, Hon. Charles E.
De Long, the Dutch, French, and Danish ministers, and several consuls
and attaches. Mr. Portman, formerly secretary and interpreter to the
American Legation, one of the valuable and unrewarded servants of our
Government, was then hale and gray, living alone, not knowing that
his grave was to be in the Ville du Havre.
Beside the legations are the fine American hospital, the General
and British hospitals, and the public gardens. On summer evenings
one of the bands from the flag-ships stationed in the harbor plays in
these gardens ; while flower, beast, and bird shows, and various sports
and amusements, fire-works, etc., are furnished by the most indefatiga-
ble proprietor that ever catered to public taste. Beyond the " foreign
concession" of land — that is, outside the limits of foreign dwellings — is
the race-course, an ample space of ground, leveled, fenced, and furnished
with buildings and spectators' stands. The races are held during threo
days in spring and autumn, followed invariably by a " Black Monday,"
when bets are paid. An incredible amount of excitement, truly Brit-
ish, is got up over Oriental horseflesh. The term for a Eurasian horse
is " griffin."
A fine new road has been built by the Japanese Government, which
passes by the race-course, and winds over the hills and down along the
shores of Mississippi Bay, which is described as " the most beautiful for
varied scenery in the world." Of course, I am quoting from those who
speak in the same sense in which a mother speaks when she asserts,
and really believes, that her babe is the last crowning wonder of the
universe. Nevertheless, Yokohama numbers among its residents many
tourists and sometime residents in the Old and New Worlds in many
habitable latitudes. Their almost unanimous verdict is, that Mississip-
pi Bay, especially at the sunset and twilight hours, is matchlessly love-
ly. The New Road, after passing along the beach and through sever-
al Japanese villages, past rice and wheat fields, and through a beautiful
valley, rejoins Yokohama at " Legation Bluff."
Returning from walk or drive, the event of the day, the grand cul-
minating act of diurnal existence, to which every thing else is but a
prelude, the dinner, claims the solemn thought and most vigorous fac-
ulties of mind and body. Whatever else fails, the dinner must be a
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 341
success. " Life without letters is death," was said by the Romans ;
but that life without dinners is no life at all, is the solemn conviction
of most residents in the East. It is further said that a Frenchman
can cook a dinner as a dinner deserves to be cooked, but only an En-
glishman can eat it as it ought to be eaten. In Yokohama, dinner is
the test of success in life. If that momentous feed is successfully
achieved, sorrow and care are forgotten, the future is hopeful, eternity
radiant, and the chief end of man is attained. No bolting, no haste,
no slovenliness in dress, no wishing it over. A dinner to be given
must be studied and exquisitely planned, as a general plans a battle,
or a diplomat a treaty. A dinner to be attended must be dressed for,
anticipated, and rehearsed as a joyful hour on a higher plane of exist-
ence, or — as an ordeal for which one must be steeled and clad in res-
ignation. To appreciate the esoteric aesthetics of dinner, and to com-
prehend the higher law that governs these august events, apart from
the mere vulgar idea of satisfying hunger, one must be educated by a
long course of observation and experience. Real enjoyment is doubt-
less to be obtained at these dinner parties ; but such an idea is not
necessarily included within the objects sought by an orthodox giver
of a dinner. There are a great many " brilliant flashes of silence " at
these dinners, and meditations on crockery are common. Neverthe-
less, it is really believed that a good dinner is the correct method of
securing the highest earthly happiness, and is the most common means
of social enjoyment in Yokohama.
Being such a cosmopolitan place, the dweller in Yokohama must be
always vigilant to offend none, and in all the windings of conversation
must pick his steps, lest he tread on the national, religious, or aesthetic
corns of his neighbors. What is complimentary to one man may be
insult to some one else present, and so one becomes schooled to make
only the correct remark. Though this state of armed neutrality may
sometimes tend to make conversation excessively stupid, and a mere
round of dessicated commonplaces, it trains one to be, outwardly at
least, charitable to all, malicious to none. It keeps one circumspect
and cosmopolitan, whether in opinions or moral practice ; and to be
cosmopolitan is to be, in Anglo - Oriental eyes, virtuous beyond vulgar
conception.
The predominating culture, thought, manners, dress, and household
economy in Yokohama, as in all the Eastern ports, is English. Out-
numbering all the other nationalities, with the Press, the Church, the
Bar, and the Banks in their own hands ; with their ever-present sol-
342 THE MIKADO'S ElfPlRE.
diers and navy ; with their unrivaled civil service, which furnishes so
many gentlemanly officials ; and with most of the business under
their control, the prevalence of English thought and methods is very
easily accounted for. Because of the very merits and excellences of
the genuine Englishman, the American in the East can easily forgive
the intense narrowness, the arrogant conceit, and, as relates to Ameri-
can affairs, the ludicrous ignorance and fondly believed perfection of
knowledge of so many who arrogate to themselves all the insular per-
fections. Perhaps most of the Englishmen at the East are fair repre-
sentatives of England's best fruits; but a grievously large number,
removed from the higher social pressure which was above them, and
which kept them at their true level in England, find themselves with-
out that social pressure in the East; and obeying the "law of press-
ures," they are apt to become offensively vaporous in their preten-
sions. These persons are surprised to find even American enterprise
in the East. They are the most radical and finical concerning every
idea, custom, ceremony, or social despotism of any kind supposed to
be English. These men help to form the army of hard-heads and
civilized boors in Japan, to which our own country furnishes recruits,
who do so much toward helping the Japanese to carry out in Japan
their favorite amusement in American hotels, i. e., to descend on an
elevator; that is, to lay aside their own dignified politeness, and to
adopt the rough manners of those who fondly imagine themselves
the embodiment of the elevating influences of civilization. They are
the foreigners who believe it their solemn duty, and who make it their
regular practice, to train up their native servant " boys " in the way
they should go by systematic whippings, beatings, and applications of
the boot. Fearful of spoiling cook, boy, or " betto " (hostler), they
spare neither fist, boot, nor cane. In this species of brutality we be-
lieve the vulgar John Bulls to be sinners above all the foreigners in
the East. I saw enough in one day to explain why so many of their
nationality have felt the vengeful swords of Japanese samurai. Al-
though Americans sometimes are swift-footed to follow the example
of Englishmen, yet it is usually acknowledged by the Japanese them-
selves that the Americans, as a class of that heterogeneous collection
of men, who are all alike to them in being foreigners, are more in-
clined to give them their rights, and to treat them as equals.
Be it remembered that in these remarks we do not refer to that
large body of educated, refined, and true-hearted Englishmen who
have been such a potent influence in the civilization of Japan. It
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 343
must be confessed, and we cheerfully bear witness to what is a fact,
that the predominating good influence in Japan is English. Some of
the most prominent and most highly trusted foreign officials of the
Japanese Government are English. The navy, the railways, the tele-
graphs, public works, and light -houses are managed by them almost
exclusively, and a large part, if not most, of the business of the coun-
try is in their hands. Some of the very best, and perhaps the majori-
ty, of lay students of, and scholars in, the Japanese language are En-
glishmen. For all that goes to refine, elevate, and purify society among
foreigners we are largely indebted to the English. In my strictures, I
refer to that numerous class in Japan who, with pecuniary power and
social influence far above that they could gain at home, ape the man-
ners and succeed in copying the worst faults of the better class of
their countrymen. Living among a people capable of teaching them
good manners, and yet ignorant alike of their history, language, insti-
tutions, and codes of honor and morals, they regard them as so many
chattering silk -worms, tea -plants, and tokens of copper. They are
densely ignorant of every thing outside of England, and with unruffled
stupidity they fail to conceive how any good thing can come out of a place
not included within the little island from which they came. I should
feel very glad if none of my countrymen answered to this description.
It is to be regretted that the British and American should be so
often pitted together ; but so long as fair play, chivalric honor, cosmo-
politan breadth of mind, and Christian courtesy are left us, we think
the rivalry must be productive of immense good. Like flint and steel,
before the dead cold mass of Asiatic despotism, superstition, and nar-
rowness, it must result in kindling many a good spark into flames of
progress and knowledge. Whatever be their petty differences, the
English and American ever strike hands for good purposes more
quickly than any other two nationalities in Japan; and before the
men of every other nation the American finds more to love, to honor,
and to admire in the Englishman. It is the two nations cemented in-
separably together by the blood, religion, language, history, inherit-
ance, and the love of liberty and law, that are to impress their char-
acter and civilization on the millions of Asia, and to do most toward
its regeneration. Let every pen and tongue forbear to needlessly irri-
tate, or do aught to sunder the ties that bind together the two great
civilizing powers of the world ; but as for the social bigot, the Philis-
tine, the bully, let not his disgraced nationality shield him from the
social exile and public contempt which he deserves.
344 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Yokohama is fervently believed by many new-comers, especially
those who are soon discovered to be either verdant or genuine fools,
to be the very worst place in the world for iniquity, gossip, and all
manner of rascality. In this they most clearly mistake. Since the
same reputation attaches to at least a thousand places, I think the er-
ror lies in a defect in the mental vision of the new-comer. Some tem-
porary attack of moral color-blindness, strabismus, or disarrangement
of the moral lenses, must be the cause of such an erroneous opinion.
Long residents and traveled men agree in the belief that the moral
status of Yokohama is fully equal to most other ports in the East, if
not in the world. Some optimists even hold the opinion that it is
better than many other places that boast loudly of their morals. Cer-
tain it is that gambling hells have been purged away. Rum " mills "
and lewd houses, though numerous enough, are not more common than
in other ports. The white woman in scarlet drives her carriage on the
Bluff and in the town, but her sisters are not abnormally numerous.
Where heathen women are cheap, and wives from home are costly,
chastity is not a characteristic trait of the single men ; but the same
evil and the same resultant curse rests on all such places where " Chris-
tians" live side by side with "pagans." Given a superior race with
superior resources, and poor natives who love money more than virtue,
and the same state of things results.
Missionaries abound in Yokohama, engaged in the work of teaching,
and converting the natives to the various forms of the Christian re-
ligion. It is a little curious to note the difference in the sentiment
concerning missionaries on different sides of the ocean. Coming from
the atmosphere and influences of the Sunday-school, the church, and
the various religious activities, the missionary seems to most of us an
exalted being, who deserves all honor, respect, and sympathy. Ar-
rived among the people in Asiatic ports, one learns, to his surprise,
that the missionaries, as a class, are "wife -beaters," "swearers," "li-
ars," "cheats," "hypocrites," " def rauders," "speculators," etc., etc.
He is told that they occupy an abnormally low social plane, that they
are held in contempt and open scorn by the " merchants," and by so-
ciety generally. Certain newspapers even yet love nothing better than
to catch any stray slander or gossip concerning a man from whom
there is no danger of gunpowder or cowhide. Old files of some of
the newspapers remind one of an entomological collection, in which
the specimens are impaled on pins, or the store-house of that celebra-
ted New Zealand merchant who sold "canned missionaries." Some
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 345
of the most lovely and lofty curves ever achieved by the nasal orna-
ments of pretty women are seen when the threadbare topic of mission-
ary scandal is introduced. The only act approaching to cannibalism
is when the missionary is served up whole at the dinner-table, and his
reputation devoured. The new-comer, thus suddenly brought in con-
tact with such new and startling opinions, usually either falls in with
the fashion, and adopts the opinions, the foundation for which he has
never examined, or else sets to work to find out how much truth there
is in the scandals. A fair and impartial investigation of facts usually
results in the conviction that some people are very credulous and ex-
cessively gullible in believing falsehoods.
Scarcely one person in a hundred of those who so freely indulge in,
and so keenly enjoy, the gossip and scandal about missionaries, realizes
their need of human sympathy, or shows that fair play which teaches
us that they are but human beings like ourselves. The men of busi-
ness and leisure for every thing except their tongues are utterly un-
able to understand the missionary's life, work, or purpose. Apart from
the fact that a man who strives to obey the final and perhaps most
positive command of the Great Founder of Christianity, to preach the
Gospel to every creature, should win respect so far as he obeys that
command, it is also most happily true that some of the very best, most
conscientious, though quiet, work in the civilization of Japan has been
done by missionaries. They were the first teachers; and the first
counselors whose advice was sought and acted upon by the Japanese
were missionaries, and the first and ripest fruits of scholarship — the
aids to the mastery of the Japanese language — were and are the work
of missionaries. The lustre shed upon American scholarship by mis-
sionaries in China and Japan casts no shadow, even in the light of the
splendid literary achievements of the English civil service. Besides
this, a community in which the lives of the majority are secretly or
openly at variance with the plainest precepts of the Great Master can
not, even on general principles, be expected to sympathize very deeply
with, or even comprehend, the efforts of men who are social heretics.
It is hard to find an average " man of the world " in Japan who has
any clear idea of what the missionaries are doing or have done. Their
dense ignorance borders on the ridiculous.
On the other hand, a few, very few, who call themselves missiona-
ries are incompetent, indiscreet, fanatical, and the terror even of their
good and earnest brethren.
At present, in Yokohama, there are the edifices of the Established
346 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
English Episcopal, the French Catholic, the Union Protestant, and
native Christian churches. There is also a Jewish congregation. Be-
sides the Governmental, the private Japanese, and the General Hospital
of the foreigners, there is a Ladies' Benevolent Society. A well-kept
and neatly laid out and ornamented cemetery, beautifully situated on
the slope of the Bluff, in which sleep the men of many creeds and na-
tions, tells many a sad tale of assassination, of murder, and of battle,
which took place before the present peaceful residence of the Western
strangers in Japan was won. The Russians, the Dutch, the English,
and the French compelled the Japanese Government to build the tombs
of the slain. Many a mother's darling, many a gallant soldier and
sailor, who met his death from disease, accident, drowning, or excess,
and many a broken-hearted exile lies here ; and more than one visit to
this sad city of the dead has impressed me with the truth that most of
the epitaphs are plain historical facts, free from sham and fulsome
falsehood ; as though being free from the meretricious ornament that
so often miserably accords with the blunt fact of death, the tombs
had won the rare adornment of simple truth.
' From the Yokohama of to-day, with its bustling energies, and old
enough in its new life to have its cemetery, we shall glance at Yoko-
hama as it was from its forgotten beginning, centuries ago, until A.D.
1854, when a fleet of American steamers began the first epoch in the
new life of Japan.
On a small arm of the Gulf of Yedo, midway between its mouth
and the capital of the empire, stood an insignificant little fishing vil-
lage. Evidently it never possessed sufficient importance to be men-
tioned, except casually, by Japanese historians or travelers. In its best
days prior to 1854, it might have numbered a thousand inhabitants.
Nearly all the men were fishers, or worked with the women in the rice
swamps surrounding the village on all sides, and stretching toward the
base of the Bluff. The great highway to Yedo passed through the
town of Kanagawa, which lies on the opposite shore of the bay. Most
probably from this fact, the village which supplied the travelers on
the great road with fish was called Yokohama ( Yoko, across ; hama,
strand). For centuries the simple inhabitants swept the sea with their
nets, dug their mud swamps, planted their rice, eat their rude fare,
lived their monotonous life, and died in the faith of Buddha and the
hope of Nirvana. No seer ever prophesied greatness of Yokohama,
but some places, like men, have greatness thrust upon them. When,
on the evening of the 7th of July, 1853, the fleet of huge American
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 347
steamers lay at anchor abreast of Uraga, a few miles distant, and the
people of Yokohama saw the blazing beacon-fires and heard the breath-
!>•<> ]iic»fii^crs tell tin- talc of the wondrous ;i]>|>;iritioii of mighty
ships moving swiftly without wind, tide, or oars, the first pulses of a
new life stirred within them as they talked that night before their
huts in the sultry evening. Their idea of a steamer, as I have heard
it from their own lips, was, that these Western foreigners, who were
not men, but half beasts, half sorcerers, had power to tame a volcano,
condense its power in their ships, and control it at will. That night,
as the spark-spangled clouds of smoke pulsed out of the fire-breathing
smoke-stacks of the steamers, which were kept under steam in readi-
ness for attack, many an eager prayer, prompted by terror at the aw-
ful apparition, went up from the hearts of the simple people, who anx-
iously awaited the issue of the strange visit.
During all the eight days during which Commodore Perry's fleet
lay at anchor, or steamed at will over their sacred waters, the survey-
ing boats were busy extorting the secrets of the water, its danger and
its depth. No drunken sailor roamed on the land, none of the quiet
natives were beaten, robbed, or molested. The mighty mind of the
gentle commodore extended to the humblest minutiae of discipline, and
his all-comprehending genius won victory without blood. The natives
had opportunity of gaining clearer ideas as to what sort of beings the
strange visitors were. In those eight days even the proudest samurai
were convinced of the power of the Western nations. Familiarity
bred no contempt of American prowess, while for the first time they
saw their own utterly defenseless condition. After delivering the let-
ter with the proper pomp and ceremony to the high Japanese com-
missioner at Uraga, and having for the first time in history gained
several important points of etiquette in a country where etiquette is
more than law or morals, the consummate diplomat and warrior, Per-
ry, sailed away with his fleet July 17th, 1853.
Commodore M. C. Perry inaugurated a policy in his dealings with
the Japanese which all thoroughly successful foreigners in Japan have
found the safest, quickest, and most certain means of success, in deal-
ing with them, in order to win new concessions, or to lead them to
higher reforms. Instead of demanding an immediate answer, he al-
lowed them seven months to consider the matter, promising them at
the end of that time to come again. During that period the authori-
ties had time to consult, reflect, and to smoke an unlimited number
of pipes, and all of these they did.
348 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
When Perry, with an augmented fleet of nine steamers, returned
again in February, the Japanese found him as punctilious, polite, per-
severing, considerate, and as inflexibly firm as ever. Instead of mak-
ing the treaty at Uraga, he must make it nearer Yedo. Yokohama
was the chosen spot, and there, on the 8th of March, 1854, were ex-
changed the formal articles of convention between the United States
and Japan. Then followed the interchange of presents. The minia-
ture telegraph was set up on shore over a space of one mile, and was
worked for several days to the delight and wonder of admiring Japa-
nese officials. The Lilliputian locomotive and train of cars caused un-
bounded interest. American implements and mechanism of all de-
scriptions were presented as evidences of American peace and good-
will. Matthew Calbraith Perry achieved a triumph grander in results
than his brother, Oliver Hazard Perry, on Lake Erie. He had met
the enemy, and they were his friends. The Japanese returned the
gifts with their best native productions, and amused their guests with
wrestling matches.
By the treaty of Yokohama, Hakodate in Yezo, and Shimoda in
Idzu, were opened as ports of supply to the Americans. Shimoda,
before it fairly began to be of much service, was visited by a terrific
earthquake and tidal wave, that hurled a Russian frigate to destruc-
tion, overwhelmed the town, sweeping back by its recession into the
boiling ocean scores of houses, and about one hundred human beings.
The eflluent wave plowed the harbor with such force that all the mud
was scoured from the rocky bed. The anchors of ships could obtain
no grip on the bare, slippery rock bottom, and Shimoda, being useless
as a harbor, was abandoned. The ruin of Shimoda was the rise of
Yokohama. By a new treaty, and concessions gained from the Japa-
nese by Hon. Townsend Harris, Kanagawa (three miles across the
bay from Yokohama) and Nagasaki were made open ports, not only
of entry, but of trade and commerce. By the terms of the treaty,
Kanagawa was opened July 1st, 1859.
Kanagawa is situated on the western side of the Bay of Yedo, about
sixteen miles from the capital. " Through it passes the great highway
of the empire, along which the proud daimios and their trains of re-
tainers were continually passing on their way to and from the capital.
These belligerent young bloods were spoiling for war, and a trial of
their blades on the hated hairy foreigners! Had Kanagawa been
made a foreign settlement, its history would doubtless have had many
more bloody pages of incendiaries and assassination than did Yoko-
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 349
hama. Foreseeing this, even though considered by the foreign minis-
ters a violation of treaty agreements, the Japanese Government chose
Yokohama as the future port, and immediately set to work to render
it as convenient as possible for trade, residence, and espionage. They
built a causeway, nearly two miles long, across the lagoon and marshes
from Kanagawa, so as to make it of easy access. They built the solid
granite piers or " hatobas," which we have described, erected a custom-
house and officers' quarters, and prepared small dwellings and store-
houses for the foreign merchants.
Before the opening of the harbor, several ships, with the pioneers of
trade on board, lay in the harbor from Nagasaki and China, " eager to
try the new port, and, of course, clamorous for instant accommodation
and facilities." The merchants insisted on Yokohama, the ministers
and consuls were determined on Kanagawa. The strife between the
two parties lasted long, and left many roots of bitterness that are not
yet entirely grubbed up ; but the merchants carried their point — as is
believed by all to-day — to the advantage of foreign influence in Japan.
The red tape which helps to weave a net of misleading and inaccurate
statements in regard to Japan is not yet cut, as regards Kanagawa.
We frequently read of the United States Consul and Consulate at
Kanagawa. There has been neither there since 1861. Both are in
Yokohama. Baron Hiibner's statement that Sir R. Alcock was " the
official founder of Yokohama " is a ramble round the truth. Yoko-
hama was settled in a squatter-like and irregular manner, and the ill
effects of it are seen to this day. When compared with Shanghae,
the foreign metropolis of China, it is vastly inferior to that " model
settlement." To abridge a tedious story, the straggling colony of
diplomats, missionaries, and merchants at Kanagawa finally pulled up
their stakes and joined the settlement at Yokohama. The town grew
slowly at first. Murders and assassinations of foreigners by the ruffian
patriots who bravely attacked unarmed foreigners, usually from be-
hind, were frequent during the first few years. The intermeddling of
Japanese officials threatened to paralyze trade. The lion of civilization
was threatened with death in a gigantic net-work of red-tape, in the
length, redness, strength, and quantity of which the bakufu excelled
the world. The first foreigners were not specially noted for good
morals, sensitive consciences, sweetness of temper, nor for a hatred of
filthy lucre, and the underhand cunning and disregard for truth which
seems a part of official human nature in Japan (only ?) were matched
by the cold-blooded villainy and trickery of the unprincipled foreign-
350 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ers of all creeds and nationalities. A favorite threat of atrabilious
Frenchmen, blustering Russians, and petty epaulet-wearers of all sorts,
when their demands were refused, was to strike their flag, go on board
a man-of-war, and blow up the native town. Yokohama still stands,
having survived bombardments in five languages. The Japanese offi-
cials became so accustomed to this polyglot snobbery, that they ceased
to regard its monotonous recurrence with feelings different from those
evoked on beholding snuff-boxes drawn, or on hearing the terrific
crash that followed.
A less congenial and more expensive employment, at which native
officials were kept busy, was the payment of outrageously unjust " in-
demnities " — a euphemism for civilized theft. A conflagration caused
by a kitchen fire, a drunken squabble, an insult resulting in the death
of a white -faced villain, terminated in the inevitable and exorbitant
mulct. A sailor found dead drunk in the streets was the signal for
sending up the price of revolvers one hundred per cent. Every for-
eign suicide was heralded as an " assassination."
A fire (November 22d, 1866), which laid nearly the whole foreign
town in ashes, seemed to purify the place municipally, commercially,
and morally. The settlement was rebuilt in a more substantial and
regular manner. Banks, newspaper offices, hospitals, post-offices, and
consulate buildings re-appeared as with new life. The streets were
graded, paved, and curbed. The swamp was filled up. The Japanese
village of Homura was removed across the creek. Fire companies
were organized. A native police force was formed. The European
steamships began to come to Yokohama, and the establishment of the
Pacific Mail line of steamers, running monthly between San Francisco
and Yokohama, was the final master-stroke that removed the future
prosperity of Yokohama from the region of surmise to that of cer-
tainty. Other steamers plied to Japanese and Chinese ports. Trade
became firmly established. Missionaries unlocked the language, and
made it acquirable. The settlement was purged of roughs and gam-
blers. The amenities of social life began to appear, as ladies and chil-
dren came in scores. Houses became homes. The solitary were set
in families. Churches appeared with their beneficent influence. The-
atres, concerts, and operettas gave recreation to the mind ; while row-
ing, racing, athletic, cricket, and racket clubs, and clubs gastronomic
and sociable, made the life of the bachelors less monotonous. Rifle
companies kept the eye and hand in practice for the occasional hunts
when game was plenty. The telegraph to Tokio and thence around
FIRST GLIMPSES OF JAPAN. 351
the globe was opened and used. The railway to the capital, with its
ten trains daily, became a familiar fact. Schools for children were es-
tablished. The Eurasian children were gathered up by American la-
dies and French nuns, to be reared in purity. Christian hymns were
translated into Japanese, and sung to the tunes of Lowell and Brad-
bury by native children. Teachers of music and languages sent out
their circulars. The Sunday-school opened its doors. The family
physician took the place of the navy surgeon. Yokohama now boasts
of the season, like London. The last slow growth of such a colony —
the Asiatic Society, established for the encouragement of original re-
search, and for the collection of information concerning the history,
language, geography, and antiquity of Japan and parts adjacent — has
been established. It has already done much excellent work, and,
though in a trading community, hopes to live.
I have neither time nor space to speak of the wonders wrought in
the Japanese town ; nor can I tell the story of how a fishing village
of a thousand souls has become a city of fifty thousand people, with
its streets lighted with gas ; rich stores, piled with silk, tea, bronzes,
and curios of all kinds — whither tourists flock, and naval officers mort-
gage their pay for months to come : Japanese curios are as powerful
as mercury to attract gold. The railway and station, the many promis-
ing industries of all kinds, the native hospital, printing-offices, etc.,
etc., deserve description, but I must close this already tedious chapter
by a summary of a few items of interest not referred to before.
At present (1876) the foreign population of Yokohama is reckoned
to be about twelve hundred residents, of both sexes and all ages. The
men of the merchant marine, sailors, officers, on shore and ship duty,
and temporary dwellers, make up a fluctuating population, which is
seldom less than three and sometimes as many as six thousand. The
Chinese population may number one thousand in Yokohama, and
twenty-five hundred in Japan. In their hands are the deep things
of finance. All the money-changers and brokers are Chinese, and
any unexpected fluctuations in the money market are laid to their*
charge. Those who are not brokers are " compradores," clerks, or
useful artisans. As a class, they form the most industrious national-
ity in Japan. They have their temple, cemetery, guilds, and benevo-
lent association, but no consul or mandarin to protect or to grind
them. The sight of the fat, well-dressed, cleanly Chinese, so well-oiled
in his disposition and physique, so defiantly comfortable in his dress,
forces a contrast between him and the Japanese. Some people con-
23
352 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
sider the Chinaman as the man of superior race. In Yokohama's
heterogeneous collection of humanity are several score of children in
whose veins flows the blood of two continents. The Eurasian chil-
dren, when illegitimate, are still citizens of Japan, in the eye of Japa-
nese law ; but when born in wedlock, are citizens of the same country
with their father. By the laws of Japan, marriage between Japanese
and foreigners is perfectly legal, and several such marriages have been
regularly contracted and solemnized.
The Fourth Estate in Yokohama is a vast one. The English papers
are, The Japan Herald ; The Japan Mail, daily and weekly; The
Japan Gazette, daily. All these papers issue also a fortnightly or
monthly mail summary. The French paper, I? Echo du Japan, is a
daily. The Far East is a semi-monthly large pamphlet, of twelve
pages, photographically illustrated, with letter -press descriptive of
scenes and incidents in Japan. The Japan Punch, which hits the
folly and furnishes the fun for the Yokohama public, is printed by
lithography, and is a clever monthly production.
Toward the future Yokohama may look cheerfully and with hope.
So near the great capital, practically on the high-road of the empire,
with a magnificent harbor, capable of unlimited improvements, with
railroad and telegraphic facilities already in use, Yokohama's future
must be one of steady prosperity. When Kobe was opened, bold
prophets predicted the waning of Yokohama ; but their prophecies
have long since been forgotten. New land is being reclaimed from
the lagoons toward Kanagawa, and in time Kanagawa and Yokohama
will be one city. The foreign population may not increase according
to the New World ratio, but from all parts of the Sea Empire shall
come the wealth and the sinew, the brain and the heart of New Ja-
pan, to learn the sources of the power and superiority of the West-
erns ; and, returning, the fathers shall teach their children to be wiser
than they. Whatever be the changes of the future, Yokohama must
continue to be the master-teacher and exemplar for good and evil of
» the civilization of Christendom in New Japan.
A RIDE ON THE TOKAIDO. 353
II.
A RIDE ON THE TOKAIDO.
January 2d, 1871. — A frosty morning. Air keen, bracing, razor-
like. Sky stainlessly clear. The Bay of Yedo glinting with unnum-
bered sunbeams. Blue sky, blue water, blue mountains, white Fuji.
The Yankee has invaded the Land of the Gods. He jostles the
processions of the lords of the land. He runs a coach on the great
highway, so sacred to daimios and two-sworded samurai. Here on the
Bund stands the stage that will carry a man to the capital for two
Mexican dollars. Of the regulation Yankee pattern, it is yet small,
and, though seating three persons besides the driver, can crowd in five
when comfort is not the object in view. A pair of native ponies on
which oats are never wasted make the team. A betto (running foot-
man and hostler), whose business is to harness the animals, yell at the
people on the road, and be sworn at, perches, like a meditative chick-
en, by one foot on the iron step. As for the driver, an Australian,
who is recommended as " a very devil of a whip," he impresses me at
once as being thoroughly qualified to find the bottom of a tumblerful
of brandy without breathing.
He is not only an expert at driving and drinking, but such an adept
in the theology of the bar-room is he, and so well versed in orthodox
profanity, that the heathen bettS regards his master as a safe guide,
and imitates him with conscientious accuracy. The driver converts
the pagan better than he knows. Indeed, it is astonishing what prog-
ress his pupil has made in both theology and the English language.
He has already at his tongue's end the names and attributes of the
entire Trinity.
Crack goes the whip, and we rattle along the Bund, past the Club-
house, around the English consulate, past the Perry treaty grounds,
and down Benten dori, through the native town. The shops are just
opening, and the shop-boys are looping up the short curtains that hang
before each front. The bath-houses begin business early. The door
of one is shunted aside, spite of the lowness of the thermometer and
354
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
decency. Out steps a man into the street as naked as when he step-
ped out into the world. His native copper hue, like a lobster's, is in-
tensified by the boiling he has just undergone. He walks in a self-
exhaling cloud of auroral vapors, like a god in ambrosia. He deigns
not to make his toilet while in sight, but proceeds homeward, clothes
in hand. My pocket Fahrenheit marks four degrees below the freez-
ing-point.
Our driver whips up the horses for sheer warmth, and we dash over
the " iron bridge." A trifling bit of iron to our foreign eyes, but a
triumph of engineering to the natives, who build of wood. We pass it,
and then we are on the causeway that connects Yokohama with the
great main road of the empire, the Tokaido. The causeway passed,
and with foreign sights behind, real Japan appears. I am in a new
world, not the Old. Every thing is novel. I should like to be Argus :
not less than a hundred eyes can take in all the sight. I should like
to be a poet to express, and an artist to paint all I see. I wish I knew
the language, to ask questions.
What a wonderful picture-book ! A line of villages are strung along
the road, like a great illuminated scroll full of gay, brilliant, merry, sad,
disgusting, horrible, curious, funny, de-
lightful pictures.
What pretty children ! Chubby, rosy,
sparkling-eyed. The cold only made
their feet pink, and their cheeks red.
How curiously dressed, with coats like
long wrappers, and long, wide, square
sleeves, which I know serve for pock-
ets, for I just saw a boy buy some rice
cracknels, hot from the toasting coals,
and put them in his sleeves. A girdle
three inches wide binds the coat tight
to the waist. The children's heads are
shaved in all curious fashions. The
Way the babies are carried is an im-
provement upon the Indian fashion.
The Japanese ko is the papoose re-
versed. He rides eyes front, and sees
YouugGirlcarryfogherBabyBrother. ^ ^^ ^ ^ mothei,8 shoulder.
Japanese babies are lugged pickapack. Baby Gohachi is laid on
mamma's back and strapped on, or else he is inclosed in her gar-
A RIDE ON THE TOKAIDd.
356
ment, and only his little shaven noddle protrudes behind his mother's
neck. His own neck never gets wrenched off, and often neither head
nor tiny toes are covered, though water is freezing. In the picture on
the preceding page, the fat-cheeked baby is carried by a young, un-
married girl, as I can tell by the way her hair is dressed. It is prob-
ably an elder sister or hired servant. Her bare feet are on wooden
clogs.
Here are adults and children running around barefoot. Nobody
wears any hats. As for bonnets, a Japanese woman might study a
life-time, and go crazy in trying to find out its use. Every one wears
cotten clothes, and these of only one or two thicknesses. None of the
front doors are shut. All the shops are open. We can see some of
the people eating their breakfast — beefsteaks, hot coffee, and hot rolls
for warmth ? No : cold rice, pickled radishes, and vegetable messes
of all unknown sorts. These we see. They make their rice hot by
pouring tea almost boiling over it. A few can afford only hot water.
Some eat millet instead of rice. Do they not understand dietetics or
hygiene better ? Or is it poverty ? Strange people, these Japanese !
Here are large round ovens full of sweet-potatoes being steamed or
roasted. A group of urchins are
waiting around one shop, grown
men around another, for the luxury.
Twenty cash, one-fifth of a cent, in
iron or copper coin, is the price of a
good one. Many of the children,
just more than able to walk them-
selves, are saddled with babies. They
look like two-headed children. The
fathers of these youngsters are cool-
ies or burden - bearers, who wear a
cotten coat of a special pattern, and
knot their kerchiefs over their fore-
heads. These heads of families re-
ceive wages of ten cents a day when
work is steady. Here stands one with
his shoulder - stick (tembimbo) with
pendant baskets of plaited rope, like
a scale-beam and pans. His shoul-
der is to be the fulcrum. On his daily string of copper cash he sup-
ports a family. The poor man's blessings and the rich man's grief
Coolie waitiug for a Job.
356 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
are the same in every clime. In Japan the quiver of poverty is full,
while the man of wealth mourns for an heir. The mother bears the
bairns, but the children carry them. Each preceding child, as it grows
older, must lug the succeeding baby on its back till able to stand. The
rearing of a Japanese poor family is a perpetual game of leap-frog.
The houses are small, mostly one story, all of them of wood, except
the fire -proof mud -walled store -houses of the merchant. Most are
clean inside. The floors are raised a foot above the ground, covered
with mats. The wood-work is clean, as if often scrubbed. Yet the
Japanese have no word for soap, and have never until these late days
used it. Nevertheless, they lead all Asiatics in cleanliness of persons
and dwellings. Does not an ancient stanza of theirs declare that
" when the houses of a people are kept clean, be certain that the gov-
ernment is respected and will endure?" Hot water is the detergent,
and the normal Japanese gets under it at least once a day. For scrub-
bing the floor or clothes, alkali, obtained by leeching ashes, is put in
the water.
The shop-keeper sits on his hams and heels, and hugs his hibachi
(fire-bowl). What shivering memories I have of it ! Every Japanese
house has one or more. It is a box of brass, wood, or delf. In a bed
of ashes are a handful of coals. Ordinarily it holds the ghost of a
fire, and radiates heat for a distance of six inches. A thermo-multi-
plier might detect its influence further on a cold day. With this the'
Japanese warm their houses, toast their fingers for incredibly long
spaces of time, and even have the hardihood to ask you to sit down
by it and warm yourself ! Nevertheless, when the coals are piled up
regardless of expense, a genial warmth may be obtained. The shop-
keepers seem to pay much more attention to their braziers than to
their customers. What strikes one with the greatest surprise is the
baby-house style and dimensions of every thing. The rice-bowls are
tea-cups, the tea-cups are thimbles, the tea-pot is a joke. The family
sit in a circle at meals. The daughter or house-maid presides at the
rice-bucket, and paddles out cupfuls of rice.
We pass through Kanagawa, a flourishing town, and the real treaty
port, from which Yokohama has usurped foreign fame and future his-
tory. We pass many shops, and learn in a half-hour the staple articles
of sale, which we afterward find repeated with little variation in the
shops all over the country. They are not groceries, or boots, or jewelry,
nor lacquer, bronze, or silk. They are straw-sandals, paper umbrellas,
rush hats, bamboo-work of all kinds, matting for coats, flint, steel and
A RIDE ON THE TOKAIDO.
357
tinder, sulphur splints for matches, oiled paper coats, and grass cloaks,
paper for all purposes, wooden clogs for shoes : fish and radish knives,
grass-hooks, hoes, scissors with two blades but only one handle, and
axes, all of a strange pattern, compose the stock of cutlery. Vegeta-
ble and fish shops are plentiful, but there is neither butcher nor
baker. Copper and brass
articles are numerous in the
braziers' shops.
In the cooper shops, the
dazzling array of wood-work,
so neat, fresh, clean, and fra-
grant, carries temptation into
housekeepers' pockets. I
know an American lady who
never can pass one without
buying some useful utensil.
There are two coopers pound-
ing lustily away at a great
rain-tank, or sake-vat, or soy-
tub. They are more intent
on their bamboo hoops, bee-
tles, and wedges than on their
clothing, which they have
half thrown off. One has
his kerchief over his shoul-
der.
Coopers hooping a Vat. (By a pupil of HokusaL)
The basket -maker
The head-covering
In Japan the carpenter is
the shoe -maker, for the foot-gear is of wood,
weaves the head-dress. Hats and boots are not.
is called a " roof " or " shed." I remember how in America I read
of gaudily advertised " Japanese boot-blacking," and " Japanese corn-
files." I now see that the Japanese wear no boots or shoes, hence
blacking is not in demand ; and as such plagues as corns are next
to unknown, there is no need of files for such a purpose. The total
value of the stock in many of the shops appears to be about five
dollars. Many look as if one "clean Mexican" would buy their
stock, good -will, and fixtures. I thought, in my innocence, that I
should find more splendid stores elsewhere. I kept on for a year
or more thinking so, but was finally satisfied of the truth that, if
the Japanese are wealthy, they do not show it in their shops. The
358 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
prosaic truth is that the people are very poor. Of course, being fresh
from the splendor of the fine young fellows, the " princes " of the
newspapers, in America, who were noted for their impressive ward-
robe, dazzling jewelry, hotel-bills, and carriages, I could not believe the
truth about Japan then. My glamoured eyes refused to see it. "I
shall see the wealth, but not now," was my thought.
Tugging up the steep hill and past Kanagawa, we dash over the
splendid road beneath an arch of pines, some grandly venerable, some
augustly tall, some like a tottering empire, glorious in decay, but many
more scraggy and crooked. We pass all kinds of dress and charac-
ters on the road. Now, our betto yells out to a merchant, who ambles
along with a pack on his back tied over his neck. Our driver prays
his God to damn some poor old priest who was not as nimble as he
might have been forty years ago. Anon, the exponent of Christian
civilization informs a farm laborer, trudging along, hoe on shoulder,
that he will " cut the d — d face off him " if he isn't spry. A gawky
heathen, leading a pack-horse loaded with an unmentionable article, is
made to know, by a cut of the whip over his neck, that he must move
faster next time. The priest in his robes, brocade collar, and shaven
head ; the merchant, in his tight breeches ; the laborer, with his bare
legs ; the samurai, with his two swords and loose trousers ; the pil-
grim, in his white dress, are all easily recognized.
As for the beggars, we can not understand their " Chabu chabu ko-
marimasu tempo danna san, dozo (Please, master, a penny ; we are in
great trouble for our grub] ; but we comprehend the object of their
importunity. They are loathsome, dirty, ragged, sore. Now I wish
I were a physician, to heal such vileness and suffering. Who would
care to do an artist's or a poet's work when the noblest art of healing
needs to be practiced ? The children run after us. The old beggars
live in straw kennels by the roadside. Some are naked, except dirty
mats bound round them. The law of Japan does not recognize them
as human : they are beasts. The man who kills them will be neither
prosecuted nor punished. There lies one dead in the road. No!
Can it be ? Yes, there is a dead beggar, and he will lie unburied, per-
haps for days, if the dogs don't save the work from the coroner.
"And the beggar died!" Will he be carried by angels to Abraham's
bosom ?
The driver reins up, and the horses come to a halt. We have stop-
ped before a tea-house of whose fame we have heard, and man and
beast are refreshed. The driver takes brandy, the betto tea, and the
A RIDE ON THE TOKAIDO. 359
horses water. The first drinks from a tumbler, the second from a cup ;
the four-footed drinkers must wait. Pretty girls come out to wish us
good-morning. One, with a pair of eyes not to be forgotten, brings a
tray of tiny cups full of green tea, and a plate of red sweetmeats, beg-
ging us to partake. I want neither, though a bit of paper-money is
placed ota the tray for beauty's sake. The maid is about seventeen,
graceful in figure, and her neat dress is bound round with a wide gir-
dle tied into a huge bow behind. Her neck is powdered. Her laugh
displays a row of superb white teeth, and her jet-black hair is rolled
in a maidenly style. The fairest sights in Japan are Japan's fair
daughters.
This tea-house has a history. Its proprietress is familiarly known
among all foreigners who ride on the Tokaido, and sit on her mats in-
side, or her benches in front beneath the trees, as " Black-eyed Susan."
Her eyes deserve their renown, and her face its fame. Her beauty is
known throughout the land. Many a story is told about princes and
noblemen who have tried to lure her to gem their harem. She refuses
all offers, and remains the keeper of herself and her fortune. Near by
Black-eyed Susan's stands a clump of trees. It was near this place that,
in 1863, poor Richardson lost his life (see Appendix). He sleeps now
in Yokohama cemetery. It saddens us to think of it.
Our solemn thoughts are dissipated in a moment, for the betto is
watering the horses. He gives them drink out of a dipper ! A cup-
ful of water at a time to a thirsty horse ! The animal himself would
surely laugh, if he were not a Japanese horse, and used to it.
" Sayonara !" (farewell) cry the pretty girls, as they bow profound-
ly and gracefully, and the stage rolls on. We pass through villages
of thatched houses, on which, along the ridge, grow beds of the iris.
Between them appear landscapes new to eyes accustomed to grass
meadows and corn-fields and winter wheat of Pennsylvania. Far and
wide are the fallow fields covered with shallow water, and studded
with rice-stubble. All the flat land is one universal rice-ditch. The
low hills are timbered with evergreen. The brighter tints of the
feathery bamboo temper the intensity of the sombre glory. Bamboo
thickets, pine groves, and rice-fields — these are the ever-present sights
in Japan. A half-hour through such scenery, and the stage stops at
Kawasaki (river-point) to change horses. We are to cross the Roku-
go River in boats. The road bends at a right angle toward the water,
and at each corner is a large tea-house, full of noisy, fat girls, anxious
to display a vulgar familiarity with the stranger. Too close contact
360
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
with hostlers, drivers, and the common sort of residents in Japan has
made these, doubtless once modest and polite females, a pack of impu-
dent wantons.
I am not charmed by the too-willing charmers, and, declining the
ever-proffered cup of tea, make my way down to the river, passing
four toll-men, who squat on their knees at the receipt of custom, pil-
ing on upright skewers the square-holed oval and round coins which
the travelers deposit. At the river's edge, a flat-bottomed boat, crowd-
ed with people of every class, with a horse or two on board, is coming
hitherward, and one is just ready to push off. A few strokes of the
pole, and we are over. The Japanese have used this river for centu-
ries, and have never yet built a bridge. The company in the boat is
sometimes rather mixed. It has not escaped Hokusai's pencil, who
made an album of Tokaido sketches. He has jotted down at the side
Crossing the Rokugo River at Kawasaki. (Hoknsai.)
of his sketch the two characters signifying Kawasaki (river -point),
which all travelers to Tokio know full well. Strange to say, the same
river in Japan often has many local names. A Japanese geography
rarely thinks it necessary to describe a river from source to mouth.
The people hereabouts call this river the Rokug6, and the foreigners,
who are quite sure to get Japanese names upside down, have corrupt-
ed it into Logo, or, with apparent impiety, Logos, by which name it
gravely stands on English maps.
The stage not being over yet, I go into a straw hut, in which a fire
warms twenty-four feet shod with rice-straw sandals, and the smoke
of which inflames twenty-four eyes belonging to half that number of
such specimens of humanity as constitute the bulk of Japan's popula-
tion, and whom foreigners called " coolies." Two arms, two legs, a
A SIDE ON THE T6KAIDO. 361
head, and trunk, when added together in an Asiatic country, do not
produce the same sum that such factors would yield in America.
With us a man is a man. In Asiatic countries he is a wheelbarrow, a
beast of burden, a political cipher, a being who exists for the sake of
his masters or the government. The men before me wear old, unlined
cotton coats and straw sandals as their winter dress. In summer their
wardrobe consists of straw sandals and a rag around their loins, in all
about thirty-six linear inches of decency. Yet the tax-gatherer visits
them, and even the priests glean in this stubble of humanity. Schools,
law, thought, freedom, votes! These are unheard of, unimagined.
Yet they were polite and kind. They offer the foreigner room by the
h're, until the smoke drives him outside, where the loathsome beggars
swarm and importune in the language of the houseless. The stage is
ready, and, taking one good look at the bright new railway bridge by
which hired English energy and loaned capital have spanned the river,
I fold myself beneath the buffalo-robe, and the driver proceeds to tell
me of the treat soon in store.
The ghastly entertainment was at hand. Just before Shinagawa,
the suburb of great Tokio, by the side of the road, is a small patch of
grassy soil only slightly raised above the rice-ditches. Here, on a pil-
lory about six feet high, two human heads were exposed, propped, and
made hideously upright by lumps of clay under each ear. The ooz-
ing blood had stained the timber, and hung in coagulated drops and
icicles of gore beneath. A dissevered head absent from its body is
horrible enough, but a head shaven in rnid-scalp with a top-knot on it
has a hitherto unimagined horror, especially Japanese.
How pleasant it would be to mention in this book nothing but the
beautiful ! How easy to let our glamoured eyes see naught but beau-
ty and novelty ! Why not paint Japan as a land of peerless natural
beauty, of polite people, of good and brave men, of pretty maidens,
and gentle women ? Why bring in beggars, bloody heads, loathsome
sores, scenes of murder, assassins' bravery, and humanity with all no-
bility stamped out by centuries of despotism ? Why not ? Simply
because homely truth is better than gilded falsehood. Only because
it is sin to conceal the truth when my countrymen, generous to be-
lieve too well, and led astray by rhetorical deceivers and truth-smoth-
erers, have the falsest ideas of Japan, that only a pen like a probe can
set right. No pen sooner than mine shall record reforms when made.
I give the true picture of Japan in 1871.
So we pass these bloody symbols of Japan's bloody code of edicts,
362 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
misnamed laws, by which she terrifies her people into obedience, and
drive on through the narrow road past fine, large houses, clean, shin-
ing, and pretty. What business is carried on in those edifices, splen-
did in Japanese eyes, charming to a foreigner, and appearing, beside
the ordinary citizen's dwelling, as palaces beside cottages ? Scores of
them are ranged along the road. Shinagawa is the home of harlots,
and here is the resort, not only of the ruffian, the rake, and the robber,
but of the young men of the land. The finest houses in Japan belong
to the woman in scarlet. The licensed government brothel, covering
acres of land, is the most beautiful part of the capital. Oriental splen-
dor— a myth in the streets — becomes reality when the portals of the
Yoshiwara are crossed.
Out in the blue bay stands the chain of forts built by the shogun's
government after the arrival of Commodore Perry. Behind them
rides at anchor the national navy of Japan, all floating the national
flag — a red sun on a white field. I easily recognize the old iron-clad
Stonewall, now the Adzuma kuan.
Half-past ten, and we sweep past the entrance to the British lega-
tion. The red flag and crosses of England wave aloft, and the red-
coated sentinel paces his round. Britons will long remember the le-
gation at Takanawa. Incendiarism and gunpowder plots, murderous
attacks by night, and three assassinations by daylight, have made this
ground historic. " Killed from behind " are the words that have blot-
ted the Japanese escutcheon with scores of stains as indelible as those
on Bluebeard's key. Repeated washing in the fountain of indemnity
and blood-money can never cleanse it. Not far from the British le-
gation are the tombs of the Forty-seven ronins of immortal fame.
We have passed the black gate at Shinagawa, and are in the city. I
see to the left the Kosatsu — a roofed frame of wood, on which hang
7 O
boards inscribed in Japanese with edicts centuries old, yet renewed by
the present government. I can not read the Chinese ideographs, but
I know the meaning of one of them — the slanderous and insulting
edict that denounces the Christian religion as a hateful and devilish
sect, and hounds on every bigot and informer to ferret out the Chris-
tians. This is the foreigner's welcome to Tokio in 1871. Does the
Japanese capital answer to the description in the old geographies — " a
large, park-like city, with a population of 2,500,000 ?" I shall see.
Suburbs are usually unprepossessing, and I reserve my judgment. At
eleven o'clock we drive past the splendid Monzeki temple of the Shin
sect of Buddhists and into the yard of the Great Hotel at Tsukiji.
IN TOKIO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 303
III.
IN TOKIO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL.
I WAS a stranger in a wilderness of a million souls. In half an hour
I had left the yard of the huge caravansary, which the Japanese who
had built it fondly believed to be a comfortable hotel, and was on my
way to the distant quarter of the city in which was situated the Im-
perial College. I walked by preference, as I had studied the map of
Tokio, and some rude native pictures of certain landmarks while in
America, and I now determined to test the soundness of my knowl-
edge. I had that proficiency in speaking the language which five
words badly pronounced could give. Every foreigner who sojourns
in Japan for a week learns " Sukoshi matte " (wait a little), " Ikura ?"
(how much?), "Doko?" (where?), "Yoroshiu" (all right), and "Ha-
yaku" (hurry). With these on my tongue, and my map in my hand,
I started. I passed through the foreign quarter, which is part of the
old district called Tsukiji (filled-up land). It faces the river, and is
moated in on all sides by canals. It is well paved, cleaned, and light-
ed, contrasting favorably with the streets of the native city. The
opening of Yedo as a foreign port cost a great outlay of money, but
as a settlement was a failure, partly on account of high ground -rent,
but mainly because the harbor is too shallow. Almost the only per-
sons who live in Tsukiji are the foreign officials at the consulates, mis-
sionaries, and a few merchants. I walked on, interested at seeing novel
sights at every step, and at the limits passed a guard-house full of sol-
diers of Mae' da, the daimio of Kaga. These kept watch and ward at
a black gate, flanked by a high black paling fence. For years it was
absolutely necessary to guard all the approaches to the foreign quar-
ter, and keep out all suspicious two-sworded men. Incendiarism and
the murder of the hated foreigners were favorite amusements of the
young blades of Japan, who wished both to get the shogun in trouble
and to rid their beautiful land of the devilish foreigners. Every ap-
proach to Yokohama was thus guarded at this time. From the for-
eign quarter into the Yoshiwara is but a step. Handsome two-storied
364 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
wooden buildings, open to the street, were filled with pretty young
girls, playing upon the samisen (banjo), having their hair dressed, sit-
ting idle, or engaged at their toilet mirrors. Japanese male cynics say
that a looking-glass is the mind of a woman. Handsome streets of
neat houses extended to a distance of half a mile on each side, from
which the same sounds proceeded. Why were these houses so fine ?
Why so many young girls gathered ? Here were beauty, tender years,
soft smiles, and luxurious houses. Here were little girls trained to do,
when grown, as the older girls. For what purpose ?
In every port open to foreigners in Japan, in a few of the other
large cities, but not in daimios' capitals, there is the same institution.
It is Japan's own. Before they opened any port to foreign trade, the
Japanese built two places for the foreigners — a custom-house and a
brothel. The Yoshiwara is such a place. For the foreigners they
supposed it to be a necessary good; for themselves, a protection to
their people against ships' crews suddenly set free on land : they count-
ed it a necessary evil. They believed the foreigners to be far worse
than themselves. How far were they wrong ?
We proceed through the quarter into streets lined with open shops.
Privacy is not at a premium in Japan. One might live at home for
years without understanding the mysteries of a lady's toilet. In Japan
one learns it in a few days. Here is the human form divine bare to
the waist, while its possessor laves her long black hair in warm water.
She is about eighteen years old, evidently. Her mirror, powder-box,
etc., lie about her. There is a mother shaving her baby's head. The
chief occupation of the shop-keepers seems to be that of toasting their
digits. I halt at a shop full of ivory carvings. Some of them are
elegant works of art. Some are puns in ivory. Some are historical
tableaux, which I recognize at once. These trophies of the geological
cemeteries, or refrigerators, of Siberia are metamorphosed into what-
ever form of beauty and grotesque humor the lively fancy of the
carver has elected. The ivory in Japan was anciently brought from
India, but in later times, through Corea, from the shores of the Arctic
Ocean, where it is said modern dogs feed on the prehistoric meat of
mammoths and mastodons frozen hard ages ago. Nearly all the ivory
thus imported is put to a single use. It is carved into nitsukis, or large
buttons perforated with two holes, in which a silken cord is riven, and
which holds the smoking apparatus, the vade mecum, of the native.
Flint, tinder, and steel in one bag; tobacco in another; tiny -bowled,
brass-tipped bamboo pipe, in a case, are all suspended by the nitsuki,
IN TdKlO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL.
365
thrust up through the girdle. The one represented in the accompa-
nying cut shows how a Japanese rider, evidently somebody, from his
hempen toque, mounts a horse,
». e., on the right (or wrong)
side, while his betto holds the
steed.
I pass through one street de-
voted to bureaus and cabinets,
through another full of folding
screens, through another full of
dyers' shops, with their odors
and vats. In one small but
neat shop sits an old man, with
horn -rimmed spectacles, with
the mordant liquid beside him, Nitsfiki, or Ivory Button, for holding a Gentle-
man's Pipe aiid Pouch in his Girdle,
preparing a roll of material for
its next bath. In another street there is nothing on sale but bamboo-
poles, but enough of these to make a forest. A man is sawing one,
and I notice he pulls the saw with his two hands toward him. Its
teeth are set contrary to ours. Another man is planing. He pulls
the plane toward him. I notice a
blacksmith at work : he pulls the
bellows with his foot, while he is
holding and hammering with both
hands. He has several irons in
the fire, and keeps his dinner-pot
boiling with the waste flame. His
whole family, like the generations
before him, seem to " all get their
living in the hardware line." The
cooper holds his tub with his toes.
All of them sit down while they work. How strange ! Perhaps "that
is an important difference between a European and an Asiatic. One
sits down to his work, the other stands up to it.
Why is it that we do things contrariwise to the Japanese ? Are we
upside down, or they ? The Japanese say that we are reversed. They
call our penmanship " crab-writing," because, say they, " it goes back-
ward." The lines in our books cross the page like a craw-fish, instead
of going downward "properly." In a Japanese stable we find the
horse's flank where we look for his head. Japanese screws screw the
Pattern Designer preparing a Roll of Silk
for the Dye-vat.
366 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
other way. Their locks thrust to the left, ours to the right. The
baby-toys of the Aryan race squeak when squeezed ; the Turanian gim-
cracks emit noise when pulled apart. A Caucasian, to injure his ene-
my, kills him ; a Japanese kills himself to spite his foe. Which race
is left-handed ? Which has the negative, which the positive of truth ?
What is truth ? What is down, what is up ?
I emerge from the bamboo street to the T8ri, the main street, the
Broadway of the Japanese capital. I recognize it. The shops are
gayer and richer; the street is wider; it is crowded with people.
Now, for the first time, comes the intense and vivid realization that
this is Japan. Here is a kago, with a woman and baby inside. Two
half-naked coolies bear the pole on their shoulders, and hurry along,
grunting in Japanese. They bear sticks in their hands, and stop at
every few yards, rest the beam on their sticks, and change shoulders.
Here comes an officer on horseback, with a lacquered helmet on his
head, and bound with white pads over his chin. His two swords pro-
trude from his girdle, his feet rest flat in wide iron stirrups, curved up
like a skate-runner, and have room to spare. His saddle has enormous
flaps of gilt leather. He grasps the reins, one in each hand, at about
six inches from the bit, holding his horse's head so that his lower lip
is higher than the space between his ears. This is torture and grace
combined. It is the stylish thing in Japan. The horse's mane is tied
up in a row of stiff pompoons ; his tail is incased in a long bag of
silk. Enormous tassels hang from the horse's shoulders. " There is
a method in riding," is a Japanese saying. I believe it.
Here are soldiers, so I judge. They are dressed in every style of
hybrid costume. One, in a broadcloth suit, finishes with bare head
and clogs on the feet. Another has a foreign cap, but a Japanese suit.
This man has on a pair of cowhide boots, against which his kilt flaps
ungracefully, reminding one of an American tycoon going to the well
to draw water. This one has a zouave jacket and native kilt. The
soldiers look as if they had just sacked New York, and begun on
Chatham Street. The braves have a brace of stabbing tools stuck in
their belt. They are the two-sworded men, and insolent, swaggering
bullies many of them are. As they pass the foreigner, they give him
black scowls for a welcome. They are chiefly the retainers of the dai-
mios of Tosa, Satsuma, Choshiu, and Hizen, and are pride-swollen with
victory over the rebels at Wakamatsu and Hakodate. It is ticklish to
walk among so many armed fellows who seem to be spoiling for for-
eign blood. Japanese swords are quickly drawn, and are sharp. No
vrov.
»
370 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
and walls of the castle. Up and down the canal cluster hundreds of
boats, and a range of fire-proof store-houses line the banks. To the
east is seen Yedo Bashi, or Bridge of Yedo. Turning up Suruga Cho,
with Fuji's glorious form before me, I pass the great silk shop and
fire-proof ware-houses of Mitsui, the millionaire ; I reach the castle
moat and wall, and pass by the former mansion of Keiki, the last sho-
gun. At noon, precisely, I arrive at the house of the American Superin-
tendent of the Imperial College, to whom I bear letters and credentials.
Behind black fences, high and hideous, I found the x bungalows of
the dozen foreign teachers of the college. At the table of the su-
perintendent I sat down to take " tiffin," as the noon meal in the East
is called. Congratulations and the news were exchanged. At one
o'clock the superintendent returned promptly to his work, and the new-
comer remained to revel among the books, curiosities, and pictures of
his genial host. When school is over, we are to walk out to TJyeno,
to see the ruins of the battle of July 4th, 1868. Two hours of wait-
ing pass quickly, and at a little after three o'clock, hearing a strange,
noisy clatter, I run out by the gate to see what is going on. The
school is being dismissed. What a sight for a school-master! Hun-
dreds of boys, young men, and men of older growth, all on high wood-
en clogs, are shuffling and scraping homeward. The noise of their
clogs on the rough pebbles of the street makes a strange clatter.
They are all dressed in the native costume of loose coats, with long
and bag-like sleeves; kilts, like petticoats, open at the upper side;
with shaven mid-scalps, and top-knots like gun-hammers. Men and
boys carry slates and copy-books in their hands, and common cheap
glass ink-bottles slung by pieces of twine to their girdles. Hands
and faces are smeared with the black fluid ; but, strangest of all, each
has two of the murderous -looking swords, one long and the other
short, stuck in his belt. Symbols of the soldier rather than the schol-
ar are these ; but the samurai are both. They compose the " milita-
ry-literary" class of Japan. A "scholar and a gentleman" is our pet
compliment ; but in Japan, to be " a scholar, a soldier, and a gentle-
man," is the aspiration of every samurai. A wild-looking set they
seem, but the heart kindles to think of the young life of this Asiatic
empire being fed at the streams of the science and languages of Chris-
tian nations. In spite of the smeared clothes and faces, the topsy-tur-
vy top-knots, and average slovenliness, quite natural after six hours'
school-boy's work, and quite different from the morning's spruceness,
there were so many earnest faces that the school-master abroad was
IY TOSIO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL, 371
delighted, and felt eager to join in the work of helping on the rising
generation and grand purpose of New Japan.
" Education is the basis of all progress." The Japanese found it
out. The Home Department of the new imperial government in
1870 reorganized the school, originally founded by the bakufu, and
engaged an English and a French teacher to give instruction. Years
before, at Nagasaki, an American missionary, whose name I omit only
in deference to his sensitive modesty, had taught Japanese young
men, sending forth scores who afterward held high place in govern-
ment counsels. They called him to take charge of their chief school
in Tokio. In January, 1869, there were three French, three German,
and five English teachers, and about eight or nine hundred scholars.
It was called a " university ;" its proper name was a school of lan-
guages.
The Japanese had very primitive ideas concerning the fitness of
men to teach. The seclusion of Japan for nearly three hundred years
had its effect in producing generations of male adults who, compared
to men trained in the life of modern civilization, were children. Any
one who could speak English could evidently teach it. The idea of a
trained professional foreign teacher was never entertained by them.
They picked up men from Tokio and Yokohama. The " professors "
at first obtained were often ex-bar-tenders, soldiers, sailors, clerks, etc.
When teaching, with pipe in mouth, and punctuating their instruc-
tions with oaths, or appearing in the class-room top-heavy, the Japa-
nese concluded that such eccentricities were merely national peculiar-
ities. As for " Japanese wives," they were in many houses, and this
the native authorities never suspected was wrong, or different from
the foreign custom. In America there was read to me a paper on the
subject, and I innocently marveled at the high tone of Japanese mo-
rality. I found out afterward that the clause meant that the foreign
teachers must not change mistresses too often. One American in To-
kio enjoyed a harem of ten native beauties. Yet there were some
faithful found among the faithless, and real, earnest teachers. Yet
even these were not altogether comprehensible to their employers.
One man, a Christian gentleman, but not painfully neat, especially in
his foot-gear, having the habit peculiar to a certain great man of never
lacing up his shoes, the Japanese director of the school solemnly in-
quired whether the gentleman was angry at the officers. They sup-
posed that he had some cause of complaint against them, and was
showing it professionally by not lacing up his shoes. They were
372 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
quite relieved on being informed that the unlaced boots neither fore-
boded nor expressed dissatisfaction.
It was a Herculean, nay, rather a seemingly impracticable, task to
reduce that wild chaos of humanity to order and system. Here were
gathered together a thousand male Japanese, of every age, and from
every quarter of the empire. The middle-aged and old men, who
wished to learn merely to read and translate, and not to speak, a for-
eign language, were mostly in the "meaning-school." The younger,
though some were over thirty, learned the alphabet, spelling, conversa-
tions, writing, and, in the higher classes, geography, arithmetic, and
simple history. The buildings were rows of sheds with glass win-
dows, deal desks and seats, and unpainted wood partitions.
A thousand top-knots, two thousand swords; as many clogs, as
many suits of cotton dress ; a thousand pairs of oblique eyes that saw
not as the eyes of the Teuton, the Frank, the Briton, or the American
saw; a thousand rice-filled stomachs; a thousand brains filled with
the ideas instilled by the old education of Japan ; a thousand pairs of
arms trained to the sword, spear, and bow ; a thousand restless bodies
that chafed under foreign school discipline — all these together made
what seemed chaos to the teacher fresh from the order and neatness
of an American school. In the rickety rooms were fire-pots and bam-
boo tubes doing duty as ash-boxes ; for at each recess, even during
recitation, native scholar and teacher were wont to pull out their pipes
and fill the tiny bowls to smoke.
An old daimio's yashiki had been transformed by rows of sheds
into the " University." According to Japanese etiquette, the officers
entered at one door, the teachers at another, the scholars at a third.
As the school began somewhere about 9 A.M., the scholars thronged
along the stone walk. The scraping clatter of their wooden clogs and
pattens was deafening. Each came to school wearing his two swords.
Entering a large square room, each delivered his clogs to one of the
half-dozen attendant servants, who, hanging them up, gave the owner
a wooden check branded with a number. In another room, which
looked like an arsenal, he took out his long sword, which was laid on
one of the hundred or more racks, and checked as before. Hats they
never wore, and so were never troubled to hang them up. There was
not a hat in Japan a decade ago, at least in the cylindrical sense of
the term. When the Westernized native does begin to wear one, he
never knows at first where to put it when off his head, or remembers
it when he goes away from where he laid it.
IN TOKIO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 373
In rainy weather, their paper umbrellas were stowed away and
ticketed in the same manner as their clogs. Thus despoiled, in bare
feet, or in mitten -stockings, with short sword in belt, from which
wooden checks depended, the scholars entered their rooms. The
teacher, not always early, began with his top-knots, and right grandly
did the young eyes snap and the young ideas shoot. With such ma-
terial the superintendent went on. With officers utterly unacquainted
with their duties ; teachers of all sorts, and no sort at all ; undisciplined
pupils, having to combat suspicion, ignorance, and, worse than all,
Japanese vanity and conceit, he toiled on for years, the final result be-
ing morally magnificent. In this school the scholars attended but one
session, being divided into morning and afternoon scholars. Half of
them messed or boarded in barracks built by the school ; but where
they went at night, or how they spent their spare time, was no one's
business.
The mikado's government had been in operation in Tokio two years,
but it was on any thing but a stable foundation. Conspiracies and
rumors we had for breakfast, dinner, and supper. To-day, Satsuma
was going to carry off the mikado. To-morrow, the " tycoon " was to
be restored. The next day, the foreigners were to be driven out of
Tokio, and then out of Japan. The city was not only full of the
turbulent troops of the jealous daimios, but of hundreds of the Jo-i
(or foreigner-haters), the patriot assassins, who thought they were do-
ing the gods service, and their country a good, in cleaving a foreigner
in the street.
Before I left America, my students had told me by all means to
take a revolver with me, as I might very likely meet ronins. I had
one of Smith & Wesson's best. Few foreign residents ever went far
from their houses without one, and many wisely kept indoors at night,
except upon urgent duty. About fifty foreigners had been killed in
Japan since 1859. For the safety of the teachers, about fifty armed
men, called bette, were kept in pay. These knights were dubbed
" Brown Betties" — a vile pun, evidently by an American, through whose
sad memory visions of that appetizing pudding flittered, as he mourn-
ed its absence, with that of buckwheat-cakes, pumpkin-pies, turkeys,
and other home delicacies. Horses were kept ready saddled, and the
bette were always ready to accompany man or horse. It was impossi-
ble to slip out without them. By a curious system of Japanese arith-
metical progression, one bette accompanied one foreigner, four of them
went with two, and eight with three. One would suppose that a sin-
374
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
gle foreigner was in greater danger than when with a companion.
The first afternoon I walked to see the ruins of Uyeno, once the glory
of the city, with my host. I noticed one guard kept always with us.
Not being counted a protege, I often went on my rambles alone. I
was never harmed, though I got an occasional scowl, and was often
obliged to pass along narrow and lonely streets, in which villainous-
looking men, with two murderous-looking swords in their belts, were
numerous.
Among the many sites in the city from which one can get a view
of Fuji from base to summit, are Atago yama, the top of Kudan zaka,
and Suruga Dai, or elevation, so named from the fact that you behold
the lordly mountain as though you were in Suruga itself.
View of Fuji, from Suruga Dai, in Tokio.
One afternoon I had been out walking to Asakusa and Uyeno with
the only American teacher in the school at that time, and, after a long
tramp, returned to recount what I had seen, and to consult my host.
We agreed, the morrow being a holiday, to make an excursion to the
lovely suburban retreat Oji, just outside, to the north of Tokio. After
an evening among maps, note-books, and letters, as usual, I retired to
rest. I was a sound sleeper, and noticed nothing during the night.
About 4 A.M. my host appeared at my door, and, in a rather sepulchral
tone, informed me that we could not go to Oji that day. There had
been great changes during the night, and two teachers of the school
had been cut down in the streets.
I dressed hurriedly, and at our hasty breakfast by the lamp I learn-
ed the story of the night. It was a simple one, but bloody enough.
The two men had gone to Tsukiji, and there dismissed their guards.
Presuming upon their supposed safety, and being wholly unarmed,
they started to another part of the city, not far from the school.
From their own story, they were quietly walking along one of the
streets. The tallest of them suddenly received such a blow from be-
IN TOElO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 375
hind that he fell, supposing that some one had knocked him down
with a bamboo or club. Almost before he fell, his companion re-
ceived a frightful cut on the opposite shoulder. Both then knew they
had received sword - wounds, and they both started to run. The first
one attacked ran up the street into an open paper-shop, begging the
people to bind up his wounds, and send word to the college. The
second, being the last on his feet, was overtaken by his pursuer, who
dealt him a second sweeping two-handed blow, which cut a canal
across his back from right shoulder to left hip, nearly eleven inches
long. He gained the paper-shop, however, and begged the people to
stanch his wounds with the thick, soft Japanese paper. After giving
their address, and bidding the people send for a doctor and a school
officer, they fainted away from loss of blood. They were, when I saw
them, lying asleep at the paper- shop, native doctors having reached
them and skillfully bound up their wounds.
We left the college at half-past four, well armed, and accompanied
by a servant carrying a lantern. We passed down the street skirting
the castle moat to the Tori. It was very dark, and the city was in
unbroken slumber. The only sight was the night roundsman pacing
his beat, lantern in his left hand, and jingling an iron staff, surmount-
ed by bunches of rings on the top, which he thumped on the ground
at every few steps, crying out, "Hi-no yoje " (look out for fire). Here
and there, in nooks and corners, we saw a beggar curled up under his
mats. We finally reached the house in Nabe Cho (Rice-pot Street).
We entered by a side door, and found in the back-room, sitting and
smoking round the hibachi, six or eight interpreters and Japanese
teachers from the college. Sliding aside the paper partitions, we look-
ed into the front room, and, by the light of our lanterns, saw the two
wounded men, one with head bandaged and face upward, the other
lying prone, with back tightly swathed, asleep, and breathing heavily.
We waited till daylight, when they woke up and told us their story.
The skillful surgeon of the English legation arrived shortly after,
commending highly the skill displayed by the native surgeons in bind-
ing up the wounds.
I spent several days and nights in the house, attending the patients.
The wounds of one were of a frightful character ; that of the other was
upon the head and shoulder-blade. The blow had grazed the skull,
and cut deeply into the fleshy part of the back. It was not dangerous :
in a few days he sat up, and the wound rapidly healed. For several
days the weakness arising from the loss of blood and the wound-fever
376 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
threatened to end the life of his companion. One of his ribs was
nearly severed, and both gashes were long and deep. He had to be
handled very tenderly. After seven days, however, they were able to
be removed to their own house, and, as they had provided other nurses,
my services were no longer required.
I took the early stage on the morning of the attack, and carried
the news to Yokohama. The mikado's Government, with astonishing
energy, immediately took steps to discover the assassins, using the
most strenuous exertions. Every one leaving the city or passing the
gates was searched. Every samurai in Tokio was obliged to give an
account of his whereabouts from sunset to sunrise of that evening.
Every sword worn in Tokio was examined to discover blood -stains,
which can not be removed except by grinding. Every sword -maker
and grinder was questioned. I know of several small boys who felt
highly elated at the great and rare honor of having a posse of pomp-
ous government officials gravely examine their swords, according to or-
ders. Nothing gave one so real an idea of the sincerity and ability of
the Government, and its determination to reform barbarous customs,
as their energy on this occasion. The stage which carried me to
Yokohama was stopped at the Shinagawa guard-house by a man armed
with a barbed hook, to examine any Japanese that might be within.
The excitement among the foreigners in Tokio next morning was
intense. Prophets went round prophesying that in a week Tokio
would be deserted of foreigners. A certain consul posted up a notice
jn a public place-^in a bar-room, I believe — authorizing any citizen of
his nationality, should any Japanese be seen laying his hand on his
sword, " to shoot him on the spot." The most violent and inflamma-
tory language appeared in the newspapers. Some hot-headed folks at
Yokohama held a meeting, and resolved that the Japanese Government
should disarm the samurai, by ordering the immediate abolition of
the custom of wearing swords. Yokohama residents whose business
brought them to Tokio, though belted and with two revolvers, saw in
every Japanese boy or coolie an assassin. A nightmare of samurai,
swords, blood, bleeding heads and arms, grave-stones, and grim death
brooded over the foreigners. "The beaten soldier fears the tops of
the tall grass."
Amidst this panic of fear, two mild and gentle countrymen of mine —
one a missionary who had lived in Japan and among the people seven
years, and another who for months had gone among them day and
night unarmed — opened my eyes. Even the sworded samurai became
IN TOKIO, THE EASTERN CAPITAL. 377
in my vision as harmless as trees walking. I saw that the affair, which
had frightened some men out of their wits, concerned a gentleman
about as much as a murder in Water Street, or the Five Points, con-
cerns a law-loving citizen of New York, who attends quietly to his
business. I soon put away my revolver, and began the study of facts
relating to the many cases of " assassination " of foreigners in Japan.
In every instance, since the restoration of peace after the troubles of
the civil war, it was a story of overbearing insolence, cruelty, insult,
the jealousy of paramours, native women, or avarice, or the effect of
causes which neither fair play nor honor could justify.
During my stay of nearly four years in Japan, several Europeans
were attacked or killed ; but in no case was there a genuine assassina-
tion, or unprovoked assault. I was led to see the horrible injustice of
the so-called indemnities, the bombardments of cities, the slaughter of
Japanese people, and the savage vengeance wreaked for fancied in-
juries against foreigners. There is no blacker page in history than
the exactions and cruelties practiced against Japan by the diplomatic
representatives of the nations called Christian — in the sense of having
the heaviest artillery. In their financial and warlike operations in
Japan, the foreign ministers seem to have acted as though there was
no day of judgment. Of the Japanese servants kicked and beaten,
or frightened to death, by foreign masters ; of peaceable citizens knock-
ed down by foreign fists, or ridden over by horses ; of Japanese homes
desolated, and innocent men and women, as well as soldiers, torn by
shells, and murdered by unjust bombardments, what reparation has
been made ? What indemnity paid ? What measures of amelioration
taken for terrible excess of bloody revenge at Kagoshima and Shimo-
noseki ? What apology rendered ? For a land impoverished and torn,
for the miseries of a people compelled by foreigners, for the sake of
their cursed dollars, to open their country, what sympathy ? For their
cholera and vile diseases, their defiling immorality, their brutal violence,
their rum, what benefits in return ? Of real encouragement, of cheer
to Japan in her mighty struggle to regenerate her national life, what
word ? Only the answer of the horse-leech — for blood, blood ; and at
all times, gold, gold, gold. They ask all, and give next to nothing.
For their murders and oppressions they make no reparation. Is
Heaven always on the side of the heaviest artillery ?
378 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
IV.
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN A PAGAN TEMPLE.
THE temple of Kuanon at Asakusa is to Tokio what St. Paul's is
to London, or N6tre Dame to Paris. The chief temple of the city,
the most popular religious resort, one never sees the Japanese capital
till he sees Asakusa. Like N6tre Dame, it is ancient, holy, dirty, and
grand, with pigeons and priests, and bazaars and book-stalls near by
to match.
Asakusa is now the name of a district of the city, which anciently
was a village. The temple is about three miles from the centre of
the castle, and two from Nihon Bashi, and at the time of its erection
was a remote suburb. It is but a short distance from the river, and
Asakusa bridge and Asakusa ferry have been made chiefly for the
convenience of the pious, gay, and curious, to cross the Sumida River
to visit the great temple, gardens, and pleasure-grounds, many acres
in extent. These latter a Japanese temple must always have, whether
Buddhist or Shinto. In them are fairs, refreshments, booths, eating,
smoking, dancing, and every gay sport and pleasure known. To the
Japanese mind there is no incongruity in this placing a temple cheek
by jowl with a theatre. To cast his cash in the box of offerings, to
pray, are but preludes to uproarious mirth or sedate enjoyments. Re-
ligion and innocent pleasure join hands in Japan. Are the Japanese
wrong in this ?
Two grand entrances invite the visitor. One opens to the river.
The main approach forms the terminus of an avenue that traverses
the city, and joins the broad street fronting Asakusa at right angles.
Up and down this street, on either side, for rods, are restaurants and
houses where the famed singing-girls of Tokio make music, song, and
dance. The path to the temple is of stone, twelve feet wide, with
side pavements, upon which are ranged hundreds of booths having on
sale a gorgeous abundance of toys, dolls, and every thing to delight
the eyes of babydom. Perpetual Christmas reigns here. "Every
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN A PAGAN TEMPLE.
379
street in Paris is like Broadway," said a French mademoiselle to a
New York lady. Every day at Asakusa is a festival; but on the
great matsuris, or religious holidays, the throng of gayly dressed hu-
manity, of all ages, is astonishing. Every. one in Japan has heard of
Asakusa. One never fairly sees open-air Japanese life, except at a
matsuri. There is nothing strange, however, to the Japanese mind
in this association of temples and toy-shops. The good bonzes in
their sermons declare, as the result of their exegesis and meditations,
that husbands are bound to love their wives, and show it by allowing
them plenty of pin-money and hair-pins, and to be not bitter against
them by denying them neat dresses and handsome girdles. The
farmer who comes to town with his daughter, turns from prayer to
the purchase of pomatum or a mirror. Every sort of toy, game, hair-
ornaments in illimitable variety ; combs, rare and beautiful, and cheap
and plain ; crapes for the neck and bosom ; all kinds of knickknacks,
notions, and varieties are here ; besides crying babies ; strings of beads
for prayer; gods of lead, brass,
and wood ; shrines and family
altars, sanctums, prayer - books,
sacred bells, and candles.
Chapels and special shrines,
many of them the expiatory gifts
of rich sinners, lie back of' the
booths on each side of the road-
way. On their walls hang votive
tablets and pictures of various
sorts. In one of the booths, an
old artist, with his two brushes
Artist at Work. "* one hand> is Painting one.
His cheap productions will sell
for five or ten cents. He looks as though he were laughing at his
own joke, for his subject is a pictorial pun on the word " fool " (baka :
ba, a horse ; &a, a stag).*
* The allusion is to the act of the Chinese prime minister at the court of the
Chinese emperor, who was the son of the illustrious builder of the Great Wall.
He declared that a stag could be called a horse, and a horse a stag. The courtiers
were compelled to obey him. This is the origin of the Japanese word baka, which
the Japanese urchins sometimes cry at foreigners, and one of the first words the
latter learn to throw at the natives. The particular digital gesture of sticking
the left forefinger in the left side of the mouth is the Japanese equivalent of the
soliloquy, " What a fool I am !" or the interrogation, " You think I'm a fool, don't
380 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The incense of smoldering " joss-sticks "* is wafted outward, and
blends with the savory odors of baking -sponge and griddle -cakes,
roasting nuts, and the disgusting smell of cuttle-fish fried in oil, made
from sesame (Sesamum Orientalis). I never knew till I arrived in
the Land of the Gods why the door of the cave of the Forty Thieves
opened so easily when AH Baba uttered the potent words, "Open
sesame." I know now. Let any one get ten feet to windward of a
frying-pan full of sesame oil, and he will find it strong enough to
open twenty doors. There, two lusty fellows are pulling away at a
colossal rope of barley-sugar candy, now stretching, now twisting,
now doubling, until the proper consistence and fibre are obtained.
Down on the ground, at intervals, we find an old woman, or a young
girl, selling what seem to be little slips of frayed wood, which, dropped
on water, open into surprising forms of beauty. The uniform trifles
unfold into variety, displaying a flower, a boat, a tree, a bird, a rat,
a fisherman, a man, Fuji, a bottle, a cup, a bug, an animal. Some are
jokes and comic pictures.
Before the temple proper stands a colossal structure, serving merely
as a gate-way, of red painted wood, almost seventy feet high. Facing
us on either side as we enter are the high colored demons Ni-6 (two
kings), whom we must propitiate. Each is higher than Goliath of
Gath: one is green, and the other red. "As ugly as sin," is faint
praise of their hideousness. Their faces and muscles are contorted
into fanciful corrugations, and their attitude is as though they were
going to transfix us heretics. Fastened to the grating in front of them
are straw sandals, such as laborers and rustics wear. Some of these
are big enough to shoe a megatherium. "They are hung up by people
with sore feet, to propitiate the demons and to seek recovery. In
front of the gate and under it, in two rows, sit pious beggars, mostly
women, who beat on hollow shells of wood, like enormous stale clams
or gaping sleigh-bells, and say prayers for their donors at a low price.
The faithful drop a few iron cash, or a single copper, to one or more
of these hags as they pass on.
Passing within the gate, we are in the temple yard. To the right
is a huge lavatory, the people washing their hands, and rinsing their
you ?" The artist is thinking how foolish he is thus to spend his days in painting
cheap pictures for a precarious means of subsistence. He is thus caricaturing
himself.
* Joss is the Chinaman's pronunciation of the Portuguese word Deo»— Latin,
Deus.
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN A PAGAN TEMPLE.
381
mouths, preparatory to worship. A pagoda rises to the right with its
seven stories, its heavy eaves fringed with wind-bells, its beams tipped
with carvings, and its roof
terminating into a projec-
tion called the kiu-do (nine
rings), resembling an enor-
mous copper turning just
rolled from the lathe, or a
corkscrew such as might be
used to uncork a columbiad.
To climb to the top is to
run the risk of dislocating
the neck, and the view does
not repay. In time of se-
vere earthquake, this pago-
da spire will vibrate like a
plume on a helmet. Of
course, in the picture, the
artist must bring in the
snow-white cranes, and Fuji.
On the top is the jewel, or
sacred pearl, so conspicuous
in Japanese art and symbol-
ism, and which, on the coins
and paper money,the dragon
ever clutches in his talons.
On my left stands a large plain frame of wood, on which hang tal-
lies, or tablets, inscribed with names and sums of money. They are
those of subscribers to the temple, and the amount of their contribu-
tions. One, five, and ten dollars are common gifts, and the one hun-
dred-dollar donor is honored with a larger amount of shingle to ad-
vertise his religion. Several old women have stands, at which they
sell holy beans, pious pease, and sanctified rice. These are kept ready
in tiny earthen saucers. The orthodox buy these, and fling them to
the cloud of pigeons that are waiting on the temple eaves, and fly,
whirring down, to feed. Ten thousand sunbeams flash from their
opaline necks as their pink feet move coquettishly over the ground.
Two enormous upright bronze lanterns on stone pedestals flank the
path, and on these flocks of pigeons quickly rise and settle again.
These pigeons have their home, not only without but within the tem-
Pagoda Spire, or Kin-do. (Nishiki-ye.)
382 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
pie, over the very altars of Great Shaka. Even the pigeon hath found
a rest where she may lay her young, even thine altars, Great Shaka.
Their cooing blends with the murmurs of prayer, and the whirring of
their wings with the chant of the bonzes.
Besides the pigeons, there are two sacred Albino ponies kept in a
stable to the left. They are consecrated to the presiding deity, Kua-
non, the God of Mercy. A young girl has the care of them, and they
are fed by the pious, who, as a religious and meritorious act, buy the
beans and pease with which the animals are fed.
The most imposing feature of a Japanese temple is the roof of
massive black tiles, sweeping up in a parabolic curve of the immense
surface, which make enormous gables at the side. One is impressed
with the solidity of the timbers and supports, which are set firmly but
loosely in stone sockets, and defy the earthquake in a manner that re-
calls ^Esop's fable of the oak and the reed. We ascend the broad cop-
per-edged steps to the broader porch, and are on the threshold of the
great pagan temple, so holy, so noisy, so dirty. Within its penetra-
lium, we try to feel reverent. How can we, with a crowd of eager,
curious, dirty faces, with dirty babies behind them, with unclean pig-
eons whirring above us to the threatened detriment of our hats ? With-
in is a chaos of votive tablets, huge lanterns, shrines, idols, spit-balls,
smells, dust, dirt, nastiness, and holiness. Immediately within the door
stands a huge bronze censer, with a hideous beast rampant upon it.
He seems maddened by the ascending clouds of irritating incense
that puff out of numerous holes around the edge. The worshipers,
as they enter, drop an iron or copper cash in the lap of the black-
toothed crone who keeps the sacred fuel, put a pinch in one of the
holes, and pass in front of the altar to pray. Around the top of the
censer are the twelve signs of the Japanese zodiac, in high relief.
These are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, serpent, horse, goat, mon-
key, cock, dog, hog.
The great main altar is protected in front by an iron wire screen.
Each worshiper, before praying, makes a " heave-offering " of a hand-
ful of cash into the huge coffer before the altar. Occasionally one,
with pious intent, throws what we would call a spit-ball at the screen.
What an idea ! The worshiper writes out his petition, chews it to a
pulp in his mouth, and throws it at the idol. If it sticks, the omen is
good, the prayer is heard. Hearing, then, depends on the softness of
the mass, or the salival ability and dexterity of the thrower. Some
of the images in the outer shrines are speckled all over with these out-
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN A PAGAN TEMPLE. 383
spittings of pious mouths. The coins and balls might injure the al-
tar furniture and golden idols, if not protected.
The space opposite the altar is filled by praying people of every
sort. Mothers, maidens, and children, old men and boys, samurai and
merchant and farmer, country boors, city swells, soldiers in French uni-
form with sword-bayonets at their side, a la Paris, all fling the coin,
bow the head, rub the hands above the head. Many use strings of
beads, like the Roman Catholics. Prayers at the main altar over, the
devotee may visit one or more of the many side shrines within the
building. To the right sits the ugly and worn-out god Binzuru (one
of Buddha's original sixteen disciples), reputed to cure diseases. There
is a mother with two children rubbing the dirty old wooden head and
limbs, and then applying the supposed virtue to their own bodies by
rubbing them. The old idol is polished greasy and black by the at-
trition of many thousand palms. His nose, ears, eyes, and mouth have
long since disappeared. We warrant that more people are infected
than cured by their efforts.
To the left is a shrine, covered in front by a lattice, to the bars of
which are tied thousands of slips of paper containing written prayers.
Flanking the coffer on either side are old men who sell charms, printed
prayers, beads, prayer-books, and ecclesiastical wares of all sorts. Vo-
tive tablets are hung on the walls and huge round pillars. Here is
one, on which is the character, cut from paper, for " man " and " wom-
an," joined by a padlock, from a pair of lovers, who hope and pray
that the course of true love may run smooth, and finally flow like a
river. Here is one from a merchant who promises a gift to the tem-
ple if his venture succeeds. Scores are memorials of gratitude to
Kuanon for hearing prayer and restoring the suppliant to health. The
subject of one picture is the boiler explosion on the steamboat City of
Yedo, which took place in front of the foreign hotel in Tsukiji, Au-
gust 12th, 1870, in which one hundred lives were lost. Only a few
days ago, in Yokohama, I saw the infant son of the Rev. Mr. and Mrs.
Comes, my fellow-country people, who, with a little English girl, were
the only foreigners killed. The devotee was saved by the great mercy
of Kuanon, and hangs up the tablet, as a witness of his gratitude, and
Kuanon's surpassing favor. Many are from sailors who have survived
a storm. On the wire screen hang scores of men's greasy top-knots,
and a few braids of women's hair, cut off on account of vows, and of-
fered to the honor of Kuanon. Perhaps the deity sees the heart that
made the offering, and not the rancid and mildewed grease. Above
25
384 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
are splendid carvings and paintings of angels. The Buddhist angels
are always feminine. Among the crowd of religious emblems, there
stares at you a framed picture of the Pacific Mail Steamship China as
an advertisement, and near the door of exit, at the left, stands an im-
mense mirror in a dazzling gilt frame. It is one of the sensational
attractions to the vulgar, and helps to make up the catchpenny collec-
tion of miscellanies in this rich temple, whose real estate covers many
acres of valuable ground.
Beyond the great space devoted to the public are the various altars
and gilt images of the deities, sages, and saints of the Buddhist pan-
theon and calendar. Candles burn, incense floats, and the sacred books
repose here. The privileged faithful can, for a fee to the fat priests
who sit behind their account-books, come within the iron wire screen,
and, kneeling on the clean matting in front of the great altar, may
pray, or read or chant sacred books, canonical or liturgical ; or, having
a vow to a particular deity, or wishing to invoke the intercession of a
special saint, may enter, to kneel remote from the crowd.
It seems curious, even in Japan, to see men dressed in foreign
clothes, praying before the gilded and hideous idols, bowing down
to foxes and demons, and going through all the forms of paganism.
Clothes do not make a Christian, and yet to our narrow vision there
seems no agreement between a high hat and a Buddhist temple, no
concord between a black-cloth coat and an idol in ancient robes.
We leave the temple and descend the steps, glad to get out into
the only true God's fresh air. From the unnature of superstition to
the purity of nature, from the pent-up closeness of the priests' temple
into the boundless freedom of God's glorious creation, how welcome
the change ! It stirs the pulses of the divine life within us to behold
how priestcraft and sanctified avarice and blind superstition of ages
have united, and then to remember how One said, "Have faith in
God."
To the left of the temple are gardens famed for their displays of
flowers in season — the plum-blossoms in February, cherry blooms in
April, the lotus in July, azaleas in summer, chrysanthemums in Octo-
ber, camellias in December, and evergreens always. Here are dwarfed
trees in every shape. Fuji appears over and over again in miniature.
Tortoises, cats, male foreigners with hats, and females in crinoline,
houses, wagons, and what not, appear in living forms of green. Tiny
trees, an inch or two high, balmy pines, oaks and bamboo, cacti,
striped -grass, rare plants of all varieties known in Japan, are here.
.V TKMPLS.
ittbwnora, th«
• bamaeka of the N.>ldie
•! of the or lazoned on
o> •-, and banners,
In
'
••t-tw.s country Ihv border* of tl •» are made of
.Iliral 1<X'..M :"ttion
,»f left' f freak* of natim hy rarefni
. i •
been perfected b}
of a thousand years. T
••• ti'T^.i •" i» the ik>n, Soae ol (he itoaalu of
i^iveu at Di in^M, w it *hf j*'n
ud the gardens are not ibt
The antiquary may n
Sanskrit, Japanese, ai
some are prxyens
-
i
«ole, and flag
•
are heaps of pobW«, yiaee4 ther» « «v
one si 11%
-a «t*n)« wharf in a *to
iedt are f.-oraBwaDomtire
an aa ea-
fi/*
•id th* baa*- of noariv aii
».
nad a« ofcri»^>.
j,. .nt — *tan<i» n<-' •
•
* of Buddha. Again we fight rm a < .
on w;
'* a» an a
Thr
. stand in
• ' their heads u
•
rests his f
388 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
his feet, and two fangs in his mouth. Under the second writhes a
flesh-colored devil, holding up an ink-stone, ready for the use of the
idol, who may be a Japanese Saturday Reviewer. The third, with an
indigo face, having a priest's staff, treads on a sky-blue devil. In the
middle of the stone-floored room is a revolving shrine, having many
closed doors, and containing sacred treasures of some sort. All over
the crowded grounds are tea-booths with the usual charcoal fire, copper
boiler, kettle, cup-rack, sweetmeats, and smiling, powdered, well-dress-
ed damsel, who invites the passer-by to rest, drink a cup of tea, and
part with a trifle as gift.
At the north end are ranged the archery galleries, also presided over
by pretty black-eyed Dianas, in paint, powder, and shining coiffure.
They bring you tea, smile, talk nonsense, and giggle; smoke their
long pipes with tiny bowls full of mild, fine-cut tobacco; puff out
the long white whiffs from their flat-bridged noses ; wipe the brass
mouth-piece, and offer it to you ; and then ask you leading and very
personal questions without blushing. The bows are of slender bam-
boo strips, two feet long, with rests for the shaft. The arrows are of
cherry-wood, six inches long, bone-tipped, and feathered red, blue, or
white. Two or three targets hang in front of a square drum, flanked
by red cushions. A sharp click on the hard target, the boom of the
drum, or the deadened sound of the struck cushion, tell the grades of
success. Full-grown, able-bodied men are the chief patrons of these
places of pleasure, and many can find amusement for hours at such
play.
Let no one visit Asakusa without seeing the so-called " wax-works,"
though there is very little wax in the show. In one of the buildings,
to the rear and left of the main temple, are thirty-five tableaux, in life
size figures, of the miracles wrought by Kuanon, or wondrous events
in the lives of her pious devotees. There are thirty-three great tem-
ples in Japan, dedicated to Kuanon, the Goddess of Mercy. Pious pil-
grims often make the pilgrimage, visiting each of these shrines. The
tableaux at Asakusa are thought by many foreign critics to excel in
expression the famous collection of Madame Tussaud in London, an
opinion which the writer shares. They are all the handiwork of one
artist, who visited the most celebrated shrines of Kuanon, and, struck
with the marvelous power and mercy of the god, wished to show to
the youth of his country the benefit of trusting in and praying to
him or her. The figure of Kuanon is, in some representations, like
that of a gentle and lovely lady. In the outside tableau, the image of
SIGHTS AXD SOUNDS IN A PAGAN TEMPLE. 389
Kuanon is drawn out in public to stay a plague, which is accomplish-
ed by the mercy and favor of the god. In the first tableau inside, a
learned lady prays to Kuanon, and is heard. The second tableau rep-
resents Kuanon appearing in the form of a beautiful woman to reward
a diligent priest ; the third, a young girl suddenly restored to health
by the favor of Kuanon ; the fourth, Kuanon appearing in the form
of a little peasant girl to a noble of the mikado's court ; the fifth, a
hungry robber desecrating the temple ; and a certain suggestive paint-
ing to the left, in which demons and a red-hot cart, with wheels and
axles of fire, are pictured above the robber, tells what is to become of
him. In the sixth, a noble of the mikado's court overcomes and binds
the thunder-god, or demon, through the power of Kuanon. In the
seventh, a woman is saved from shipwreck because she sung a hymn to
Kuanon during the tempest. In the eighth, a devout priest, fearing
yet bold, goes to talk to Ema, the Lord of Hell. The ninth repre-
sents an old man, one of the Hojo family, writing a prayer-poem.
The tenth represents a pious damsel, who worshiped Kuanon, never
killed any animals, and saved the life of a crab which a man was go-
ing to kill : afterward, a snake, transforming itself into human shape,
came to seize her, but a multitude of grateful crabs appeared and res-
cued her, biting the reptile to death : this was by the order of Kua-
non. In the eleventh, a devout worshiper, by prayer, overcomes and
kills a huge serpent that troubled the neighborhood. In the twelfth,
a diligent copyist of the sacred books beguiles his time by rewarding
little children with cakes for bringing him pebbles, for every one of
which he transcribes a character. The baby on the back of the little
girl is asleep ; and the imitation of baby-life is wonderful, and in re-
spect to one or two details more truthful than elegant. In the thir-
teenth, Kuanon, having appeared on earth in female form, goes to
heaven, taking the picture of a boy, who afterward grows up to be a
celebrated priest. In the fourteenth, a pious woman falls from a lad-
der, but is unhurt. In the fifteenth, a man suffering grievously from
headache is directed to the spot where the skull which belonged to
his body in a previous state of existence is being split open by the
root of a tree growing through the eye-socket. On removing it, he is
relieved of his headache. In the nineteenth, a good man vanquishes a
robber. In the twentieth, the babe of a holy farmer's wife, who is out
at work, is saved from a wolf by miraculous rays defending the child.
In the twenty-first, Kuanon appears to heal a sick girl with a wand
and drops of water. In the twenty-second, a holy man buys and sets
390 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
free a tortoise about to be killed for food. Three days afterward his
child falls overboard, and is apparently lost, but after a while returns
safely on the back of the grateful reptile. In the twenty-fourth, a re-
tainer of a noble is ordered to kill his master's, son for disobedience to
him. The servant, unable, through love of his master's son, to do it,
kills his own son instead. The tableau represents him mourning over
his son's gory head. His master's son, in remorse, became a priest.
In the twenty-fifth, a good man is saved from robbers by his dog. In
the twenty-sixth, a man who had his cargo of rice confiscated for his
refusal to give the priest his share, repented of his obduracy, and re-
ceived heavenly evidence of his pardon in a new cargo of rice sent
by Kuanon. In the twenty-seventh, the son of a court noble breaks
a precious ink-stone. His father, in a fit of anger, kills him. The
horrified attendant becomes a priest. In the twenty-eighth, a pious
recluse is saved from starvation by a miraculous leg of venison. In
the twenty-ninth, a mountain demon pursues an evil-doer. In the
thirtieth, a pious wood-cutter hears heavenly music, and Kuanon ap-
pears to him. In the thirty-first, a worshiper of Kuanon is wounded
by robbers, thrown into the river, and is accidentally brought up in a
fisherman's net. Having an image of Kuanon in his bosom, he is re-
suscitated, and lives to bless his preserver. In the thirty-third, a mer-
maid appears to a passer-by, and prays him to erect a temple to Kua-
non. This having been done, the mermaid is reborn into a higher
state of existence. In the thirty-fourth, Kuanon appears to a traveler.
The last is a moving tableau, representing a court noble and lady.
Extreme kindness to animals is characteristic of the Japanese. It
is the result of the gentle doctrines of Buddha. Several of the mira-
cle-figures teach the law of kindness to brutes. It is sometimes car-
ried into a sentimentalism almost maudlin. My jin-riki-sha puller
makes a detour, out of his way, round a sleeping dog or bantam,
when the lazy animal might fairly take its chances. When a man
believes that the soul of his grandfather may be transmigrating
through a cur, however mangy, or a chick, however skinny, he is not
going to cause another metempsychosis by murdering the brute, if he
can help it. Killing a wounded horse to put him out of misery, or in
useless old age, is never practiced, the idea being too cruel to be en-
tertained.
STUDIES IN THE CAPITAL.
V.
STUDIES IN THE CAPITAL.
THE foreigner who traces upon his globe or map the outlines of the
island empire of Japan, conceives of it as a long, narrow, insular strij^
of land, stretching from north to south. Seeing that Yezo is in such
high, and Kiushiu in such low latitude, he thinks of Yedo and Naga-
saki as lying at the two ends of the magnetic needle. To the native,
they lie in the line of the sun, the one at its rising, the other at its set-
ting. The reason for this conception of the native, which is thus in
rectilinear opposition to that of the foreigner, lies, not in the supposed
fact that the Japanese do every thing in a contrary manner from our-
selves, or because the images on his retina are not reversed as on ours,
but because he has a truer knowledge of his country's topography than
the alien. The latter knows of Japan only as a strip of land described
in his dogmatic text-books, a fraction in his artificial system ; the for-
mer knows it as he actually walks, by dwelling on its soil and looking
at the sun, the lay of the land, and the pole star. To him, Tokio lies
in the east, Choshiu in the west, Hakodate in the north, and Satsuma
in the south.
The native conception of locality in the mikado's empire is the
true one. A glance at the map will show that Yezo and a portion of
Hondo lie, indeed, inclosed in a narrow line drawn north and south.
Japan may be divided into inhabited and uninhabited land, and Yezo
must fall within the latter division. Hence, only that part above the
thirty-sixth parallel may be called Northern Japan. From Yedo to
Nagasaki is the main portion of the empire, in point of historical im-
portance, wealth, and ^population. Between the thirty-third and thir-
ty-sixth, or within three parallels of latitude, on a belt a little over two
hundred miles wide, stretches from east to west, for six hundred miles,
the best part of Japan.
Within this belt lies more than a majority of the largest cities, best
ports, richest mines, densest centres of population, classic localities,
magnificent temples, holy places, tea -plantations, silk districts, rice-
392 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
fields, and manufactures. Here, also, have been developed, in times
past, the nation's greatest treasures — the best blood, the commanding
minds, and the men that have ruled Japan.
It is interesting to note the shifting of the scenes in the drama of
Japanese history. In the most ancient times, the ablest men of ac-
tion and intellect were produced in Yamato, or in the Kinai. In the
Middle Ages, they arose in the Kuanto. At the opening of modern
history, they sprung from the Tokaido (Mino, Owari, Mikawa). In
the latest decades, they came from Kiushiu and the south (Choshiu,
Satsuma, Tosa, and Hizen).
An inspection of the map will show a striking configuration of the
land, on the southern coast of Hondo, adapting and ordaining it as
the site for the great bulk of the nation's intellect, intelligence, popu-
lation, and wealth. From Kadzusa on the extreme east, to Choshiu
on the extreme west, are found in succession a series of bays, at the
head of each of which stands a large city. On the first is the city of
Tokio (population, 925,000); on the second, Odawara (20,000); on
the third, Hamamatsu (50,000) ; on the fourth, Nagoya (400,000) ;
on the fifth, Ozaka (600,000) ; on the sixth, Hiogo (60,000) ; on the
seventh, Hiroshima (100,000); on the eighth, Shimonoseki (10,000).
These lie east and west of each other. These are and were all flour-
ishing cities, but until lyeyasu's time Yedo was but a village.
It was a bold stroke of policy to make the obscure place the seat
of government. It seemed very much to the people of that day and
country as it would to us were our capital removed from Washington
to Duluth.
The general shape of Tokio is that of an egg, with the point to the
south, the butt to the north. The yolk of this egg is the castle, or
0 Shiro, a work of vast proportions.
The traveler in our land of steam, in which men are too few and
too valuable to be machines, sees heavy work done by the derrick and
the engine, and can reckon to a fraction the equivalent for human
muscle stored up in a pound of coal. Before the labor of the mediae-
val masons, he wonders how the pygmies of those days could build
such stupendous works as astonish the tourist in Egypt, India, As-
syria, China, and Japan, or raise colossal stones, or transport them in
positions hundreds of miles from their home in the quarry.
Of architectural works in Japan, the torii, the yashiki, and the shiro,
or castle, may be said to be original products. The pagoda is from
China. Though far beyond the structures of Egypt or India in aes-
STUDIES IN THE CAPITAL. 393
thetic merit, the Japanese castles challenge wonder at their vast extent,
and the immense size of the stones in their walls. In the castle of
Ozaka, built by Hid6yoshi, some of thb stones are forty feet long, ten
feet high, and several feet thick. In the castle of Tokio, in the cita-
del or highest point, the walls have many stones sixteen feet long, six
wide, and three thick. These were brought from near Hiogo, over
two hundred miles distant.
In Asiatic countries labor is cheap and abundant. What the Amer-
ican accomplishes by an engine and a ton of coal, the exponent of so
many foot-pounds, or horse-power, the Asiatic accomplishes by thou-
sands of human arms. A signal instance of the quick triumph of
muscle came under my own observation while in Tokio.
A foreigner in the employ of the Japanese Government was con-
sulted in relation to the choice of a site for a model farm, and was
shown several eligible places, one of which was included within the
grounds of an ex-daimio, which had been left for years to the rank
overgrowth, which, together with the larger trees and bushes, made the
soil so rooty, and the whole place so unpromising to the foreigner,
that he declared the site was utterly unfit ; that several years would be
required to bring it into any thing like proper condition for tillage.
He then drove off to examine another proposed site. But American
ways of thinking were, in this case, at fault.
The Japanese officer in charge immediately and quietly hired eight
hundred laborers to clear and smooth the land. They worked in re-
lays, night and day. In one week's time he showed the American " a
new site," with which he was delighted. It was chosen for tne model
farm. It was the same site he had first glanced at. The potential
energy lay in the fact that the land, worthless as real estate, being the
property of the official, could be sold to the Government for a model
farm at the highest of fancy prices, paid out of the national treasury.
The actual energy of eight hundred pairs of arms developed a wilder-
ness into leveled farm-fields within a week.
1 The yashiki is a product of architecture distinctively Japanese.
Its meaning is " spread-out house." It is such a homogeneous struct-
ure that it strikes the eye as having been cut out of a solid block. It
is usually in the form of a hollow square, inclosing from ten thou-
sand to one hundred and sixty thousand square feet of ground. The
four sides of the square within are made up of four rows, or four un-
broken lines of houses. In the centre are the mansions of the daimio
and his ministers. The lesser retainers occupy the long houses which
394 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
form the sides of the square. The space is filled up within with gar-
dens, both for use and pleasure, recreation-grounds, target walks, and
kura, or fire-proof warehouses. Mito's grounds were of marvelous
beauty. The yashiki, on the street front, presents the appearance of a
continuous house on stone foundations, with rows of wooden barred
or grated windows.
The cut represents an " evening view " of Kasumiya Street, a slope
between the yashiki of the Daimio of Ogaki, in Mino, on the left, and
that of Hiroshima, in Aki, on the right; and of Sakurada Avenue.
Each of these proud lords, in erecting his mansion, found that his ri-
val was building as high and fine a stone foundation as he was. Aki
was determined to get higher than Ogaki, lest a fudafs windows
should look down on a kokushiu's lattice ; while Ogaki was bound to
" get even " with Aki. The rival masonry might have grown higher,
had not the shogun ordered them to desist.
All around the yashikis ran a ditch, or moat, from four to twelve
feet wide, usually of running water. Most of the walls were faced
with square tiles, fastened diagonally, presenting the appearance of
thousands of black lozenges, with rounded ridges of white plaster
about three inches high. To break the monotony of the street front,
there was one great roofed gate, for the lord and master, flanked with
porters' lodges, and a smaller one, or postern, on another side, for serv-
ants and retainers. It was a very important point of etiquette as to
who should or should not enter through the main gate. On no ac-
count would any one, unless of very high rank, be admitted in a ve-
hicle of any sort. At a certain gate, called Gijo, leading to the hon
maru, or citadel of the Yedo castle, all daimios were obliged to dis-
mount from their palanquins and walk. The abbot of the temple of
Zozoji, at Shiba, as a mark of high rank, could enter in a palanquin.
Such a privilege was equal to a patent of nobility.
The castle-moats, on varying levels, to make a current and prevent
stagnation, were supplied with water brought in stone-lined aqueducts
from the Tonegawa, nine miles distant. In the moats it varied from
four to twelve feet in depth. The scarp and counter-scarp were faced
with stone, and where the castle was on high ground the sloping em-
bankments were sodded, the water flowing scores of feet below. In
the shallow parts, lotus-flowers grew luxuriantly in summer, and in
winter thousands of water-fowl, ducks, geese, storks, and herons made
it their secure home, the people never harming them — a statement al-
most incredible to a foreign sportsman. A number of the shogun's
STUDIES IN THE CAPITAL. 397
swans added grace and beauty to the peaceful scene. It was forbid-
den to fire a gun within five ri of the castle. I wondered how for-
eign sportsmen could resist the temptation.
Let the reader imagine a space of several miles square covered with
yashikis. To walk through the streets inside the castle enceinte was
a monotonous and gloomy task. There was nothing to break the dull
uniformity of black or white tiles and windows, except here and there
a sworded samurai or a procession. Occasional variety was obtained
in a very large yashiki by erecting a wall around the entire inclosure,
and building the houses inside. This made the monotony worse,
since the eye had no relief in looking at windows, in which, perchance,
might be a pot of flowers, or peeping eyes. It scarcely added to the
cheerfulness to meet no common folk, but only proud and pompous
men with two swords, the mark of the Japanese gentleman of feudal
days.
The winter head-dress of the Japanese of both sexes is a black
cloth cap, fitting close to the skull, with long flaps, which were tied
around over the neck, mouth, and nose, exposing only the eyes. The
wearing of this cap made a most remarkable difference, according to
sex. The male looked fiendishly malignant, like a Spanish brigand,
the effect of two scowling eyes being increased by the two swords at
his belt. The phrase " he looked daggers at me " had a new signif-
icance. With the women, however, the effect was the reverse. A
plump, well-wrapped form lost no comeliness ; and when one saw two
sparkling eyes and a suggestion of rosy cheeks, the imagination was
willing to body forth the full oval of the Japanese beauty.
A dinner given in my honor by the ex-prince of Echizen, in his own
yashiki, enabled me to see in detail one of the best specimens of this
style of mansion. Like all the large clans and kokushiu daimios,
Echizen had three yashikis — the Superior, Middle, and Inferior. In
the second lived the ordinary clansmen, while to the third the serv-
ants and lower grade of samurai are assigned. Some of these yashi-
kis covered many acres of ground ; and the mansions of the Go Sanke
families and the great clans of Satsuma, Kaga, Choshiu, and Chikuzen
are known at once upon the map by their immense size and com-
manding positions. Within their grounds are groves, shrines, culti-
vated gardens, fish-ponds, hillocks, and artificial landscapes of unique
and surpassing beauty. The lord of the mansion dwelt in a central
building, approached from the great gate by a wide stone path and
grand portico of keyaki-wood. Long, wide corridors, laid with soft
398 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
mats, led to the master's chamber. All the wood-work, except certain
portions, stood in virgin grain like watered silk, except where relieved
here and there by a hard gleam of black lacquer-like enamel. The
walls, gorgeously papered with gold, silver, or fanciful and colored
designs, characteristic of Japanese art — among which the pine, plum,
and cherry tree, the bamboo, lily, the stork, tortoise, and lion, or fans,
were the favorites. The sliding doors, or partitions, of which three
sides of a Japanese room is composed, were decorated with paintings.
Some of the finest specimens of Japanese art I ever saw were in the
yashikis of Tokio.
The plan of the city of Yedo, conceived by ly^yasu, was simply
that of a great camp. This one idea explains its centre, divisions, and
relations. In the heart of this vast encampment was the general's
head-quarters — a well-nigh impregnable castle. On the most eligible
and commanding sites were the tents of his chief satraps. These
tents were yashikis. The architectural prototype of a yashiki is a
Japanese tent. In time of war, the general's head-quarters are sur-
rounded by a roofless curtain of wide breadths of canvas stretched
perpendicularly on posts, presenting a square front like a wall outside,
and a roomy area within, having in its centre the general's tent. In
place of this tent put a house ; instead of the canvas stretch continu-
ous long houses, forming a hollow square inclosing the mansion, and
you have the yashiki. Shallow observers — foreigners, of course —
on first seeing these stretched canvas screens, supposed they were
"forts," and the crests (mori) of the general, "port -holes" for can-
non ! Yedo, the camp city of the East, was full of these tents, am-
plified and made permanent in wood and stone.
These edifices made the glory of old Yedo, but Tokio sees fewer
year by year and fire by fire. They were the growth of the necessi-
ties of feudalism. The new age of Japan does not need them, and
the next decade, that shall see thousands swept away, will see none
rebuilt ; and the traveler will look upon a yashiki as one of the many
curiosities of Old Japan. Yedo was the city of the Tokugawas, and
the camp of clans. Its architectural products sprung from the soil of
feudalism. Tokio is the national capital, the city of the mikado, and
its edifices are at once the exponents of modern necessities and en-
lightened nationality.
AMONG THE MEN OF NEW JAPAN. 399
VI.
AMONG THE MEN OF NEW JAPAN.
I SPENT from January 3d to February 16th, 1871, in the new capi-
tal of Japan, visiting the famous places in the city and suburbs, seeing
the wonderful sights, and endeavoring by study and questioning to
reduce to order the myriad impressions that were made upon all my
senses like a mimic cannonade. During two weeks I taught as a vol-
unteer in the Imperial College. At the house of the superintendent I
met many of the officials in the educational and other departments,
learning their ideas and methods of thinking and seeing. Among my
novel employments was, upon one occasion, the searching of Wheaton's
and other works on international law for rules and precedents cover-
ing an imminent case of hostilities in Yokohama harbor. The captain
of a French man-of-war, resurrecting one of the exploded regulations
of the republic of 1795, was threatening to seize a German merchant
ship, which had been sold to the Japanese, and the officials of the
Foreign Office had come to their long-trusted American friend for ad-
vice and the law's precedents. It came to nothing, however. No seiz-
ure was made, nor hostile gun fired. The furore of traveling abroad was
then at fever-heat, and thousands of young men hoped to be sent to
study abroad, at government expense, where tens only could be chosen.
I made a call on Terashima Munenori, the Vice-minister of Foreign
Affairs, then in Tsukiji : presenting letters from Mr. Hatakeyama Yo-
shinari, I was received very kindly. Iwakura (to whom I bore letters
from his son) and Mr. Okubo at that time were on an important
political mission to Satsuma, Choshiu, and Tosa, sent thither by the
mikado. The ex-Prince of Echizen gave an entertainment in my hon-
or at his mansion. The daimios of Uwajima and Akadzuki, and sev-
eral of their Jcaros (ministers), were present at the dinner. He present-
ed me with his photograph, with some verses, of the making of which
lie was very fond. Mr. Arinori Mori, a young samurai of the Satsuma
clan, and a great friend of Iwakura, called to see me, and received let-
ters of introduction to my friends in America. He was then in na-
26
400 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
tive dress, wearing the traditional two swords, the abolition of which
he had in vain advocated some months before. He had just received
his appointment as charge d'affaires of Japan in the United States.
Messrs. Mori, and Sameshima — since charge d'affaires at Paris, now
(1876) Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs in Tokio — stood so high in the
confidence of Iwakura that they were dubbed, in the political slang
of the capital, " the legs of Iwakura." Mr. Katsu Awa, though absent
in Shidzuoka, sent me a very pleasant letter of welcome to Japan. I
enjoyed a delightful call on Mr. Kanda, the ex-President or Speaker
of the House of Assembly, in which Mr. Mori had argued reforms,
the second deliberative body that had been called into existence, ac-
cording to the oath of the mikado in Kioto, in 1868, that representa-
tive institutions should be formed. I found Mr. Kanda a student of
English and American literature, and an earnest thinker. His son, a
bright lad, was to accompany Mr. Mori to America. I also met a num-
ber of the prominent and rising men of the country, especially those
who had been active in the late revolution. The mikado was begin-
ning to ride out in public ; and I saw at various times a number of the
kuge, both ladies and gentlemen, in their ancient, gorgeous costumes,
with their retainers and insignia. I witnessed, also, a grand review of
the imperial army, a wrestling -match, exhibitions of acrobatics and
jugglery, theatrical performances, and many things in the political,
social, and military world that will never again be seen in Japan. I
visited the first hospital opened in Tokio, by Matsumoto, and the ex-
cellent school of Fukuzawa, rival of the Imperial College. None of
the large modern buildings in European style, which now adorn the
city, were then built. The city was then more Yedo than Tokio.
I repeatedly visited Oji, so often described by Oliphant and others ;
M6guro, near which are the graves of the lovers, " Gompachi and
Komurasaki ;" Takanawa, the Mecca of Japanese loyalty, where are
the tombs and statues of the forty -seven ronins, and of their lord,
whom they died to avenge ; Kame Ido, the memorial of the deified
martyr, Sugawara Michizan6 ; Shiba, Uyeno, Mukojima, and the places
so well known to residents and tourists, the sight of which but added
zest to an appetite for seeing all that is dear to a Japanese, which a
residence of years failed to cloy. I was several times at Zempukuji
(Temple of Peace and Happiness), one of the oldest shrines of the
Shin sect of Buddhists, founded by Shinran himself, who with his
own hands planted the wonderful old jinko-tree, which still flourishes.
Within the temple grounds were the buildings of the legation of the
AMONG THE MEN OF NEW JAPAN. 401
United States of America. Here had dwelt successively Ministers
Townsend Harris, Robert H. Pruyn, and General Van Valkenbergh.
United States Vice-consul C. O. Shepherd was then occupying the
premises. I noticed a somewhat dusty portrait of Franklin Pierce
hung on the walls of one of the inner empty rooms. The one bright
oasis spot during his barren administration was the success of Perry's
mission, and the opening of Japan to the world. The glory of the
great United States had been here maintained, by its Government
never paying any rent for its tenantry of buildings, and by extorting
"indemnities" for every accidental fire, for every provoked injury,
and even for every man killed in the open and active hostilities of
war, and in joining the governments of Europe in keeping the feeble
empire crushed under diplomacy, backed by ships and cannon.
One of the most important persons for me was a good interpreter.
A tongue was more than a right arm. To procure one of first-rate
abilities was difficult. When the embassy, sent out by the ill-starred
li Kamon no kami, visited Philadelphia, I had frequently seen a lively
young man whom every one called "Tommy," who had made a de-
cidedly pleasant impression upon the ladies and the Americans gen-
erally. " Tommy " was at this time in Tokio. The Echizen officers
went to him and asked him to accept the position of interpreter, at a
salary of one thousand dollars, gold, per annum. This was tempting
pay to a Japanese ; but the foreignized Tommy preferred metropolitan
life, and the prospect of official promotion, to regular duties in an in-
terior province. They then sought among the corps of interpreters in
the Imperial College. The choice fell upon Iwabuchi (rock -edge),
who, fortunately for me, accepted, and we were introduced. This
gentleman was about twenty years old, with broad, high forehead, lux-
uriant hair cut in foreign style, keen, dancing black eyes, and blushing
face. He was a ronin samurai of secondary rank, and rather well edu-
cated. His father had been a writing-master in Sakura, Shimosa, and
Iwabuchi was an elegant writer. Ho wore but one sword. He was
of delicate frame, his face lighted by intellect, softened by his habitual
meekness, but prevented by a trace of slyness from being noble. He
seemed the very type of a Japanese gentleman of letters. He was as
gentle as a lady. In his checkered experience at Hakodate and other
cities, he had brushed against the Briton, the Yankee, the French-
man, and the Russian. At first shy and retiring, he warmed into
friendship. In his merry moods he would astonish me by humming
familiar tunes, and recall a whole chapter of home memories by sing-
402 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ing ^snatches of American college and street songs. In his angry
moods, when American steel struck Japanese flint, his eyes would
snap fire and his frame quiver. For over a year Iwabuchi was inval-
uable to me, until my own articulation became bi-lingual ; but from
first to last, notwithstanding occasional friction, arising from the dif-
ference in American and Japanese psychology, we continued, and re-
main, fast friends.
My business with the officers of the Echizen clan was finished. I
was engaged to teach the physical sciences in the city of Fukui, the
capital of the province, two hundred miles west of Tokio, and twelve
miles from the Sea of Japan. In accordance with custom observed
between foreigners and Japanese, we made a contract, which, after
passing the inspection and receiving the approval of the Guai Mu Sho
(Office of Foreign Affairs), was written out in duplicate in imposing
Chinese characters, and in plain English. I agreed to teach chemistry
and physics for the space of three years, and " not to enter into any
trading operations with native merchants." The insertion of a comic
clause, very funny indeed to the American, but quite justifiable by
the bitter experience of the Japanese, was, that the teacher must not
get drunk.
They, on their side, agreed to pay my salary ; to build me a house
after the European style ; and after three years to return me safely to
Yokohama ; to hand my corpse over to the United States Consul if I
should die, or carry me to him should I be disabled through sickness.
Nothing was said concerning religion in any reference whatever, but
perfect freedom from all duties whatsoever was guaranteed me on Sun-
days ; and I had absolute liberty to speak, teach, or do as I pleased in
my own house.
As an illustration of the extreme jealousy with which the mikado's
ministers guarded the supremacy of the national government, the first
draft of the contract, made by myself, was rejected by the Foreign Of-
fice because I had written " the government of Fukui," instead of the
" local authorities," a correction which appeared in the final docu-
ments.
I made the acquaintance of several of the daimios, and many re-
tainers of various clans. A Fukui samurai, whom I shall call Daremo,
and who knew to a rung the exact status of every one on the social
ladder, always informed me as to the rank of the various personages
whom I met as host or guest. I bought the latest copy of the Bu
Kuan (Mirror of the Military Families), which he explained and trans-
AMONG THE MEN OF NEW JAPAN. 4Q3
latcd for me. In discussing each one, his nose rose and fell with the
figures before him. "That gentleman is only a karo of a 10,000 koku
daimio." "This is himself, a fudai daimio of 15,000 koku." With
profound indifference, I would be informed that the person who called
on me to inquire after his brother in New York was " merely a samu-
rai of a 30,000 koku clan." That gentleman whose politeness so im-
pressed me was " a hatamoto of 800 koku ; but he was very poor since
the restoration." Dar6mo's congratulations were showered thick and
fast when I dined with the kokushiu Echizen (360,000 koku), and
Uwajima (100,000 koku), with five or six karos. He also translated
for me the letters I received from distinguished Japanese officers.
With the aid of the Bu Kuan and Daremo, I was soon able to dis-
tinguish many of the rising and falling men of Japan.
I had seen the great objects of interest to a tourist. I had feasted
my eyes on novelty and a new life, yet the freshness of continual glad
surprise was not yet lost. I had seen the old glory of Yedo in ruins,
and the new national life of Japan emerging from Tokio in chaos. I
had stood face to face with paganism for the first time. I had felt
the heart of Japan pulsing with new life, and had seen her youth
drinking at the fountains of Western science. I had tasted the hospi-
tality of one of the " beginners of a better time." I had learned the
power of the keen sword. For the first time I had experience of pa-
ganism, feudalism, earthquakes, Asiatic life and morality. I had seen
how long contact with heathen life and circumstances slowly disinte-
grates the granite principles of eternal right, once held by men reared
in a more bracing moral atmosphere. I met scores of white men,
from Old and New England, who had long since forgotten the differ-
ence between right and wrong. I had seen also the surface of Japan.
I was glad to go into the interior. I bid good-bye to Tokio, and
went to Yokohama to take the steamer to Kob6, whence I should go,
vi& Lake Biwa, and over the mountains to the city of the Well of
Blessing, Fukui.
Our party made rendezvous at a native hotel. It was to be both my
escort and following. The former consisted of my interpreter, Iwa-
buchi, one of the teachers of English in the university ; Nakamura, the
soldier-guard, who had fought in the late civil war ; and the treasurer,
Emori, a polished gentleman, and shrewd man of the Japanese world.
There were two servants, and, with my own cook and his wife, we
made up a party of eight persons, with as many characters and dispo-
sitions as faces. The ship to take us to Kobe was one of the fine
404
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
steamers of the Pacific Mail Company's fleet, the Oregonian. As sev-
eral days would elapse before her departure, I made a visit to Kanaza-
wa, Kamakura, Enoshima, and Fujisawa, with Nakamura, and an Amer-
ican friend who spoke Japanese fluently. That visit was afterward re-
peated many times. Every spot made famous by Yoritomo, Yoshit-
sune, Semman and Kugio, the Hojo, Nitta Yoshisada, Nichiren, and the
Ashikaga, was seen over and over again, until the life of old Japan
became as vivid to me as the thrilling scenes of our own late war.
Besides the architectural remains of these classic places, is a rich mu-
seum of armor, weapons, and other mediaeval antiquities in the temple
on Tsuruga-oka, in Kamakura.
On our ride back, Fuji, all in white, loomed up grandly. A flurry
of snow added to its beauty. In such a snow-shower the artist must
have made the spirited sketch here reproduced. Snow rarely falls on
the Tokaido to a depth greater than two inches, and usually neither
hoof nor sandal, as in the cut, sinks beneath its level. The Japanese,
however, make a great fuss over a little cold. They go about with
their hands in their sleeves, which stick out like the wings of a trussed
turkey, repeating " samui, samui " (cold, cold), until it loses all origi-
nality.
Travelers on the Tokaido in a Snow-storm. Fuji san.
IN THE HEART OF JAPAN. 405
VII.
IN THE HEART OF JAPAN.
THE weather was rough as we embarked, late in the afternoon of
February 22d, on the Oregonian, and steamed down the Bay of Yedo.
At night, the fixed white light in the stone tower on Cape Idzu, visi-
ble twenty miles, reminded us of the new order of things. Of old a
wood-fire blazed on the promontory. The Nil did not yet know the
fate to befall her.*
The next day was foggy, and mal de mer held high revel among
the passengers. The Oregonian was true to the reputation of its
namesake given by Bryant — " where rolls the mighty Oregon." My
own thoughts were less poetic. My feelings are best described by
the Japanese proverb, " A sea-voyage is an inch of hell."
About midnight we rounded the promontory of Kii, where Jimmu
passed centuries ago. Its splendid light-house, on a promontory one
hundred and thirty feet high, on 0 Island, holds a revolving white
light, alternately flashing and being eclipsed during every minute. 0
is a good harbor for wind-bound junks, and the fishermen here are
noted whalers, hunting whales successfully with nets and spears. The
light on Cape Shiwo, one hundred and fifty-five feet above water, may
be seen for twenty miles. Ships from China make this point night or
day.
The three officers of our party had been empowered to take cabin
passage with their foreign charge ; but such a foolish waste of money
was not to be thought of. To pay forty dollars for forty-eight hours,
and three hundred and forty-two geographical miles of nausea in a
state-room, was not according to their ideas of happiness. Far better
* On the night of the 20th of March, 1874, at 10.30 P.M., the French M. M.
steamer Nil, having on board one hundred and eleven persons, and the Japanese
articles on exhibition at Vienna, her engines being out of order, and the currents
unusually strong, lost her reckoning, struck a rock near the village of Irima, in
Yoshida Bay, ten miles from Cape Idzu, and sunk in twenty-one fathoms. Only
four persons were saved. A marble monument was erected, and now commemo-
rates the accident, which was robbed of many of its saddest features by the kind-
ness and energy of the natives.
406 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
to take the steerage, save the money, and have a feast, dance, and song
with the gay and charming singing-girls of Ozaka. So to the steer-
age they went, and solaced their transient misery with visions of the
Ozaka paradise and the black-eyed houris. They suffered " an inch
of hell " for a yard of heaven.
I woke on the second morning in the harbor of Hiogo and Kobe
(the Gate of God), the former the native city, the latter the foreign
town. All around the land-locked water were bold walls of green
hills. French, English, and American ships of war lay at anchor, and
the clumsy junks, with their great, broad sails, plowed across the path
of the dancing sunbeams. Native fishing and carriage boats were
leaping over the waters, urged on by the stroke of the naked scullers.
On shore, glorified by the mild winter's sun, rose the "model settle-
ment," a fresh proof of Occidental energy on Oriental soil. Until
1868, the site of the pretty town, laid out in chess-board regularity,
was a mere strip of sand.*
Under convoy of Iwabuchi and an American friend, to whom I
bore letters, I spent a day and a half in Kobe and Hiogo. The latter
city was erected in the days of Taira glory. Its name means " arse-
nal," but peaceful trade now rules its streets. Near it stands Kiyo-
mori's tomb. On the site of the Taira palace stands a great brothel.
At Minato gawa, near Kobe, Kusunoki Masashige, the mirror of Jap-
anese loyalty, welcomed death. A small temple stands as a historic
monument of the act, dedicated to his spirit.
In the cheerful home of an American missionary, to whom I bore
letters, I spent a few delightful hours. They seemed to have brought
the freshness and fragrance of New England hills, as well as the ener-
gy and patience of their ancestors, with them. The time for active
Christian labor had not yet come ; but the language was being mas-
tered, and his morning hours were golden in the study. In the aft-
ernoon, we together visited a famous temple, on the site of one first
erected by Jingu Kogo, on her return from Corea. Crowds of pil-
grims, in white robes, with wallet, staff, rosary, bell, and memorial shell
sewed to their sleeve, were oh the route or return. We spent the
evening at the house of one of the merchant princes of Kobe, in
whose establishment Oriental luxuriance and American taste, barbaric
pomp and cozy comfort, were combined.
*The figures of the official register of Kobe" (May, 1874) are: houses, 3846;
population, 8554 ; foreign residents, 333 ; in the foreign "concession," 67 houses.
IN THE HEART OF JAPAN. 407
Our party were early on the steamboat, which carried the Stare and
Stripes at her stern, and was commanded by a Yankee captain. It
was crowded with natives, who rode for ichi bu (twenty-five cents).
The five or six foreigners in the cabin paid each two " clean Mexi-
cans." These silver eagles are the standard of value in Japan and
China, though Uncle Sam's trade-dollars and Japanese gold yen are
now contesting their supremacy.
We steamed along the coast for three hours ; passed the forts built
in 1855, and well mounted and manned; passed the light-house of
Tempozan (Hill of Heavenly Peace), and at noon, February 25th, 1871,
I stood in the city called, in poetry, Naniwa — in prose, Ozaka.
Buddhist Pilgrims.
All the large daimios formerly had yashikis in Yedo, Ozaka, and
in Kioto, as well as in their own capitals, for the use of the clan.
They served as caravansaries, at which the lord or his retainers might
lodge, when on business or travel, and be treated according to their
rank. But one or two samurai and their families occupied the Echi-
zen yashiki in Ozaka, which could lodge a hundred or more men. A
suite of rooms was soon swept and dusted out, rugs laid on the mat-
ting, and dinner, in mixed Japanese and American style, was served.
Ozaka is a gay city, with lively people, and plenty of means of
amusement, especially theatres and singing - girls. The ladies are
408 TEE MIKADOES EMPIRE.
handsomer, dress in better taste, tie their girdles in a style nearer per-
fection, and build coiffures that are at once the envy and despair of
Tokio damsels. Ozaka has every sort of gay life. In all the large
cities there are geisha, noted
for their wit, beauty, skill in
playing the three-stringed ban-
jo. The daughters of Kioto
and Tokio do excellently, but
those of Ozaka excel them all.
Ozaka is also the greatest
commercial city in Japan. I
was interested in the metal re-
fineries and foundries, where
The Sstmisen. ^he rosy copper ingots were
cast, and brass cannon of elegant workmanship turned out. With
Iwabuchi as guide, I rambled over the city, and stood on many a
spot made classic by Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and lyeyasu. Iwabuchi's
fluent tongue and knowledge of history were as spectacles to me, en-
abling me to see the past as he summoned it from resurrection.
An officer from Fukui brought us word, February 27th, that we
were to leave Ozaka that night, and that at Fushimi an honorary es-
cort of seven mounted officers of the clan would meet me, they hav-
ing come down from Fukui, one hundred and thirty miles, to escort
me. We were to proceed up the Yodo, the river that drains six prov-
inces, visit the temple of Hachiman or Ojin Tenno, dine in historic
Fushimi, and thence proceed on horseback to Lake Biwa. The mor-
row was to be a red-letter day.
We left Ozaka at night, about ten o'clock. It was very cold, and
bright moonlight, but the boat was a " house-boat," and the cabin with-
in was neatly matted, and with rugs and hibachi we kept up a genial
temperature until bed-time. We passed hundreds of boats like our
own, and after making our way through the city, that might be a
Venice if it were not wooden, passed the long rows of fire-proof store-
houses, and gradually emerged into the country, where, except a scat-
tered village here and there, we saw only the grand mountains and
pines, and the silent landscape. The boat was provided with four
rowers, though after we left the city, the river being shallow, they had
to pole along, like Mississippi flat-boat walkers. Throughout the
frosty night we slept, waking occasionally to listen to the ripples un-
der the bow. The sendo plied their poles, and at day-break we were
IN THE HEART OF JAPAN. 409
far from Ozaka, with the classic ground of Kawachi on our right, and
Setteu on our left.
The sun clothed the hills in light, revealing the landscape, and kin-
dled the frost on our cabin-roof into resplendent prismatics. We were
in the clear water of the Yodo River, which flowed at a gentle current
between banks of undergrowth, with groves of firs and bamboo, and
here and there a group of thatched villages, through which the Jesuits
and Franciscans preached Mary, St. Peter, and Christ, over two centu-
ries ago. Along the shores stood white herons, tall storks, and, occa-
sionally, huge hawks.
While musing on the past, and imagining the Portuguese missiona-
ries, crucifix in hand, preaching on that open space, or erecting a cross
on that knoll, Nakamura came out and pointed out the villages of Ha-
shimoto (foot of the bridge) and Yamazaki (mountain point), where,
in 1868, the contest at Fushimi was continued. The Tokugawa army
held Hashimoto, while the mikado's troops attacked them by land, and
bombarded them from a redoubt in Yamazaki, until they fled, defeated
and in disorder, to Ozaka, when the shogun notified the foreign min-
isters that he could no longer protect them. I enjoyed Nakamura's
talk richly, and, refreshed by the " sweet mother of fresh thoughts and
health," body and mind were ready to drink in the sweet influences of
that glorious morning in the heart of Japan. But what of the boat-
men?
After a hard night's toil, poling and walking in a nipping frost, I
wished to see the breakfast by which they laid the physical basis for
another day's work. At the stern of the boat, resting on a little fur-
nace, was the universal rice-pot, and beside it a small covered wooden
tub, full of rice. Some pickled or boiled slices of the huge radish
called dai-kon lay in another receptacle. The drink was the cheapest
tea. It may possibly be true, what some foreigners assert, that the
lower classes in Japan feast on rats. " The daily ration of a Japanese
laborer was one mouse per diem ;" so I was once told in America. I
never saw or heard of such animals being eaten during all the time I
was in Japan ; but I now looked for some stimulating food, some piece
of flesh diet to be eaten by these men, who had to make muscle and
repair the waste of lubricating their joints. But nothing further was
forthcoming, and the sendo whose turn came first sat down to his
breakfast. The first course was a bowlful of rice and a pair of chop-
sticks. In the second course, history repeated itself. The third course
was a dipperful of tea, apparently one-half a solution of tannic acid,
410 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
in which a raw hide might have been safely left to tan. I wonder
whether the disease of ossification of the coats of the stomach, so com-
mon in Japan, arises from the constant drinking such astringent liq-
uor. The fourth course was a bowl of rice and two slices of radish ;
the fifth was the same. A dipperful of tea-liquor finished the meal,
and the pole was resumed. I noticed grist-mills on scows or rafts
anchored in the river, the current turning the huge wheels slowly to
grind or hull rice. They were quite similar to those I had noticed on
the Rhine and other European rivers.
At nine o'clock we came in front of the village Yawata, at which
there was a guard-house, which we knew, at a distance, by its peculiar-
ly shaped lantern and canvas hangings, like curtains, on which was the
huge crest of the mikado — an open chrysanthemum flower. Our boat
hove to, and Nakamura, the officer of the party, explained who we
were, and what our business was, and we then landed in the village.
While our boat, with the servants, was sent ahead to Fushimi, we
four wended our way up the mountain Otoko yama to the part called
Pigeon-peak, where stands the great Shinto temple, on a site first built
upon in 860 A.D., and dedicated to Ojin Tenno, the son of Jingu Kogo,
who conquered Corea by the divine spirit bestowed on her then un-
born son. It was made further famous by the gift from Hideyoshi
of a golden gutter, to collect the sacred droppings of the sanctuary.
Ascending the last of many flights of stone steps, we stood upon a
plateau. A long avenue arcade, with overarching pines, and lined with
tall stone lanterns, led to the temple facade. Two priests, robed in
pure white, with high black lacquered caps on their heads, were bear-
ing offerings of fish, fruit, and other food, to place upon the altar, each
article being laid on a sheet of pure white paper, or ceremonial trays.
In the perfectly clean and austerely simple nave of the temple stood
an altar, having upon it only the gohei, or wands, with notched strips
of white paper dependent.
There were no idols, images, or pictures, only the gohei, the offer-
ings, and the white-robed priests at prayer. The impressive simplici-
ty, the sequestered site on a lofty mountain surrounded with tall trees
of majestic growth and of immemorial antiquity, the beauty, the si-
lence, all combined to instill reverence and holy awe alike in the alien
spectator as in the native worshiper. The head of the foreigner un-
covered, and his feet were unshod simultaneously with the unsandal-
ing of the feet, the bowing of the head, and the reverent meeting of
the palms of his companions.
IN THE HEART OF JAPAN. 41 1
On the porch the priests, having finished their prayer, came out,
and politely greeted the American, informing him, through Iwabuchi,
that he was the first foreigner who had ever visited the temple. They
then showed him the fine carving and ornaments of the eaves and out-
er walls, and the portion which remained of the large golden gutter,
made of beaten gold, over a foot in diameter. Only a few feet of the
once extensive gift have survived the ravages of war and the necessi-
ties of rulers, who, in Japan or elsewhere, replenish their depleted ex-
chequers or treasuries from the riches of the temples.
The records of this temple declare that it was erected at the sugges-
tion of the priest Gio Kio, who wished to dedicate a temple to Ojin
Tenno in Bungo ; that it was the desire of the spirit of the god to
dwell near the capital, so as to watch over the imperial house. Hence
it was located here. The Buddhists had already canonized him as
Hachiman Dai Bosatsu, or the Incarnation of Buddha of the Eight
Banners. Hence, among the devotees of the India faith, this god of
war, and patron of warriors, is called Hachiman, and by those of the
native cult Ojin Tenno. Hachi-man (hacki, eight ; man, banners) is
the Chinese form of Yawata (ya, eight ; wata, banners).
We descended the northern side of the mountain toward Fushimi,
and passed through Yodo, an old castle town, to which the defeated
Tokugawa army retreated after their rout at Fushimi. Nakamura,
who was familiar with every foot of ground, having had a hand in
many a fight in and around Kioto during the civil war, pointed out
the site of the battle that opened the war of the Restoration. For-
getting the fact that our dinner hour had come, we went to examine
this cock-pit of 1868. There, on the west bank, the Aidzu and Ku-
wana clans, that formed the van of Tokugawa's army, landed on the
27th of January, 1868, and, attempting to pass the barriers at Toba,
received into their bosoms the canister from the Satsuma cannon.
The Tokugawa troops marched along a narrow path in the rice-fields
only a few feet wide, like a causeway, through a lake of paddy-field
ooze. To move from the path was to sink knee-deep in a glutinous
quagmire. To advance was to climb over the writhing, wounded, and
slippery dead men, only to face cannon aimed point-blank, while the
musketry of the sheltered Southerners enfiladed their long, snake-like
lines. Numbers only increased the sureness of the immense target at
which Remington riflemen were practicing in coolness and earnest.
" That field," at which the long and bony finger of our cicerone point-
ed, " was piled with dead men like bundles of fire-wood,"
412 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
On the first advance, the Tokugawa men broke and ran ; but, on
the second, the fighting began on both the two roads, the Fushimi
and the Toba, which lead to Kioto. " Here," said he, " is where the
rebels [Tokugawa army] were surprised while eating, at early morning.
In that bamboo grove, our men \kuan gun, mikado's army] made an
ambuscade, and tore up the rebel ranks dreadfully." Then the village
of Toba caught fire, and the rebels fled to Yodo, finding, to their
chagrin, that the castle was barred against them. Fushimi was also
burned during the fight. " There," said our guide, as we neared the
town, " is where the fire began."
We walked up the historic streets in which the tramp of armies
had so often resounded, through which Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, lyeyasu,
and Xavier, had passed, in which the Jesuits had stood preaching to
listening crowds of people like those before me. The town itself dis-
appointed me. The feeling was the same as that experienced in
Washington in 1865. I went thither to behold the demi-gods who,
through a hundred battles, had borne the old flag to victory. I saw
Grant's and Sherman's legions of one hundred and forty thousand
men march up Pennsylvania Avenue. There was no halo round their
heads. They were not giants. They were plain men in blue blouses.
Fushimi, with all its history, was a poverty-stricken Japanese town.
Further recollections of Fushimi are mainly of vulgar and gastro-
nomic interest. I remember that a certain man had climbed up a
mountain, and then tramped down again at an appetite - sharpening
pace, and that his special objects of interest and desire at that time
were something to eat. Subordinate to these were a bath and a lounge.
The hungry man had shed his tight-fitting skin of boots, coat, and
hat, and was tranquil in looser robes over the soothing warmth of a
cone of live coals in a bronze hibachi. The dissolving views of his
reveries, compounded of what he had seen and yearnings of what he
expected, were suddenly broken by the advent of a steaming and fra-
grant tray of food cooked by one of the best culinary artists in Japan,
a native who had learned the art at the club in Yokohama. It is, of
course, too well known to Englishmen and others that the American
at his meals is an animal not to be lightly disturbed. After the feed
is over, he is placable, and ready for business.
I was scarcely through my dish of lily -bulbs, and had not yet
touched my rice and curry, and California canned-meats, when Iwabu-
chi, my interpreter, announced the arrival of five samurai from Fukui,
who had traveled one hundred and thirty miles to meet the American,
IX THE HEART OF JAPAN. 413
and wished to see him immediately, to pay their respects, and announce
themselves as my escort to Fukui. They would be in the room in a
moment.
" Can they not wait a few minutes till I finish my dinner ?" I asked.
" I am afraid not," replied he ; " they are very eager to see you im-
mediately. Such are their orders from their superior at Fukui."
" Well, but I am in deshabille. I can't be seen in this style."
" Oh ! indeed, they won't care for that. Besides, here they are at
the door. They merely sent me to announce them."
It was too late to stop the invasion, so the animal must forego his
provender for a time. The paper sliding-doors were pulled aside, and
five stalwart men entered and stood in line, eyes front, facing me. I
mentally waited to see how the ceremonies would proceed. In the
twinkling of an eye they all sunk on their knees, spread their hands
prone before them, and bowed their heads for full fifteen seconds on
the floor. Then, resilient, all sat in a row on their heels, and spread
out their robes, with hands in their hakama. The leader then handed
Iwabuchi an imposing paper to read, which set forth that they had
been sent by the daimio from Fukui, to bear the congratulations of
the authorities, and to escort the American teacher to Fukui. This
solemnly done, they bowed profoundly again and departed. It was
all over within two minutes. The meal was finished in peace and
abundance, and then began the preparations for the ride to Otsu,
eight miles distant. The baggage and servants were dispatched by
boat, and at half -past four all were mounted, and we started. Our
cavalcade consisted of nine horses and riders.
The air was damp, and the sky was leaden, when we started. The
whole household were at the gate of the court-yard, to bow low and
cry " sayonara" and the whole village was assembled, and stood agape
to see the foreigner.
Out past the shanties of the village, our path lay over a wooded
mountain, and then the snow fell, turning to slush as it touched coat,
horse, or earth. In an hour we were all white with cloggy masses of
snow, and in places wet to the skin with the cold soaking of sleet.
Twilight succeeded the day, and darkness the twilight, until only the
gigantic forms of the firs bearded with snow, and so silent, were out-
lined through the slow shower of flakes. Far up into vague infinity
loomed the mountains, occasionally a beetling rock thrusting out its
mighty mass in a form of visible darkness. After five hours of such
riding it grew uncomfortable. Every flake, as it fell, seemed to have
414 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
weight. To cold, wet, chattering travelers, what comforts could a
Japanese inn afford?
The same difference exists in Japan as in highly civilized countries
in regard to hotels and their keepers, as concerning unexpected or an-
nounced guests. To come suddenly to a Japanese inn in winter is to
shiver, as in a refrigerator, and wait cheerlessly for an intolerably long
time, and understand all about Greenland, before the fire and food are
brought, the thaw sets in, and comfort is attained. At Otsu (now
called Shiga), however, a blazing fire was ready as our party rode into
the court-yard. Boots and coat off, I was led into the best room, on
which a pile of silken quilts was spread for my bed, and in the mid-
dle of the room was that sum of delights, a kotatsu. Poor, civilized
reader, or Western barbarian, you do not know what a kotatsu is?
No ? Let me tell you. In the very centre of the room lift up that
square foot of matting, and you will find a stone-lined bowl, a few
inches deep. In this the fat and red-cheeked chamber-maid puts a
shovelful of live coals. Over it she sets a wooden frame, a foot high,
called a yagura, after the castle-tower which it imitates. Over this
she spreads a huge quilt. It is an extemporary oven, in which you
can bake yourself by drawing the quilt about you, and find a little
heaven of heat, exchanging shivers for glow. A kotatsu may be safe-
ly warranted to change a grumbler, who believes Japan to be a wretch-
ed hole of a barbarian country, into a rhapsodist who is ready to swear
that the same country is a paradise, within ten minutes.
The next morning we were to take steamer, and cross Lake Biwa
to Hanoura, at the north end of the lake. Kioto lay but seven miles
distant from us, and I could easily have visited the sacred city ; but I
was eager to get to my work. Besides, I wished to study it when I
could best appreciate it, and see it with a knowledge of Japanese his-
tory for my spectacles. So I postponed the trip till three years later.
I glance round Otsu in a short walk. Its name means Great Harbor.
I saw some of the very places mentioned by Kaempfer and the Jes-
uits.
Our hotel was near the steamer's dock. At 9 A.M., our party,
twelve in all, were on board, and a lighter, full of our baggage, was
in tow. The little steamer screeched once or twice, ending in a pro-
longed squeal, and we were fairly out on the bosom of Japan's largest
lake. It was a strange sight, here in Inland Japan, to see a steamboat
pulsing over the water, and stretching its long scarfs of smoke in the
pure air against the white »now and the azure of the mountains. The
IN THE HEART OF JAPAX. 416
Golden Age, always alloyed with poverty and ignorance and discom-
forts, was past for Japan ; the Iron Age of smoke, of coal, of comfort,
of wealth, was coming.
The Lilliputian steamer, compared with one of our Hudson River
ferry-boats, was as a Japanese tea-cup to a soda-water tumbler, or a
thimble to a gill. It was only — I am afraid to say how many feet
short, and inches narrow. Its engines, like its entire self, were oscil-
lating. Captain, engineer, fireman, and crew were all Japanese. The
accommodations of the passengers were strictly graded. The cabin,
in the stern, was ten feet by six, and four feet high. At one end, a
platform, six inches high, three feet wide, six feet long, and covered
with a rug, was the "first-class." At the side was a set of sword-
racks. The floor of the rest of the same cabin, six inches lower, was
" second-class." The promenade-deck was ten feet by six, two square
feet being occupied by the refreshment-vender of the boat, who fur-
nished tea, boiled rice, rice cracknels, pickles, rice rolls wrapped in sea-
weed, boiled cuttle-fish, etc., to those who wished refreshment. He
seemed to drive a brisk trade ; for, besides our party of eight, who oc-
cupied the cabin and deck, our servants and about a dozen other na-
tives filled a hole in the bow, which was " third-class."
I preferred first-class air. I kept on deck, watching the snow-clad
mountains, and the historic towns, castles, and villages, and now and
then a boat under sail or oar. Biwa ko, as the natives call it, is as
green and almost as beautiful as a Swiss lake. It is named after the
musical instrument called a biwa, because shaped like it. Tradition
says that in one night Fuji san rose out of the earth in Suruga, and
in one night the earth sunk in Omi, and this lake, sixty miles long,
was formed. The monotony of the voyage was broken at four
o'clock in the afternoon, when the little boat swung to its moorings
at the village of Hanoura. The place reminded me of Kussnacht, at
the end of Lake Lucerne. We stepped out into what seemed a vil-
lage of surpassing poverty. The houses were more than ordinarily
dilapidated. The streets were masses of slush and mud. The people
seemed, all of them, dirty, poor, ragged. I had full opportunities of
becoming acquainted with all of them, for every one quickly informed
his neighbors that a foreigner was among them, and soon the color of
his eyes and hair, his clothes and actions, were discussed, and himself
made the nine days' wonder of the village.
I began to realize the utter poverty and wretchedness of the people
and the country of Japan. It was not an Oriental paradise, such as a
27
416
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
reader of some books about it may have supposed. I had only a faint
conception of it then. I saw it afterward, until the sight oppressed
me like nightmare. At present, novelty lent ite chromatic lenses, and
tinged all my view. Then, too, I thought that the wretched weather
and leaden sky had something to do with my feelings ; and when the
servant-maids brought water and waited on my companions, as they
took off their wet boots, sandals, and socks, with such hearty cheer,
merry smiles, and graceful skill, every thing looked as if sunshine had
sifted through a cloud-rift.
I was quite restored to myself again by a sight that banished all
disgust. A jolly-looking, fat girl was half hobbling, half staggering
along on her clogs, her generous
physique quivering like heaps of
jelly. Her left hand grasped the
cross-handle of a bucket of water,
which was in a state of general
splash, like herself. Her right
arm, bared by her bag-like sleeves
being bound to her armpits, was
extended far over toward the
ground to countervail gravity on
the other side. I momentarily
expected this buxom Gill to stum-
ble and tumble ; but not she. She
knew her business too well. Her
tout ensemble, her face reddened
by exercise, her vigorous •puffing,
her belt flying in the wind, like
Mr. Gough's coat-tails, were too
funny to resist. My risibilities
exploded ; whereat hers did like-
wise. I cheerfully sat down, and let her wash my cold feet in warm
water, which being over, I got up, entered the best room in «the house,
and curled up under a kotatsu.
We started off the next morning at eight o'clock. We were to
walk eighteen miles before the end of our day's journey to Tsuruga, a
sea-port town. Our party prepared for the journey over mountain-
paths by taking off their riding sandals or heavy wooden clogs, and
girding on the feet a pair of straw sandals, which they bought for
eighty-five " cash" (less than one cent) per pair. For myself, a fine, large,
Bringing Water to wash Travelers' Feet.
(Hokusai.)
IN THE HEART OF JAPAN.
417
and very handsome norimono, borne on the shoulders of two men, was
provided. It was a fine, large box, like a palanquin, except that the
pole by which it rested on the two men's shoulders passed through
the top instead of being fastened at the centre, as in India. The one
I rode in was gold-lacquered without, and richly upholstered and pa-
pered within, with neat curtains of bamboo split into fine threads.
Once inside, there was room to sit down. If one does not mind be-
ing a little cramped, he can spend a day comfortably inside. For
high lords and nobles four men are provided, and the long supporting
bar is slightly curved to denote high rank. I entered the norimono
in the presence of the entire village, including the small boys. The
A Norimono.
ride of a few hundred yards sufficed for me. The sights were too
novel to miss seeing any thing, and so I got out and walked. I was
not sorry for the change. The air was bracing, the scenery inspiring.
A double pleasure rewards the pioneer who is the first to penetrate
into the midst of a new people. Besides the rare exhilaration felt in
treading soil virgin to alien feet, it acts like mental oxygen to look
upon and breathe in a unique civilization like that of Japan. To feel
that for ages millions of one's own race have lived and loved, enjoyed
and suffered and died, living the fullness of life, yet without the relig-
ion, laws, customs, food, dress, and culture which seem to us to be the
vitals of our social existence, is like walking through a living Pompeii.
Our path wound up from the village to a considerable height. On
both sides of the mountain path and pass the ground was terraced
418 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
into rice -fields, which were irrigated by the stream that is usually
found flowing between two hills. During the day we went through
valleys of ravishing beauty. In them the ground was divided into ir-
rigated rice-fields, which were now bare, and dotted with the clumps
of rice-stubble as it was left when cut by the reaper's hook. At in-
tervals were small villages, surrounded by the universal and ever-beau-
tiful bamboo. On both sides of the valley, bold hills, thickly clothed
with pine and fir and solemn evergreen, rose to the clouds. And
all along, with a frequency like that of mile-stones, stood the kosatsu
(edict - boards), on which hung the slander and prohibition against
Christianity. We were still in the province of Omi.
Frequently along the road I observed large, square posts of new
wood, plentifully ornamented with Chinese characters, which marked
the boundaries of the province, subdivision, or district. At noon we
crossed the frontier of Omi and entered the province of Echizen, and
at two o'clock that division of it which was under the jurisdiction of
the Fukui Han. Being now within the dominions of " our prince,"
we expected evidences of it, in which we were not disappointed. At
every village the nanushi, or head-men, arrayed in their best dress,
came out to meet us, presenting their welcomes and congratulations.
Sometimes they would salute us half a mile or more from the village,
and after welcoming us, bowing literally to the earth, they would has-
ten on before and conduct us through the village to the extreme limit,
and there take their adieu, with bows, kneelings, and sayonara. To-
ward evening, having lunched and rested two hours at noon, we arrived
near Tsuruga, and were met by the officers of the city, and conducted
to the best hotel in the place.
My eight companions were unusually merry that night, and, to add
to their enjoyment, Melpomene, Terpsichore, and Hebe, or, in other
words, two geishas, were present to dispense music, dancing, and sake.
Several of the samurai danced what might be called stag-dances, from
their novelty and vigor. I occupied myself in making notes of the
day's trip. Iwabuchi had pointed out many places of historic inter-
est, the lore of which I was not then, but was afterward, fully able to
appreciate. I found in the room I occupied a work in Japanese, treat-
ing of the Opium War in China, with vivid illustrations of the foreign
steamers, artillery, and tactics. It was well thumbed and dog-eared,
having evidently been read and reread many times. It had been pub-
lished in Japan shortly after the war in China, and prepared the Japa-
nese mind for what they had to expect.
L\ THE HEART OP JAPAN. 419
Tsuruga expects to become a great city some day.* It is to be the
terminus of a railroad from Ozaka and Kioto. A canal is to connect
its harbor with Lake Biwa — a scheme first proposed by Taira Shige-
inori, son of Kiyomori, in the twelfth century. It is to become the
largest and wealthiest port on the west coast. I think there is good
ground for these hopes. Its geographical position is every thing to be
desired, and its harbor the best on the west coast, f
We made an early start. We were to reach Takefu, a town about
seventeen miles distant. We first walked down to the sea-shore, where
I caught a splendid view of Tsuruga harbor, two-thirds of a circle of
blue sea within rocky and timbered headlands. On the sandy strand
were a dozen or more junks beached for the winter, propped and cov-
ered with straw mats. In one or two tall sheds made of poles and
mats were the keels and frames of new junks, with new timber and
copper lying near, and one nearly finished. They were all on the an-
cient model. Emerging into the road to Fukui, we came to the storre
portal of a large Shinto temple. J Within a grove of grand old giant
firs stood the simple shrine, without image, idol, or picture, save only
the strips of white paper and the polished mirrors. My guards stop-
ped, clapped their hands three times, placed them reverently together,
bowed their heads, and uttered a prayer. The act was as touching as
it was simple.
About seven-eighths of Echizen is mountain-land, and to-day was
* Tsuruga was made the capital of Tsuruga ken, including the province of
Echizen, in 1873; thus becoming an official seat, leaving Fukui in the back-
ground.
t A Japanese gazetteer or cyclopedia, in describing a city, is especially minute
in regard to the history and traditions. It describes fully the temples, shrines,
customs, and local peculiarities, and usually winds up by recounting the " fa-
mous scenes " or " natural beauties " of the place, whether it be Kioto or Fukni.
Thus the " Echizen Gazetteer " says : " The ten fine scenes ('sceneries,' as the be-
ginners in English put it) of Tsuruga are — 1st, the red plum-trees in the temple
grounds of Kei ; 2d, the full moon at Amatsutsu ; 3d, the white sails of the return-
ing junks seen from Kiomidzu ; 4th, the evening bells at Kanegasaki ; 5th, the tea-
houses at Iro ; 6th, the dragon's light (phosphorescence) on the sea-shore; 7th,
the verdure at Kushikawa; 8th, the evening snow on Nosaka; 9th, the travelers
on Michinokuchi ; 10th, the evening glow at Yasndama."
I The gods worshiped at these shrines are — Jingu Kogo, mother of Ojin Ten-
n6 ; Uke"mochi, the goddess of cereals and food ; Yamato Duke, conqueror of the
Kuan to; Ojin Tenno, or Hachiman, god of war; Take"nouchi, prime minister of
Jingu ; and Taraahime', sister of the latter. The large granite tori-i was erected
by Hid^yasu, first of the Tokugawa daimios of Echizen. Near the city are the
ruins of old fortifications of Nitta Yoshisada, and Asakura Yoshikagi, the foe of
Nobunaga.
420 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
one of climbing. The snow lay eight and ten feet deep on each side
the hard line of path. The path itself was only such as is made by
the tramping of human feet and by horses. We were now in full
force — foreigner, interpreter, guards, servants, and porters, about forty
of whom carried our baggage. We were strung out over the white
landscape in Indian file, numbering fifty -four persons in all. One
coolie, the pioneer, had a can of kerosene on his back ; another, my
wraps and hand-baggage ; another had his head under the seat of a
rocking-chair, the space between the rockers being well packed. Oth-
ers bore miscellaneous packages. When a box was too heavy for one
man, it was slung on a pole and carried by two. The valleys were ev-
idently, judging from their tracks, well stocked with rabbits and foxes,
and in the rice-fields flocks of fat wild geese and ducks offered tempt-
ing marks, on which one of the samurai, who had a revolver, spent
much vain powder. The white heron were plentiful, and occasionally
we- saw the huge storks, six feet high, stalking along the streams. On
the hills where the path wound through the woods the snow had been
disturbed by the wild boar. We stopped to rest at the house of a
noted hunter, on whose floor lay three huge carcasses and tusked heads.
He showed us his long, light spear, with which he had transfixed one
hundred and thirteen wild hogs that winter. It had a triangular,
bayonet -like blade. The village bought the meat of him, and what
he had left over he sent to Tsuruga and Fukui. Monkeys were also
plentiful in the woods.
In all the villages the people were on the lookout for the coming
foreigner. The entire population, from wrinkled old men and stout
young clowns, to hobbling hags, girls with red cheeks and laughing
black eyes, and toddling children, were out. The women, babies, and
dogs seemed especially eager to get a sight of the to-jin, and see what
sort of an animal he was. The village houses were built of a frame of
wood, with wattles of bamboo smeared with mud, and having a thatch-
ed roof. Within, the floor was raised a foot or so above the ground,
and covered with mats. When the rooms had partitions, they were
made of a frame of wood covered with paper, and made to slide in
grooves. In the middle of the floor was the fire-place. From the
ceiling hung pot-hooks, pots, and kettles — one for tea, one for rice,
another for radishes, beans, or bean -cheese. In these villages good-
nature and poverty seemeU to be the chief characteristics of the peo-
ple. The old faces were smoke-dried and wrinkled, and the skin
seemed to be tanned on the inside by long swilling of strong tea.
IN THE HEART OF JAPAN.
421
Amidst this monotony of ug-
liness, I was glad to see the
merry, twinkling black eyes,
and red cheeks of pretty girls,
and the sweet faces of chil-
dren, rosy and chubby, spite
of dirt and slush, as they
paused in their work of mak-
ing snow-men, to gaze upon
the stranger. Most of the
people, in addition to the
usual Japanese dress, wore
long, high boots of plaited
straw, admirable for walking
in the snow, called " Echizen
boots," the worth of which I
proved.
Our route for the next day
lay through a lovely valley
formed by a river. The rate
of traveling had not been se- vma«e in Echlzen-
vere. The record of each day was very much like a page of the "Anab-
asis," and from two to four of Xenophon's parasangs were our daily
journey. Long before I arrived at my place of destination, I found the
way the Japanese have of doing things was not that of America, and that
life in Japan would be a vastly different thing from the split-second life
in New York. It took us three days and a half to do what I afterward
accomplished easily, by the same means, in a day and a quarter. That
large bodies move slowly is true, to an exasperating extent, in Japan.
A journey of ten Japanese samurai means unlimited sleep, smoking of
pipes, drinking of tea, and drowsy lounging. A little more tea, one
more smoke, and the folding of the legs to sit, is the cry of the Japa-
nese yakunin. Such things at first were torture, and a threat of in-
sanity to me, when I found that time had no value, and was infinitely
cheaper than dirt in Japan. Finally, I became, under protest, used to
it. On this occasion I rather enjoyed it. My eyes were not full of
seeing yet, and, though impatient to reach my field of labor, yet this
was the grand manner of traveling, and best for heart and eye and
memory. Besides, it would be undignified to make haste in the
prince's own dominions, and the porters, under their heavy loads,
422 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
must not be hurried. It also gave me opportunity to learn from my
interpreter every thing of historic, local, and legendary interest, and
thus fit myself to appreciate what I afterward had read to me from
the " Gazetteer of Echizen."
Twelve miles from Fukui, I found an officer of the daimio, who had
been sent to meet and welcome me. After being introduced, he of-
fered me presents of a duck, and a box, handsomely wrapped in white
paper, and tied in cord of red and white, and filled with gorgeous-
ly colored red, green, and yellow sweetmeats. We were to rest at
Takefu for the night, and next morning take horses and ride to Fu-
kui. Meanwhile there was to be a grand dinner. Iwabuchi and I
sallied out to see the town.
It was a poor place. It had formerly been of more importance,
and named Fuchiu,* but had declined. It numbered probably twelve
thousand people, having thirty -four streets, and two thousand eight
hundred and forty-nine houses, and, being a post-relay town, twenty-
five houses were kept for hire to travelers. The streets were broad,
and a stream of water flowed between stone banks in the middle of
the street. There were many iron -workers; and broad knives, hoes,
scissors, the rude plow-coulters, and the most useful articles of Japa-
nese domestic cutlery were special productions. One of Nobunaga's
most famous arrow-makers came from Takefu. Macaroni and vermi-
celli, hemp and hempen cloth, were also staples. The Government
edicts were posted up conspicuously on a stone platform, with impos-
ing roofed frame of substantial timber. Two or three temples, with
spacious grounds and lofty trees, the stone path flanked by two im-
mense stone or bronze lanterns, were among the adornments of the
place.
Familiarity, like a leaven, was breeding contempt, as I began to see
what actual Japanese life was. I thanked God I was not of the race
and soil. Was it Pharisaical ?
We returned to the hotel — not very inviting without, but attractive
within. In two fine large rooms brilliant screens of gold and silver
spangled paper, or depicted with battle-scenes, such as the destruction
of the Mongol fleet in 1281, and the capture of Kamakura by Nitta
* Fuchiu, was formerly the general name of the capital of a province. The
word means "interior of the government." After the Restoration, in 1868, the
mikado's government changed the names of the many towns all over the empire,
named Fuchiu, among which were those in Echizen and Suruga, the latter being
called Shidzuoka (peaceful hill).
IN THE HSART OF JAPAN. 423
in 1333, and of Kioto court life, were ranged along the wall, and bra-
ziers of figured bronze shed a genial glow through the mellow-lighted
room. . They had placed a new-made table for the foreigner to eat by
himself. The officers, now twelve in number, and the chief men of
the town sat round the floor jn an oval. Four girls, all of them good-
looking, brought in, not the dishes, but each time a tableful of dishes,
and set one before each guest. Forthwith the meal began.
On fourteen little tables, each a foot square, four inches high, made
of wood lacquered black, and lustrous as jet, were as many pairs of
chopsticks made of new, clean wood, ready bifurcated but unsplit, to
show they had not been used. The maids attended, with full tubs of
steaming rice and pots of tea, to replenish the rapidly emptied bowls.
Fish, boiled eggs, lobster, and various made-dishes were served on enor-
mous porcelain plates the size of the full moon. The nimble tapering
fingers of the laughing girls handed out their contents. Then came
the warm sake. The tiny cups circulated around, the girls acting as
Hebes. Smoking and story-telling followed after the candles were
brought in. In the evening, after each had enjoyed his hot bath, the
quilts were spread, and the top-knotted heads were laid on their wood-
en pillows and paper pillow-cases, and sleep, dreams, and snores had at-
tained their maximum of perfection before nine o'clock. In my dream,
I was at home in America, but failed to catch the train to get back to
Japan.
Twelve horses, saddled and bridled, were ready next morning, which
was the 4th of March. After the last pipe had been smoked, the last
cup of tea drank, and the last joke cracked, with swords thrust in gir-
dle, wooden helmet tied on head under the chin, and straw sandals in
stirrup, the cavalcade moved. We started off slowly through the town
and crowded streets, and out into the valley toward Fukui. It was a
day of wind, light showers, and fitful flakes of snow, alternating with
rifts of sunlight that lent unearthly grandeur to the wrinkled hills. A
brisk ride of two hours brought us within sight of Fukui. We were
in a level plain between two walls of mountains. Just as Nakamura
cried out, " Yonder is Fukui," a burst of sunshine threw floods of
golden glory over the city.
I shall never forget my emotions, in that sudden first glimpse of the
city embowered in trees, looming across the plain, amidst the air laden
with snow-flakes, and seen in the light reflected from storm-clouds.
There were no spires, golden-vaned ; no massive pediments, facades, or
grand buildings such as strike the eye on beholding a city in the West-
424 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ern world. I had formed some conception of Fukui while in Ameri-
ca : something vaguely grand, mistily imposing — I knew not what. I
now saw simply a dark, vast array of low-roofed houses, colossal tem-
ples, gables, castle-towers, tufts of bamboo, and groves of trees. This
was Fukui.
As usual, officers came out at the city limits to meet us. We rode
through the streets, thronged with eagerly curious people. The thor-
oughfares were those of an ordinary Japanese town, not of my ideal
Fukui. In a few minutes we crossed a bridge over a river, suddenly
stopped, entered the gate of a handsome court-yard lined with trees,
and before the door of a fine large old house dismounted and entered.
I was welcomed by several officers, all in their best silks, swords, san-
dals, and top-knots, with bows, and such awkward but hearty hand-
shakings as men unused to it might be supposed to achieve.
I then entered my future abode. It was a Japanese house, foreign-
ized by American comforts. All the partitions and windows were of
glass. A Peekskill stove, with pipe and fire, was up, and glowing a
welcome. I found a handsome bedstead, wash-stand, and good furni-
ture. How did all this come here? I soon understood it, for one
merry-eyed officer told me, in broken English, " I been in New York.
I understand. You like ?" I immediately seized the speaker's hand,
and made him my friend. Sasaki (well named Tree of Help) was aft-
erward my right-hand man. Then followed the dinner. This feature
of foreign civilization was specially attractive to the Japanese. To
sit at a huge table on chairs, with plates, knives, forks, casters, and
epergne ; to experience the pomp and circumstance of soup, fish, vege-
tables, flesh, and fowl, with the glittering gastronomic tools ; to tickle
the palate and gorge the stomach with meat and wine and luscious
sweets, seemed to them a sure proof of the superiority of foreign civil-
ization. Eight of us sat down to a foreign dinner of manifold courses
of fluid and solid fare, my own cook having arrived in Fukui the day
before. The officers left me, and I spent the day in unpacking trunks,
and adorning my room so as to give an American home-look to my
quarters.
In the evening I had a call from an officer who came to pay his re-
spects to the foreign instructor. I invited him to stay to supper.
He did so. Fortunately he understood a little English, having spent
some time in Yokohama. He gave me much useful information. He
invited me to make his home a place of daily resort. He offered to
assist me in the choice of a good servant, a good horse, the best flow-
THE HEART OF JAPAN.
425
ere, pictures, curiosities, and whatever I might wish to buy. He also
taught me the value, symbols, and denominations of the local paper
money of Fukui. I was already familiar with the national kinsateti
(money cards). A fac-simile of a nishiu
piece, worth about twelve cents, is given
in the cut. The ten and one rio (dollar),
and bu (quarter) pieces are much larger.
The dragons with horns, hair, scales, claws,
and mustaches, jewel and mikado crests,
are very conspicuous. The Chinese char-
acters read "Money, nishiu," and "Mim
Bu Sho, Currency Office."
For centuries past, every great daimio
has issued paper money current only in
his han. There are over one hundred
local varieties in the empire, of varied col-
ors, values, and sizes. The Fukui denom-
inations were one -tenth, one -fifth, one-
half : one, three, five, ten, and fifty cents.
The designs on them are the God of
Wealth, the treasure-ship which every Jap-
anese hopes to have " come in," the pile
of kobans (oval gold coins) which he ex-
pects to " raise," bags of rice — the stand-
Fac-simiie of Kinsatsu. issue of ard of value — dragons, flowers, birds, and
the zoology of the zodiac.
The officer further said I must have relaxation. He offered to
show me the fairest and brightest maiden, whom I might bring to my
house, and make my playmate. I thanked him, and accepted all his
offers but the last.
The night was clear and cold. The same familiar stars glittered
overhead as those seen in tha home sky. The wild geese sailed in the
bright air, the moon bathing their plumage in silver. The temple-bell
boomed solemnly as I lay down to rest.
426
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
VIII.
RECEPTION BY THE DAIMlO.—MT STUDENTS.
THE next day was a Sabbath in a Sabbathless land. I awoke to
find a perfect day — a heaven of cloudless blue, and every thing quiet
and still. How should I spend Sunday here ? There were no church-
bells pealing, no church, no pews, no pulpit, no street -cars, no pave-
ment, no Sunday-school, no familiar friends. I walked to the gate
of the court-yard and looked out upon the street. Business and traf-
fic were going on as usual. The samurai on clogs, in his silk and
crested coat, swords in girdle and cue on clean -shorn crown, was
walking 6n, in his dignity, as the lord of society. The priest, in his
flowing crape and brocade collar, with shaven head, and rosary on
On the Tow-path. (Hokusai.)
wrist, was on his way to the temple. The merchant, in his plain,
wadded cotton clothes, tight breeches, and white -thonged sandals of
straw, was thinking of his bargains. The laborer, half naked and
half covered in the fabrics of Eden, in sandals of rice-straw, tunic, and
hat, making himself a fulcrum for his scale-like method of carrying
heavy burdens, passed staggering by. A file of his brethren, with
hats in the shape of inverted wash-bowls, engaged on some heavy work
at the river-side, were resting on a log, looking, in the distance, like a
row of exaggerated toad-stools. The seller of fish, vegetables, oil, and
RECEPTION BY THE DAIMlQ.—MY STUDENTS. 427
bean-cheese, each uttering his trade-cry, ambled on. On the opposite
shore, with ropes over their shoulders, a gang of straw-clad men — not
mules — were towing a boat up stream, against the current.
I returned indoors. Breakfast over, I sought the companionship of
my dear, silent friends, which I had brought with me, and which had
not yet been arranged, though I had already made my plans for a
book-case. It was about half-past nine, when the gate at the end of
the court-yard opened, and in rode Nakamura, my guard of yesterday.
Behind him came three of the daimio's grooms, one of them leading
a gorgeously caparisoned horse. The grooms were dressed in only one
garment, a loose blue coat coming to a little below the hips, with
socks on his feet, and the usual white loin-cloth around his waist.
On the back of his coat was the crest of his prince. The horse was
the most richly dressed. It was decked as if for a tournament or
ball. Its tail was incased in a long bag of figured blue silk, which
was tied at the root with red silk cord and tassels. The hair of the
mane and top-knot was collected into a dozen or more tufts bound
round with white silk, and resembling so many brushes or pompons.
The saddle was an elaborate piece of furniture, lacquered and gilded
with the crests of Tokugawa. The saddle-cloths and flaps were of
corrugated leather, stamped in gold. The stirrups were as large as
shovels, and the rider, removing his sandals when he mounted, rested
the entire soles of his feet in them. The material was bronze, orna-
mented with a mosaic of silver and gold. The bridle was a scarf of
silk, and the bit and halter different from any I had seen elsewhere.
From the saddle, crupper, and halter depended silken cords and tassels.
Altogether, it reminded me of one of the steeds on the Field of the
Cloth of Gold. The horse had been sent to convey me to meet the
prince and his chief officers, who were to receive me in the main room
of the Han Cho, or Government Office. Nakamura was to escort me,
and Iwabuchi was to be present, to speak for us.
We mounted and rode along the wide street facing the castle-moat,
which was lined on one side by the yashikis of the chief men of the
clan, and called Daimio Avenue. A few minutes' ride brought us to
one of the gates called Priests' Gate, and, riding inside of another wall
and moat, we reached the main entrance to the Han Cho, and dis-
mounted. The gate was the same as that seen in front of all large
yashikis and official places in Japan, like two massive crosses with
their arms joined end to end. We passed up the broad stone path
through a yard covered with pebbles. Before the door was a largo
428 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
raised portico or vestibule. Kneeling pages waited to receive us, and
an officer in rustling silk came out to welcome us.
We removed our shoes and entered. Passing along a corridor of
soft and scrupulously clean mats, we reached the hall of audience, into
which we were ushered with due ceremony. The pages and attend-
ants kneeled down, while the dairnio and his six ministers rose to re-
ceive us. Tables, chairs, and hand - shakings were new things then,
yet they were there. I advanced and bowed to the prince, who ap-
proached me and extended his hand, uttering what I afterward learned
were words of welcome. After shaking hands, he put an autograph
letter in my hand. Iwabuchi from the first had fallen down on his
hands, knees, and face, and talked with uplifted eyes. I was next in-
troduced to his long-named high retainers, and then we all sat down
to the table. It was piled up with tall pyramids of half -peeled
oranges and sliced sponge-cake — the usual orthodox Japanese refresh-
ments. In the centre was a huge bouquet, composed entirely of twigs
of plum blossoms and the steely, silver-glossy shoots of a wild plant,
surrounded at the base with camellias of many tints, both single and
double. The little pages — pretty boys of ten or twelve — brought us
tiny cups of tea in metal sockets. As we lifted out the cups, they
bowed low, and slid away.
The prince and his ministers handed me their cards, imposing slips
of white paper, inscribed with their names and titles in Chinese char-
acters. They were as follows :
Matsudaira Mochiaki, Governor of the Fukui Han; Ogasawara
Morinori, Daisanji (Great Minister) ; Murata Ujihisa, Daisanji (Great
Minister) ; Sembon Hisanobu (Vice-great Minister) ; Otani (Minister) ;
Omiya Sadakiyo (Chamberlain).
Then followed a lively conversation, which kept Iwabuchi's two
tongues busy for nearly an hour. Icy etiquette melted into good-hu-
mor, and good -humor flowed into fun. At the end of that time we
had made the mutual discovery that we could get along together very
well. American freedom and Japanese ease made strangers friends. Ed-
ucation and culture easily bridge the gulf that lies between two races,
religions, and civilizations. I felt perfectly at home in the presence of
these courtly and polished gentlemen, and an hour passed very pleasantly.
The daimio's autograph letter ran as follows :
" It is a matter of congratulation that the President of your coun-
try is in good health.
SY THE DAIMIO.—MY STUDENTS. 429
44 1 greatly rejoice and am obliged to you that you have arrived so
promptly from so great distance over seas and mountains, to teach the
sciences to the youth of Fukui.
44 Concerning matters connected with the school and students, the
officers in charge of education will duly consult you.
" As Fukui is a secluded place, you will be inconvenienced in many
respects. Whenever you have need of any thing, please make your
wants known without ceremony.
"MATSUDAIRA, Fukui ffan-Chiji."
These words struck the key-note of my whole reception in Fukui.
During the entire year of my residence, unceasing kindnesses were
showered upon me. From the prince and officers to the students,
citizens, and the children, who learned to know me and welcome me
with smiles and bows and " Good-morning, teacher," I have nothing
to record but respect, consideration, sympathy, and kindness. My eyes
were opened. I needed no revolver, nor were guards necessary. I
won the hearts of the people, and among the happiest memories are
those of Fukui.
Among those whom I learned to love was the little son of the dai-
mio, a sprightly, laughing little fellow, four or five years old, with snap-
ping eyes, full of fun, and as lively
as an American boy. Little Mat-
sudaira wore a gold-hilted short
sword in his girdle ; while a lad
of thirteen, his sword-bearer, at-
tended him, to carry the longer
badge of rank. His head was
shaved, except a round space like
a cap, from which a tiny cue pro-
jected. The photograph which
his father gave me and the wood-
cut do but scant justice to the
exquisitely delicate brown tint
of his skin, flushed with health,
his twinkling black eyes, his rosy
cheeks, and his arch ways, that
j,. ,1 Av . r. A Little Daimio. (From a photograph.)
convinced his mother that he was
the most beautiful child ever born of woman. I often met him in
Fukui and, later, in Tokio. He is to be educated in the United States.
430 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
As yet I had seen little of the city in which I expected to dwell for
three years. I had reached the goal of my journeyings. Hitherto, in
all my travels, Fukui loomed up in my imagination, and, spite of my
actual experience of Japanese towns, the ideal Fukui was a grand city.
All the excitement of travel was now over, and I was to see the actual
Fukui. I rode around the castle circuit, and out into the city, and for
a long distance through its streets. I was amazed at the utter pover-
ty of the people, the contemptible houses, and the tumble-down look
of the city, as compared with the trim dwellings of an American town.
I rode through many streets, expecting at last to emerge into some
splendid avenue. I rode in vain ; and, as I rode, the scales fell from
my eyes. There was no more excitement now to weave films of gla-
mour before my vision. I saw through the achromatic glasses of act-
uality. I realized what a Japanese — an Asiatic city — was. All the
houses of wood, the people poor, the streets muddy, few signs of
wealth, no splendid shops. Talk of Oriental magnificence and luxu-
ry ! What nonsense ! I was disgusted. My heart sunk. A desper-
ate fit of the blues seized me. I returned home, to chew the cud of
gloomy reflections.
Servant before his Master.
Fukui was the home of Kusakabe, my former student, who died in
New Brunswick. His father, had heard of my coming. In the after-
noon he called to see me. A lacquered trayful of very fine oranges,
on which lay the peculiarly folded paper, betokening a gift, and a slip
of paper written with Chinese characters — the visiting-card — was
handed me by Sahei, who, as usual, fell down on all fours, with face
on his hands, as though whispering to the floor. It was the Oriental
way of visiting with a gift in the hand. He had come to the house
by way of the rear instead of the front gate, in token of humility on
RECEPTION BY THE DA1MIO.—MY STUDENTS. 431
his part and honor to me. I bid my servant usher him in, and a
sad-looking man of fifty or more years entered. Through Iwabuchi
his story was soon told. His wife had died of grief on hearing of
her son dying a stranger in a strange land. Two very young sons
were living. His other children, five in number, were dead. His
house was left unto him desolate. I gave him the gold key of the
Phi Beta Kappa Society, of Rutgers College, into which his son had
been elected, he having stood at the head of his class. His father re-
ceived the emblem reverently, lifting it to his forehead.
On the next day my regular work was to begin. Horses were sent
again, and I rode to the school, a building which was the citadel of
the castle, and was once the residence of the old prince. I was met
by the officers of the school in the room I was to occupy. On the
table were sponge-cake, oranges, and plum-blossom bouquets, as usual,
while the omnipresent tea was served, and the tiny pipes were smoked.
It was very evident that the men who had been desirous of a teacher
of chemistry had very nebulous ideas about what that science was.
However, they were ready, with money and patience, to furnish the
necessary apparatus and lecture - room ; and our preliminaries being
agreed on, I was conducted through the other rooms to see the sights
of the school.
I was surprised to find it so large and flourishing. There were in
all about eight hundred students, comprised in the English, Chinese,
Japanese, medical, and military departments. A few had been study-
ing English for two or three years, under native teachers who had
been in Nagasaki. In the medical department I found a good collec-
tion of Dutch books, chiefly medical and scientific, and a fine pair of
French dissection models, of both varieties of the human body. In
the military school was a library of foreign works on military subjects,
chiefly in English, several of which had been translated into Japanese.
In one part of the yard young men, book, diagram, or trowel in hand,
were constructing a miniature earthwork. The school library, of En-
glish and American books — among which were all of Kusakabe's —
was quite respectable. In the Chinese school I found thousands of
boxes, with sliding lids, filled with Chinese and Japanese books. Sev-
eral hundred boys and young men were squatted on the floor, with
their teachers, reading or committing lessons to memory, or writing
the Chinese characters. Some had already cut off their top-knots.*
* In one of the popular street-songs hawked about and sung in the streets of
28
432
Student burning the Miduight Oil. (Photograph from life.)
At one end of the buildings were large, open places devoted to
physical exercise. Several exhibitions of trials of skill in fencing and
wrestling were then made for my benefit. Six of the students repair-
ed to the armory and put on the defensive mail, to shield themselves
in the rough work before them — as Japanese swords are for use with
both hands, having double-handed hilts without guards. The foils
for fencing are made of round, split bamboo, and a good blow will
make one smart, and bruise the flesh. So the fencing -master and
students first donned a corselet, with shoulder-plates of hardened hide
padded within, and heavily padded gauntlets. On their heads were
wadded caps, having a barred visor of stout iron grating. Taking
their places, with swords crossed, they set to. All the passes are cut-
Fukui, Ozaka, and Tokio, at this time was a stanza satirizing the three fashions of
wearing the hair : in Western style ; in the fashion of the Osei, or ante-feudal era ;
and the orthodox samurai mode. One's political proclivities were thus expressed
by his hair. An unshaven head with all the hair worn, but made into a top-knot
cue, marked the wearer as a " mikado -reverencer," or believer in the princi-
ples of the Osei era. A head shaven on the mid -scalp and temples, with cue,
denoted one who clung to the mediaeval ideals of feudalism. A short-haired
head, clipped and cueless, like a Westerner, was a sign of foreignizing tenden-
cies. The students led this fashion. The cut represents one at night, studying
by the light of his paper lantern, inside which is a dish of oil, with pith wick.
To the right of his little study-table are his brush-pens, in their usual porcelain
receptacle; and behind him is his library or book-case, in which the books are
ranged, with their edges outward. In a Japanese library, the titles of all works
are marked on their edge as well as the cover.
RECEPTION BY THE DAIMlO.—MY STUDENTS. 433 /
ting blows, thrusting being unknown. Pretty severe whacks are given,
and some bruising done, spite of armor. Foils are used up like lances
in a tournament. The young men kept up the mimic battle for fif-
teen minutes, or as long as their wind and muscle lasted, and the se-
vere ordeal was over, the victory being won by those who had given
what would have been disabling wounds had swords been used.
Then followed, by another set of students, the spear exercise. Long
spears were used first, and several fine passes in carte and tierce were
made ; the offensive and defensive were tried alternately, to show me
all the various thrusts and foils of the science.
The party having short spears succeeded, the manoeuvres being dif-
ferent. So far it was mere scientific display, no one being severely
punched. At a signal of the clappers another set took blunt spears,
leaped into the arena, and a sham fight began, the thrusts being real
lunges that knocked down and bruised the limbs or damaged the
breathing apparatus of the man put hors du combat quite badly. In
about five minutes half the party were down, and the remainder, all
crack lances, continued the battle for several minutes longer, with
some fine display, but no mortal thrusts. They were called off, and
the men with sword and cross-spear began a trial of skill. The cross-
spear is long, like a halberd, with a two-edged blade set at right an-
gles across it within six inches from the top. It is intended especially
for defense against a sword, or a horse soldier. In this instance, one
or two of the swordsmen were jerked to the floor or had their helmets
torn off; while, on the other side, the halberdiers suffered by having
their poles struck by severing blows of their opponents' swords or
actually received the " pear-splitter " stroke which was supposed to
cleave their skulls.
Next followed wrestling. Though a cold day in winter, the stu-
dents were dressed only in coarse sleeveless coats of hemp cloth. Ap-
proaching each other, they clinched and threw. The object seemed
to be to show how an unarmed man might defend himself. Wrest-
lings and throwings were followed by sham exhibitions that bore a
frightful resemblance to real choking, dislocation of arm, wringing of
the neck, etc. Throughout the exhibition, the contestants, while at-
tacking each other, uttered unearthly yells and exclamations. I was
highly impressed with the display, and could not fail to admire the
splendid, manly physique of many of the lads.
I waited to see the school dismissed, that I might see my pupils in
the open air. At the tapping of the clapperless bell, the students put
434 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
away their brushes, ink -stones, and sticks of ink, wrapped up their
books and portable matter in square pieces of silk or calico, making
neat bundles ; put their short swords, which lay at their sides, in their
girdles ; and each and all bowing low, with face to the floor, to their
teachers, rose up and went, first, to the sword -room to put on their
long swords. This was a large apartment near the entrance, in which
were rows of numbered racks, containing seven hundred or more
swords. Each student presented his check or ticket of branded pine
wood, and his sword was handed him by one of the keepers. Thrust-
ing it in his girdle, and adjusting the pair, each scholar passed to the
clog-room, where seven hundred pairs of clogs or sandals were stow-
ed in numbered order. These set on the ground, and the owner's
toes bifurcating into the thong, the student added a half-cubit to his
stature, and trudged homeward. The scraping and clatter of hundreds
of wooden clogs over the long stone bridge were deafening. All were
bare-headed, with the top -knot, cue, and shaven mid -scalp, most of
them with bare feet on their clogs, and with their characteristic dress,
swagger, fierce looks, bare skin "exposed at the scalp, neck, arms, calves,
and feet, with their murderous swords in their belts, they impressed
upon my memory a picture of feudalism I shall never forget.
As I walked, I wondered how long it would require to civilize such
" barbarians." Here were nearly a thousand young samurai. What
was one teacher among so many? Could it be possible that these
could be trained to be disciplined students ? These were my thoughts
then. A few months later, and I had won their confidence and love.
I found they were quite able to instruct me in many things. I need
fear to lose neither politeness nor sense of honor among these earnest
youth. In pride and dignity of character, in diligence, courage, gen-
tlemanly conduct, refinement and affection, truth and honesty, good
morals, in so far as I knew or could see, they were my peers. Love
is always blind, they say. Was it so in this case ?
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE. 435
IX.
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE.
Now that the excitement of travel was over, I settled down to ray
duties, to survey the place and surroundings, and to try and under-
stand the life around me. I first examined my quarters.
The old mansion assigned to me was one hundred and ninety-seven
years old. It had been in possession of the same family during that
period. The house had been built on part of the site of Shibata's old
castle, in which he and his band committed hara-kiri and underwent
voluntary cremation. Across the river rose Atago yama. On this
hill, Hideyoshi encamped with his army. A few score feet to the
west of my gate was a stone on which tradition says Shibata stood
when he drew an arrow to the head, and shot it into his enemy's
camp, splitting the pole of the canopy, or mammoth umbrella, under
which Hideyoshi sat. The moat which bounded the north side of
my estate was part of the old fortress, and a few rods eastward stood
a gate-way still intact, though no " harsh thunder " could be grated
from its hinges, which rust had long united together. My whole
estate was classic soil, and I suspect more than one old conservative
growled to see the foreigner on the spot made sacred by Echizen's
greatest hero, whose devotion to Yamato damashi ideals had been at-
tested in blood, fire, and ashes.
It was a grand old house of solid timber, with spacious rooms, and
long, well-lighted corridors. It was sixty feet broad, by one hundred
feet deep. Though of one story, it had an immense and lofty sloping
roof and shaggy eaves. The rooms numbered twelve in all. The
floors were laid with soft neat mats, and the paper sliding screens
could all be taken out, if need were, to make a hall of vast area with
many square columns. The corridors, which were ten feet wide, passed
outside the rooms, yet were part of the house. The walls, where solid,
were papered. The ceiling, of fine grained wood, was twelve feet from
the floor. In the rear were the kitchen and servants' quarters.
The entire estate comprised about ten acres, the sides of which, ex-
436 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
tending inward to a depth of thirty feet, were lined with the dwellings
of the former retainers and servants. In the central area had been
gardens and stables.
All these accessories to the mansion were in the rear. The front of
the house looked out upon a long, beautiful garden. To the left was
a wall of tiles and cement, too high for any inquisitive eyes to peep
over, which extended all around the inclosure. Along the inner side
was a row of firs. These trees had been planted by the first ancestor
of the family that had followed Hideyasu to Fukui in the sixteenth
century. They were now tall and grave sentinels, of mighty girth
and wide-spreading limbs, that measured their height by rods and their
shadows by furlongs. By day they cast grateful shade, and at night
sifted the moonbeams, over the path. Near the end of the court-yard
was the main gate, made of whole tree-trunks, and crowned by an im-
posing roof. Just within it was the porter's
lodge, where a studious old mom-ban (gate-
keeper) kept watch and ward over the port-
al, through which none could enter except
men of rank and office. He usually had
his nose inside a book when I saw him, for
he was a great reader, and near-sighted.
Near the lodge was a clump of trees, and
The Studious Gate-keeper, beneath their shadow and protection had
been the family shrine. It was an ark cut out of solid stone, four
feet high. Within it had been the sacred vases, mirror, and white
paper, all holy symbols of the Shinto faith, which the family pro-
fessed. All around the now neglected garden were blossoming ca-
mellias, red as maiden blushes, or white as unstained innocence. On
another hillock, tufted here and there with azaleas and asters, were
several dwarfed pines. The rockery and fish-pond, long neglected,
were overgrown and scarcely perceptible. Evidently it had been a
charming place of great beauty, for the traces were yet to be seen
of former care and adornment. To the right was an arm of one of
the castle moats, full of running water. Beyond its banks and mossy
and flower-decked stone walls were the gardens of several samurai
families, in which sweet rosy-cheeked children played, or boys fished,
or pretty girls came down to look at the lotus - flowers. The echo
of their merry laugh often reached me. In the deep parts of the
stream, clear as crystal, darted the black, silvery, or speckled fish ;
while in the shallower portions great turtles crawled and stuck their
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE. 437
wedge-like noses above the water. In summer the lotus-flowers grew
and bloomed, slowly rising from the long roots in the ooze, unfolding
their first emerging tips into glorious concave shields of green, two
feet in diameter, corded beneath like the veins of a gladiator, and hold-
ing on their bosses translucent pebbles of dew. Then rose the closed
bolls, like a clasped hand that trembled with the trembling water, giv-
ing no sign of the beauty within — the mighty flower in its bosom.
Then, as the sunshine of summer fell aslant the cool water, the boll,
tenderly and shyly, as if afraid, unfolded day by day until the splen-
did revelation of the lotus was complete. Massive shield and glorious
flower made a picture of unearthly loveliness to the child who strove
to pluck the remote beauty, or to the adult to whom the lotus-flower
is the emblem of eternal calm. The little Japanese child who first,
with the glorifying eyes of childhood, looks upon its purity, finds in it
an object of unspeakable delight. The mature believer in Buddha
sees in it shadowed forth creative power, universe, and world-growth.
The " lotus springs from the mud " is ever the answer of the Asiatic
to him who teaches that the human heart is corrupt, and unable to
cleanse itself. The calyx of the lotus is a triangle whose base is a cir-
cle— symbols of spirit and form, of eternity and triunity. In Nirvana,
Buddha sits on a lotus-flower. As the mortal body of the believer ap-
proaches the cremation house, that the borrowed elements of his body
may be liberated from their fleshly prison and returned to their pri-
mordial earth and air, a stone carved to represent a lotus-flower re-
ceives the bier. To the Buddhist the lotus is a thing of beauty, a joy
forever, because the constant symbol of poetic and religious truth.
I was glad they had put me in this old mansion. It was full of
suggestive history. It had been a home. Pagan, heathen, Asiatic —
it mattered not ; it was a home. Here in this garden the infant had
been carried until a child — growing up, the playmate of the flowers
and birds, amidst Nature, until it knew her moods, and loved her with
the passionate fondness for her which is so intense in the people of
these islands. Here children played among the flowers, caught their
first butterflies, began their first stratagem by decoying the unwary fish
with the hook, and picked off the lotus petals for banners, the leaves
for sun-shades, and the round seeds to eat, or roll like marbles. Then,
as the boys grew up, they put on the swords, shaved off their fore-hair,
and progressed in the lore of Chinese sages and native historians, and
were fired with the narratives of the exploits of Taiko and Yoritomo
and lyeyasu ; while the girls grew in womanly grace and beauty, and
438
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
perfected themselves in household etiquette and studied the " Woman's
Great Learning." Then had come the marriage ceremonial, with no
spoken vows, and made without priest or official, followed by festal
cheer, wine, music, dance, and exchange of presents. Here the bride
became mother. Hence, after one hundred days, she went with her
child to the temple, where the robed and shaven bonze wrote a name-
charm, and put it in the child's prayer-bag. In this house had been
The Wedding Party. (From a Japanese painting on silk.)
celebrated many a household festival. These rooms had echoed with
merry laughter, or resounded with the groans and sobs of grief. Hence
had gone out the funeral procession, when the bodies of loved parents
were borne to the grave or the cremarium. The funeral cortege, with
lanterns, and hearse of pure white wood borne on four men's shoulders,
with robed bonzes and men in ceremonial dress and muffled swords,
and women in pure white robes and half-moon-like caps of floss silk,
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE. 439
had passed out this gate. Prayers had been read, candles lighted, bells
tinkled, the corpse laid on the pyre, and the fire lighted by the broth-
er of the deceased, and the ashes deposited in the vase in the family
monument in that cemetery beside the mountain yonder. In this fam-
ily oratory a new black tablet, gilt-lettered, was set among the ances-
tral names, to be honored through coming generations.
Every day some new discovery showed me that this had been a
home. Birth, marriage, death, sickness, sorrow, joy, banquet — all the
fullness of life, though not like ours, had sanctified it. I thought of
the many journeys to Yedo and Kioto of the father on business, the
sons on travel for culture and education, and the daughter for relig-
ion's sake, or to the distant home of her husband. I pictured the
festival days, the feast of dolls for the girls, when the great nursery-
room was decked with all the rich toys with which girls delight to
mimic the real life of motherhood and housekeeping, which is but a
few years off. There stood the bamboo poles on which was hung the
huge paper carp, to show that a boy had been born during the year,
or that the heir of the house would rise in the world and surmount
all difficulties, like a carp leaps the water-fall. New-year's-day had
come to this house, the only time when profound Sabbath reigns in
Japan. Then the servants and retainers pledged anew their Iqyalty,
congratulated their master, and received gifts of money and clothes.
I thought of the religious festivals when the mansion and all the ten-
antry of the estate hung out gay lanterns, and the master's household,
like a great heart, sympathized in the birth, death, marriage, sorrow,
or joy of the tenantry. Thus, for centuries in this dwelling, and on
this ancestral estate, lived the family in peace and prosperity.
Then came foreigners and many troubles — civil war, revolution, the
overthrow of the shogun, the restoration of the mikado, the threaten-
ed abolition of the feudal system. Great changes altered the condi-
tion of Fukui. The revenues of the estate were reduced, the family
moved to humbler quarters, the retainers and tenantry dispersed, and
now the foreigner was here.
All this I found out gradually, but with each bit of revelation the
old mansion wore new charms. I loved to walk in the grand old gar-
den at night, shut in from all but the stars and the faint murmur of
the city, and the few glimmering lights on the mountain across the
river, or when the moon sifted her beams through the tall firs, or
bathed her face among the lotus-flowers in the moat, or silvered the
ivy on the wall. I had come hither to be a builder of knowledge, to
440 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
help bring the new civilization that must destroy the old. Yet it was
hard to be an iconoclast. I often asked myself the question — Why
not leave these people alone ? They seem to be happy enough ; and
he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. The sacredness of
human belief and reverence had consecrated even the old shrine, and
other hands than mine must remove the stones of the deserted fane.
What vulgarity to make a dining-room of the family oratory, where
the ancestral tablets once stood, and the sacred lights and incense burn-
ed ! I found tied to the front of the house a case of light wood, con-
taining an amulet, written in Sanskrit and Chinese, for the protection
of the house. I took it down, for I had no faith in its protection;
but I kept it carefully as a curious memento, because others had trust-
ed in it, and every thing human is sacred, even faith, if our own is.
I found nailed on the inner lintel of the great gate a pile of charms of
thin wood, to ward off disease and evil. One had been added every
year, like strata upon strata, until the deposit was a half-foot thick.
They had on them the name and seal of the temple in which they had
been written, and were inscribed with Sanskrit quotations from the
sacred books.
Under the new administration, the personnel of my establishment
was as follows: My interpreter, Iwabuchi, occupied a pleasant little
house in the rear and within call, so as to be ready to assist me when
visitors came, though most of them went first to Iwabuchi's house.
I found that even in the kitchen the feudal spirit of grades and ranks
was strictly observed. My cook had an assistant, who himself had a
small boy, who often hired other small boys to do his work. My
" boy," or body - servant, had another man to help him. Even the
betto, or groom, employed an underling to do all the actual manual
work. Theoretically, it required a large force of men to guard and
wait on the foreigner, and I was amazed to find myself so famous and
surrounded.
To begin at the height of rank and honor : first, there was the dai-
mio's officer, who had been appointed to look after my wants. He
had an office for daily use in one of the distant rooms of the building.
Under him was a subofficial, and also a clerk. These three men were
considered necessary, as foreigners were known to have many wants,
to require troublesome attention. Then, the foreigner was a stranger
in the city and neighborhood, and as the people were unfamiliar with
men of his strange breed, some of them might insult him, or a wan-
dering jo-i (foreigner - hater) might kill him, in which case an in-
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE.
441
demnity of fifty thousand dollars would have to be paid by the Gov-
ernment. Hence, four stalwart samurai, each with their two swords,
were set apart for my protection. These escorted me to and from
school, and went with me in my walks and rides, and at first were
very serviceable guides, until my familiarity with the language and
people, and my perception of their perfectly harmless character, made
these armed men bores. They performed duty on alternate days, and
occupied a part of the long house to the left. Then, there were five
or six of the larger students, who wished to live near their teacher.
They occupied another room under the same roof with the four
guards. At the rear entrance to the inclosure of my house was an-
other gate and porter's lodge, in which a man kept watch and ward,
admitting none but the privileged, though all who entered here were
of much lower rank than those who came to the front gate. To man
the two gates — front and rear — a corps of eight men were appointed,
who did duty alternately. Their duties were not onerous. They con-
sisted in reading, eating, sleeping, drinking tea, bowing to me as I
passed, and keeping out stragglers. The long house, stretching away
to the eastward, was full of folks of the humbler sort, with many chil-
dren and babies, and of dogs not a few. These youngsters, with their
quaint dress, curiously shaved heads, and odd ways, were often a
source of great amusement to me. The fun reached its climax when
they attempted to walk bamboo poles or turn somersaults on them,
Boys playing on Bamboo Bars. (Hokusai.)
442
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
often in the latter motion becoming real gymnasts, in the etymolog-
ical sense of the word. In imitating wrestling-matches, they made
a small arena of sand ringed by twisted rice-straw, and then the nude
little dumplings of humanity, some of them less than four years old,
stamped their feet, eat their salt, rinsed their mouths, slapped their
knees, and then clinched in mimic rage, tugging away until victory
was declared for one or the other, by the Lilliputian judge with fan
in hand. Even the applause, to the casting in the ring of fans and
garments to be redeemed, as in the real triumph of the elephantine fat
fellows, who look as though stuffed with blubber by means of a sau-
sage-blower, were given with comical accuracy of imitation. When
the infant Hercules got hold of his antagonist's clout — the master-
grip of the game, which put the unlucky one "in chancery," a shout
The Grip of Victory.
went up from the spectators like the Roman " habet " or the modern
prize-fighter's cheers. Even the dogs seemed to enjoy the fun, while
mothers and nurse -maids, with babies strapped on their backs, over-
flowed in a new stream of palaver.
Of the inmates of my house I must not omit mention. My serv-
ant was selected and brought to me on the first day of my arrival, and
shown his future master. Falling down upon his hands and knees,
and bowing his forehead to the floor, he murmured something which
was meant to be a promise of good and faithful service. Then, rais-
ing his body, he sat upon his knees and heels, and waited further or-
ders. I own I was not prepossessed. Sahei was less than sixty inches
high, with a remarkably ugly phiz, thick protruding lips, flat nose — not
always scrupulously attended to — and eyes of the dull, alligator hue so
common among the lower classes. His skin was of the most unsatis-
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE. 443
factory tint. His motions were ungraceful. Ilis hands and feet, for
a Nihonese, were clumsy. His scalp and cue — strong points in the
tout ensemble of a handsome native — were not attractive. My first
sight of him awakened regrets that Sasaki had not selected a hand-
somer specimen of his people to wait on me. When one has a stran-
ger daily under his nose and eyes, the aesthetics of physical form and
face assume a vast degree of importance. I yearned for a more comely
form, more attractive face, and more delicately tinted skin. I thought
of the pretty pages in the prince's palace, and the fine-looking boys
with smooth, cafe-au-lait skins and rosy -cheeks in school. " I shall
keep Sahei a few weeks in deference to the official who recommended
him ; then I shall get a handsomer boy," thought I, as I dismissed
him for a while. I was also at first disappointed in my new servant,
supposing him to be single. I had intended to have a married man
with a family, that I might be able to see more of actual Japanese life
under my own roof. A bachelor's quarters afford a poor field for the
study of the home life of a people. I was greatly and pleasantly dis-
appointed. Sahei was not from the rice-fields. He had traveled to
Tokio, had been in the war as a page, and was intelligent and fit to
wait on a gentleman. He had once been a carpenter by trade, and
could do handy jobs about the house, and he did help me greatly to
make things comfortable when it would cost too much time and trou-
ble to set the whole official machinery of Fukui in motion to drive a
nail, or put up a shelf for flower-vase, or a little Paris clock. Sahei
was more comely in character than in person. Cheerful, faithful, dili-
gent, careful of his master, quick to answer his call, tender of him as
to a child, and though a heathen, Sahei was, according to Pope's defi-
nition, the noblest work of God. He was not only honest in handling
his master's money, but as alert as a watch-dog to guard against im-
position, or loss through ignorance. Furthermore, Sahei had a family
— wife, baby, and child's maid. This I did not learn until a week aft-
erward, when he came to announce with shame, and as if expecting my
displeasure, that he had a wife ; she waiting behind the entry door-way
to hear what the danna san (master) would say. Might he present
her to me ? His delight at my pleased surprise betrayed itself in a
broad grin, and in a moment more he was leading his baby by the
hand, while his wife waddled forward, accompanied by her little maid.
Mother, baby, and maid, in succession, fell on their knees, and polished
their foreheads on their hands laid prone on the matting. Then, sit-
ting on their heels, they bashfully looked up at their new master. I
444 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
bid them all stand up, and took their photograph in my eye. The
imposing physique of Mrs. Sahei utterly dwarfed her insignificant lord,
and suggested a contrast between a pudding and a tart. She was of
healthily tinted skin of lighter shade, with black eyes that sparkled
as though her head were a voltaic battery and her eyes the terminals.
Closer acquaintance confirmed my impressions of her. She was an af-
fectionate mother, and a jealous and careful wife. Continually bub-
bling over with fun, she reminded me, when laughing, of a bowl full of
jelly when well shaken. She was a diligent worker. Her tongue was
as sharp as a freshly honed razor, especially after her liege lord had
spent too much money on geishas and sake ; for the otherwise exem-
plary Sahei had two weaknesses, which were evident even to his mas-
ter. He would occasionally make his throat a funnel for sake, and he
delighted to spend an occasional evening amidst the fascinations of
the singing girls, coming home late at night, with flushed veins and a
damaged purse, to meet with a Caudle lecture on his return. Here
was the bakufu, or " curtain government," of a sort quite different from
that we read of at Kamakura. I always knew, by Sahei's sheepish
looks and the general flavor of demoralization in his appearance next
morning, when he had been eating forbidden and costly fruit.
The baby was as pretty and bright-eyed a morsel of flesh as one
could wish to see. His name was Sataro (first-born darling of Sahei).
He was two years old, just able to keep his centre of gravity, and voy-
age across the rooms and through the house, with only an occasional
sprawl on the matting. Baby, on his first introduction, bobbed his
head in adult style, and chirped out, " Ohaio, sensei " (good-morning,
teacher), his baby talk making it sound like " chen-chey." I immedi-
ately dubbed him " Chenkey." Let me give his photograph. Chen-
key was a chubby boy, with rosy cheeks, sparkling black eyes, skin al-
most as light in tint and as soft and smooth as an American mother's
darling. His head was shaved entirely, except a round spot on the
back part ; his mother shaved his diminutive pate once a week, and
usually kept him so sweet and wholesome that a romp with him rare-
ly involved damage from sticky lips or soiled baby hands.
I must not forget Obun (tea-tray), the little maid who attended to
Chenkey, carried him about, dressed him, and made her back a seat
for him. Obun was eleven years old, a thin, frail, sad-looking child,
that freshened up under a kind word like a wilted flower when touched
by rain-drops. Obun evidently had heard the dreadful stories about
the foreigners, and believed them. Timidly, and with suppressed fear,
LIFE JN A JAPANESE HOUSE.
445
she had come to greet the sensei, and only after days and weeks of fa-
miliar intercourse and serving me at table could she lay aside her fears.
Even then she was a sad-eyed, dreamy child, always looking down deep-
ly and solemnly into flowers, or gazing at the blue sky or the distant
mountains, or watching the stars at evening. Obun had had a hard
life of it. Her mother had died in giving her birth, and the orphan
was then bandied about among nurses and relatives until she was old
enough to take care of a baby, when she was given as a servant to
Sahei for her food and clothes.
The personnel of Sahei's establishment did not end with wife, baby,
and maid. It was not for the lord of the kitchen to draw water, clean
fish, and do the work of the scullery. Not he. For this he must
have a boy. "That boy" was
Gonji. Gonji's wages were his
rice and robes — two of the lat-
ter per annum. He was scarce-
ly worth his full rations. Lazy,
and uniquely stupid in some
things, and bright enough in
others, the keenness of his ap-
petite kept pace with the capac-
ity of his stomach. His favorite
occupations were worrying dogs,
playing with Chenkey, on whom
he doted, and amusing himself at
watching the sensei, whose very
existence was a profound mystery
to him, and whose every motion
was a subject of wondering cogi-
tation. Sometimes,, when spruced up, he enjoyed the honor of waiting
on the danna san. To see the white man eat, threw Gonji in a brown
study at once, as on knees and heels, with waiter before him, he an-
ticipated my wants.
Every day of my life in the old mansion was full of novelty. Ev-
er}7 trivial event was a chink to let in a new ray of light upon Japa-
nese life, character, or ideas. One day Obun came into the dining-
room after dinner, looking around for something, and answering my
inquiring eye with the words "0 mama." "What do you mean,
child ? Do you think your mother is alive, and where did you learn
that English?" While I was pondering the problem of the possible
Gonji in a Brown Study.
446 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
affinity of the Japanese with the Aryan languages, the little maid seized
an empty plate, appearing surprised at its emptiness, and went out.
I afterward found that o mama meant " boiled rice," which I had used
to feed a flock of sacred pigeons belonging to the big temple near by,
which sometimes flew into my garden.
Sahei's family had no sooner comfortably installed themselves in
the servants' quarters than their evening bath must be got ready.
The old mansion, like all Japanese houses, was provided with a huge
caldron and furnace quite near the house, for heating water for the
bath taken daily by every member of every Japanese family. Although
somewhat familiar with the sight of Eves, innocent of fig-leaves, tub-
bing themselves in the open street in broad daylight, I had supposed
the presence of the foreigner and stranger would deter any exhibi-
tion of female nudity in or about my house in Fukui. Vain thought !
The good wife innocently disrobed, unmindful of the cold air, im-
mersed and made her bath and toilet, with Chenkey in her arms.
Having finished, she was followed by Obun, then by her husband,
brother, uncle, and Gonji, in succession, who had been about and
around, heating and carrying the water. I can not call them specta-
tors, for they took no interest whatever, except as assistants, in the
spectacle, which to them was an ordinary sight, awakening no other
emotions than those we feel in seeing a female face or hand.
Night came — glorious moonlight nights they were in Fukui. In
the kitchen the servants lighted their lamps — a long slender wick of
pith, in a dish of oil, set half-way up in a square paper-shaded frame,
three feet high — a standing lantern, in the base of which were sulphur-
tipped chips, or matches, and flint, steel, and tinder. Or, they set a
hollow paper -wicked candle, made of vegetable tallow, in a copper,
bronze, or wooden candlestick two feet high.
" These people have a theory of candles," thought I, " as Symmes
had about the earth. Both theories are opposed to orthodoxy.
Symmes's world and a Japanese candle both have a hole through
them ; but the former theory is representative of a fact, while the lat-
ter is not yet proved to be so." These hollow candles are stuck on a
spike, not set in a socket like ours. The French and English buy this
vegetable tallow in Japan, bleach it, and import the " wax " candles
made from it, selling to the Japanese at an advanced price. It hap-
pened once, so I have read, that a Japanese junk drifted to the shores
of California. A newspaper reporter announced in type, with sensa-
tional intent, next day, that the junk had been salt-water-logged so
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE.
447
long that the wick had been entirely corroded by the action of the
water, until the candle had a hole entirely through it !
In my own room, I had my Connecticut lamp, well fed with Penn-
sylvania petroleum.
The snow had begun to melt, and, at intervals, a heavy, thunderous
noise overhead told of a huge snow-slide — the accumulation of winter
sliding off. Over the castle and city and yashiki gates, and over the
doors of houses, I had noticed a long timber bar riveted to the roof,
which prevented the snow from falling on the heads of people below,
while it slid freely in other places. Anon the whirring of wings, and
the screaming of the flocks of wild geese as they clove the air, told
Night Scene on the River-flats. (HokusaL)
how these restless birds enjoyed the night as well as the day. These
geese were my nocturnal barometer. I could tell from the height or
lowness of their flight, and the volume of sound of their throats, what
were the " weather probabilities " for the morrow.
A view from my garden-gate included the street, the river-flats, a
few boats like black spots on the water, the bridge, and the masts ris-
ing spectrally beyond Atago yama with its twinkling lights, people
returning home, and coolies hurrying along with belated travelers.
The moon shone overhead, but yet, dimly seen, reminded me vividly
of a sketch by one of the native artists, whose great merits and pe-
culiarities I was then beginning to appreciate and distinguish. I could
29
448 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
hear the voices outside, the women's chatting, the children's prattle,
and the coolies' grunt.
The crows of Fukui were as numerous, merry, audacious, and ab-
surd as their black brethren in the pine-roosts of New Jersey or the
corn-fields of Pennsylvania, I wondered who it was who had lived
in Japan three months, and then innocently asked if there were any
crows in the country. These filthy feeders amused me daily with
their noisy conventions, or their squabbles around the kitchen refuse.
Occasionally they ventured on bolder raids. On one occasion a state-
ly raven, seeing through the window a morsel of bread on the break-
fast-table, meditated a theft. A Japanese crow of the olden time
ought not, in the nature of things, to be expected to understand either
the chemical composition or the physical properties of that familiar
alkaline silicate called glass. Viewing with his raven eye from his
eyrie in the firs that morsel of bread, and knowing well the virtues of
wheat, our crow made a dash with outspread wings and beak at the
bread. The result was a badly stunned bird with a bumped head and
nearly broken beak. Nothing daunted, my " Nevermore " gathered
himself up, and proceeded to survey the situation. Here was a new
and puzzling subject of study. Glass was evidently a new phenome-
non. It was transparent and hard, yet there was the bread, and the
crow's craw was empty. What was it, this invisible and pervisual
barrier ? It was not water, nor yet air. Perhaps it was ice, and Mr.
Crow laid his eye against the pane to test the temperature — flattening
it like a child its nose on a rainy Sunday. Ah ! happy thought ! per-
haps it would yield to blows.
Perseverantia omnia vincit. Tap, tap, tap, sounded the pick- like
beak on the tough glass pane with a regularity less gentle than that
of Poe's ebony visitor. All in vain, however; the pane yielded not,
the tantalizing bread had to be yielded, and the black Tantalus flew
off with its dismal " Nevermore," to report adversely to its comrades,
and hold a debate on the subject of the unknowable. Despair brood-
ed, not on wisdom, but on a. pine-tree.
The black rascals were sometimes more successful. With impu-
dence almost human, and with cheek quite as hard, they would even
occasionally fly into the house. One day Chenkey was standing on
the veranda next the garden, eating a rice - cracknel, called kaminari
sembei (thunder-cake). A vigilant karasu (crow) hopped from a tree-
branch to the fence, and, pretending to be asleep, calmly watched his
opportunity with one eye. Chenkey had just taken a bite, and turned
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE. 449
his head around for a moment. In a trice the black thief had swoop-
ed and stolen the cake. An incredible uproar of caws in the tree-
tops, a few tears from Chenkey, and it was all over.
Strange to say, the natives, as their poetry attests, hear in the hoarse
notes of this sable bird the plaintive sounds of love. " Concerning
tastes," and associations also, " it is not to be disputed." With us a
lamb is an emblem of mildness ; with the Japanese, of stupidity, or
even obstinacy. Should I call a native a goose (ffan), he would see no
more point in the allusion than if I called him a turkey or a pheasant.
In Japan, sheep and tame geese are unknown, except from reading of
them. The wild goose is one of the swiftest, most graceful, and alert
birds. It is rather a compliment to be called a (Japanese) goose.
There was a goodly number of rats in the old mansion, though they
rarely disturbed me in the day-time. Their favorite place of playing
what seemed to be foot-ball, or Congress, was over the ceilings, run-
ning along the beams immediately above the rafters. The builder of
the mansion had foreseen the future, and, with wise benevolence, had
cut square holes through certain portions of the fine lattice-work that
might be spoiled by irregular gnawing, and thus earned the gratitude
of all rodent generations. I determined to be rid of these ancient
pests, and went out in search of a cat. I saw a number of fat Tabi-
thas and aldermanic Thomases which I asked for, or offered to pur-
chase, in vain. I preferred a lean feline specimen that would seek
the rats from motives of hunger, but I could get none. The people
loved their pets too well. But one day, on passing a hemp shop, I
saw a good-natured old lady sitting on her mats, with a fine tortoise-
shell tabby, and instantly determined to get that cat. Accosting her
with the usual bow, I said, in my best Japanese, " Good-morning, old
lady. Will you sell me that cat? I should like to buy it." The
American reader will question the propriety and my politeness in
using the adjective old. Not so the Japanese. It is an honor to be
addressed or spoken of as old. Every one called me" sense* " (elder-
born, or teacher). One of the first questions which a Japanese will
ask you is, " How old are you ?" It is a question which American la-
dies do not answer very promptly. But the questioner masks no in-
sult. It is not in the same spirit as that of the young men who re-
fer to their maternal parent as the " old woman." The old lady was
pleased. Concerning the sale of her cat, however, she demurred. Her
neko was a polite, well-bred animal. I was a foreigner from some out-
landish place beyond the sea. Could she trust Puss with me ? With
450
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
head inclining forty-five degrees over her left shoulder, she considered.
Looking up, she said, " I will not sell you the cat ; but if you love it,
you can have it." Of course, I loved it on the spot. Taking the
name of the street, and number of the house, I sent Sahei for it. In-
stalled in my dwelling, it proved to be handsome and lazy, disturbing
but little the ancient population, which, however, never troubled me
except by their frisky noise. My repeated invitations to a banquet of
arsenic were as often declined, with thanks and squeals ; but on wrap-
ping up a piece of seasoned meat in a small box in a tight bundle of
Father and Children.
paper, they partook luxuriantly and subsided. The old lady came oc-
casionally to see her former pet, and found in the foreigner's house un-
limited delight over photograph-album, stereoscope, and wall pictures,
and endless food for wonder and subsequent gossip, at the home of
her son and grandchildren — a very affectionate family, as I had occa-
sion to witness, but with a weakness for sake".
The most remarkable fact concerning the majority of cats in Japan
is that they have no tails, or, at least, a mere stump or tuft, like a rab-
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE. 451
bit's. They resemble the Manx cat in this respect. Whether wholly
natural, or the long result of art, I could never satisfactorily determine.
It always struck me as a great feline affliction, since the chief play-
thing of a kitten is its tail. To run around after their caudal stumps
was a sorry game in the Japanese cats, compared with the lively revo-
lutions of those boasting twelve inches of tail. An American gentle-
man once took one of these bob-tailed cats to California. The creat-
ure had evidently never made the acquaintance of the long -tailed
brethren of its species, and the unwonted sight of their terminal ap-
pendages seemed to incite the feline nature of Japan to the highest
pitch of jealousy and rage. It was continually biting, scratching, howl-
ing, and spitting at other cats, invariably seizing their tails in its teeth
when practicable.
My other dumb companion in Fukui was a black dog, with but one
eye. It was an American dog that had strayed away from Yokohama,
and had followed the daimio's retinue across the country. Happen-
ing to pass some farmers, who, reversing the proverb " Love me, love
my dog," and hating foreigners, whom they believed to be descend-
ants of these brutes, one of them struck the poor creature in the eye
with a grass-hook, and made him a Cyclops from that moment. He
was an affectionate animal, and apparently fully understood, as I could
tell from the language of his tail, that I was one of his own country
creatures, concentrating all his affection in his remaining orb. I was
most amused at the name given him by the people. The Japanese
word for dog is inu. Some of the young men who had been to Yo-
kohama had heard the " hairy foreigners " calling their dogs by crack-
ing their fingers and crying " Come here." This the Japanese sup-
posed to be the name of the dog. Frequently in Fukui those who
wished to display their proficiency in the barbarian language would
point to my canine Cyclops, and cry out " Look at that ' Come-here ;'
how black he is !" " Oh ! see how fast the American man's ' come-
here ' is running !"
With a cat, a one-eyed dog, gold-fish, home flowers, and plenty of
human life behind and about me, the city in view, the mountains
round about, and the lovely solitude of garden and trees in front of
me, and my books, I was happy in my immediate surroundings.
452 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
X.
CHILDREN'S GAMES AND SPORTS*
THE aim of the Asiatic Society of Japan is, as I understand it, to
endeavor to attain any and all knowledge of the Japanese country
and people. Nothing that will help us to understand them is foreign
to the objects of this society. "While language, literature, art, relig-
ion, the drama, household superstitions, etc., furnish us with objects
worthy of study, the games and sports of the children deserve our
notice. For, as we believe, their amusements reflect the more serious
affairs and actions of mature life. They are the foretastes and the
prophecies of adult life which children see continually ; not always
understanding, but ever ready to imitate it. Hence in the toy-shops
of Japan one may see the microcosm of Japanese life. In the chil-
dren's sports is enacted the miniature drama of the serious life of the
parents. Among a nation of players such as the Japanese may be
said to have been, it is not always easy to draw the line of demarka-
tion between the diversions of children proper and those of a larger
growth. Indeed, it might be said that during the last two centuries
and a half, previous to the coming of foreigners, the main business of
this nation was play. One of the happiest phrases in Mr. Alcock's
book is that " Japan is a paradise of babies ;" he might have added,
that it was also a very congenial abode for all who love play. The
contrast between the Chinese and Japanese character in this respect is
radical. It is laid down in one of the very last sentences in the Tri-
metrical Classic, the primer of every school in the Flowery Land, that
play is unprofitable ! The whole character, manners, and even the
dress, of the sedate and dignified Chinamen, seem to be in keeping
with that aversion to rational amusement and athletic exercises which
characterizes that adult population.
In Japan, on the contrary, one sees that the children of a larger
* Read by the author before the Asiatic Society of Japan, March 18th, 1874.
CHILDREN'S OAMES AND SPORTS.
453
growth enjoy with equal zest games which are the same, or nearly the
same, as those of lesser size and fewer years. Certain it is that the
adults do all in their power to provide for
the children their full quota of play and harm-
less sports. We frequently see full-grown and
able-bodied natives indulging in amusements
which the men of the West lay aside with
their pinafores, or when their curls are cut. If
we, in the conceited pride of our superior civ-
ilization, look down upon this as childish, we
must remember that the Celestial, from the
pinnacle of his lofty and, to him, immeasura-
bly elevated civilization, looks down upon our
manly sports with contempt, thinking it a
condescension even to notice them.
A very noticeable change has passed over
the Japanese people since the modern advent
of foreigners, in respect of their love of
amusements. Their sports are by no means
as numerous or elaborate as formerly, and they
do not enter into them with the enthusiasm
that formerly characterized them. The chil-
dren's festivals and sports are rapidly losing
their importance, and some now are rarely
seen. Formerly the holidays were almost as
numerous as saints' days in the calendar. Ap-
prentice-boys had a liberal quota of holidays
stipulated in their indentures ; and as the chil-
dren counted the days before each great holi-
day on their fingers, we may believe that a
great deal of digital arithmetic was being con-
tinually done. We do not know of any
country in the world in which there are so
many toy-shops, or so many fairs for the sale
of the things which delight children. Not
only are the streets of every city abundantly
supplied with shops, filled as full as a Christ-
mas stocking with gaudy toys, but in small
towns and villages one or more children's
bazaars may be found. The most gorgeous
454 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
display of all things pleasing to the eye of a Japanese child is found
in the courts or streets leading to celebrated temples. On a matsuri,
or festival day, the toy -sellers and itinerant showmen throng with
their most attractive wares or sights in front of the shrine or temple.
On the walls and in conspicuous places near the churches and cathe-
drals in Europe and America, the visitor is usually regaled with the
sight of undertakers' signs and grave-diggers' advertisements. How
differently the Japanese act in these respects, let any one see by visit-
ing Asakusa, Kanda Mi5jin, or one of the numerous Inari shrines in
Tokio on some great festival day.
We have not space in this chapter to name or describe the numer-
ous street -shows and showmen who are supposed to be interested
mainly in entertaining children ; though in reality adults form a part,
often the major part, of their audiences. Any one desirous of seeing
these in full glory must ramble down Yanagi Cho (Willow Street),
from Sujikai, in Tokio, on some fair day, and especially on a general
holiday.
Among the most common are the street theatricals, in which two,
three, or four trained boys and girls do some very creditable acting,
chiefly in comedy. Raree-shows, in which the looker-on sees the in-
side splendors of a daimio's yashiki, or the fascinating scenes of the
Yoshiwara, or some famous natural scenery, are very common. The
showman, as he pulls the wires that change the scenes, entertains the
spectators with songs. The outside of his box is usually adorned
with pictures of famous actors or courtesans, nine-tailed foxes, devils
of all colors, dropsical badgers, and wrathful husbands butchering
faithless wives and their paramours, or some such staple horror in
which the normal Japanese so delights. Story -tellers, posturers,
dancers, actors of charades, conjurers, flute - players, song -singers are
found on these streets ; but those who specially delight the children
are the men who, by dint of breath and fingers, work a paste made of
wheat-gluten into all sorts of curious and gayly smeared toys, such as
flowers, trees, noblemen, fair ladies, various utensils, the " hairy for-
eigner," the same with a cigar in his mouth, the jin-riki-sha, etc.
Nearly every itinerant seller of candy, starch-cakes, sugared pease, and
sweetened beans, has several methods of lottery by which he adds to
the attractions on his stall. A disk having a revolving arrow, whirled
round by the hand of a child, or a number of strings which are con-
nected with the faces of imps, goddesses, devils, or heroes, lends the
excitement of chance, and, when a lucky pull or whirl occurs, occasions
CHILDREN'S QAMES AND SPORTS, 455
the subsequent addition to the small fraction of a cent's worth to be
bought. Men or women itinerants carry a small charcoal brazier un-
der a copper griddle, with batter, spoons, cups, and shoyu sauce, to
hire out for the price of a cash each to the little urchins, who spend
an afternoon of bliss making their own griddle-cakes and eating them,
The seller of sugar-jelly exhibits a devil, taps a drum, and dances for
the benefit of his baby-customers. The seller of mochi does the same,
with the addition of gymnastics and skillful tricks with balls of
dough. The fire -eater rolls balls of camphor paste glowing with
lambent fire over his arms, and then extinguishes them in his mouth.
The bug-man harnesses paper carts to the backs of beetles with wax,
and a half-dozen in this gear will drag a load of rice up an inclined
plane. The man with the magic swimming birds tips his tiny water-
fowl with camphor, and floats them in a long narrow dish full of wa-
ter. The wooden toys, propelled from side to side and end to end
by the dissolving gum, act as if alive, to the widening eyes of the
young spectators. In every Japanese city there are scores, if not
hundreds, of men and women who obtain a livelihood by amusing the
children.
Some of the games of Japanese children are of a national character,
and are indulged in by all classes. Others are purely local or exclu-
sive. Among the former are those which belong to the special days,
or matsuri, which in the old calendars enjoyed vastly more importance
than under the new one. Beginning with the first of the year, there
are a number of games and sports peculiar to this time. The girls,
dressed in their best robes and girdles, with their faces powdered and
their lips painted, until they resemble the peculiar colors seen on a
beetle's wings, and their hair arranged in the most attractive coiffure,
are out upon the street, playing battledore and shuttlecock. They
play, not only in twos and threes, but also in circles. The shuttlecock
is a round seed, often gilded, stuck round with feathers arranged like
the petals of a flower. The battledore is a wooden bat ; one side of
which is of bare wood, while the other has the raised effigy of some
popular actor, hero of romance, or singing-girl in the most ultra-Japa-
nese style of beauty. The girls evidently highly appreciate this game,
as it gives abundant opportunity to the display of personal beauty,
figure, and dress. Those who fail in the game often have their faces
marked with ink, or a circle drawn round their eyes. The boys sing
a song that the wind may blow ; the girls sing that it may be calm, so
that their shuttlecocks may fly straight. The little girls, at this time,
456 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
play with a ball made of cotton cord, covered elaborately with many
strands of bright varicolored silk.
Inside the house, they have games suited, not only for the day-time,
but for the evenings. Many foreigners have wondered what the Jap-
anese do at night, and how the long winter evenings are spent. On
fair and especially moonlight nights, most of the people are out-of-
doors, and many of the children with them. Markets and fairs are
held regularly at night in Tokio, and in the other large cities. The
foreigner living in a Japanese city, even if he were blind, could tell, by
stepping out-of-doors, whether the weather were clear and fine or disa-
greeable. On dark and stormy nights, the stillness of a great city like
Tokio is unbroken and very impressive ; but on a fair and moonlight
night, the hum and bustle tell one that the people are out in throngs,
and make one feel that it is a city that he lives in. In most of the
castle towns in Japan, it was formerly the custom of the people, espe-
cially of the younger, to assemble on moonlight nights in the streets
or open spaces near the castle-gates, and dance a sort of subdued dance,
moving round in circles and clapping their hands. These dances oft-
en continued during the entire night, the following day being largely
consumed in sleep. In the winter evenings, in Japanese households
the children amuse themselves with their sports, or are amused by
their elders, who tell them entertaining stories. The samurai father
relates to his son Japanese history and heroic lore, to fire him with en-
thusiasm and a love of those achievements which every samurai youth
hopes at some day to perform. Then there are numerous social en-
tertainments, at which the children above a certain age are allowed to
be present. But the games relied on as standard means of amusement,
and seen especially about New-year's, are those of cards. In one of
these, a large, square sheet of paper is laid on the floor. On this card
are the names and pictures of the fifty-three post-stations between To-
kio and Kioto. At the place Kioto are put a few coins, or a pile of
cakes, or some such prizes, and the game is played with dice. Each
throw advances the player toward the goal, and the one arriving first
obtains the prize. At this time of the year also, the games of cards
called, respectively, Iroha Garuta (Alphabet Cards), Hiyaku Nin Isshiu
Garuta (One-Verse-of-One-Hundred-Poets Cards), Kokin Garuta, Gen-
ji, and Shi Gamta are played a great deal. The Iroha Garuta (Karuta
is the Japanized form of the Dutch Karte, English card) are small
cards, each containing a proverb. The proverb is printed on one card,
and the picture illustrating it upon another. Each proverb begins
CHILDREN'S GAMES AND SPORTS. 457
with a certain one of the fifty Japanese letters, i, ro, ha, etc., and so
on through the syllabary. The children range themselves in a circle,
and the cards are shuffled and dealt. One is appointed to be reader.
Looking at his cards, he reads the proverb. The player who has the
picture corresponding to the proverb calls out, and the match is made.
Those who are rid of their cards first win the game. The one hold-
ing the last card is the loser. If he be a boy, he has his face marked
curiously with ink. If a girl, she has a paper or wisp of straw stuck
in her hair.
The II ia k 11 Nin Isshiu Garuta game consists of two hundred cards,
on which are inscribed the one hundred stanzas, or poems, so cele-
brated and known in every household. A stanza of Japanese poetry
usually consists of two parts, a first and second, or upper and lower
clause. The manner of playing the game is as follows : The reader
reads half the stanza on his card, and the player having the card on
which the other half is written calls out, and makes a match. Some
children become so familiar with these poems that they do not need
to hear the entire half of the stanza read, but frequently only the first
word.
The Kokin Garuta, or the game of Ancient Odes, the Genji Garuta,
named after the celebrated Genji (Minamoto) family of the Middle
Ages, and the Shi Garuta are all card-games of a similar nature, but
can be thoroughly enjoyed only by well-educated Chinese scholars, as
the references and quotations are written in Chinese, and require a
good knowledge of the Chinese and Japanese classics to play them
well. To boys who are eager to become proficient in Chinese, it oft-
en acts as an incentive to be told that they will enjoy these games
after certain attainments in scholarship have been made. Having
made these attainments, they play the game frequently, especially dur-
ing vacation, to impress on their minds what they have already learn-
ed. The same benefit to the memory accrues from the Iroha and Hi-
akunin Isshiu Garuta.
Two other games are played which may be said to have an educa-
tional value. They are the Chiye no Ita and the Chiye no Wa, or
the "Wisdom Boards" and the "Ring of Wisdom." The former
consists of a number of flat, thin pieces of wood, cut in many geomet-
rical shapes. Certain possible figures are printed on paper as models,
and the boy tries to form them out of the pieces given him. In some
cases, much time and thinking are required to form the figure. The
Chiye no Wa is a ring-puzzle, made of rings of bamboo or iron on a
458
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Ir
bar. Boys having a talent for mathematics, or those who have a nat-
ural capacity to distinguish size and form, succeed very well at these
games, and enjoy them. The game of check-
ers is played on a raised stand or table, about
six inches in height. The number of go, or
checkers, including black and white, is three
hundred and sixty. In the Sho-gi, or game
of chess, the pieces number forty in all. Back-
gammon is also a favorite play, and there are
several forms of it. About the time of the
old New-year's, when the winds of February
and March are favorable to the sport, kites
are flown ; and there are few sports in which
Japanese boys, from the infant on the back to
the full-grown and the over-grown boy, take
more delight. I have never observed, how-
ever, as foreign books so often tell us, old
men flying kites, and boys merely looking on.
The Japanese kites are made of tough paper
pasted on a frame of bamboo sticks, and are
usually of a rectangular shape. Some of
them, however, are made to represent children
or men, several kinds of birds and animals,
fans, etc. On the rectangular kites are pict-
ures of ancient heroes or beautiful women,
dragons, horses, monsters of various kinds, or
huge Chinese characters. Among the faces
most frequently seen on these kites are those
of Yoshitsune, Kintaro, Yoritomo, Benke,
Daruma, Tomoye, and Hangaku. Some of
the kites are six feet square. Many of them
have a thin tense ribbon of whalebone at the
top of the kite, which vibrates in the wind,
making a loud, humming noise. The boys
frequently name their kites Genji or Heike,
and each contestant endeavors to destroy that
of his rival. For this purpose, the string, for
ten or twenty feet near the kite end, is first
covered with glue, and then dipped into
pounded glass, by which the string becomes
••
CHILDREN'S GAMES AND SPORTS.
459
covered with tiny blades, each able to cut quickly and deeply. By
getting the kite in proper position, and suddenly sawing the string
of his antagonist, the severed kite falls, to be
reclaimed by the victor.
The Japanese tops are of several kinds;
some are made of univalve shells, filled with
wax. Those intended for contests are made
of hard wood, and are iron-clad by having a
heavy iron ring round as a sort of tire. The
boys wind and throw them in a manner some-
what different from ours. The object of the
player is to damage his adversary's top, or to
make it cease spinning. The whipping-top is
also known and used. Besides the athletic
sports of leaping, running, wrestling, slinging,
the Japanese boys play at blind-man's-buff, hid-
ing-whoop, and with stilts, pop-guns, and blow-
guns. On stilts they play various games and
run races.
In the Northern and Western coast prov-
inces, where the snow falls to the depth of
many feet and remains long on the ground, it
forms the material of the children's playthings^
and the theatre of many of their sports. Be-
sides sliding on the ice, coasting with sleds,
building snow-forts, and fighting mimic battles
with snow-balls, they make many kinds of im-
ages and imitations of what they see and know.
In America the boy's snow-man is a Paddy
with a damaged hat, clay pipe in mouth, and
the shillalah in his hand. In Japan the snow-
man is an image of Daruma. Daruma was one
of the followers of Shaka (Buddha) who, by
long meditation in a squatting position, lost his
legs from paralysis and sheer decay. The im-
ages of Daruma are found by the hundreds in
toy -shops, as tobacconists' signs and as the
snow-men of the boys. Occasionally the figure
of Geiho, the sage with a forehead and skull so
high that a ladder was required to reach his
460 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
pate, or huge cats and the peculiar-shaped dogs seen in the toy-shops,
take the place of Daruma.
Many of the amusements of the children indoors are mere imita-
tions of the serious affairs of adult life. Boys who have been to the
theatre come home to imitate the celebrated actors, and to extempo-
rize mimic theatricals for themselves. Feigned sickness and " playing
the doctor," imitating with ludicrous exactness the pomp and solem-
nity of the real man of pills and powders, and the misery of the pa-
tient, are the diversions of very young children. Dinners, tea-parties,
and even weddings and funerals, are imitated in Japanese children's
plays.
Among the ghostly games intended to test the courage of, or per-
haps to frighten, children, are two plays called respectively " Hiyaku
Monogatari " and " Kon-dameshi," or the " One Hundred Stories " and
" Soul -examination." In the former play a company of boys and
girls assemble round the hibachi, while they, or an adult, an aged per-
son or a servant, usually relate ghost -stories, or tales calculated to
straighten the hair and make the blood crawl. In a distant dark
room, a lamp (the usual dish of oil), with a wick of one hundred
strands or piths, is set. At the conclusion of each story, the children
in turn must go to the dark room and remove a strand of the wick.
As the lamp burns down low, the room becomes gloomy and dark, and
the last boy, it is said, always sees a demon, a huge face, or something
terrible. In the " Kon-dam6shi " or " Soul-examination," a number of
boys, during the day plant some flags in different parts of a grave-
yard, under a lonely tree, or by a haunted hill - side. At night, they
meet together, and tell stories about ghosts, goblins, devils, etc. ; and
at the conclusion of each tale, when the imagination is wrought up,
the hair begins to rise and the marrow to curdle, the boys, one at a
time, must go out in the dark and bring back the flags, until all are
brought in.
On the third day of the third month is held the " Hina matsuri."
This is the day especially devoted to the girls, and to them it is the
greatest day in the year. It has been called, in some foreign works
on Japan, the " Feast of Dolls." Several days before the matsuri, the
shops are gay with the images bought for this occasion, and which
are on sale only at this time of year. Every respectable family has
a number of these splendidly dressed images, which are from four
inches to a foot in height, and which accumulate from generation to
generation. When a daughter is born in the house during the previ-
CHILDREN'S GAMES AND SPORTS. 403
ons year, a pair of hina, or images, are purchased for the little girl,
which she plays with until grown up. When she is married, her hina
are taken with her to her husband's house, and she gives them to her
children, adding to the stock as her family increases. The images
arc made of wood or enameled clay. They represent the mikado and
his wife; the Kioto nobles, their wives and daughters, the court min-
strels, and various personages in Japanese mythology and history. A
great many other toys, representing all the articles in use in a Japa-
nese lady's chamber, the service of the eating-table, the utensils of the
kitchen, traveling apparatus, etc., some of them very elaborate and
costly, are also exhibited and played with on this day. The girls
make offerings of sake1 and dried rice, etc., to the effigies of the em-
peror and empress, and then spend the day with toys, mimicking the
whole round of Japanese female life, as that of child, maiden, wife,
mother, and grandmother. In some old Japanese families in which I
have visited, the display of dolls and images was very large.
The greatest day in the year for the boys is on the Fifth day of
the Fifth month. On this day is celebrated what has been called the
" Feast of Flags." Previous to the coming of the day, the shops dis-
play for sale the toys and tokens proper to the occasion. These are
all of a kind suited to young Japanese masculinity. They consist of
effigies of heroes and warriors, generals and commanders, soldiers on
foot and horse, the genii of strength and valor, wrestlers, etc. The
toys represent the equipments and regalia of a daimio's procession, all
kinds of things used in war, the contents of an arsenal, flags, stream-
ers, banners, etc. A set of these toys is bought for every son born in
the family. Hence, in old Japanese families, the display on the Fifth
day of the Fifth month is extensive»end brilliant. Besides the display
indoors, on a bamboo pole erected outside is hung, by a string, to the
top of the pole, a representation of a large fish in paper. The paper
being hollow, the breeze easily fills out the body of the fish, which
flaps its tail and fins in a natural manner. One may count hundreds
of these floating in the air over the city.
The nobori, as the paper fish is called, is intended to show that a
son has been born during the year, or, at least, that there are sons in
the family. The fish represented is the carp, which is able to swim
swiftly against the current and to leap over water-falls. This act of
the carp is a favorite subject with native artists, and is also typical of
the young man, especially the young samurai, mounting over all diffi-
culties to success and quiet prosperity.
30
464
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
One favorite game, which has now gone out of fashion, was that in
which the boys formed themselves into a daimio's procession, having
forerunners, officers, etc., and imitating, as far as
possible, the pomp and circumstance of the old
daimio's train. Another game which was very
popular was called the "Genji and Heike."
These are the names of the celebrated rival
clans, or families, Minamoto and Taira. The
boys of a town, district, or school ranged them-
selves into two parties, each with flags. Those
of the Heike were red, those of the Genji white.
Sometimes every boy had a flag, and the object
of the contest, which was begun at the tap of a
drum, was to seize the flags of the enemy. The
party securing the greatest number of flags won
the victory. In other cases, the flags were fast-
ened on the back of each contestant, who was
armed with a bamboo for a sword, and who had
fastened, on a pad over his head, a flat, round
piece of earthenware, so that a party of them
looked not unlike the faculty of a college. Often
these parties of boys numbered several hundred,
and were marshaled in squadrons, as in a battle.
At the given signal, the battle commenced, the
object being to break the earthen disk on the
head of the enemy. The contest was usually
very exciting. Whoever had his earthen disk
demolished had to retire from the field. The
party having the greatest number of broken
disks, representative of cloven skulls, was de-
clared the loser. This game has been forbidden
by the Government as being too severe and
cruej. Boys were often injured in it.
There are many other games, which we simply
mention without describing. There are three
games played by the hands, which every observ-
ant foreigner, long resident in Japan, must have
seen played, as men and women seem to enjoy
them as much as children. One is called " Ishi-
ken," in which a stone, a pair of scissors, and a
*i,
CHILDREN'S GAMES AND SPORTS. 465
wrapping-c.oth are represented The stone signifies the clenched fist,
the parted fore and middle finger the scissors, and the curved forefin-
ger and thumb the cloth.
In the " Kitsune-ken," the fox, man, and gun are the figures. The
pin kills the fox, but the fox deceives the man, and the gun is useless
without the man. In the " Osama-ken," five or six boys represent the
various grades of rank, from the peasant up to the great daimios, or
shogun. By superior address and skill in the game, the peasant rises
to the highest rank, or the man of highest rank is degraded.
From the nature of the Japanese language, in which a single word
or sound may have a great many significations, riddles and puns are
of extraordinary frequency. I do not know of any published collec-
tions of riddles, but every Japanese boy has a good stock of them on
hand. There are few Japanese works of light, perhaps of serious, lit-
erature in which puns do not continually recur. The popular songs
and poems are largely plays on words. There are also several puz-
zles played with sticks, founded upon the shape of certain Chinese
characters. As for the short and simple story-books, song -books,
nursery-rhymes, lullabys, and what, for want of a better name, may be
styled Mother Goose literature, they are as plentiful as with us ; but
they have a very strongly characteristic Japanese flavor, both in style
and matter. In the games, so familiar to us, of " Pussy wants a Cor-
ner " and " Prisoner's Base," the oni, or devil, takes the place of Puss
or the officer.
I have not mentioned all the games and sports of Japanese chil-
dren, but enough has been said to show their usual character. In
general, they seem to be natural, sensible, and in every sense benefi-
cial. Their immediate or remote effect, next to that of amusement,
is either educational or hygienic. Some teach history, some geogra-
phy, some excellent sentiments or good language, or inculcate reverence
and obedience to the elder brother or sister, to parents or to the em-
peror, or stimulate the manly virtues of courage and contempt for
pain. The study of the subject leads one to respect more highly,
rather than otherwise, the Japanese people for being such affectionate
fathers and mothers, and for having such natural and docile children.
The character of the children's plays and their encouragement by the
parents have, I think, much to do with that frankness, affection, and
obedience on the part of the children, and that kindness and sym-
pathy on that of the parents, which are so noticeable in Japan, and
which form one of the good points of Japanese life and character.
466 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XL
HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS.
HOUSEHOLD, as distinct from religious, superstitions may be defined
as beliefs having no real foundation of fact and a narrower range of in-
fluences. They act as a sort of moral police, whose rewards and pun-
ishments are confined entirely to this life. Religious superstitions af-
fect all mankind alike ; those of the household may be said to influ-
ence mainly women and children, and to have no connection with re-
ligion or the priests. Screened from criticism, humble in their sphere,
they linger in the household longer than religious superstitions. Ev-
ery nation has them ; and according to the degree of intelligence pos-
sessed by a people will they be numerous or rare. In most cases they
are harmless, while many have a real educational value for children
and simple-minded people, who can not, by their own intelligence,
foresee the remote good or bad results of their conduct. These per-
sons may be influenced by the fear of punishment or the hopes of re-
ward, embodied in a warning told with gravity, and enforced by the
apparently solemn belief of him who tells it. As children outgrow
them, or as they wear out, those who once observed will laugh at, and
yet often continue them through the force of habit. Others will be
retained on account of the pleasure connected with the belief. Oth-
ers, again, become so intrenched in household customs that religion,
reason, argument, fashion, assault them in vain. Thus, among many of
us, the upsetting of a salt-cellar, the dropping of a needle that stands
upright, the falling of a looking-glass, the accidental gathering of thir-
teen people around the dinner-table, will give rise to certain thoughts
resulting in a course of action or flutter of fear that can not be ration-
ally explained. I once heard of a Swedish servant-girl who would not
brush away the cobwebs in her mistress's house, lest she should sweep
away her beaux also. As in our own language, the fancies, poetry, or
fears of our ancestors are embalmed in the names of flowers, in words
and names, so the student of the picture-words of the Japanese Ian-
HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 467
guage finds in them fragments of poems, quaint conceits, or hideous
beliefs.
So far as I could judge, in Japan, the majority of the lower classes
implicitly believe the household superstitions current among them ;
and though, in the upper strata of society, there were many men who
laughed at them, the power of custom enslaved the women and chil-
dren. The greater number of those I give below are believed by the
larger portion of the people, particularly in the country. In this, as
in others of a more serious nature, the belief varies with the mood
and circumstances of the individual or people. Many of them I have
seen or heard referred to in conversation or in my reading ; others I
have had noted down for me by young men from various parts of Ja-
pan. I find that a few of them are peculiar, or local, to one province ;
but most of them form the stock of beliefs common to mankind or
the Japanese people. From hundreds, I give a few. Some have an
evident moral or educational purpose — to inculcate lessons of tidiness,
benevolence, and to form good habits of cleanliness, nicety in house-
keeping, etc. Some are weather prognostics, or warnings intended to
guard against fire or other calamities.
They never sweep the rooms of a house immediately after one of
the inmates has set out upon a journey, or to be absent for a time.
This would sweep out all the luck with him.
At a marriage ceremony, neither bride nor bridegroom wears any
clothing of a purple color, lest their marriage -tie be soon loosed, as
purple is the color most liable to fade. It would be as if a couple
from New Jersey would go to Indiana to spend their honey-moon.
If, while a person is very sick, the cup of medicine is upset by acci-
dent, they say it is a sure sign of his recovery. This looks as though
the Japanese had faith in the dictum, " Throw physic to the dogs."
There are some curious ideas in regard to cutting the finger-nails.
The nails must not be trimmed just previous to going on a journey,
lest disgrace should fall upon the person at the place of his destina-
tion. Upon no account will an ordinary Japanese cut his nails at
night, lest cat's nails grow out from them. Children who cast the
clippings of their nails in the brazier or fire are in danger of calamity.
If, while any one is cutting the nails, a piece springs into the fire, he
will die soon. By burning some salt in the fire, however, the danger
is avoided.
It seems that the bore is not unknown in Japan, and the Japanese
are pestered with visitors who sit their welcome out, and drive their
468 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
hosts into a frenzy of eagerness to get rid of them. The following is
said to be a sure recipe to secure good riddance : Go to the kitchen,
turn the broom upside down, put a towel over it, and fan it lustily.
The .tedious visitor will soon depart. Or, burn a moxa (Japanese, mo-
ffusa) on the back of his clogs. A Japanese, in entering a house, al-
ways leaves his clogs or sandals outside the door. The American
host, bored by tedious callers, is respectfully invited to try his method
of hastening departures.
Japanese papas, who find, as other fathers do, how much it costs to
raise a large family, will not let an infant, or even a young child, look
in a mirror (and thus see a child exactly like itself, making apparent
twins) ; for if he does, the anxious parent supposes the child, when
grown up and married, will have twins.
When small-pox prevails in a neighborhood, and parents do not wish
their children attacked by it, they write a notice on the front of their
houses that their children are absent. This is said to keep out the disease.
Many have reference to death or criminals. A Japanese corpse
is always placed with its head to the north and feet to the south.
Hence, a living Japanese will never sleep in that position. I have
often noticed, in the sleeping-rooms of private houses, where I was a
guest, and in many of the hotels, a diagram of the cardinal points of
the compass printed on paper, and pasted on the ceiling of the room,
for the benefit of timid sleepers. Some Japanese, in traveling, carry a
compass, to avoid this really natural and scientific position in sleep.
I have often surprised people, especially students, in Japan, by telling
them that to lie with the head to the north was the true position in
harmony with the electric currents in the atmosphere, and that a
Frenchman, noted for his longevity, ascribed his vigorous old age
mainly to the fact that he slept in a line drawn from pole to pole.
I used to shock them by invariably sleeping in that position myself.
The plaintive howling of a dog in the night-time portends a death
in some family in the vicinity of the animal.
The wooden clogs of the Japanese are fastened on the foot by a
single thong passing between the largest and next largest toe. The
stocking, or sock, is a " foot-glove," with a separate compartment for
the " thumb of the foot," and another mitten-like one for the " foot-
fingers." This thong, divided into two, passes over the foot and is
fastened at the sides. If, in walking, the string breaks in front, it is
the sign of some misfortune to the person's enemies ; if on the back
part, the wearer himself will experience some calamity.
HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 469
When, by reason of good fortune or a lucky course of events, there
is great joy in a family, it is customary to make kowameshi, or red
rice, and give an entertainment to friends and neighbors. The rice is
colored by boiling red beans with it. If, for any cause, the color is
not a fine red, it is a bad omen for the family, and their joy is turned
to grief.
When a person loses a tooth, either artificially at the hands of the
dentist (Japanese, " tooth-carpenter "), or by forceps, or by accident, in
order that another may grow in the empty socket, the tooth, if from
the upper jaw, is buried under the foundation of the house ; if from
the lower jaw, it is thrown up on the roof of a house.
Many are founded upon puns, or word- resemblances, making the
deepest impression upon the native mind. There are many instances
in Japanese history in which discreet servants or wise men gave a hap-
py turn to some word of sinister omen, and warded off harm.
At New-year's-day, paterfamilias does not like any one to utter the
sound ski (death), or any word containing it This is a difficult mat-
ter in a household, since the syllable shi has over a dozen different
meanings, and occurs in several hundred Japanese words, some of them
very common. Thus, let us suppose a family of husband, wife, child,
and servant, numbering four (shi). A visitor calls, and happens to use
the words Shiba (a city district in Tokio), shi (teacher, poem, four, to
do, etc.). The host, at first merely angry with the visitor who so forci-
bly uses the sinister words, is incensed when the latter happens to re-
mark that his host's household consists of four (shi), and wishes him
gone. Moodily reflecting on his visitor's remark, he resolves to dis-
miss his servant, and so make his household three. But the shrewd
servant, named Fuku, remonstrates with his master for sending away
fuku (blessing, luck) from his house. The master is soothed, and
keeps his " boy."
Many Japanese worship the god Eampira for no other reason than
that the first syllable of his name means gold.
If a woman steps over an egg-shell, she will go mad ; if over a ra-
zor, it will become dull ; if over a whetstone, it will be broken. If a
man should set his hair on fire, he will go mad. A girl who bites her
finger-nails will, when married, bring forth children with great diffi-
culty. Children are told that if they tell a lie, an on*, or an imp, called
the tengu, will pull out their tongues. Many a Japanese urchin has
spoken the truth in fear of the oni supposed to be standing by, ready
to run away with his tongue. No such watchman seems to be set be-
470 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
fore the unruly member of the scolding wife. Of these " edge-tools
that grow sharper by constant use " there is a goodly number in Ja-
pan. When husband and wife are quarreling, a devil is believed to
stand between them, encouraging them to go on from bad to worse.
Salt is regarded as something so mysterious in its preservative pow-
er, that it is the subject of several household superstitions. A house-
wife will not, on any account, buy salt at night. When obtained in
the day-time, a portion of it must first be thrown in the fire to ward
off all dangers, and especially to prevent quarreling in the family. It
is also used to scatter around the threshold and in the house after a
funeral, for purificatory purposes.
Many are the imaginary ways of getting rich, so numerous in every
land. One of the most important articles of Japanese clothing, in
both male and female, is the obi, or girdle. If, in dressing, the obi
gets entangled, and forms a knot or knob, the wearer never unties it
himself, but proposes to some one else to do it for him, promising
him a great sum, as the wearer is sure to be rich. There is usually a
great deal of laughing when this " superstition " is observed.
All Japanese seem to have a desire to attain full stature. Stunted
growth is a great grief to a man, and every thing of ill-omen calculated
to restrain growth must be avoided. If a boy rests a gun on the top
of his head, he will grow no taller. Children must not carry any kind
of basket on their heads, nor must they ever measure their own height.
Such a sight as men or women carrying burdens on their heads, so
common in Europe, is rarely seen in Japan.
If a man, while going to fish, meets a bonze on the road, he will
catch no fish, as the [strict] bonzes eat no fish.
A person who, when eating, bites his tongue, believes that somebody
begrudges him his food.
It often happens that boys and girls like to eat the charred portions
of rice that sometimes remain in the pot when the rice has been burn-
ed. Young unmarried people who persist in this are warned that they
will marry persons whose faces are pock-marked.
Many people, especially epicures, have an idea that by eating the
first fruits, fish, grain, or vegetables of the season, they will live sev-
enty-five days longer than they otherwise would.
It is an exceedingly evil omen to break the chopsticks while eating.
Children are told that if they strike any thing with their chopsticks
while at their meals, they will be struck dumb.
People who drink tea or water out of the spout of the vessel, in-
HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 471
stead of out of a cup, are told that they will have a child with a
mouth shaped like the spout of the vessel. This terror is kept fresh
before the mind by masks and pictures of human beings with spout-
shaped mouths.
In Japan the dwellings are universally built of wood, and conflagra-
tions very frequently destroy whole towns or villages in a single day
or night, leaving nothing but ashes. Hence it is of the greatest im-
portance to provide against the ever-ready enemy, and every " sign " is
carefully heeded. The following prognostics are deemed unfailing:
When the cocks crow loudly in the evening; when a dog climbs up
on the roof of a house or building of any kind. If a weasel cries out
once, fire will break out : to avert it, a person must pour out three
dipperfuls of water, holding the dipper in the left hand. A peculiar
kind of grass, called hinode (sunrise), grows on many Japanese houses :
this must not be pulled up, otherwise the house will take fire.
In regard to visitors, they believe the following : In pouring tea
from the tea-pot, it sometimes happens that the stem of a leaf comes
out with the tea, and stands momentarily upright. From whatever
direction the stem finally falls, they expect a visitor. If a bird, in fly-
ing, casts its shadow on the partition or window (which is of paper,
and translucent), a visitor will surely call soon. A person, when ab-
stracted or in trouble, while eating, will often pour out his tea from
the back of the tea-pot, instead of through the spout. In such case
it is a sure sign of the near visit of a priest to the house.
Many are intended to teach the youth to imitate great, good, or
wise men.
If the rim (fuchi, also meaning " salary ") of a cup is broken (hana-
reru, also meaning is " lost ") in presence of an official while he is eat-
ing, he will be unhappy, for he will understand it to mean that he
will lose his office or salary.
Even among the educated samurai, with whom the maintaining of
the family name and dignity is all-important, there are many danger-
ous seasons for travelers, and the number of lucky and unlucky days
is too numerous to be fully noted here.
Many people of the lower classes would not wash their head or hair
on "the day of the horse," so named after one of the signs of the
zodiac, lest their hair become red. Any other capillary color than a
deep black is an abomination to a Japanese.
During an eclipse of the sun or moon, people carefully cover the
wells, as they suppose that poison falls from the sky during the period
472 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
of the obscuration. Seeds will not germinate if planted on certain
days. Many people will not build a house fronting to the north-east,
else it will soon be destroyed : this is the quarter in which especial evil
lurks ; it is called the " Devil's Gate." Young men must not light
their pipes at a lamp : it should be done at the coals in the brazier. If
they persist in violating this precaution, they will not get good wives.
Many people even now, in the rural districts, think it wrong to eat beef,
and believe that a butcher will have a cripple among his descendants.
When a maimed or deformed child is born, people say that its par-
ents or ancestors committed some great sin. After 5 P.M. many peo-
ple will not put on new clothes or sandals. There are several years of
life called the yaku-doshi (evil years), in which a person must be very
careful of himself and all he does. These critical years are the seventh,
twenty-fifth, forty-second, and sixty-first in a man's, and the seventh,
eighth, thirty-third, forty-second, and sixty-first in a woman's life.
In Japan, as with us, each baby is the most remarkable child ever
seen, and wondrous are the legends rehearsed concerning each one ;
but it is a great day in a Japanese home when the baby, of his own
accord, walks before his first birthday, and mochi (rice pastry) must
be made to celebrate the auspicious event.
Young girls do not like to pour tea or hot water into a cup of
kawameshi (red rice), lest their wedding-night should be rainy.
The common belief in Japan is that the dream is the act of the
soul. As soon as a person falls asleep, the soul, leaving the body,
goes out to play. If we wake any one suddenly and violently, he
will die, because his soul, being at a distance, can not return to the
body before he is awakened. The soul is supposed to have form and
color, and to be a small, round, black body ; and the adventures of
the disembodied soul, t, e., the black ball apart from its owner, form
a standard subject in Japanese novels and imaginative literature.
In general, dreams go by contraries. Thus, if one dreams that he was
killed or stabbed by some one with a sword, the dream is considered
a very lucky one. If a person dreams of finding money, he will soon
lose some. If he dreams of loss, he will gain. If one dreams of Fuji
no yama, he will receive promotion to high rank, or will win great
prosperity. If on the night of the second day of the First month one
dreams of the takara-bune (treasure-ship), he shall become a rich man.
In order to dream this happy dream, people often put beneath their
pillows a picture of it, which operates like bridal-cake.
All these beliefs and hundreds of others that I noted in Japan are
HOUSEHOLD CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 473
comparatively harmless. The Japanese fancy does not seem to have
reached that depth of disease, to have suffered with that delirium tre-
mens of superstition, such as inthralls and paralyzes the Chinese, and
prevents all modern progress. Feng Shuey is not a national curse in
Japan, as it is in China; and whereas, in the latter country, telegraph
poles and wires are torn down because they cast a shadow over the
ancestral tombs, and railroads can not be built because they traverse or
approach grave-yards, in Japan both these civilizers are popular.
In a few years many of the household superstitions I have enumer-
ated will be, in the cities of Japan, as curious to the Japanese as they
are to us. Among these are the following, with which this long
chapter may be closed :
All over the country, in town or city, are trees specially dedicated
to the kami, or gods. Those around shrines also are deemed sacred.
They are often marked by a circlet of twisted rice-straw. Several
times in the recent history of the country have serious insurrections
broken out among the peasantry, because the local authorities decided
to cut down certain trees held in worshipful reverence by the people,
and believed to be the abode of the tutelary deities. Nature, in all
her forms, is as animate and populous to the Japanese imagination as
were the mountain stream and sea to the child and peasant of an-
cient Greece. Many a tale is told of trees shedding blood when hew-
ed down, and of sacrilegious axe-men smitten in death for their temer-
ity. In popular fiction — the mirror as well as nurse of popular fancy
— a whole grove of trees sometimes appears to the belated or guilty
traveler as a whispering council of bearded and long-armed old men.
In Fukui and Tokio, and in my numerous journeyings, many trees
were pointed out to me as having good or evil reputation. Some
were the abodes of good spirits, some of ghosts that troubled travel-
ers and the neighborhood; while some had the strange power of at-
tracting men to hang themselves on their branches. This power of
fascinating men to suicide is developed in the tree after the first vic-
tim has done so voluntarily. One of these, standing in a lonely part
of the road skirting the widest of the castle moats in Fukui, was fa-
mous for being the elect gallows for all the suicides by rope in the
city. Another tree, near the Imperial College in Tokio, within half a
mile of my house, bore a similar sinister reputation ; and another, on
the south side of Shiba grove, excelled, in number of victims, any in
that great city.
A singular superstition, founded upon the belief that the kami will
474 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
visit vengeance upon those who desecrate the sacred trees, or for
whom they are desecrated, is called the " Ushi toki mairi " — literally,
" to go to the shrine at the hour of the ox." Let us suppose that a
man has made love to a woman, won her affections, and then deserted
her. In some cases, sorrow culminates in suicide ; usually, it is en-
dured and finally overborne ; in rare cases, the injured woman becomes
a jealous avenger, who invokes the gods to curse and annihilate the
destroyer of her peace. To do this, she makes a rude image of straw,
which is to represent her victim. At the hour of two o'clock in the
morning, ushi toki (the hour of the ox), she proceeds (mairi) to the
shrine of her patron god, usually the Uji-gami (family or local deity).
Her feet are shod with high clogs, her limbs are lightly robed in loose
night-dress of white, her hair is disheveled, and her eyes sparkle with
the passion within her. Sometimes she wears a crown, made of an
iron tripod reversed, on which burn three candles. In her left hand
she carries the straw effigy ; in her right she grasps a hammer. On
her bosom is suspended a mirror. She carries nails in her girdle or
in her mouth. Reaching the sacred tree, which is encircled with a
garland of rice-straw, before the shrine, and near the torii, she impales
upon the tree with nails, after the manner of a Roman crucifier, the
straw effigy of her recreant lover. While so engaged, she adjures the
gods to save their tree, impute the guilt of desecration to the traitor,
and visit him with their deadly vengeance. The visit is repeated
nightly, several times in succession, until the object of her incanta-
tions sickens and dies. At Sabae, which I visited, a town twenty-five
miles from Fukui, before a shrine of Kampira stood a pine-tree about
a foot thick, plentifully studded with nails, the imperishable parts of
these emblems of vicarious vengeance. Another, and a smaller, tree
hard by, wounded unto death by repeated stabs of the iron nails driv-
en home by arms nerved to masculine strength, had long since with-
ered away. It stood there, all scarred and stained by rust, and gut-
tered into rottenness, a grim memorial of passions long since cooled
in death, perchance of retribution long since accomplished. What
tales of love and desertion, anguish, jealousy, and vengeance could
each rusty cross of iron points tell, were each a tongue ! It seemed
but another of many proofs that the passions which thrill or torment
the human soul are as strong in Japan as in those lands whose chil-
dren boast that to them it is given to reach the heights of highest hu-
man joy, and to sound the depths of deepest human woe. In Japan,
also, " Love is as strong as death ; jealousy is cruel as the grave."
THE MYTHICAL ZOOLOGY OF JAPAN. 477
xn.
THE MYTHICAL ZOOLOGY OF JAPAN.
As if to make amends for the poverty of the actual fauna in Japan,
the number and variety of imaginary creatures in animal form are re-
markably great. Man is not satisfied with what the heavens above
and the waters under the earth show him. Seeing that every effect
must have a cause, and ignorant of the revelations of modern science,
the natural man sees in cloud, tempest, lightning, thunder, earthquake,
and biting wind the moving spirits of the air. According to the pri-
mal mold of the particular human mind will the bodying of these
things unseen be lovely or hideous, sublime or trivial. Only one born
among the triumphs of modern discovery, who lives a few years in an
Asiatic country, can realize in its most perfect vividness the definition
of science given by the master seer — " the art of seeing the invisible."
The aspects of nature in Japan are such as to influence the minds
of its mainly agricultural inhabitants to an extent but faintly realized
by one born in the United States. In the first place, the foundations
of the land are shaky. There can be no real estate in Japan, for one
knows not but the whole country may be ingulfed in the waters out
of which it once emerged. Earthquakes average over two a month,
and a hundred in one revolution of the moon have been known. The
national annals tell of many a town and village ingulfed, and of cities
and proud castles leveled. Floods of rain, causing dreadful land-slides
and inundations, are by no means rare. Even the ocean has, to the
coast-dweller, an added terror. Not only do the wind and tempest
arise to wreck and drown, but the tidal wave is ever a possible visitor.
Once or twice a year the typhoons, sometimes the most dreadful in the
dreadful catalogue of destructive agencies, must be looked for. Two-
thirds of the entire surface of the empire is covered with mount-
ains— not always superb models of form like Fuji, but often jagged
peaks and cloven crests, among which are grim precipices, frightful
gulches, and gloomy defiles. With no religion but that of paganism
and fetichism, armed without by no weapons of science, strengthened
478 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
within by no knowledge of the Creator-father, the Japanese peasant is
appalled at his own insignificance in the midst of the sublime myste-
ries and immensities of nature. The creatures of his own imagination,
by which he explains the phenomena of nature and soothes his terrors,
though seeming frightful to us, are necessities to him, since the awful
suspense of uncertainty and ignorance is to him more terrible than the
creatures whose existence he imagines. Though modern science will
confer an ineffable good upon Japan by enlightening the darkened in-
tellect of its inhabitants, yet the continual liability to the recurrence of
destructive natural phenomena will long retard the march of mind, and
keep alive superstitions that now block like bowlders the path of civ-
ilization.
Chief among ideal creatures in Japan is the dragon. The word
dragon stands for a genus of which there are several species and va-
rieties. To describe them in full, and to recount minutely the ideas
held by the Japanese rustics concerning them, would be to compile an
octavo work on dragonology. The merest tyro in Japanese art — in-
deed, any one who has seen the cheap curios of the country — must
have been impressed with the great number of these colossal wrigglers
on every thing Japanese. In the country itself, the monster is well-
nigh omnipresent. In the carvings on tombs, temples, dwellings, and
shops — on the Government documents — printed on the old and the
new paper money, and stamped on the new coins — in pictures and
books, on musical instruments, in high-relief on bronzes, and cut in
stone, metal, and wood — the dragon (tatsu) everywhere " swinges the
scaly horror of his folded tail," whisks his long mustaches, or glares
with his terrible eyes. The dragon is the only animal in modern Ja-
pan that wears hairy ornaments on the upper lip.
I shall attempt no detailed description of the Japanese dragon,
presuming that most foreign readers are already familiar with its ap-
pearance on works of art. The creature looks like a winged crocodile,
except as to the snout, which is tufted with hair, and the claws, which
are very sharp. The celebrated Japanese author, Bakin, in his master-
piece of Hakkenden (" The Eight Dog Children "), describes the mon-
ster with dogmatic accuracy. He says : " The dragon is a creature of
a very superior order of being. It has a deer's horns, a horse's head,
eyes like those of a devil, a neck like that of a snake, a belly like that
of a red worm, scales like those of a fish, claws like a hawk's, paws like
a tiger's, and ears like a cow's. In the spring, the dragon lives in heav-
en ; in the autumn, in the water ; in the summer, it travels in the
THE MYTHICAL ZOOLOGY Of1 JAPAN.
479
clouds and takes its pleasure ; in winter, it lives in the earth dormant.
It always dwells alone, and never in herds. There are many kinds of
dragons, such as the violet, the yellow, the green, the red, the white, the
black, and the flying dragon. Some are scaly, some horned, some with-
out horns. When the white dragon breathes, the breath of its lungs
goes into the earth and turns to gold. When the violet dragon spits,
the spittle becomes balls of pure crystal, of which gems and caskets
are made. One kind of dragon has nine colors on its body, and an-
other can see every thing within a hundred ri ; another has immense
treasures of every sort; 'another delights to kill human beings. The
water dragon causes floods of rain ; when it is sick, the rain has a
The Rain Dragon. (Prom a Japanese drawing, by Eamo.)
fishy smell. The fire dragon is only seven feet long, but its body is
of flame. The dragons are all very lustful, and approach beasts of ev-
ery sort. The fruit of a union of one of these monsters with a cow
is the kirin ; with a swine, an elephant ; and with a mare, a steed of
the finest breed. The female dragon produces at every parturition
nine young. The first young dragon sings, and likes all harmonious
sounds, hence the tops of Japanese bells are cast in the form of this
31
480 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
dragon; the second delights in the sounds of musical instruments,
hence the koto, or horizontal harp, and suzumi, a girl's drum, struck by
the fingers, are ornamented with the figure of this dragon ; the third
is fond of drinking, and likes all stimulating liquors, therefore goblets
and drinking-cups are adorned with representations of this creature ;
the fourth likes steep and dangerous places, hence gables, towers, and
projecting beams of temples and pagodas have carved images of this
dragon upon them ; the fifth is a great destr.oyer of living things, fond
of killing and bloodshed, therefore swords are decorated with golden
figures of this dragon ; the sixth loves learning and delights in litera-
ture, hence on the covers and title-pages of books and literary works
are pictures of this creature ; the seventh is renowned for its power of
hearing ; the eighth enjoys sitting, hence the easy -chairs are carved in
its images : the ninth loves to bear weight, therefore the feet of tables
and of hibachi are shaped like this creature's feet. As the dragon is
the most powerful animal in existence, so the garments of the emperor
or mikado are called the ' dragon robes,' his face the ' dragon counte-
nance,' his body the 'dragon body,' the ruffling of the 'dragon scales'
his displeasure, and his anger the ' dragon wrath.' "
Whence arose the idea of the dragon ? Was the pterodactyl known
to the early peoples of the East ? Did the geologic fish-lizard wander
at night, with teeth unpicked and uncleansed of phosphorescent frag-
ments of his fish-diet, and thus really breathe out fire, as the artists
picture him ? ,
The kirin, referred to above, is an animal having the head of a drag-
on, the body of a deer, and the legs and feet of a horse, with tail and
streaming hair or wings peculiar to itself, though native poets never
bestride it, nor is it any relative of Pegasus. On its forehead is a
single horn. It is found carved on the wood-work of the tombs of
the shoguns and other defunct worthies in Japan. It is said that the
kirin appears on the earth once in a thousand years, or only when
some transcendently great man or sage, like Confucius, is born. It
never treads on a live insect, nor eats growing grass. The kirin is of
less importance in Japan than in China, whence its origin, like that of
so much of the mythology and strange notions current in Japan.
There is another creature whose visits are rarer than those of an-
gels, since it appears on the earth only at millennial intervals, or at the
birth of some very great man. This fabulous bird, also of Chinese or-
igin, is called the howo, or phenix. The tombs of the shoguns at Shi-
ba and Nikko have most elaborate representations of the howo, and
THE MYTHICAL ZOOLOGY OF JAPAN. 481
the new and old paper currency of the country likewise bears its im-
age. It seems to be a combination of the pheasant and peacock. A
Chinese dictionary thus describes the fowl : " The phenix is of the
essence of water; it was born in the vermilion cave; it roosts not
but upon the most beautiful tree (Wu-tung, El&ococcus oleifera) ; it
eats not but of the seeds of the bamboo ; it drinks not but of the
sweetest spring ; its body is adorned with the Five Colors ; its song
contains the Five Notes ; as it walks, it looks around ; as it flies, the
hosts of birds follow it." It has the head of a fowl, the crest of a
swallow, the neck of a snake, the tail of a fish. Virtue, obedience,
justice, fidelity, and benevolence are symbolized in the decorations on
its head, wings, body, and breast.
Some of the ultra-conservatives, who cherish the old superstitions,
and who look with distrust and contempt on the present regime in
Japan, await the coming of the kirin and the howo with eagerness, as
the annunciation of the birth of the great leader, who is, by his pre-
eminent abilities, to dwarf into insignificance all the pigmy politicians
of the present day. This superstition in Japan takes the place of
those long in vogue in Europe, where it was supposed that such lead-
ers as Charlemagne, Alfred, and Barbarossa were sleeping, but would
come forth again at the propitious moment, to lead, conquer, and
reign.
The kappa is a creature with the body and head of a monkey
and the claws of a tortoise. There are various representations of it,
gravely figured in native works on reptilology. In some of these, the
monkey type seems to prevail ; in others, the tortoise. There is a pe-
culiar species of tortoise in the waters of Japan, called by the natives
suppon. Its shell is cartilaginous, its head triangular, and its probos-
cis elongated and tapering. Imagine this greenish creature rising up,
shedding its shell, and evolving into a monkey-like animal, about the
size of a big boy, but retaining its web-footed claws, and you have the
kappa. It is supposed to live in the water, and to seize people, espe-
cially boys, who invade its dominions. It delights in catching well-
favored urchins, and feasting upon choice tidbits torn out of certain
parts of their bodies.
The kappa, fortunately, is very fond of cucumbers, and parents hav-
ing promising sons throw the first cucumbers of the season into the
water it is supposed to haunt, to propitiate it and save their chil-
dren. In Fukui, I was warned not to bathe in a certain part of the
river, as the kappa would infallibly catch me by the feet and devour
482 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
me ; and more than one head was shaken when it became known that
I had defied their warnings.
A woman was riding in a jin-riki-sha, and the coolie was coursing
at full speed on the road at the side of the castle-moat, where the
water is four feet deep. Suddenly, and, to the coolie, unaccountably,
he and his vehicle were upset, and the precious freight was thrown
into the moat. She was fished out in a condition that might have
helped even a passing foreigner to believe in the existence of the mer-
maid. The coolie was puzzled to account for the capsizing of his ma-
chine, and immediately attributed it to the agency of the kappa. By
venturing insultingly near the domain of this local Neptune, he had
been punished by his muddy majesty. Though the woman had no
mark of claw or teeth, she doubtless congratulated herself on her lucky
escape from the claws of the monster.
I have heard, on several occasions, of people in Tokio seeing a kap-
pa in the Sumida-gawa, the river that flows by the capital. Numer-
ous instances of harm done by it are known to the orthodox believ-
ers, to whom these creations of diseased imagination are embodied ver-
ities. The native newspapers occasionally announce reported cases of
kappa mischief, using the incidents as texts to ridicule the supersti-
tion, hoping to uproot it from the minds of the people.
Among the many ideal creatures with which the native imagina-
tion has populated earth and air is the kama-itachi, believed to be a
kind of weasel, that, in the most wanton sport, or out of mere delight
in malignity, cuts or tears the faces of people with the sickle which it
is supposed to carry. This creature is not known to trouble any ani-
mal except man. Every one knows that at times, in moments of ex-
citement, cuts or scratches are received which are discovered only by
the appearance of blood. In Japan, where the people universally wear
clogs — often high, heavy blocks of wood, the thong of which is lia-
ble to break — and the ground is covered with loose pebbles or sharp
stones, falls and cuts are very frequent. The one thought, to the ex-
clusion of every other, in an instance of this kind, is about the failing
thong or the outslipping support. The pedestrian, picking himself
up, with probably a malediction on the thong or the clog-maker, finds,
on cooling off, that his face is cut. Presto ! "Kama-itachi ni kirare-
ta " (" cut by the sickle-weasel "). The invisible brute has passed and
cut his victim on the cheek with his blade. I have myself known
cases where no cut appeared and no blood flowed, yet the stumbler
who broke his clog-string fell to cursing the kama-itachi for tripping
THE MYTHICAL ZOOLOGY OF JAPAN.
483
him. This creature is also said to be present in whirlwinds. It is a
most convenient scape-goat for people who go out at night when they
ought to stay at home, and who get cuts and scratches which they do
not care to account for truly. A case recently occurred in the port of
Niigata, which illustrates both the mythical and scape-goat phases of
this belief. A European doctor was called to see a native woman,
who was said to be suffering from the kama-itachi. The patient was
found lying down, with a severe clean cut, such as might have been
caused by falling on some sharp substance ; but to all questions as to
how she got the wound, the only answer was, " Kama-itachi." By
Futen, the Wiud-imp. (From a Japanese drawing.)
dint of questioning the servants, it appeared that there was more in
the facts than had met the doctor's ears. It seemed that, during the
night, she had risen and passed out of the house, and had been absent
for a considerable time. Whether there was a "love-lorn swain in
lady's bower" awaiting her coming was not developed during the
pumping process she was subjected to by the student of imaginary
zoology, who was the catechist of the occasion. Japanese gardens are
nearly always paved with smooth stones, which often have sharp edges.
These might easily have inflicted just such a wound in case of a fall on
484 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
their slippery surfaces, especially if the fall occurred in the darkness.
For reasons of her own, most probably, the blame was laid on the ka-
ma-itachi.
The wind and the thunder, to a Japanese child or peasant, are some-
thing more than moving air and sound. Before many of the temples
are figures, often colossal, of the gods of the wind and of thunder.
The former is represented as a monstrous semi-feline creature, holding
an enormous bag of compressed air over his shoulders. When he
loosens his hold on one of the closed ends, the breezes blow ; when he
partly opens it, a gale arises ; when he removes his hand, the tornado
devastates the earth. At times, this imp, as the fancy seizes him, sal-
Eaiden, the Thunder-drummer. (From a native drawing.)
lies forth from his lair away in the mountains, and chases terrified
travelers or grass-cutters ; often scratching their faces dreadfully with
his claws. Sometimes, invisibly passing, he bites or tears the counte-
nance of the traveler, who, bearing the brant of the blast, feels the
wound, but sees not the assailant. There are not wanting pictures
and images representing the deliverance of pious men, who, trusting in
the goddess Kuanon, have, by dint of nimbleness and prayer, escaped,
as by a hair-breadth, the steel-like claws of Futen, the wind-imp.
The " thunder-god " is represented as a creature that looks like a
TUE MYTHICAL ZOOLOGY OF JAPAN. 485
human dwarf changed into a species of erect cat. His name is Raiden.
He carries over his head a semicircle of five drums joined together.
By striking or rattling these drums, he makes thunder. With us it is
not the thunder that strikes; but in Japanese popular language, the
thunder not only strikes, but kills. According to Russian supersti-
tion, thunder kills with a stone arrow. Among the Japanese, when
the lightning strikes, it is the thunder-cat that leaps upon, or is hurled
at, the victim. Often it escapes out of the cloud to the ground. A
young student from Hiuga told me that in his native district the paw
of a thunder-imp that fell out of the clouds several centuries ago is
still kept, and triumphantly exhibited, as a silencing proof to all skep-
tics of the actual occurrence of the event asserted to have taken place.
Tradition relates that a sudden storm once arose in the district, and
that, during a terrific peal of thunder, this monster leaped, in a flash of
lightning, down a well. Instead, however, of falling directly into the
water, its hind paw happened to get caught in a crack of the split
timber of the wooden well-curb, and was torn off by the momentum
of the descent. This paw was found after the storm, fresh and
bloody, and was immediately taken to be preserved for the edification
of future generations. It is not known whether any of the neighbors
missed a cat at that time; but any suggestions of such an irreverent
theory of explanation would doubtless be met by the keepers of the
relic with lofty scorn and pitying contempt.
One of the miracle figures at Asakusa, in Tokio, until 1874 repre-
sents a noble of the mikado's court, with his hand on the throat,
and his knee planted on the back of the thunder-imp that lies sprawl-
ing, and apparently howling, on the ground, with his drums broken
and scattered about him. One hairy paw is stretched out impotently
before him, and with the other he vainly tries to make his conqueror
release his hold. The expression of the starting eyes of the beast
shows that the vise-like grip of the man is choking him ; his nostrils
gape, and from his mouth extrude sharp teeth. His short ears are
cocked, and his body is hairy, like a cat. On each of his paws are
several triangular bayonet - shaped claws. The human figure is life-
size; the thunder-cat is about three feet from crown to claws. The
creature does not appear to have any tail. This, however, is no
curtailment of his feline dignity, since most of the Japanese pussies
have caudal appendages of but one or two inches in length, and many
are as tailless as the Darwinian descendants of the monkey. This
tableau is explained as follows by the guide-book to the exhibition :
486 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
" In the province of Yamato, in the reign of Yuriyaku Tenno, when
he was leaving his palace, a sudden thunder-storm of terrific violence
arose. The mikado ordered Sugaru, his courtier, to catch the thun-
der-imp. Sugaru spurred his horse forward and drove the thunder-
god to the side of Mount Abe, where the creature, leaping high into
the air, defied the attempts of his pursuer. Sugaru, gazing at the
sky, cried out to the imp, ' Obey the emperor !' But the roll of the
thunder ceased not for a moment. Then Sugaru, turning his face to
the temple, prayed earnestly to Kuanon, and cried out, ' Dost thou
not hear and protect thy faithful ones when they cry unto thee ?' Im-
mediately, as the prayer ended, a splendor of radiant light shot out
from the temple, and the thunder -imp fell to the earth. Sugaru
seized him in a trice, bound him securely, and took him to the em-
peror's palace. Then all men called him the ' god-catcher.' "
Decidedly, the animal of greatest dimensions in the mythical
menagerie or aquarium of Japan is the jishin uwo, or " earthquake
fish." Concerning the whereabouts and haunts of this monster, there
are two separate opinions or theories, held respectively by the dwell-
ers on the coast and those inland. The former believe that the jishin-
uwo is a submarine monster, whose body is from half a ri to one
ri in length. This fish strikes the shore or ocean-bottom in its gam-
bols or in its wrath, and makes the ground rock and tremble. In
times of great anger it not only causes the solid earth to quiver and
crack, leveling houses in ruin, and ingulfing mountains, but, arching
its back, piles the waters of the ocean into that sum of terror and
calamity— a tidal wave. Among the people in the interior, however,
the theory obtains that there exists a subterranean fish of prodigious
length. According to some, its head is in the northern part of the
main island, the place of fewest and lightest earthquakes, and its tail
beneath the ground that lies between Tokio and Kioto. Others as-
sert that the true position is the reverse of this. The motions of the
monster are known by the tremors of the earth. A gentle thrill
means that it is merely bristling its spines. When shocks of extraor-
dinary violence are felt, the brute is on a rampage, and is flapping its
flukes like a wounded whale.
The limits of this chapter forbid any long description of the less
important members of that ideal menagerie to which I have played
the showman. Not a few instances have fallen under my own imme-
diate notice of the pranks of two varieties of the genus tengu, which
to the learned are symbolical of the male and female essences in
TUB MYTHICAL ZOOLOG T OF JAPAM
487
Chinese philosophy. These are in the one case long-nosed, and in
the other long-billed goblins, that haunt mountain places and kidnap
wicked children. Their faces are found in street* shows, in picture-
books, on works of art, and even in temples, all over the country.
The native caricaturists are not afraid of them, and the funny artist
has given us a sketch of a pair who are putting the nasal elongation
to a novel use, in carrying the lunches. One is being "led by the
nose," in a sense even stronger than the English idiom. The scrap
of text, "hanami " (" to see the flowers "), is their term for junketing in
Tengu going on a Picnic. (Hokusai.)
the woods ; but the hindmost tengu is carrying pleasure to the verge
of pain, since he has to hold up his lunch-box with his right, while he
carries his mat to sit on and table-cloth in his left hand. He of the
beak evidently best enjoys the fun of the matter. I might tell of
cats which do not exist in the world of actual observation, which have
nine tails, and torment people, and of those other double-tailed felines
which appear in the form of old women. A tortoise with a wide-
fringed tail, which lives ten thousand years, is found portrayed on
miscellaneous works of art, in bronze, lacquer-ware, carved work, and
in silver, and especially represented as the emblem of longevity at
488 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
marriage ceremonies. The mermaid is not only an article of manufact-
ure by nimble -fingered native taxidermists, but exists in the belief of
the Japanese fishermen as certainly as it does not exist in the ocean.
Among the miracle -figures or tableaux at Asakusa, to which we
have already referred, is one representing a merman begging the
prayers of a pious devotee. The Japanese guide-book says: "One
day when a certain Jogu Taishi was passing the village of Ishidera, a
creature with a head like a human being and a body like a fish ap-
peared to him out of the rushes, and told him that in his previous
state of existence he had been very fond of fishing. Now, being born
into the world as a merman, he eagerly desired Jogu Taishi to erect a
shrine to the honor of Kuanon, that by the great favor and mercy of
the goddess he might be reborn into a higher form of life. Accord-
ingly, Jogu Taishi erected a shrine, and carved with his own hands a
thousand images of Kuanon. On the day on which he finished the
carving of the last image, a ten-jin (angel) appeared to him and said,
' By your benevolence and piety I have been born into the regions of
heaven.' "
Little boys, tempted to devour too much candy, are frightened, not
with prophecies of pain or threats of nauseous medicines, but by the
fear of a hideous huge worm that will surely be produced by indul-
gence in sweets. The Japanese bacchanals are called shoji. They are
people who live near the sea, of long red hair, bleared eyes, and gaunt
faces, who dance with wild joy before a huge jar of sake. On picnic
boxes, sake cups, vases and jars of lacquered work, bronze, or porce-
lain, these mythical topers, with the implements of their mirth and ex-
cess, are seen represented. The associations of a Japanese child who
first looks upon a man of red beard or hair may be imagined. So
goes through all ages and ranks of life a more or less deep-rooted ter-
ror of non-existent monstrosities ; and although many Japanese people
in the cities and towns laugh at these superstitions, yet among the
inaka, or country people, they are living realities, not to be trifled
with or defied. In company, round the hearth, one fellow may be
bold enough to challenge their existence ; but at night, on the lonely
road, or in the mountain solitudes, or in the presence of nature's more
awful phenomena, the boor, the child, and even the grown men who
reason, are awed into belief and fear. That they are fading away, how-
ever, year by year, is most evident. Science, the press, education, and
Christianity are making these mythical animals extinct species in the
geology of belief.
sriiA* meet
•
i
'
492 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ors, is a picture of Raiko, the hero, in helmet and armor, grasping in
both hands the faithful sword with which he slays the ghoul whose
frightful face glowers above him. The hiragana text and wood-cuts
within the covers are greatly worn, showing that many thousand cop-
ies have been printed from the original and oft-retouched face of the
cherry-wood blocks. The story, thus illustrated with fourteen engrav-
ings, is as follows :
Long, long ago there was a great war between the Genji and Heike,
in which many men were killed. One of the Genji warriors, named
Raiko, could not find any one valiant enough to fight with him, and
so he wished to find a ghoul to slay. Now, there lurked at the palace
gate a fierce ghoul, which he sent his retainer, Watanabe Tsuna, to kill.
Now, Tsuna was, next to Raiko, the strongest man in the whole coun-
try, and was not afraid of the ghoul. When he went out to the gate,
the oni seized him by the helmet, but Tsuna caught the ghoul's arm
with the left hand, and, with his sword in his right hand, cut off the
limb. The ghoul was so frightened that it ran away, leaving its hairy
arm and claws. Tsuna was very proud of his victory, and kept the
arm as a trophy, carefully packed in a fine box. One day an old wom-
an came to see the hero, saying she had heard of his feat, and would
like to see the wonderful limb which he, by his valor, had cut off.
Now, Tsuna was always good-natured to old people and good children,
being only angry with wicked robbers and demons, and so he opened
the box to show the old lady his treasure. Now, this old woman was
nothing more than a ghoul in disguise. No sooner had Tsuna opened
his box than she snatched the limb, and flew away with it through the
smoke-hole in the roof, changing, as she flew, into her true shape —
that of a hideous ghoul.
At this time Raiko was sick, and a three-eyed ghoul came to tor-
ment him, knowing he was very weak ; but Raiko drew his sword,
which he always kept at his side, and gave the ghoul a lusty cut that
sent him, all bloody and howling, away. His retainers followed the
tracks of blood to a great cave, in which they found a colossal spider,
which Raiko succeeded in killing.
Shu-ten doji was another ghoul which Raiko, with his retainers, went
to slay. Raiko went to his cave, and asked for a night's lodging. He
found there a great red man, with long red hair, drinking strong sake
out of a huge trencher which would hold several tubfuls. After a
while the ghoul got drunk, and fell asleep. Raiko then drew his
sword and cut off the monster's head. His retainers helped him to
FOLK-LORE AND FIRESIDE STORIES. 493
carry it out, and it was paraded with great pomp where every one
could see it It was bigger than the great lion's head which used to
be carried through the streets of Yedo at the great festival procession
of Kanda Mio Jin (see page 188), which it required twenty men to
carry. It had frightful horns and tusks, and devoured many people.
Raiko was a kug6, and one of the bravest warriors of all time.
Brave men such as he long ago killed all the wicked things in Japan,
so that good little children might go to sleep, and not be afraid of the
ghouls coming to take them from papa, mamma, brothers, and sisters,
and grandmother.
The children of a larger growth learn, as we did in a former chap-
ter, that the word " spider " (kumo) anciently meant " robber." The
red-haired, red-faced, or red -bearded foreigners in Japan, who drink
brandy out of tumblers, and then in drunken fury roam in the streets
of Yokohama and Nagasaki, are not unfrequently compared to the in-
toxicated monster beheaded by Raiko. The Japanese child who sees
his parents indulge in sake from a tiny cup, and to whom black eyes
and hair, and the Japanese form, face, and dress constitute the true
standard, is amazed at the great size of the mugs and drinking-glasses
from which the men of red beards and faces drink a liquid ten times
stronger than sake. Very naturally, to the Japanese imagination and
memory the drunken sailor appears a veritable shu ten doji. Never-
theless, the Yokohama coolie does not call him by so classic a name.
He frames a compound adjective from the imprecation which most
frequently falls from the sailor's lips. In the " Yokohama dialect,"
the word for sailor is dammuraisu hito (" d — n-your-eyes " man).
The story of " The Monkey and the Crab " has as many versions as
that of " The Arkansas Traveler." It is continually re-appearing in
new dress and with new variations, according to the taste and abili-
ties of the audience. Its flavor, as told by the chaste mother instruct-
ing her daughters, or by the vulgar coolie amusing his fellow-loafers
while waiting for a job, is vastly different in either case. The most
ordinary form of the story is as follows :
Once upon a time there was a crab who lived in a hole on the
shady side of a hill. One day he found a bit of rice-cake. A mon-
key who was just finishing a persimmon met the crab, and offered to
exchange its seed for the rice cracknel. The simple-minded crab ac-
cepted the proposal, and the exchange was made. The monkey eat
up the rice-cake, but the crab backed off home, and planted the seed
in his garden.
494 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
A fine tree grew up, and the crab was delighted at the prospect of
soon enjoying the luscious fruit. He built a nice new house, and
used to sit on the balcony, watching the ripening persimmons. One
day the monkey came along, and, being hungry, congratulated the
crab on his fine tree, and begged for some of the fruit, offering to
climb and gather it himself. The crab politely agreed, requesting his
guest to throw down some of the fruit that he might enjoy it him-
self. The ungrateful rascal of a monkey clambered up, and, after
filling his pockets, eat the ripest fruit as fast as he could, pelting the
crab with the seeds. The crab now determined to outwit the mon-
key, and, pretending to enjoy the insults as good jokes, he dared the
monkey to show his skill, if he could, by descending head foremost.
The monkey, to show how versatile were his accomplishments, ac-
cepted the friendly challenge, and turning flank — not tail — for Japa-
nese monkeys have no tails — he began to come down head foremost.
Of course, all the persimmons rolled out of his pockets. The crab,
seizing the ripe fruit, ran off to his hole. The monkey, waiting till
he had crawled out, gave him a sound thrashing, and went home.
Just at that time a rice-mortar was traveling by with his several ap-
prentices, a wasp, an egg, and a sea -weed. After hearing the crab's
story, they agreed to assist him. Marching to the monkey's house,
and finding him out, they arranged their plans and disposed their
forces so as to vanquish their foe on his return. The egg hid in the
ashes on the hearth, the wasp in the closet, the sea -weed near the
door, and the mortar over the lintel. When the monkey came home
he lighted a fire to steep his tea, when the egg burst, and so bespat-
tered his face, that he ran howling away to the well for water to cool
the pain. Then the wasp flew out and stung him. In trying to drive
off this fresh enemy, he slipped on the sea-weed, and the rice-mortar,
falling on him, crushed him to death. Wasn't that splendid? The
wasp and the mortar and sea-weed lived happily together ever after-
ward.
The moral against greedy and ungrateful people needs no pointing.
In one of the recently published elementary works on natural philoso-
phy, written in the vernacular of Tokio, I have seen the incident of
the bursting egg utilized to illustrate the dynamic power of heat at
the expense of the monkey. Another story, used to feather the shaft
aimed at greedy folks, is that of the elves and the envious neighbor.
The story is long, but, condensed, is as follows :
A wood -cutter, overtaken by a storm and darkness among the
FOLK-LORE AND FIRES WE STORIES. 495
mountains, seeks shelter in a hollow tree. Soon he saw little creatures,
some of a red color, wearing blue clothes, and some of a black color,
wearing red clothes. Some had no mouth ; others had but one eye.
There were about one hundred of them. At midnight the elves, hav-
ing lighted a fire, began to dance and carouse, and the man, forgetting
his fright, joined them and began to dance. Finding him so jolly a
companion, and wishing him to return the next night, they took from
the left side of his face a large wen that disfigured it, as pawn, and
disappeared. The next day, having told his story in high glee, an
envious neighbor, who was also troubled with a wen on the right side
of his face, resolved to possess his friend's luck, and went out to the
same place. At night the elves assembled to drink and enjoy a jig.
The man now appeared, and, at the invitation of the chief elf, began
to dance. Being an awkward fellow, and not to be compared with
the other man, the elves grew angry, and said, " You dance very bad-
ly this time. Here, you may have your pledge, the wen, back again."
With that an elf threw the wen at the man. It stuck to his cheek,
and he went home, crying bitterly, with two wens instead of one.
Stories of cats, rabbits, dogs, monkeys, and foxes, who are born,
pass through babyhood, are nursed, watched, and educated by anxious
parents with all due moral and religious training, enjoy the sports
proper to their age, fall in love, marry, rear a family, and live happy
ever afterward to a green old age, form the staple of the tiny picture-
books for tiny people. When told by garrulous nurses or old gran-
nies, the story becomes a volume, varied and colored from rich imagi-
nation or actual experience.
A great many funny stories are told about blind men, who are often
witty wags. They go about feeling their way with a staff, and blow-
ing a double -barreled whistle which makes a peculiarly ugly noise.
They shave their heads, and live by shampooing tired travelers at
hotels, or people who like to be kneaded like a sponge or dough.
They also loan out money at high rates of interest, public sympathy
being their sure guard against loss. Even among these men the spirit
of caste and rank prevails, and the chief blind man of a city or town
usually holds an official diploma. On the occasion of such an award
the bald-pates enjoy a feast together. After imbibing freely, they
sing songs, recite poetry, and crack jokes, like merry fellows with
eyes. As one of these gatherings was once about to break up, one
sightless fellow was asked if he had brought his lantern, and when he
replied that he had not, the blind men were delighted at his foresight,
32
496 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
" for," said they, " what do blind people want with candles to light
them home ?"
A story is told of two men who were stone-deaf, who met together
one morning, when the following dialogue took place :
First Post. " Good-morning. Are you going to buy sake ?"
Second Post. " No. I am going to buy sake."
Third Post. " Oh, excuse me, I thought you were going to buy
sake."
I heard the following story from one of my students from Fukui.
It is a favorite with the professional story-tellers in Tokio. It reminds
one of the Spaniard who is said to have put on magnifying spectacles
while eating grapes, or the Yankee who strapped green eyeglasses on
his horse while feeding him on shavings :
A very economical old fellow, named Kisaburo, once took lodgings
near a shop to which the elite of the epicures of Yedo resorted daily
for the delicacy of eels fried in soy. The appetizing odor was wafted
into his quarters, and Kisaburor being a man of strong imagination,
daily enjoyed his frugal meal of boiled rice by his palate, and the sa-
vory smoke of eels through his olfactories, and thus saved the usual
expense of fish and vegetables.
The eel-frier, on discovering this, made up his mind to charge his
stingy neighbor for the smell of his eels, and paid him a visit with
his bill made out. Kisaburo, taking it in good humor, called his wife,
who brought out the cash-box. After jingling the bag of money, he
touched it on the bill, and replacing it in the box under look, ordered
his wife to return it to its place. The eel-man, amazed at such finan-
ciering, cried out, " Well, are you not going to pay me ?" " Oh no !"
said Kisaburo, " you have charged me for the smell of your eels ; I
have paid you back with the sound of my money."
A story very similar to this, which I have transcribed as I heard it,
is given by Rabelais, Third Book, thirty-seventh chapter.
Stories illustrating the freaks of absent-minded men are very nu-
merous. Here is one, told 'me by a village lad from near Takefu, in
Echizen. A farmer's wife about to enjoy the blessing of addition to
her family besought her husband to visit a famous shrine of Kuan-
on, the Goddess of Mercy, and make an offering and pray for easy
deliverance of her offspring. The good wife packed up a lunch for
her husband in a box of lacquered wood, and took out one hundred
cash (about one and a half cents) from their hoard, which was kept in
an old bag made of rushes, in a jar under the floor, as a gift to be
FOLK-JMRE AND FIRESIDE STORIES. 497
thrown into the temple coffer to propitiate the deity. At early morn
the man prepared to start, but in a fit of absent-mindedness, instead of
his lunch-box, he took the pillow (a Japanese pillow is often a box of
drawers holding the requisites of a woman's coiffure, with a tiny bol-
ster on the top), and, carefully wrapping it up, set off, and in due
time arrived at the shrine. Now, the husband was less devout than his
spouse, and, being ten miles away from her tongue and eye, he decided
to throw but ten cash into the sacred coffers, and spend the remaining
ninety on a bottle of sake, to be served by a pretty waiter-girl at the
adjoining tea-house. So he divided his money into two packages, but
in his absent-mindedness he unintentionally flung the larger amount
into the temple box. Annoyed on discovering his bad luck, he offered
his prayers in no very holy frame of mind, and then sat down to en-
joy his lunch. Not being able to eat the hair-pins, pomatum, etc., in
the pillow-box, he made his way to an eating-shop to buy a bit of
mochi (rice-dough) to satisfy his hunger. Again his greed and absent-
mindedness led him to grief, for, seeing a large round piece of what he
thought was good dough for short-cake for only five cash, he bought
it and hurried of, thinking the shop-girl had made a mistake, which
she would soon discover at her cost. When he went to eat it, how-
ever, he found it was only a plaster show-piece for the dough. Chew-
ing the cud of bitter reflections, the hungry man at dark reached, as
he supposed, his home ; and seeing, as he thought, his wife lighting a
lantern, greeted her with a box on the ear. The woman, startled at
such conduct, screamed, bringing her husband to her relief, and the
absent-minded man, now recovering his senses again, ran for his life ;
but when beyond danger he relapsed into his old habits, and reaching
his own dwelling, found himself begging pardon of his own amazed
wife for having boxed her ears.
Here is another story of the same sort. A favorite method of mis-
chief among the small and big boys in Japan is to double a stiff straw,
twig, or stalk of hemp leaf, and insert it in the nostrils of a sleeper,
who wakes to find his nostrils distended like those of an ox. A long
while ago there was a lazy old fellow, on whom the children were fond
of playing such tricks. Falling asleep one day, the children played
the "snap -game" (hajiki) on his snoring organ. After a while he
awoke, and, his nose tickling him, he passed his hand over his face
and found a string tied to something like a loop in his nose. The ab-
sentrminded old sinner, believing he was in another world, condemned
to a lower state of existence, exclaimed, " Well, well, have I become an
498 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ox, as a punishment for my sins, to have a ring through my nose ?"
The moral to this story, duly tacked on by orthodox narrators, is, " The
guilty conscience betrays itself when taken unawares."
Of foxes and badgers I have written elsewhere. I have in this
chapter of folk-lore, given only a few specimens from a great store-
house. This last is called " The Boy of Urashima."
In the reign of the Empress Suiko (A.D. 593-628) there lived, on a
small island off the coast of Tango, a poor fisherman and his wife.
Though too poor to provide more than the barest necessaries of life,
they managed, being pious folks, to keep the lamp always burning in
the shrine of Rogu, the sea-god, and their patron. Night and morn-
ing they offered up their prayers, and, though their meals might be
scanty, they never failed to burn a stick of incense at the shrine.
To this good couple a dear son was born, who grew up to be pious
and dutiful, and to be the staff of his aged parents. When they were
too old to go out to fish, Taro, the son, caught enough fish to sup-
port himself and them. Now, it happened that one day in autumn
Taro was out, as usual, in his boat, though the sea was rough and the
waves high. The increasing storm finally compelled him to seek shel-
ter in his hut. He uttered a prayer to the sea-god, and turned his
prow homeward. Suddenly there appeared, on the crest of the waves,
a divine being, robed in white, riding upon a large tortoise. Approach-
ing the wearied fisherman, he greeted him kindly, and said, " Follow
me, and I will make you a happy man."
Taro, leaving his boat, and mounting the tortoise with his august
companion, the tortoise sped away with marvelous celerity; and on
they journeyed for three days, passing some of the most wonderful
sights human being ever beheld. There were ponds of perfectly
transparent water filled with the fish he daily caught, and others with
strange species. The roads were lined with rare and fragrant trees
laden with golden fruit, and flowers more beautiful than he had ever
seen or imagined. Finally, they came to a great gate of white mar-
ble, of rare design and imposing proportion. Richly dressed ladies
and pages were waiting to welcome him. He entered a golden pa-
lanquin, and amidst trains of courtiers was borne to the palace of
the king, and treated with honor and courtesy. The splendors of
this palace it is not possible to describe in the language of earth.
Taro was assigned to one of the fairest apartments, and beautiful girls
waited upon him, and a host of servants were ready to do his bid-
ding. Feasts, music, songs, dancing, gay parties, were given in his hon-
FOLK-LORE AND FIRESIDE STORIE8. 499
or. Many of the people around him seemed very remarkable beings.
Some had heads made of shells, some of coral. All the lovely colors
of nacre, the rarest tints which man can see beneath the deep-blue
sea when the ocean's floor is visible, appeared on their dresses and or-
naments. Their jewels of pearls and precious stones and gold and
silver were profuse, but wrought in exquisite art. Taro could scarce-
ly tell whether the fascinating creatures were human or not; but he
was very happy, and his hosts so kind that he did not stop to notice
their peculiarities. That he was in fairy -land he knew, for such
wealth was never seen, even in king's palaces, on earth.
After Taro had spent, as he supposed, seven days at the king's pal-
ace, he wished to go and see his parents. He felt it was wrong to be
so happy when he was uncertain of their fate in the upper world.
The king allowed his request, and, on parting with him, gave him a
box. " This," said he, " I give you on condition that you never open
it, nor show it to any one, under any circumstances whatever." Taro,
wondering, received it, and bid adieu to the king. He was escorted
to the white marble gate, and, mounting the same tortoise, reached the
spot where he had left his boat. The tortoise then left him.
Taro was all alone. He looked round, and saw nothing on the
strand. The mountains and rocks were familiar, but no trace of his
parents' hut was seen. He began to make inquiries, and finally learn-
ed from an old gray-headed fisherman that, centuries before, the per-
sons he described as his parents had lived there, but had been buried
so long ago that their names could be read only by scraping the moss
and lichens off the very oldest stones of the grave-yard in the valley
yonder. Thither Taro hied, and after long search found the tomb of
his dear parents. He now, for the first time since he had left his
boat — as he thought, a few days ago — felt the pangs of sorrow. He
felt an irresistible longing to open the box. He did so. A purple
vapor, like a cloud, issued and suffused his head for a moment. A
cold shiver ran through him. He tried to rise; his limbs were stiff
and bent. His face was wrinkled ; his teeth dropped out ; his limbs
trembled ; he was an old man, with the weight of four centuries on
him. His infirmities were too great for flesh to bear ; he died a few
days afterward.
I have given the story as it was current in Echizen. I have also
heard it told with the location on the shores of the Bay of Yedo.
Another version makes the strand of a river in Shinano the place of
Taro's departure and return. In another form of the story, Taro re-
500 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE,
tarns to find his parents dwelling in a glorious mansion. After greet-
ings are over, the old folks are curious to know what the box con-
tains. Taro, persuaded, opens it, to find himself, alone and old, on a
desolate shore. The story is undoubtedly very old. It is found in
several books, and has been often made the subject of art. The fish-
ermen in various parts of Japan worship the good boy of Urashima,
who, even in the palaces of the sea-gods, forgot not his old parents.
The four following stories are a few of many told of a famous
judge, named Oka, who, for wisdom, shrewdness, and judicial acumen,
may be called the Solomon of Japan. I first heard of his wondrous
decisions when in Tokio, but there is a book of anecdotes of him, and
a record of his decisions, called the Oka Jinseidan. I suppose they
are true narrations.
A certain man possessed a very costly pipe, made of silver inlaid
with gold, of which he was very proud. One day a thief stole it.
After some vain search, Oka heard that a man in a certain street had
such a pipe, but it was not certain whether it was his own or the
stolen article. He found out the truth concerning the pipe in the
following ingenious manner.
Japanese Pipe of Bamboo and Brass, Pipe-case, and Tobacco-pouch.
A Japanese pipe is usually made of a tiny bowl, or bowl-piece, fit-
ted to a mouth-piece with a bamboo tube. Sometimes all the parts
are in one, the material being metal or porcelain. The mild tobacco,
cut into finest shreds, like gossamer, is rolled up in pellets, and lighted
at a live coal in the brazier. After one or two whiffs, a fresh ball is
FOLK-LORE AND FIRESIDE STORIES. 501
introduced. A native will thus sit by the hour, mechanically rolling
up these tobacco pills, utterly oblivious of the details of the act. Like
certain absent-minded people, who look at their watches a dozen times,
yet can not tell, when asked, what time it may be, so a Japanese, while
talking at ease, will often be unable to remember whether he has
smoked or not. After long mechanical practice, his nimble fingers
with automatic precision roll the pellet to a size that exactly fills the
bowl of the pipe.
The shrewd judge found an opportunity to see the suspected man a
short time after the theft. He noticed him draw out the golden pipe,
and abstractedly roll up a globule of tobacco from his pouch. It was
too small. On turning to the brazier, and turning the mouth of the
bowl sideward or downward, the pellet rolled out. Here was positive
proof to Oka that the golden pipe was not his own. The thief, on be-
ing charged with the theft, confessed his guilt, and was punished.
On another occasion a seller of pickled vegetables of various sorts,
a miserly old fellow, being rich, and fearing thieves, kept his gold in
a deep dish full of dai-kon (radishes), preserved in a liquid mixture
composed of their own fermented juice, salt, and the skin of rice-
grains. When long kept, the mass has a most intolerable odor, and
to remove the smell from the hands after working in it stout scrub-
bing with ashes is necessary. Now, it so happened that one of the
neighbors found out the whereabouts of the pickler's savings, and,
when his back was turned, stole. The old pickler kept his heart at
the bottom of his radishes, and on his return, on examination, found
his treasure gone. Forthwith informing the judge, Oka called in all
the neighbors, and, after locking the doors, began, to the amazement of
all and the horror of one, to smell the hands of those present. The
unmistakable odor of dai-kon clung to one man, who thereupon con-
fessed, disgorged, and received punishment.
Cases which other judges failed to decide were referred to Oka.
Often the very threat of bringing a suspected man before this Solomon
secured confession after other means had failed.
A young mother, being poor, was obliged to go out to service, and
to leave her little daughter at the house of another woman to bring
up for her. When the child grew up to womanhood, the mother was
able to leave service, expecting to live with her daughter, and enjoy
her love. To her surprise, on going to the house of the woman who
had charge of her daughter, the woman claimed the girl as her own
child, and refused to give her up.
502 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
When brought before Oka, there being no evidence but the con-
flicting testimony of the women, who both claimed maternity, the
judge ordered them each to take hold of an arm of the young girl
and pull. Whoever was the strongest should have her.
Not daring to disobey, the true mother reluctantly took gentle
hold, while the other claimant seized a hand, and, bracing herself for
the struggle, pulled with all her might. No sooner did the girl utter
a cry of pain than the true mother dropped her hand, refusing to try
again. Her friends urged her to continue the trial, and her antago-
nist dared her to go on, but the mother was firm. The judge, silent
and attentive the while, then angrily addressed the cruel woman as a
deceiver, void of all maternal feeling, who regarded not the pain of
her pretended offspring. He then ordered the girl to be restored to
her true mother. The false claimant was dismissed in disgrace.
Mother and child were overjoyed, and the witnesses astonished at
such judicial wisdom.
In another case, a rich merchant of Yedo went to Kioto on busi-
ness, and was absent thirteen months. On his return he found that
his wife had been unfaithful to him. After fruitless efforts to extort
her secret and find her paramour, he went to Oka. On a certain day,
all the male relations, friends, and neighbors assembled, and, one by
one, were called into the judgment -hall, and questioned. Oka told
the husband to bring with him his cat, which had for years been a
pet in the house. With the cat quietly nestled at his side, he leisurely
questioned each person. No clue could be obtained, until one young
man appeared and took his seat, as usual, on his heels and knees, on
the matting. The cat, now interested, ran briskly up, rubbed itself
against his knees, and, being stroked by the man, finally climbed up in
his lap, and cuddled itself up as if perfectly familiar with that comfort-
able place. All this time the young man was looking in the judge's
face, and answering his questions, forgetful of the cat. The question-
ing being finished, the judge ordered the officers to bind the man and
conduct him to prison. The man, who was inwardly congratulating
himself on his clever answers, and his freedom even from suspicion,
thought Oka was helped by the gods, and confessed his crime.
I have an ivory and a wood Carving, both nitsuki, representing the
Japanese form of the story of Rip Van Winkle, which is, perhaps,
a universal myth. The ivory figure is that of an old man leaning on
the handle of an axe. His hair is long and white, and his snowy beard
sweeps his breast and falls below his girdle. He is intently watching
FOLK-LOBE AND FIRESIDE STORIES. 503
two female figures playing a game of checkers. The story (of Chinese
origin) is, as told by Japanese story-tellers, as follows :
Lu-wen was a pious wood-cutter, who dwelt at the base of the ma-
jestic and holy mountain Tendai, the most glorious peak of the Nan-
lin range, in China. Though he thought himself familiar with the
paths, he for some reason one day lost his way, and wandered about,
having his axe with him. He did not care, however, because the
beauty of the landscapes, the flowers, and the sky seemed to possess
his senses, and he gave himself up to the ecstasy of the hour, enjoy-
ing all the pleasant emotions of holy contemplation. All at once he
heard a crackling sound, and immediately a fox ran out before him
and into the thickets again. The wood -cutter started to pursue it.
He ran some distance, when suddenly he emerged into a space where
two lovely ladies, seated on the ground, were engaged in playing a
game of checkers. The bumpkin stood still and gazed with all his
sight at the wonderful vision of beauty before him. The players ap-
peared to be unaware of the presence of an intruder. The wood-cut-
ter still stood looking on, and soon became interested in the game
as well as in the fair players. After some minutes, as he supposed,
he bethought himself to return. On attempting to move away, his
limbs felt very stiff, and his axe-handle fell to pieces. Stooping down
to pick up the worm - eaten fragments, he was amazed to find, instead
of his shaven face of the morning, a long white beard covering his
bosom, while, on feeling his head, he discovered on it a mass of silken
white hair.
The wrinkled old man, now dazed with wonder, hobbled down the
mountain to his native village. He found the streets the same, but
the houses were filled with new faces; crowds of children gathered
round him, teasing and laughing at him ; the dogs barked at the
stranger ; and the parents of the children shook their heads and won-
dered among themselves as to whence the apparition had come. The
old man, in agony of despair, asked for his wife and children and
relatives. The incredulous people set him down as a fool, knowing
nothing of whom he asked, and treating his talk as the drivel of luna-
tic senility. Finally, an old grandam hobbled up, and said she was
a descendant of the seventh generation of a man named Lu-wen.
The old man groaned aloud, and, turning his back on all, retraced his
weary steps to the mountain again. He was never heard of more, and
it is believed he entered into the company of the immortal hermits
and spirits of the mountain.
504 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XIV.
JAPANESE PROVERBS.
THE proverbs of a nation are mirrors of its character. Not only
the genius and wit, but the prejudices, the loves, the hates, the stand-
ards of actions and morals, are all faithfully reflected in the condensed
wisdom of their pithy phrases. Most proverbs are of anonymous au-
thorship. " The wisdom of many and the wit of one," a proverb is
saved from death because clothed in brevity, rhythm, or alliteration.
Every man hails it as his own, because he recognizes his own heart in
it. Proverbs are often tell-tale truths, for a nation sometimes out-
grows its prejudices and becomes ashamed of its own familiar beliefs.
Proverbs thus become the labels of antiquities in the museum of
speech. They are fossils which show how opinions which had life
and force long ago are now defunct and forgotten. Unexplainable
to latter generations, they, as the fossils of geology once were, are
thought to be lusus naturae.
The delver among the treasures of Japanese lore finds proverbs both
new and old, and in them sees ancient landmarks and modern finger-
posts.
The proverbs of a nation so long isolated from the world must
needs have peculiar interest to the rest of that world. We shall see
in most of them, however, the clear reflection of that human heart
which beats responsive beneath the toga, the camel's-hair raiment, the
broadcloth, and the silk haori.
It has often been a delightful feeling, when stumbling upon some
untranslatable but tickling morsel of wisdom, to reach its heart by
quoting one of our own homely and pretty proverbs. Many of our
old friends may be recognized in Japanese costume. Nothing so
touches the Japanese heart and nature as the unexpected quotation of
one of their old proverbs. Especially in the lecture-room does it give
point and clinching force to a statement or explanation. When be-
fore his class, the teacher sees no response or sympathy in the earnest
JAPANESE PROVERBS. 505
but stolid faces of his Japanese pupils, and when every chosen arrow
flies the mark, let a shaft feathered with one of their own proverbs be
sent : instantly a gleam of intelligence, like a sunburst, or an assuring
peal of merry laughter, proclaims the centre struck and success won.
I shall arrange together a few of the most familiar of Japanese
proverbs. Lest some might think the Japanese plagiarize from us, or
lest some " resemblance "-monger should catch a few to put in his " In-
dex Rerum," or " familiar quotations," I would remark that, apparent-
ly, many of these proverbs were current in Japan before Caesar was
born or America discovered.
The following are expressions for what is impossible : To build a
bridge to the clouds. To throw a stone at the sun. To scatter a fog
with a fan. To dip up the ocean with the hand.
Like our " No rose without a thorn," is their There's a thorn on
the rose.
Good doctrine needs no miracles, is the Japanese rationalist's arrow
against the Buddhist bonzes.
The fly seeks out the diseased spot, as people do in their neighbors'
character.
As different as the moon is from a tortoise. (Cheese, green or oth-
erwise, is not made or eaten by the Japanese.)
The natives of the Islands in the Four Seas are better boatmen than
cooks, too many of whom spoil the broth, but, With too many boat-
men, the boat runs up a hill.
The universal reverence of youth for age is enjoined in this : Regard
an old man as thy father.
The fortune-teller can not tell his own fortune.
The doctor does not keep himself well.
Some men can do more than Goldsmith's school-master : They can
argue until a crow's head becomes white.
A narrow-minded man or bigot looks at the heavens through a reed,
or a needle's eye.
Our "cat in a strange garret" is metamorphosed into the more
dignified figure of A hermit in the market-place.
The dilatory man seeing the lion, begins to whet his arrows. The
beaten soldier fears even the tops of the tall grass. Fighting spar-
rows fear not man.
Only a tidbit to a ravenous mouth. (Said when the little tidbit
Denmark flies down the huge gullet of Prussia; or when Saghalin
falls into Russia's maw.)
506 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
By losing, gain.
Give opportunity to genius.
To give an iron club to a devil is to give riches to a bad man.
While the hunter looks afar after birds, they fly up and escape at
his feet.
The ignorant man is gentle.
Don't give a Jco-ban to a cat.
Akin to " The heart knoweth its own bitterness " are The sage
sickens ; The beautiful woman is unhappy.
Every one suffers either from his pride or sinfulness.
Even a calamity, left alone for three years, may turn into a fortune.
No danger of a stone being burned.
Even a running horse needs the whip.
An old man's cold water — i.e., out of place, unreasonable. The
Japanese nearly always wash their hands and faces with hot water,
and old men invariably do so. For an old man, then, to wash with
cold water, or for one to bring him cold water, is decidedly mat a
propos.
Birds flock on the thick branches.
The fox borrowed the tiger's power.
Giving wings to a tiger.
Dark as the lantern's base, while the light streams far abroad.
(People must go to a distance to learn the news about things at home.
This is emphatically true about residents in Japan who read home
newspapers.)
Heaven does not kill a man. (No one is utterly crushed by calam-
ity.)
A curse comes not from a god with whom one has no concern.
(Men are not to be punished by a god of whom they have never heard.)
Like jumping into the fire with a bundle of wood. (Especially used
of a small nation going to war against a large one, only to be " gob-
bled up.")
Having inquired seven times, believe the common report.
Even the worm that eats smart-weed, to his taste. (" Every one to
his liking." " No accounting for taste.")
Was it a wife comparing the attentions of her husband before and
after marriage who coined this proverb, or heaved it as a sigh ? It
tells a sad tale of a woman who has borne mother-pain and marriage
cares only to be rewarded by coldness. In Japan, the unmarried girls
only wear the red petticoat, which peeps out so prettily at times, or
JAPANESE PROVERBS. 507
glistens through the summer dress of silken crape. After marriage,
they doff this virginal garment ; and as it was with Whittiet's, so with
the Japanese Maud Muller, "care and sorrow and childbirth -pain"
leave their trace on the once blooming face and willowy form, in
which her partner no longer delights. Alas ! what a tale does this
proverb tell : Love leaves with the red petticoat !
When people say "as ugly as sin," meaning thereby as ugly as
Milton's hag, and suppose that the blind bard's conception of ugliness
eclipses every other, they have, most evidently, never looked upon the
face of the Japanese lord of Jigoku, or the hells, of which the Bud-
dhists count one hundred and twenty-eight. To say that his face is
hideous or describe it in adjectives, is to damn with faint praise the
native imagination that could conceive such a terror. What I mean
by reference to this demon, who is called Ema, is to give point to the
Japanese version of our homely reference to the man who will have
his fun, but " must pay the fiddler." The proverb by which every
steady-going Japanese exults at the end of the fast and, perhaps fine-
looking young man who sports on credit, is, When the time comes
to settle up, you'll see Ema's face.
Which does the following recall — the ostrich, which, hiding its
head, thinks itself safe, or the youth who reads ghost-stories till his
blood curdles, but who, by covering up in the bedclothes, feels safe ?
The proverb, The head is concealed, but the back is exposed, is ap-
plied by the Japanese to all who, to flee from spooks, and to guard
against lightning, hide in the dark or under their coverlets.
Here is an exquisite bit of philosophy, which shows that " travels
at one's fireside," or what Emerson has taught of seeing at home all
that travelers behold abroad, are not strange ideas in Japan : The
poet, though he does not go abroad, sees all the renowned places.
Some one has said of the sage : " He keeps his child's heart." All
know Wordsworth's line, which is approximated in this : The child
of three years keeps his heart till he is sixty.
The idea contained in the saying, " Talk of an angel, and you will
hear the rustling of his wings," or " Speak of the Devil," etc., is con-
fined only to the genus Homo in the Japanese proverb: Talk of a
person, and his shadow appears.
Sydney Smith condensed a volume of dietetic hygiene in his exact
statement that " Some men dig their graves with their teeth." The
complement of that is found in this : Disease enters by the mouth ;
or, The mouth is the door of disease.
508 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
The following are all in the form of a simile : Like walking on thin
ice (like a politician before election - day). To give a thief a key.
Like scratching the foot with the shoe on (can not reach the seat of
trouble). Like placing a child near a well. One hair of nine oxen
(small fraction). Like the crow that imitated the cormorant (he tried
to dive in the water, and was drowned). Like spitting against the
wind (said of a wicked slander against a good man). The decree of
the mikado is like perspiration ; it can never go back (" Firm as the
laws of the Medes and Persians ").
Proverbs, like certain kinds of money, vary in the amount and ra-
pidity of their circulation. A class of Japanese proverbs, such as
" The frog in the well knows not the great ocean," which lay almost
forgotten in the national memory for centuries,, has come forth, and is
now the circulating medium of those who bandy the retorts applica-
ble to old fogies and old fogyism. The conservatives who impede or
oppose reform in Japan, claiming that Japan is all-sufficient in herself,
are usually styled " frogs " by the young blades who have been abroad
and seen the world beyond Japan, who also refer to the past as the
time when that country was " in a well."
There are several other proverbs like that of the " well-frog ;" but
they depend for their interest upon references to things not easily ex-
plained by mere translation. The " great ocean," however, mirrors it-
self in the Japanese mind ever as the symbol of immensity. Thus :
A drop of the ocean is our " drop in the bucket." To dam up the
great ocean with the hand. The ocean does not mind the dust (a
great man lives down slander). The ocean, being wide, can not be
all seen at once (a great subject can not be treated fairly by a bigot).
To dip out the water of the ocean with a small shell.
The Japanese have a lively sense of the iniquity of ingratitude:
Better nourish a dog than an unfaithful servant. To have one's hand
bitten by the dog it feeds.
That paternal solicitude is not unknown in the land of Great Peace,
is evinced by these : Childbirth is less painful than anxiety about
children. It is easier to beget children than to care for them. Catch-
ing a thief to find him your own son.
Don't trust a pigeon to carry grain. (Don't send one man to bring
back another from a place of pleasure, lest he also be tempted.)
If in a hurry, go round. (" The longest way round is the shortest
way home." " The more hurry, the less speed.")
The spawn of frogs will become but frogs.
JAPANESE PRO VERBS. 509
By saving one cash (one one-hundredth of a cent) lose a hundred
(one tempo). Cash wise, tempo foolish.
Only a tailor's (dyer's) promise.
The walls have ears. Pitchers have spouts.
Deaf men speak loudly.
There is no medicine for a fool.
You can not rivet a nail in potato custard.
He wishes to do both — to eat the poisoned delicacy and live.
By searching the old, learn the new.
Once I asked some of our students whether there was any Japanese
proverb which answered to the old English one, " Happy is the man
whose father has gone to the devil." Several of them answered with
this familiar one: Jigoku no sata wo, kane shidai — the tortures of
hell are graded according to the amount of money one has ; or, briefly
and literally, even hell's judgments are according to money.
The Buddhists, like the medieval priests in Europe, sell their masses
at a high price. Happy the dying rich man, but woe betide the poor !
In most Japanese Buddhist temples, as in Roman churches in Europe,
a box hangs up to receive cash for the mutual benefit of the damned
and the priests — especially the latter.
The rat-catching cat hides her claws.
If you keep a tiger, you will have nothing but trouble.
An ugly woman shuns the looking-glass.
Poverty leads to theft.
To aim a gun in the darkness. In vain.
The more words, the less sense.
Like the peeping of a blind man through a hedge.
A charred stick is easily kindled.
Who steals money, is killed ; who steals a country, is a king.
If you do not enter the tiger's den, you can not get her cub.
In mending the horn, he killed the ox.
The best thing in traveling is a companion ; in the world, kindness.
To draw off water to his own field. (Most of the fields in Japan are
irrigated rice-fields. Water is always a desideratum. This proverb is
like our " Feather his own nest.")
Famous swords are made of iron scrapers.
Like learning to swim in a field.
Though the magnet attracts iron, it can not attract stone.
Here is something almost Shakspearian : The gods have their seat
on the brow of a just man.
510 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
If you say to him " gently," he will say " slam."
A sixth-day camellia. (A great flower festival comes on the fifth of
a certain month. To bring your flower on the sixth day is to bring it
a day after the fair.)
Now sinking, now floating. (" Such is life.")
Poke a canebrake, and a snake will crawl out.
Like carrying a cup brimful.
To feed with honey ; i. &, to flatter.
Proof is better than discussion.
Use the cane before you fall down.
Like casting a stone at an egg.
A roving dog runs against a stick. (A man willing to work will
surely find employment.)
To avoid the appearance of evil three proverbs are given : Don't
wipe your shoes in a melon-patch. Don't adjust your cap while pass-
ing under a pear-tree. Don't stay long when the husband is not at
home.
A bad report runs one thousand ri (two thousand three hundred and
thirty-three miles).
Lust has no bottom.
The world is just as a person's heart makes it.
Send the child you love most on a journey. (To save him from be-
ing spoiled by indulgence.)
Cast the lion's cub into the valley. Let the pet son travel abroad.
Give sails to dexterity.
He conceals a sword under a laugh.
To make two enemies injure each other.
I have never heard of any Japanese " Samivel " receiving monitory
advice concerning " vidders ;" but Japanese fathers often throw out
this caveat to their sons when contemplating marriage : Beware of a
beautiful woman ; she is like red pepper.
The good bonzes sometimes preach rather long sermons. Their
shaven-pated hearers do not snap their hunting-case watches under the
pulpit. Nevertheless, this is what they say and think. They often
test a speaker's merit, and measure the soul of his wit, by his brevity.
The unskillful speaker is long-winded; or, It takes a clever man to
preach a short sermon.
The following is said by an educated idolater, who worships the
deity beyond the image, the pious sculptor, or the sneerer at all idola-
try. Making an idol, does not give it a soul.
JAPANESE PROVERS. 511
If you hate any one, let him live.
As there are plenty of hypocrites in Japan, but no crocodiles, our
zoological metaphor is altered. Lachrymal shams are called " a
devil's tears."
A clumsy fellow commits hara-kiri with a pestle.
Live under your own hat, is the Japanese expression for " Be con-
tent," or " Let well-enough alone."
They extinguish meddlesome busybodies, or those who talk too
much, by saying, " Make a lid for that fool ; cover him up."
The women of Japan have tongues. I knew several old shrews who
used their husbands as grindstones to sharpen a certain edge-tool
which they kept in their mouth. Either a Japanese carpenter or one
having an eye for metronomics first noticed this brilliant fact, that
The tongue three inches long can kill a man six feet high.
Give victuals to your enemy. (The word translated "victuals"
means food for animals, such as beasts, birds, fishes, etc., or bait ; and
some Japanese say it should read, " Give bait to your enemy " — i. e.,
revenge yourself on him skillfully, by stratagem.)
A cur that bravely barks before its own gate. (So that it may run
inside, in case it catches a Tartar.)
Even a monkey sometimes falls from a tree.
To rub salt on a sore. (" Adding insult to injury.")
Excess of politeness becomes impoliteness.
A blind man does not fear a snake, (" Fools rush in where angels
fear to tread.")
Poverty can not overtake diligence.
The heron can rise from the stream without stirring up the mud.
(Delicacy, tact.)
Adapt the preaching to the hearer.
If you call down a curse on any one, look out for two graves.
(" Curses, like young chickens, always come home to roost.")
As string for our bouquet, here is something which, whether prov-
erb or not, has a meaning : When life is ruined for sake of money's
preciousness, the ruined life cares naught for the money.
There is no teacher of Japanese poetry. (" The poet is born, not
made.")
Hearing is paradise ; seeing is hell. (Description v. reality.)
When men become too old, they must obey the young. (Said es-
pecially of the old nations, such as Japan and China ; they must, and
ought to, accept the civilization of the younger Western nations.)
33
512 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XV.
THE LAST TEAR OF FEUDALISM.
(LEAVES FROM MY JOURNAL.)
March 4th, 1871. — Arrived in Fukui.
March llth. — Went by invitation to the Han stable, which contains
fifty horses. I selected a fine coal-black horse, which is to be mine
during my stay in Fukui. His name is Green Willow, from his sup-
ple and graceful form. He is gentle, and a perfect beauty. Other
names of horses were Black Dragon, Willow Swamp, Typhoon, Thun-
der-cloud, Arrow, Devil's Eye, Ink-stone, Earthquake, Ghost, etc. I took
a long ride through the villages lying to the eastward, along the Ashi-
wa (Winged -foot) River. Crowds of people were waiting in each
place to see the white foreigner.
The dogs especially enjoy the excitement; my Mercury in bronze
runs before my horse, clad in cuticle, socks, and waist-cloth, instead of
winged cap and anklets. He is tattooed from neck to heels with red
and blue dragons. Of his comrades, one has Yoshitsune's face and bust
punctured on his skin. On the back of another, evidently in love,
blushes and pouts a pretty maiden with blossom-garnished hair. The
bettos, like other working -classes, form an hereditary guild. They
are of very low social grade. The children speak of me as " to-jin "
(Chinaman) ;* the grown-up people, as " i-jin " (foreign man) ; the sa-
murai, as " guai-koku-jin " (outside-country man), and a few who know
exactly, " the America-jin," or " Be-koku-jin."
* For centuries Chinamen were the only foreigners of whom most Japanese
children had heard or seen. So" in Hanchow, China, the city over which Marco
Polo was governor, where the Japanese regularly traded and a few resided, the
Japanese were the only strangers the people there knew. When Rev. J. Liggins,
an American missionary, first visited this city, the people called out after him,
"Japanese! Japanese !" varying the cry from "Foreign devil," "Red-haired,"
etc., heard in other places. The Japanese lower classes do not indulge in the
vile habit of calling foreigners abusive names, though baka (fool) is occasionally
made use of. The American gentleman here referred to was the first Christian
missionary in Japan in this century, residing at Nagasaki, where he, like all other
foreigners, was called Oranda jin (Hollander).
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 513
March }Sth. — Rode out to the gunpowder mills. We crossed a
long bridge of about forty boats (funa-bashi), over a wide, swift river.
The mills, in five buildings, with machinery, wholly of wood, and made
by natives, are run by water-power. The establishment blew up only
once, several years ago. Outside is an image of Buddha and a shrine
in memory of the five men killed by the explosion. What a combina-
tion— gunpowder and Buddhism ! The magazine stands among the
hills near the city, defended by a lightning-rod. Echizen powder won
a good reputation in Japan during the late civil war, especially at Wa-
kamatsu and Hakodate. I also visited a cotton-seed oil-press of sim-
ple construction, but very effective. The rifle factory is near the city,
and has an American rifling and other machines, including one for
weaving cloth. Most of them are Sasaki's purchases in New York.
March 21st. — A grand matsuri (festival) is being held at the tem-
ples, and the city is full of farmers and country folk. They have
come to pray for good crops. I can usually distinguish a countryman
from a citizen by the superior diameter of his eyes and mouth on be-
holding the white foreigner. Some of the old ladies look at me piti-
fully, so sorry that I am so bleached and pale, instead of the proper
dark color of skin.
March 29th. — Some of the Buddhist sects bury, others cremate.
In Fukui, cremation is the usual rule. The cremarium has four fur-
naces. Saw a funeral procession, and witnessed the ceremonies at the
mortuary chapel by the priests of the Shin sect, in their canonical
robes of gold, damask, and satin, with book, bell, and scores of candles.
The corpse and cask, or coffin, were then set on the furnace. The
flames under the corpse were lighted by a relative of the deceased. A
sheet of flame instantly enveloped the body, making a shroud of fire,
in which nothing revolting was visible. The reduction of the body
of the deceased to ashes occupied nearly two hours. I witnessed most
of it, at intervals. The soft parts were consumed and volatilized, and
the skeleton left a glowing white mass of lime, and the skull a globe
of live fire. I strolled off, toward the end of the process, over the
mountain slopes, through the daimio's cemetery, where, in fine stone
tombs, the fifteen princes of the house of Echizen are buried.
Returning on the other side of the cremarium, I saw a great heap
of skulls, bones, clothes, bowls, utensils, and other relics of the dead.
It was the monument of a famine which ravaged Echizen some forty
years ago, during which time the poor and the beggars died in such
numbers that they could not be consumed or inhumed in the usual
514 THE MIKADOES EMPIRE.
manner singly, but were cremated by scores on heaps of brush-wood.
Railroads and improved means of intercommunication in the future
will make great desolation by famine impossible. Nearer the house
was a mound containing many thousand cubic feet of ashes and cal-
cined bones, the refuse incineration of the furnaces during many gen-
erations. It was " ashes to ashes," instead of " dust to dust."
Passing in front of the house, two relatives were engaged in picking
out with a piece of bamboo, and another of wood, the clean, hot white
pieces of bone. I now understood the squeamishness, and even super-
stition, of the people, who will on no account eat with a pair of chop-
sticks one of which is of wood and the other of bamboo. Packed in
a jar, the bones were then deposited in the family vault — the hollow
pedestal of a large tombstone. The monuments are chiefly upright
square shafts. Some are egg-shaped. Others, with a top having wings
or eaves, are formed like a castle tower, or pagoda roof. Nearly all
of them are inscribed with Buddhist texts and homid, or posthumous
names. Among many handsome ones are several made to represent a
tub of sake, evidently those of tapsters who once dispensed the popu-
lar drink, and wished, even after death, to advertise the business as
still sold by the family at the old stand. Fresh flowers are placed in
the sockets cut into the pedestals of many of the tombs. Women are
present here and there, engaged in cleansing the monuments of moss,
lichens, or dust, or inserting camellias in the bamboo tubes which serve
as bouquet-holders. Some are of the age of Old Mortality himself,
but some of the young mortality were in the shape of rather pretty
maidens.
April 1st. — The prince gave a dinner at his "summer palace,"
which stands on the banks of the serpentine river. A glorious view
of snowy Hakuzan, from breast to crown, is afforded on one side, and
of the valley stretching to the sea on the other. The immense, swell-
ing white sails of the junks appear as if in the fields, the course of the
river being hidden by the vegetation. Through my interpreter, who
was in his best mood, we had a long talk on politics native and for-
eign, religion, and morals. The prince and his minister asked a great
variety of questions about the government, people, laws, and customs of
the United States, and invited unlimited expression of opinion. The
prince informed me that the mikado had summoned a great council
of the ex-daimios in Tokio to discuss national affairs, and that he
would set out for the capital on the second day hence.
April 12 th. — By invitation of Dr. Hajimoto, I attended the theatre.
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 615
The house was crowded. The acting was fair. The play was full of
love and murder, with many amusing incidents. A pretty woman of
gentle blood loves a poor itinerant pipe mender and cleaner. Her fa-
ther wishes her to marry the son of a nobleman. He succeeds in his
purpose by means of a " go-between," who pretends to carry messages
from the true lover to the duped girl. At the marriage ceremony,
which is represented in detail on the stage, she lifts her silken hood,
expecting to see her true love, but beholds her father's choice, whom
she hates. She has to submit, and goes to housekeeping. Clandes-
tine meeting of wife and old lover. Jealous husband detects para-
mours. Murder of the guilty pair. The husband finds that the pipe-
mender is his dear friend in humble disguise. Remorse. Commits
hara-kiri. Finale.
As the performances last all day, people bring their tea-pots and
lunch-baskets. The interest centres in the bloody scene, when heads,
trunks, blood, and limbs lie around the stage promiscuously. The de-
liberate whetting of the sword with hone, dipper, bucket, and water
in sight of the frantic guilty pair, the prolongation of the sharpening
and the bloody scene to its possible limit of time — twenty minutes by
the watch — make it seem very ludicrous to me, though the audience
look on breathless. During this time all talking, eating, and attention
to infants cease. The repeated attempts of the husband to screw his
courage to the sticking-point, and thrust the dirk in his abdomen, ex-
cite the loud laughter of the audience. The theatre is large, but of a
rather primitive order of architecture, yet probably as good as some
that Shakspeare played in. After the play, I went behind the scenes,
and was politely shown the actors' wardrobe and dressing-rooms, and
the assortment of wigs, heads, limbs, etc. Rice-chaff replaces sawdust
in the shams used on the stage.
As a rule, the better class of Japanese people do not attend the the-
atres for moral reasons, and as examples to their children. The influ-
ences of the stage are thought to be detrimental to virtue. It is cer-
tain that the young girls become too much interested in the actors,
and hence fathers do not allow their daughters to see the plays. The
actors, however, are the idols of the lower classes. Women do not
play on the stage, their parts being taken by men or boys.
April 15th. — All through the city, the rapid mountain streams,
from three to eight feet wide, are led between stone banks in the cen-
tre of the streets. At certain hours of the day, the people wash their
pots, pans, and dishes, and at others their clothes. The rising genera-
516 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
tion enjoy the constant treat of wading, splashing, sailing boats, or
making dams, water-falls, and miniature mills. The kennel also af-
fords a theatre for many a domestic drama, in which the chief actors
are a soused baby and a frightened mother. While walking out to-day,
one of the little girls who knew me, and had long ceased to feel afraid
of me, came running along the edge of the water, crying, " To jin san !
Tojin sanf" (Mr. Foreigner! Mr. Foreigner !) Not noticing the famil-
iar cry, I suddenly heard a splash behind me, and, turning round, the
child had disappeared. The water was rather deep at the point of
immersion, and I managed, after much difficulty, to fish up the strug-
gling child, and hand the dripping darling to her mother, who imme-
diately ejaculated an "Aru beki " (Served you right) to her offspring,
and, with a profound bow, an Arigato (Thank you) to the rescuer.
May 1st. — During the past month I have made many excursions
on horseback through the country round, staying overnight at the vil-
lage inns. Sasaki and Iwabuchi have been my companions. I have
seen the paper manufactories, oil-presses, the sake breweries, soy-vats,
iron-foundries, and smelting -furnaces. I have entered the copper
mines of Ono, and " prospected " the coal region, from which the coal
I burn in my Peekskill stove comes.
While on one trip, as I was leading my horse, Green Willow, down
a steep slope, being close behind Sasaki's horse, well-named Devil's
Eye, the vicious brute, after squinting sideways at me, and seeing his
opportunity, threw out his left hind hoof and kicked me. The soft
part between the fetlock and hoof struck just above my knee, giving
me a shock, but doing no serious injury. His hoof would have broken
my leg. The incident has served to warp and prejudice my judgment
of Japanese horses in general. I can not praise them highly; but
Green Willow is my ideal of a noble animal.
The pack-horses, which I see daily, amuse me. They are ungainly,
unkempt brutes, fed on the cheapest food. They carry about eight
hundred pounds at a load. Of their moral character I can not speak
in high terms. When led or driven tandem, or following each other
in Indian file, these equine cannibals indulge in the vicious habit of
pasturing on the haunches of the animal in front of them. This graz-
ing process usually results in lively kicks, to the detriment of the teeth
or chest of the offender, and the demoralization of the whole line.
May 2d. — The farmers are busy making seed-beds for the rice, and
in hoeing up their fields. The valleys are full of flowers. The snow
has melted from all the mountains except Hakuzan.
THE LAST TEAR OF FEUDALISM.
517
May 3d. — The presents I daily receive from my students and the
officials are very varied. My table is not left unadorned for a single
day. A leg of venison or wild-boar meat, a duck netted, or a goose
shot in hunting ; a fine fish, a box of eggs, a hamper full of pears or
oranges, a bouquet of flowers, a piece of porcelain or lacquered work,
a small carved ivory nitsuki or bronze piece, a book, pictures, speci-
mens of paper, a box of sponge-cake, sugar-jelly, or sweet-potato cus-
tard, a tray of persimmons, candies, silk in napkins, rolls of various
sizes, curiosities of all sorts, come to me. Every thing is daintily
wrapped in red and white cord, with the nosu, or ceremonial folded
paper, symbolizing friendship. The exquisite jointure and delicate
grain of the wood of the boxes in which the cake, etc., are cased cause
almost a pain when I throw them away. " Chenkey " and Obun get
the candy and sweetmeats. The gifts are not generally of much
value, but they show the sympathy and kindly nature of the people.
What follows a Meal on Horse-flesh.
Many of these offerings of friendship come from strangers. Many of
the mothers and fathers of my students have called in person to thank
me. After profound bows, head and knee on the floor, they offer the
present, usually carried by their servant, saying, " This is a very mean
thing to offer you, but I trust you will accept it for friendship's sake."
The ladies, especially the old ones, are very talkative and friendly. I
never fall on all fours before a man, but I frequently polish my fore-
head on the floor when a lady does the same for me. A photograph
album interests them exceedingly, and gives occasion for many ques-
tions.
518 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
I find my students surprisingly eager and earnest in school. They
learn fast, and study hard. When important or striking chemical ex-
periments are made, the large lecture-room is crowded by officials as
well as students. I spend six hours daily in the school. In the even-
ing, at my house, I have special classes of young men, doctors, teach-
ers, and a circle of citizens, who listen to talks or lectures on various
subjects. My plan is to take a good text - book and explain, by talk-
ing, the use of maps, charts, diagrams, and the blackboard, allowing the
auditors to ask questions freely at intervals. Physical and descriptive
geography, geology, chemistry, physiology, microscopy, moral science,
the science of government, the history of European countries, the
various arts and manufactures, our social system, and, for those who
wish it, a minority, the Bible and religion of Jesus Christ, are thus
treated of — superficially, indeed, but, to a sufficiently encouraging ex-
tent, effectively, as is proved by the eager attention, note-taking, and
intelligent questionings. I find many of them well versed in those
questions for time and eternity which have been the conflict of ages.
Many of my nocturnal auditors are middle-aged, and a few old men.
My interpreter is usually able to second me, though I have often to
prime him in the afternoon for the discharges of the evening.*
May 3d. — I have been to see the fan-makers to-day. Kioto, Nagoya,
and Tokio are the places most noted for the quality and quantity
manufactured, but Fukui has a few shops where ogi (folding fans) and
uchiwa (flat fans) are made. Again, I find that we foreigners do
things upside down. With us, the large flat fans are for gentlemen's
use, the folding fans for ladies'. In Japan, the gentleman carries at
all times, except in winter, the ogi in his girdle, bosom, under his col-
lar, or, in his merry mood, under his cue. It is a dire breach of eti-
quette to appear in the street with a flat fan, which is almost exclu-
sively used by the Japanese women. Millions of these fans are being
made for the foreign market, and sold in Europe and America. They
are cheap editions of art in the land of the gods, for all the world to
look at. They will probably do more to advertise Japan abroad than
any other means.
As the principles of centralized capital, immense manufactories, and
division of labor are as yet scarcely known in Japan, these fans, like
other articles of art and handiwork, will be made by tens of thou-
* These evening iteances, though intermitted during the hot weather, were con-
tinued until I left Fukui.
THE LAST TEAR OF FEUDALISM.
519
sands of independent workers all over the country. The Fukuians
make fans of all sorts, and for all purposes : of water-proof paper for
dipping in water — a sort of vaporizer for making extra coolness on
the face by evaporation ; of stout paper for grain-winnows, charcoal
fire-blowers, or for dust-pans ; double-winged fans, for the judges at
wrestling -matches; gorgeous colored and gilt fans for the dancing-
girl, who makes one a part of herself in her graceful motion and
classic pose ; for the juggler, who will make a butterfly of paper flut-
ter up the edge of a sword. The splitting of the bamboo, the folding
or pasting of the paper by the girls, the artist's work, the finishing and
packing, are all done before my eyes. The manifold uses and etiquette
of the fan I am gradually learning.
Kioto Fail-makers.
I find a rack of silver hooks or a tubular fan-holder in every house,
in which are several of these implements of refreshment, which are at
once offered to the visitor on his arrival. I have received a stack of
fans inscribed with poetry, congratulations, or with maps, statistical
tables, pictures of famous places, classic quotations, or useful informa-
tion of varied nature. Many depict life, manners, architecture, etc.,
in Yokohama and in Europe. They are thus the educators of the
public. Many of the Fukui gentlemen have collections of fans with
famous inscriptions or autographs, or pictures from noted artists. A
scholar or author, in giving a party to his literary friends, has a num-
520 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
her of ogi ready for adornment; and people often exchange fans as
we do photographs. When I go into a strange house, especially in
my trips to villages where the foreigner creates a sensation, I spend
the whole evening writing in English on fans for my host, his wife,
daughters, and friends. How far the excerpts from Shakspeare, Mil-
ton, or Longfellow may be appreciated or understood, I can not say.
To make the pictures for common flat fans, the design is drawn by
the artist on thin paper. This is pasted on a slab of cherry-wood and
engraved. The pictures are printed by laying the fan -paper flat on
the block and pressing it smooth. In the same manner, the Japanese
have printed books for centuries. The various colors are put on,
with sometimes as many as twenty blocks. This art is chromo-xy-
lography, instead of chromo - lithography. The picture papers, some-
times with musk or other perfumes laid between them, are then pasted
on the frame. The costly gold - lacquered, ivory -handled, and inlaid
fans are made in Tokio and Kioto.
May 4:th. — The national festival in honor of the soldiers slain during
the civil war of 1868-'70 was celebrated. This is "Decoration Day."
The whole city kept holiday. In the morning a regiment of soldiers
paraded in nondescript dress, a hybrid of native costume and foreign
clothes, civil, military, and neither. Straw sandals and high boots, tight
trowsers and the hakama petticoats, caps, wide -brimmed hats, cha-
peaux, and bare heads, top -knots with shaven scalps, and hair cut in
foreign fashion, alternated confusedly. The variety made a burlesque
that caused the only American spectator to almost crush his teeth in
trying to choke down a laugh. Falstaffs regiment and the " Mulligan
Guards " of popular song were utterly eclipsed.
Tens of thousands of people visited the cemetery called Sho Kon
Sha (Soul-beckoning Rest), on the top of Atago yama. Many brought
flowers to deck the tombs. In the afternoon, while I was there, the
ladies of the prince's household were present, in their gorgeously em-
broidered silk gowns and girdles. Their hair was dressed in the fan-
like coiffure characteristic of the maids of honor in the households of
the Kioto court nobles. One of them afterward sent me as presents,
through the prince's physician, some very pretty specimens of needle-
work from her own tapering fingers. They consisted of a lady's white
satin letter-case, with a billet-doux folded up in it — only it was blank,
though the day was not the 1st of April. The other gifts were a
" currency - holder," or small paper- money wallet, in orange- yellow
satin, bound in green and gold thread damask; a green silk book-
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 521
mark, with autumn leaves painted on it ; a case for holding chopsticks
of many-shaded purple silk crape, and one or two other pretty conceits
in silk, each a poem to the eye. These I put with the other memen-
toes of the handiwork of the sisters of students, or the daughters of
the officials, which I have received.
In the afternoon, thousands of people in their gala dress, and with
substantial refreshments and drinkables, gathered to witness the dis-
play of fire-works sent up from the parade-ground. The pyrotechnic
pieces, in shape like a small paint-keg, were put in an immense upright
cannon or mortar made of a stout wooden tube like a tree-trunk, bound
with strong bamboo hoops. Exploding far up in air, the colors being
white, black, red, and yellow, the resulting "fire -flowers" were inter-
esting or comical. An old woman hobbled on a cane ; an old man
smoked a pipe whence issued a fox ; a tea-kettle evolved a badger ; a
cuttle-fish sailed, with outspread suckers, in mid -air; a cat ran after
mice ; a peach blossomed into a baby ; Pussy, with a mouse (" rat's
baby ") in her mouth, seemed to tread the air ; a hideous dragon
spouted fire ; serpents ran after each other ; a monkey blew soap-bub-
bles. These and other mid-air conceits amused both the little children
and those of larger growth. The exhibition closed at dark. Every one
was happy. A few were tipsy ; but I saw no disorder. I had a seat in
the family party of Mr. Nagasaki, whose chubby children and wife were
present, making a lively circle around the picnic-box and tiny dishes.
May \%th. — Engaged a river-boat, with four stout rowers and pole-
men, and made a trip down the river to the sea. Spent from Satur-
day till Monday at Mikuni, the sea-port of Fukui, as the guest of the
chief tea -merchant of the place, whose plantations extend over the
hills for many acres. He sends seventy-five thousand dollars' worth
of tea to Yokohama annually. The ocean scenery here is magnificent
beyond description. A splendid natural sea-wall of columnar trap re-
minded me of the " Giant's Causeway." A lacquer-artist in Fukui has
made sketches of the rock and shore scenery here, and is now making
me a handsome stand for my glass-sponges (Hyalonema mirabilis). It
will have a scene from Mikuni on it. Fleets of fishing-boats were out
on the blue waters. The diving-girls, like mermaids, exhibited their
pluck and skill by diving many fathoms down in the deep water of
the rocky recesses ; or, strapping a basket on their backs, they swam
far out, knife in hand, to reap a submarine harvest from the rocks.
They returned in a half-hour, heavily laden with awabi (sea-ears) and
spiral univalves. These they afterward roasted in their own shells,
522
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
and offered us. At the merchant's home, decked in their best robes
and coifs, they danced and sung their wild fisher's songs for us. In
the village I saw a famous sculptor in wood, who was carving a horse
in life size for a Shinto shrine. Though faulty in some details of
anatomy, the fire and grace of motion were wonderfully life-like. In
Fukui, the week before, I had seen an artist dip his long, little finger-
nail in ink and draw figures on a fan, and with astonishing rapidity
furnished a very spirited design of a horse in motion, after the style
of Kamo, with but seven strokes, and a few sweeps of a wide brush
for the mane and tail.
Seven-stroke Sketch by Kamo. Wild Horse of Nambu.
May 16th. — By orders received to-day from the Central Govern-
ment of Tokio, two students are to be chosen from each Jian, and sent
abroad to study. This will enable several hundred young men to see
and live in Europe and America. It is also a political move to unite
all parts of the empire together, and show even the people of the late-
ly rebellious portions thai they are to partake of the national benefits.
In our han, one is to be elected by the officers and one by myself.
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 523
The choice of the former is Yamaoka Jiro.* I chose from a dozen
or more, equally worthy, Kinamera Shirato.f Over four hundred stu-
dents will embark for America during this and the following month.
The rice -fields of the whole country are now lakes of rich mud-
pulp, the paradise of polliwigs. An expanse of an exquisite light
green covers many parts of the valley. All the rice is transplanted,
having been first sown broadcast in seed-beds, which are under water.
The husbandman casts his bread upon the waters. He will find it,
after many summer days, in November. Picnic parties make the
woods on Atago yama lively with music, fun, feasting, and merry laugh-
ter. The powdered girls in the archery galleries and tea-houses are
reaping a harvest of small change. Every one enjoys the fine weather.
May 20th. — Four students arrived from Higo to-day, having come
here to study, on the recommendation of my former pupil in America,
Numagawa, a young samurai of Kumamoto. One I call " Bearded
Higo," for he wears what is rare in Japan, a full beard. The Higo
family is connected by marriage with the house of Echizen. My
prince's beautiful wife is a Higo princess. Her face is of a perfect
Yamato type.
July 4tth. — Celebrated the " glorious Fourth " to-day by raising the
American flag, and starting a new class in the school, composed of the
brightest boys of the Sho Gakko, or secondary school. Mail arrived
from home, eight weeks from Philadelphia.
During the past month, a great many religious festivals and proces-
sions have been held. I attended a Buddhist sermon in the temple ; a
prayer-service in a private house ; a grand concert of music by twenty-
four bonzes in full sacerdotal costume, with wind and string instru-
ments, in the monastery ; and several private entertainments.
I find that both in houses and at picnics screens are an important
article of furniture, and behind these couples who have whispering to
do may enjoy a tete-a-tete undisturbed. Besides ornament, they serve
the purpose of alcoves or bay-windows for temporary privacy. In the
cut, the words " sasame goto " (whispering) signify that something confi-
dential is being told. Whether the pair are lovers is not certain, though
the expression on the face of the man is that of a love-lorn swain ; and
the young lady, whose coiffure betokens that she is in the matrimo-
* He studied at Princeton, Troy, and Columbia School of Mines, in New York,
and is now an officer in the Department of Education.
t He studied at Albany and Hoboken, and is now in the Imperial Govern-
ment's service.
524
nial market, seems to be paying very close attention, as her face, and
hands drawn within her sleeve and to her neck, indicate.
July 5th. — At a religious service in the hall of the castle, a band
of sacred Shinto musicians played the national hymn, many centuries
old, the strangest and most weird system of sounds I ever heard.
Twelve Shinto priests, in white robes, offered up the fruits of the sea-
son, and solemnly read prayers written for the occasion. Over one
Whispering behind the Screen.
thousand officials, in swords and ceremonial robes of hempen and silk
cloth (kami-shimo), were present. Their salutations to each other,
after the exercises, were fearful to behold. Much breath was sacked,
exalted honorifics indulged in, congratulations spoken, and excrucia-
ting politeness manifested.
To all these private or official entertainments I receive very polite-
ly worded written invitations. On the day set apart in honor of Jim-
mu Tenno, all the officials, according to rank, assembled, in robes of
ceremony, in the han-cho, and each, as his name was called, advanced
to a stone lavatory, washed his hands, and offered a prayer to the gods
for the prosperity of the empire. I was especially invited to attend,
and given a seat of honor. Later, in answer to questions about great
men, I took occasion to explain that the reverence of the American
people for Washington was for his pure and high moral character as
a man, and not as a military hero. He was not as Jimmu (Spirit of
War). Some Japanese imagine that the Americans worship Wash-
ington as a god. This, I showed, was a mistake. Several of the peo-
ple here have his picture in their houses.*
* Three separate translations of Irving's " Life of Washington," one a scholar-
ly production, have been made into Japanese, and several sketches of his life.
THE LAST TEAR OF FEUDALISM.
525
July Qtk. — A typhoon (tai-fu) of frightful violence passed over the
city last night. In the morning, the destruction of fences, roofs, and
houses was awful to behold. My gardens of American flowers and
vegetables are ruined by the sharp shingles, torn and hurled from the
great roof by hundreds, as though by a tormentum or catapult. I
learn that hundreds of junks have been wrecked, and lives lost along
the coast.
Samurai, in Kami-shimo Dress, saluting.
July 11 th. — The prince returned from Tokio to-day. Evidently,
something more is in the political wind. The faces of the samurai
and officials wear a solemn expression — " sicklied o'er with the pale
cast of thought." What can it be? Some coming event is casting
its shadow before.
July \§th. — This morning I met a Buddhist priest carrying a Yan-
kee lamp and a can of Pennsylvania petroleum to the monastery. It
seemed a symbol of more light. A man was drowned in the river
to-day. The people say a kappa dragged him down.
To-day I saw a snake-charmer exhibit. A tortoise-tamer made his
brood perform tricks : stand up on hind legs, march in various direc-
tions, advance, retreat, stop, and climb over each other, at the tap of a
drum. A great many other tricks, such as breaking a cobble-stone
with the fist, walking on the edge of a sword and then swallowing it,
feats of strength, astonishing poises, jugglery, etc., were performed at
the grand fair and show on the river flats. At night, the gayly illu-
minated refreshment booths and boats made the strand and river as
lively as the imagination could well conceive. At the matsuri in hon-
or of the patron deity of the city, the procession of people was proba-
526 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
bly four or five miles long. All the singing-girls, actors, guilds, trades,
monasteries, and many temples were represented. Few or no samurai
were in the procession. Immense images of idols were dragged by
the crowds ; and the historic and legendary personages and tableaux
were largely represented. It was a scene of wild mirth, drunkenness,
and paganism.
July 18th. — The thunder-bolt has fallen ! The political earthquake
has shaken Japan to its centre. Its effects are very visible here in
Fukui. Intense excitement reigns in the homes of the samurai of the
city to-day. I hear that some of them are threatening to kill Mitsuo-
ka, who receives income for meritorious services in 1868, and who has
long been the exponent of reform and of national progress in Fukui.
At ten o'clock this morning, a messenger from Tokio arrived at the
han-cho. Suddenly there was a commotion in the school. All the
native teachers and officials were summoned to the directors' room.
I saw them a few minutes afterward. Pale faces and excited nerves
were in the majority. The manner in which some of them strode to
the door, thrust their swords into their belts, stepped into their clogs,
and set off with flowing garments and silk coat-tails flapping to the
leeward, was quite theatrical, and just like the pictures in Japanese
books.
An imperial proclamation just received orders that the hereditary
incomes of the samurai be reduced, all sinecure offices abolished, and
the salaries thereto attached turned over to the imperial treasury.
The number of officials is to be reduced to the lowest minimum.
The property of the han is to become that of the Imperial Govern-
ment. The Fukui han is to be converted into a ken, or prefecture, of
the Central Government. All officials are to be appointed direct from
Tokio.
The change affects me for the better. Hitherto the school direct-
orate consisted of fourteen officers. "With too many sailors, the
boat runs up a hill." There are now only/cmr. An official from the
han-cho waited upon me to announce that my four guards and eight
gate-keepers are dismissed from office. I shall henceforth have but
two gate-keepers. The local officials of Fukui are to be reduced from
five hundred to seventy. The incubus of yakuninerie is being thrown
off. Japan's greatest curse for ages has been an excess of officials and
lazy rice-eaters who do not work. Sindbad has shaken off the Old
Man of the Sea. Hurra for the New Japan !
July 19th. — In the school to-day, the absence of officials, and con-
THE LAST TEAR OF FEUDALISM. 527
sequently of fuss and interruption, in my department is remarkable.
The directors' room is vacant. It is like the " banquet-hall deserted."
In the ken-cho, the quorum is but a skeleton, compared with the fat
body of the day before. The students tell me that some of the old
men in the city are nearly crazy with anxiety : a few violent fellows
still wish to assassinate Mitsuoka and the other imperialists, who have
been working to bring this state of things about. The respectable
samurai, however, and the men of weight and influence, almost unani-
mously approve of the mikado's order. They say it is a necessity,
not for Fukui, but for the nation, and that the altered national condi-
tion and the times require it. Some of them talk exultingly about the
future of Japan. 'They say, " Now Japan will take a position among
the nations like your country and England."
July 25th. — This afternoon, one of the ken officials, Mr. Tsutsumi,
who had just come from Tokio, called to see me. He spoke so clear-
ly and distinctly that I understood his Japanese without calling in my
interpreter. He bore a message from Mr. Katsu Awa. An American
teacher is desired for the school at Shidzuoka, in Suruga. In his let-
ter, Mr. Katsu said, " I desire a professional gentleman, regularly edu-
cated, not a mechanic or clerk who has taken to teaching to pick up
a living ; and, if possible, a graduate of the same school as yourself."
Evidently, Mr. Katsu understands the difference between a teacher and
a " teacher."
I immediately wrote to my former classmate and fellow-traveler in
Europe, Edward Warren Clark, A.M., offering him the position.*
August 10/A. — The prince (having returned from Tokio), his cham-
berlain, and one karo dined with me to-day. In the morning, two of
his pages, accompanied by servants, came to my house, bringing pres-
ents. They consisted of the products of Echizen, rolls of fine paper,
muslin, and silk, a box of eggs and one of sponge-cake, an inlaid
cake-box lacquered in several colors, a case of three rare painted fans,
all tied in silk napkins with red-and-white cord. The prince had also
brought for me from Iwakura Tomomi, now U Dai Jin (junior prime
minister), an exquisitely beautiful gold-lacquered cabinet, adorned with
sparrows and bamboo, cherry-blossoms, and variegated feathers. In
one of the drawers were a number of perfumed fans of elegant man-
ufacture. A letter from Mr. Iwakura accompanied the gift, begging
* Mr. Clark accepted, arriving in Shidzuoka in November, and for over three
years was an earnest and faithful teacher. He was in Shidzuoka two years, and
in Tokio, in the Imperial College, one year.
34
528 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
my acceptance as a token of his regard for my care and instruction of
his sons while in the United States.
The prince laid aside his icy dignity as the dinner proceeded, after
which conversation was prolonged for an hour or two, the guests pro-
ducing their pipes, filling and emptying a great many of the tiny sil-
ver bowls. On the prince rising to depart, his ministers fell down on
hands and knees until Matsudaira had reached the door, where his
sandal and lantern bearers were awaiting his appearance. Then the
officers rose and accompanied him to his norimono. One of the forty-
five million princes of the United States, standing erect, shook hands
with the nobleman, bid him good-bye, and invited him to come again.
In accordance with native etiquette, the guests send some trifling
token of acknowledgment the day after an entertainment — eggs,
sponge-cake, a fish, or other gift — as a sort of "return call." On
meeting, the favored one salutes his late host, saying, "Sendatte ariga-
to " (" Thank you for your kindness received a few days ago ").
August 15th.- — The thermometer has ranged from 95° to 99° at
3 P.M. during several days of last week. All Fukui goes to sleep in
the middle of the day. I occasionally walk out in the early after-
noon, seeing scores of houses and shops open, but perfectly quiet,
their inmates, often rotund sylphs, as in Hokusai's sketch, being stretch-
The Siesta.
ed on the floor asleep, not always in the most graceful position.
There are very few flies to trouble them. Japan seems to be singu-
larly free from these pests." At night, mosquitoes are numerous, hun-
gry, and of good size. The people are well provided with mosquito-
nets, which are large, like the room itself, and made to fit it. I find
that the leap-year hint of a Japanese widow to a favored suitor which
makes him happy is, that " her mosquito-net is too large." The poor
folks smoke the pests out. It is curious that the Japanese word for
mosquito (ka) and an interrogation-point (ka) is the same.
At night the common people assemble in rings of from a score to
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 529
a hundred, and dance in slow measure, clapping hands and singing.
The young folks especially, of both sexes, like this fun.
A Japanese city during hot weather affords excellent opportunities
for the study of breathing statuary. The laborers often strip to the
loin-cloth, the women to the waist. Even the young girls and maid-
ens just rounding into perfection of form often sit half nude ; think-
ing it no desecration to expose the body from the waist up. They
seem to be utterly unaware of any impropriety. Certainly they are
innocent in their own eyes. Is the Japanese virgin " an Eve before
the fall T
Among the games played in public is dakiu (polo), which is very
ancient in Japan. An immense crowd of spectators, prince, princess,
lords and ladies, gentlemen, people, priests and students, gathered in-
side the riding course to see the game of " dakiu " played. I had one
of the best seats given me in the pavilion occupied by the daimio
and his gentlemen in waiting. Every body was dressed handsomely,
the weather perfect, the scene animating. Judges and scorers were in
ceremonial dress.
At the signal, given by a tap of a bell, twelve players mounted.
At the next, they rode into the lists, saluted the prince and judges,
and proceeded to the end of the course, ranging themselves in Indian
file, with their horses' heads to the wickets, which were two bamboo
holes with a cord across them, about ten feet from the ground.
The rival parties, six players in each, called themselves the Genji
and the Heike. The Genji wore white, the Heike red hats, accord-
ing to the colors of the ancient flags. Each player had a long bam-
boo stick (" spoon ") like a shepherd's crook, with net-work of cord.
On the ground, in two rows at the side, and extending in front of the
riders, were seventy -two red and white balls. The whites were to
throw the red balls over and through the wicket, the reds to throw the
whites. Balls going over the lists outside the wickets were tossed
back again. Each party was to oppose the other. The red flag
waved on the right wicket-pole, the white on the left.
At the signal, given by a wave of the judge's fan, both parties rode
nimbly up the lists, picking up the balls, and flinging them over the
wickets, if they could. The leaders having reached the wickets, and
a number of balls having been thrown over, and others scattered over
the field, turned back to oppose each other, and then the game grew
intensely exciting. It was shinny on horseback. Skillful handling of
the horse, as well as of the crook, was necessary. Three riders were
530
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
dismounted. Occasionally
.> j . a man was hurt. The col-
W lision of excited animals
^^ against each other was fre-
^ quent. The balls flew back-
ward and forward, up and
down. Finally, there was
but one ball left. Twelve
men and horses contested
for it. The Heike won the
first game, having thrown
all the thirty-six white balls
over their wicket, while
the Genji had three red
balls left on the ground.
Three games were played,
the Genji winning two.
The prizes, awarded by the
prince, were a roll of silk,
a helmet, a porcelain vase,
and autograph scrolls.
August 28tk. — I have
returned from a trip to
Hakuzan (Shiro yama,
White Mountain) and
Kaga. Emori and Iwa-
buchi accompanied me. I
spent eight days among
the mountains, being the
first foreigner who has ever
ascended Hakuzan. It is
nine thousand three hun-
dred and twenty feet high
by imperfect method of
measurement, with only a
thermometer. At any rate,
the surmise of Humboldt,
and even the Japanese of
this coast, that Hakuzan is higher than Fuji, is disposed of. At the
top was a Buddhist shrine, strongly built and handsomely furnished.
THE LAST TEAR OF FEUDALISM. 531
I spent the night in a hut near the summit, in which some forty
pilgrims slept besides my two servants. The scenery from the edge
of the extinct crater, which was full of snow and water, was grand ;
but the mountain torrents, water -falls, and vistas lower down afford-
ed the greatest pleasure. I passed villages full of girls reeling silk.
The crops of tobacco, indigo, hemp, rice, etc., promise to be lux-
uriant. In the towns dense crowds lined the streets to see the
foreigner. At the hotels the dainty Emori, in settling bills, never
handles money, but folds the sum neatly in white paper, and ties
it with the ceremonial red-and-white cord, and lays it on a tray, de-
parting with many bows. I noticed many ja-kago (" snake-baskets "),
Rope-dikes, or " Suake-baskets."
or ropes of stones, used as piers and jetties to preserve river -banks
from being washed away by flood or current. They are of split bam-
boo, plaited in cylindrical nets, from ten to one hundred feet long, the
meshes being just the size to retain large pebbles. They are cheap,
durable, and efficient. In some parts of Japan, notably along the To-
kaido, there are miles of embankments formed by them.
At Daishoji a number of exiled " Christians " from Urakami, near
Nagasaki, are confined. I was not allowed to see them. At the sul-
phur baths of Yamanaka, a noted watering-place, were a number of no-
blemen with their families. I also visited Sabae, Katsuyama, Ono, Ma-
ruoka, all large towns, in Echizen. At Sabae we were entertained in
splendid style at the temple hostelry. The entire country is very rich
in historical, legendary, mythic, and holy associations, and my enjoy-
532
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
raent was intense throughout. The Daimio of Maruoka is a descend-
ant of the Daimio of Hizen, friend of the Jesuits in the sixteenth cent-
ury.
September 30th. — My new "foreign" house was finished some days
ago. It was first visited by the prince and his officers, who enjoyed a
luncheon, a social smoke, and a view of the mountains from the veran-
da. They wished to study a foreign house at leisure. The scenery
My House in Fukui.
of the river, up the valley — the mountains to the west and south, snow-
clad Hakuzan to the north, the city and castle, towers, moats, and walls
— is very fine. Then, for three days, by official permission, the house
was thrown open to public inspection. People from the city and
country folks from afar flocked in crowds to see how mankind in
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 533
"civilized countries" live. The refreshment - venders, the men who
checked clogs, sandals, and umbrellas, did a thriving business. Proba-
bly twenty thousand people have inspected my new house.
After the last naruhodo (Well, I never ! Is it possible !) was ejacu-
lated, I took possession. The materials of seasoned wood, stone chim-
neys, tiled roof, wall-paper, etc., are of the best. American hardware,
grates, mantel-pieces, glass windows, wardrobes, etc., make a cozy and
comfortable dwelling for the inmate, as well as a standing educator of
the native public.* Extension - table, chairs, book- cases, and other
furniture were constructed by cabinet-makers in Fukui, of sound old
wood, chiefly keyaki. An exact reproduction of the writing-desk of
Charles Dickens left with " the empty chair " at Gadshill, made after a
picture in The London Illustrated News, came from the same skillful
hands, and now adorns my study.
To-morrow Fukui bids farewell to feudalism. On the next day we
shall be in a province without a prince. The era of loyalty is passed.
The era of patriotism has come. To-day the prince sent me a note
of farewell, accompanied by a present of choice viands in a picnic box,
gold-lacquered in shell-fish designs, which he begged me to accept as a
parting token of regard. He also requested my presence in the main
hall of the castle, at the valedictory ceremonies prior to his departure
to Tokio, where he is to retire to private life. This evening his six
ministers dined with me, the prince being absent on account of a
death in his household.
October 1st. — From an early hour this morning, the samurai in kami-
* It was originally intended to build four houses — one for the physician, one
for the English teacher, one for the military instructor, and one for myself. The
abolition of feudalism and the centralization of the government changed the en-
tire scheme. Mr. Alfred Lucy, an English gentleman, who had been my co-labor-
er for about two months, left Fukui in June, and went to Awomori, in Rikuoku,
to introduce English methods of agriculture and stock-raising. The physician
never reached our feudal capital. Lieutenant Brinckley, of the Tenth English
Regiment, was retained in Tokio by the Imperial Government. What was loss to
Fukui became immense gain to all Japanese and English-speaking people who
wish to study the language of the other. The Oo-Gaku Hitori Annai, three vol-
umes, one thousand pages, or " Guide to Self-instruction in the Language," by
Mr. Brinckley, English officer of artillery, printed by the Insho Kiyoku, 1875, is,
I believe, the first original work written in the Japanese language by a foreigner.
It is a masterpiece of scholarship. There are many idioms in its copious lists of
which Mr. Brinckley may be called the discoverer. Its issue marks a new era of
the knowledge of English in Japan, and of Japanese by foreigners. After I left
Fukui, Mr. E. Mudgett, of Napa, California, and Mr. M. N.Wyckoff, A.M., a grad-
uate of Rutgers College, continued the instruction in English and the sciences.
534 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
shimo (ceremonial dress) have been preparing for the farewell, and
have been assembling in the castle. I went over to the main hall at
nine o'clock. I shall never forget the impressive scene. All the slid-
ing paper partitions separating the rooms were removed, making one
vast area of matting. Arranged in the order of their rank, each in
his starched robes of ceremony, with shaven-crown, and gun-hammer
top-knot, with hands clasped on the hilt of his sword resting upright
before him as he sat on his knees, were the three thousand samurai
of the Fukui clan. -Those bowed heads were busy with the thought
born of the significance of the scene. It was more than a farewell to
their feudal lord. It was the solemn burial of the institutions under
which their fathers had lived for seven hundred years. Each face
seemed to wear a far-away expression, as if their eyes were looking
into the past, or striving to probe an uncertain future.
I fancied I read their thoughts. The sword is the soul of the samu-
rai, the samurai the soul of Japan. Is the one to be ungirt from its
place of honor, to be thrown aside as a useless tool, to make way for
the ink-pot and the ledger of the merchant? Is the samurai to be-
oome less than the trader ? Is honor to be reckoned less than money ?
Is the spirit of Japan to be abased to the level of the sordid foreign-
ers who are draining the wealth of Japan ? Our children, too, what is
to become of them? Must they labor and toil, and earn their own
bread? What are we to do when our hereditary pensions are stop-
ped, or cut down to a beggar's pittance? Must we, whose fathers
were glorious knights and warriors, and whose blood and spirit we
inherit, be mingled hopelessly in the common herd? Must we, who
would starve in honorable poverty rather than marry one of our
daughters to a trader, now defile our family line to save our lives and
fill our stomachs ? What is the future to bring us ?
These seemed to be the thoughts that shadowed that sea of dark
faces of waiting vassals. One could have heard a pin drop after the
hush that announced the coming of the daimio.
Matsudaira Mochiake, late" Lord of Echizen, and feudal head of the
Fukui clan, who was to-morrow to be a private nobleman, now ad-
vanced down the wide corridor to the main hall. He was a stern-
visaged man of perhaps thirty-five years of age. He was dressed in
purple satin hakama, with inner robe of white satin, and outer coat of
silk crape of a dark slate hue, embroidered on sleeve, back, and breast
with the Tokugawa crest. In his girdle was thrust the usual side-
arm, a wakizashi, or dirk, the hilt of which was a carved and frosted
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 535
mass of solid gold. His feet, cased in white socks, moved noiselessly
over the matting. As he passed, every head was bowed, every sword
laid prone to the right, and Matsudaira, with deep but unexpressed
emotion, advanced amidst the ranks of his followers to the centre of
the main hall. There, in a brief and noble address, read by his chief
minister, the history of the clan and of their relations as lord and vas-
sals, the causes which had led to the revolution of 1868, the results of
which had restored the imperial house to power, and the mikado's rea-
sons for ordering the territorial princes to restore their fiefs, were
tersely and eloquently recounted. In conclusion, he adjured all his
followers to transfer their allegiance wholly to the mikado and the
imperial house. Then, wishing them all success and prosperity in
their new relations, and in their persons, their families, and their es-
tates, in chaste and fitting language he bid his followers solemn fare-
well.
On behalf of the samurai, one of their number then read an ad-
dress, expressive of their feelings, containing kindly references to the
prince as their former lord, and declaring their purpose henceforth to
be faithful subjects of the mikado and the imperial house.
This terminated the ceremony. The ex-daimio and his ministers
then left the castle hall, and he proceeded to the residence of the
American instructor. I met and welcomed him, and he sat down for
a few minutes. He thanked me cordially for my efforts to instruct
the young men of Fukui, and invited me to visit him in Tokio. In re-
turn, I expressed my indebtedness for his many kindnesses to me, and
then, after the manner of American politeness and Japanese courtesy,
we exchanged farewells.
October 2d. — The whole city seems to be astir to-day. The streets
are crowded with citizens in their best clothes, and thousands are in
from the country. They have come to see their prince for the last
time. It is a farewell gathering. Many hundreds of old men, wom-
en, and children are weeping. A regiment of one thousand men es-
cort him to Takefu, twelve miles off. A few faithful retainers, his
physician Hashimoto, and his body-servants accompany him to To-
kio. A similar scene to that of to-day has probably been witnessed
in many castled cities in Japan during this month.*
* In a few bans the people rebelled against the orders of the Imperial Govern-
ment, refusing to let their prince depart; but in general every farewell and de-
parture was sad, quiet, and decorous.
536 THE MIKADOES EMPIRE.
December 1st. — Great changes have taken place in the city since
the departure of the prince, and the change of the han (feudal tenure)
into ken (prefecture of the Imperial Government). Most of the high
officers have been called by the Imperial Government to Tokio. Mit-
suoka is now mayor of Tokio. Ogasawara, Tsutsumi, and several oth-
ers have been made officials of other ken. It is the policy of the gov-
ernment to send the men of one ken to act as officers in another, and
thus break up local prejudices. It is a grand idea, Sasaki Gonroku
has been called to a position in the Department of Public Works.
Many of the best teachers in the school have been given official places
in the capital. My best friends and helpers have left Fukui ; and now
my advanced students, their support at home being no longer suffi-
cient, are leaving to seek their fortune in Yokohama or Tokio. My
classes are being depleted. Fukui is no longer the capital of a prince.
It is simply an inland city. I can not blame the young men for wish-
ing to see the new life and civilization of the nation at the ports and
capital, but my loneliness and sense of exile increase daily. Since the
summer — so I am told — over seven hundred families have left Fukui.
Tokio is making up in population the loss of Yedo in 1862, when the
daimios withdrew. I have not over half of my best students left.
The military school has been disbanded, and the gunpowder works
and the rifle factory removed. Three companies of imperial troops,
in uniform of French style, with the mikado's crest on their caps, and
the national flag (a red sun in a white field) as their standard, now
occupy the city barracks. The old local and feudal privileges are be-
ing abolished. Taxes are being made uniform all over the country.
The Buddhist theological school has been broken up by orders from
Tokio. Shinto lecturers are endeavoring to convert the people to the
old faith. All the Shinto temples which have been in any way influ-
enced by Buddhism are being more vigorously purged and restored in
pure Shinto style. The outer wall of the castle has been leveled, and
the moat filled up. The gates have been sold for their stone, wood,
and copper. Many old yashikis of ancient and once wealthy families
have been torn down and converted into shops. The towns-people and
shop-keepers are jubilant at getting a foot-hold on the sites hitherto
reserved to samurai. Old armor, arrows, spears, flags, saddlery, dresses,
norimonos, and all the paraphernalia of the old feudal days can now
be bought dirt cheap. The prince's mansion has been demolished,
and every thing left in it sold. I got from it a pair of bronze stir-
rups and a marble model of Fuji. All the horses in the stables of the
'1'llE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 537
clan have been disposed of at auction. Every thing pertaining to feu-
dal Fukui is passing away. Japan is becoming unified. Nevertheless,
it causes some local suffering, and the poverty of many families, once
in comfort, is increasing.
December \5th. — The wild ducks and geese have come back from
Yezo, and are thick in the fields. Great numbers of them are capt-
ured by the samurai, who go out
at early morning and at sunset, on
the hills around the city, armed
with a huge triangular net, set in
a bamboo frame and pole. A
dexterous hunter can throw this
up twenty feet in the air. Thus
outspread, the flying birds are en-
tangled. This is called sakadori
(hunting on the heights). Some
Wild Goose in Flight. , ,
men can take two ducks at once,
or snare a fat goose at a throw, but many fail or wait in vain. The
eligible places of vantage are bought for a trifling tax from the ken.
To ward off the damp, the fowlers dress in grass coat and wide rush
hat. Every morning I see them coming over the bridge. With pole,
tunic, and hat slung on back like shields, they appear as old warriors
in battle array. It is said that on certain nights the headless ghosts
of Shibata and his warriors ride on horseback over this bridge into his
old castle grounds. The country people imagine they can hear the clat-
ter of hoofs, and see this troop of headless horsemen, on certain still
nights ; but, although I have lived seven months on the site of his old
castle in which he died, I never beheld the old hero's shade ; nor have
I been tempted to scare any native Ichabod Crane by playing Brom
Bones, though pumpkins are plentiful here.
December 25th. — Yesterday a party of students cut down young
pines, hemlock boughs, cryptomeria, arbor -vitae, and other greenery,
and decked my house, in and out, in Christmas garb. The large steel
plate of " American Authors " received especial honor. My cook and
his family and the students last night hung up their tabi (mitten-
socks, or "foot -gloves"), in lieu of stockings. This morning they
found them overflowing with American good things, both sweet to
the palate and useful to the hand. Santa Clans did not even forget
the tiny white socks of little Chenkey, who is alternately dumfounded
and uproariously merry.
538 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Officers, citizens, and students visited me during the day, in accord-
ance with my invitation. I kept open house for all, and told them of
Christ's birth, life, work, and death. Many had never heard of Christ
except as part of the Jashumon (corrupt sect), on the kosatsu, which
hang near the main gate of the city. One bright boy, after peering
around the house, vainly seeking something, finally whispered in my
ear, " Where is your god-house ?"
January 1th, 1872. — The city to-day swarms with country people.
An immense festival in honor of Shinran is being held. The streets
are crowded, and the shops in full blast. The Shin temples are pack-
ed with people. Even the porch and steps and temple yards are full
of pious folk. In the large kitchens attached to the temple are a
number of iron boilers, each containing several bushels of rice. Vege-
tables are being cooked in other pots, and many hundreds of hungry
folks are eating in the refectory, some bringing their own food. The
priests very politely took me through the rear part of the temple, be-
yond the splendid altar, where I could see the vast crowd, and through
the quarters occupied by the resident bonzes. The sight of so many
thousand faces of people with hands clasped in prayer, with their
rosaries, murmuring their petitions (" Namu Amida Butsu ") in the
great hall ; then of the hundreds of hungry people feeding ; children
and families resting — many of them had walked from ten to twenty
miles ; the cooks in the fire-light, begrimed with the smoke and sweat
of the kitchen ; the waiters hurrying to and fro ; the receiving and
counting of money, made a picture of Buddhism in its popular phases
I can never forget.
January 10 th. — Some months ago I addressed a communication to
the Minister of Public Instruction in Tokio, urging the establishment
of a polytechnic school, giving plans and a few details. Evidently
such an enterprise has already been determined upon. To-day I re-
ceived a letter from the Mayor of Tokio, intimating that I was to be
invited to the capital to fill a position in such a school. Another let-
ter, by the same mail, from the Minister of Education, through the
foreign superintendent of the Imperial College, invited me to fill one
of the professorships in the polytechnic school (Shem Mon Gakko)
about to be formed. An immediate answer is expected.
January II th. — I was called to the ken-cho to-day, the sanji ex-
pressing their urgent wish that I should remain in Fukui, stating also
that the citizens of Fukui, anticipating the invitation from Tokio, had
petitioned the ken-cho officials to keep the American teacher in Fukui,
THE LAST YEAR OF FEUDALISM. 539
if possible. Having, however, lost most of my best friends and ad-
vanced students from the city, and the loneliness having become al-
most intolerable, I have resolved to go to Tokio. For over six months
I have not seen one of my own race. The tax on the nervous system
of being isolated, looked at as a stranger and a curiosity, made the
target of so many eyes, and the constant friction and chafing of one
Caucasian against a multitude of sharp angles of an Asiatic civilization,
as represented by servants, petty officials, and ignorant people; and
the more delicate work of polite fencing with intellectual rapiers
against cultured men educated under other systems of morals and
ideas; the ruin of temper and principle which such a lonely life
threatens, are more than I wish to attempt to bear, when duty as well
as pleasure seems to invite me to the capital.
From the people, officers, and students I have received kindness
and attentions both unexpected and undeserved. I find in them most
of the tenderest feelings that soften and adorn human nature. Con-
fidence, sympathy, respect, even affection from my students, have been
lavishly bestowed. I have never had a quarrel with any one, nor have
I been injured or insulted in any way.
January 2lst. — From morning till night my house was thronged
with people in the city — students, officials, mothers, fathers, and chil-
dren, relatives of the students — who came to bid me good-bye. Ev-
ery one of them, according to custom, brought a present, sometimes
handsome and costly. In return, each received a trifle or refreshments,
of which the solid remnants were wrapped in white paper, put into
the sleeve, and carried away, as is the habit. " Leavings are lucky,"
saith the Japanese proverb.
During my life in a feudal city in Japan far away from foreigners,
I have seen the Japanese at home. It has sometimes seemed to me,
in my walks through the old castle, or along the moats, or upon the
ramparts, in the cemeteries, in the houses of the people, on the mount-
ains, in my rides through the villages, that I was in fairy-land or in a
dream. Yet these people are just like ourselves, their hearts the same
as ours. Their emotions and traits, both noble and despicable, are twin
to those which belong to mankind between the Alleghanies and the
Atlantic. This is a trite truism. Y,et m its truth consists its novelty.
When men of differing climes and nations see behind each other's
mail of codes, manners, education, and systems their common human-
ity, the hope of their dwelling in peace as children of one Father is
no longer a chimera.
540 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Fukui and Echizen must decrease that Dai Nippon may increase.
People complain that the empire is becoming too much centralized.
The capital and ports are absorbing the strength of the whole coun-
try. It is best. Only by centralization at this time can true nation-
ality be attained. Make the heart strong, and the blood will flow to
all the extremities.
Japan's record of progress for 1871 is noble. The mikado's gov-
ernment is no longer an uncertainty. A national army has been
formed ; plots and insurrections have been crushed ; the press has be-
come one of the motors of civilization ; already several newspapers
are established in the capital. The old local forms of authority are
merged into the national, and taxes and government are equalized
throughout the country. Feudalism is dead. An embassy has been
sent to Europe, not composed of catspaw officials of low rank to rep-
resent the " tycoon," but nobles and cabinet ministers of the mikado's
empire, to plead for Japan and the true sovereign. The mikado, cast-
ing away old traditions, now appears among his people, requiring no
humiliating obeisance. Marriage among all classes is now permitted,
and caste is to disappear. The eta and hinin are now citizens, pro-
tected by law. The swords of the samurai are laid aside. The peace
and order throughout the country appear wonderful. Progress is ev-
erywhere the watchword. Is not this the finger of God ?
Midnight. — It has been snowing steadily for seven days. All the
objects five or six feet high are covered up. The landscape is a sea
of white. A great many students wish to go with me to Tokio, but
the sanji have laid an interdict on all for one month. The three stu-
dents from Higo will, however, accompany me. I rely much on the
fertile mind, calm skill, and enthusiastic regard of " Bearded Higo."
Sahei, my servant, will attend me, and Inouye will be my escort. All
my baggage is now packed up. It will be carried on men's shoulders
over mountain and valley for three hundred and thirty miles to Tokio.
In vain croakers and sincere friends have endeavored to dissuade
me from this severe winter- journey, or frighten me with stories of
wolves, robbers, or the dangers of mountain passes, avalanches, or of
being lost in the snow. I wish to see a Japanese winter in the high-
lands, and to tramp over the Tokaido, and visit Shidzuoka. God
willing, I shall be in Tokio by February 4th. Farewell, Fukui, thou
hast been a well of blessing ; for in thee I have found some truth.
A TRAMP THROUGH JAPAN. 541
XVI.
A TRAMP THROUGH JAPAN.
January 22rf, 1872. — A pitiless blast. Snow drifting in heaps, and
whirling fine dust. Baggage - carriers have gone ahead. Forty stu-
dents wait to escort me to Morinoshita (Beneath the Grove), three
miles distant. On Daimio Avenue a crowd of officials, citizens, and
lads wait to say farewell.
Sayonaras and good wishes are exchanged with mutual regret. The
line of march is over New Bridge. In Boat-landing Street snow lies
eight feet deep, with constant additions from the house-tops. Out on
the plain, past the city, the blast is horizontal, its force overpowering,
its sting terrible. It is difficult to keep the path. The cold is in-
tense. Yet the students jest, laugh, and sing lively songs, as though
on a summer's day.
At Morinoshita we halt. The younger students return to Fukui.
Our party and six others push on to Takefu. Here a farewell ban-
quet is given me. Fourteen tables are set. Two hours of fun and
cozy comfort pass. The hotel is warm. It seems madness to go out
in the storm. Yet I will go.
We send out for kagos or horses. We can get neither. Not a
man will venture, even a ri, for triple the price. We lose two hours
in waiting, and at four o'clock set out on foot. One mile of flounder-
ing, and our strength is strained. It is getting dark. The landscape
is level white. Even the stone idols are snowed up. No field, water-
course, house, bush, or shrine is in sight. WTe can not see a hundred
feet before us, even where the furious wind allows us to look ahead.
We have lost the path. Our case is desperate. To advance or return
is alike impossible. Total darkness is imminent. To spend the night
here is to freeze. But look ! a lantern glimmers in the distance. We
shout. The sounds are twisted out of our mouths, and swept into the
snow-drift. Slowly the lantern vanishes, and with it our hopes disap-
pear.
Night swoops on us. For another hour we flounder, vainly seeking
542 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the path. We are on the edge of despair. "Bearded Higo," calm
and brave, is vigorously punching the snow to find bottom. Eureka !
He has struck the path. No pick of miner or drill of engineer ever
struck gold or oil with intenser joy. We mount the crest of safety
from our white abyss. Our leader keeps the ridge : we follow. We
are often blown off or fall out, but his cane is surer than witch-hazel
or divining-rod. We wade a mile farther. A shout from " Bearded
Higo" announces a village. We peer through the blast. A house-
gable looms up. Well named is Imadzuku (Now we rest). We
crouch under the porch while one hies in quest of an inn. We enter
not a palace ; but cheery welcome glorifies host and house. We
shake off, doff, and sit at the hearth, watching the cookery. Rice,
bean-cheese, daikon, mushroom, fish, are served. Then we take up our
beds and walk. With feet under kotatsu, come rosy slumbers and
dreams of home.
January 23d. — Snow, snow, snow. Inouye has hired for me eight
stalwart men, grasping staves, and shod with snow-shoes of birch
boughs, two feet long, one foot wide, and well wattled, who wait at
the door. Their leader punches the drifts for a footing, which on the
mountains is tolerable, on the plains fearfully bad, often through slush
and icy water. I wear straw boots : though wet, they keep the feet
warm. After some miles, we tug up a steep pass with a warm name,
Yunoo (Hot-water Tail). Chattering girls, in rival inns, give us noisy
welcome. We sit down, drink tea, and gossip. A priest on his way to
Takefu last night lost his path, and froze to death. A postman was
struck by an avalanche, knocked down, hurt, and nearly smothered.
We resume our march. Many tracks of avalanches, twenty feet
wide, are seen. One crashes and tumbles just in front of us. I notice
that the clapboard roofs of houses are weighted down by stones, like
those on Swiss chalets. The tracks of boar, bear, foxes, and monkeys
are numerous. It is the hunter's harvest-time. Dressed carcasses are
on sale in every village. I wonder how a Darwinian steak would taste.
" Not thank you ; no monkey for me !" is my response to an invitation
to taste my ancestors. Good people, you need " science " to teach
you what cannibals you are.
At 1.30 P.M. we reach Imajo. At the huge fire-place, I warm and
smoke myself till I learn how it feels to be a dried herring. Our
food is sauced with hunger and hospitality. Verily, it is delightful
to meet unspoiled Japanese, who have never encountered civilization
or drunken sailors.
A TRAMP T1IROUGU JAPAN. 543
At 3.30 I mount a horse who has two legs and no tail. The sad-
dle— a bundle of straw — rests on the man's loins. I bestride him,
my legs on his hips, and arms round his neck. I can choke him if I
like. I grip him tightly at dangerous places. These mountaineers
think nothing of this work of carrying a man of sixteen-stone weight.
Each man has a staff to prop me up when he stops to blow and rest.
Riding man-back is pleasant, unless the animal (ippiki) is extravagant
with pomatum, or his head-kerchief and the wash-tub are strangers.
The horse-men carry us one ri. f Snow is too deep : I dismount and
plod on. Among solemn groves of pine, walls of rocks and hills,
darkness falls; but the moon silvers the forest, burnishes the snow,
reveals mystic shadows. Our six bearers light four huge torches of
rice-straw leaves and twigs, ten feet long and six inches thick. The
lurid glare lights up the gorges. Prismatic splendors dance in the
red fire-light. Snow crystals and pendant icicles become chandeliers.
Intense fatigue can not blind me to the glories of this night-march.
At nine o'clock the path is but a few inches wide. To miss a step
is a serious matter. It plunges me to my waist in soft snow. The
bearers pull or pry me out. Every step is misery. Another seems
an impossibility. Yet none else of the party says a word. Admira-
ble is the spirit of the Japanese in hardship. The last ri is torture to
me. At last a light gleams above us. We file through the village
street. Kindly welcome and tender care are mine from all. Sahei
undresses me like a child. My limbs no sooner free, I sink, exhaust-
ed, asleep.
January 24th. — I am too stiff to stand. I feel like singing the col-
lege-song, " Saw my leg off," and with emphasis on the word " short."
I hobble about for a few minutes. My joints relax. Our path lies
through glorious valleys charged with vitalizing air. Amidst such
scenery I forget my limbs. We hear the shouts of hunters. At ten
o'clock we leave Echizen and enter Onri. In the village, at which we
dine on wild-pork steaks, omelet, rice, and turnips, snow lies level with
the eaves, shields of bamboo making a corridor between snow -and
houses. Our host, Nakano Kawachi, has speared eight hogs since
snow fell. Strings of dried persimmons hang from his rafters like
dried apples in an old-time New England kitchen. They look and
taste like figs. The small boys are crazy with delight at the strange
sight of a foreigner. A feint to scare them scatters the crowd and
leaves a dozen sprawling in the snow. At Tsubae we spend the
night. The inns are full. Our rooms are poor. The nomi (Pulex
35
544 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
irritans) bite unusually hard. This is a rare behavior for them in
winter.
January 25th. — Breakfast is flavored with fun and bright eyes.
An extremely pretty, pearly -teethed, sweet -voiced, and bright -eyed
girl waits on us. Her merry laugh and chatter make amends for
shabby quarters. An unusually generous fee from the foreigner is on
account of her reminding him of bright eyes in the home land. Faces
here in Japan recall familiar faces long known, and every phase of
character in New York is duplicated here.
We are descending the highlands of Echizen and Omi to the plains
of Mino and Owari. Weather grows warmer, villages more numer-
ous, road more regular. We are in a silk region. Plantations of
mulberry -trees, cut to grow only six feet high, abound. Lake Biwa
lies in the distance, a picture of blue massively framed in mountains.
Dining at Kinomoto (Foot of the Tree), we embark in kagos. In these
How we rode to Odaui.
vehicles I always fall asleep at the wrong end; my head remaining
wide awake, while my feet are incorrigibly somnolent. I lie in all
shapes, from a coil of rope to a pair of inverted dividers, with head
wrapped from the cold and hardly enough face visible to make a mon-
key. In the fine hotel at Odani, the old lady hostess is very mother-
ly to her first foreign guest, until I settle in kotatsu in the " daimio's
chamber," with maps and books on the floor, when she resumes her
spectacles and sewing. Round the room hang gilt and lacquered tab-
lets of the lords and nobles who have lodged at this house. My
prince's card is among them. The old lady brings me sheets of paper
to write my name, poetry, wise saws, etc., upon, as mementoes. After
supper, Inouye "fights his battles o'er." A bullet grazed his fore-
A TRAMP THROUGH JAPAN. 545
head in the campaign of 1868-'70. The students recount the lore Of
the places passed, and the Guai Shi narratives. " To-morrow," says
Inouye, " we shall cross the battle-field of Sekigahara."
January 26th. — We have left the snow behind us. Through mul-
berry plantations, over dark and loamy soil, we pass under the shad-
ow of Ibuki yama, his glorious form now infolded with clouds, now re-
vealed in sunshine. We pass the tomb of beautiful Tokiwa, mother
of Yoritomo. Every step is historic ground. The study of topog-
raphy is a wonderful help to the imagination. We are now on Ja-
pan's greatest battle-field. The war panorama of October, 1600, ap-
pears before me. Here stood the head - quarters of lyeyasu ; there
were the lines of battle ; over that road the army of the league march-
ed to take up their position ; and beyond stood the Jesuit monas-
tery where, botanists say, Portuguese plants grow, and flowers bloom.
Here sat the victor who knotted the cords of his helmet.
We are now on the Tokaido. This I see at once, from its width,
bustling air, and number of tea-houses. Over this road tramped the
armies of lyeyasu, plodded the missionaries of the Cross and Keys,
moved the processions of the daimios, advanced the loyal legions from
Fushimi to Hakodate. To-day a different sight makes my heart beat
and my eyes kindle. Emerging from a year's exile, here, in the heart
of Japan, I see before me telegraph-poles ; their bare, grim, silent maj-
esty is as eloquent as pulses of light. The electric wires will soon con-
nect the sacred city of the Sun Land with the girdle that clasps the
globe. Verily, Puck, thou hast kept thy word even in Japan. Morse,
thou hast another monument.
A glorious sunset writes in prophecies of purple and gold the
weather " probabilities " for the remainder of my journey. At Ogaki
— the persimmon of lyeyasu — " the splendor falls on castle walls," and
evening glow gilds the old towers as we enter the historic gate-ways.
We spend the night here.
January 27th. — I meet many of the jin-riki-shas of modern, and
pass a grassy mound of skulls and skeletons, the memorial of some
battle in ancient, Japan. The road, lined with pine-trees, which over-
arch and interlace, seems like a great cathedral aisle. We pass over
long embankments, eighteen feet high and forty feet wide, made to
keep off the tidal waves which sometimes arise. At Okoshi, we leave
Mino, and enter Owari, with its many large towns and cities. At
Kujosu we visit Nobunaga's old castle. At 4 P.M. we enter Nagoya,
the fourth largest city in Japan, with the finest castle outside of Tokio.
546 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
Two of its towers were formerly surmounted with huge fish made of
copper, covered with plates of gold. A robber, who mounted on an
immense kite in a gale at night and tried to steal the gold scales, was
detected, boiled to death in oil, and the raising of large kites ever
afterward prohibited in Owari. Nagoya is noted for fans, porcelain,
and cloisonne enamel-ware. Miya is its sea-port.
January 28th. — Leave Chirio at bright starlight, witnessing a glori-
ous sunrise. At 9 A.M. I met an American gentleman, with five bette,
on a walk from Tokio to Kobe. Our meeting is mutually pleasant.
His is the first white face I have seen for some months. Night spent
at Shirasuka, in Totomi.
January 29th. — White Fuji, sixty miles distant, rises before me
like a revelation. Almost simultaneously on my right I behold the
sea, broad, blue, myriad-smiling. Thalatte ! Thalatte ! I have not seen
the Pacific, nor Fuji, for very nearly a year. At Araii, we take boat
and cross an arm of the sea, to a town famous for its shell-fish. I send
a letter to Clark at Shidziioka. We are now in the coldest part of
the year, called kan, but when near Hamamatsu (Strand -pine) two
runners, naked to the breech-cloth, whizz past me. On the shoulders
of each is a live fish wrapped in straw. Epicures in Hamamatsu like
to eat fish fresh from the net, within an hour of capture, and human
legs take the place of the lightning express. The fleet postman is
also clothed only in a suit of cuticle with loin-strap. A bundle of let-
ters is slung on a pole over his shoulder. In the city we meet many
natives between boots and hats, in the toggery, or a travesty of the
tight clothes, of civilization. I see condensed milk, beer, Yankee
clocks, buttons, petroleum ; pictures of Abraham Lincoln, Bismarck,
George Washington, Gladstone ; English cutlery and umbrellas ; and
French soap, brandy, and wine.
Fishermen seem to comprise the bulk of population in Totomi.
Millions of small fish lie drying along shore, to be used as manure.
The women are busy weaving cotton cloth in narrow breadths on rude
looms. The salt-makers go to the surf with buckets, saturate patches
of sand repeatedly with sea -water, which, evaporated by solar heat
and wind, leaves a highly impregnated sand, which is leached, and the
strong brine boiled down or sun-evaporated. In the morning, fisher-
men keep watch on the hills till they descry the incoming shoals, when
they descend and catch them. Sweet-potatoes are plentiful here, and
the orange-trees glitter with their golden fruitage. We are within a
few days of New-year's. All womankind in Japan is busy at house-
A TRAMP THROUGH JAPAN. 547
cleaning. To us travelers, who are usually at windward of the mat-
beaters and sweepers, it occasions much dust, and more disgust. In a
village noted for silk, crapes, and embroidery, I make purchases, as
souvenirs of my journey, as the Japanese invariably do. I also meet
two signs of the new national life ; they are postage-stamps and silver
yen, or dollars.
January 30th. — Start from Matsuyama. Clark will be coming from
Shidzuoka to-day to meet me. Who shall catch first sight of the oth-
er? At 3.30 P.M., while passing over a long mountain pass, I roll out
of my kago, to relieve the bearers and enjoy the exercise. I walk far
ahead of my party. As I turn a rocky angle, I see him far ahead,
leading his horse down a slippery path. A shout is answered by a
halloo. In a moment more two old college chums, fellow-travelers in
Europe, and co-workers in Japan, are in each other's arms. Our par-
ties soon meet, and Shimojo, Clark's interpreter, exchanges his horse
for my kago. Two " to-jins," instead of one, astonish the natives as
we gallop over the Tokaido into Shidzuoka,* the exile city of the
Tokugawa. (Poor Shimojo, " one of the sweetest and gentlest spirits
that ever quitted or tenanted a human form," now sleeps in one of the
grave-yards in Tokio.) Old memories and new experiences make busy
tongues. Our chat is prolonged far into the night My sleep is un-
troubled with dreams or earthquakes.
January 31st. — To-day is for sight-seeing. I visit lyeyasu's old
castle, the school, the temples. I see the presents brought by Com-
modore Perry. Here is a sewing-machine with tarnished plates and
rusty shuttles. There are maps, one of my native Pennsylvania and
of Philadelphia, as they were in 1851. Here is a spectroscope, given
before Bunsen and Kirchoff added to the alphabet of elements or an-
alyzed the sun. There is also a miscellaneous array of English and
other presents, including a gilt model of Victoria's crown. It awakes
a curious medley of feelings to see this " old curiosity shop " in this
" St. Helena of Tokugawaism."
" Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
When once we counsel to deceive."
The labels seem the gibes of fate. I meet many once prominent re-
tainers of Tokugawa, men who have led fleets and armies, or headed
* Formerly called Sumpu, from sun in Sunshiu, the Chinese form of Suruga,
and/w, capital. Sun-fu becomes by euphony Sumpu, the capital of Suruga. On
old maps it is marked as Fuchiu.
548 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
embassies. Others live in poverty and obscurity. Some bear sabre-
scars and bullet-marks as proof of their loyalty. Clark is extremely
fortunate in having so many cultivated gentlemen, famous characters,
and educated, intelligent helpers. The school was founded by Fuku-
zawa. Nakamura Masanawo, professor of Chinese, and also educated
in London, his right-hand man, is printing his translation of " Mill on
Liberty." He has shown me some of the cut wooden blocks ; for the
author is very often his own publisher in Japan. In his memorial on
Christianity, some months ago, in which he urged toleration, he argued
that without the religion of Christ the Japanese are plucking only the
showy leaves, while they neglect the root of the civilization of Chris-
tendom.
My host spreads a gorgeous American dinner in honor of his guest.
Hattori, the governor of the ken, Nakamura, Yatabori, the school-offi-
cer, two Tokugawa ex-magnates, and two interpreters are present, the
party numbering twelve in all. Mr. Katsu is unfortunately absent in
Tokio, and Mr. Okubo Ichio unwell. The latter sends me a fan in-
scribed with his congratulations, poetically expressed. A great many
gifts, rather compliments, are showered upon me by officials and citi-
zens, who seem endlessly grateful for securing them so good a teacher.
Unable to carry away the load of sponge-cake, confectionery, fowls,
eggs, etc., I leave them to Sam Patch,* the veritable Sam, whom Com-
modore Perry brought back as a waif to Japan in 1853. He is now
officiating as cook to Mr. Clark. Sammy's notoriety has somewhat
spoiled his pristine modesty, and his head, having never been ballasted
with over two-thirds the average quantum of wit, is occasionally turned,
to the annoyance of his master.
February 1st. — From Shidzuoka the journey is rapid, jin-riki-shas
being numerous. Mishima and the castled town of Numadzu are
passed. The Hakone Mountains are ascended and enjoyed. The
path is one long aisle under mossy monarch pines, through superb
scenery. At dark, Sahei lights the tai-matsu (great torch), and the
village people kindle fire-brands in the streets to guide the travelers —
* His real name was Sentaro. He was a native of lyo. On a return voyage
from Yedo to Ozaka, the junk lost its rudder and mast, drifted fifty days at sea,
and was picked up by the American brig Auckland. The crew consisted of sev-
enteen men ; among them were Heko and Denkichi (see Dankirche, Alcock's
"Three Years in Japan;" see, also, "Perry Expedition"). What is mortal »f
Sammy now rests in a temple cemetery at Oji, near Tokio. He fell a victim to
that scourge called kakke", in 1874. A plain stone cross, with the words "Sam
Patch," marks his tomb.
A TRAMP THROUGH JAPAN. 549
a most hospitable custom. In these Swiss-like highlands I stop to
buy specimens of the carved and mosaic wood-work of exquisite neat-
ness and delicate finish. We sleep in castled Odawara.
February 2rf. — Arrive in Yokohama at 2.30 P.M. My year's resi-
dence has given me the ken of a native. My eyes have not altered their
angle, yet I see as the Japanese see. The " hairy " foreigners are ugly.
Those proud fellows, with red beards and hair, look hideous. What
outrageous colors, so different from uniform black ! How ugly those
blue eyes ! How deathly pale many of them look ! How proud, how
overbearing and swaggering, many of them appear, acting as if Japan
were their own ! The white people are as curious, as strange, as odd
as the Japanese themselves.
Yokohama has greatly increased in size since I last saw it. I spend
the night in a Christian home. After supper, at which sit father,
mother, and children, some of the old sweet music, played for me on
the piano, recalls all the dear memories of home and the home-land.
The evening is closed with worship, in which the burden of prayer is
for the rulers and people of Japan. A sense of gratitude in place of
loneliness is uppermost in my mind as I lie down to rest. I have es-
caped many dangers since I first left home, more than a year ago. A
summary of these, as they flit across my drowsy consciousness, com-
prises great variety. No steamer on the Pacific or Lake Biwa has
burned (as the America afterward), foundered, wrecked, broken ma-
chinery, or blown up (as one afterward did on Lake Biwa), with me
on board. No stray gun-shot from bird-shooters in the rice-fields of
Echizen has hit me. No ronin's sword has slit my back, or cloven
my head, as I was told it would. No red -capped, small -pox baby
has accidentally rubbed its pustules or shed its floating scales on me.
A horse has kicked, but not killed me. No fever has burned my
veins, or ague, like an earthquake, shaken me back to dust again. No
kago has capsized over a precipice, or come to pieces while crossing a
log-bridge over a torrent. No seismic throes have ingulfed me, or
squashed my house upon me, nor flood overwhelmed me, nor typhoon
whirled or banged me to pieces, nor fires burned me. No kappa or
any other mythic reptile has grabbed me. No jin-riki-sha has smashed
me. I have not been poisoned to death by fresh lacquer. My still
sufficiently sensitive nose has not, for agricultural necessities, been par-
alyzed by intolerable odors or unmentionable buckets. No charcoal
fumes have asphyxiated me (alas ! my poor, gentle friend Bates !). I
have not been seethed to death in hot water by jumping unwittingly
550 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
into the boiling baths so often prepared for me. My temper, though
badly damaged, has not, I hope, been utterly spoiled by Asiaticisms.
No centipedes or scorpions have bitten me within a thread's-width
of my life ; neither have the fleas in mountain inns, though they have
taken more than Shylock's portion, utterly devoured me. No drunk-
en soldier has quarreled with me, nor skewered me with his sabre.
Neither did I use chemicals till I had proved them, testing before
tasting. No carbonate of soda has entered my mouth till I happily
showed the label a libel by a drop of sulphuretted hydrogen water,
and found it to be arsenide of sodium (Na3As.). I have proved many,
and discovered a few, things. The best trovers of all are the human
hearts and kindly nature of the Japanese. God bless the people of
Japan !
February 2d. — At 9.30 I take the steamer to Tokio. A white and
driveling drunkard, his native mistress, and a Briton indulging in bran-
dy and tobacco, occupy the cabin. I go on deck. Landing at Tsu-
kiji, I finish my winter journey of three hundred and thirty miles. At
the French hotel, a good square meal seems such a triumph of civili-
zation that I wonder how any one could ever commit hara-kiri.
Tokio is so modernized that I scarcely recognize it. No beggars, no
guard-houses, no sentinels at Tsukiji, or the castle-gates; city ward-
barriers gone ; no swords worn ; hundreds of yashikis disappeared ;
new decencies and proprieties observed ; less cuticle visible ; more
clothes. The age of pantaloons has come. Thousands wearing hat,
boots, coats ; carnages numerous ; jin-riki-shas countless. Shops full
of foreign wares and notions. Soldiers all uniformed, armed with
Chassepot rifles. New bridges span the canals. Police in uniform.
Hospitals, schools, and colleges ; girls' seminaries numerous. Railway
nearly finished. Embassy rode in steam-cars to Yokohama. Gold
and silver coin in circulation. Almshouses established. A corps of
medical German professors occupy the old monasteries of Uyeno.
General Capron and his staff of scientific American gentlemen are
housed in the shogun's Hall of Rest at Shiba. A commission of
French military officers live in the yashiki of li Kamon no kami,
whose son is studying in Brooklyn. Three hundred foreigners reside
in Tokio. An air of bustle, activity, and energy prevails. The camp
of the chief daimio of a hermit nation is no more. Old Yedo has
passed away forever. Tokio, the national capital, is a cosmopolis.
Now begins a three years' residence in the great city.
THE 1VSITION OF WOMAN. 551
XVII.
, TOE POSITION OF WOMAN.
No one who is interested in the welfare and progress of the Asiatic
nations can approach the question of female education without feel-
ings of sadness as profound as the need of effort is felt to be great.
The American who leaves his own country, in which the high honor
paid to woman is one of the chief glories of the race to which he be-
longs, is shocked and deeply grieved at beholding her low estate in
pagan lands. He is scarcely surprised at the wide difference between
the Eastern and the Western man ; for this he has expected. He can
not, however, explain the low condition of woman by the correspond-
ing state of civilization. He sees that the one is out of all propor-
tion to the other. An inferior grade of civilization does not necessi-
tate the extreme subjection of woman. If Tacitus records rightly,
the ancient barbarians, whose descendants are the Germanic races, sur-
passed even the civilized Romans in the respect paid to their women.
The Western man in Asia sees that abject obedience as daughter,
wife, and widowed mother is the lot of woman, as ordained by the
wisdom of the ancients and fixed by the custom of ages. He sees
the might of physical force, and the power of government and socie-
ty, in league to keep her crushed as near to the level of the unreply-
ing brute as possible. He finds that the religious systems agree in
denying her a soul ; the popular superstitions choose her as the scape-
goat for all tempted and sinning men ; and that spirit of monastic as-
ceticism whose home is in the East selects her as the symbol of all
that is opposed to the peace and purity of the aspiring saint.
The student of Asiatic life, on coming to Japan, however, is cheered
and pleased on contrasting the position of women in Japan with that
in other countries. He sees them treated with respect and considera-
tion far above that observed in other quarters of the Orient. They
are allowed greater freedom, and hence have more dignity and self-
confidence. The daughters are better educated, and the national an-
nals will show probably as large a number of illustrious women as
552 THE MIKADO'S EMHRE.
those of any other country in Asia. In the time of their opportunity
— these last days of enlightenment — public and private schools for
girls are being opened and attended. Furthermore, some of the lead-
ers of New Japan, braving public scandal, and emancipating them-
selves from the bondage of an etiquette empty of morals, are learning
to bestow that measure of honor upon their wives which they see is
enthusiastically awarded by foreigners to theirs, and are not ashamed
to be seen in public with their companions. A few have married
wives on the basis of a civil contract, endowing them with an equal
share and redress before the law. Still better, Christian Japanese lead
their brides to Christian altars, to have the sanctions of religion,
though not the despotism of a hierarchy, to cement their marital
union. In Christian churches, Japanese father, mother, and children
sit together — a strange sight in Asia. The mikado's Government has
made direct efforts to improve the condition of his female subjects.
The eta women, with the men, have been lifted to the level of citizen-
ship. The marriage laws have been so reformed as to allow the dif-
ferent classes of society to intermarry.
The abolition of beggary, though a general public benefit, deserves
to be spoken of in this place. The introduction of improved silk-reel-
ing machinery and the increasing area of tea-producing territory, by
widening the field of female employments, have tended to swell the
number of virtuous women, and diminish the ranks of the courtesans.
Above all, the grand scheme of educating the girls as well as the boys
throughout the country, and the establishment of schools of a high
grade for young women, are triumphant evidences of a real desire to
elevate the position of women in Japan, and to develop the capabili-
ties of the sex.
But what has thus far been done can not be looked upon as any
thing more than mere indications of the better time to come — the
gray light before the far-off full day. As yet, the country at large
has felt only the faint pulses of the new ideas. The bondage of en-
slaving theological tenets is to be cast off, popular superstitions are to
be swept away, and the despotism of the Chinese classics — if Japan
wishes to rise higher in the scale of civilization than China — is to be
relaxed, before the Japanese woman becomes that factor of invincible
potency in the progress and regeneration of Japan which it is possi-
ble for her to be.
That the progress of the nation depends as much upon the condi-
tion of woman as upon that of man, is a principle not yet current in
THE POSITION OF WOMAN. 553
Asia. The idea that still remains as a lingering superstition, and the
grossest relic of barbarism among Western nations, that might makes
right, makes religion, makes every thing, is the corner and cap stone
of Asiatic civilization. The gentle doctrines of the Indian sage have
mollified the idea somewhat ; but in China and Japan, the hand that
holds the sword is the sole arbiter of the destinies of woman. The
greatest dread which the extreme conservatives of the Yamato dama-
shi feel is that Western notions of the equality of man and woman
should prevail. Such ideas, they imagine, will subvert all domestic
peace, and will be the ruin of society and the nation. For the state
of things to be " as if a hen were to crow in the morning," seems that
point in the sea of troubles beyond which the imagination of man (in
Japan) utterly fails to go.
The whole question of the position of Japanese women — in history,
social life, education, employments, authorship, art, marriage, concn-
binage, prostitution, religion, benevolent labor, the ideals of literature,
popular superstitions, etc. — discloses such a wide and fascinating field
of inquiry, that I wonder no one has yet entered it. I resist the
temptation to more than glance at these questions, and shall content
myself with a mere sketch of the position and education of woman in
Japan. The roots of this subject are not reached by a peep into a
public bath-house. We must consult history, literature, art, and ideals.
Our ideas and prejudices must not be the standard. Japanese see,
with true vision, much to condemn among us that passes for purity
and religion. Let us judge them fairly.
Of one hundred and twenty -three Japanese sovereigns, nine have
been women. The custodian of the divine regalia is a virgin priest-
ess. The chief deity in their mythology is a woman. Japanese wom-
en, by their wit and genius, made their native tongue a literary lan-
guage. In literature, art, poetry, song, the names of women are among
the most brilliant of those on the long roll of fame and honor on
whose brows the Japanese, at least, have placed the fadeless chaplet of
renown. Their memory is still kept green by recitation, quotation,
reading, and inscription on screen, roll, memorial-stone, wall, fan, cup,
and those exquisite works of art that delight even alien admirers east
and west of the Pacific.
In the records of the Japanese glory, valor, fortitude in affliction,
greatness in the hour of death, filial devotion, wifely affection, in all
the straits of life when codes of honor, morals, and religion are tested
in the person of their professors, the literature of history and romance,
554 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
the every -day routine of fact, teem with instances of the Japanese
woman's power and willingness to share whatever of pain or sorrow is
appointed to man. In the annals of persecution, in the red roll of
martyrs, no names are brighter, no faces gleam more peacefully amidst
the flames, or on the cross of transfixing spears, or on the pyre of rice-
straw, or on the precipice edge, or in the open grave about to be filled
up, than the faces of the Christian Japanese women in the seventeenth
century. Such is the position of woman in Japan in the past.
So far of herself. The foreign reader must remember that I have
not formed these opinions by a hasty glimpse of life at the sea-ports
of Japan, where the scum of the world meets the dregs of that coun-
try, but after several years of residence in an interior city and in the
capital. Further, I am placing the average woman in Japan against
the average woman in other lands. I am stating the position of
woman in her relation to man and society in Shin Koku. In com-
paring all other Asiatic nations, I am inclined to believe that Japan,
in respect and honor to women, is the leader of them all.
The foreign resident of India, Burmah, or China, coming to Japan,
is surprised and pleased to find the Japanese accord to their women
so large a measure of respect and considerate care. No woman's feet
are ever bound, and among the middle and lower classes she is almost
as much at liberty to walk and visit as in our own land. An amount
of social freedom prevails among womankind in Japan that could
hardly be expected in a country at once Asiatic, idolatrous, and des-
potic. No foreign reader can accuse me of undue eulogy of the Jap-
anese after including them within the pale inclosed by the three ad-
jectives just penned, "Asiatic, idolatrous, and despotic " — the educated,
the enlightened, the rising men of Japan loathe the words. The writ-
er who applies these stinging epithets to them will receive any thing
but thanks. They do not like to be called Asiatics ; they despise idol-
atry (Buddhism) ; and they are even now emerging from despotism to
constitutional monarchy and representative government. Nevertheless
I have written it, and it explains woman's position and character in
Japan, and brings us to the standing-point where we may note the
shadows in the picture.
I shall not dwell upon the prevalent belief of foreigners that licen-
tiousness is the first and characteristic trait in her character, nor upon
the idea that ordinary chastity is next to unknown in Japan, for I do
not believe that such is the case. That the idea of spiritual purity as
taught by Christ — of the sin of defilement without reference to any
THE POSITION OF WOMAN. 555
thing physical or external, the commission of sin by the mere thought
of, or looking upon, lust — is generally unknown, I believe fully. That
the loftiest teachings of Buddhism or Shinto have failed utterly to
purify them of this phase of their low moral status, I also believe.
On the other hand, it must be stated that the chief patrons of human
flesh let out on hire in Japan are from Christendom.
It is the heathen religion itself that we are to arraign for the low
state of woman in Japan as compared with that in Christian lands.
The only religion in Japan worthy of a name, in the sense of a bind-
ing system of dogmatics, or a purifying and elevating moral power, is
Buddhism. Yet even in this there is no hope of immortality for a
woman unless she is reborn as a man, which means that there is no
salvation for a woman. In the eye of Buddhist dogma, ecclesiastical
law, and monkish 'asceticism, woman is but a temptation, a snare, an
unclean thing, a scape-goat, an obstacle to peace and holiness. Shin-
to, a religion so called, seems to accord her a higher place ; but Shinto
can never sway the heart and mind of modern Japanese people.
A great principle and an Asiatic institution are the causes of the
degradation of the Japanese women. The one is filial obedience, the
other polygamy. The idea that filial obedience should be the cause
of woman's degradation may strike the American reader as passing
strange. In this land of irreverent children the assertion may be
doubted, yet it is true. The exaggeration of this principle in China
has kept that great nation stagnant for tens of centuries, and to-day
blocks the advance of Christianity and of civilization. Duty to par-
ents overshadows all other duties.
The Japanese maiden, as pure as the purest Christian virgin, will at
the command of her father enter the brothel to-morrow, and prostitute
herself for life. Not a murmur escapes her lips as she thus filially
obeys. To a life she loathes, and to disease, premature old age, and an
early grave, she goes joyfully. The staple of a thousand novels, plays,
and pictures in Japan is written in the life of a girl of gentle manners
and tender heart, who hates her life and would gladly destroy it, but
refrains because her purchase - money has enabled her father to pay
his debts, and she is bound not to injure herself. In the stews of the
great cities of Japan are to-day, I doubt not, hundreds of girls who
loathe their existence, but must live on in gilded misery because they
are fulfilling all righteousness as summed up in filial piety.*
* More than one European writer has attempted to shed a poetical halo around
556 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
So long as the institution of concubinage exists in Japan, home-life
can never approach in purity and dignity to that in Christian coun-
tries. It is often asked, "Are the Japanese polygamous ?" The ques-
tion has two answers. A Japanese has but one legal wife, but he may
have two or three more women if he chooses, or can support them.
the Toshiwara system of Japan, while, on the other hand, well-meaning people
have extensively circulated the absurd statements that the Japanese do not re-
gard the business of these places as immoral ; that it is quite common for Japa-
nese gentlemen to make wives of the inmates ; that they exist in every city ; and
more and worse. Not a few foreigners believe that "there is not a virtuous
woman in Japan" — a slander that well befits the mouths of the ignorant bigots
and seared libertines who alike utter it. It is true that in Japan there is not that
sensitiveness on this subject that exists among English-speaking people, and
that an ambitious young man in the lower social ranks, who aspires to wed an
intellectual wife, will occasionally marry one of the bright, witty, educated girls
who may have fascinated him in the Yoshawira. This is rather her conquest than
his. It is true that the yearning of these poor prisoners who have women's
hearts is to win the love of a good man, to be a virtuous wife, to keep house, to
be the joyful mother of children, and enter the path of purity; and that Japanese
society applauds the aspiration, forgives the past, and welcomes the person.
Many a book of poems written by inmates of the Yoshiwara will show this, even
if there was no other proof. On the other hand, the social evil in Japan is shorn
of some features so detestably conspicuous in other countries. The street-walk-
er is unknown. The place set apart for the vile business is rarely inside the city,
but in its suburbs. A man may live for years in a Japanese city, and see none of
the moral leprosy, such as nightly floods Broadway, the Haymarket, and Boule-
vard des Italiens. I have known American gentlemen, thoroughly at home in
the language, who in years of intercourse with the people have never received an
improper proposal. It is also true that the Yoshiwara, so far from being what
some European writers make it, is only another name for misery, degradation,
and vice, in which suicide, disease, premature old age, abandonment, or blight
wastes the lives of thousands of victims. The real opinion of Japanese people is
expressed by their proverbs: "There is no truth in a courtesan;" "When you
find a truthful prostitute and a four-cornered egg, the moon will appear before
her time." There are tens of thousands of young men in Japan who have never
entered the Yoshiwara. The common word among the students for what per-
tains to them is dokiu (poison). The unlicensed are called jigoku onna (hell-wom-
en). The opinion of the Government of these places is shown in the fact, that
after a defalcation, murder, or gross crime, detectives are sent first to them.
The Yoshiwara is a fenced plague spot, a moral quarantine, found only in the
very large cities and sea-ports, not in the old daimio's capitals. The truth is,
that the Japanese have the same problems of social evil to deal with as other na-
tions. They have tried to solve them in the best way they know. It must be
confessed that, in some respects, they have succeeded better than we have. The
moral status of the Japanese is low enough, and every friend of Japan knows it;
but let us tell the truth, even about the heathen. So far as they try to bridle
crime, or solve mighty problems, they are deserving of sympathy, not censure.
How far the placing of the Yoshiwara under rigid medical inspection will improve
or degrade the moral status of the community, is yet to be proved.
THE POSITION OF WOMAN. 557
One wife, if fruitful, is the rule. In case of failure of an heir, the hus-
band is fully justified, often strongly advised even by his wife, to take
a handmaid to raise up seed to preserve the ancestral line. To judge
of the prevalence of concubinage in Japan, we must not select either
Tokio or the sea-ports. The one is the capital, as full of political and
social corruption as our own ; the others are abnormally luxurious
places. After careful examination of the facts, I believe the actual
proportion of men who have concubines in addition to their true wives
is not over five per cent, of the whole population. Of those financial-
ly able to maintain the indulgence, the percentage is probably twenty.
The husband holds the power of the sword. The divorced wife has
little or no redress. Yet the facility of divorce is not availed of as
much as if there were no father-in-law, brothers, male friends, or fe-
male neighbor's tongues in the question. Seven causes for justifiable
divorce are laid down in the classics of Confucius, which are the basis
of legal morals in Japan as in China, or as those of Justinian are with
us. The wife may be divorced —
1. If she be disobedient to her parents-in-law. (After marriage, in
her husband's home, his parents become hers in a far more significant
sense than among us.)
2. If she be barren. (If the husband loves his childless wife, he
keeps and supports her.)
3. If she be lewd or licentious. (She must not be given to loose
talk or wine. It is not proper for her even to write a letter to any
other man.)
4. If she be jealous (of other women's clothes, or children, or espe-
cially of her husband).
5. If she have a loathsome or contagious disease. (If dearly be-
loved, she may be kept in a separate room and cared for.)
6. If she steal.
7. If she talk too much.
It is needless to say that the seventh and last reason is the one fre-
quently availed of, or pretended. The Japanese think it is a good rule
that works but one way. The husband is not divorced from the Wife
for these equal reasons. Of course, woman in Japan, by her tact,
tongue, graces, and charms, is able to rule her husband generally by
means invisible to the outer world, but none the less potent. Though
man holds the sword, the pen, and divorce, and glories in his power,
yet woman, by her finer strength, in hut as in palace hall, rules her lord.
In the Japanese home, in which there is more that is good and mor-
558 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ally wholesome than most foreigners who live only in the open ports
are willing to acknowledge, may be found the place, by excellence, of
the training of the female children. The rudimentary literary train-
ing of girls in the higher classes was exclusively there, at the hands of
private tutors or governesses. The female children of the lower classes
received tuition in the private schools so generally established through-
out the country during the last two centuries. After the elementary
training came the study of those books for the special use of the Jap-
anese women, which are to be found in every Japanese household pre-
tending to respectability. These books collectively are called Onna
Yushoku Mibae Bunko. They constitute a library of works on the
duties of women, but are often bound up in one volume. If the read-
er will imagine a volume composed of the Bible, " Ladies' Letter-writ-
er," " Guide to Etiquette," " The Young Ladies' Own Book," Hannah
More's works, Miss Strickland's " Queens of England," a work on
household economy, and an almanac, he will obtain some idea of the
contents of the Bunko, or " Japanese Lady's Library." With text and
illustrations, the volume is very large ; but if translated and printed in
brevier with the cuts, it would not probably occupy more space than
one of our largest monthly magazines. The books composing it, in
their order of importance, are the Onna Dai Gaku (" Women's Great
Learning " — the moral duties of woman, founded on the Chinese clas-
sics) ; Onna Sho Gaku (" Woman's Small Learning " — introduction
to the above) ; Onna Niwa no Oshiye (" Woman's Household In-
struction " — duties relating to furniture, dress, reception of guests, and
all the minutiae of indoor life, both daily and ceremonial) ; Onna Ima-
gawa (" Moral Lessons " in paragraphs) ; Onna Ydbunsho (" Lady's
Letter-writer") ; Nijiu-shi Ko (" Twenty-four Children " — stories about
model children in China). Besides these works of importance, there are
Hiyaku Nin Isshiu — a collection of one hundred poems from as many
poets, written in the old Yamato dialect, and learned in every house-
hold, and perpetually repeated with passionate fondness by old and
young ; a collection of lives of model women ; household lore ; alma-
nac learning ; rules and examples to secure perfect agreement between
man and wife ; and a vast and detailed array of other knowledge of
various sorts, both useful and ornamental to a Japanese maiden, wife,
widow, or mother. This book is studied, not only by the higher
classes, but by the daughters in almost every respectable family
throughout the country. It is read and reread, and committed to
memory, until it becomes to the Japanese woman what the Bible is to
THE POSITION OF WOMAN. 559
the inmate of those homes in the West in which the Bible is the first,
and last, and often the only book.
Only a small proportion of Japanese girls attain an advanced knowl-
edge of Chinese characters, though many of the samurai daughters
have read the standard Japanese histories ; and in the best native
schools at present a certain amount of the reading and writing of Chi-
nese characters is taught, and one or two good histories of Japan are
read. In the national, traditionary, heroic, and historic lore of their
own country, I doubt very much whether the children of any country
in the world are better instructed or informed than the Japanese chil-
dren.
The fruits of this education, as modified or strengthened by social
circumstances and religion, are seen in the present type of the Japa-
nese woman. As compared with her sister in Western lands, and as
judged by her own standards, she is fully the peer in that exquisite
taste for the beautiful and becoming as displayed in dress and person-
al adornment ; nor is she inferior in the graces of etiquette and female
proprieties.
No ladies excel the Japanese in that innate love of beauty, order,
neatness, household adornment and management, and the amenities of
dress and etiquette as prescribed by their own standard. In maternal
affection, tenderness, anxiety, patience, and long-suffering, the Japanese
mothers need fear no comparison with those who know the sorrows
and rapture of maternity in other climes. As educators of their chil-
dren, the Japanese women are peers to the mothers of any civilization
in the care and minuteness of their training of, and affectionate ten-
derness and self-sacrificing devotion to, offspring, within the limits of
their light and knowledge. Though the virago and the shrew are not
unknown characters in this Land of Great Peace, yet the three funda-
mental duties of woman, which include all others, and as laid down in
the Chinese classics, are almost universally fulfilled without murmurings
or hesitation. These duties are, first, obedience to her parents (the
father) when a child ; second, obedience to her husband when a wife ;
third (at least formal), obedience to her eldest son when a widow. In-
deed, the whole sum of excellencies and defects of the Japanese female
character arise from one all-including virtue, and the biography of a
good woman is written in one word — obedience. Japanese biogra-
phies, let me add, contain quite as much truth as the average lives of
dead people written in English. If unvarying obedience, acquiescence,
submission, the utter absorption of her personality into that of her
36
560 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
husband, constitute the ideal of the perfect woman, then the Japanese
married women approach so near that ideal as to be practically per-
fect, and in this respect are, as foreign women will cheerfully grant to
them, unquestionably superior.
The Japanese maiden is bright, intelligent, interesting, modest, lady-
like, self-reliant ; neither a slave nor a wanton. What the American
girl is in Europe, the Japanese maiden is among Asiatics. Both are
misunderstood. A Japanese virgin may act in a way not reconcilable
with our standards. She may expose her charms so as to shock our
exalted and chaste masculinity. Lighter-skinned womankind may see
moral obliquity in an eye not perfectly horizontal, when there is none.
The Japanese virgin knows nothing of the white lady's calculated lim-
its of exposure, or of scientific dress-making, which by an inch of af-
fluent economy exerts a more wicked influence than a nude bust emp-
ty of intent to charm.
The importance of the new education of Japanese girls to their
country can not be overestimated. The revolution through which
the nation is passing requires completion. The new reforms, of the
necessity of which the leaders of Japan are convinced, and to which
they are pledged, require to be certified, and to become part of the
home -life of the people. The work of the Government must be
done in the homes. The foundations of society are there ; and as
the home is, so will the State be in every land. All governments,
in their various forms, are but households of a larger growth.
Given a complete knowledge of the average household in any land,
and the real government is easily known and understood.
Looking at the question of female education even from the vulgar
concrete standing -point — that woman is merely the supplement of
man, and that the end and aim and Almighty purpose of a woman's
creation is that she shall become some man's wife — the question is
all-important. The rising generation, who are to take the places of
the present leaders of Japan, are being educated in Western ideas, and
are passing through a developing process which will tend to exalt the
mental powers at the expense of the animal instincts. The decay of
the old feudal frame-work of society, and the suppression of govern-
ment pensions and hereditary revenues, by removing all actual neces-
sity for marriage, will create in the minds of the increasing numbers of
those who marry from the higher motives a desire for a congenial life-
companion and helpmate, and not for a mere female of the human
species. Though some of the present generation of students may
f
THE POSITION OF WOMAN. 561
marry ordinary native women, those who wish for happiness in their
home-life, who aspire to rise out of the old plane of existence and
dwell permanently on the higher levels of intellectual life, will seek
for educated women as wives. The new civilization will never take
root in Japan until planted and cultivated in the homes, and, to secure
that end, the thorough education of woman is an absolute necessity.
In conclusion, I must add my testimony and offer my plaudit to the
earnest diligence and rapid progress of the girls in the national schools,
of whose efforts and successes I have been witness, and which must be
extremely gratifying to those who organized or who are interested in
them. Of the signal success, far-reaching influence, and exalted teach-
ings of the Christian missionary schools for girls, I can not speak in
too high terms. In this good work, American ladies have led the
way. By them the Japanese maiden is taught the ideals, associations,
and ordering of a Christian home, a purer code of morals, a regenera-
ting spiritual power, of which Buddhism knows nothing, and to which
the highest aspirations of Shinto are strangers. Above all, an ideal
of womanhood, which is the creation and gift of Christianity alone,
eclipsing the loftiest conceptions of classic paganism, is held up for
imitation. The precept and example of Christian women in these
labors are mightily working the renovation of the social fabric in
Japan.
I think none will accuse me of failure to see the best side of the
Japanese character, or of an honest endeavor to estimate fairly the
force and capability of the religions of Japan. Fully conscious of my
liability to error in all that I have written in this book, I yet utter my
conviction that nothing can ever renovate the individual heart, nothing
purify society, and give pure blood-growth to the body politic in Ja-
pan, but the religion of Jesus Christ. Only the spiritual morality,
and, above all, the chastity, taught by Him can ever give the Japanese
a home-life equal to ours. With all our faults and sins, and with all
the impurities and failures of our society, I believe our family and so-
cial life to be immeasurably higher and purer than that of Japan.
The religion of the Home-maker, and the Children -lover, and the
Woman-exalter, is mighty to save the Japanese mother, and must be
most potent to purify and exalt the Japanese home. Of all the
branches of missionary labor in Japan, none, it seems to me, is of great-
er importance, or more hopeful of sure results, permanent and far-reach-
ing in its influence, than the work of Christian women for women in
Japan.
562 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
XVIII.
NEW JAPAN.
THE history of Japan from 1872 to 1876 is intimately connected
with that of the mikado. On the 1st of- January, 1872, he visited
the imperial navy, dock -yards, and machine-shops at Yokosuka, dis-
playing the liveliest interest in all he saw. By his conduct through-
out the entire day, and coolness and self-possession during a critical
moment, when a damp mold, full of molten iron, exploded and be-
spattered the imperial person, he proved himself more than a petty
pseudo- divinity. He showed himself a man. The last act of the
mystery-play was over. As a god, the mikado is a failure ; as a man,
he is a splendid success. If he has any divinity, it is the divinity of
common sense. From dwelling in mediaeval seclusion in the palace,
steeped in sensual delights, degraded in body and mind to the intel-
lectual level of a girl, the sovereign of Japan has taken his place
among men of thought and action, a student, a thinker, an earnest
and enlightened ruler. In April, Mutsiihito visited the Imperial Col-
lege ; and, being in his presence several hours, and immediately before
him during the performance of experiments and recitations by the
students, I was enabled to study his countenance as he sat surround-
ed by princes of the blood, court nobles, and ministers of the cabinet,
all robed in variegated brocade. He was then dressed in flowing
robes of crimson and white satin, with black cap or crown, bound
by a fillet of fluted gold, with a tall, upright plume, or stiff rib-
bon of gold. He appeared as the picture on page 102 represents
some one of his ancestors. I afterward (January 1st, 1873) had the
pleasure of an audience in the imperial palace, seeing him sitting on
a chair, or throne, richly ornamented with golden dragons and lions,
flanked by his sword-bearer and train of courtiers, in all the gorgeous-
ness and variety of silk robes and ceremonial caps, so characteristic of
rank in Dai Nippon. At the opening of the new buildings* of the
* These are built in modern style, in three wings, each 192 feet long, joined to
NEW JAPAN. 563
Imperial College — thenceforth called the Imperial University of Ja-
pan— I saw him dressed in the costume shown in the portrait on page
37, thoroughly Europeanized in dress and person. I consider the like-
ness in photograph and wood-cut to be a capital one.
On the 3d of April, 1872, at 3 P.M., during the prevalence of a high
wind, a fire, breaking out inside the castle circuit, leaped wall and moat,
and in five hours swept Tokio to the bay. Five thousand houses and
hundreds of yashikis and temples — among them the great Monzeki,
in Tsukuji — were destroyed. The foreign hotels were left in ashes,
which covered many square miles. Out of this calamity rose the
phenix of a new plan with a new order of architecture. The main
avenues were widened to ninety feet, the smaller ones to sixty feet.
Rows of fine houses in brick and stone, and new bridges, in many
cases of stone or iron, were built. Tokio is now thoroughly modern-
ized in large portions. The foreign residents joined in the work of
alleviating the distress. As bearer of their silver contributions to the
mayor of the city, I found my old friend, Mitsuoka (Yuri), of Fukui,
sitting amidst the ashes of his dwelling, but happy in the possession
of an imperial order to visit America and Europe, to study municipal
government and improvements.
the main building, 334 feet long. They contain 79 rooms. The students, who
wear uniform as in American schools, number 350, taught by 20 foreign profess-
ors. The Foreign -language School, in which students learn the English or
other language preparatory to entering the college, is on Hitotsiibaslii Avenue,
opposite. It has 600 students and 20 foreign teachers. Both are well equipped
with books and apparatus. At the banquet given October 9th, Hayashi Fnshimi
no Miya, prince of the blood; Sanjo Sane"yoshi, Dai Jo Dai Jin; Eto Shimpei, Oki,
and Itagaki, Counselors of State; Saigo Yorimichi, Yoshida Kiyonari, and many
others, were present, all of whom I met. The empire is, for educational purposes,
divided into eight districts, in each of which is to be a university, supplied by 210
schools of foreign languages. The elementary vernacular schools will number
53,000, or one for every 600 persons in the empire. They are supplied by native
teachers trained in normal schools. At present, nearly 3,000,000 youths of both
sexes are in school. With such excellent provision at home, the Government,
having found out their expensive mistake of sending raw students abroad to
study, and the political objects of the movement having been secured, recalled
most of them in 1873 — an order that was curiously misunderstood in America and
Europe to mean reaction. This, however, is a mistake. Trained students versed
in the languages and science have taken the place of many of those recalled. While
the embassy was in America, David Murray, A.M., Ph.D., Professor of Mathemat-
ics and Astronomy in Rutgers College, was appointed Superintendent of Schools
and Colleges in Japan. Dr. Murray, by his quiet vigor, unassuming manners,
thorough competence, ability, and industry, has done much to improve and per-
fect education in Japan. He was, in 1875, also appointed Commissioner to the
Centennial Exhibition.
564
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
During the summer, Mr. Katsu Awa was made Minister of the
Navy, and Mr. Okubo Ichio, Mayor of Tokio. A large number of ex-
Tokugawa vassals were called into the service
of the Government, and the old lines of divis-
111 ion obliterated. The head of the Tokugawa
family, so appointed by the mikado's court
in 1868, is Jiusammi Tayasu Kamenosuke,
whom I often met in Tokio. The Tokugawa
clansmen are now among the loyal upholders
of the throne and the new order of things.
Mr. Katsu devoted himself to the thorough or-
ganization of the navy (see page 597). The
British model had already been selected. In
the accompanying cut is given a specimen of
the national fleet, the Tsukuba Kan, which
Japanese Naval Officer. visited San Francisco during 1875. The por-
trait of the commander shows the Japanese naval officer of the period
in modern tonsure and uniform. The sun-flag of Japan floats astern.
In the latter part of June, 1872, the mikado left Tokio in the flag-
ship of Admiral Akamatsu, who was trained in Holland with Enomoto,
The Japanese Steam Corvette Tsukuba, Kan.
and made a tour in Kiushiu and the South and West of the empire.
For the first time in twelve centuries, the Emperor of Japan moved
freely and unveiled among his subjects, whose loyalty and devotion
were manifested in the intense but decorous enthusiasm characteristic
of a people to whom etiquette is second nature. In several ancient
places the imperial hands opened, in anticipation of the Vienna Ex-
NEW JAPAN. :,(•,:>
position, store-houses which had been sealed since the time of Seiwa
Tenno (A.D. 859-876). Vienna was already engaging the attention of
the Government. The mikado visited Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Nara,
Kioto, Ozaka, and other places, returning to Tokio, August 16th, rid-
ing from Yokohama by railway.
The 14th of October was a day of matchless autumnal beauty and
ineffable influence. The sun rose cloudlessly on the Sunrise Land.
Fuji blushed at dawn out of the roseate deeps of space, and on stain-
less blue printed its white magnificence all day long, and in the mys-
tic twilight sunk in floods of golden splendor, resting at night with its
head among the stars. On that auspicious day, the mikado, princes
of the blood, court nobles, the " flowery nobility " of ex-daimios, and
guests, representing the literature, science, art, and arms of Japan, in
flowing, picturesque costume ; the foreign Diplomatic Corps, in tight
cloth smeared with gold ; the embassadors of Liu Kiu, the Aino chiefs,
and officials in modern dress, made the procession, that, underneath
arches of camellias, azaleas, and chrysanthemums, moved into the stone-
built depdt, and, before twenty thousand spectators, stepped into the
train. It was a sublime moment, when, before that august array of
rank and fame, and myriads of his subjects, the one hundred and twen-
ty-third representative' of the imperial line declared the road open.
The young emperor beheld with deep emotion the presence of so many
human beings. As the train moved, the weird strains of the national
hymn of Japan, first heard before the Roman empire fell or Charle-
magne ruled, were played. Empires had risen, flourished, and passed
away since those sounds were first attuned. To-day Japan, fresh and
vigorous, with new blood in her heart, was taking an upward step in
life. May the Almighty Disposer grant the island empire strength,
national unity, and noble purpose while the world stands !
These were my thoughts as the smoke puffed and the wheels rer
volved. Past flower-decked stations, the train moved on. When at
Kanagawa, puffs of smoke and tongues of flame leaped from the
fleet of the foreign war-ships as their broadsides thundered the con-
gratulations of Christendom to New Japan. But all ceremony, pag-
eant, and loyal hosannas paled before the sublime significance of the
act of the mikado, when four of his subjects, in the plain garb of mer-
chants, stood in the presence of majesty, and read an address of con-
gratulation, to which the emperor replied. The merchant face to face
with the mikado ? The lowest social class before traditional divinity ?
It was a political miracle ! I saw in that scene a moral grandeur that
566 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
measured itself against centuries of feudalism. What were war's vic-
tories, or the pomp of courts, compared with that moment when Japa-
nese social progress and national regeneration touched high -water
mark ? It foreshadowed the time to come when the merchant, no
longer despised, should take his place in the council-halls of the nation.
When representative government comes, as come it must, the mer-
chant, becoming senator, will help to sway the national destinies.
The emperor in whose reign the eta were made citizens — an act as
morally grand as the emancipation of slaves — now dwells at times the
guest of a merchant. Before the end of this century, it may be, the
throne, no longer stilted on the effete fiction of petty divinity, may
rest wholly upon constitution, law, and intelligent patriotism.
The doctrine of the divine descent of the mikado has been very
useful in times past ; but its work is done. Its light is paling ; it is
time for its wane ; it can not long remain above the horizon. There
are so many Sons of Heaven, so many Centres of the Universe, Infal-
libilities, etc., in Asia, where the fashion still lingers of making gods
of men for the purposes of political machinery, that the very mention
of such an idea is an evidence of weakness, even of imbecility. Japan
will win the respect of civilization by dropping the fiction.*
Again, in the same year, Japan challenged the admiration of Chris-
tendom. The coolie trade, carried on by the Portuguese at Macao,
in China, between the local kidnapers and Peru and Cuba, had long
existed in defiance of the Chinese Government. Thousands of igno-
rant Chinese were yearly decoyed to Macao, and shipped, in swelter-
ing ship-holds, under the name of " passengers." In Cuba and Peru,
their contracts were often broken, they were cruelly treated, and only
a small proportion of them returned alive to tell their wrongs.
The Japanese Government had, with a fierce jealousy, born of their
experiences of slave-trade in the sixteenth century, watched the first
beginnings of such a traffic on their own shores. Certain " Chris-
tian " nations seemed to have a special inclination to trade in human
flesh. The Dutch at Deshima during two centuries gave them exam-
ples of sordid greed that stops not at selling men. Even their own
pagan morals taught them the iniquity of the traffic. The works of
* The propriety of giving the title "The Mikado's Empire" to this book has
been challenged by several modernized Japanese, who believe that the life of the
nation is more than the meat of a title, and the body more than its raiment of im-
perialism; but the vindication of its use is abundantly shown in Japan's past and
present.
NEW JAPAN. 567
Japanese authors condemn the crime in unsparing terms, and load
those guilty of it with obloquy. In the last days of the bakufu,
coolie traders came to Japan to ship irresponsible hordes of Japanese
coolies, and women for a viler purpose, to the United States. To their
everlasting shame, be it said, some were Americans. A few cargoes
were sent to Hawaii and California, and natives of Japan were actual-
ly sold for contemptible sums to task-masters. Of those who return-
ed were some of my own students. Among the first things done by
the mikado's Government after the Restoration was the sending of an
official who effected the joyful delivery of these people and their re-
turn to their homes. No Japanese are ever allowed to go abroad, ex-
cept as responsible, competent, and respectable citizens, who will do
credit to their country.
The story of the Maria Luz is a long one. I hope to condense it
justly. The Peruvian ship, loaded with Chinese, put into the port of
Yokohama. Two fugitive coolies in succession swam to the English
war -ship, Iron Duke. Hearing the piteous story of their wrongs,
Mr. Watson, the British charge d'affaires, called the attention of the
Japanese authorities to these illegal acts committed in their waters.
A protracted inquiry was instituted, and the coolies landed. The
Japanese refused to force them on board in duress against their will,
and later, shipped them to China, a favor which was gratefully ac-
knowledged by the Peking Government. This act of a pagan nation
achieved a grand moral victory for the world and humanity. Writ-
ing now, in 1876, we see the coolie-traffic — a euphemism for the slave-
trade — abolished from the face of the earth, and the barracoons of Ma-
cao in ruins. China, shamed into better care of her people, has sent
commissioners to Cuba and Peru, and has refused to enter into any
treaty obligation with any South American State so long as a single
Chinaman remains in the country against his will. Instead of a bom-
bardment by Peruvian iron-clads, and war, so generously threatened,
Japan and Peru have clasped reconciled hands in friendship. The
case of the Maria Luz, referred to the Emperor of Russia for arbitra-
tion, was decided by him in favor of Japan. A Peruvian legation is
now established in Tokio. Yet the act of freeing the Chinese coolies
in 1872 was done in the face of clamor and opposition and a rain of
protests from the foreign consuls, ministers, and a part of the press.
But abuse and threats and diplomatic pressure were in vain. The
Japanese never wavered. As straight as Gulliver through the hail
of pin-point arrows, the Japanese marched to the duty before them.
568 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
They had freed their eta; they now liberated the slaves. The Brit-
ish charge and the American consul, Colonel Charles O. Shepherd,
alone gave hearty support and unwavering sympathy to the right side.
During the year 1872, two legations and three consulates were es-
tablished abroad. The number of these is now ten in all. At home
the work of national consolidation went on, occasionally interrupt
ed by sporadic uprisings of peasantry, too ignorant to see that local
abuses or privileges were being adjusted to a national basis of just
equality. The press of Japan passed from the realm of experiment into
that of an estate. The wondrous growth of this civilizing force is
best seen by a study of the postal statistics on page 590. Ten daily
newspapers in the capital, and two hundred publications in the em-
pire, furnished with metal type and printing-presses, are flooding the
country with information and awakening thought. The editors are
often men of culture, or students returned from abroad, and special
scholars are found on the editorial staff. The surprisingly large
measure of liberty of the press granted in 1872, 1873, and 1874 was
severely curtailed in 1875, and the problem of allowing newspapers in
a country still governed by a despotic monarchy remains unsolved.
The Japanese statesmen seem to imagine that a people may be educa-
ted thoroughly, and yet be governed like children. To show the power
possessed by the Government over the people, it is enough to say that
the whereabouts of ninety-nine hundredths of all the citizens during
any given past twenty-four hours can be told with great certainty.
The establishment of the press has also exposed the fact that in
these isles of the blest, in which some foreigners supposed existed
only innocence, gentleness, or good -mannered poverty, reeks every
species of moral filth, abomination, crime, and corruption. To scan
the columns of an average Japanese newspaper is to read a tale of
horror and nastiness that puts to the blush the obscene calendars in
the sensational dailies and illustrated Police Gazettes of New York,
which find their way only too plentifully into the editorial rooms of
Japanese cities. As one measure of crime in Dai Nippon, I believe the
number of executions and deaths in the native prisons averages three
thousand per annum. There is scarcely a form of sin known to Sodom,
Greece, Rome, or India, but has been, or is, practiced in Japan, which
has sorest need of moral renovation.
Yet in the department of jurisprudence vast progress has been
made. I doubt whether any nation on earth can show a more revolt-
ing list of horrible methods of torture and punishment in the past
NEW JAPAN. 569
with so great amelioration in so short a time. Their cruel and bloody
codes were mostly borrowed from China.
Since the Restoration, revised statutes and regulations have greatly
decreased the list of capital punishments, reformed the condition of
prisons, and made legal processes less cruelly simple, but with elabora-
tion of mercy and justice. I believe the use of torture to obtain testi-
mony is now abolished. Law schools have also been established, law-
yers are allowed to plead, thus giving the accused the assistance of
counsel for his defense. The cut represents the old style of trial.
Court Scene. Old Style.
The prisoner, the torturer, secretary, and judge were the chief or only
personages at the trial. A museum as curious as any to be found in
Europe might be made of the now obsolete instruments of torture.
Let us hope that the system of jurisprudence founded on Roman law,
infused with the spirit of Christianity, may be imported, and flourish
in Japan. This is now being done.
In moral character, the average Japanese is frank, honest, faithful,
kind, gentle, courteous, confiding, affectionate, filial, loyal. Love of
truth for its own sake, chastity, temperance, are not characteristic
virtues. A high, almost painful, sense of honor is cultivated by the
samurai. In spirit, the average artisan and farmer is a sheep. In in-
tellectual capacity the actual merchant is mean, and in moral character
low. He is beneath the Chinaman in this respect. The male Japa-
570 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
nese is far less overbearing and more chivalrous to woman than any
other Asiatic. In political knowledge or gregarious ability the coun-
tryman is a baby, and the city artisan a boy. The peasant is a pro-
nounced pagan, with superstition ingrained and dyed into the very
finest fibre of his nature.
In reverence to elders and to antiquity, obedience to parents, gentle
manners, and universal courtesy and generous impulses, the Japanese are
the peers of any, and superior to many, peoples of Christendom. The
idea of filial obedience has been developed into fanaticism, is the main
prop of paganism and superstition, and is the root of the worst blot
on the Japanese character — the slavery of prostituted women.
To sum up : Japanese are simply human, no better, no worse than
mankind outside. The attempts of good people, with eyes jaundiced
by theological dogmatics, to put so heavy a coat of moral tar and
feathers upon the Japanese as to make them sinners above all nations ;
or of hearty haters of all missionary labors, who are in love with the
Utopia of their own creation, to make them guileless innocents, must
alike fail before the hard facts.
The whole question of the ability of the Japanese to receive the
highest form of civilization is intimately connected with their phys-
ical constitution.
The physique of the mountaineers and sailors, fishermen and stead-
ily employed coolies, seems to be the finest. The average height of
the men is five feet. The Japanese never smoke opium, like the Chi-
nese ; but the habit of filling the lungs with tobacco-smoke and exhal-
ing it through the nose does not tend to pulmonary health, and, in
comparison with the white nations, they are notably flat -breasted.
The question has been raised as to whether the Japanese are a degen-
erate race. I think the evidence leans to the negative side. In their
method of rearing infants, only the hardy ones can survive the expos-
ure to which they are subject. Deformity is strikingly rare. Rheu-
matism, chills, and fever in the low-lying marshy districts, catarrh, and
diarrhea are common, though not strikingly so. Nervous disorders
are not general. Leprosy, or elephantiasis, is known, and kakke (leg-
humor) is peculiar to Japan. It is probable that the people do not
always take extraordinary pains to rear deformed infants. Exposure
or desertion of children is an almost unheard-of thing. The maim-
ing and breaking of limbs, caused by accidents — by falling, explo-
sions, etc. — so frequent in countries where high buildings and machin-
ery are in general use, are rare among the Japanese. Varicose veins,
NEWJAJ'AX. 571
resulting from sans-culottism, furnish a curious argument in favor of a
liberal supplement to Eden's costume, even to the donning of unpict-
uresque pantaloons. Since the introduction of the jin-riki-sha, the
prevalence of heart-disease among the coolies has assumed frightful
proportions. The almost national change for the better in the diet,
clothing, and public hygienic protection and education of the people
must bear good fruit for future generations, and greatly improve the
average physique of the nation.*
The Corean war project had, in 1872, become popular in the Cabi-
net. It was the absorbing theme of the army and navy. The samu-
rai burned to make " the glory of Japan shine beyond the seas." It
has been said that " if Japan weighs one hundred pounds, Satsuma
is fifty of them." This warlike clan, and that of Ilizen, boiling over
with patriotism, vexed their righteous souls daily because the revolu-
tion of 1868 had gone too far. The Yamato damashi and warlike pol-
icy were giving way to considerations of finance. They clamored for
a general return to ancient ideals, principles, dress, tonsure, and side-
arms, to which they still clung. During the Tokugawa period Corea
had regularly sent embassies of homage and congratulation to Japan ;
but, not relishing the change of affairs in 1868, disgusted at the for-
eignizing tendencies of the mikado's Government, incensed at Ja-
pan's departure from Turanian ideals, and emboldened by the failure
of the French and American expeditions, Corea sent insulting letters,
taunting Japan with slavish truckling to the foreign barbarians, de-
clared herself an enemy, and challenged Japan to fight. The divul-
ging of this news, after vain attempts to repress it, acted like a moral
volcano.
About this time, a Liu Kiu junk was wrecked on eastern Formosa.
The crew were killed by the savages, and, as it is said, eaten. The
Liu Kiuans appealed to their tributary lords at Satsuma, who referred
the matter to Tokio. English, Dutch, American, German, and Chinese
ships had, from time to time, been wrecked on this " cannibal " coast,
the terror of the commerce of Christendom. Their war-ships vainly
* Medical Statistics, not including Naval and Military Medical Staff, Hospitals, and
Students. — There were in the empire in 1874: 1 Government hospital; 21 public
hospitals (assisted by Government grants in aid); 29 private hospitals; 23,015
physicians practicing according to Eastern, and 5247 according to Western, sci-
ence; 5205 apothecaries; 361 mineral springs; 944 patent medicines in use.
There were, in 1875, as many as 25 foreign surgeons and pliysiciaus in Japanese
Government employ, with 250 students in the Medical College in Tokio, and 75
in that at Nagasaki, instructed by German, Dutch, and English professors.
572 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
attempted to chastise the savages. Soyejima, with others, conceived
the idea of occupying the coast to rule the wild tribes, and of erect-
ing light-houses, in the interests of commerce. China laid no claim
to eastern Formosa, all trace of which was omitted from maps of
the "Middle Kingdom." In the spring of 1873, Soyejima went to
Peking, and there among other things granted him was an audience
with the Chinese emperor. He thus reaped the results of the dip-
lomatic labors of half a century. The Japanese embassador stood
upright before the Dragon Face and the Dragon Throne, robed in
the tight black dress-coat, pantaloons, and white neck linen of West-
ern civilization, bearing the congratulations of the young mikado of
the Sunrise to the youthful emperor of the Middle Kingdom. In the
Tsung Li Yamen, Chinese responsibility over Eastern Formosa was
disavowed, and the right of Japan to chastise the savages granted. A
Japanese junk was wrecked on Formosa, and its crew stripped and
plundered, while Soyejima was absent in China. This event piled
fresh fuel on the flames of the war feeling, now popular even among
the unarmed classes. The only thing waited for before drawing the
sword was the arrival of the embassy.
In its subordinate objects the embassy was a signal success. Much
was learned of Christendom. The results at home were the splendid
series of reforms which mark the year 1872 as epochal. Moral, social,
legal, political, educational, and material changes were so numerous
and sweeping as to daze the alien spectator on the soil, and cause
him to ask again, " Can a nation be born at once ?"
In its prime object the embassy was a magnificent failure. Be-
yond amusement, curiosity, thirst for knowledge, its purpose was
constant, single, supreme. It was to ask that in the revision of the
treaties the extra-territoriality clause be stricken out, that foreigners
be made subject to the laws of Japan. The failure of the mission was
predicted by all who knew the facts. From Washington to St. Pe-
tersburg, point-blank refusal was made. No Christian governments
would for a moment trust their people to pagan edicts and prisons.
While Japan slandered Christianity by proclamations, imprisoned men
for their belief, knew nothing of trial by jury, of the habeas-corpus
writ, or of modern jurisprudence ; in short, while Japan maintained
the institutions of barbarism, they refused to recognize her as peer in
the comity of nations.
Meanwhile, at home the watch-word was progress. The sale of orphan
female children to brothel -keepers, the traffic in native or European
NEW JAPAN. 573
obscene pictures, the lascivious dances, even to nudity, of the sing-
ing-girls, the custom of promiscuous bathing in the public baths, and
of the country coolies going naked or nearly without clothing, were
abolished. Public decency was improved, and the standards of Chris-
tendom attempted. The law entered that the offense might abound.
Many things absolutely innocent became at once relatively sinful. It
was an earnest effort to elevate the social condition. With a basis of
education and moral training in the minds of the people to underlie
the Government edicts, complete success may be hoped for ; but even
in the mikado's empire the moral character of a people is not made
or unmade by fiat. Marvelous progress has, however, been made.
The slanderous anti-Christian kosatsu were also taken down, and the
last relic of public persecution for conscience' sake removed. The
engraving, page 368, represents a vanished curiosity. A noble step
was still further taken in the face of a bigoted priesthood and fanatic
conservatives. All the " Christians " torn from their homes at Ura-
kami, near Nagasaki, in 1868 and 1869, and exiled and imprisoned in
Kaga, Echizen, and other provinces, were set free and restored to their
native villages. This measure had long been urged by Hon. Charles
E. De Long, Sir Harry Parkes, Mr. F. O. Adams, and Count Turenne.
In this year (1872) I made a tour of one month, over nine hundred
miles, to Shidzouka, Kioto, Fukui, and along the Sea of Japan, to near
Niigata, thence through Shinano and Kodzuke. I went to spy out
the land and see how deeply civilization had penetrated. A week's
journey was also made through Kadzusa and Awa, another in Shimosa
and Hitachi, and three separate trips for purposes of research in Sa-
gami, Idzu, and Suruga. My intense enjoyment of the classic ground
was shadowed by the vivid realization of the poverty of the country,
the low estate of the peasantry, the need of something better than
paganism, and the vastness of the task of regenerating an agricultural
nation. The task, though great, is not hopeless. I was pleased to
find education thoroughly extended, schools everywhere, and boys and
girls alike studying with the help of such new improvements as slate
and pencil, blackboard and chalk, charts and text-books on geography,
history, reading, etc., translated from standard American school-books.
In Europe, Iwakura and his colleagues were cognizant of home
affairs. With eyes opened by all they had seen abroad — mighty
results, but of slow growth — they saw their country going too fast.
Under the war project lay an abyss of financial ruin. It must be
crushed. Shrewdly they laid plans, warily they kept silence, sudden-
574 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
ly they struck the blow. The war scheme, brought up in a cabinet
meeting, was squelched. The disappointment of the army was keen,
that of expectant foreign contractors pitiable. The soldiers vented
their rage in curses, the contractors in printed mud. Finding it use-
less to resist the crushing power of Iwakura, backed by Okubo, Kido,
Katsvi Ito, and Oki, the ablest men of the cabinet, Goto, Soyejima,
and Eto resigned and retired to private life.
The volcano hardened to an outer crust. The war-loving samurai
looked upon Iwakura as a peace-at-any-price man. He was also inti-
mately connected with the financial scheme, now promulgated, of com-
muting, with a view to final extinction, the samurai pensions. The
nation, groaning under this burden — the legacy of feudalism — must
throw it off, become bankrupt, or go back to isolation. It was throt-
tling the life of the nation.
It has been said that " the actual government of Japan is despot-
ism, tempered by assassination." The old spirit was not yet dead.
On the evening of January 14th, outside the castle moat, and near the
palace-gates, the U Dai Jin was returning from an interview with the
emperor. In the twinkling of an eye, his betto was cut down, the
driver wounded, and the sides of the carriage pierced and cut to rib-
bons with spear-points and sword-blades. Iwakura, wounded in two
places, leaped out on the edge of the moat. He fell, and rolled into
the water. The foiled assassins, in the pitch-darkness, not daring to
linger for search, and unable to see or find their victim, made off.
In spite of wounds, cold, and immersion, the U Dai Jin recovered.
Soon afterward, nine ronins — eight from Tosa and one from Satsu-
ma — were arrested, and their crime proved. The U Dai Jin pleaded
that mercy be shown them. In vain. The nine heads rolled into
the blood-pit.
On the 1 7th of January, the ex-ministers, Goto, Soyejima, Eto, Ita-
gaki, with Yuri, of Fukui, and others, sent in a memorial, praying for
the establishment of a representative assembly, in which the popular
wish might be discussed. They complained that authority lay neither
with the crown nor people, but with the officials in power. Their re-
quest was declined. It was officially declared that Japan was not ready
for such institutions.
Hizen, the home of one of the great clans of the coalition of 1868,
was now the chief seat of disaffection. With perhaps no evil intent,
Eto, who had been head of the Department of Justice, had gone back
to his home in Hizen, an example which many of his clansmen follow-
NEW JAPAN. 575
cd, among them Katsfiki K6guro, a student educated in Albany and
London. It was the old story of sectionalism against national inter-
ests. It was miniuture secession. Scores of officials and men, but
very few students, bound by oath and duty to the National Govern-
ment, which had nourished or educated them, assembled with arms
and traitorous intent in Hizen, and raised the cry of " On to Corea !"
Here was armed rebellion. Were the flames to spread, all Kiushiu
would be involved. In the midst of the impending civil war, the for-
eign ministers pressed the payment of the last installment of the Shi-
monoseki indemnity, expecting that Japan could not or would not pay
it, but would grant more one-sided concessions. In pride and anger,
the Japanese passed over the money-bags, and closed the contemptible
business forever.
The political barometer now began rapidly to fall. The Hizen
war-cloud gathered blackness. The storm broke in war -fires and
battle-blood. The rebels attacked the castle, and killed the garrison.
Elated, they waited to see all Kiushiu join them. Their reckoning
was fifty years behind the age. The days of Old Japan were passed.
The era of steam, electricity, and breech-loaders had come. From the
national capital darted the telegraphic lightnings. On the wings of
steam, the imperial battalions swooped on Saga, as if by magic. The
rebellion was annihilated in ten days. The leader, master-spirit, and
judge was Okubo, modest in demeanor, wise in council, but in the field
the lion-hearted hero that knows no fear. Eto, Katsuki, and ten oth-
er ringleaders were sent to kneel before the blood-pit. The sword
fell as each chanted his death-song. The heads of Eto and Shima
were exposed on the pillory. The National Government was vindi-
cated, and sectionalism crushed, perhaps, forever.*
The story of the Formosan affair is more familiar to my readers.
Thirteen hundred Japanese soldiers occupied this island for six months.
In the few skirmishes with the savages, breech-loaders prevailed over
arrows and smooth-bores. The imperial troops were commanded by
Saigo Yorimichi, brother of Saigo Kichinosuke. They built roads,
* In this campaign, over 40 villages and 1600 houses in Saga were burned, and
350 of the national troops and 400 of the insurgents were put hors de combat.
About 500 persons thus lost their lives by war's accidents, and 195 were punished
with hard labor, imprisonment, or degradation from the rank of samurai. Eto
was discovered in disguise, by means of a photograph for which he had sat, to
begin a " rogue's gallery," when Minister of Justice, in Tokio. Okubo proved
himself a Jackson, not a Buchanan, and made Saga both the Sumter and the
Petersburg of the Hizen secession.
37
576 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
and kept camps, and made fortifications in the style of modern engi-
neering and military art. The attitude of China at first had been that
of the sleeping crocodile that allows the tiny bird to enter its mouth
to pick its teeth for food. Incited, however, by foreign influence in
Peking, the sleepy nation woke in wrath and shame at the rebuke of
Japan. The Chinese Government began to urge their claims on For-
mosa, to declare the Japanese intruders, and to menace hostilities.
•For a time, war seemed inevitable. Again the man for the crisis was
Okubo, who went to Peking. The result of this was that the Chi-
nese paid, in solid silver, an indemnity of seven hundred thousand
dollars, and the Japanese disembarked. To outsiders in Europe, the
whole affair seemed but a " tempest in two tea-pots ;" but, morally, it
was sublime. Japan, single-handed, with no foreign sympathy, but
with positive opposition, had, in the interests of humanity, rescued a
coast from terror, and placed it in a condition of safety. In the face
of threatened war, a nation having but one-tenth the population, area,
and resources of China, had abated not a jot of its just demands, nor
flinched from the wager of the battle. The righteousness of her cause
was vindicated. China now occupies Eastern Formosa. The expedi-
tion cost Japan five millions of dollars. Seven hundred victims of dis-
ease in peaceful graves sleep under the camphor-trees on the templed
slopes of the Nagasaki hills.
The Corean affair ended happily. In 1875, Mr. Arinori Mori went
to Peking. Kuroda Kiyotaka, with men-of-war, entered Corean wa-
ters. Patience, skill, and tact were crowned with success. On behalf
of Japan, a treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce was made be-
tween the two countries, February 27th, 1876. Japan has thus peace-
fully opened this last of the hermit nations to the world.
Japan was among the first to accept the invitation to be represent-
ed at the centennial of American independence. A commission was
appointed, and Saigo Yorimichi, commander-in-chief of the army, was
appointed president.
Let us now award to every nation due honor. The Portuguese dis-
covered Japan, and gave her slave-traders and the Jesuits; the Span-
iards sent friars, slavers, and conspirators ; the Dutch ignobly kept alive
our knowledge of Japan during her hermit life ; the Russians, after no-
ble and base failures to open the country, harried her shores. Then
came Perry, the moral grandeur of whose peaceful triumph has never
been challenged or compromised. The United States introduced Ja-
pan to the world, though her opening could not have been long delay-
NEW JAPAN. 577
cd. The American, Townsend Harris, peer and successor to Perry, by
his dauntless courage, patience, courtesy, gentleness, firmness, and in-
corruptible honesty, won for all nations treaties, trade, residence, and
commerce. The Dutch secured the abolition of insults to Christianity.
To the English was reserved a quiet victory and a mighty discovery,
second to none achieved on the soil of the mysterious islands. En-
glish scholarship first discovered the true source of power, exposed the
counterfeit government in Yedo, read the riddle of ages, and rent the
veil that so long hid the truth. It was the English minister, Sir Har-
ry Parkes, who first risked his life to find the truth ; stripped the sho-
gun of his fictitious title of " majesty ;" asked for at home, obtained,
and presented credentials to the mikado, the sovereign of Japan ; recog-
nized the new National Government, and thus laid the foundation of
true diplomacy in Japan. It is but fair to note that Americans have,
in certain emergencies, derived no small advantage from the expensive
show of English and French force in the seas of China and Japan,
and from the literary fruits of the unrivaled British Civil Service.
Let us note what Americans have done. Our missionaries, a no-
ble body of cultured gentlemen and ladies, with but few exceptions,
have translated large portions of the Bible in a scholarly and simple
version, and thus given to Japan the sum of religious knowledge and
the mightiest moral force and motor of civilization. The standard
Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionary is the fruit of thir-
teen years' labor of an eminent scholar, translator, physician, and phi-
lanthropist, J. C. Hepburn M.D., LL.D. The first grammar of the
Japanese language printed in English, the beginnings of a Christian
popular literature and hymnology, the organization of Christian
churches, the introduction of theological seminaries, and of girls'
schools, are the work of American ladies and gentlemen. The first
regular teachers in their schools, and probably half their staff in their
colleges, are Americans. In the grand work of agricultural and min-
eral development, in the healing art, and in jurisprudence, education,
and financiering, Americans have done valuable service.
Foreigners suppose the present Government to be modeled on the
French system of ministries, whereas it is simply the modernized
form of the constitution of the Osei era (see pages 103, 104) : 1. the
Emperor ; 2. the Dai Jo Kuan ; 3. the Sa In, Left Chamber ; the Genro
In, or Council of State ; 4. the TJ In, or Right Chamber, Council of
Ministers or Heads of Department (Sho), which number ten (see page
598). The Dai Jo Kuan also directs the three imperial cities (/«) and
578 THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE.
sixty-eight ken, or prefectures. The " provinces " are now merely geo-
graphical divisions.
In accordance with the oath of the mikado in Kioto, in 1868, that
" intellect and learning should be sought for throughout the world, in
order to establish the foundations of the empire" (see page 318), about
four hundred foreigners, from many countries, have been in the Civil
Service of the Government. All these, with but two exceptions, are
simply helpers and servants, not commissioned officers, and have no act-
ual authority. To their faithful and competent advisers they award a
fair measure of confidence and co-operation. To the worthless, nepot-
ic, or those who would play the lord over their employers, they quiet-
ly pay salary and snub. Whoever expects to be master will find him-
self a cipher. Nevertheless, whosoever would serve well will surely
rule.
Can an Asiatic despotism, based on paganism, and propped on a fic-
tion, regenerate itself ? Can Japan go on in the race she has begun ?
Will the mighty reforms now attempted be completed and made per-
manent ? Can a nation appropriate the fruits of Christian civilization
without its root? I believe not. I can not but think that unless the
modern enlightened ideas of government, law, society, and the rights
of the individual be adopted to a far greater extent than they have
been, the people be thoroughly educated, and a mightier spiritual force
replace Shinto and Buddhism, little will be gained but a glittering
veneer of material civilization and the corroding foreign vices, under
which, in the presence of the superior aggressive nations of the West,
Dai Nippon must fall like the doomed races of America.
A new sun is rising on Japan. In 1870 there were not ten Prot-
estant Christians in the empire. There are now (May, 1876) ten
churches, with a membership of eight hundred souls. Gently, but re-
sistlessly, Christianity is leavening the nation. In the next century
the native word inaka (rustic, boor) will mean "heathen." With
those forces that centre in pure Christianity, and under that Almighty
Providence who raises up one nation and casts down another, I cher-
ish the firm hope that Japan will in time take and hold her equal
place among the foremost nations of the world, and that, in the on-
ward march of civilization which follows the sun, the Sun -land may
lead the nations of Asia that are now appearing in the theatre of uni-
versal history.
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
THE JAPANESE ORIGIN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.
AN examination of a good globe or map of the Pacific Ocean, with the currents
well marked, will show that the Euro Shiwo, or Black Stream of Japan, arising
from the equatorial belt, flows up past Formosa, Japan, the Kurile, and Aleutian
Islands, Alaska, Oregon, California, and thence bends westward to the Sandwich
Islands. A junk or tree left in the Kuro Shiwo off Kiushiu would, if not stopped
or stranded, drift round the circuit from Japan to Hawaii.
For twenty centuries past, Japanese fishing-boats and junks caught in the east-
erly gales and typhoons have been swept into the Kuro Shiwo, and carried to
America. Their number, large before the full development of marine achitecture
in the Ashikaga centuries, must have been greatly increased after the early Toku-
gawa period, when ship - building was purposely confined to junks and fishing-
boats. Traditions and absolute facts of this kind are known to fishermen and
junk-sailors all along the eastern coasts of Japan. It is to them an ever-threaten-
ing danger. Had we the records of all the Japanese and Aino boats wrecked on
American shores, the number would probably be thousands, and the Japanese
origin of many, at least, of the aboriginal tribes of America be demonstrated.
From 1782 to 1876, we have certified instances, with dates, of forty-nine purely
Japanese junks wrecked, met, or seen on American and Hawaiian shores. I had
already made a list of these; but as that of Mr. Charles Wolcott Brooks, H. I. J.
M. Consul at San Francisco, is much larger, I summarize his data, first read in a
paper before the San Francisco Academy of Sciences, and given in the Daily Even-
ing Bulletin of March 3d, 1875. Of the forty-nine junks, nineteen stranded, or their
crews landed, on the Aleutian Islands; ten in Alaska or British America; three
on the coast of the United States ; and two on the Sandwich Islands. Nearly
every one of the others was picked up within the currents along the American
coast, or in the westerly current toward Hawaii. Of the junks, some had been
eighteen mouths adrift, a few were water -logged, full of live fish, or black with
age.
An average crew for a trading-junk consists of ten men : passengers would in-
crease the number. Of junks picked up on the Pacific by foreign captains, the
known crews were respectively 17, 9, 9, 17, 13, 15, 12, 20, 12, and 16 souls ; the
known number of corpses seen were 14, 5, 14, 9, 4, 4, 11, "many," "several," " a
number," etc. ; the known number saved was 112 at least. Instances of men land-
ing from junks are also traditionally known, but numerical data are lacking. In
the absence of exact numbers, "many," "several," describe the number.
All probabilities tend to demonstrate the Japanese origin of a large portion of
the American native races. It is evident that the number of Japanese known to
580 NOTES AND APPENDICES.
have reached America in eighty-six years is but a fraction of those subject to the
same dangers during two thousand years, and cast away. I do not know of any
females being found among the waifs, but I know that women often live or go
on the trading and fishing junks in Japan. The probabilities favor the idea of
Japanese women reaching America also.
Arguments from language are not wanting, though this field of research awaits
a competent tiller. The comparison both of languages and other data should be
between those of ancient as well as modern Japan and those of America. In ex-
amining vocabularies of Indian languages, I have found unaltered Japanese words
and shortened forms. A knowledge of the phonetic changes, and a view of vo-
cabularies Romanized according to a uniform system, with a study of structural
form, will undoubtedly yield rich results. Some of the very peculiar Japanese
idioms, constructions, honorific, separative, and agglutinative particles are found
identical, or nearly so, in the Indian languages. The superstitions, customs, and
religions of ancient Japan and America bear an extraordinary resemblance. The
sacred mask -dances, the worship of the sun and forces of nature, are instances.
In the Aztec and Japanese zodiac, six of the elements agree in both. As the horse,
sheep, bull, and boar were not found in ancient America, the absence of these ani-
mals as signs in the Mexican system is easily accounted for. The most character-
istic superstitions in Japan are the fox -myths, in which the powers of metamor-
phosis and infliction of evil on man are ascribed to these animals. These identical
ideas were found by the first European settlers among the Indians in New En-
gland and in Mexico. They are still universally current among the aborigines of
the Pacific slope, the coyote being the object of them. The totems, crests, wam-
pum-belts, calculating-machines of colored threads, picture-writing, etc., all bear
striking resemblance to ancient methods in Japan. There is little in Aztec, Cen-
tral American, or Peruvian antiquities that might not have been derived from an-
cient Japan.
Arguments from physiognomy are not wanting. I took a number of photo-
graphs of Colorado and Nebraska Indians with me to Japan. On showing them
to the Japanese, they were invariably taken for their own countrymen. Some af-
firmed that they were acquainted with the persons represented, supposing them
to be known friends. Scanty or no beard, color of skin, hair, and eyes were alike.
Siebold has discussed this subject. I have given in this note only my own data.
See also in the "Me"moires du Congres International des Orientalistes," Paris,
1874; "Rapports du Japon avec L'Ame>ique."
Few, if any, Chinese could have reached America, as the coast of China lies in-
side the Kuro Shiwo. Boats drifting northward would pass into the Gulf of
Pechili and Sea of Japan, as they occasionally do now, and frequently have done
in the past. TLe Buddhist mystical term " Fusan," and the phrases " 10,000 ri,"
" 20,000 ri," though striking in English, are of little value to determine geograph-
ical facts. The two latter are simply indefinite expressions for "many," "all,"
or "a great distance."
A large majority of the Japanese waifs were rescued by American captains in
American ships. A few by Russian and English ships are noted. Among the
returned survivors thus picked up were Munge>o Nakahama, educated in the
United States, now captain in the Imperial Navy, who translated " Bowditch's
Navigator," and as sailing-master of the Imperial Japanese steam corvette Kan-
da Maru crossed the Pacific to San Francisco, arriving March 17th, 1860 ; Toro,
He"ko, Sentaro ("Sam Patch," see page 548), and Denkichi ("Dankirche," or
"Dan Ketch," see pages 293-294, vol. i., and pages 45-50, vol. H., Alcock's
"Three Years in Japan," New York edition), with thirteen others, were picked
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 581
up after drifting fifty days at sea. Toro was for a time clerk to Wells, Fargo, &
Co. II«;k<>, educated in Baltimore, -is now an American citizen, doing business in
Yokohama. Denkiclii became a British citizen, and was interpreter of Her British
Majesty's Legation. Other waifs, whose names I do not have, were more or less
well educated in the United States, or in Holland or England. They returned to
Japan, and arc now prominent in disseminating the ideas that dominate in the
mikado's empire.
Mr. C. W. Brooks has also pointed out the bearing of data furnished by a study
of the Japan current on the great similarity between the flora and fauna of the
Pacific Coast and those of Japan. The necessity of supposing the floor of the
Pacific to be a submerged continent, on which life existed, seems to be made un-
necessary by proofs of the work done by this Gulf Stream of the Pacific in trans-
porting the seeds, animals, and men of the Central Asiatic to the Western Amer-
ican continent.
ASSOCIATED IDEAS IN ART AND POETRY.
THERE are certain pairs of objects which form the main stock of the Japanese
artist's designs. With many variations and combinations, they appear over and
over again in pictures, on vases, lacquer-ware, trays, dishes, embroidery, bronze,
and other articles of use and virtu, and objects of art, and form the set of sym-
bols oftenest employed by the poet. The pine-tree and stork, emblems of longev-
ity, are embroidered on robes, presented to newly born infants. The willow and
swallow, and bamboo and sparrow, indicative of gentleness, are seen oftenest on
screens, fans, and upright objects of household adornment. The young moon
and cuckoo, the bird flying across the crescent, is a poetic reference to Yorimasa,
a renowned archer, who shot a hideous beast, having the head of a monkey, body
and claws of a tiger, and the tail of a dragon. This monster, who came at night
to disturb the rest of the mikado Narihito, 1153, was hit in the eye by Yorimasa's
arrow, three feet long, and finally dispatched by his trusty sword. The mikado
rewarded him with a famous sword, Shinhi no 6 (king of wild boars), by the hands
of a kuge" who, when about to present it, heard a cuckoo, and, catching the bird's
note, extemporized seventeen syllables, or the first strophe of the thirty-one syl-
lable distich (honka). Yorimasa being as good a poet as he was a brave soldier,
immediately replied with the second strophe of fourteen syllables. The "open
secret" of the poem is thus roughly given in English:
LITF.KAI-. OOOITLT.
The cuckoo Like the cuckoo,
Above the clouds So high to soar,
How does it mount (like the archer to honor) How is it aof
Yorimana . .The waning moon (bent bow) Only my bow I bent,
Sets not at will (a sped shaft) That only sent the shaft
The neatness of the allusion, the skill of the improvisatore, and the liquid ca-
dences (utterly lost in translation) make the poem a joy forever to the ear of the
native, as the silver bow and the " Japanese nightingale " are things of beauty to
his eye.
The phoenix bird (howo) and the Paulownia imperialin tree are often together
as twin imperial emblems on the mikado's robes, rugs, curtains, and painted or
582 NOTES AND APPENDICES.
gilded on screens and hanging scrolls. This tree, so common in Japan, is an
emblem of rectitude. Its leaves form the imperial mow, or crest.
The peony and Chinese lion — a beast which never trod this earth, but which
may be seen rampant on temple screens, yashiki doors, panels — form a couplet,
with which lovers of the huge and monstrous may regale their vision. Another
pair of these Siamese twins of Japanese art are the sleeping wild boar and a clus-
ter ofhaffi (Lespedeza). The mulberry and the goat are put together by the art-
ist, since this animal has the appetite of a silk-worm, and feeds voraciously on
mulberry leaves or the paper which is made from its bark.
The hare peeps out of the rushes on many a lacquered box or tray, or is
wrought in gold -threaded embroidery. Instead of seeing a man in the moon
carrying a bundle of sticks, Japanese fancy beholds this leaping rodent scouring
the face of the silver luminary, with equisetum, or scouring rush. This is a favor-
ite subject on the lacquered bodies of jin-riki-sha.
The red maple leaves and the stag are painted with fine effect on screens.
"In autumn the maples crimson, and the stag calls the doe." The Japanese
word iro means both color and love ; and in this stanza, as in a thousand others,
the play is on that word. For a lover to send his once loved a sprig of autumn
maple is equivalent to giving the "mitten." The leaf and the heart have both
changed their iro (color).
The cherry-blossom and pheasant are fitly wedded together in poetry and art.
The most beautiful bird (kiji) is this many-tinted iridescent queen of the groves
in the Sun-land, and the bloom of the sakura-tree (Prunus pseudo-cerasus), which
is cultivated solely for its blossoms, is the national flower of the Land of Great
Place. "There are snow-showers which do not descend from the skies," and the
falling bloom - flakes spread many a white carpet on the stone paths leading to
the temples. It is often as large as a rose, and as beautiful. The -plum tree,
also admired for its blossoms, is joined with the itguisu (nightingale). The plum
is, by excellence, the poet's tree, and the nightingale is the poet of birds, loving
song more than they all. " Send forth your fragrance upon the eastern winds,
O flowers of the plum-tree! and do not forget the spring, because of the absence
of the sun," cries a native poet. Not unfrequently does one see the plum-tree
stand all leafless in the snow, but adorned with white blossoms, like a bride be-
fore the altar. It bursts into clouds of fragrance and beauty in February, the
leaves appearing later.
It is said that geese in flying on long journeys carry rushes in their bills, and
drop them before alighting on the water, and then alight upon them. The rushes
and geese are figured together. A comical couplet is the baboon and the moon's
reflection in the water. The long-armed, stump-tailed fool sees the image of the
moon in the water, and in vain attempts to grasp it.
The couplet of the chrysanthemum and fox refers to one of the hundreds of
the current fox myths and stories. A fox, assuming the form of a lovely woman,
bewitched a certain prince. One day, happening to fall asleep on a bed of chrys-
anthemums, she resumed her normal shape. The prince seeing the animal, shot
at him, hitting the fox in the forehead. He afterward saw that his concubine had a
wound in the corresponding part of the head, and thus discovered her true nature.
The bamboo and tiger are often seen together on large objects of use or orna-
ment : the tigers, being afraid of elephants, hide in the bamboo jungle. The peach-
trees and oxen, a less common design, had reference to a line in a Chinese poem.
An emblem of success in life is that of the dragon crossing the summit of Fuji on
the clouds. As the small snake becomes a dragon, so does a man of low estate
often rise by triumph over obstacles to exaltation and honor.
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 583
For a number of the facts here given I am indebted to Captain E. Pfoundcs,
whose "Budget" of Japanese notes, entitled Fu So Mimi Bukuro (Triibner &
Co., London), is a valuable thesaurus of condensed information.
THE LEGACY OF
"TnE Legacy of ly^yasQ" is a document whose authenticity is yet to be
proved. It purports to be the testament of the founder of the last shdgunate;
but a thoroughly critical examination of its claims has not, I believe, been made.
It is certain that it was not popularly or generally known in Japan, nor ever
reckoned as within the body of standard legal literature. It was translated into
English (thirty -seven pages print) by Mr. J. F. Lowder, some years before its
publication by him in Yokohama, in 1874. The title of the pamphlet read thus:
"The Legacy of Iye"yas (deified as Gongen-sama) : a Posthumous Manuscript, in
One Hundred Chapters, translated from three collated Copies of the Original,"
printed at The Japan Herald office.
Dr. Walter Dixon, also, in his work on Japan, gives (chapter vii.) another ver-
sion, with notes and comments. W. E. Grigsby, Professor of Law in the Impe-
rial College in Tokio, in a paper read before the Asiatic Society of Japan, has
given a scholarly analysis of the document, showing especially its similarity to
most ancient law codes, such as those of Solon and Lycurgus, the Twelve Tables,
the Mosaic, and the early Teutonic codes. He terms it " the most original mon-
ument which Japan has produced in the way of legislation," with which compare
Dixon, pp. 269, 270. Whether authentic or not, it embodies the policy of lye"-
yasu, is a mirror of feudalism, and is of great historic value.
The work consists of one hundred sections, in no logical sequence, and difficult
to determine in the original. Of these, sixteen consist of moral maxims and re-
flections, which are quotations, or intended to be such, from Confucius and Men-
cius ; fifty-five are connected with politics and administrations ; twenty-two re-
fer to legal matters ; and in seven Iye"yasu relates episodes in his own personal
history. No sharp distinction is made in it between law and morality, between
the duties of the citizen and the virtue of the man. The man who obeys the law
is virtuous ; he who disobeys it is vicious and low. It is the province of the leg-
islator to inculcate virtue. All that we understand by law — all that embraces the
main bulk of modern law, the law of contracts, of personal property, of will, com-
mercial and maritime law — finds no place in this code. This arose from the fact
that human life within the daimioate was regulated by custom, not by agreement ;
and there was hardly any intercourse between the various daimioates, because the
only property of any importance was land, and no will was allowed. On the oth-
er hand, great stress was laid on criminal law, the law relating to landed proper-
ty, the law relating to the status of persons and classes, to etiquette and ceremo-
nial, to tables of rank and precedence, and to political administration and gov-
ernment On these points, especially the latter, minute details are entered into
with a peculiarity which is striking, when compared with the poverty of the code
in respect to those matters which seem to us most important in a system of law.
Another of the many points of similarity to ancient codes of law, notably the Mo-
saic, is the elaborate provisions with respect to the avenging of blood and person-
al satisfaction for injuries done. The individual does not, as in more advanced
societies, give up his right of private vengeance. Great stress is laid on caste dis-
584 NOTES AND APPENDICES.
tinctions, which are made more sharp and distinct by reducing them to writing,
and thus perpetuating the unequal stages into which early society is divided.
Professor Grigsby further remarks that there is one great difference between
this and all other early codes, viz., its secrecy. It was in express terms forbidden
to be promulgated. The perusal of it was only allowed to the chief councilors
of state (rojiu). How can people obey laws if they do not know their nature ?
A parallel is found in the history of the Aryan race. In Greece and Rome, at the
beginning of their history, the knowledge of the laws and their administration
was confined to the aristocratic class, and the first struggle of the commons was
to force this knowledge from them — a struggle which ended in these codes being
reduced to writing and promulgated. The parallel is not complete in respect to
writing. In the case of Greece and Rome, the laws were unknown because not
written : in Japan, though written, they were yet to be unknown. In early com-
munities, custom has absolute sway. The magistrates, as lyeyasu says, are the
reflectors of the mode of government ; they interpret, not make, the law. Any
additions to the old customs were to reach the multitudes by filtering down
through the magistrates, who alone would be conscious that they were new. To
the multitude they would only be slight modifications of the customs they had
always observed. As a code of laws, this was the character of the testameut of
Iye"yasu, who claims merely to be a transmitter, not a framer, of the law. His
work is a compilation, not a creation ; a selection from old, not a series of new,
laws.
The "Legacy" is invaluable in representing to us the condition of society in
feudal Japan. The basis of Japanese life, the unit of civilization, is the family,
which is a corporation, the most characteristic mark of which was its perpetuity.
The head of the family held a power similar, in nearly all respects, to that of the
paterfamilias at Rome, having complete power over the persons and property of
his children, and doing as he pleased with both, fettered only by that custom
which is the great hinderance to despotism in all early communities. But his
liabilities were equally great with his rights. He was responsible for all the ill-
doings of any of his family. A Japanese family was not, however, what we un-
derstand by the word. It was often not natural, but artificial. Persons whom
we should exclude from the family were admitted into it, and those who with us
are constant members were sometimes excluded from it. Adoption (yoshi ni
naru) on the one hand, and emancipation, or the sending-away (kando suru) of a
son from the family, on the other, were in constant practice. In Rome, adoption
was employed merely to enlarge the family ; in Japan, solely to perpetuate it.
The son adopted by a man having no male heir filled exactly the place of a natu-
ral child ; and, in early times at least, he must take the name of the adopting par-
ent. If the adopting parent had a daughter, the adopted son married her, becom-
ing heir himself, in which respect the Japanese custom differed from the Roman,
which held that the natural tie of brother and sister was formed by adoption, and
hence their marriage was illegal. Only an adult could adopt; but if the head of
the family were an infant, he could adopt. This practice was often resorted to in
Japan for two reasons — the religious and the feudal; to prevent the extinguish-
ment of the ancestral sacrifices, with the consequent disgrace to the family; and
because the land, being held only on condition of military service, if a vassal died
leaving no male children, the lands escheated to the lord. The second method
which rendered the family artificial were the expulsion and disinheritance of a
son from the family, which, however, were only effected when he was of an irre-
deemably bad character.
Marriage in Japan, which was allowed— rather, enjoined— in the case of a man
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 585
at sixteen, of a woman at thirteen, was not a contract between the parties or a re-
ligious institution, but a handing-over of the bride to the family of her husband
by her own family, she passing completely under the control of her husband,
both us to person and property, subject to reference to a council of family rela-
tions.
So far the internal aspect of the family. Each family, however, was connected
with other families, as in early Greece and Rome; and thus about flfly great
clans were formed, of which the four principal were the Minamoto, Fujiwuru,
Taira, and Sugawara, all the families of which were, or claimed to be, descended
from a common ancestor. Certain sacrifices were peculiar to each, and certain
dignities confined to certain families. Thus the office of kuambaku was monopo-
lized by the Fujiwara, and the shogunate by the Minamoto clans (the families in
succession being, the line of Yoritomo, the Ashikaga, and the Tokugawa). This
condition of society was analogous to that in Italy and Greece from 1000 B.C. to
500 A.D. But what is peculiar to Japan is that, with this primitive form of so-
ciety remaining unchanged, we find a system that did not arise in Europe till
about the eleventh century A.D. Thus the superstructure of feudalism was rear-
ed on the basis of the family — an incongruous social edifice, as it seems to our
minds.
In Japan, then, at the time of the formation of the code, the mikado and the
imperial court were above, and not included in, the theory of feudalism, at the
head of which was the shogun, and beneath him the daimios, each with a terri-
tory of greater or lesser extent, which he farmed out to the samurai, or vassals, in
return for military service. In the greater daimioates these vassals underlet their
lands on the same conditions ; in other words, subfeudation was common. A
vassal not able, by reason of age or sickness, to perform this service abdicated in
favor of his son. If a man died without leaving any children, natural or adopted,
his property was retained for him by a legal fiction, for his death was concealed
till permission was given by his lord for him to adopt a son, and only after such
permission was given was his death announced. The necessity of having an heir,
that the vassal's land might not escheat to the lord, but be kept in the vassal's
family, greatly extended the practice of adoption. If the vassal proved faithless
to his lord, both escheat and forfeiture were incurred.
The leading principles of lyeyasu's policy are thus summarized : The position
of the shogun to the mikado was to be one of reverential homage. The shoguns
were in no way to interfere with the mikado's theoretical supremacy, but to
strengthen it in every way, and show all respect to the emperor's relatives, and
the old court aristocracy. Secondly, toward their inferiors the shoguns were to
behave with courtesy and consideration. All insult and tyranny were to be
avoided, and the weight of power was not to press too harshly. The neglect of
this principle, as shown in insolence to inferiors, was the rock on which the gov-
ernments in nearly all ancient communities struck. This caution proves the con-
summate knowledge of human nature and the profound mastery of state-craft
possessed by Iye"yasu. Another recommendation of Iye"yasu was, that the govern-
ment of the lesser daimios should be frequently changed. The motive alleged
for this was the prevention of misgovernment ; but the real reason was, that they
might not acquire local influence, and so endanger the power of the shoguns.
This was similar in its purpose to the policy adopted by William the Conqueror,
in portioning out the territories of his barons among several counties. In En-
gland the plan was completely successful ; in Japan it failed, as we have seen,
because the shoguns never dared to enforce the measure in the case of the greater
daimios, who were the only ones to be dreaded. The best feature of the policy
586
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
of the shogunate was to be the endeavor to maintain peace in the empire as far as
possible, or, in the words of Iye"yasu, " to assist the people to give peace to the
empire."
THE TOKUGAWA FEUDAL SYSTEM.
THE most remarkable fact in the events leading to the Restoration was the
alienation from the bakufu of the four great families, relatives of Tokugawa, Owa-
ri, Kii, Mito, and Echizen, all of kokushiu rank. Their status in the system was
as follows :
Owari, with one cadet at Takasu, in Mino, 640,500 koku.
Kii, with one cadet, at Toda, in Kodzuke", 565,000 koku.
Mito, in Hitachi at Mito (Ibaraki), with four cadets ; one at Takamatsu, in Sa-
nuki, with 130,000 koku ; one at Moriyama, in Mutsu ; two in Hitachi, with 30,000
koku. United revenues, 510,000 koku.
The Echizen family was large, consisting of thirteen branches, holding fiefs in
every part of Hondo and one in Shikoku, and taking different sides during the
war. All but one held the name Matsudaira. Two were kokushiu ; one of Fukui
Echizen, 320,000 ; and one of Aidzu (Wakamatsu) in Dewa (Iwashiro). The united
revenues of the thirteen daimios of the house of Echizen were 1,479,000 koku.
The Maeda family, the head being Kaga, a kokushiu, had three cadets. United
revenue, 1,237,000 koku. Kaga remained nearly neutral during the war.
The revenues of the clans of the combination which overthrew the bakufu,
and restored the fiefs and registers to the mikado, were, Shimadzu, of Satsuma,
710,000 ; Mori, of Nagato (Choshiu), with five cadets, 579,000 ; Yamanouchi, of
Tosa, with one cadet, 255,000; Nabeshima, of Hize"n, with three cadets, 422,915.
Uwajima was of the Datte" family, which ranked after Satsuma in the feudal
peerage, and was divided into four branches, which took different sides during
the war. Their united revenues were 785,600; Uwajima having 100,000, and
Sendai 625,600.
In this note, and throughout this volume, the " revenue" of the daimios, given
in koku, means the amount of rice, or its equivalent, produced, or supposed to
be produced, in their territories. It was the official assessment made by the
bakufu. The daimio and clan received as their own income one-half, sometimes
two-thirds, of the assessed amount, the peasants and farmers getting the remain-
der. See F. O. Adams's " History of Japan," vol. i., chapter xii., and Japan Mail,
July 8th, 1873. For an entire table of names, titles, and fiefs of all the daimios,
see Dr. Walter Dixon's "Japan," chapter x.
As a specimen of the manner in which nearly every province was cut up into
fiefs, I give the feudal map of Echizen :
Name and Title.
City.
Revenue.
Rank.
Matsudaira, Echizen no Kami
Fukui
320,000
Kokushiu.
Mauabc, Shimosa no Kami
Sabae
60,000
Fudai.
Arima, Hiuga no Kami
Mnruoka
60,000
Fiidai.
Doi, Noto no Kami
Ono
40 000
Fndai
Ogasawara, Saumon no Sake
Sakai, Ukio no Suke
Katsuyama. ..
Tsuruga.
22.7TT
10,000
Fudai.
Fudai.
There was also a place called Hombo, belonging to the shSgun's government,
and ruled by a salaried bunio (governor). Several hatamotos also lived in Echi-
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 587
zen, with holdings of land of 500 koku, and upward. Echlzen contained a popu-
lation of 461,032 souls, with 97,000 houses, 1500 Buddhist temples, and 850 Shin-
to shrines. The area was about 400 square miles. There were thus in it six
princes, a bakufu governor, and several hutanmtos. Echizen is a fair specimen of a
Japanese province from 1600 to 1872, and well illustrates the wondrously complex
mechanism of the Japanese feudal system. Pomp, pride, jealousy, poverty of
the many, wealth of the few, and a most varied assortment of petty bigotries,
prejudices, ridiculous shams of every sort, and grounds for courtesies or brawls,
were all exhibited in this little theatre, as in the mediaeval Europe. Each dai-
raioate, however petty, was a microcosmic government by itself. Fukui Han
had its departments of the Treasury, Justice, Censorate, Census, Military Affairs,
Coinage and Currency, and Public Works. The rice store-houses, taxes and pen-
sions ; prisons, power of trial, punishment, or execution ; oversight of the the-
atre, books, weights and measures, and religion (inquiry into the evil sect, etc.);
census work ; arrow and spear arsenal, and, later, of powder-mill, rifle factory, and
artillery - train ; issue of paper money, and copper and iron cash; the erection
and care of the castle, daimio's mansion, mills, magazines, bridges, roads, break-
water, school, and chemical laboratory, were under the care of their respective
departments. It is evident that with the daimids jealous and at variance with
each other, Japan could not long stand the financial strain of competition in
war or peace with foreigners, and that enterprises, to cope with outside pressure,
must be on a national scale, and by a national government. The financial ques-
tion was one of the most powerful levers in prying up the bakufu, and restoring
the ancient national government.
PAPERS ON JAPANESE SUBJECTS.
THE following articles, by the author, may be of use to readers of this work
who wish further information on the subjects treated of:
1. In the "American Cyclopaedia," New York, D. Appleton & Co. : "Japan"
(seventeen pages, with map), "Kanagawa," "Kioto," " Matsumae," "Mikado,"
"Nagasaki," "Niigata," "Nippon," "Nobunaga," "Oshima," "Ozaka," "Saga,"
"Saghaliu," "Satsuma," "Shimonose"ki," "Tokio," "Tomomi Iwakura," "Yo-
kohama," etc., etc.
2. "The Tokio Guide" (thirty -five pages); "Map of Tokio, with Notes, His-
torical and Explanatory ;" and " The Yokohama Guide" (thirty-nine pages), with
map, for tourists and visitors, were published in Japan, 1874 : Yokohama, F. R.
Wetmore & Co.
3. "Education in Japan:" a series of thirteen articles, printed in The Japan
Weekly Mail, Yokohama, 1873-'74. The greater bulk of matter in these papers
was republished in The College Courant (New Haven), American Educational Month-
ly (New York), and in the Appendix to vol. ii. of F. O. Adams's "History of Ja-
pan," London, 1874, H. S. King & Co. The series treated of the " Tokio Normal
School;" "The Imperial College of Tokio;" "The School of Foreign Lan-
guages ;" " The Opening of the New Polytechnic School by the Mikado ;" " For-
eign Teachers;" " Native Officials ;" "Native Teachers;" "Japanese Students;"
"The Old Education;" "Physical Training;" "The Study of the English Lan-
guage;" "Female Education;" "Moral Training."
4. In Lippincotts Magazine: "Inside Japan" (a trip in Kadzusa and Awa,
April, 1873) ; " Japanese Fox Myths," January, 1874; "A Call on a Bonze," June,
588
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
1874; "A Japanese Marriage in High Life," February, 1875; "A Daimio's Life,"
August, 1875.
5. In The Overland Monthly : "A Japanese Merchant at Home" (Paper-making,
etc., in Echizen); "The Mythical Zoology of Japan," August, 1874; "New-
year's-eve in Tokio," 1872— November, 1874; "In a Japanese Prison," Septem-
ber, 1875.
6. In The Independent : "New Japan;" "The Sea Empire;" " A Tramp through
Japan;" "The Imperial College in Yedo;" " Does Japan Persecute?" "Shinto-
ism;" "Japanese Proverbs" (two papers); "Japan's Record of Progress in
1872;" "Japanese Politeness;" "Buddhism in Japan" (two papers); "Baby
Gojiro;" "Trampling on the Cross;" "Japanese Education at Home and
Abroad;" Notes and Editorials on Japanese Subjects, 1870-1876.
7. In Appletons' Journal: "The Paper Money of Japan;" "Japanese Fire-
proofs;" "A Japanese City," August 1st, 1874; "Japanese Fans;" "AModern-
teed Japanese City," March 25th, 1875; "A Daimio's Stable," June 26th, 1875;
"Household Superstitions in Japan," January, 1876.
8. In St. Nicholas: " The Feast of Dolls," March, 1875 ; "The Feast of Flags,"
May, 1875 ; " The Golden Fish of Owari Castle," with illustrations, by Ozawa.
9. In The Christian Weekly: "Education in Japan," with picture of the Impe-
rial College in Tokio, October 30th, 1875.
10. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Japan for 1873 : " The Streets and Street-
names of Yedo."
11. In The Christian at Work: "The Land of the Rising Sun," January 28th,
1875; "Christian Missions in Japan ;" "Christ in Japan ;" "Woman's Position
in Japan."
12. Map of Dai Nippon, the Empire of Japan, and chapter on the Geography
of Japan, in Mitchell's "School Geography and Atlas," Philadelphia, J. H. Butler
& Co. This map was drawn by Takahashi, instructor in drawing in the Imperial
College, Tokio, from the War Department map of Japan: the letter-press and
names were added by the author.
DR. J. C. HEPBURN'S METEOROLOGICAL TABLES, FROM OBSER-
VATIONS MADE FROM 1863 TO 1869 INCLUSIVE, READ BEFORE
THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF JAPAN, JUNE 17TH, 1874.
MONTHLY AND YEARLY AVERAGE (1863-1869) OF THE THERMOMETER (FAHR.).
Yearly Average.
Monthly Average.
1863
69°
January...
February..
. 40°.28
. 41°.22
4T° 03
Jnly
78°.31
78° .49
70°. 48
6r.68
62°
43°.45
1864
1866
... 68°.02
69° 13
August
September.
October . . .
November.
December..
1866
. . 67°.01
April . .
. 66M6
186T
... 69°. 26
May
. 64°.07
1868
68°.46
69° 14
1869 . . .
... 68° 08
Average of 1863-1869 6S°.22
Highest monthly maximum (August, 1866) 91°
Lowest monthly minimum (January, 18C4) 20*
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
580
BAIN-FALL IN INCHES (1863-1869).
Arm*** Yearly Amount.
Monthly
Arm**.
IM-,:;
60.68
January
•.' ::.'.
Jnly
s .j._,
1864...
71.44
February.
:; •."'
August ....
. . 6.71
18(56 ...
(50.72
March.
. 6.116
September.
. 10.19
1 M;»; . .
66.16
April
. .. 6.69
October . . .
Ml
1887 . . .
42.68
May
681
November
.. 848
1 >r,s . .
122.67
.Illlic
7 •"'
December .
.. 3.82
1869 ..
79.17
Average of 1803-1869 70.83
NUMBER OF BAIN DATS (1863-1869).
Yearly.
Monthly.
1863
108
January. . .
. . . 4.42
July...
1000
1864
100
February..
March
. . . 6.28
. . . 8.42
9 28
1866
110
September...
. 11.85
7 00
1S66
97
April
9 72
1867
78
May
. . . 8.42
11 28
November. . .
December . . .
. 6.67
. 4.28
1868
114
1809
81
Average of 1S63-1869 97.71
" Yokohama is situated in lat. 85° 36' N., aud long. 139° 39" E. from Greenwich.
It is about thirty-seven miles from Cape King, the nearest point on the Pacific.
The Bay of Yedo at Yokohama is about twelve miles wide. The eity is, for the
most part, built on a plain, about from two to ten feet above high-water mark, at
the mouth of a valley opening on the bay. The valley is about a mile wide, and
extends back in a westerly direction some three miles, gradually narrowing to a
quarter of a mile. It is bounded on each side by a row of hills, about one hun-
dred and twenty feet wide. It is cultivated in paddy fields, is consequent!}' wet
and marshy, and is exposed to the sweep of north-east and easterly winds from
across the bay, and to south-west and westerly winds through the valley.
"The winds of Japan are at all seasons exceedingly irregular, frequently vio-
lent, and subject to sudden changes. The north-east and easterly winds are gen-
erally accompanied by rain, with a high and falling barometer, and are usually
not violent. The south-west and westerly winds are generally high, often vio-
lent, and accompanied with a low barometer. It is from the south-west that the
cyclones or typhoons almost invariably come. On clear and pleasant days, which
are in excess of all others, there is a regular land and sea breeze at all seasons.
"The rain-fall is above the average of most countries, varying greatly, howev-
er, in different years. About two-thirds of the rain falls during the six months
from April to October.
" The steady hot weather, when it is considered safe to change to light sum-
mer clothing, does not generally set in till the latter decade of June or 1st of
July, and ends, often very abruptly, about the middle of September.
"The snow-fall is for the most part light, not often exceeding two or three
inches. In 1861, on one occasion, it fell to the depth of twenty inches. The ice
seldom exceeds one inch or one and a half inches in thickness. Fogs are rarely
noticed, so also is hail. Thunder-storms are neither frequent nor severe. Earth-
quake shocks are frequent, averaging more than one a month; but hitherto,
since the residence of foreigners in Yokohama, no very severe or dangerous
shocks have occurred."
590
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
RESULT OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT HAKODATE (1859-1874),
LATITUDE 41° 46' 0" N., LONGITUDE 140° 46' 30" E.
Yearly Averages.
48°.33
88°.00
2°.00
29.8995
50.26
4T.88
........ 0.32
82.20
98.20
4S.84
51.907
221.98
57
15.39
43.39
86.54
60.84
119.27
16.79
952.81
The observations of rain and snow were made during twelve years ; of the
hygrometer, two and a half years ; cloudy and overcast weather, for four years ;
of velocity of wind, one year; of fog and wind, eleven years.
See detailed tables in reports of General Capron and his foreign assistants,
Tokio, 1875. Printed by the Kai Taku Shi.
Temperature of the air (Fahrenheit's thermometer)
Extreme maximum
Extreme minimum
Barometer (at freezing-point and sea-level, English inches)
Hygrometer, dry-bulb thermometer
Hygrometer, wet-bulb thermometer
Hygrometer, force of vapor, in inches
Hygrometer, relative humidity, in hnudredths
Raiu, average number of days
Snow, average number of days
Rain-fall and melted snow
Cloudy and overcast days (of 12 hours)
Amount of clouds per day (of 12 hours)
Fog and hazy days (of 12 hours)
North
East
South
I West
Gales, average number
Velocity of wind, miles traveled
Winds
POSTAL STATISTICS.
From the Postmaster-general's Report for the Seventh Tear ofMeiji (1874-'75).
Number of newspapers transmitted in the mails, 1873 514,610
" " " " 1874 2,629,648
—showing an increase of 411 per cent., "a fact which speaks volumes for the
progress of civilization."
STATISTICS OF 1875.
Letters containing currency 95,235
Dead letters 3,227
Dead letters returned to writers . . 778
Letters, ordinary 16,728,025
" registered 268,577
Newspapers 2,629,648
Books and patterns 33,824
Free mails 178,109
Total 19,937,423
STATISTICS OF THE SIX MONTHS FROM JANUARY 1ST TO JUNE 30TO, 1875.
Letters, ordinary 8,077,333
" registered 165,752
Postal cards. 1,849,190
Newspapers 1,839,846
Books, patterns, etc 44,860
Official letters 183,318
Letters containing money 47,480
Dead letters 2,166
Dead letters returned to writers . . 816 Total 12,289,878
The mail routes in operation throughout the empire, during this half-year, ag-
gregated 10,650 ri (26,635 English miles) in length. The increase over those in
Ordinary letters stolen
" " lost
Money letters stolen
Letters dispatched to foreign
countries
Newspapers, etc., dispatched to
foreign countries
283
11
9
44,185
34,63!>
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 591
operation in the preceding year was 568 ri (1408 miles), and 5273 rl (13,183 miles),
or 98.1 per cent over those of the sixth year of Meiji (1873).
The total annual transportation for the half-year was 2,423,787 ri (6,059,843
miles), an increase of 135,530 ri (338,825 miles) over that of half of the preceding
year.
During this half-year there have been established 205 post-offices, 86 stamp
agencies, and 37 street letter-boxes ; and there are, therefore, now in operation
3449 post-offices, 703 stamp agencies, and 513 street letter-boxes.
The postal money-order system was established on the 2d of January of the
eighth year of Meiji (1875). During that month the number of money orders is-
sued was only 4120, amounting to yen 72,243.10. During the month of March
6384 orders were issued, amounting to yen 111,913.69; and the number of orders
issued in June was 8393, amounting to yen 147,056.43, thus showing an increase,
in the number issued in the latter month, over those issued in January, of 103.6
per cent. One yen is equal to a dollar.
The total number of orders issued during the half-year was 89,398, amounting
to yen 690,617.48. The total number of money-orders paid was 37,768, amount-
ing in value to yen 671,624.98; and 1630 orders, amounting to yen 18,992.50, have
not yet been presented for payment The fees from money -orders were yen
3722.49.
The number of letters sent to the section for detaining those insufficiently ad-
dressed, and finding the means for delivering them, was 39,185, or a little more
than 3-10ths per cent, of the whole number transmitted through the mails dur-
ing the half-year.
The number of letters stolen during the half-year was 6305. Of these, 5633
were regained and have been delivered intact; 380 were broken and defaced so
that they could not be returned ; and 292 were actually lost Of the latter num-
ber, 9 contained currency to the amount of yen 39.37, of which yen 36.50 were
restored, the person who stole them having confessed and returned the money.
The balance, yen 2.87, was lost. Eighty-two letters were lost in the course of
delivery or transmission. Of these, 71 were regained and delivered, and 11 were
actually lost One hundred and sixty-nine letters were carelessly detained by
letter-carriers, but were, after some delay, delivered to their addresses.
The department manufactures its own postal cards, stamps, and envelopes.
The post-offices are well equipped with New England clocks, Fairbanks' scales,
American leather bags with iron tops and locks, fire-arms, and furniture. The
postmaster is H. Maye"shima. The Superintendent of Foreign Mails is Samuel
W. Bryan, formerly of the United States Postal Service, "to whose energy and
experience the present prosperous condition of the [Japanese mail] service is
due."
The United States Government was the first to recognize the right of Japan to
control the transport of her own foreign mails ; and on the 6th day of August,
1873, a postal convention was concluded between th« two countries. It is hoped
that, from the general satisfaction given by the Japanese Postal Service, the^Sn-
ropean nations will likewise grant to Japan the right to control her own postal
affairs. During the first half of the year 1875, 242,862 articles, weighing 9,314,149
grammes of mail matter, were sent or received, the postage amounting to
$21,732.63. Postal savings-banks have also been established ia several cities, as
experiment. The educational power of this national postal enterprise, m teach-
ing book-keeping, punctuality, the Arabic numerals, Roman letters, political
economy, the triumphs of civilization, and the diffusion of information, can not
be overestimated.
38
592 NOTES AND APPENDICES.
THE BOMBARDMENT OF KAGOSHIMA.
ONE of the agents most prominent in bringing about the restoration, under the
plea of "the renovation of the institutions created by the founder of the Tokuga-
wa line," was Shimadzu Saburo (now Sa Dai Jin), brother of the next to the last,
and father of the last daimio of Satsuma. On his way from Yedo, while his train
was passing along the Tokaido, led by Saigo (afterward commander of the army
in Formosa, and President of the Japanese Centennial Commission), " some En-
glish people came riding through the head of the train at a place called Nama-
mugi" (Kinse" Shiriaku — Satow's translation, p. 33). A native who would at-
tempt to cross, walk, or ride into a daimio's procession would, according to in-
variable custom, meet with instant death. The Yedo authorities had previously
requested foreigners not to go on the Tokaido that day ; but they contemptuous-
ly, and with no waste of courteous language or sympathy for national troubles,
refused. Two American gentlemen, Messrs. E. Van Reed and F. Schoyer, while
out riding on the same afternoon (September 14th, 1862), met Shimadzu's train,
and, by filing aside, passed on without hinderance. Soon after, three English
gentlemen and a lady, one of the former being Mr. Richardson, who had lived
several years in China, and "knew how to deal with these people," disregarded
the warnings of the discreet members of the party, and impatiently urged their
horses into the procession. Some Satsuma retainers, taking this as a direct and
intentional insult, drew their swords, and fell like butchers on the unarmed men.
The lady was untouched. The three men were all wounded, Richardson to death.
There is no proof that either Shimadzu Saburo or the train-leader gave the order
to kill, as is alleged. Such heated fictions are at par with the statement that the
captain of the Bombay, after sinking the Oneida, willingly allowed her crew to
perish.
In the "Richardson affair" were, on the one hand, arrogant people, who de-
spised all Asiatics as an inferior order of beings, disregarded their rights, and
were utterly ignorant of the misery their coming had wrought on Japan. On the
other hand were proud men, who considered the foreigners as sordid and cruel
invaders, and the men before them as having purposely insulted them and their
master. This affair led to the extortion, in presence of cannon-muzzles, of one
hundred thousand pounds sterling from the bakufu, twenty-five thousand pounds
from the Satsuma clan, the capture of three Satsuma steamers, and the bombard-
ment of Kagoshima.
The English fleet of seven men-of-war arrived off Kagoshima, August llth,
1863, and, while deliberations were pending, began hostilities by seizing the three
steamers belonging to the clan. In the British official report this hostile act is
called "a reprisal;" and the sentence following declares that "suddenly and un-
expectedly" hostilities were begun [assumed] by the Japanese! ! The squadron
then, forming in line of battle, bombarded the forts and city. The net result of
two days' bombardment were "the explosion of magazines, partial destruction of
the batteries, a conflagration which reduced factories, foundries, mills — the begin-
nings of a new civilization — to ashes, the sinking of five Liu Kiu junks, the firing
of the palace of the prince, besides the slaughter of human beings, whose number
Japanese pride has never divulged. "Having accomplished every act of retribu-
tion and punishment within the scope" of their force, and believing "that the
entire town of Kagoshima" was "a mass of ruins," the fleet, after severe loss,
having fully vindicated the Asiatic policy of England, left the bay. The twenty-
five thousand pounds indemnity was shortly afterward paid. Both parties fought
with equal bravery.
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 593
The effect of this act of savage vengeance was salutary, in opening the eyes of
the yet unconvinced Satsuma men to the power of the foreigners, their rifled
cannon and steamers. In England, by press and Parliament, the wanton act was
bitterly denounced, and by French and German writers stigmatized as a horrible
act of vengeance, justified neither by international law nor even by the laws of
war. It is a pity that such a storm of righteous indignation could not prevent
an act of almost equal barbarity in the year following at Shimonose'kL
For a thorough study of the case, see Adams's " History of Japan," vol. i.,
London, 1874; Kinae Shirioku, translated by E. Satow, Esq., Yokohama, 1878;
" Kagoshima," E. H. House, Tokio, 1875. I have also had the advantage of hear-
ing the story from the Japanese samurai, in Shimadzu's train, from others who
were in Kagoshima during the bombardment, from Mr. E. Van Reed, and from
English friends.
THE SHIMONOSfiKI AFFAIR.
ON the 25th of June, 1863, the American steamer Pembroke, on her way from
Yokohama to Shanghae, anchored near the town of Shimonose'ki, and was warn-
ed off by a blank discharge. The next day two Chdshiu steamers attacked her,
but she escaped without injury. On hearing of this (July llth), the American min-
ister directed Captain McDougall of the U. S. 8. Wyoming, of four twelve-pounders
and two pivot -guns, to proceed to Shimouoseki. Arriving there on the 16th,
Captain McDougall ran his ship between the two Chdshiu men-of-war, receiving
their fire and that of six batteries. An eleven-inch shell from the Wyoming, ex-
ploding in her boiler, blew up the steamer. The brig was sunk, and the batteries
shelled. After an hour and ten minutes, having been hulled eleven times, and re-
ceiving about thirty shots in masts, rigging, and smoke-stack, and having five
men killed and six wounded, the brave captain withdrew from such overwhelm-
ing odds, and returned to Yokohama.
The French ship Kien Chang, and the Dutch corvette Medusa (July llth), were
also fired on after blank warnings. The French men-of-war Semiramis and Tancrede
(July 19th), and the Medusa (July llth), also shelled the Shimonose'ki batteries.
The Dutch ship was struck thirty-four and hulled seventeen times. Three eight-
inch shells bursting on board, four men were killed and five wounded. The
French landed a force and destroyed a battery, with a loss of only three men
wounded. Ample vengeance was thus taken by Dutch, French, and Americans.
No British vessel was injured. After the failure of negotiations, the allied squad-
ron made rendezvous at Hime'shima, in the Inland Sea, and on the 5th of Septem-
ber, 1864, at 2 P.M., began the bombardment of the batteries. The combined
squadron consisted of nine British ships of war, and a battalion of marines, three
French, and four Dutch ships of war. It being the time of our civil war, and our
vessels being all engaged in blockade service, or on looking for the Alabama and
other Confederate privateers, the United States was represented by the Takiang,
a small chartered steamship, commanded by Lieutenant Pearson, with a party of
marines and one Parrot gun, from the U. S. corvette Jamestown. There were en-
gaged in the action :
Ship*. Men. Cans.
English » 5156 100
French 3 1225 49
Dutch 4 951 58
American 1 268 1
594 NOTES AND APPENDICES.
After a battle (September 5th and 6th) bravely contested on both sides, the bat-
teries were silenced by the ships, and captured and destroyed by landing, and the
guns removed.
The total expenses incurred by the United States in this expedition were less
than twenty-five thousand dollars. The Pembroke is still doing service in one of
the rivers in China. In a memorandum drawn up at a convention held in Yoko-
hama, October 22d, 1864, the representatives of the four treaty powers, Sir Ruth-
erford Alcock (England), Le"on Roches (France), Hon. Robert H. Pruyn (United
States), D. D. von Polsbroek (Holland), demanded three million dollars "indem-
nities and expenses for hostile acts of the Prince of Nagato." Four hundred
and twenty thousand dollars were claimed as compensation for injuries to the
vessels, American, French, and Dutch, first fired on, or one hundred and forty
thousand dollars apiece. " Such a sum, or a much larger one, may be justly
claimed," is the official language. Hence Great Britain would receive somewhat
less of the partition of the indemnity than any of the other Powers. The share
of each nation, not including interest, was :
United States $785,000
France 786,000
Holland 785,000
Great Britain 645,000
All the installments have been paid over to the respective powers, in part by the
bakufu, and the remainder by the mikado's Government, the last being in 1875.
In dividing the money, the French principle was to apportion it according to
the numerical forces of each power engaged ; the American principle was that
the general co-operation of the four powers had equal weight, and contributed in
equal degree to effect the result.
So far, the bare facts. Let us look into the justice of the case. As matter of
international law, the Japanese had perfect right to close the Straits of Shimono-
se"ki, since the right to use it was not stipulated by treaty, and each nation has
the right to a league of marine territory along its shores, and to the straits and
water passages commanded by cannon-shot. Further, no British ship was in any
way injured or fired upon. Ample vengeance was taken in each case by Ameri-
can, French, and Dutch men of-war; but the British minister, Alcock, ever ready
to shed blood, collected all the available British naval force, and was the leading
spirit in organizing this bombarding expedition. Orders from Her Majesty's
Government, forbidding British participation in the needless and wicked act of
war, arrived after the squadron had sailed. Sir R. Alcock was then recalled to
explain the situation.
The part taken by the United States is the least enviable. In the first place,
the Pembroke had no right to be where she was. She disregarded the warning of
blank cartridge. It might be supposed that the American envoy, on hearing of
the matter, recognized the Japanese right to close the strait, gave the Japanese
officials the benefit of his legal knowledge, and helped to mitigate some of the
impending horrors of civil war. On the contrary, he sent the Wyoming down to
take all possible retribution, and then presented the bill of damages ($10,000 ! ! !)
of the owners of the Takiang. The items of this document were, "Five days'
loss of time, at $300 per diem ;" " loss of freight and passengers, at not being able
to visit Nagasaki, whither she was bound, estimated at $6500;" "consideration
for deadly peril for officers and crew, $2000." Five minutes' study of a good
map of Japan will show the first two items to be pure fabrications. The Shi-
monose"ki route is not the shortest to Nagasaki. Into the "deadly peril" they
knowingly went, and remained till driven away. Strange to say, the successor
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 595
of Perry and Harris, instead of disowning this outrageous claim, compelled the
bakufu to pay $12,000, by which the United States gained $2000 clear profit.
Further, after excessive vengeance taken by the Wyoming, the American minister
actually put in a claim for "a sum to provide annuities for the dead and wound-
ed" of the Wyoming — when the American captain started on an avowed warlike
expedition ! The amazed ministers of the bakufu replied that the loss of life on
the Wyoming was fairly offset by the punishment inflicted. It seems incredible
that such a claim should ever have been suggested.
The only government of Japan recognized by foreigners had made profound
apologies, the absurd Itonbroke claims had been paid, and the United States had
gained $2000. The "insult" to our flag had been wiped out in two sunken
steamers, and in the blood of perhaps fifty Japanese. Could the force of venge-
ance further go ?
Unfortunately for Christian civilization, it did. In this triple act of savage
revenge, instigated by Sir Rutherford Alcock (the apostle of murder and blind
force, who ill conceals his anger at the policy of peace, fair play, patience, and
steady courage of Townsend Harris), the American minister joined ; and the
United States was again disgraced by a needless act of war, and an outrageously
unjust extortion of money from a weak nation, as ignorant as a hermit, and al-
ready impoverished by excessive drains, called, by a euphemism, "indemnities."
The money paid both by the bakufu and the mikado's ministers now remains
in Washington, amounting, principal and interest, to over $1,300,000. The sh6-
gunate and feudalism are no more. Japan is entering on a new national life,
in which every dollar is needed for mighty enterprises of civilization and educa-
tion. The very men who once fired at a usurpation, through our ships, are now
our best friends. They are leaders in the new civilization. What shall be done
with the money thus unjustly taken, after a triple vengeance wreaked in punish-
ment for what, by the laws of nations, was in itself no crime?
For authorities, read, in the light of the history of Japan given in "The Mikado's
Empire," Minister R. L. Pruyn's "Dispatches in the Diplomatic Correspondence
of 1863-1865," F. O. Adams's "History of Japan," and " Shimonose'ki " (E. H.
House), Tokio, 1875.
THE MILITAEY ESTABLISHMENT.
IN the imperial proclamation dated December 28th, 1872, the plan and details
of the new national military system, elaborated with great care after a study
of foreign war establishments, were published. The preamble states that " it be-
comes imperative to construct our army and navy upon the best possible system
in accordance with the spirit of the age. We have therefore enacted a law for en-
rolling soldiers from the whole population, founded on the system which ancient-
ly existed in this country, modified by comparison with the practice of foreign
countries." The document further explains that anciently the whole population
were soldiers, all the able-bodied men serving as occasion required, the mikado
leading them. After the war they returned to their ordinary pursuits. Later,
the military and agricultural classes were severed, the authority of the court
dwindled away, and the feudal system became fixed, and innumerable abuses fol-
lowed the division of the people into soldiers and peasants.
In 1871, the Government was restored to the original form, and the soldiery
596
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
and peasantry were again amalgamated, and now all Japanese subjects become
conscripts at the age of twenty, and will be placed either in the army or navy.
The army is divided into the "standing army," "reserve," and "militia," and
the troops into five classes, according to their bodily powers. The standing army
is formed by enrolling those conscripts of each year on whom the lot falls, who
shall serve three years. The first reserve is composed of men who have com-
pleted three years of military service, and live at home, pursuing their regular
callings. They are called together once a year to live in camp and drill. The
second reserve is composed of men who have completed two years of service in
the first reserve. They are called out only when the levy en masse is made.
The militia is composed of all males between the ages of seventeen and forty, not
already included in the regular army or reserve. They are formed into bodies
of troops when the levy en masse is made, for the protection of the district to
which they belong.
The minimum standard of height for the regular army is 5.1 feet. (A long list
of exemptions is given in the original document.) The empire is divided into
six military divisions, having head -quarters at Tokio, Sendai, Nagoya, Ozaka,
Hiroshima, and Kumamoto. Camps are established in thirty-seven places. The
army comprises :
Number In
iment or '
each Reg-
Company.
Total In ea
ch Branch.
Peac«.
War.
Peace.
War.
(14 brigades, or)
640
900
26,880
40 320
Cavalry.
(42 regiments.. . )
3 regiments . .
120
150
360
450
Artillery
Engineers
18 companies..
10 companies..
120
120
150
150
2,160
1,200
2,700
1,500
Military train (commissariat).. .
Marine artillery
6 companies. .
9 companies'. .
60
80
80
100
360
720
480
900
Total ....
31,680
46 350
To the above must be added the household troops, or Imperial Guards,
corps is the flower of the army. Only picked men are promoted to it :
Infantry 2 brigades, or 4 regiments 3200
Cavalry 1 regiment 160
Artillery. 2 companies 300
Engineers 1 company 160
Military train 80
This
3880
Total strength of the regular army in peace, 35,560 ; in war, 50,320.
In comparison with the armies of other countries, the proportion of engineers
in the Japanese army is large, and that of the cavalry is small. This arises from
the geographical features of the country, which is deficient in plains, and abounds
in mountains, broken surfaces, and strategic points.
The details of the military law have been well carried out, and the scheme more
than realized. The army has been ably instructed by French officers. The troops
are drilled, clothed, and equipped after the new improved French system, and
armed with the most approved weapons of war from the United States and Eu-
rope. They are fed on rations of pork, beef, and bread, in addition to native
diet. On an emergency Japan could now (1876) put seventy-five thousand disci-
plined troops (regulars and reserves) in the field.
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 597
These regulations, which greatly offended some of the samurai and some of-
ficers who wished the caste system kept in vogue, have been rigidly carried out,
and are now popular. They were promulgated afresh in the autumn of 1874-'75,
as a radical exponent of the will of the mikado and cabinet against the old con-
servative opposers of the modern spirit of progress, and worshipers of Yamato
damashi, that feudalism and all its abuses were forever dead and buried in Japan.
NAVY AND MERCANTILE MARINE.
THE following statistics of the Japanese navy are merely approximate, and be-
low the maximum. There are 10 war-vessels, 5 dispatch-vessels, and 5 training-
ships, all steamers :
Rio-Jd-Kan: Class, corvette, 10 guns, 280 horse-power, 1800 tons, ty Inch iron belt round
water-line; armament, two 100-pounder Armstrongs (rifled), eight 64-pounders (muzzle-
loaders) ; complement, 300 men.
AiiziininKa.ii (Stonewall): iron -clad ram, 3 guns, COO horse-power; armament, one 300-
pounder Armstrong (rifled), two 70-pounder ditto (rifled) ; complement, 135 men.
Sisshin Kan, sloop (wood), 7 guns, 250 horse -power, 1000 tons; armament, one 7 -inch
Armstrong (pivot), 6J tons ; six 60-pounder rifled Dutch guns ; complement, 145 men.
Kaauga Kan (formerly English man-of-war): paddle-wheel steamer (wood), 6 guns, 300
horse-power ; armament, one 100-pounder Blakeley, four 50-pounder Japanese guns, one
20-pounder Armstrong (breach-loader) ; complement, 130 men.
Unyo Kan (wood) : 6 guns, 90 horse-power ; armament, one 110-ponnder Vavassenr (pivot) ;
one 40-pounder Armstrong, (breach - loader), two 20-ponnder Armstrongs (breach-load-
ers) ; complement, 65 men.
Xoshiu Kan (wood) : 4 guns, 90 horse-power ; armament, one 70-pounder (pivot), one 40-
pounder (pivot), two 20-pounders (pivot) ; complement, 60 to 65 men.
HosM Kan (wood) : 4 guns, 90 horse-power ; armament, one 70-pounder (pivot), one 40-
pounder (pivot), two 20-ponuders (pivot) ; complement, 60 to 65 men.
Dai Ichi Te-bo (wood): 4 guns, 90 horse-power ; armament, one 70-pounder (pivot), one 40-
ponnder (pivot), two 20-pounders (pivot) ; complement, 60 to 65 men.
Tsukuba Kan (sea -going training-ship): 300 horse-power, 1400 tons; armament, one 70-
pounder (pivot), one 40-ponnder (pivot), two 20-pounders (pivot) ; complement, 60 to 65
men.
Fuji Yama Kan (made in America) : harbor training-ship.
In the mercantile marine are now about one hundred steamers, of various rates
and tonnage. A considerable number of these are small steamers, plying in the
rivers, on Lake Biwa, and along the coast. The coast- trade of Japan and a steam-
line to Shanghae, China, are now controlled by Japanese capital, bottoms, and
crews, with foreign sailing-masters in many, but not all, cases.
The navy is organized on the English model, and a commission of English offi-
cers and seamen have been engaged for several years as assistants and instructors.
There is also a marine corps, and a naval college, in which several hundred young
men receive a thorough scientific and technical education, besides a schooling on
training-ships. The Navy Department, also on the British model, has a hydro-
graphical office, which has made surveys of the coast of Japan, and executed very
fine charts and hydrographic maps. The largest navy-yard, dry-docks, foundries,
and ship-yards are at Yokosuka, about twelve miles below Yokohama, and are un-
der French superintendence. Admiral Akamatsu and several of the higher naval
officers were educated in Holland, others at Annapolis, or in England. The musi-
cians of the imperial navy aud marine corps play the music and tunes of Europe
and America.
598
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
THE NATIONAL FINANCES.
[NOTIFICATION NO. 216.]
" To In, Shd, Shi, Cho, Fu, and Ken:
"The inclosed estimates of Income and Expenditure for the year beginning
July, 1875, and ending June, 1876, having been furnished by Okuma Shige"nobn,
Minister of Finance, they are hereby notified for your information.
" SANJO SANEYOSHI, Dai Jo Dai Jin.
" DECEMBER 22d, 18T5."
CONDENSED COMPARATIVE TABLE OF THE YEARS 18T4 AND 1875-76.
REVENUE.
1874.
187fr-'76.
Increase.
Decrease.
Land-tax
Yen.
44,603,332
Yen.
51,505,967
Yen.
6,902,635
Yen.
Spirits and tobacco
911,809
1,713,083
801,274
Postage
329,606
1,104,917
775 311
Stamp duties
1,038,050
571,418
466,632
1,716,915
1,700,982
15933
Mines
296,757
548,314
251,557
Railways
722,096
691,019
31,077
39,269
152,143
11 2 874
Yezo fisheries
437,485
All other sources
EXPENDITURE.
1874.
1875-'76.
Increase.
Decrease.
Samurais' salaries and pensions
Yen.
20,527,893
Yen.
17,596,561
Yen.
Yen.
2,931,332
Dai Jo Kuan
697,450
630,000
67450
Gai Mu Sho (Foreign Office)
170,000
170,000
Nai Mu Sho (Home Office)
2,300,000
<5 Knra Sho (Treasury)
1,412,115
1,604,600
192,485
Riku Gun Sho (Array)
8,000,000
6,960,000
1,050 000
Kai Gun Sho (Navy)
2,500,972
2,700,000
200,028
Mom Bn Sho (Education)
1,300,000
1,700,000
400,000
Kid Bn Sho (Religion)
77,400
70 000
7,400
K6 Bu Sho (Public Works)
5,527,516
4,750,000
777,516
Shi Ho Sho (Judicial)
900,000
1,250,000
350,000
Ku Nai Sho (Imperial Household)
742,978
950,000
208,022
Kai Taku Shi (Colonization).
1,682,899
1,799,716
116,817
3,454,379
4,300000
845 621
Police
1,294,795
1,600,000
406305
Legations and consulates
363,235
515,000
151,765
Grants in lieu of pensions
5,096,200
4,795,352
5,000,000
304,648
Toward reduction of paper money
5,000,000
Total national debt
Balance from 1873
Balance from June, 1875
29,509,864
142,289,580
24,416,257
5,i93,667
Total income
Total expenditure
1874.
Yen.
69,357,772
62,159,344
1875-'76.
68,588,266
63,498,506
Increase.
Yen.
9,230,494
6,339,362
Of the national debt, $14,480,912 is foreign, and $127,808,668 is domestic. The
paper money now in circulation amounts to $94,803,819. The foreign debt and
paper money are being slowly redeemed. Government loans for industrial and
charitable purposes amounted to $12,594,889. The appropriation to the United
States Centennial Exposition is $251,385. See report printed in full, in The Japan
Mail, January 27th, 1876. I have extracted the condensed table given above from
The Japan Herald of January 10th, 1876.
NOTES AND APPENDICES. 599
OUTLINE OF JAPANESE CHRONOLOGY.
JAPANEBK history begins B.O. MO
Introduction of letters and writing. A.D. 862) jno »
Introduction of Buddhism A.I>. 652) °'
Propagation of Buddhism from 6th to 15th century
Military operations against the Alnte, or aboriginal tribes from B.O. 600-1200
Active and personal rule of the mikados. B.C. 660 to 8th century
Fujiwara family's greatest influence 8th century to 1107
Taira family's influence paramount 1167-1184
Mlnamoto family rules 1184-1219
The IIojo hold the governing power 1219-1383
The temporary mikadoate 1833-1335
The Ashikaga line of sh&gnns 1885-1574
Nobunaga holds the power 1574-1582
1 1 i i Iry osh i holds the power 1582-1598
The Tokugawa line of shognns 1604-1868
Duration of the dual system 1192-1868
Domination of the " military classes " 1167-1868
Duration of ancient feudalism B.O. 660 to 8th century A.D.
Duratiou of simple monarchy A.D. 8th to 12th century
Duration of modern complex feudalism 12th to 19th century
Japan known to foreigners A.D. 1542
Arrival of Commodore Perry in the Bay of Yedo July 7th, 1853
Treaty with the United States signed March 31st, 1854
Towneend Harris resides in Yedo October, 1857
Concludes a treaty of foreign residence and commerce August, 1858
Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Hakodate open to trade July 1st, 1859
First embassy sent to the United States January, 1860
The mikado restored to full power ; the ancient government re-established . . . Jan. 3d, 1868
Battle of Fushimi January 27th-30th, 1868
Name of the city of Yedo changed to T6kio, which is made the capital.. . . September, 1868
Hakodate taken ; surrender of the rebels ; war ended June, 1869
Abolition of the feudal system ; ex-daimios called to private life in Tokid, and retired on
pensions. October, 1871
Embassy representing the mikado and National Government make the circuit of the
world 1871-1872
National celebration of the 2536th year of the Japanese empire April 7th, 1876
TEA CROP OF 1875.
THE total export of tea amounted to 22,582,152 pounds, of which 16,546,289
pounds were shipped from Yokohama, 4,292,159 pounds from Kobe", and 643,159
pounds from Nagasaki. All Japanese tea is green, and the United States is the
chief customer for this tea. About 400,000 pounds were sent to England from
Nagasaki in 1875. Some consignments are also made to China for conversion
into black tea. The tea is picked in the spring and fall. About nine per cent,
weight is lost by reflring or redrying for export. The best tea-producing prov-
inces are Ise", Suruga, Inaba, and Yamashiro, which produce for foreign export
28,000, 26,000, 23,500, and 22,000 pounds respectively. Kiushiu sent 22,000; Yama-
to, Kawachi, Iga, and Kii sent 12,000; Omi, 9000; Mino, 9000; Shimosa and Kad-
zusa, 6000; Tamba, 5000; Echizen and Echigo, 3500; and sundry small districts,
5000 pounds for export in 1875. The area of plantations and crop of tea is in-
creasing steadily every year.
600
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
CENSUS OF JAPAN FOR THE FIFTH YEAR OF MEIJI, THE 2532D
YEAR FROM THE ACCESSION OF JIMMU TENNO (A.D. 1872).
Colonies (Hokkaido— Yezo and Kurile
Islands) 1
Fu, or imperial cities (Tokio, Ozaka,
Kioto) 3
Han, or tributary principality (Liu Kiu).. 1
Ken 72
Provinces (geographical divisions) 86
Kori (departments) TIT
Ku (city parishes) 6,862
Mura (rnral parishes) 70,443
Towns . . . 12,635
Shinto shrines 128,123
Buddhist temples 98,914
Houses T,10T,841
Heads of Household.
Family.
Total.
Males.
Females.
Princes and princesses . .
Nobles (kug6 and ex-dai-
Males.
Females.
18
2,207
1,023,215
492,199
2,670
Families, 98,685
Students, 37,327
81,539
3,553
24,339,948
29
2,666
1,282,167
659,074
5,316
211,846
102,477
9,621
30,857,271
2,358
1,238
1,170
2,723
14
1,300
634,701
334,407
1,715
151,677
52,141
15
1,366
647,466
324,667
1,601
60,159
50,336
9,621
15,218,223
1,203
7
459
258,939
166,873
646
75,925
20,895
4
13
2
9
43
6,068
170,572
Shizokn (samurai of high-
er grade)
Sotsn (samurai of lower
Chishi (retired samurai)..
Priests (Buddhists)
Shinto officials
Common people
6,326,571
15,619,048
1,155
Population ofSaghalin ..
Residents (from Summa-
ry of Foreign Trade of
H. B. M. Legation, Au-
gust, 1S75) :
Americans and non-
British Europeans.
British."
Chinese
Males.
14 and under 4,590,915
15 to 21 2,030,051)
21 to 40 6,005,747)
40 to 60 3,655,564)
60 to 80 1,435,507)
AG
Females.
4,465,393
6,638,063
5,091,070
E8.
80 and above
Males. Females.
75,530 118,248
1,844 1,890
Total
. 16,796,158 16,314,687
Total Dooulation . .
.. 33.110.825
OCCUPATIONS, TRADES (ADULT POPULATION), ETC.
Males.
Farmers -. 8,004,014
Artisans 521,295
Merchants 819,782
Miscellaneous occupations < 1,218,266
Female*.
6,866,412
180,121
489,409
911,256
Total.
14,870,426
701,416
1,309,191
2,129,522
Total .......................................... 10,563,357 8,447,198 19,010,555
Maimed, blind, deaf, dumb, etc 63,759
Criminals in prison 2,311
Criminals in penal settlements 962
Criminals at hard labor 2,726
Females.
87,828
119
26
320
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
601
CENSUS ACCORDING TO PROVINCES.*
Province*.
HnniM.
Population.
Prorlnew.
HOIUM.
Population.
!i. Yamashiro . .
IIK,<I:!O
.»•_".» Kill
0 I
;B. HOkl
45,121
I74,ir,s
2. Yamato
:t. Kawachi....
M.8M
53,168
418,326
287,678
I
6. Idznmo
7. Iwatnl
77,1'.'::
01,626
140,041
'j.v.i,.; 11
60,853
209,174
9
8 Okt .
.'.,'.' i:;
•j> r.::i
6. Settsu
197,137
729 444
X
1 Hnrima
I.M; «i:;i
r,:;.'. T'M
1. Iga...
21,416
97 164
.VI ijn-.i
215 602
2. Iso
126,450
r>s.-, 'is-.
4
3 Iti/i'u
•>:; :ii;-'
:c;i >7^
8. Shlma
8,974
87 439
* J
4 Bilc-hiii
!«> 7'Vi
:','.»»; -.-,11
4. Owari
176,316
727,437
>,<
6. Bingo
v.i UN
4.'^; n;i
8. Mikawa
110,837
482,981
a
6. Akl
162,645
667,717
6. TotOml
88,945
414,928
03
7. Suwo. .
113,663
497 034
13
7. Surtiga.. .
71,735
308 505
75684
:::;o Mia
'3 J
8. Kal.fe.
76,793
::t>n,or.s
* i. Kir
180,964
t;i:: :i-x>
J4
9. Idzu
80,570
149 749
S
2 Awaji
34 460
ir.i y::'.i
H
10. Sagnmi
69,377
356 038
3 Awa
125,704
fiii; 141;
11. Miis.-ishi
434,232
1,943,211
— 1
4. Sannki
125,602
BNJli
12. Awa
27,535
164 683
6 lyo
171,020
775974
13. Kadzusa ...
82,973
419,969
fc
L 6. Tosa
112,447
524,511
14. shinn'i-u
,15. Hitachi
121,776
124,752
645,029
64S 674
* 1. Chiknzen ...
2 Chikngo
87,189
77,264
411,176
891 536
f" l. 5mi
136,221
576 564
66,385
314 674
2. Mino
143,880
660,896
«
4. Bungo
120,260
662,318
3. Hida
18,665
98 378
i .
6 Hizen
229,441
1 074 461
4. Shinano
200,968
919,116
J4 '
6. Higo...
192,752
ML087
.
6. Kodznko
121,010
507,236
CO
7. Hitiga
90,412
376,627
t>
0. Shimotsuke.
96,068
498,520
8. <i/.ii n. i
37,235
172,877
7. Iwaki
60,251
348 60S
136,467
c;i:!,:i79
s
H
8. IwaBhiro....
9. Kikuzen
10. Rikuchiu....
78,580
88,129
92,658
427,933
634,609
570,521
f 1. Ishtkari
2. Shiribeshi...
3. Ibnri
1,896
4,793
1,614
6,003
19,098
0,261
11. Mil Nil
83,868
473,244
rf
4. Oshima. ...
18,392
75,830
12. Uzen
97,578
660,984
•o
6. Hitaka
1,601
6,574
113. U"o
115,939
630 036
a
6. Tokachi
288
1,464
iO
•o
1. Wakasa
2. Echizen
3. Kaga
16,994
96,568
95,027
85,487
461,032
403 367
'4
W
7. Kushiro
8. Nemuro
9. Chishima. . . .
407
244
103
1,734
832
437
"C <
4. Noto
51,539
262,486
10. Kitami ,.
486
1,511
a
6. Ktrhin. . . .
138,829
615 663
11. Teshiwo
669
1,567
o
6. Echigo
263,C*2
1,368 428
i i. iki
8,757
33,010
H
7. Sado
22,269
103,098
) 2. Tsushima . . .
6,302
29,684
o
•a
!1. Tamba
2. Tango.
68,681
67,071
295,359
160,932
Liu Kill
Saghalin ....
27,167
166,789
2,358
40 769
187 086
a
4. Inaba
37,367
162 842
r
Pota!
7,107,841
33,110,825
OS
Total Population.
Kinai 2,023,652
Tokaido 7,392,411
TOzando 6,816,563
Total Population.
Hoknrikndo 3,299,551
Sanindo 1,608,561
Sanyodo 3,431,865
Total Population.
Nankaido 3,225,107
Saikaido 4,889,883
Hokkaido 121,301
The Bureau of Official Statistics in the Nai Mu Sho has charge of the census,
and the registers of births, marriages, and deaths. The result of the second
enumeration of the population of Japan following that given above, which was
completed after two years' labor, is as follows : Total population, 33,300,675 souls;
of whom 16,891,729 are males, and 16,408,946 are females. This shows an increase
over the former census of 189,850; of whom 95,571 are males, and 94,279 are fe-
males. During the year 1874, 290,836 males and 278,198 females were born ; and
108,292 males and 197,312 females died. The number of kuazoku, or nobles, was
2829. The number of shiuto officials was 76,119; of Buddhist religious, 207,669;
and of nuns t)r priestesses, 9326.
* See pages 74 and 84. The numerals to the left of the province refer to their order on
the map of Dai Nippon, which facea page 17.
002
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
MINES AND MINERAL RESOURCES.
BY far the best statements of the mineral wealth of Japan is presented in the
Report of Mr. F. R. Plunkett, of the British Legation, to Sir Harry Parkes, and
published in The Japan Weekly Mail of January 27th, 1876. Most of the matter
»iven below is from official data. "In almost every portion of Japan are found
ores of some kind, and there is scarcely a district in which there are not traces
of mines having been worked. Most of these, however, are abandoned, or worked
in a very slovenly manner." The methods still pursued are, with few exceptions,
the same as those followed in ancient times. Mines are still attacked by adits.
The Japanese hardly ever sink a shaft ; and as the water gains upon the miners,
the mine is abandoned. No mines can be worked without special license of the
Government, and foreigners are excluded from any and all participation in the
mining industry of the country. No foreigner can hold a share in a mine, nor
lend money on the security of a mine. Foreigners may, however, be employed
as engineers, and a number are already in such employment.
The mining laws of Japan are based on those of Prussia and Spain. Twenty-
three foreigners, mostly Europeans, the superintendent being Mr. H. Godfrey,
are in the service of the Mining Department ; and a number of natives have begun
to study the modern systems of engineering, both practically at home, in America
and Europe, and in the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokio.
The right to work a mine does not belong to the owner of the soil ; for in Ja-
pan possession of the surface does not carry with it the right to the mineral
wealth below. That belongs by law to the Government, which exacts from the
worker of the ores a varying royalty, and a surface rent of one yen per eighteen
thousand square feet, for all mines except iron and coal, which pay half the sum.
The ordinary land tax is also charged to the miner.
The Dutch and Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries exported
from Japan precious metals as follows :
By the Portuguese, gold and silver £59,500,000
By the Dutch— gold, .£15,482,250 ; silver, £28,000,000 43,482,000
Nearly £103,000,000, or $500,000,000.
From 1609 to 1858, 206,253 tons of copper were exported by the Dutch. The
yearly average of Dutch trade at D&himit was £660,000.
Gold was first discovered in Japan A.D. 749. As Japan was closed to the world,
the gold remained in the country, and augmented every year. Its abundance was
thus no test of the relative wealth of the country. The relative value of gold to
silver was, until 1860, as 6 to 1. Japan seems to be fairly well, but not richly, pro-
vided with mineral wealth. Below are tables from Mr. Plunkett's Report, which
relates only to Hondo; Kiushiu, and Shikoku.
1. MINES WORKING BT LEASE UP TO 1874.
Gold mines 65
Gold and silver mines 3
Silver 13
Copper mines (containing silver) 2
Silver and copper mines 69
Silver, copper, and lead 4
Silver and lead 6
Copper mines 126
Copper, lead, and silver 1
Copper and tin 1
Copper and lead 7
Copper and lead, antimony, and arsenic
mines 2
Iron mines 9
Iron sand 416
Tin mines. 2
Tin and lead 1
Lead 11
Lead and copper 2
Plumbago 1
NOTE8 AND APPENDICES.
600
Copperas 8
Antimony 2
Yellow realgar, arsenic, and lead mine. 1
Arsenic mine 1
Cobalt 14
Agate 8
Quartz 9
Marble quarries (spotted) 6
Marble quarries (white) 8
Marble quarries (striped) 1
Steatite mines. 5
Flint 7
Mica 2
Amber 1
Sulphur n
Realgar (orplment) 1
Manganese 1
Alum 18
Salt mines 2
Fire-clay *. 8
Kaolin 110
Mineral resin 1
Coal mines 708
Petroleum 197
Total number of leases granted 1856
2. LIST OF MINES WORKING FOR EXPLORATION.
Gold mines 28
Gold, silver, copper, and lead mine 1
Gold sand (alluvial gold) 2
Silver mines 31
Silver and copper 24
Silver, copper, and lead mines 2
Silver and lead 1
Lead mine (containing silver) 1
Quicksilver mine 1
Copper mines 187
Copper and lead 13
Copper, tin, and lead 2
Iron 15
Iron sand 12
Stream tin mines. 2
Stream tin and lead 1
Lead 29
Ochre... 1
Smoky quartz 1
Marble quarries (white) 5
Marble quarries (striped) 2
Agate mines 4
Steatite 9
Flint 3
Rock crystal 9
Amethyst 1
Quartz 1
Sulphur 3
Copperas (sulphate of iron) l
Salt 1
Antimony 4
Coal 163
Petroleum 77
Total number of mines working for
exploration 637
ESTIMATE OF MINERAL PRODUCTION OF JAPAN IN 1874.
Mineral.
Total Produced.
Price Each.
Total Value.
Total Value.
Coal
390,000 tons
$1 950 000
.£398 125 0« Od
Copper
3000 "
300 "
900 000
183 750 0 0
Silver
2 600 kwamme*
150 "
390000
7H 625 0 0
Gold
100 "
2,500 "
250 ooo
51 041 13 4
Iron
5 000 tons
30 "
150 000
30 625 0 0
Coal-oil
575,000 shot
23 000
4 695 16 8
Lead
175 tons
21 275
4 343 12 11
Tin
H "
400 "
3 000
612 10 0
$3,687,275
£752,818 12 11
ACTUAL PRODUCTION OF COAL IN JAPAN IN 1847. Tonfc
{Takashima , 72,430
Mieke 66,324
Imabuku district 32,667
Taku 22,198
Karatsu, in Hizen 58,288
Hirado 63,160
Rest of Japan, estimated at 74,933
Total 390,000
* One " kwamme " equal to eight and one-eighth pounds.
t One " sho " equals one quarter, one pint, and one gill.
604
NOTES AND APPENDICES.
The total coal production of Japan is thus put down at 390,000 tons, of which
no less than 315,067 tons come from the consular district of Nagasaki.
ESTIMATE OF THE PROBABLE EXTENT OF THE COAL-FIELDS IN KIUSHIU, NEAR
NAGASAKI.
Takashima 133 acres.
•» Mi6k6 16 (?) square miles.
Imabuku district 70 "
Takn 36 "
Karatsu district 40 "
Hirado " 120
Total 282 "
The total exportation of coal from Nagasaki has increased in a wonderful pro-
portion of late years ; for whereas in 1866 it was only 10,185 tons, and in 1867
36,170 tons, it amounted in 1870 to 56,200 tons; 1871, to 102,700 tons; 1872, to
137,499 tons.
Near Tokio there is a coal field thirty miles long by se^en and a half miles
wide. In Kii and in Echigo are also large coal fields. For lack of good roads,
these are nearly useless. A geological survey of Japan has not yet been made,
and the Government does not yet possess a correct map of the empire. In 1874,
107,243 gallons of excellent petroleum were produced. With American methods
of drilling, pumping, and refinery, the yield and area of trial are increasing.
Copper is of very good quality, and found in numberless places. Ordinary ores
yield from two and a half to twelve per cent, pure metal, always free from anti-
mony and arsenic. In 1874, two hundred mines turned out only three thousand
tons. Foreign machinery and methods would in all probability greatly increase
this yield. Ozaka is the chief d^pot for copper. In the export of copper, old idols,
bells, Buddhas, etc., etc., figure largely.
VALUE OF COPPER, ETC., EXPORTED FROM JAPAN FROM 1870 TO 1873.
Tear.
Yokohama.
Hlotro and
Ozaka.
Nagasaki.
Total in Mexi-
can Dollars.
Total.
18TO
1871
1872
1873
$25,250
107,471
443,378
206,945
$117,280
288,504
896,992
490,025
$1,463
20,655
12,740
68,845
$143,993
416,630
1,353,110
765,815
£29,998 10s. lOd.
86,797 18 4
281,897 18 4
159,545 2 6
The following is an estimate of the average cost of producing a ton of Japanese
copper according to the present native methods, viz., 100 yen per ton, of which—
Per Cent.
Cost of ore 23
Explorations t 3
Subsequent treatment of ores, viz. :
Labor 46
Material 18
Superintendence 10
100
GOLD AND SILVER.
In 1874, 21,666 pounds of silver, 833 pounds of gold, were produced in Japan
from 346 silver and 89 gold mines. At four places, foreign engineers work the
mines. The Sado mines, it is said by a traveler to that island, cost $75,000 to
work them in one year (1874), but produce only $60,000 worth of gold and silver.
NOTES AND APPENDICES,
Probably the expense of Improved machinery and tram-ways was not taken Into
account. The cost of production of gold is $2 for every 58| grains, and for silver
$96 for 8$ pounds.
Next to coal, iron is most commonly fonnd in many varieties of ore. In Hita-
chi, a bed of iron-stone, eighteen to eight feet in thickness, is worked by English
engineers with blast furnaces. Magnetic iron ore is very abundant; heretofore
the cost of production of this ore has been nine dollars per ton. The total out-
put in Japan in 1873 was but three thousand tons. The future yield may be vast-
ly increased. Lead is found in twenty provinces, but only one hundred and
eighty-five tons were produced in 1874. In 1873, $84,693 worth of lead was im-
ported from abroad. The tin mines in Satsuma, Bungo, and Suwd are not worked.
Quicksilver in Hizcn and Rikuchiu await miners. Sulphur is abundant, but
most of that mined comes from AwomorL
THE HOKKAIDO.
The geological rcconnoissances and surveys of Yezo have been under the su-
pervision of American engineers. Professors Blake and R. Pumpelly, who were
engaged for one year by the bakufu, visited Yezo in 1862. (See "Across America
and Asia," by R. Pumpelly, New York : Leypoldt & Holt.) They made a re-
port, and introduced blasting and some other improvements. In 1871, Thomas
Antisell, M.D., and, in 1873, Professor Benjamin J. Lyman, and Henry 8. Munroe,
E.M.,all on the staff of the Department of the Development of Yezo, made exam-
inations. From their reports, coal and iron sand seem to be abundant, well dis-
tributed, and of fair quality; gold and silver occur in small quantities; copper,
zinc, and lead are found, but not in rich deposits. Petroleum issues in a few
places. The result of their labors seems to show that Yezo is poor in mineral
wealth, except iron and coal, in which it is very rich. The outcome of the high-
ly creditable labors of these gentlemen will be a vast saving to the Japanese of
money for useless mining. From the nature of the case, the limited time, and
small number of the staff, the greater part of the interior of Yezo and the Kurile
Islands is as yet unexplored. For maps, reports, etc., see "Reports of General
Capron and his Foreign Assistants," Tokio, 1875. The undoubted wealth of the
Hokkaido is in timber, .fisheries, furs, and agricultural products.
LAND AND AGRICULTURE.
THE exact area of Japan is not known, though computed at from 140,000 to
150,000 square miles, with a population of from 200 to 210 persons to a square
mile. The number of acres under cultivation is about 9,000,000, or one-tenth of
the entire area, supporting a population of 3J persons to the acre. Not one-
fourth of the fertile area of Japan is yet under cultivation. Immense portions
of good grass land and fertile valleys in Hondo, and almost the whole of Yezo,
await the farmer's plow and seed, to return rich harvests. For centuries the
agrarian art has been at a stand-still. Population and acreage have increased ;
but the crop, in bulk and quantity, remains the same. The state records of Iye~-
yasu's time give 29,000,000 koku as the yield of the empire. The present esti-
mate of an average crop is still under 30,000,000 kokn.
In spade-husbandry, the Japanese have little to learn. In stock-rearing, fruit-
growing, and the raising of hardier grains than rice, they need much instruction.
On the best soils they raise two crops of wheat, rice, other grains, or root vege-
606 NOTES AND APPENDICES.
tables. Fifty bushels to the acre is a good average, though much of the land
never gives so large a return. The great need in Japanese farming is live stock.
The people arc slowly changing their diet of fish and vegetables, and becoming
meat-eaters — a return to their ancient pre-Buddhistic habits. Material for the
new food supply and for the raw material of shoes and clothing must be provided
for. At present, Japan imports 55,000,000 pounds of woolens and mixed goods,
which in time she may dispense with. Her pastures are capable, judging from
known data, of keeping 28,000,000 sheep, yielding an average weight of five
pounds per fleece. Sheep farms, by fertilizing the soil, will prepare it for mul-
berry and tea plantations, thus increasing the supply of silk, and bringing in a
train of new industries. Hitherto, human manure has been almost exclusively
used, costing twelve dollars per acre.
The system of land tenure and taxation has differed in ancient and modern
times. Theoretically, all the soil belongs to the mikado. Anciently, the land
was divided into squares, which were subdivided into nine smaller squares, eight
of which were cultivated, each by one man, and the ninth — reserved for the mi-
kado— was worked by the nine collectively. The tan is still the unit of meas-
urement. Each man held two tan, or half an acre. In time, this system fell out
of use. Farmers in debt would sell their land to a richer one, and thus gradually
the land became, in actuality, the people's by an ownership approaching fee sim-
ple. The land-owners of the present day have either bought their holdings or
have reclaimed their lands ; and no one has now the power of taking these away
from them. The peasants, holding their land as absolute property, are easily
governed ; but as soon as an attempt is made to touch their land, redistribute
it, or shift ownership, the passive peasants, who submit like children to finan-
cial or political despotism, rise in rebellion to violence and blood.
The taxes, which were very light under the ancient mikado's rule, increased
greatly under the dual system, and under feudalism were extremely onerous. In
Hide"yoshi's time, the Government tax was two-fifths of the crop; in the Toku-
gawa period, often fifty per cent. The landlord took twenty-five per cent, for
rent ; so that the farmer got but one-fourth of the crop for his labor, seeds, and
profits. In a very bad year, the whole crop went for taxes ; and the farmers then,
becoming paupers, were fed from the public store by the "benevolence" (!) of
the rulers. The system of land-holding and taxation varied in almost every dai-
mio's territory, often in villages near each other. The first attempt of the mika-
do's Government, in 1872, to correct the abuses of ages of feudalism, and to place
the system of land taxes and tenure on one uniform national basis, led to many
local insurrections. Bands of peasants in certain sections, jealous of local rights,
wedded to long custom, knowing little, and suspecting much, of the policy of
the rulers in the distant capital, resisted what was an act of beneficence and jus-
tice to millions of people in the whole empire. They were easily subdued.
The tax on the soil is the chief source of Government revenue. Four classes of
land — good, medium, inferior, and bad — are reckoned. Paddy, or rice-land, is
worth five times as much as arable land, and an investment in rice -land pays
about eight per cent, per annum. The peasant's houses are rarely built in the
fields, but on yashiki land, paying a slightly higher tax, and the rural population
is thus clustered entirely in hamlets or villages.
The true wealth of Japan consists in her agricultural, and not in her mineral or
manufacturing, resources. The Government and intelligent classes seem to be
alive to this fact. Many of the samurai and nobles have begun farming. The
Nai Mu Sho has begun a survey of the empire, with special relation to the re-
sources and capabilities of the soil. A number of American gentlemen of experi-
NOTES AND APPENDICES. r.nT
encc have been engaged as theoretical and practical farmers and stock-breeders.
In T"UiM, model and experimental farms, gardens of trial and acclimation, cat-
tle-runs and plantations, and training schools and colleges have been established,
in which the upper class of land-holders have taken much interest ; nearly two
hundred acres of many varieties of grass are being cultivated and tested; a large
number of foreign works on stock-raising and agriculture have been translated
into Japanese ; two thousand cattle and ten thousand sheep have been introduced
from the United States und Australia.
About eight hundred beeves are now slaughtered per week in T6ki6 to supply
meat food, and six thousand cattle were sold to natives in Kobe* in 1875. In the
Kai Taku Shi, farms of two hundred and fifteen acres in T6ki6, arranged under
General Capron's superintendence, the excellent breeds of horses, sheep, cattle,
and pigs, in spite of all drawbacks first felt from inexperienced keepers and dis-
ease, are thriving and multiplying. Over one hundred thousand young apple,
pear, and other fruit trees, from American grafts, are set out, and yielding well.
Improved implements are also made on the farm-smithy, from American models,
by Japanese skilled hands. Besides making its own tools, the Nai Mu 8h6 dis-
tributes seeds, cuttings, models, etc., throughout the country, and the Kai Taku
Shi, in the Hokkaido. Model farms have also been established in Sapporo and
Hakodate
It has been demonstrated that Yezo is capable of yielding good crops of hardy
cereals and vegetables, that Japan is a country eminently adapted to support
sheep and the finest breeds of cattle, and has a climate suited to develop to per-
fection cereals, leguminous plants, and artificial grasses, such as red and white
clover, alfalas, and the rye family. Time and steady perseverance are, however,
needed before national success is achieved. It is gratifying to know that, in the
improvement of this mother of all arts, Americans have been the pioneers, and
have done so much and so well. Next to the uprooting of superstition and gross
paganism by pure religion and education, there is nothing more important for
Japan than the development of her virgin land and the improvement of her an-
cient agricultural resources. For detailed information, see The Japan Mail of
November 23d, and December 5th, 1874; F. O. Adams's " History of Japan," vol.
ii., chap. xii. ; and "Reports of General Capron and his Foreign Assistants," T6-
kio, 1875.
MINT AND PUBLIC WORKS.
The Ozaka mint is a series of fine and substantial buildings, in the Roman
style of architecture, equipped with twelve first-class English coining-presses,
thirty-seven melting-furnaces, and a sulphuric and nitric acid manufactory. The
mint makes its own tools, cuts its own dies, and performs the usual bullion, as-
saying, refining, and analyzing business of a mint in other countries. The estab-
lishment was organized by Major T. W. Kinder, who was the efficient superin-
tendent from 1870 to 1875. To his energy and ability are due the success and
reputation of the mint, which it devolves upon the Japanese to maintain. Three
hundred and eighty natives and several Englishmen are employed in it The
coins minted are gold, silver, and copper, and of the same weight, fineness, de-
nomination, and decimal division as the American coinage. They are round,
with milled edges. They are stamped with the devices of the rising sun, coiled
dragons, legend of date and denomination, in Chinese and Roman numerals,
39
608 NOTES AND APPENDICES.
chrysanthemum, and Patdovmia imperidLis leaves and flower. Japanese preju-
dices are against the idea of stamping the mikado's image on their coins. This
dislike will probably pass away before many years. From 1871 to 1875, the num-
ber of pieces coined was 136,885,541, their value being $62,421,744. The denomi-
nations are fourteen : five being gold, five silver, and four copper. The average
metal money now in circulation is nearly two dollars per head of the population,
and of gold about seven-eighths of that sum per head.
The coasts of Japan, once the most dangerous, are now comparatively safe by
night and day. The statistics of 1873 (below the maximum in 1876) show that
there are thirty-one light-houses, two light-ships, five buoys, three beacons, and
two steam tenders in operation. Over three million dollars have been expended
by the Light-house Bureau (To Dai Rio). All the modern improvements dictated
by advanced science and mechanical skill have been made use of. The coast of
Japan now compares favorably with any in Europe. Mr. R. H. Brunton, the cap-
able foreign superintendent, was in the Government service from 1868 to 1876.
The railway from Yokohama to Tokio, eighteen miles long, carried, in_1873,
1,435,656 passengers ; and, in 1874, 1,592,314 passengers. The railway from Ozaka
to Kobe", twenty - two miles long, began operations in 1873. The railway from
Ozaka to Kioto is nearly finished, and will probably open in autumn, 1876. From
Kioto the road is surveyed to Tsuruga. Steam-transit lines are also projected
from Kioto into Kii, from Kioto to Tokio and thence to Awomori. The excel-
lence and convenience of transit by sea, and the fact that the mass of the people
follow the agricultural life and habits, more than the lack of capital, will delay
the completion of these enterprises for years. The great need of Japan is good
wagon roads : comparatively few of these exist.
Telegraphs are now completed from Nagasaki to Sapporo, in Tezo. The main
line connects the extremities, through the centre of the empire. A number of
branch lines are also in operation. All the kens will probably soon be in electric
communication with the capital. Two submarine cables cross the Sea of Japan
to Asia, and two wires the Straits of Shimonose'ki and Tsugaru. The material
used is English, and the Wheatstone system and katagana letters are used. All
the above are Government enterprises and property. The Public Works Depart-
ment also has charge of mines (see page 602), dock-yards, and foundries. A num-
ber of steam paper-making, weaving, spinning, sawing, planing, printing, type-
casting, and other establishments, representing a great variety of new industries,
are being established by natives with foreign assistance. Many of these are assist-
ed or encouraged by the Government.
SILK CROP OF 1875.
THE following notes of raw silk arriving in Yokohama for export in 1875 will
show the principal localities in which this staple is produced : In Hitachi,
439,000 pounds ; Shinano, 237,000; Iwaki and Rikuzen, 210,000; Musashi, 175,000;
K6dzuk<§, 70,000; Hida, 21,000; Echizen, 17,000; Echigo, 12,500; various places,
18,900 ; total, 1,190,000 pounds. Only a certain portion of silk raised in Japan
is spared for export. The total export of silk from 1862 to 1874 was 12,567,000
pounds, or 1,048,000 pounds per annum. The percentage of silk production in
the world is— Italy, 37 ; China, 36 ; France, 8 ; Bengal, 7 ; Japan, 6 ; Spain, 2 ;
Persia and the Levant, 4.
INDEX.
A in Japanese, pronounced as a in arm. See
also nnder Ha,
Abacus. See Illustration, 281.
Abbo Sidotti, 262, 263.
Abbot, 394.
Abdication, 114, 122.
Ablutions, 92, 97, 98, 606.
Aborigines of America, 29, 31, 299, 579-581.
Aborigines of Japan, 26-35, 55, 65, 68-70, 86,
87, 105, 206.
Absent-minded man, 496.
Abusive names, 512 (note).
Actors, 87, 455, 515.
Acupuncture, 206, 207.
Adams, Mr. F. O., author of " History of Ja-
pan," 573, 586, 593, 595, 607.
Adams, Will, 261, 262.
Adoption, 277, 584.
Adzuma, 72, 264, 265, 362.
Agate, 603.
Age of persons, 58, 60, 93, 449, 600.
Agricultural class, 106, 107, 280, 600.
Agriculture, 49, 106, 107, 523, 578, 605-607.
Aidzu, Prince of, 309, 310, 313, 411, 412.
Aino, 26-35, 55, 206, 565.
Akadzuki, 399.
Akamngaseki. See Shimonoseki.
Akaraatsu, 564.
Akuchi, 231, 238.
Alaska, 15, 579.
Albino ponies, 382.
Alcock, Sir Rutherford, 305, 349, 369, 594, 595.
Aleutian Islands, 117, 579, 580.
Alkali, 356.
Almshouses, 550.
Alphabets, 91, 92, 162.
Alum, 603.
Araa. See Nun, and 139 (note).
Amakusa, 253.
Amat6raau, 45, 47, 48, 50. 553.
Amber, 603.
America, relations with Japan, 29, 31, 299,
324, 579-581, 591. See, under Perry, United
States.
America, P. M. 8. 8., 560.
American geographical names, 329.
Americans in Japan, 327-352, 533, 545-548, 560,
661, 577, 578, 605, 607.
Amethyst, 603.
Amida, 252.
Amulets, 228, 440.
Amusements. See Games, Sports, Theatre,
Cards.
Ando, 156, 156.
Angels, 384, 489.
Animals, domestic, 23-26, 111 (note).
Animals, wild, 24, 420, 642.
Aujiro, 249.
Antimony, 22, 602, 603.
Antisell, Thomas, Dr., 19 (note), 26 (note).
605.
Antoku, 134, 136, 139 (note), 188.
Aqueducts, 286, 394.
Arabic numerals, 591.
Arata, 83.
Arbitration, 667.
Archers, 121, 136, 137, 388.
Archery, 226, 227, 388.
Architecture, 89, 90, 392-398, 532, 533, 563.
Area of Japan, 17, 605.
Armor, 219, 220.
Armorer, 132.
Armorial bearings. See Crests.
Arms. See Military weapons.
Army, 104, 105, 595-597.
Arrows, 33, 121, 136, 137, 1S9, 190, 227, 388,
422,576.
Arsenic, 550, 602, 603.
Art, 92, 94, 123, 334, 388, 389, 390, 398, 581,
582.
Artisans, 46, 63, 280, 281 ; guilds, 227, 512,
600.
Artists, 92, 123, 379, 3S8, 622.
Asaknra, 419 (note).
Asakusa, 4S5-4SS.
Asama yama, 21.
Asano family, 275.
Ashikaga, 154, 188, 189, 192, 249, 309.
610
INDEX.
Ashikaga Takanji, 156, 182, 183, 184, 185, 189,
190.
Ashikaga Yoshiaki, 230.
Asiatic Society of Japan, 351.
Aspects of nature, 25, 55, 83, 132, 154, 4T3,
47T.
Assassinations, 121, 148, 222, 231, 309, 346, 349,
362, 374, 377, 574.
Association of ideas, 449, 581, 582.
Asters, 436.
Aston, Mr. W. G., quoted, 213.
Atago yama, 239, 374,435.
Atsuraori, 145.
Augury, 46, 449, 581, 582.
Augustinian friars, 250.
Austin, Don. See Konishi.
Avalanches, 540, 542.
Awa, 131, 329, 573.
Awabi, 521.
Awaji, 44
Awodo, 149.
Awomori, 608.
Ayuthaya, 246.
Azai, 241, 242.
Azaleas, 436, 565.
Aztec, 299, 680.
Azuchi yama, 231, 233.
B, from the Japanese ft or/, by nigori, or in
combination.
Baboon, 582.
Baby, 32, 354-356, 444, 472, 570.
Bacchus, 488.
Backgammon, 458.
Badgers, 521.
Bakin, 478. .
Bakufn, 141, 296, 349, 444.
Ball, game of, 209, 455, 456, 529, 530.
Bamboo, 23, 132, 359, 365, 417, 418, 432, 441,
514, 519, 531, 537, 582.
Banishment, 115, 116, 121, 127, 148, 151.
Bank-notes, pictures from, 121, 136, 153, 155,
180.
Banks, 591.
Banner of Taira, 136 ; of Minamoto, 136 ; of
Nitta, 154 ; of Hideyoshi, 238 ; of lyeyasfl,
220, 228, 267, 315.
Barbers, 334.
Bark, 33, 46, 89, 90.
Barley-sugar, 380.
Barriers, 68 (note), 206. See Gates,
Barrows, 28, 245, 269, 545.
Bates, Mr., 549.
Baths, 64, 77, 94, 446, 549, 550.
Battledore and shuttlecock, 455.
Bay of Yedo, 70, 329, 330.
Beans, 49, 420, 427, 454, 469.
Beards, 31, 32, 93, 217, 523 ; cuts, 37, 62, 564.
Beds, 423.
Beef, 472, 607.
Beggars, 358, 513.
Beggary, abolition of, 552.
Bellows, 365.
Bells, 88, 200, 201, 206, 290, 381, 433, 479.
Benkei, 206, 458.
Beri-beri. See Kakke,
Bette, 373, 374, 546.
Betto, 236, 353, 359, 427, 512, 574.
Binzuru, 385.
Birds, 24, 177.
Bishamon, 190.
Biwa, Lake, 177, 414, 415, 419.
Black-eyed Susan, 359.
Blakiston, Captain, 26 (uote).
Blacksmith, 46, 365.
Blind men, 495, 509, 511, 600.
Boats, 31, 63, 331, 332, 360, 408, 409, 427, 521.
BOzu, 41.
Bombardments, 309, 311, 350, 592, 594.
Bombay, P. and O. S. S., 329.
Bonzes, 162,175, 198, 204, 207, 231-235, 250, 253,
379, 426, 470, 510, 513, 525, 538.
Botany, 22.
Bows, 226.
Bread, 260, 448.
Breakfast, 424, 355, 409, 410, 544.
Breath-sucking, 211 (note), 222.
Breech-loaders, 246, 411, 524, 573, 596.
Bridgeford, Captain, 26 (note).
Bridges, 44, 354, 563.
Brinckley, Lieutenant, 533 (note).
Brocade, 315, 562.
Bronzes, 199, 203, 423.
Brooks, Hon. Charles Wolcott, 579, 580.
Brown, Rev. S. R., 160, 263.
Brunton, Mr. R. H., 608.
Bryan, Mr. S.W., 591.
Buddhism, 80, 84, 114, 158, 175, 198, 228, 251,
297, 554, 555.
Bugs, 187.
Bund, 330, 353.
Bungalows, 330, 370.
Bnngo, 248, 249, 250, 253.
Buuio, 586.
Burial, 92, 437, 438, 439, 468.
Bnrmah, 246.
Butchers, 332, 357, 472, 607.
C. See under K or £
Cactus, 386.
Calendar, 113, 122.
California, 299, 579-581.
Camellia, 265, 290, 333, 428, 436, 510, 514, 565.
Camphor-trees, 190, 455, 676.
Canals, 419.
Candles, 446, 447.
Cannon, 243, 257, 408, 411.
Cape, King, 828.
IXDEX.
611
CaplUl, 67, 110, ill.
Capron, General Horace, 19 (note), 660, C06,
607, 619 (note).
Cards, 423, 430 ; games, 466, 467.
Cars, 197 (note), 212. See Itailwatj.
Carp, 463, 439.
Carpenters, 46, 227, 367, 366, 443.
Carts, 332, 833.
Carving, 33, 94, 167, 203, 288-290, 623.
Cash, 243, 332, 366, 360, 496, 687.
Castlra. See Sponge-cake.
Castles, 217, 283, 392r 393, 646, 647, 660.
Catapults, 177-
Cats, 128, 449, 461, 487, 495, 602, 606, 609.
Cemeteries, 287, 290, 346, 613, 614.
Censer, 382.
Censors, 296, 299, 687.
Census, 174, 600, 601.
Centennial Exposition of the United States,
676, 692, 698.
Centipedes, 650.
Cereals, 48, 608.
Chamberlain, 116, 527.
Character of the Japanese, 65, 106, 107, 251,
267, 312, 343, 539, 542, 650, 569, 670.
Charcoal, 22, 33, 366, 519, 549.
Charity, 369.
Charlevoix quoted, 247, 263.
Checkers, 458, 503.
Cheese, 505. See Beans.
Cherry blossoms, 3S4, 582.
Chess, 468.
Children, 354, 421, 429, 437, 452-465.
Children's books, 491, 492.
Children's games and sports, 452-465.
Chin (lap-dog), 209, 210.
China, 176, 242, 418, 552, 572, 575, 576.
Chinese, 54, 58, 242, 462, 453, 473, 512, 572, 576,
600. See Preface.
Chinese in Japan, 331, 338, 351, 352, 566, 567.
Chishi, 600.
Chishima (Knriles), 601. See Map.
Chiuzenji, 284, 285.
Chopsticks, 221, 470, 514.
Choshiu clan, 267, 269, 277, 301, 309, 310, 311,
312, 313, 321, 593-595.
Chot^ki, 183, 184, 310, 313, 315.
Christianity, 247-263, 578.
Christians, native, 243, 247, 2C3, 266, 531, 552,
573, 578.
Christmas-day, 537, 538.
Chronology, 59, 122, 123, 599.
Chrysanthemum, 67, 3S4, 5S2, 608.
Cipango. See Jipangu.
Cities of Japan, 392.
Civil officials, 103, 110, 116, 141, 196 (note),
214-216, 526.
Civil wars, 119, 122, 130-139, 151, 154-157, 182-
196, 230-235, 238-240, 266-269, 316-319, 575.
Civilization, 59, 75, 80-84, 298, 818-324, 352,
572, 679, 590.
Clans, 216, 217.* See nnder names of military
families.
Clark, Mr. E. W., 527, 544, 547, 548.
Classes of society, 280, 640, 668.
Cleanliness, 97, 356.
Climate, 26, 5S8, 690.
Clocks, 646.
Clogs, 118, 370, 372, 468, 482.
Cloistered emperor, 120, 134
Clothing, 90, 106, 107, 208, 831, 861, 366, 870,
388, 384, 427, 520, 624, 684, 646, 560, 662-566,
672, 696.
Cloud-cluster, 49, 58, 69.
Coal, 516, 602-605.
Coasts of Japan, 18, 28, 66, 405, 60S.
Cobalt, 603.
Cocks, 46.
Cocks, Mr. Richard, 261.
Codee of law, 361, 362, 5C9, 669, 683.
Coinage, 40, 286, 647, 607, 608.
College. See Imperial College,
College of Engineering, 307, 602.
Columbus, 247.
Commandments, 96, 194, 195.
Commerce, 63, 246, 597.
Compradores, 338.
Conchs, 220, 269.
Concubines, 108, 556, 557.
Confucianism, 80, 83, 160, 297, 657, 659.
Conquerors, 28, 65, 68-70, 75, 91.
Conquest of ancient Japan, 28.
Consul, United States, 349, 402, 668.
Consulate, United States, 331, 333, 349.
Consuls, 349, 350, 376, 567.
Contracts, 402, 577.
Convents, 199.
Coolie traffic, 566-567.
Coolies, 331, 365, 360, 361.
Coopers, 357, 365.
Copper, 22, 111 (note), 199, 201, 602-605.
Copperas, 603.
Corea, 63, 79, S3, 241 - 246, 286, 324, 364, 571,
570.
Cormorants, 209.
Comes, Rev. Mr., 333.
Corpse, 468.
Cosmogony, 43-45.
Cotton, 91, 230, 361.
Councils, 103, 140, 149, 286.
Court noble, 93, 101-114, 216, 217, 381.
Courtesans, 139, 566, 556.
Cranes, 381.
Creation, 43, 44.
Cremation, 175 (note), 198, 437, 513, 614.
Crests, imperial, 66, 67, 271, 274, 2T5, 410.
Crime, 668.
Criminals, 668, 669, 600.
612
INDEX.
Crocodiles, 811.
Cross of SatBumn, 274.
Cross-trampling, 267.
Crow, 58, 44S, 441), 505.
Crucifixion, 255, 554.
Crystal, 331, 479, 603.
Cuckoo, 581.
Cucumbers, 481.
Curios, 351.
Currents, 27, 579-581.
Curtains, 102, 114, 141, 211, 212, 353, 398, 410.
Custom-houses, 332, 349, 3(i4 ; receipts, 598.
Cutlery, 224, 225, 357, 422.
Cuttle-flsh, 415, 521.
Cyclopedias, 41, 78 (note), 247 (note).
D, from t, by nigori, or in combination.
Dai Butsii, 199, 200.
Dai Jo Dai Jin, 103, 119, 309, 598.
Dai Jo Kuau, 103, 577.
Dai Kokn, 49, 425.
Dai-kon. See Radishes.
Daimio, 217, 321, 322, 402, 403.
"Dai Ninon Shi," 40, 122 (note), 298.
Dai Nippon, 17, 85.
Dairi, 197.
Dai/.aifu,177.
Dancing, 47, 48, 53, 378, 456, 528, 529, 573.
Dannoura, 135.
Darumn, 458-460.
Darwinian theory, 9, 542.
Datte family, 274, 586.
Dazaifu. See Daizaifu.
Deaf men, 496.
Debt, national, 598.
Dec! ma. See Deshima.
Deformed persons, 472, 570.
De Long, Hon. Charles E., 340, 673.
Dentist, 469.
Departments of government, 103, 104, 577,
598.
De'shima, 240, 257, 258, 260, 560, 602.
Dewa, 74, 142.
Dezima. See Deshima.
Dice, 456.
Dickens, Charles, 533.
Diet, 90.
Dikes, 531, 571, 605, 607.
Dinner, 340, 341, 423, 424, 542, 543, 548, 550.
Diplomacy, foreign, 347, 348, 349, 350, 377, 592,
595.
Dirk, 221, 222,515,534
Diseases, 258, 259, 410, 670, 671.
Disinheritance, 584.
Divination, 46, 148.
Divinity of the mikado, 36, 59, 88, 94, 95, 562,
666.
Divorce, 557.
Dixon, Dr. Walter, quoted, 253, 683.
D6, or circuits, 65, S4. See Map.
Doctors, 207, 571. See Physicians
Dogs, 33, 209, 358, 390, 451, 468, 471.
Dominicans, 250.
Dosha, 207.
Dosia. See Do-sha.
Dr in Japanese words. See under Ri.
Dragon, 49, 381, 425, 478-iSO, 582.
Dreams, 472.
Dress. See Clothing.
Dual system of government. See Duarchy.
Duarchy, 140, 140, 182, 185, 186.
Ducks, wild, 420, 422, 517, 537.
Dumb persons, 600.
Dungeons, 165, 184.
^J'Dutch, 254, 257, 258, 311, 319, 431, 571 (note),
677, 593, 596, 602.
Dwarfed trees, 384, 386.
Dyers, 365, 509.
Dynasties, 185, 187.
E, pronounced as e in prey; before a final
liquid, or double consonant, as e in mm.
Ear-monument, 245.
Earthquake-flsh, 486.
Earthquakes, 21, 477, 480, 547, 589.
Eastern Japan, 68-70, 391, 392.
Ebisu, 28, 29, 52.
Echizen, Prince of, 305, 307, 308, 313.
Echizeu, 176, 271, 272, 276, 300, 307, 310, 313,
586, 687.
Eclipses, 52, 471, 472.
Edicts, 369.
Edinburgh and Yedo, 279.
Education, 150, 199, 200, 202, 205, 294, 297, 371,
373, 558-561, 663 (uote), 573, 578.
Eels, 496.
Eggs, 494, 517, 527, 528.
Elephant, 479.
Elephantiasis, 570.
Elves, 494, 495.
Ema, Lord of Hell, 387, 389, 507.
Embassies, 63, 83, 84, 176, 195, 242, 250, 323,
324, 672, 576.
Embassy of 1872, 25, 323, 324, 540, 550, 572-574.
Emori, Mr., 403, 530, 631.
Emperors, list of, 123.
Empresses, list of, 123.
Enamel-ware, 203, 646.
English, 254, 261, 262, 341, 342, 343, 677.
Enomoto, 319, 564.
Enoshitna, 154, 404.
Entails, 277.
Eructation, 11 (uote).
Escheat, 685.
Espionage, 295, 349, 369. See Spie«.
Eta, 279, 324, 640, 667.
Etiquette, 210, 211, 218, 222-226, 518. See
Manners.
INDEX.
613
Eto Shlinpel, 563, 674, 575.
Eurasian children, :.:•!, 352.
Evenings, 456.
Evergreens, 22, 28, 359.
Execntiou ground, 801.
Executions, bee l.nn-x.
Exile, 115, 127, 148, 256, 306. See Banish-
ment.
Extra-territoriality, 310, 572.
Eyes, 29, 30, 20S (note), 442, 444, 450.
F, for words in Dutch books, or in writings
copied therefrom, see under H, or A. In
foreign books, / or ff is often inserted, or
made terminal in a Japanese word which
ends in an open vowel. Thus Shikoku
and Hokusai, appear as Shikokf, Hokffsai,
etc.
Face?, Aino and Yamato, 29, 80, 401.
Falconry, 209, 280.
Families, noble, 101-114.
Family, 584, 585.
Family names, 109.
Famine, 195, 513.
Fans, 87, 518-5-20, 527, 529, 548.
Farmers, 106, 107, 513, 600.
Fauna, 24, 581.
Faxiba, See HMeyoshi.
Feast of Dolls, 460.
Feast of Flags, 463.
Female characters — Tatara, 68; Yamato
hime, 61 ; Jiugu kogo, chap. viii. ; Haruko,
81; Tokiwa, 123; Tadamori's wife, 125,
126 ; Masago, 126 ; Tomoy6, 135 (note) ;
Taigo, 137 ; Tokiko, 137 ; Tamayori, 170 ;
Kadoko, 183 ; Is6 no Taiyu, 210 ; Murasaki
Shikibn, 212 ; Shibata Katsniyg's wife, 238,
240; Adzuma girl, 265.
Female divinity, 45.
Fencing. 432, 433.
Feng Shuey, 473.
Festivals, 92, 97, 520, 525, 526, 538.
Feudalism, 57, 58, 94, 95, 104, 214-228, 270-290,
683-585.
Fends, 216, 217, 222, 223.
Filial piety, 123, 124, 147, 555.
Fillmore, President, 329, 347.
Finances, 573, 574, 598.
Finger-nails', 467, 469.
Firando. See Hirado.
Fires, 375, 398, 471, 563.
Fire-clay, 603.
Fire-lookouts, 286.
Fire-omens, 471.
Fire-proofs, 310, 356, 370, 368, 394.
Fire-works, 521.
Fish, 24, 25.
Fishermen, 328, 329, 521, 522, 546.
Fishing, 70, 209, 470, 521.
Flsh-pondf, 897, 438.
Flag of Japan, national, 862, 6M, 644.
I- 1-.,-. MI. :.:-".
Flies, 506, 528.
Flint and steel, 388, 367, 304, 444, 606.
Flirting, 211 (note).
Flowers, 28, 384, 886, 887, 397, 614, 681.
Fogs, 689, 506.
Folk-lore, 491-603.
Food, 23, 24, 49, 90. See Met.
Foot-ball, 148.
Foreigner-haters. See Jo-i.
Foreigners, 327-362, 493, 513, 549, 678, 600, 602.
Forests, 22, 418, 643, 648.
Forfeiture, 685.
Formosa, 218, 257, 258, 571, 672, 575, 676.
Fortification*, 179, 302, 407.
Fortune-tellers, 505.
Forty-seven rOnius, 362, 400.
Fox myths, 495, 580, 582.
Foxes, 420, 496, 503.
Franciscans, 249, 254, 255, 256, 409.
Francis Xavier, 249, 250, 251, 412.
Freeman, Captain, J. H., 328.
French, 269, 261, 331, 346, 360, 3SI, 383, 899, 677.
French relations with Japan, 331, 593-696.
Frogs, 608.
Fnchiu, 422, 647.
Fudui, 275, 394, 403, 5S5, 586.
Fuji san, or Fuji yama (mountain), 18, 142,
330, 374, 404, 415, 472, 530, 546, 582.
Fuji River, 132.
Fnjiwara, 109, 115, 116, 160, 237, 270.
Fukni, 170, 189, 190, 238, 423, 536.
Fnkni Han, 418, 526, 587.
Fukuwara, 120, 135, 406.
Fnknzawa Yukichi, 192 (note), 320, 400, 648.
Funerals, 438, 439, 513.
Fusan, 243, 580.
Fnshimi, 240, 266, 313, 408, 411-413.
Fushimi no Miya, 663.
Fnsi yama. See Fuji san.
Fnten, 484.
G, pronounced hard. From k by nigort,
or in combination. Few pare Japanese
words begin with g.
Gambling, 344, 50,369.
Games, 209, 210, 452-465, 529, 530.
Gardeners, 384-386.
Garlic, 73.
Gas, illuminating, 21. 333, 384.
Gates, 206, 219, 394, 411, 421, 427.
Gate-keepers, 436, 441.
Gazetteers, 41 ; of Echizen, 176, 419, 422.
Geese, 425, 447, 449, 637, 682.
Geiho, 459.
Geisha, 209, 40S, 41S, 526, 573.
Gen. See Minamoto.
614
INDEX.
Genghis Khan, 145.
Genji. See Minamoto.
Genji and Heike, 458, 464, 492,529.
Genji Monogatari, 212.
Geography of Japan, 1T-25, 56, 6S-T4, 84, 85,
329, 360, 391, 392, 419 (note), 596, 601, 607, 608.
See Map.
Geology of Japan, 18, 19, 602-605.
Germans, 24T (note), 331, 332, 399, 571 (note).
Ghosts, 138, 460^73.
Ghouls, 492, 493.
Gifn, 267.
Girdles, 354, 359, 379, 408, 416, 470.
Glass, 448.
Glass-sponges, 521.
Globe-trotters, 339.
Go, honorary prefix. See under letters fol-
lowing go.
Goa, 249.
Goat, 582.
Goddesses, 44-53, 553.
God-letters, 92.
Go-Daigo, 152, 182, 183, 184, 189.
Gohei, 46, 285, 410.
Go-Kameyama, 192.
Gokenin, 277.
Go-Komatsu, 192.
Gold, 602-605, 608.
Golden fish, 546.
Golden gutter, 410, 411, 546.
Goldsborough Inlet, 262.
Gompachi and Komurasaki, 400.
Gongen, 198, 284.
Goroza, 230.
Gosanke. See Sanke.
Go-Shirakawa, 119, 134.
Goto Shojiro, 312, 317, 322, 574.
Gotoba, 134, 151.
Gourds, 238.
Government, 58, 94, 103, 104, 577, 578, 598.
Gray, Dr. Asa, 24.
Griffin, 340.
Grigsby, Prof. W. E., 583.
Guard-houses, 363, 376, 410, 550. See Gates.
Guards, 105, 133. See Bettl.
Gun-ken system, 103, 104, 577, 600.
Gunpowder, 248, 258, 362, 513.
Guns, 248, 258.
H. In Dutch and Portuguese books / oft-
en takes the place of h. See under F. In
combination, or by nigori, becomes b, f,
or p.
Hachiman. See Ojin Tennfi.
Hachiman, temple of, 131,410,411.
Hachiman Tar5, 117.
Hachij6,121.
Hair, 31, 217, 829, 854, 431, 432 (note), 471, 508,
620, 523.
Hakama (kilt or loose trowaers), 366, 370, 413,
534.
Hakodate1, 590.
Hakkenden, 478.
Hakong, Lake, 64 : Pass, 206, 548.
Hakuzan, 18, 21, 514, 530, 532.
Hamamatsu, 392, 546.
Han, clan, or local feudal government, 418,
425, 522, 535 (note), 586, 587, 600.
Hanoura, 414-416.
Hand or head kerchief, 107 (note), 201, 211
(note), 355.
Haori (dress-coat embroidered with crests),
504,534.
Hara-kiri. See Seppuku.
Harbors, 25, 329-331, 348, 352, 363, 405, 406,
419, 608.
Hare, 582.
Harima, 250.
Harris, Townsend, Hon., 283, 348, 401,577,595.
Harnko, 36 (note), 80, 81.
Hashiba. See Hideyoshi.
Hashimoto Sanai, 306 (note).
Hashimoto, Dr., 306, 514, 535.
Hashimoto village, 409.
Hatakeyama Yoshinari, 399.
Hatamoto, 270, 403, 586, 587.
Hats, 355, 356, 357, 372, 426, 511, 546, 550.
Hatoba, 331, 349.
Hawaii, 567, 579-581.
Hawking, 209.
Hawks, 409.
Hayashi, Dai Gaku no Kami, 303, 304
Headache, 389.
Head-dress, 397. See Hair.
Headless horsemen, 537.
Heating apparatus, 356, 414.
Hei. See Taira.
Heike Monogatari, 122.
Heishi. See Taira.
Heir, choice of, 64, 557, 584.
Heko, Mr., 548 (note), 580, 581.
Helmets, 219, 366, 423.
He'mi village, 262.
Hemp, 46, 422, 449, 631.
Hepburn, Dr. J. C., 160, 577, 588-590.
Hero-worship, 87, 88, 160.
Heron, 24, 177, 511.
Hibachi. See Heating apparatus.
Hidenobu, 266.
Hid^tada, 256, 284, 285, 289, 290.
HideyasB, 272, 419 (note), 436.
Hideyori, 245, 255, 256, 266, 284.
Hideyoshi, 230, 236-246, 254, 255, 270, 410, 435.
Higashi Kuze, 817.
Higo, 42 (note), 274, 277, 523.
Hikone", 231, 267, 310.
Hildreth, 247 (note), 256, 271.
Hime', 61 (note).
JXDEX.
615
IIImeBhitna, 503.
Hiiiin, 280,640.
Hio-o, 120, 133, 190, 812, 893,405,406.
Hirndo, 264, 266, 2G1.
Hiragana, 102, 174, 492.
Iliratu, 300.
Hiroshima, 392, 394.
Hirozawa, 319.
History, materials of, 36-42, 298, 299.
Hitotsftbashi, 603 (note). See Keiki.
Hiiiija, 56.
Hiyt-izan, 134,232, 233.
Hlzen clan, 821, 5T1, 675, 586.
Hoffman, Dr. J. J., quoted, 59.
Hoffman, J. J., 59 (note).
Hogs, 382, 420, 543, 580.
Hojo family, 127, 128, 146-167, 165-181, 404.
Hojo of Odawarn, 217, 265.
H6j6 Tokimasa. See Tokimaaa.
Hokkaido, 601, 605, 607.
HokkS, classic, 285.
Holidays, 453. See Festivals.
Hollanders, 258-260, 512 (note). See Dutch.
Hoknsai, 30, 91, 107, 223, 236, 333, 357, 360, 365,
379, 416, 426, 441, 442, 447, 487, 524, 528.
Homio, 114, 2S8, 514.
Homura, 350.
Hondo, 17, IS, 19; 27, 28, 29, 69, 84, 86, 106, 602-
605.
Honen, 145, 170.
Honey, 610.
Hougs, 337, 338.
Honnoji, 231.
Honor, code of, 156, 167, 191, 192, 221-225, 569.
Horseback game. See Polo.
Horses, 340, 365, 366, 382, 427, 471, 512, 516,
522.
Hosokawa family, 274.
Hosokawa Yoriyuki, 193.
Hospitals, 346, 400, 671.
Hotels, 283, 414, 644, 650.
Hot springs, 21.
Honsehold customs.
Houses, ancient, 90, 420, 435 ; number of, 600.
See Yashiki.
Hubner, Baron, 349.
Hunting, 537.
Hymn, national, 387, 524, 565.
Hymns, Christian, 351, 677.
I, pronounced as i in machine. ; before a final
liquid, as i in tin. For names in Dutch
books, see nnder Y or E.
I (rank), 139 (note).
Ibuki yama, 73, 207, 231.
Ice, 589.
Idols, 387, 388, 510, 526, 641.
Idzu, 121, 129, 164, 405.
Ii, Kamon no Kami, 805, 807, 401, 550.
Ik.- Island, 243.
I k.'dii, 230.
Ikegami, 165.
Ikko. See Shin teet.
Immortality of the soal, 97, 161, 666.
Imperial College of Tokio, 117 (note), 870-376,
562,663.
Inaka, 488, 578.
luamara Snkl, 154.
Incense. See Center.
Indemnities, 311, 360, 377, 401, 675, 592-696.
India, 34 (note), 111 (note), 159, 164, 174, 176.
Indians of North America, 29, 31, 299 ; origiu
of, 679-581.
Indigo, 631.
Informers, 369. See Spies.
Ink-stone, 390, 612.
Inns. See Hotels.
Inland Sea, 55, 56, 57, 118, 119, 120.
Inquisition, 252, 269, 263.
Insects, 157, 660.
Insurrections, 68, 65, 76, 106, 215, 216, 473, 575,
606.
Intemperance, 526.
Interpreters, 213, 401, 548.
Iris, 369.
Iron, 22, 125, 602-605.
I i-ni/ Duke, ship, 567.
Irrigation, 63, 64, 90, 417, 418.
Irving, Washington, 524 (note), 537. See Hip
Van Winkle myths.
Is6, Mr., 523.
Is4 (shrines), 61, 73, 99, 179, 181.
Ishi<l;i, 255.
Ivory, 364, 602.
Ivy, 439.
Iwabnchi, 401, 402, 412, 422, 428, 440, 516, 518.
Iwakura Tomomi, 312, 313, 321, 322, 399, 400,
627, 573, 574.
lyemitsu, 266, 285, 286, 287.
lyemochi, Prince of Kii, 289, 306, 812.
lygsada, 273, 305.
lyeyasu, 230,244, 265-257, 264-269, 270-272, 275,
276, 280-286, 287, 323, 647, 583-586.
lyeyoshi, 273.
Izanagi, 44.
Izanami, 45.
J, derived from chi or shi by nifjori, or in com-
bination. See, also, nnder Y, E, or Z.
Jamestown, United States corvette, 693.
Japonica. See Camellia.
Jealousy, 461, 475, 557.
Jean Baptiste, 262, 263.
Jenghiz Khan. See Genghis Khan.
Jesuits, 197, 247-268, 293, 409, 577.
Jewels, 46, 50.
Jews, 36, 337, 846.
Ji. SeeSM.
616
INDEX.
Jimmn, 40, 51, £5, 56, 5S, 59.
Jin Gi Kuan, 103.
Jingu, 75-S4, 406.
Jiuko tree, 400.
Jiii-riki-sha, 334, 335, 54S, 570.
Jito, 141.
Jipangu, 247.
JodO sect, 162, 233, 290.
Jo-i, 316, 373, 440.
Joss-sticks, 380, 387, 498.
Journey, 439, 467, 471.
Judges. See Laws, Oka.
Jugglers, 519, 525.
Junks, 136, 419, 579-581.
Jun-shi, 92, 272, 273.
Jurisprudence. See Laws.
Justice, department of, 103. See Laws.
K becomes g by nigori, or in combination.
Ka. See, also, Kua.
Kadoko, 183.
Kadzusa, 131, 329, 573.
Kaempfer, 56 (note), 293, 414.
Kaga, 241, 530, 586. See Maeda.
Kago, 264, 366, 544.
Kagoshima, 249, 302, 309, 377, 592, 593.
Kai Taku Shi, 26 (note), 31, 605, 607.
Kakke', 548 (note), 570.
Kama-itachi, 482, 483.
Kamakura, 131, 140, 143, 155, 156, 165, 176, 184,
241, 261, 404.
KaniS Ido, 400.
Kami, 43, 72. See Shinto.
Kami-shimo, 525, 534.
Kamo, pictures of, 479, 522.
Kamo River, 240.
Kampira, 469, 474.
Kanagawa, 346, 34S, 349.
Kanda MiO Jin, 188, 454, 493.
Kanda, 188.
Kanda, Mr., 400.
Kana/awa, in Sngami, 150, 404.
Kaolin, 603.
Kappa, 481, 482, 525.
Karafto. See Saghalin.
KarOs, 310, 399, 403.
Kashiwabara, 57. . ,-
Kasutera. See Sponge-cake.
Katagana, 16, 162, 608.
Kato Hiroyuki, 320.
Kato Kiyomasa, 163, 220, 223, 243, 274, 311,
315, 322.
Katsu Awn, 302, 303, 548, 564, 574.
Katsuki K6gnro, 575.
Katsuiye'. See Shibata.
Katsuyama, 536, 586.
Kawasaki, 359, 360.
Keiki, 274, 305, 310, 312, 313, 314, 315, 370.
Kempermau, Mr. P., 96 (note).
Ken, or prefectures, 526, 577, 578, 600. See
Chiji.
KenchO, 538, 598.
Kerai, 217.
Keroeene, 420. See Petroleum.
Kido, 312, 319, 324, 574.
Kii family, 273, 586.
Kii promontory, 56, 57, 405, 608.
Kiuamera Shirato, 523.
Kinder, Major T. W., 607.
King, Cape, 328.
Kings, 195, 196 (note).
Kioto, 110, 111, 134, 139, 15(5, 174, 185, 192, 194,
249, 294, 307, 310, 317, 318, 573, 600, 608.
Kiri Take, 285.
Kirin, 479, 480.
Kirishima, 50, 55.
Kirishitau, zaka, dane, gui, 262.
Kishiu. See Kii.
KisokaidO. See Nakasendo.
Kisses, 208, 210.
Kita Mandocoro, 241. See Azai.
Kitchen, 445, 446.
Kites, 221, 458.
Kiushin, 19, 42, 255, 277, 601, 604, 605.
Kiyomidzu, 242.
Kiyomori, 118, 119, 120, 133, 157.
Koban, 425, 506.
Kobe, 405, 406.
KObO Daishi, 162, 175, 284.
Kodzuke, 72 (note).
Kogen, 188, 189.
Kojiki, 39, 42, 51, 54.
Kojima Takanori, 152, 153.
Koku, 273-275,586, 605, 606.
Kokura clan, 277, 309.
Kokushiu daimiOs, 141, 274, 275, 288, 394, 397,
407.
Komatsn, 312.
Komei TennO, 36, 303, 312.
Kominato, 163.
Konishi, 243, 244, 255, 2fi7, 269.
Kosatsu, 259, 362, 368, 369, 418, 573.
KOshi no knni, 42 (note).
Kotatsu, 414, 416, 542.
Kuambaku, 109, 196 (note), 237.
Kuammu, 232.
Kuan-gun, 184, 233.
Kuanon, 378.
Kuanrei, 194.
KuantO, 68, 117, 129, 141, 142, 392.
Kublai Khan, 176, 177.
Kubo sama, 193, 196 (note).
Kudan zaka, 374.
Kng6. See Court noble.
KngiO, 148.
Kumagayd. See Naozant.
Kumamoto, 523.
Kuno Zan, 284, 285, 296.
IXDEX.
617
Knriles, IT, 32, 246, 579, 580.
Kara Shiwo, 26, 27, 2V.t, 579-581.
Kuruda family, 274.
Kuroda Kiyotakn, 576.
K ii.-akal-r- TarO, 430, 431.
Kusauojiro, 177.
Hue nnoki MaeashijjS, 152, 182, 190, 191, 406.
Knsunoki Masatsura, 191, 219.
Knwana, 313, 411.
I.. There is no letter I in Japanese. The
name Liu Kin is Chinese ; Japanese, Ria
Kin. The Kurile, or Kuril, Islands derive
their name from the Russian Kuril, to
snioke, from the active volcanoes on them.
Saghalin is Russian. See under R.
Laborers, 132, 280, 355, 3G1, 393, 426, 529. See
Coolie*.
Lacquer, 99, 157, 204, 219, 220, 366, 398, 527, 549.
Lake Biwa. See Biwa.
Lamps, 446, 447, 460, 525.
Laud, 107, 194, 216, 272, 277,-583-5S6, 005-607.
Landscape. See Scenery.
Language, 211, 212, 213, 260, 338, 580.
Language, AinO, 29, 33.
Lanterns, stone, or bronze, 273, 287-290, 3S1,
507.
Lanterns, paper, 375, 439, 496, 507, 528, 541.
Lavatory, 288, 380.
Laws, 149, 369, 668, 569, 583-585.
Lawyers, 569.
Lead, 002-606.
Lecky, Mr., 197, 259.
Legacy of lyfiyasu, 5S3-5S5.
Legation, 340, 400, 401, 5C7, 598.
Legends, 491-503. See Mythology.
Leprosy, 570.
Letters, 80, 83, 91, 92, 162, 212, 213.
Libraries, 111, 150, 431, 432.
Lies, 295, 304, 469.
Liggins, Rev. J., 512.
Light-houses, 405, 608.
Lilies, 132, 412.
Lions, 510, 588.
Lips, painted, 455.
Lists of shoguns, 156, 197, 273.
Literature, 92, 213, 320.
Lin Kin, 122, 248, 276, 565, 571.
Locks, 366.
Longevity, 58, 60, 93, 102, 487.
" Lost Tribes of Israel," 35, 56 (note).
Lotus, 163, 384, 394, 437, 439.
Love, 208, 211, 474.
Lowder, Mr. J. F., 583.
Lucky days and signs, 466-473.
Lucy, Mr. Alfred, 533.
Lu-wen, 503.
Luzon, 246.
Lyman, Prof. B. S., 19 (note), 26 (note), 605.
Mabuchi, 300.
Macao, 560, 587.
Macaroni, 488.
Mai-da, 841.
Ma6da family, 274.
McDongall, Captain, 598.
Magatama, jewels, 46, 53, 98.
Magistrates, 584. See Laws.
Magnet, 509.
Malls, 590, 591. See /Wman.
Maimed persons, 478, 570, 600.
Main island. See Hotuto.
Malays, 26 (note), 27, 87, 246.
Males and females, 600, 601.
Mandokoro, 140.
Manganese, 603.
Manners, 211, 223, 224, 361, 413, 423, 428, 430,
517, 624, 528, 670.
Manufactures, 202-204, 224, 225, 698, 606, 607,
608.
Manure, 25, 546, 606.
Maple-tree, 211 (note), 682.
Maps, 17, 27, 55 (note), 66, 84 (note), 243, 2S6,
363, 391, 392, 519, 547, 586, 588, 601, 606, 609.
Marble, 603.
Marco Polo, 176, 177, 247, 249, 512.
Maria Luz, ship, 567.
Marine. See \aval.
Marriage, 32, 44, 58, 93, 94, 108, 1 10, 115, 117,
277, 352, 438, 467, 562, 560, 585.
Martyrs, 256-259, 263, 305, 306, 654.
Maruoka, 531, 532, 586.
Masago, 127, 147, 148, 150.
Masakado, 187, 188.
Masses, Buddhist, 252, 285,509.
Matches, 357, 446.
Matsudaira, 271.
Matsudaira, Echizen no kami, 305, 303, 313,
397,403.
Matsudaira, Mochiaki, 428, 429, 525, 587, 588,
633-535.
Matsumae, 299.
Matsnmoto, Dr., 400.
Matsnri, 513, 525.
MatMiyama, 547.
Maxims. See Provtrbt.
Mayeda. See Maeda.
Mayeshima, H.,591.
Meals. See Diet.
Mechanical arts, 208, 803, 225, 227, 355-358,
364-3C6, 408, 513, 516-623, 607, 608.
Medicine, 80, 206, 207, 467, 571,
Medusa, Dutch man-of-war, 593.
Melons, 510.
Memorial tablets, 439.
Mendez Pinto. See Pinto.
Merchants, 125, 132, 278, 337, 338, 426, 565, 566,
600.
Mermaid, 390, 488, 521.
618
INDEX.
Merman, 488.
Metals, 22, 125, 199-204, 408, C02-605.
Metempsychosis, 161, 169, 251, 390.
Meteorology, tables, etc., 588-590.
Mexican dollars, 332, 353, 357, 407.
Mexico, 299 ; Appendix I.
Miako. See Kioto.
Mica, 207 (note), 603.
Mice, 521.
Michiari, 179.
Michizaue, 115, 116.
Miidera, 134, 200.
Mikado, 39, 101, 102, 113, 123, 185, 1S6, 187, 480.
See Mute&hito.
Mikuni, 176, 521, 522.
Military arts, 65.
Military classes, 104, 595-597.
Military establishment, 595-597.
Military families. See Clans, Taira, and Sti-
namoto.
Military government, 141. See Balcufu, Mi-
namoto.
Military system, C5, 104, 141, 218, 595-B97.
Military tactics, 218, 595-597.
Military weapons, 59, 214, 228, 366, 595-597.
Millet, 355.
Mills, 410, 513, 592, 608.
Mimidzuka, 245.
Minamoto family, 109, 124, 146, 147, 148, 188,
214, 215, 216, 270, 271, 585.
Minatogawa, 190.
Mineral wealth, 22, 602-605.
Mines, 283, 602-605.
Mining laws, 602.
Mino, 230, 392, 544, 545.
Miuobu mountain, 165.
Mint, 286, 607, 60S.
Miracle-figures, 38S-390.
Mirror, 46, 364.
Mishima, 548.
Missionaries, Buddhist, 83, 159, 160, 162, 174,
175.
Missionaries, Christian, 247-263, 344, 345, 577,
578.
Mississippi Bay, 330, 340.
Mitford, Mr. A. B., quoted, 287.
Mito family, 273, 274, 298, 305, 394.
Mito, Prince of, 298, 301, 394.
Mito, city. See on map, Ibaraki.
Mi tsukuri, 320.
Mitsuoka, 526, 536, 538, 563, 574.
Miya, 61, 99.
Moats, 240, 280, 370, 394, 396.
Mochi, 455, 472, 497.
Mom-ban, 436.
Monasteries, 140, 199, 232, 233, 234.
Money, 104, 286, 425, 495, 496, 547, 607, 608.
Money-order system, 591.
Mongols, 176-181, 422.
Monkey and crab, 493, 494.
Monkeys, 24, 237, 382, 420, 495, 511, 542.
Monks, 140, 199, 525.
Monogatari,40, 122, 213.
Monto. See Shin sect.
Monuments, 41, 157, 200, 203, 514. See Tombs,
Memorial Stones.
Monzeki temple, 362, 563.
Moon-goddess, 49, 582.
Morality, 80, 94, 209, 515, 569, 570, 573.
Morality in Yokohama, 209, 344.
MOri Ariuori, 100 (note), 399, 400, 576.
MOri family, 238, 241, 275, 309, 310, 311, 313.
Moriyoshi, 152, 183, 184, 188.
Mosquito-nets, 528.
Mother's memorial, 168, 169, 170.
Mothers, examples of, 163, 164, 181, 190, 444,
445, 502, 559.
Mountains, IS, 477.
Mourning dress, 438.
Motoori, 100, 300.
Moxa, 207, 468.
MukOjima,400.
Mulberry, 46, 544, 582.
Muuemori, 139.
Mnngero Nakahama, 580.
Munroe, Prof. Henry S., 19, 26 (note), 605.
Murray, Dr. David, 563 (note).
Music, 47, 523, 525.
Muskets, 248.
Mustaches, 31, 217, 425, 478.
Mutsu, 126.
Mutsuhito, 36, 38, 313, 317, 318, 400, 562-566.
Mythical creatures, 477-488, 525, 549.
Mythology, 43-53, 54-58, 72, 73, 526.
Nagare KanjO, 168, 169, 170.
Nagasaki, 240, 255, 256, 299, 391, 576.
Nagato. See Choshiu.
Nabeshima, 586.
Nagoya, 546.
Nai Dai Jin, 103, 230.
Naignai, 66, 67.
Nakamura (soldier), 403, 404, 410-412, 423, 427.
Nakamura (village), 236.
Nakamura Masauawo, 320, 548.
NakasendO, 266.
Nakatomi, 51, 103.
Names of Japan, 17, 44, 59 ; of mikados, 113,
123 ; of provinces, 42, 74, 601 ; of the peer-
age, 109; of families, 117, 236; of feudal
families, 216, 217, 271-276 ; of shOgnns, 156,
197, 273 ; of Government departments, 698 ;
of horses, 512 ; of Hideyoshi, 236, 237 ; of
ships, 597; titles of mikado, 39; ofshOgun,
197,286,295; of daimiOs, 276.
Naniwa, 56, 407.
Nantaizan, 18, 284.
Nanushi, 418, 428.
IMH:X.
619
Naozanl, 144, 146.
Nara, 110, 111, 1»9, 218.
Nature, 473, 47T.
Naval architecture, 136, 177, 246, 256, 419, 579,
597.
Naval battles, 136, 137, 138, 139, 177.
Naval enterprise, 246, 597.
Navy, 343, 362, 397, 564, 597.
Needles, 207, 210, 505.
Nepotism, 110, 119, 120, 147, 577.
Neutrality, 331.
Newspapers, 319, 337, 342, 352, 568, 590, 591.
New-year's-day, 340, 352, 562.
Ng ; for this combination, see under G.
Nichireu, 163, 164, 165, 166.
Nichiren sect, 233, 404.
NichizO, 165.
Night scenes, 447, 450, 460, 528, 529.
Nigori, the impure or soft sound of a conso-
nant, expressed in Japanese by two dots
or a circle. Chi or shi by nigori become
ji; ho, bo, po ; tew, dzu; su, zu; ku, gu;
fo, bo; etc., etc.
Nigrito, 86, 87.
Nihon Bashi, 369, 378.
Nikon Guai Shi, 298, 299, 545.
Nihongi, 39, 42, 51.
Niigata, 573.
NikkO, 2S4, 285, 287, 480.
A'fJ,M.M. S.S.,405.
Ningpo, 195.
Ninigi, 50, 51.
Ni-0, 380.
Niphon. See Hondo.
Nippon, 17.
Nirvana, 158, 160, 161, 340, 387, 437.
Nitsuki, 364, 365.
Nitta Yoshisada, 154, 155, 182, 184, 189, 190,
404, 419 (note), 422.
No, Japanese particle of, sometimes omitted,
sometimes expressed. E. g., Fuji yama or
Fuji no yama.
Nobles, 93; orders of, 103; families, 108;
number, 600.
Nobori, 439, 463.
Nobnnaga, 236, 238, 250, 2TO, 275, 276.
Norimono, 417.
North-east, 472.
Northern dynasty, 189, 192.
Numadzu, 548.
Numagawa, Mr., 523.
Nunneries. See Convents.
Nuns, 139 (note), 175 (note), 199, 600.
Nursery rhymes, 405.
0, pronounced as o in bone. 0 denotes pro-
longed o.
0, prefix, meaning great, large, imperial, 39
(note).
5 (king). 89 (note). 1M, 896. SSfl.
O, honorary prefix, to be neglected in ana-
lyzing a word.
0 Island, 405. See Oihima.
0 Kura ShO, 108, 104.
Oak, 78.
Oath, 226, 286,286, 316.
Obedience, 890, 466, 559, 570.
Obiko, 66.
Occupations, 32, 33, 63, 194, 193- 203, 279-281,
900.
Ocean, 18, 24, 506.
Ochre, 603.
Odani, 544.
Odawara, 265, 392, 549.
Odes.
5dOri. See Tori.
Officials, 103, 104, 140, 141, 196 (note), 298, 322,
349, 526, 536.
Ogaki, 267, 268, 394, 646.
Ogasawara Morinori, 428, 536.
Oho. See 0.
Oils, 22, 446, 513.
Oji, 374, 400, 548 (note).
Sjin, Tenno, 79, 117, 410, 411, 419 (note).
Oka, the judge, 500-502.
Okasaki, 265.
Oki Island, 151.
Oki, minister of education, 1872, 1S73 ; coun-
selor of state, 322, 586.
okubo, Governor of Sado, 256.
5kubo IchiO, 315, 548.
Oknbo Toshimiti, 302, 303, S12, 317, 318, 319,
821, 322, 399, 574-576.
Omens, 46, 56, 57, 64, 77, 242, 043, 267, 449, 466-
473.
Ometsnke'. See Spies.
tjmi, 418, 544, 545.
Omnra, 250, 253.
Oneida, U. S. S., 329, 592.
Onna Dai Qalnt. See "Woman's Great Stu-
dy."
Ono, 531.
Oo, sound of oo in boot. See under U.
Open ports, 306, 312, 317, 34S, 349, 352, 59S, 599,
604.
Opium, 670.
Opium War, 418.
Oranges, 331, 428, 430, 431, 517, 546.
Ordeal, 92.
Oregonian, P. M. S. S., 404, 405.
Origin of AiuO, 28 ; of North American In-
dians, 479.
5sei era, 103, 104, 300, 578.
Oshima, 121, 122, 154.
Ota, 229. See Sobunaga.
Ota Doknau, 264, 265.
Otani, 256.
i Otoko yama, 410.
620
INDEX.
Otokodate, 279.
5tsu. See Shiga.
Owari family, 273, 545, 546.
Owo. See 0.
Ox, 24, 382, 497, 493, 509, 580, 007.
(5yama, 154.
Oye no Hiromoto, 141, 143.
<5y6 Taku, 338.
<3zaka, 56, 232, 233, 234, 240, 256, 266, 269, 277,
313, 314, 407, 408.
P is the second modification of h or /, and
the first of b. Probably no pure Japanese
word begins with p except onomatopes,
or children's words. Double p (pp) in a
compound word is the strengthening of a
vowel and an aspirate into two explosives,
a sign of careless speaking, and lack of
cultivation. The repetition of the vowel
and aspirate is the mark of good lingual
breeding. Nikon and Yohodo of the Japa-
nese gentleman are far more elegant than
Nippon and Yoppodo of the common peo-
ple. One can tell a person of cultivation
by this one sound.
Pacific Mail S. S. Company, 327, 328, 350, 384
Pacific Ocean, 327, 328, 546.
Paddy-field. See Agriculture.
Page, 428.
Page, Leon, 247 (note).
Pagodas, 8S, 114, 165, 175, 204, 381, 392, 480.
Paintings, 379, 383.
Palace, 61, 62.
Palm-trees, 88.
Paper, 221, 375, 582.
Paper money, 425, 598.
Pappenberg (island), 240, 258.
Parental authority, 123, 124, 147.
Pariahs. See Eta.
Parkes, Sir Harry, quoted, 100, 317, 577.
Pavlownia imperialis, 67, 581, 608.
Peach, 521, 582.
Peachling, 521.
Pears, 51 0,517,607.
Pear-splitter, 220, 433.
Pearson, Lieutenant, U. S. N., 593.
Peasantry, 106, 107, 255, 257, 606.
Pease, 381, 454.
Pembroke, steamer, 593-595.
Penal settlements, 600.
Peony, 582.
Perfumes, 210, 520, 527.
Perry, Commodore, 181,303, 304, 329, 347, 348,
577.
Perry island, 329.
Persecution of the Christians, 257, 531.
Persimmons, 331, 494, 517, 543.
Pern, 299, 566, 567.
Pet animals, 210, 449.
Pfouudes, Captain E., 583.
Petroleum, 21, 525, 546, 604.
Phallic symbols, 33.
Pheasants, 582.
Phenix,4SO,481,581.
Philip II. of Spain, 250.
Philippine Islands, 246, 257.
Physicians, 207, 571, 505.
Physique, 329-332, 570, 671.
Pickapack riding, 354, 543.
Picnics, 205, 487, 521, 523.
Pierce, Franklin, Hon., 401.
Pigeon, 127, 128 (note), 381, 508.
Pilgrims, 200, 205, 252, 337, 358, 388, 406, 407.
Pillory, 190, 309, 361, 581.
Pillows, 423, 497.
Pine-trees, 358, 581.
Pinto, 247, 248, 249.
Pipes, 30, 33, 347, 421, 423, 500, 501, 515, 528.
Pirates, 119, 246.
Pith flowers, 380.
Plows, 607.
Plum-tree blossoms, 384, 428, 431, 582.
Plumbago, 602.
Poetry, 145, 210, 265, 457, 511, 519, 581.
Police, 350, 550, 598.
Polo, 529, 530.
Polygamy, 32, 108, 209, 211, 241, 556, 557.
Pope, 250.
Population, 600, 601, 605.
Porcelain, 423, 517, 530, 546.
Portman, Mr., 340.
Portngnese, 243, 247-263, 545, 577, 602.
Postal cards, 591.
Postal statistics, 590, 591.
Posthumous names and titles, 285, 288.
Postman, 542, 546, 590, 591.
Post-offices, 590, 591.
Post-relays, 264.
Potatoes, 355.
Prayers, 34, 89, 92, 98, 99, 153, 156, 164, 169, 178,
179, 181, 228, 347, 382, 410, 419, 524, 549.
Praying machines, 382, 389.
Preaching, 510, 511, 523.
Presents, 422, 430, 517, 520, 539.
Press, the. See Newspapers.
Priests. See Bonzes, Shinto.
Princes of the blood, 109, 116, 563 (note), 565,
590, 591, 608.
Printing, 351, 492, 520, 648.
Prisons, 165, 184, 568, 569, 572, 588.
Processions, 139, 294, 34S, 353, 464, 625, 645,
565, 692.
Prostitutes, 139, 195, 405, 556, 672.
Protestant Christians, 578.
Proverbs, 146, 376, 437, 457, 498, 504-511, 663.
Provinces, names of, 74, 601.
Prnyn, Hon. Robert H., 401, 594, 595.
Pseudo-mikado, 188.
I \IiEX.
621
Pullman car?, 334.
JPwu;h, The Jajtan, 352.
I'uiis, 304, 370, 465, 469, 471.
Purgatory, 169, 170, 228.
Purple, 407, 499.
Q. See Kin, Kan, or Ka.
Quanon. See Kuanon.
Quarter-staff, 219.
Qnnrtz, 603. See Crystal
Quicksilver, 602-608.
Quivers, 227.
I! in ri sounds like dr.
Rabbit or hare, 420, 495, 582.
Races in Japan, 27, 86.
Radishes, 355, 409, 410, 601.
Rai Sanyo, 165, 298.
RaibiO, 670.
Raiden, 484-4S6.
RaikO, 491, 498.
Railways, 343, 351, 361, 473, 514, 550, 565.
Rain, 479, 589.
Rain-coat, 90, 265.
Ranks, 103, 237, 276, 321, 323, 324.
Ranters, 163.
Ratification of the treaties, 306, 312, 317.
Rationalists, 52, 53, 58.
Rats, 409, 449, 450.
Rebellion. See Insurrections.
Reception of Perry, 303, 304, 329, 347, 348.
Reception at Washington, 324.
Red tape, 349.
Refreshments, 42S, 431. See Diet, Dinner.
Regalia of the Japanese sovereigns, 50, 58,
61, 122, 136, 139, 184.
Regents, 79, 109, 110, 244, 266, 305.
Relay towns, 264, 422.
Relics, 40, 111 (note).
Religion, 33, 34, 62, 61, 80, S3, 88, 89, 92, 95, 96-
100, 158-175, 300, 301, 323, 555, 561, 578.
Remington rifles, 411.
ReuniO, 173.
Rents of land, 585, 606.
Representative government, 566, 574.
Resemblances between Buddhism and Ro-
man Christianity, 252.
Revenge, 135-139, 222, 474.
Revenue, 109, 140, 273, 274, 275, 278, 598. See
Taxes.
Revivals of pure Shinto, 300; of ancient
learning, 298 ; of Buddhism, 163.
Rice, 30, 48, 49, 63, 104, 107, 143, 273, 278, 365,
372, 381, 409, 415, 418, 423, 470, 496, 609, 515,
623, 586, 605-607.
Richardson, Mr., 359, 692.
Riddles, 465.
Riding, 366, 528, 529.
Rifles, 311, 350, 513, 596.
Rinnojl no miya, 885.
RIO, 11)4, 426.
Rip Van Winkle myth*, 498, 602, 603.
Riu Klu. See Liu Kiu.
Rivers of Japan, 20.
Roads, 267, 888, 840, 358-362, 411, 412, 417, 418,
641-660,906. See Railway*
Robbers, 180, 140, 106, 889, 890, 646.
RokngO River, 360. •
Roman Catholicism and Buddhism, resem-
blances, 252.
Roman letters, 591.
ROnin, 228, 278, 307, 809, 815, 316, 378, 574.
Roofs, 90, 286, 290, 382. See Thatch.
Rooms, 205, 435.
Roses, 605.
Rosaries, beads, 165, 169, 252, 379, 883, 406,
426.
Russians, 299, 331, 337, 348, 360, 486, 677.
Rutgers College, 431, 633 (note), 563 (note).
S, always sibilant, as « in sip. In combina-
tion, z. See under ./ and /.
Sabao, 474, 631,686.
Sabbath, 426, 439.
Sacrifices, human, 92 ; animals, 98.
Sadamori, 188 (note).
Sado, 22, 157, 283, 604.
Sadowara, on map. See Mvjazaki.
Saddles, 427.
Saga, 576.
Sagami, 64, 70, 131, 132, 262, 573.
Saghalin, 17, 299, 505, 600.
SaigO Kichinosuke', 302, 312, 315.
SaigO Yorimichi, 218, 663, 575, 677, 592.
Saikei, or SaikiO. See K <<'•(•>.
Sailors, native, 246, 383, 493.
Sailors, foreign, 347, 350, 493, 542.
Sajima, 188 (note).
Sakadori, 537.
Sake", 31, 207, 208, 331, 357, 483.
Saknrada Avenue, 307, 394.
Salt, 97, 387, 442, 467, 470, 511, 603.
Salt-making, 546.
Sama, title, 39 (note), 237.
Same'shima, 400.
Samisen, 364, 408.
Sam Patch, 548, 680.
Samurai, 83, 106, 108, 278, 426, 574, 600.
Sandals, 856, 380.
Sandwich Islands, 579-581.
SauStomo, 148.
SanjO Sau6yoshi, 309, 313, 563.
Sanke", 273, 397.
Sanskrit, 162, 169, 245, 387, 440.
Sapporo, 603.
Saratoga, Cape, 329.
Saris, 261.
Sasaki Oouroku, 424, 613, 516, 537.
622
INDEX.
Satow, Mr. Ernest, 26, 39, 96, 100, 29S, 305
(note).
Satsuma, Prince of, 302, 592, 593.
Satsuma, clan, 267, 269, 274, 276, 277, 300, 301,
302, 312, 313, 321, 571, 592, 593.
Savatier's, Euumeratio, 23, 24.
Sawa Nobuyoshi, 309.
Sawing, 365.
Sayouara, 359, 418, 418, 541.
Scenery, 57, 82, 83, 91, 112, 118, 128, 154, 205,
418-425, 436, 437, 473, 474, 477, 478, 503, 514,
523, 537, 541-550.
Schools, 370-374, 431-434, 523, 538, 561, 563
(note), 573.
Science, 477, 478, 488.
Scissors, 357.
Scolding, 444, 497.
Screens, 317, 364, 422, 523, 581, 582.
Sculling, 33, 331, 332, 406.
Sculpture. See Carving.
Sea-god, 498.
Seal of blood, 256, 285.
Seasons, 25, 588, 590.
Sea-weed, 25, 90, 494.
Sects of Buddhism, 162, 163, 164, 175.
Secular emperor, 140, 185.
Sei-i Tai ShOgun, 142, 274, 312, 313.
S6ki. See Gates.
Sekigahara, 222, 255, 266, 267, 263, 269, 278,
545.
Semman. See Sanetomo.
Semiramis, French man-of-war, 593.
Sendai, 586.
Seppuku, 156, 190, 221, 240, 272, 314, 511.
Serpents. See Snakes.
Servants, 342, 443-445.
Servility, 255, 430.
Sesamum Orientalis, 380.
S6to uchi. See Inland Sea.
Settsn, 62, 409.
Shaka. See Buddha.
Sheep, 606.
Shells, 210, 406, 407, 459, 499.
Shem Mon GakkO, 538. Incorporated with
the Imperial College, which see.
Shepherd, Colonel Charles O., 401, 563.
Shi. See under Ji.
Shiba, 287, 288, 289, 290.
Shibata Katsniye', 230, 233, 239, 240, 241, 435,
637.
Shidzuoka, 261, 284, 304, 547, 548.
Shiga, 413, 414.
ShigSmori, 419.
Shikken, 150.
Shikokn, 113, 277, 586.
Shimabara, 257.
Shimadzu family. See Satsuma Clan.
Sbimadzu Saburo, 312, 592.
Shimoda, 348.
Shimojo, Mr., 547.
Shimonoseki, 135, 139, 311, 377, 392, 575, 593-
595.
Shinagawa, 362.
Shinano, 72, 267 (note), 573, 60S.
ShinnO, 187.
Shinran, 170, 400, 538.
Shin sect, 170, 173, 174, 233, 234.
Shinto, 88 ; model of temple, 90 ; festivals, 92,
160, 251, 300, 301, 410, 411, 419 ; shrines, 600.
Ships. See Naval
Shiro yama. See Hakuzan.
ShOdO, 284.
Shoes, 357.
ShOgnn, 65, 142, 156, 197, 273, 313.
ShOgunate. See Bakufa.
Shops, 356, 364, 365, 370, 378, 379, 546, 550.
ShOyen, 141.
Shrines, 71, 89, 436, 600. See Temples.
Shu-ten dOji, 492, 493.
Shntoku, 183.
Si. See under Shi.
Siam, 111, 246.
Siberia, 26, 27, 364.
Sidotte, Abbe", 2«2, 263.
Silk, 83 (note), 607.
Silver, 602-605, 603.
Singing-girls. See Geisha.
Single combats, 189, 218.
Sitting posture, 31, 356, 365, 413, 421, 445.
Six guards, 275.
Slavery, 670.
Slave-trade, 244, 248, 254, 566, 567.
Sleep, 421, 423, 468, 472.
Small-pox, 468, 470, 549.
Smoking, 258, 347, 372, 421, 500, 501, 528, 532,
570.
Snakes, 58, 389, 510, 525.
Snow, 25, 83 (note), 124, 404, 413, 420, 459, 540
-545, 689.
Snow-shoes, 421, 542.
SO family, 242.
Soap, 356, 546.
Social customs, 32-34, 53, 93, 94, 105-107, 169,
170, 208-213, 222-224, 228, 43!M40, 452-475,
556-561.
Soil, 19, 20, 91, 296, 605-607.
Soldiers, 366.
Solomon, the Japanese, 500-502.
Songs, 34, 47, 332, 401, 402, 432 (note), 454, 495,
641.
Sosanoo, 45, 48, 49.
Sovereigns, list of, 123.
Soul, 460, 472.
Southern dynasty, 188, 189, 192.
Soy (shOyu), 208, 367, 455, 496.
Spaniards, 250, 255, 258, 577.
Sparrows, 223, 505, 627.
Spear exercise, 433.
INDEX.
623
Spears, 138, 219, 311, 420, B74.
Spiders, 58, 493.
Spies, 68, 61), 144, 2U6, 369.
Spire, 381.
Spiritual emperor, 140, 185.
Sponge-cake, ',258, 260, 428, BIT.
Sports, 209, 360, 452-405.
Sportsmen, 394, 397, 549.
Springs, 21, 1*28.
Stature, 470, 596.
Steamboat, 414, 415, 597.
Steamships, 328, 339, 347, 575, 597.
Steatite, 603.
Stirrups, SCO, 467, 530.
Stockings, 373,434,537.
Stone Age, 2'J.
Stonewall, iron-clad rnm, 72, 362, 597.
Stories, 35, 490-503.
Storks. 24, 409, 420.
Storms, 25, 178, 188, 479, 625, 589.
Story-tellers, 423, 491.
Stowaways, 328.
Straw, 90. 358, 360, 426.
Street-cries, 333, 427.
Street-tumblers, 332.
Students in America, 57, 329, 358, 522, 523, 563.
Succession to the throne, 64, 110.
Sucking breath, 211 (note), 222, 524.
Sugarn, 486.
Sngawara, 109, 115, 116,400.
Suicide, 144, 156, 190, 221, 240, 315, 473, 550
(note).
Suido, 188 (note).
Sfijin, 60-67.
Sulphur, 21, C02-605.
Sumida River, 131, 378, 482.
Sumpu, 547 (note). See Shidzftoka.
Sunday, 260, 402, 426.
Sunday-schools, 351, 426.
Sun-goddess, 48.
Sun-worship, 56, 97, 580.
Superstition, 25, 466-468, 570.
Surface of the country, 17-25, 63, 64, 218, 220,
411,412,596.
Surgeons, 221, 306 (note), 375, 571 (note).
Snrnga, 64, 69, 131, 132, 230, 265, 284, 370, 374,
415, 547, 548, 573.
Snruga dai, 374, 599.
Sutras, 203.
Snwo, 250.
Suzume", 47, 48, 53, 491.
Swans, 397.
Sweetmeats, 359, 422, 517, 548.
Sweet-potatoes, 355, 517, 546.
Sword-racks, 372, 415, 434, 550.
Swords, 49, 69, 154, 155, 221-225, 36C, 370, 374-
376, 509, 525.
Symbolism, 50, 53, 160, 227, 425, 437, 474, 488,
487, 488, 581, 532, 607, 60S.
40
T In combination, d.
Tables, 260. 428. 424, 533, 541.
Tablets, 880, 381, 883, 440.
Tuchlbaua hiint'-, 70.
Tacbibnna, 70.
Tadumorl, 118.
TuikO, 237. See Hideyothi.
Talkun, 273 (note), 286, 287, 295, 304-367.
Tiiira family, 109, 115-139, 188, 814, 215, 210,
229, 230, 406, 419.
Taku Island, 181.
Takauawa, 362, 400.
Takat>himaya, Mr., 334.
Tak<ida, 217.
Takt-fu, 170. 419, 422, 423, 541.
Takgnonchi, 79, 419 (note).
Takiang, steamer, 593.
Tales. See Folk-lore.
Tamagushi, 46.
Tame'tomo, 121, 122.
Tatnnra, 28.
Tancrede, French mau-of-war, 693.
Tnne'gashima, 24S.
Tanners. See Eta.
Tartars, 36.
Tartary, 176-181.
Tatsn no kuchi, 177.
Tattooing, 32, 512.
Taxes, 63, 104, 106, 107, 140, 141, 151, 205, 217,
698, 606.
Tayasu Kam6nosuk6, 564.
Tea, 112, 337, 357, 360, 387, 388, 409, 410, 415,
471, 472, 642, 599.
Tea-crop, 599.
Tea-houses, 358, 359, 388, 523, 542.
Teachers, S3, 109, 150, 204, 371, 527, 563, 577.
Teeth, 32, 80, 210, 211 (note), 359, 382, 469, 507,
544.
Telegraphs, 343, 350, 473, 545, 675, 60S.
Temples, 61, 70, 79, 88, 90-97, 99, 131, 157, 173,
199, 204, 206, 22S, 229, 232, 242, 245, 252, 284,
285, 287-290, 378-390, 406, 410, 411, 419, 438.
Temujin, 144 (note).
Ten Sho Dai Jiu. See AmaUrattu.
Tengn, 469, 487.
Tenjin, 116, 144 (note).
TennO, 36, 39.
Terashima Mune'nori, 399.
Terraces, 64, 90, 91, 417, 418.
Thatched roofs, 89, 90, 212, 328, 420.
Theatres, 94, 407, 515.
Thieves, 140, 196.
Three jewels. See Regalia.
Thunder, 484, 436, 589.
Tidal wave, 25, 348, 477, 4S6.
Tiffin, 370.
Tiger, 506, 509, 582.
Tiger skins, 220.
Tiles, 3S2, 394, 397, 436.
624
INDEX.
Timber, 22, 418, 533.
Time, 63, 113, 421.
Tin, 603, 605.
Titles, 103, 19T, 276, 321.
Titsiugh, 207 (note).
Toba, 123, 411, 412.
Tobacco, 258, 500, 501, 570. See Smoking.
Toge (mountain passes), 71, 72, 267 (note).
TOjin, 420, 512, 516, 547.
TOkaidO, 346, 348, 353-362, 404, 545-549, 601.
TOkei ; another pronnnciation of TOkiO,
which see.
Tokimasa, 129, 141, 147, 148.
Tokimnne, 157, 165, 176.
TOkiO, 363-403, 550, 563.
Tokiwa, 124, 545.
Tokiyori, 149, 165.
Tokonoma, 31, 219.
Tokugawa, 67, 157, 270-274, 287-290, 294-296,
312, 313, 398, 547, 548, 564, 586.
Toll, 360.
Tombs of emperors, 62, 157.
Tombs of shOgnns, 284-290.
Tombstones, 514.
"Tommy," 401.
TomoyS, 135 (note), 458.
Tonegawa, 394.
Tongue, 44, 511.
Tops, 459.
Tori, 366, 550, 563.
Torii, 98, 252.
Toronosqui. See Kato Kiyomasa.
Tortoise, 390, 436, 481, 487, 498, 505, 525.
Torture, 569.
Tosa, 312, 313, 586.
TOtomi, 646.
Tow-path, 426, 427.
Toyotomi, 237. See Hideyoshi.
Toys, 366, 379, 452-465.
Tozama, 275.
Trade-dollars, 407.
Trades, 203-205, 279, 280, 355, 366, 600.
Travels, 149, 175, 212, 405-424, 471, 509, 541-
550, 573.
Treasury department, 103, 104, 598, 608.
Treasure-ship, 425, 472.
Treaties, 304, 306, 312, 317, 348.
Trees, sacred, 473, 474.
Tsi. See under Chi.
Tsogarft, 28, 608.
Tsnkiji, 362, 363, 550, 563.
Tmbuba Kan, training-ship, 564, 597.
Tsnuetoki, 149.
Tsurnga, 76, 79, 416-419. 608.
Tsurngaoka. 131. 148, 242, 404.
Tsushima, 118, 176,242.
Tsutsnmi, Mr., 627, 636.
Turenne, Count, 573.
Turnips, 227, 543.
Twins, 468.
Two-sworded men. See Samurai, Swords.
Tycoon. See Shogun, Tai-kun.
Types of faces, 29, 30, 86, 87.
Typhoon, 176, 178, 181, 477, 525, 579, 580.
U, pronounced as u in rule, or oo in boot.
Uchida, 320.
Uguisu. See Cuckoo.
Uji. 61.
Ukemochi, 49, 419 (note).
Umbrellas, 356, 435.
United States, relations with Japan, 299, 303,
347, 400, 401, 577, 591, 593-595.
University. See Imperial College.
Unkei, 157.
Uraga, 261, 329.
Urashima, boy of, 498-500.
Uriu,Mr.,320.
Ushi toki mairi, 474, 475.
Usurpation, 146, 148. SeeBaku/u.
Uwajima, 317, 399, 518.
Uyeno, 287, 300, 315.
Uyesngi, 217.
Uznme', 47, 48.
V. There is no v in Japanese. See under W.
Van Reed, E., 592, 593.
Van Valkenbergh, General, 401.
Vasco da Gama, 247.
Vegetables, 23, 49, 203, 357, 415, 470, 607.
Vendetta. See Revenge.
Venice of Japan, 240. See Ozaka.
Venison, 390.
Vermicelli, 422.
Vices, ancient, 94.
Vienna Exposition, 405 (note), 564, 565.
Villages, 27, 28, 346, 351, 600, 60C.
Virtue, 94, 209, 371, 481, 555, 556, 583.
Visitors, 430, 467, 468, 471.
Volcanoes, 20, 21.
Von Brandt, Minister, 100 (note), 247 (note).
Votive tablets, 383.
Vows, 199, 228.
Wages, 355.
Wakamatsu, 315, 366.
Wakizashi. See Dirk.
Walters, Mr., 262.
Wan i, 83.
War, 197.
Wash, 494.
Washington, 624, 546.
Watches, 334.
Water, stealing, 63, 64.
Water-course?, 63, 64, 91, 523.
Watson, Mr. R. G., 607, 56S.
Wax, 388, 446.
Wax-figures, 388.
INDEX.
Wayside shrines, 88, 89, 198, 282, 641.
Weasel, 471, 482.
Weather probabilities, 447, 469.
Weaving, 31, 33, 46, 49, 53, 046.
Webster Isle, 329.
Weddings, 438, 471, 472, BIB.
Whalebone, 468.
Whales, 299.
Wheat, 340, 607.
Wheaton's "International Law," 399.
Wheeled vehicles, 114, 212, 332, 333, 334.
Wild fowl, 24, 132, 394, 420, 637.
William the Conqueror, 686.
Wind, 484, 689.
Wind-imp, 483.
Windows, 394, 448, 4T1.
Winter, 26, 72 (note), 124, 404, 640, 646, BS8,
690.
Wirgman, Mr. A. See Punch.
Wistaria, 274.
Wo. See under 0 or 0.
Woo. See under U.
Wood-cutter, 390, 495, 503.
Wolves, 24, 3S9, 640.
Woman, 44, 75, 117 (note), 208, 210, 212, 213,
651, 561. See Female characters.
" Woman's Great Study," 211, 212, 553.
Wooing, 385, 523, 524.
Wool, 606.
Wrestling, 34R, 433, 441, 442, 519.
Writing, 91, 92, 113, 114, 153, 162, 194, 206, 212,
402.
Wyvming, U. S. S., 593.
X. For words beginning with * in Portu-
guese books, or those copied therefrom,
see under Shi.
Xavier, 249, 250, 252, 412.
Y. See also under E.
Yagnra (castle-towers), 414.
Ynkuniu (business man, official), 481, 626.
Yama-bushl, 206.
Yamauonchi, 688.
Yamaoka Jlro, 523.
Yamasblro, 62.
Yamato, 30, 67, 68, 66, 309, 523.
Yamato-Dak£ no mlkoto, 09, 72, 78, 419 (note).
Yamato damashi, 318, 435, 671, 697.
Yamazakl, 409.
Yashikl, 393, 394, 397, 898, 407, 42T, 536, 663.
Yasukc, 236.
Yasntoki, 149.
Yatabori,Mr.,648.
Yawata, 410, 411.
Year, divisions, 63.
Years, critical in life, 472.
Yedo, 264, 266, 307, 3ia See 7WWS.
Yezo, 19, 26-35, 605, 607.
Yodo, river, 112, 408-410.
Yodo, town, 411.
Yokohama, 327-352, 399, 589.
Yokosuka, 262, 562.
Yorliye\ 147, 148.
Yorimasa, 581.
Yoritomo, 125, 126, 144, 241, 293, 323, 404, 463.
Yoshida Kiyonari, Mr., 663 (note).
Yoshida Shoin, 306, 306.
Yoshinaka, 134.
Yoshitomo, 117, 121, 123.
Yoshi tsune, 34, 124, 143, 144, 206, 404, 453, 512.
Yoshiye', 117.
Yoshi wara, 362, 364, 566, 666.
Yuri. See Mitsiwka.
Z. See under J or S.
Zempnknji, 400, 401.
Zen sect, 162, 163.
Zodiac signs, 3S2, 680.
ZOzoji, 287, 2S8, 289, 290, 394.
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J. LOSSING. 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $14 00 ;
Sheep, $1500; Half Calf, $18 00; Full
Turkey Morocco, Gilt Edges, $22 00.
PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OF THE
WAR OF 1S12 ; or, Illustrations by Pen
and Pencil of the History, Biography,
Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the
last War for American Independence.
By BKNSON J. LOSSING. With 882 Illus-
trations, engraved on Wood by Loosing
& Barritt, chiefly from Oriirinal Sketch-
es by the Author. Complete in One
Volume, 10S4 pages, large Svo. Price,
in Cloth, $T 00 ; Sheep, $S 50 ; Full Ronn,
$9 00; Half Calf or Half Morocco ex-
tra, $1000; Full Morocco, Gilt Edges,
$12 00.
OREGON AND CALIFORNIA IN 1848.
U'ith an Appendix, Including Kecent
and Authentic Information on the sub-
ject of the Gold Mines of California,
ami other Valuable Matter of Intercut
to the Emigrant. By Judge J. QCINN
TIIOBNTON. With llluctraiTonB and a
Map. 2 vols., ISmo, Cloth, $3 00.
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
JAMES P. BECKWOURTH, Mount-
aineer, Soldier, and Pioneer, and Chief
of the Crow Indians. Written from his
own Dictation by T. D. BONNICR. With
Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
FOUR YEARS IN THE SADDLE. By
11 AUKY GILMOR. 12mo, Cloth, $i 00.
MY DIARY NORTH AND SOUTH. By
WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL. LL.D. Svo.
Cloth, $1 00.
BRITISH AMERICA. Historical and
Descriptive Account of British Amer-
ica ; comprehending the Canadas, No-
va Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfound-
land, Prince Edward Island, the Bermu-
das, and the Fur Countries : their His-
tory from the Earliest Settlement— their
Statistics, Topography, Commerce,
Fisheries, Social and Political Condi-
tion ; also an Account of the Manners
and Present State of the Aboriginal
Tribes. By HUGU MURRAY. Illustra-
tions. 2 vols., ISmo, Cloth, $1 50.
AMERICAN ADVENTURE BY LAND
AND SEA: being remarkable Instan-
ces of Enterprise and Fortitude among
Americans ; Indian Captures, Ship-
wrecks, Adventures at Home and
Abroad, &c. By EPKS SARGENT. 2 vols.,
I MIX ', Cloth, $1 50.
EL GRINGO ; or, New Mexico and her
People. By W. W. H. DAVIS, late Unit-
ed States Attorney. 12mo, Cloth,
$150.
MEXICO. Adventures in Mexico and (he
Rocky Mountains. By GEORGE F. Kux-
TON. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
MEXICO: onr Next-Door Neighbor. Re-
cent Sketches of Mexico. By the Rev.
GILBERT HAVEN, D. D., Bishop in the
M. E. Church. With Maps and Illustra-
tions. Crown Svo, Cloth, $3 50.
VAGABOND LIFE IN MEXICO. By
GABRIEL FERRY, for Seven Years resident
in that Country. 12nu>, Cloth, $1 50.
MEXICO : its Peasants and its Priests ; or,
Adventures and Historical Researches in
Mexico and its Silver Mines during Parts
of the Years 1851, '52, '53, '54, with an Ex-
pose of the Fabulous Character of the
Story of the Conquest of Mexico by
Cortez. By ROBERT A. WILSON, late
judge of Sacramento District, Califor-
nia. With Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth.
$150.
4 Valuable Books of Exploration, Travel, and Adventure.
CENTRAL AMERICA.
ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG NATU-
RALIST. By LIIOIEN BIAET. Edited and
Adapted by PAEKF.B GII.LMOEE. With
117 Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.
EXPLORATIONS AND ADVENTURES
IN HONDURAS: comprising Sketches
of Travel in theGold KegiousofOlancho,
and a Review of the History and Gen-
eral Resources of Central America.
With Maps and Illustrations. By WILL-
IAM V.WELI.S. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50.
NICARAGUA: its People, Scenery, Mon-
ument?, Resources, Condition, and Pro-
posed Canal. With One Hundred Maps
and Illustrations. By E. G. SQUIEK.
8vo, Cloth, $4 00 : Half Calf, $6 25.
WAIKNA ; or, Adventures on the Mos-
quito Shore. By E. G. SQDIEE. With
a Map of the Mosquito Shore, and up-
ward of Sixty Original Illustrations.
12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
THE STATES OF CENTRAL AMER-
ICA: their Geography, Topography,
Climate, Population, Resources, Produc-
tions, Commerce, Political Organiza-
tion, Aborigines, &c., <&c. Comprising
Chapters on Honduras, San Salvador,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Be-
lize, the Baylslands, the Mosquito Shore,
and the Honduras Inter-Oceanic Rail-
way. By E. G. SQUIEE, formerly Charge
d'Affaires of the United States to the
Republics of Central America. With nu-
merous Original Maps and Illustrations.
8vo, Cloth, $4 00.
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA,
CHIAPAS, AND YUCATAN. By J. L.
STEPHENS. With a Map and 88 Illustra-
tions. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $6 00.
TRAVELS IN YUCATAN. By J. L.
STEPHENS. 120 Illustrations, from Draw-
ings by F. CATIIEBWOOD. 2 vols., 8vo,
Cloth, $6 00.
SOUTH AMERICA.
THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON ; or,
Across the Continent of South Amer-
ica. By JAMES OBTON, M. A. Third
Edition, Revised and Enlarged, contain-
ing Notes of a Second Journey across
the Continent from Para to Lima and
Lake Titicaca. With two Maps and
numerous Illustrations. Crown. 8vo,
Cloth, $3 00.
LIFE IN BRAZIL; or, A Journal of a
Visit to the Land of the Cocoa and the
Palm. With an Appendix, containing
Illustrations of Ancient and South
American Arts, in recently discovered
Implements and Products of Domestic
Industry, and Works in Stone, Pottery,
Gold, Silver, Bronze, &c. By THOMAS
EWHANK. Illustrations. Svo, Cloth,
$300; Half Calf, $5 25.
PANAMA IN 1S55: an Account of the
Panama Rnilroad, of the Cities of Pan-
ama and Aspinwnll, with Sketches of
Life and Character on the Isthmus. By
ROBF.BT TOMES, M.D. Illustrations.
IGnio, Cloth, 75 cents.
NEW GRANADA : Twenty Months in
the Andes. By I. F. HOLTON. Illustra-
tions. Maps, and a copious Index. Svo,
Cloth, $3 00 ; Half Calf, $5 25.
LA PLATA, the Argentine Confederation,
and Paraguay. Being a Narrative of
the Exploration of the Tributaries of
the River La Plata and adjacent Coun-
tries during the Years 1853, '54, '55, and
'56, under the Orders of the United States
Government. New Edition, containing
Farther Explorations in La Plata, made
during the years 1859 and 1800, under the
Orders of the United States Govern-
ment. By THOMAS J. PAGE, U. S. N.,
Commander of the Expedition. With
Map and numerous Illustrations. Svo,
Cloth, $5 00.
CHILI: the Arancanians: or, Notes of a
Tour among: the Indian Tribes of South-
ern Chili. By EDMUND RF.UEI. SMITH, of
the U. S. N. Astronomical Expedition in
Chili. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
EUROPE.
OLD ROME AND NEW ITALY. By
EMM.IO CASTEI.AB. Translated by Mrs.
ARTHUR ARNOLD. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.
THE OLD WORLD IN ITS NEW FACE :
Impressions of Europe in 18C7-1868. By
HENRY W. BELLOWS. 2 vola., 12mo,
Cloth, $3 60.
A SUMMER IN SCOTLAND. By JAOOI.
AUIIOTT. Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth,
$1 75.
SWEDEN AND NORWAY : THE LAND
OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. By PAUL
B. DD CIIAILLU. Magnificently Illustra-
ted with Maps and Engravings by Mr.
Whymper, from the Author's Photo-
graphs and Sketches. (In Preparation.)
THE KNOUT AND THE RUSSIANS : or,
The Muscovite Empire.the C/ar, and his
People. By GERMAIN I>E LAQNV. Illus-
trations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 25.
Valuable Books of Exploration, Travel, and Adveuture. 5
TRAVELS IN EUROPE. Random Sketch-
es and Notes of European Travel In
1S56. By Rev. JOHN E. EDWARI.B, A.M.
l.'in.i, Cloth, $1 50.
THE AMERICAN IN ENGLAND. By
ALEXANDER SI.IHKI.I. MACKENZIE, U.S.N.
1 vuls., l-Jiiio, Cloth, $2 50.
QUEEN VICTORIA'S JOURNAL OP
LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS, FROM
1S4S TO 1861. To which are prefixed
and nddecl Kxtracts from the same
Journal giving a" Account of Earlier
Visits to Scotland, and Tonrs in Eng-
land and Ireland, nud Yntching Excur-
sions. Edited by AIITIIUU Mi i.i-s.
12mo, Morocco Cloth, Beveled Edges,
$1 15.
FRED MARKHAM IN RUSSIA: or,
The Boy Travelers in the Land of the
Czar. By W. H. G. KINGSTON. Illus-
trations. Small 4to, Cloth, 75 cents.
FREE RUSSIA. By W. HF.PWOETII DIXON,
Author of "Her Majesty's Tower,"&c.
With Two Illustrations. Crown 8vo,
Cloth, $2 00.
GLIMPSES OF SPAIN; or, Notes of an
Unfinished Tour in 1S47. By S. T.
WAM.IS. 12mo, Cloth, $1 60 ; Half Calf,
$325.
A YEAR IN SPAIN. By ALEXANDER
SMDKLL MACKENZIE, U. 8. N. Illus-
trations. Svols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 75.
SPAIN REVISITED. By ALEXANDER
Sl.IDKLL MACKENZIE, U. S. N. IllUS-
trations. 2 vols., l'>mo, Cloth, $3 50.
LIFE IN SPAIN : Past and Present. By
WAi.TKiiTuoRNnrjiiY. 12mo,Cloth, $1 50.
PILLARS OF HERCULES ; or, A Narra-
tive of Travels in Spain and Morocco
in 184S. By DAVID U HQUHART, M. P. 2
vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 00.
MADEIRA, PORTUGAL, AND THE
ANDALUSIAS. Sketches and Advent-
ures in Madeira, Portugal, and the An-
dalusins of Spain. By the Author of
"Daniel Webster" and his Contempo-
raries. Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
AN AMERICAN FAMILY IN GER-
MANY : By J. Ross BROWNE. Illus-
trations. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00.
THE LAND OF THOR. By J. Ross
BOWNK. Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth,
$•-> 00.
ENGLISH TRAVELERS AND ITALIAN
BRIGANDS. A Narrative of Capture
and Captivity. By W. J. C. MOF.NB. Il-
lustrations. 12m<>, Cloth, $175.
MODERN GREECE; a Narrative of a
Residence and Travels in that Country.
With Observations on its Antiquities,
Literature, Language, Politics, and Re-
ligion. Bv HENRY M. BAIBD, M.A. Nu-
merous Illustrations. 12rno, Cloth, ft 50.
THE IircifENOTS IN FRANCE AFT-
ER Tin; I;I:\IM ATION <(f the E-iict
of Name*; with a Viclt to the Country
of the Vauil'iis. By SAMUKI..SMII.KM, Au-
thor of "The HRgMMto! their Settle-
ments, Churches, anil Industrie* in Eng-
land and Ireland," "Self-Help," " Char-
acter," " Life of the Stepheuisons," Ac.
Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 00.
FRANCE, Social. Literary, and Political.
By SIB HKNRY LYTTO.M BDLWKB. 12mo,
Cloth, $1 00.
TRAVELS IN GREECE, Turkey, Rnsaia,
and Poland. By J. L. STEI-HENB. Illus-
trations. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 00.
ATHENS, ITS RISE AND FALL: with
Views of the Literature, Philosophy, and
Social Life of the Athenian People.
12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
SIGHTS & SENSATIONS IN FRANCE,
GERMANY, AND SWITZERLAND;
or, Experiences of a n American Journal-
ist in Europe. By EDWARD GOULD Bor-
KUM. VJmo, Cloth, $1 50.
TRI-COLORED SKETCHES IN PARIS.
during the Years 1851-2-3. With numer-
ous Illustrations. 12 mo, Cloth, $1 50.
ON THE TRAIL OF THE GERMAN
AND FRENCH WAR. By ALEXANDER
INNES SHAND, Occasional Corresponent
of the London Times. With illustrations.
Svo, Paper, 35 cents.
ITALIAN SIGHTS AND PAPAL PRIN-
CIPLES SEEN THROUGH AMERI-
CAN SPECTACLES. By JAMES JACK-
SON JARVES, Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth,
$1 50.
PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FRENCH
PRINCIPLES seen through American
Spectacles. By JAMKS JAOKBOS JARTKB.
Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, fl 50.
PARISIAN SIGHTS AND FRENCH
PRINCIPLES seen through American
Spectacles. Second Series. By JAMKS
JAOKSON JARVES. Illustrations, 12mo,
Cloth, $1 50.
MEN AND THINGS AS I SAW THEM
IN EUROPE. By KIRWAS. 12mo, Cloth,
$150.
EUROPEAN ACQUAINTANCE: being
Sketches of People in Europe. By J.
W. DK FOREST. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
DORE". By a Stroller in Europe. 12mo,
Cloth, $1 50.
LETTERS FROM ABROAD TO KIN-
DRED AT HOME. By Miss CATHARINE
M. SKDUWIOK. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth,
1300.
THE PRIVATE JOURNAL OF AARON
BURR, during his Residence of Four
Years in Europe : with Selections from
his Correspondence. Edited by M. L.
DAVIS. 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $4 00.
6 Valuable Books of Exploration, Travel, and Adventure.
ASIA.
THE LAND OF THE WHITE ELE-
PHANT: Sights and Scenes in South-
eastern Asia. A Personal Narrative of
Travel and Adventure in Farther India,
embracing the Countries of Burma,
Siani, Cambodia, and Cochin - China
(1871-2). By FRANK VINCENT, Jr. Mag-
nificently Illustrated with Maps, Plans,
and numerous Woodcuts. Crown Svo,
Cloth, $3 60.
THE STRAITS OF MALACCA, INDO-
CHINA, AND CHINA ; or, Ten Years'
Travels, Adventures, and Residence
Abroad. By J. THOMSON, F.R.G.S., Au-
thor of "Illustrations of China and its
People." With over 60 Illustrations
from the Author's own Photographs and
Sketches. Svo, Cloth, $4 00.
THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE. By W. E.
GKIKKIS. (Just Ready.)
CHINA AND THE CHINESE: a Gen-
eral Description of the Country and
its Inhabitants ; its Civilization and
Form of Government ; its Religious and
Social Institutions ; its Intercourse with
other Nations ; and its Present Con-
dition and Prospects. By the Rev.
JOHN L. NEVICS, Ten Years a Mission-
ary in China. With a Map and Illus-
trations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75.
SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHINESE: with
some Account of their Religious, Gov-
ernmental, Educational, and Business
Customs and Opinions. With Special
but not exclusive Reference to Fuhchau.
By Rev. JUSTUS DOOI.ITTI.E, Fourteen
Years Member of the Fuhchau Mission
of the American Board. Illustrations.
2 vols.,12mo, Cloth, $6 00 ; Half Calf, $8 60.
HISTORY OF CHINA. A General De-
scription of the Empire of China and its
Inhabitants. By JOHN F. DAVIS, F.R.S.
Map and Illustrations. 2 vols., 18mo,
Cloth, $1 50.
THE CONSULAR CITIES OF CHINA.
A Narrative of an Exploratory Visit
to each of the Consular Cities of China,
and to the Islands of Hong-Kong and
Chusan, in Behalf of the Church Mis-
sionary Society, in the Years 1344-46.
By Rev. G. SMITH. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE CHI-
NESE EMPIRE. By M. Hue. With
Map. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 00.
ARMENIA AND ERZEROOM. Arme-
nia : A Year at Erzeroom, and on the
Frontiers of Russia, Turkey, and Persia.
By the Hon. ROHKKT CCR/.ON. Map and
Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 25.
YUSEF : or, The Journey of the Frangi.
By J. Ross BROWNE. Illustrations. 12mo,
Cloth, $1 75.
CAMPAIGNING ON THE OXUS, and
the Full of Khiva. By J. A. MACGAHAN.
With Map and Illustrations. Crown
Svo, Cloth, $3 50.
THE CAPITAL OF THE TYCOON : a
Narrative of a Three Years' Residence
in Japan. By Sir RCTHKRFOKI> ALOOCK,
K.C.B., Her Majesty's Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in
Japan. With Maps and Illustrations.
2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE
JAPANESE IN THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY. From Ihe Accounts of
Recent Dutch Residence in Japan,
and from the German Work of Dr.
PH. FII. VON SIEBO«>. 18mo, Cloth, 75
cents.
NARRATIVE OF THE EARL OF EL-
GIN'S MISSION TO CHINA AND
JAPAN, in the Years 1857, '58, '59. By
LAUKKNOE OLIPUANT, Private Secretary
to Lord Elgin. Illustrations. Svo,
Cloth, $3 50.
FANKWEI ; or, The San Jacinto in the
Seas of India, China, and Japan. By
WILLIAM MAXWELL Woon.M.D., U.S.N.,
late Surgeon of-the Fleet to the United
States East India Squadron. 12mo,
Cloth, f 1 50.
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL ASIA : being
the Account of a Journey from Teheran
across the Turkoman Desert, on the
Eastern Shore of the Caspian, to Khiva,
Bokhara, and Samarcand, performed in
the Year 1863. By ARMINIUS VAMU^UY,
Member of the Hungarian Academy of
Pesth, by whom he was gent on this
Scientific Mission. With Map and Wood-
cuts. Svo, Cloth, $450; Half Calf,
$6 75.
MEMOIR OF THE REV. JOHN SCUD-
DER, M.D., Thirty-six Years Mission-
ary in India. By the Rev. J. B. WATER-
JIUHY, D.D. Portrait. 12mo, Cloth,
$1 75.
HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE AC-
COUNT OF BRITISH INDIA. By
HUOII MURRAY, JAMES WILSON, R. K.
GREVILLK, LL.D.,W. AINSLIK, M.D.,WM.
RIIIND, Prof. JAMESON, Prof. WALLACE,
and Captain CLAIIHNOE DAI.RYMPLE.
Illustrations. 3 vols., ISmo, Cloth,
$225.
ORIENTAL AND WESTERN SIBE-
RIA : n Narrative of Seven Years' Ex-
plorations and Advent lire* in Siberia,
Mongolia, the Kirghis Steppes. Chinese
Tartary, nnd Part of Central Asia. By
THOMAS WITI.AM ATKINSON. With a
Map and numerous Illustrations. Svo,
| Cloth, f3 50.
Valuable Books of Exploration, Travel, and Adventure. 7
TRAVELS IN THE REGIONS OF THE
UPPER AND LOWER AMOOR, and the
Russian Acquisitions on the Confines
of India and China. With Adventure*
among the Mountain Kirghis, and the
Manjours, Manyargs, Toungous, Ton-
zemtx, (inldi, and Galyaks, the Hunting
and Pastoral Tribes. By THOMAS WIT-
LAM ATKINSON, F.Q.S., F.R.0. 8. With a
Map and numerous Ill's. Svu,Cloth,$3 00.
MARCO POLO'S TRAVELS: greatly
amended and enlarged from valuable
early Manuscripts published by the
French Society of Geography, and in
Italy by Count Baldelli Boni. With
copious Notes, Illustrating the Routes
nud Observations of the Author, and
comparing them with those of more
recent Travelers. By HUOII MURRAY,
F.R.S.E. Maps and a Vignette. 18mo,
Cloth, 75 cents.
HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE AC-
COUNT OF PERSIA, with a Detailed
View of its Resources, Government,
Population, Natural History, and the
Character of lu Inhabitants, partic-
ularly of the Wandering Tribes : Includ-
ing a Description of Afghanistan and
Beloochitttan. By J. BAILLIB FHABKB.
18mo, Cloth, 75 cents.
HISTORY OF MESOPOTAMIA AND
ASSYRIA, from the Earliest Ages to the
Present Time. By J. BAILLIE FftASU.
ISmo, Cloth, 75 ceutB.
REINDEER, DOGS, AND SNOW-
SHOKS: a Journal of Siberian Travel
and Explorations made in the Years
1865-V57. By RICUABD J. Bcsii, late of
the Russo-Americaa Telegraph Expedi-
tion. Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth,
$300.
AFRICA.
THE LAST JOURNALS OF DAVID
LIVINGSTONE, in Central Africa, from
1865 to his Death. Continued by a
Narrative of his Last Moments and
Sufferings, obtained from his Faithful
Servants Chnmah and Susi. By HOR-
BAOK WAI.I.E'B, F.R.G.S., Rector ofTwy-
well, Northampton. With Maps and
Illustrations. Library Edition.Svo.Cloth,
$5 00; Sheep, $6 00; Half Calf, $7 '25.
Cheap, Popular Edition, Crown Svo,
Cloth, with Map and Illustrations, $2 50.
MISSIONARY TRAVELS AND RE-
SEARCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA; in-
cluding a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Resi-
dence in the Interior of Africa, and a
Journey from the Cape of Good Hope
to Loando on the West Coast; the_nce
across the Continent, down the River
Zambesi, to the Eastern Ocean. By
DAVID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D., D.C.L. With
Portrait, Maps by Arrowsmith, and nu-
merous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $4 50 ;
Sheep, $5 00 ; Half Calf, f<5 75.
NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO
THE ZAMBESI AND ITS TRIBUTA-
RIES ; and of the Discovery of the
Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa. 1858-1864.
By DAVID and CHABI.ES LIVINGSTONE.
With Map and Illustrations. Svo, Cloth,
$5 00 ; Sheep, $5 50 ; Half Calf, $7 25.
THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL
AFRICA. A Picture of Exploration.
By CAPTAIN RICHARD F. BUBTON, Fellow
and Gold Medalist of the Royal Geo-
graphical Societies of France and Eng-
land. Maps and Illustrations. Svo, Cloth,
$350.
WESTERN AFRICA: its History, Con-
dition, and Prospects. By the Rev. J.
LEIGHTON WILSON, Eighteen Years a
Missionary in Africa, and now one of
the Secretaries of the Presbyterian
Board of Foreign Missions, with nu-
merous Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50.
ISMAILlA : a Narrative of the Expedi-
tion to Central Africa for the Suppres-
sion of the Slave-Trade, organized by
ISMAIL, KHKDIVB OF EGYPT. By Sir
SAMDEL WHITE BAKKB, PASHA, F.R.S.,
F.R.G.S. With Maps, Portraits, and
upward of 50 full-page Illustrations by
Z wecker and Durand. Svo, Cloth, $5 00.
THE HEART OF AFRICA; or, Three
Years' Travels and Adventures In the
Unexplored Regions of the Centre of
Africa. Fom 1868 to 1S71. By Dr.
GKOBG SCHWEINFUBTH. Translated by
ELLEN E. FBEWEB. With an Introduc-
tion by WINWOOD READ*. Illustrated
by about 180 Woodcuts from Drawings
made by the Author, and with Two
Maps. 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $3 00.
WESTERN AFRICA: being the Narra-
tive of a Tour in Equatorial, Southwest-
ern, and Northwestern Africa : with
Notes on the Habits of the Gorilla ; on
the Existence of Unicorns and Tailed
Men; on the Slave-Trade; on the Origin,
Character, and Capabilities of the Ne-
gro, and on the Future Civilization of
Western Africa. By W. Wiswoon
READIC, Fellow of the Geographical and
Anthropological Society of London, and
CorrespondmsrMemberof the Geograph-
ical Society of Paris. With Illustrations
and a Map. Svo, Cloth, $4 00 ; Sheep,
$450; Half Calf, $625.
TRAVELS IN EGYPT, ARABIA PK-
TR.EA. AND THE HOLY LAND. By
J. L. STEPHENS. Illustrations. 2 vols.,
12mo, Cloth, $3 00.
COOMASSIE ANDMAGDALA: a Story
of Two British Campaigns in Africa. By
HKNRY M. STANLEY. With Maps and
Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $3 50.
DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE IN
AFRICA. By Professor JAMESON, JAMES
WILSON, and Hcou MCBBAY. ISmo,
Cloth, 75 cents.
8 Valuable Books of Exploration, Travel, and Adventure.
EXPLORATIONS AND ADVENTURES
IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA : with ac-
counts of the Manuers and Customs of
the People, and of the Chase of the
Gorilla, the Crocodile. Leopard, Ele-
phant, Hippotamns, and other Animals.
By PAUL B. Du CHAILLU, Corresponding
Member of the American Ethnological
Society; of the Geographical and Stat-
istical Society of New York ; and of the
Boston Society of Natural History. Il-
lustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.
A JOURNEY TO ASHANGO LAND, and
Further Penetration into Equatorial Af-
rica. By PAUL B. Do CHAII.I.U. New Edi-
tion. Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00.
STORIES OF THE GORILLA COUN-
TRY. By PAUL B. Do CHAILLU. Illus-
trations. 1-Jino, Cloth, $1 50.
WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR.
By PAUL B. Du CIIAILLU. Illustrations.
12mo, Cloth, f 1 50.
LOST IN THE JUNGLE. By PAUL B.
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