The Mikado's Empire/Buku 2/Bab 6
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-
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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
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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.