A Diplomat in Japan / The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of Japan when the ports were opened and the monarchy restored, recorded by a diplomatist who took an active part in the events of the time, with an account of his personal experiences during that period

by Ernest Mason Satow

On the 20th accordingly, all the British ships except the "Barrosa," and all the Dutch ships but the "Djambi," sailed away up the inland sea towards Ozaka, the French, however, remaining. I went ashore afterwards with some officers of the "Barrosa" for a walk, and as we passed the guardhouse, its occupants called out, "Take off your hats." I replied, "What do you say." The man on guard, "Take off your hats. This is the honourable guardhouse of Shimonoséki." Answer from our side, "What folly do you talk! If you repeat it, the governor shall be informed." So we passed on into the town to the governor's house and laid a complaint in due form against the over-zealous guardhouse keeper. The governor promised to administer a reprimand, and was as good as his word, so that when some other officers came ashore and passed the same spot, the Japanese officers rushed out into the road to tell them that they need not uncap.

I found the townspeople very communicative about the exploits of the Americans and French in 1863, and from their relation it was easy to see that while Captain M'Dougall of the "Wyoming" had given a very modest account of his achievements in the way of sinking ships and firing houses, the French had greatly exaggerated their own deeds of valour. The "Wyoming" ran the gauntlet of all the batteries and sank the "Lancefield" and the brig right in front of the town, whereas the "Sémiramis" never ventured further than Tanoura. The common folk were all entirely convinced that the Tycoon had given orders for the expulsion of the foreigners, and I overheard a man in the market say "the Bakufu is playing a double game." Bakufu was the most common term by which the Tycoon's government was then designated. I was asked whether the Tycoon had asked us to come down and destroy the batteries, to which I answered "No; but he said he could not open the straits." Then I gave them our view of the case, which was that the Tycoon, finding himself in a tight place between the daimiôs and the foreigners, had to give assurances to both which were inconsistent with each other, whereupon they all cried out with one voice: "Homma da, it is true." That evening there arrived from Nagasaki the steamer "Victoria" with the vice-governor of that port and an interpreter. Passing in front of the town they paid the French Admiral a call, and then anchored near us in Tanoura Bay. Coming on board to make inquiries, they asked whether Chôshiû had been beaten, and on our replying in the affirmative, they produced a copy of the prince's first letter begging for peace addressed to the Americans, which they said had been furnished to them by the Kokura people. That I told them bluntly must be a lie, but they would not confess the source from which they had obtained the document. They said their instructions were to ask the Admiral not to believe the lies Chôshiû was telling about orders received from the Tycoon to expel foreigners, and also that having heard the fleet was going to Ozaka, the governor of Nagasaki, who was afraid that the appearance of so large a force before the city, fresh from the destruction of the batteries of Shimonoséki, might cause a panic, had sent them to prevent any difficulties between the Admiral and the governor of Ozaka. They were very anxious lest a treaty had been concluded with Chôshiû for the opening of Shimonoséki to foreign trade, which would have caused the commercial ruin of Nagasaki; but we declined to give them any information. Having beaten the Chôshiû people, we had come to like and respect them, while a feeling of dislike began to arise in our minds for the Tycoon's people on account of their weakness and double-dealing, and from this time onwards I sympathized more and more with the daimiô party, from whom the Tycoon's government had always tried to keep us apart.

On the 21st the "Sémiramis" and "Dupleix" quitted the straits, leaving behind them the "Tancrède." Some of us went ashore to the honjin to inquire whether we could obtain a supply of bullocks for the ship. The officials promised to do all they could, but said it would be difficult, as they killed none for themselves. We also asked them to change some Mexican dollars into Japanese money, which they promised to do at the Nagasaki market rate, but it was finally arranged that if we found ourselves in actual need of coin, they should lend us a thousand ichibus, to be returned to their agent at Yokohama. They proved so obliging that we could not help regretting that in order to gain their friendship it had been necessary to come to blows with them. And it is not a little remarkable that neither the Satsuma nor the Chôshiû men ever seemed to cherish any resentment against us for what we had done, and during the years of disturbance and revolution that followed they were always our most intimate allies.

That day we walked the whole length of the town unattended by any guard, and got a glimpse of the China sea beyond the straits. We met, however, with a little show of insolence from a couple of two-sworded men, who motioned us back to our boats, but I discoursed to them in their own tongue, and they were speedily reduced to silence: the exhibition of a revolver had something to do with the production of this effect.

Itô came on board one day with a couple of men who, he said, were merchants, but it was evident from the respect he paid to one of them, who wore two swords, that they belonged to the high official class. They were conducted round the ship and entertained with various liquors. He declared that in all the fighting they had only seven or eight men killed, and about twice that number wounded, but one of his companions told me that the number killed was nearly twenty. Itô said that trade could be done at Shimonoséki in cotton, wax and silk produced in Chôshiû, as well as in all the productions of the northern provinces and Ozaka. Probably they might manufacture paper for the English market. The prince, he added, was very desirous of opening the port to foreign commerce, but just at present they expected an invasion of the combined forces of the Tycoon and all the daimiôs, and all their attention was directed to their own defence. The two vessels sunk by the "Wyoming" in 1863 had been raised, and sent round to Hagi. I was surprised to learn that the batteries at Maeda mura, as well as those at Kushi saki Point, were within the territory of the daimiô of Chôfu, who was however not in so far independent that he could stand aside when the head of the family went to war. Last year, at the time when the Dutch corvette "Medusa" was fired on as she passed the straits, batteries had existed on the low hills behind the town, and at two points on the sea front, but the guns had subsequently been removed thence to Dannoura and Maeda mura; their fate was to fall into our hands. The small three-gun battery on Moji Point within the Kokura territory was also the work of the Chôshiû men, who had levelled land and commenced the construction of barracks, which were however destroyed by the Kokura people when the failure of the prince's Kiôto schemes drove him to withdraw within his own boundaries for self-protection.

We went one day in our boats down to Kokura with the intention of landing there to walk through the town, but after keeping us waiting an hour and a half, and repeatedly promising to open the gate, they finally refused to admit us. They did indeed open it, but only to let out a couple of fellows, who told us in the lowest of low voices that Kokura not being a treaty port, we could not be allowed to enter. I took care to inform them of our opinion that it was a great piece of ingratitude on their part to treat us in so inhospitable a manner after we had thrashed their enemy for them. Crowds of people had collected to look at us, and doubtless we should have been mobbed if we had landed. There was no idea on our part of forcing our way in.

Towards the end of the month smallpox broke out on board, and W. H. Cummings, who had succeeded to the temporary command on Captain Dowell's transfer to the flagship, determined to leave for Yokohama as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made. On the 27th we applied therefore to the authorities for a pilot to take the ship through the inland sea, and gave notice that the commanders of the three ships would pay a visit to Ibara on the morrow in order to settle about the passage up to Yokohama which had been promised to him and two other officers. I took the message on shore, and stopped to have a meal with Itô, who good-naturedly had made great efforts to get up a dinner in European style. He had built a table seven feet long by half that width, covered with a short cloth of some coarse foreign material. Four plates were laid, flanked by long knives, villainously sharp, attenuated brass spoons with flat bowls, and a pair of chopsticks. The first dish consisted of a boiled rockfish, which I found great difficulty in cutting, but accomplished the task at last by inserting a sharpened chopstick into the head, and using a spoon to remove the flesh. Soy, a large bowl of rice, and a small saucer full of coarse salt, were also placed on the table. The second course was broiled eels, and then came a stewed terrapin, both of which were very good, but the boiled awabi and boiled chicken which followed were quite out of the question. It was a problem how to cut up a fowl with a knife that had no point, and whose blade threatened at every moment to part company with its handle. I abandoned the attempt, and served my companions with slices from the breast. Unripe persimmons, peeled and cut in four, with sweet rice beer (mirin) were now produced, and this was excellent. This was certainly the earliest attempt ever made in that part of Japan at giving a dinner in European style, perhaps the first in Japan.

It was finally determined that the party that was to visit Yokohama should consist of Ibara, a councillor named Sugi Tokusuké, a secretary, and Itô, with four servants, who were to be accommodated on board the "Barrosa" and "Djambi." The "Tancrède," which was to leave before us, could not find room for more than half the party, and as they did not wish to be separated longer than they could help, they elected to come with us. On the 4th October the "Racehorse," Commander Boxer, arrived to relieve us. Ibara and his secretary, Yamagata Keizô, and we sailed the following morning.

News of our successful result of the naval operations and of the conclusion of a convention with the Prince of Chôshiû was at once conveyed to the foreign representatives at Yokohama, who lost no time in calling the Tycoon's government to account for their apparent complicity with Chôshiû, as evidenced by the copies of orders from Kiôto which Itô had given us. The explanation was feeble, and the representatives found no difficulty in obtaining from the ministers their consent to pay whatever war indemnity might be due from Chôshiû, or else to throw open to trade a port in the inland sea. Although in the sequel the receipt of the indemnity money by us actually took place, it was in a manner forced upon the four Powers and their diplomatic agents, and certainly as far as Sir R. Alcock is concerned, he may be entirely exonerated from the accusation of a desire to exact an indemnity from either the defeated daimiô or the government which assumed responsibility for him. The principal object he sought was to obtain the sanction of the Mikado to the treaties, so as to put an end to the agitation against foreign commerce which had been carried on by hostile daimiôs in the Mikado's name ever since the opening of the ports. Now that Satsuma and Chôshiû, the two ringleaders of the opposition, had been brought to their senses, it ought to have been, he thought, an easy matter for the Tycoon's government, if they sincerely desired to carry out their treaty obligations, to assert their authority and compel the whole country to accept the new policy of foreign intercourse. The fixing of an indemnity was intended only to provide a means of pressure upon the Tycoon's government in order to procure the Mikado's ratification of the treaties, and the consequent extension of commercial relations.

Ibara and his companions reached Yokohama on the 10th October, and obtained an interview the same day with Sir Rutherford Alcock and Mr. Pruyn, the United States minister. The reception accorded to them was of such a nature as to convince them that the foreign powers were not hostilely disposed towards the daimiô of Chôshiû, and it was no doubt with a sense of relief that they learnt the intention of the foreign representatives to claim the payment of the indemnity from the Tycoon. At the same time it was clearly understood by both parties that the other engagements entered into by Chôshiû respecting the permanent disarmament of the straits of Shimonoséki and the hospitable treatment of foreign vessels were to be faithfully adhered to, and on these heads his subsequent conduct gave no ground for complaint. It was somewhat a curious position for the retainers of a prince, who had been declared a rebel against the Mikado and enemy of the Tycoon, to land at Yokohama, a port belonging to the latter, but as far as I remember, they confined their visit to the foreign settlement, where they were safe from interference, and on the 14th the "Tartar" left with them on board to return to their native province.