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

CHAPTER XXXII

MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS—MITO POLITICS

Adams and I set up housekeeping together in the First Secretary's house at Yokohama, but I still kept on the Japanese yashiki I had rented at Yedo, and spent a great deal of time there watching the course of events. From time to time I returned to Yokohama to report to my chief, or else reported to him by letter. I was very busily occupied in making translations from the official gazette that was now being published at Kiôto and the popular newspapers that had started into existence at Yedo. One of these contained documents of the highest interest, the terms communicated to Keiki on April 27, the acceptance of which by him involved his retirement to Mito on May 8, and the provisional recognition of Kaménosuké (Tayasu) as the head of the Tokugawa clan. The castle of Yedo was occupied by the imperialist forces, and the troops of Satsuma, Chôshiû and other clans moved freely about the city. On June 23 I went up to Yedo for a three days' stay with Adams; I found there in the local papers interesting communications which were probably fictitious. Thus one, said to be written by a retainer of the Miya of Chi-on-in, where the British Legation had been lodged in March, who though regarding the expulsion of foreigners as perhaps difficult of achievement, recommended that the organization of the army be diligently taken in hand, in order that foreigners might be humbled and kept in subjection. He also deprecated audiences being granted by the Mikado to foreign diplomatic representatives. Another such paper professed to represent the views of Chôshiû "irregular troops" and protested against audiences being granted, because such friendly treatment of foreigners would prevent the nation from affording hearty support to the Mikado when the time should arrive for "expelling the barbarian." When I mentioned these publications to my friend Katsu, he replied that a council of court and territorial nobles (kugé and daimiôs) was held at Kiôto about the end of May, at which the former expressed the opinion that a favourable occasion for expelling foreigners from the country had now presented itself; their attempt to introduce Christianity at Nagasaki might be alleged as the justifying ground of the measure. That the daimiôs were silent and that the Mikado, on being referred to, took no notice of the proposal. Katsu was not very accurately informed, but it is a fact that on May 14 the principal members of the government and daimiôs in attendance on the Mikado at Ozaka were summoned before His Majesty at the Hongwanji, and were informed that Christianity was on the increase at Urakami, a village near Nagasaki; he asked for their opinion as to the best way of dealing with the matter, and it was understood that their replies would be published in the government gazette. Daté denied to Mitford that part of the story which said that the meeting was for the purpose of considering whether an anti-foreign policy might not be resorted to. It was difficult for us to obtain accurate information, and probably every Japanese in the position of Katsu or Daté experienced similar difficulty. I do not think however that these documents ever saw the light, and the suggestion is very natural that some of them were of such a character that it was considered advisable to suppress them. The formal appointment of Kaménosuké, a mere boy of six years of age, took place on June 19, and the leading men of the Tokugawa clan waited on him the following morning to present their felicitations. The situation and extent of the territory to be left to the clan had not then been determined. Katsu told me that Sanjô, who had arrived in Yedo on the 13th, was waiting for the reinforcements expected from the south and west before announcing a decision on these points. He gave me such statistics about the revenue hitherto accruing to the Tycoon's government as showed, to his satisfaction at least, that it would not be possible for the Mikado to derive any income from forfeiture of that revenue, and there was danger of his government falling to pieces for want of funds. Higashi-Kuzé, who was then in Yedo, said to me that the revenue to be granted to the Tokugawa would not be fixed until that part of the clan still in arms against the Mikado was entirely reduced to submission. The war was being vigorously prosecuted near Niigata in Echigo and in the neighbourhood of Aidzu. I myself saw a considerable body of southern troops march into Yedo on June 25, which effectually contradicted the hopes of the Tokugawa people that the imperialists were weakening, and that some of the western clans, in particular Higo, were likely to afford them sympathy, if not actual support.

M. Roches finally left Yokohama on June 23, having been succeeded by M. Outrey, with the intention of visiting Ozaka and Nagasaki on his way home. His policy had proved a complete failure, as far as supporting the Shôgun against the Mikado was concerned. He had succeeded however in procuring for French engineers the construction of the arsenal at Yokosuka and the engagement of a French military mission, which were continued for several years after the establishment of the new government.

Noguchi had an elder and a younger brother, the latter of whom had joined the followers of the Tokugawa who after the withdrawal of Keiki to Mito had gathered themselves together in the mausoleum enclosure at Uyéno. Thence they issued forth at night and assassinated imperialist soldiers from time to time. At last it was decided to attack them in their stronghold, and early in the morning of July 4 an advance was made which led to the destruction by fire of a considerable part of the city lying between the outer moat and the main gate of Uyéno, and also of the great temple building which occupied the centre of the enclosure. The burial places of the Shôguns were not damaged. Rinôji no Miya, the imperial prince who had always resided there in the character of abbot, and whom the recalcitrant Tokugawa men talked of raising to the throne as Mikado, was carried off by the survivors at the end of the day. The fighting began at eight o'clock in the morning and was over by five o'clock in the evening. During this affair I was at Yokohama, having been kept there since my last visit to Yedo at the end of June. At the beginning of that month Willis and I were in Yedo together for a few days, while he attended to wounded men of the Satsuma and other clans, such as Toda, Chôshiû and Bizen. The latter occupied Tôzenji, which had formerly been the British Legation, and he recorded in his report the fact of his being received and treated by the Bizen men with great courtesy, which showed that they entertained no feelings of hostility against foreigners, and regarded the death of Taki Zenzaburô as a just retribution for the attack on foreigners at Kôbé in the previous February. The condition of these wounded men was deplorable, for at that time Japan had no experienced surgeons, and the treatment of gunshot wounds was of a very amateurish character. There were but few cases of sword-cuts. Subsequently some of the more urgent cases were at Willis' suggestion sent down to Yokohama, and towards the end of July there were 176 patients in the building appropriated as a military hospital. Under the previous government it had been a school for instruction in the Chinese classics. Two-thirds of the number were Satsuma men, Chôshiû and Tosa soldiers together made up a fourth. About 40 had been wounded in the recent fighting at Uyéno, the others had received their injuries in the expeditions to the north of Yedo against Aidzu. Willis' services were so greatly appreciated that the minister was asked in October to lend them again to the troops which had been fighting in Echigo. This arrangement was facilitated by the fact that he was now vice-consul at Yedo, a post which he was unable to take up because the opening of the city to foreign residence and trade had to be deferred; and he was relieved at Yokohama by Dr J. B. Siddall who had been appointed medical officer to the legation early in January.

On the 29th July I went to Yedo with Adams, and spent four days in visiting Okuma, Katsu and Komatsu, but though I must have reported to my chief the result of the conversation with these persons of importance, I have no record, except of voluminous translations from the Japanese of anti-Christian pamphlets and political documents of all kinds. I went alone to Yedo again on August 17, and next day called on Okuma, whom I found in bed looking very ill. From him I learnt that fighting had commenced on the 13th at Imaichi, near Nikkô. The imperialists were victorious and were still advancing on Aidzu, 75 miles further. A messenger who left Echigo on the 8th reported that Niigata was still held by Aidzu men. Subsequently to the capture of Nagaoka by the imperial troops more fighting had taken place, in which both sides lost heavily. The imperialists were holding their ground, and expected further reinforcements which would enable them to advance on Wakamatsu, the capital of Aidzu, at the same time as the divisions from Shirakawa and Akita. The Prince of Hizen, Okuma's own chief, had been urged by his troops in Shimotsuké, where Imaichi is situated, to lead them against the enemy, but his councillors (karô) had dissuaded him from taking the field. Since the beginning of the year several constitutions had been framed and issued one after the other, and about this time I was engaged in translating the newest edition, which bore the date of June. It showed marked traces of American political theories, and I have little doubt that Okuma and his fellow-clansman Soyéjima, pupils of Dr Verbeck, had had a considerable part in framing it. "The power and authority of the Daijôkan (i.e. government), threefold, legislative, executive and judicial," was the wording of one article. By another it was provided that "All officers shall be changed after four years' service. They shall be appointed by a majority of votes given by ballot. When the first period for changing the officers of government arrives, half of the present staff shall be retained for an additional space of two years, in order that there be no interruption of the public business." In this we seemed to hear an echo of the "spoils system." Okuma explained that the "executive" represented the executive department in the United States Constitution, "consisting of the president and his advisers," but that in fact it was the head of the Shintô religion, finance, war and foreign departments. It is needless to say that this state paper has long ago been superseded by the existing Itô constitution of 1889. Then I went on to Katsu. He said that Sumpu (now called Shidzuoka) was to have been formally handed over to the Tokugawa family two days previously, but as a matter of fact it had always formed part of their possessions. He took down from a shelf a memorandum in which he had noted down some years before the names of the ablest men in different clans. Many of them were already dead. Satsuma and Chôshiû accounted for the largest number; of the Tokugawa clan there were very few. All our friends of Satsuma, Chôshiû and Tosa were among the number of those still living. While I was there Tsumagi Nakadzukasa, who had given me a dinner a couple of months earlier, came in. He had returned a few days before from Mito, where he had left Keiki, employing his leisure in the composition of Japanese poetry, and not expecting to be invited at present to take a share in the government. This was an absolutely baseless notion on his part, if he in reality entertained it. He had sent an affectionate message to Katsu, which Tsumagi appeared to be afraid of delivering in my presence, but it proved to be nothing more than a warning to care for his personal safety, which was said to have been threatened by the hot-headed younger Tokugawa men. He said that about 500 Mito men had gone to join Aidzu. The outcome of their conversation was that there was nothing in the existing political situation to cause them anxiety. The Tokugawa people were desirous of getting Katsu to take office under Kaménosuké, but he was unwilling. I asked him whether he had heard of a general feeling of dislike towards the English. That he replied was an old thing, dating from the time when Sir Harry used to advise the Shôgun's ministers to refrain from attacking Chôshiû. The idea was no doubt fostered by Roches, who told them that unless they asked the British Government to lend naval instructors, the English would back up the daimiôs' party, and the want of confidence in British friendship was the reason why Dutchmen had been engaged to bring out the "Kaiyô-maru," a ship of war constructed in England for the Prince of Higo by Glover & Co. of Nagasaki, which had come into the possession of the Mikado's adherents. I had heard from Komatsu and Nakai that imperialist troops landed from the "Kaiyô-maru" at Hirakata about the 5th or 6th August had gained a victory there over a mixed force of Sendai men and Tokugawa rônin, and this was confirmed by Tsumagi. On the 19th I walked as far as the Nihom-bashi, the bridge in the centre of the city from which all distances were measured by road, and from there to the huge hotel at the foreign settlement constructed under the supervision of the Tokugawa government for the accommodation of foreigners. The commercial quarter was very lively, the streets were crowded, especially by samurai belonging to the imperialist forces, but the neighbourhood of the daimiôs' yashikis below the castle was like a city of the dead. On the 20th I had a visit from Kawakatsu Omi, an ex-commissioner for Foreign Affairs. He said that the Castle of Sumpu was little better than a ruin, and that there were no houses which could receive the Tokugawa retainers. He would like to become a retainer of the Mikado (chô-shin); his family was not originally in the service of the Tokugawa family, but was of more ancient descent. He would be satisfied if he was made a minister of public instruction. Midzuno Wakasa, a former governor of Yokohama, and Sugiura Takésaburô, another Tokugawa man, would probably be employed by the imperialist government to make all the arrangements with regard to the foreign settlement at Yedo. Mimbu Taiyu, the younger brother of Keiki, then still in France, was to be fetched home to succeed the late Prince of Mito, who had died just about the time of Keiki's retreat thither. About a hundred and thirty hatamotos went up to Kiôto in February and by surrendering to the Mikado, secured the possession of their lands. He regretted that he had lost everything through not following their example. The Tokugawa family were to retain 700,000 koku of lands, which would enable them to keep a good many retainers, but not all the 30,000 who had hitherto belonged to the clan as go-ké-nin. My own Japanese escort, who belonged to the body of betté-gumi created several years before to act as guards and escorts for the foreign legations, 300 of whom were to be kept together for that purpose, all wanted to become Mikado's men.

On the 21st Komatsu and Nakai came to call on me. They said the troops sent by way of Hirakata to Tanagura in Oshiû had been completely victorious, and that more would speedily follow. In fact, while we were talking, 500 Satsuma men marched past the house along the main-road by the seashore in order to embark for the north. Kido, who had gone to Kiôto to report the state of affairs at Yedo, was expected back soon. They thought that a good deal of pressure would be necessary to induce the very conservative Kiôto Court to bring the Mikado there. That afternoon I called on Okuma, who was still very unwell, and, like most of the Hizen people, not disposed to be communicative. From him I went to Nakai, who showed me the draft of the state paper by which Gotô overturned the late government in the previous October. It differed slightly from the published copies, in that it contained proposals for the engagement of French and English teachers of language, to get military instructors from England, and to abolish the Tycoon and reduce the Tokugawa clan to the same level as the others. These were all struck out on reconsideration in order to avoid exciting a suspicion that Gotô and his political allies were too partial to foreigners, and provoking the hostility of the fudai and hatamotos. He had also the drafts of a letter from Higashi-Kuzé to Sanjô, in which, among other things which strengthened the Aidzu resistance to the imperial troops, he reported that foreign vessels anchored at Niigata and supplied the rebels with arms and ammunition; and Higashi-Kuzé said that on his informing the foreign representatives of this, they replied that they would put a stop to the practice. I pointed out to Nakai that this must be a mistake. The Ministers having issued proclamations of neutrality had nothing to do with their enforcement, and that if the Japanese authorities wished to put an end to this traffic, they had merely to notify to the foreign representatives the blockade of the port of Niigata, and that a vessel-of-war was stationed there to prevent communication with the shore. This must have appeared a very strange doctrine to him, but international law was a complete novelty in Japan in those days. He also showed me the draft of Komatsu's letter to Kiôto about the treatment of the Nagasaki Japanese Christians, embodying the arguments recently used to him by Sir Harry, and advocating the adoption of milder measures.

Next day I went again to see Nakai, and found with him a very attractive Satsuma man named Inouyé Iwami, who was greatly interested in the development of the resources of the island of Yezo. He was full of schemes for its colonization from Japan, and for the introduction of the European system of farming under the supervision of a German named Gaertner. He said that Shimidzudani, a young Court noble of about 25, was to be governor of Hakodaté, and that he intended to make him learn English. We discussed various leading personalities with considerable freedom—I hinted that Higashi-Kuzé, in spite of his rank, was not the best representative man to send to Europe as Ambassador. I thought Daté or Iwakura or even Kansô of Hizen would do better. He replied that Iwakura could not be spared. The most important and interesting suggestion he made was that the Mikado must move to Yedo, and make it his Capital, as otherwise it would not be possible to keep in order the rebellious clans of the north. Both he and Komatsu, who joined us later on at a restaurant on the river, approved of what I had suggested about the blockade of Niigata.

On the 23rd I dined with Komatsu and Nakai to meet Okubo, the Satsuma statesman who had suggested the removal of the Capital from Kiôto to Ozaka earlier in the year. I have no doubt that the final decision to make Yedo the centre of government, and to change its name to Tôkiô or Eastern Capital was largely his work. He was very taciturn by disposition, and the only information he vouchsafed was that Daté was to go to Sendai to endeavour to persuade the daimiô, who was the head of the Daté family and all its branches, to abandon the cause of Aidzu. Komatsu talked a good deal about the English naval instructors who had been engaged by the previous government, whom he evidently wished to get rid of, and I encouraged him to dismiss them, for I felt it would not be fair to insist on their keeping these officers in their service during a period of civil war, when the British neutrality proclamation prevented their making use of them. Komatsu told me that their plan was to retain the services of the commissioned officers, but to send the petty officers and seamen back to England.

About two months before this time some Higo men had called on me, and said they were going north to Tsugaru. They argued that any other system than feudalism was impossible in Japan. Now I heard that the Higo clan had privately sent messengers to Wakamatsu to endeavour to effect a reconciliation between Aidzu and the daimiôs of the west and south, but Aidzu replied that matters had gone too far, and the questions at issue must be decided by the sword. I thought it likely that these envoys from Higo were the men who had been to see me, as the ideas which they entertained seemed to be similar.