Makers of Japan

by J. Morris

On his return to Japan twelve months later he found that his feudal chief, the dai-mio of Cho-shiu, had become involved in a dispute with the Bakufu, or Government of the Sho-gun, concerning right-of-way through the Shimonoseki Straits, which separate the Cho-shiu territory from the adjoining island of Kiu-shiu. The lord of the province was averse to the free entry of foreign vessels into the Inland Sea from the west, and had signified his disapproval by firing on ships that attempted the passage of the straits, from batteries which he had placed on the hills above. The Bakufu had failed to convince the Cho-shiu chieftain that the channel ought to be open to all comers, and despairing of its own ability to put a stop to the systematic interference with foreign shipping, had authorised the admirals of the Western Powers to take such measures as they thought fit. Ito Shunsuke, with his knowledge of the naval and military strength of the Occident amplified by personal inspection at the European capitals, saw that his lord was inviting disaster by his arbitrary treatment of the strangers, and sought to dissuade him from continuing the attacks on passing shipping, but the feudal baron was resolved to persist in his endeavour to check the influx of foreign ideas, and Ito had to return to the ship in which he had taken passage, with this express object in view, from Yokohama, with his mission unfulfilled. The foreign men-of-war had been at the time assembled in Yedo Bay preparatory to setting out for the Inland Sea, on their way to the Shimonoseki Straits to engage the Choshiu batteries, and the two young men of that province, for in this matter Ito was associated with his fellow-clansman Inouye, deemed it expedient to endeavour to convince their lord that however skilful might be the Choshiu gunners, it would be impossible for them to hold their own against the formidable armaments of the Western warships. In this long and self-imposed, and, as it turned out to be, useless journey to the capital of his native province from the coast, Ito was accompanied by this friend and fellow-student Inouye, who had likewise been to Europe with him,—no other than the present Count Inouye Kaoru, who is elsewhere referred to in this book.

To appreciate the nature of the services thus early rendered to his clan and to the nation at large, it must be remembered that the laws under which emigration to countries abroad was prohibited, and which had been framed in the days of Iyeyasu, were still in force. Special permission was needed for any Japanese to quit his native shores, and in case of surreptitious departure without the formality having been observed it was somewhat risky to return. Ito and Inouye had contrived to reach Europe without complying with the regulations, and were liable to certain penalties in consequence, so that in undertaking to visit Choshiu with the object of making representations to their chieftain Mori they had to brave his anger for their disobedience to the regulations in the first place, apart from the character of their mission, which was, to say the least of it, one not calculated to appease the wrath of a noble who held strong views on the subject of dealings with foreigners in general. The journey from the little coast town in the Inland Sea where the envoys, garbed as doctors of medicine, were put ashore by a boat from the British warship Barrosa in which they had come south from Yokohama was not more than sixteen Japanese leagues (forty English miles) in length, but the track lay across mountains, and the only means of conveyance were kago of the type used in the hills, mere baskets slung from poles borne on the shoulders of two men, who walked at about four miles an hour. The mission, as already said, was a complete failure, for the lord of Cho-shiu refused to pay any attention to the letters from Foreign Ambassadors, or to listen to the faintest suggestion that his batteries were not a match for anything that the foreign ships might carry, and he was resolved that the gates of Bakan,—otherwise Akamagaseki, the Red Horse Barrier,—should not be thrown open without a struggle. The Barrosa returned to Yokohama, and shortly afterwards the combined fleet, comprising British, French, Dutch, and American vessels, accordingly steamed south to the Straits, and the memorable battle of Shimonoseki, of 1864, was fought, with the result that the Cho-shiu guns were speedily silenced. On a low hill at the back of the town, overlooking the swift-flowing waters of the straits, is a tiny graveyard where repose the Cho-shiu men who fell in that final effort to close the door to Western trade. On the opposite shore are two or three neglected graves which local tradition declares to be the burial places of the French soldiers who were victims to the Cho-shiu artillerymen. The gunners were aided by archers, one of the foreigners killed having been transfixed by an arrow. Some day it may be feasible, perhaps, to have the spot suitably marked where rest those who did their duty as gallantly as did their foes whose memories are honoured with well-kept tombs on the other side of the narrow channel in which the fierce combat occurred. It was long believed that the foreigners who fell were buried at sea, but still living witnesses of the battle aver that three bodies were brought ashore on the Moji side and interred in the field which abuts on the beach, and where mounds of earth are distinctly traceable, or at all events were visible when the writer was engaged in work there some years ago. In his task he had the assistance of several Cho-shiu men who had taken part in the operations against us, and who bore the scars of injuries received while serving their own guns. There was not the slightest sign at any time manifested of resentment,—though the fight had taken place too recently to be other than fresh in the memory. It was felt that the best use had been made of the weapons that the province then possessed, and that no disgrace attached to defeat under such conditions,—moreover, had not the British bluejackets landed immediately the firing ceased, and striven might and main to extinguish the flames which had been ravaging the town as a consequence of the fight in its immediate neighbourhood? The inhabitants of Shimonoseki will never forget that the victors proved themselves to be generous foes, and nothing but good will has been exhibited towards strangers in the now flourishing port ever since.

Ito Shunsuke was much occupied for the ensuing two years in Kioto, where his knowledge of Europe became of immense value to his party, and in preparations for the struggle with the Bakufu which it was plain could not be long delayed.

The main incidents of those two years are recorded elsewhere in connection with the career of Prince Sanjo, and it will suffice to mention here that immediately on the resignation of the last of the Sho-guns, whose adherents continued the war, nevertheless, for some months longer, Ito was busily occupied with plans for the institution of government on a Western model, to the careful study of which he had devoted himself while absent in the capitals of Europe. It was a period of intense political excitement and unrest, and as the Marquis not long since declared, little thought entered the minds of men other than the all-absorbing idea of restoring the supreme power to the dynasty of the true sovereigns of Japan, and abolishing for ever the influence of the Tokugawa line of Sho-guns.

It is comparatively little known that the statesman who has been for fifty years prominent in every great work connected with the advancement of his country upon Western lines and has advocated the adoption of every foreign institution that would be calculated to benefit his native land was in his young days opposed to the influx of strangers, having been an ardent follower of the Jo-I party which was adverse to the cultivation of foreign relations. He was brought up in this school of thought, having been a pupil for some time of Yoshida Shoin, who is elsewhere alluded to in this volume, and when he at first favoured the introduction of Western appliances and methods it was purely in order that the defence of the empire should be secured against foreign aggression.

After the Restoration to the direct exercise of the prerogatives of sovereignty of his present Majesty in 1867, and the final suppression of the revolted northern clans, the opening of the port of Hiogo to foreign trade became an accomplished fact, and Ito Shunsuke, as he was still named, received the appointment of Governor. Though the port was officially styled Hiogo, the residences of the foreign merchants, indeed the whole “Settlement” in which they lived and transacted their business, was situated in the adjoining town of Kobé, under which name the port has become best known to Europeans, and latterly as Kobé-Hiogo. It has had many famous men as its Governor in the years that have passed, notably the present Minister to Great Britain, Viscount Hayashi, and the office may be said to have been the stepping-stone to still greater distinction in more than one instance, but Kobé will never forget that he who is often almost affectionately referred to as the “grand old man” of Japan was the first to occupy the chair as its chief magistrate. This was in 1868, when he was yet a young man of twenty-seven, and he was selected, it may be assumed, for this responsible post on account of his exceptional acquaintance with Europe and its people, and with the habits and requirements of foreign residents in general.

His subordinates at Hiogo, during the time he was Governor, were like himself young and progressive men, entirely at one with the propaganda of the new and progressive policy which aimed at the consolidation of the Empire and the development of all its resources. Many proposals were put forward by Governor Ito at this period with the view of remodelling all branches of the imperial polity, in particular with respect to the imposition of taxes, military education, and so on, covering a wide field. Their advocacy of these measures procured for Ito and his associates at the time the designation of holders of the “Hiogo view.” It was really Ito who inspired Kido, the famous statesman whose history is recorded in another chapter, with the resolve to take up the question of the total abolition of the feudal system, and which rapidly gained supporters in many quarters, to the extent that in a few years it came to be an accomplished fact.

As Governor of Kobé-Hiogo, he won the highest esteem of all classes, but he was not destined to remain long in that office, for he was called to Tokio next year to undertake the duties of Finance Vice-Minister, and the following spring he went to the United States to study the monetary system of that country, a task to which he devoted himself for the ensuing twelve months, returning to his own land in 1871.

While away he wrote the following memorandum on “Reasons for basing the Japanese new coinage on the metric system.”

According to the coinage system recently adopted in Japan, the silver yen is the standard unit of value, so that it may be used as legal tender in transactions to any amount; the smaller coins, various fractions of one yen, are to be the subsidiary medium of exchange, each kind being permitted as legal tender in transactions amounting to one hundred times its value. There is besides the gold yen, but it is subsidiary, and may be used in the payment of sums not more than ten times its value or one hundred yen. The silver yen is equal in quality to the American dollar, but slightly exceeds the latter in weight. The gold coins are in England and America legal tender to any amount. I presume the Japanese Government is in hopes that gold coin will always remain abundant while silver yen will gradually wear out through constant handling, so that in course of time gold will of itself become the standard unit of value. Just now there is under discussion in the U.S. House of Representatives a bill for establishing an international system of coinage. The ten-dollar gold piece according to that system is to weigh 257·2 grains, or sixteen and two-third grammes. The Japanese ten-yen gold piece weighs 248 grains, but if it were slightly increased in weight to equal the suggested international standard coin, the coinage system of Japan would be established on a sound basis and be for ever free from all fluctuations of exchange value. As to which metal should be the standard of value, the opinion of the economists all tend to coincide in regarding gold as the fittest metal for standard. That Austria, Holland, and some other countries still maintain a silver standard is probably due to the great difficulty of changing the old system. If a system of coinage were to be newly established by any of these countries, there is no question but that the gold standard would invariably be adopted. It will be a wise policy for Japan, therefore, to consider the trend of opinion in Western lands and establish her new system in accordance with the best teachings of modern times. It may be that for the time being, on account of the possible great loss to the country from the too sudden adoption of the gold standard, a silver standard may have to be maintained. Otherwise there is no question that gold is the best metal for the standard of value. If the gold standard is introduced, silver may be fitly coined for a subsidiary medium of exchange, putting a limit to its legal tender amount. It may be as well to establish our system on this basis, making silver provisionally the standard, strictly keeping in view, however, the time when gold will be made to supersede silver as the standard of our system of coinage.