The Gist of Japan: The Islands, Their People, and Missions

by R. B. Peery

After the rulers had succeeded in stamping out Christianity the country was closed to foreign influence, and for two hundred years remained hermetically sealed. Even shipwrecked foreign sailors found on her coasts were executed, and no Japanese was permitted to leave the country on pain of death. The only communication with the outside world reserved was through the Hollanders, a small band of whom were permitted to reside at Nagasaki. Through them various arts and sciences, including medicine, were introduced.

This calm seclusion was rudely broken in upon by the coming of Commodore Perry, in 1853-54, with his big guns. He came to establish treaties of commerce and trade, and to secure better treatment for American ships and sailors—peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. Here it is needful, in the interests of truth, to disprove another pretty story, to the effect that Perry and his crew were very pious, godly men, and that they secured the concessions desired by peaceable methods—by praying and singing psalms. The fact is that the concessions gained were forced from Japan by intimidation, by threats, and by a show of strength. Commodore Perry also used the same tactics in Liukiu. He effected his purpose, it is true, without using his guns, except for intimidation, but it is safe to say that he would not have accomplished it without them.

The treaties then forced from the government were humiliating to Japan; for example, granting exterritoriality, by virtue of which foreigners should live under their own consuls and in no sense be amenable to the laws of the land. Such concessions are demanded by civilized states of the uncivilized only, and their very existence implies inferiority. But nothing else was possible at that time, nor did Japan object.

The coming of Perry, and his forced opening of the country, marked the birth of new Japan, so different from the old, and the beginning of an era of unprecedented prosperity. The Japanese now recognize this, and speak of Perry as one of their greatest benefactors.

During the years immediately preceding this there was a great revival of learning. A school of literati arose, which zealously studied the antiquities of its own country as opposed to the imported Chinese classics. A revival of Shinto sprang up, and with it grew again that great reverence and esteem for the ancient imperial line, the divine mikados, as against the upstart shoguns. In this way began the movement which ended in the revolution of 1868 and the overthrow of the shogunate.

When Perry came the shogun's government was already tottering to its fall, and when this government made treaties with foreign countries, admitting the "barbarians" to this "land of the gods," a loud cry arose against it over all the land. Finally the imperial court at Kyoto, prompted by the mighty daimios of Choshu, Satsuma, and Tosa, decided upon the abolition of the shogunate. The shogun himself submitted to the decree of the mikado, but many of his followers did not. The War of the Revolution ensued, and after much fighting the imperial troops were victorious; the shogunate was forever abolished, and the emperor once more took personal charge of the government.

The literary party had triumphed. Buddhism was largely supplanted by Shinto; the shogunate, which had admitted the foreigners, was abolished; and the literati fondly supposed that the court would now expel the intruders, abolish the treaties, again shut up the country, and affairs would go on as in the "good old times." But they were deceived. The mighty lords of Tosa, Satsuma, and Choshu now declared in favor of foreign intercourse and the adoption of European civilization. These princes were too powerful not to be heard. Their advice was heeded; the foreigners were welcomed, the country was opened more and more, old abuses were corrected, and the Europeanization of Japan was begun.

The reformation was ably assisted from the very quarter where we would expect to find it most bitterly opposed. The young and able emperor Mutsuhito, coming out of the obscurity which had enshrouded his ancestors for ages, and putting aside the traditions of centuries, ably seconded the efforts of his ministers in every reform. The unparalleled progress during his long and enlightened reign is due in no small part to his wisdom and prudence. He has shown himself a liberal, enlightened monarch, and I am sure that I express the sentiment of every friend of Japan in saying, Long live his Majesty Mutsuhito!

The reformation of the country, the assimilation of Western civilization and institutions, and the gradual opening and development of the empire have gone on uninterruptedly since the restoration of the emperor to the supreme power.