Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (174 page)

44
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 2, p. 781. For the text of the rescript, see T
ō
yama Shigeki,
Tenn
ō
to k
ō
zoku
, pp. 31–32. At the same time, the twenty-four hours of a day were made uniform in length; previously the hours of light and dark were of different lengths.

Chapter 24

1
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 2, p. 9. Only two ladies were presented, the wives of the American and Russian ministers, but this established a precedent.

2
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 6. This was essentially the schedule established after the major changes in the palace on September 15, 1871 (Ikujir
ō
,
Meiji tenn
ō
, 1, pp. 113–14). The lectures on
Kokushi sanron
, a collection of historical essays on emperors from Jimmu to Goy
ō
zei published by Yamagata Taika in 1839, would be delivered by Fukuba Bisei and Motoda Nagazane; those on
Saikoku risshi hen
, by Fukuba Bisei, Kat
ō
Hiroyuki, and Motoda Nagazane; and those on poetry, by Sanj
ō
nishi Suetomo and Fukuba Bisei.

3
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 28.

4
. A photograph of the text of the
j
ō
yu
(imperial order) is in Wayne C. McWilliams, “East Meets East,” p. 241. For a
yomikudashi
version, see
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 38.

5
. These details of Soejima’s orders were given by the emperor to Sanj
ō
Sanetomi, the prime minister, for transmission to Soejima (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, pp. 38–39).

6
. Acting on LeGendre’s suggestion, Soejima proposed occupying the southern part of Taiwan. He believed this could be obtained by negotiations with China and that possession of the southern part of the island would make it possible to obtain the rest of the island by diplomatic means in four or five years (McWilliams, “East Meets East,” p. 243).

7
. The interpreters, Tei Nagayasu and Hirai Yoshimasa, spoke both Chinese and English. Both served in the Foreign Ministry. Tei was of Chinese origin.

8
. According to Soejima, the plan worked: when the two warships arrived in Shanghai, he was referred to by Chinese officials as the “great Japanese general Soejima” (“Soejima Haku keireki g
ū
dan,” p. 24).

9
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 39. The
Kanrin maru
, which traveled to San Francisco in 1860, was not, strictly speaking, a warship.

10
. “Soejima Haku,” p. 24. The content of their talk is not known.

11
. McWilliams quotes letters from the American consul in Tientsin to Frederick Low, the American minister in Peking (“East Meets East,” p. 248).

12
. McWilliams quotes a letter from LeGendre to General O. E. Babcock dated July 2, 1873 (“East Meets East,” p. 248).

13
. McWilliams quotes part of a letter sent on May 7, 1873, from the American consul in Tientsin to Low, the American minister in Peking: “The fact that the Japanese had seemingly identified themselves with the foreigners … was so entirely at variance with the viceroy’s own ideas of Oriental superiority that he could not resist giving his cousins from the ‘Rising Sun’ a left-handed slap for submitting to or seeking after the guidance of western barbarians” (“East Meets East,” pp. 248–49).

14
. This account is derived from “Soejima Haku,” p. 25.

15
. Ibid., p. 17.

16
. Ibid., pp. 17–18.

17
. “Shinkoku to no sh
ū
k
ō
j
ō
ki ts
ū
sh
ō
sh
ō
tei teiketsu ni kansuru ken,” pp. 147–48, quoted in McWilliams, “East Meets East,” p. 256. This diary, referred to as “Shi shin nikki” by McWilliams, is found in
Nihon gaik
ō
monjo
, 6.

18
. From “Shinkoku,” p. 152, quoted in McWilliams, “East Meets East,” p. 258.

19
. From “Shinkoku,” p. 166, quoted in McWilliams, “East Meets East,” p. 259.

20
. “Soejima Haku,” p. 29; McWilliams, “East Meets East,” p. 265.

21
. He was the first foreign envoy to be granted an audience with the emperor since 1793, some eighty years earlier, when Lord Macartney was received.

22
. Kose Susumu and Nakamura Hiroshi,
Motoda T
ō
ya, Soejima S
ō
kai
, p. 158.

23
. “Soejima Haku,” p. 32. However, he was given only a nineteen-gun salute, according to “Shinkoku,” p. 198.

24
. The text of the letter is in “Soejima Haku,” p. 33. See also McWilliams, “East Meets East,” p. 273.

25
. Kose and Nakamura,
Motoda
, p. 159.

26
.
Taewon’gun
was the title given to the father of a reigning king who had not himself reigned, but it is often used to refer to one particular man, Yi Ha-ung, the father of King Kojong. The
taewon’gun
had placed his second son on the throne but governed behind the scenes, rather in the manner of the
insei
in late Heian Japan.

27
. The document is referred to by the Japanese as the
T
ō
raifu denreisho
. T
ō
raifu (or Tong-nai-pu in Korean) was the district where the Wakan was situated.

28
. The full text is in
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 115. See also Tada K
ō
mon, ed.,
Iwakura-k
ō
jikki
, 3, pp. 45–46. This volume (pp. 1–90) contains other documents relative to relations between Japan and Korea.

29
. Kang Bom-sok,
Seikanron seihen
, pp. 44–46. The merchants in question were sent by the Mitsui Gofukuten. The names of three employees of Mitsui who were planning to go to the Wakan to engage in trade are given in a letter sent by the
gaimu daij
ō
, Hanabusa Yoshikata, to Murayama Shigeru, dated January 21, 1873 (p. 45).

30
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 116.

31
. Ibid., 3, p. 116.

32
. Ibid., 3, pp. 117–18.

33
. Soejima had not yet returned from China at the time of the debate. Kido and
Ō
kubo had returned from Europe, but Kido was (really) ill and could not attend the Court Council.
Ō
kubo, not being a
sangi
, was not qualified to attend. Iwakura was still abroad. Among those supporting the proposal were the three
sangi
Itagaki Taisuke, Got
ō
Sh
ō
jir
ō
, and Et
ō
Shimpei.

34
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 118. Saig
ō
would repeat this prediction in the letter he sent on August 17 to Itagaki Taisuke, in which he wrote, “I need hardly say that it [his proposal to send an envoy to Korea] is at the same time a far-reaching scheme which will divert abroad the attention of those who desire civil strife, and thereby benefit the country” (Ry
ū
saku Tsunoda, Wm. Theodore de Bary, and Donald Keene, trans.,
Sources of Japanese Tradition
, p. 657; original in
Ō
kawa Nobuyoshi,
Dai Saig
ō
zensh
ū
, 2, p. 756).

35
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, pp. 118–19. Soejima (who returned to Japan on July 23) expected to be sent to Korea, only to encounter Saig
ō
’s determination to become the envoy.

36
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, pp. 111–12, 114. The royal party traveled by train from Shimbashi to Kanagawa and from there by horse-drawn carriage. The journey took two days.

37
. Kang,
Seikanron
, pp. 54–55. The Koreans had previously (in 1868) repulsed attacks by French and American warships (Tsunoda Fusako,
Mimpi ansatsu
, pp. 58–59, 66, 80–81).

38
. Tsunoda et al., trans.,
Sources of Japanese Tradition
, pp. 655–56; original in
Ō
kawa,
Dai Saig
ō
, 2, pp. 736–38.

39
. Tsunoda et al., trans.,
Sources of Japanese Tradition
, p. 656; original in
Ō
kawa,
Dai Saig
ō
, 2, pp. 751–52. See also Kang,
Seikanron
, pp. 131–32.

40
. Kang,
Seikanron
, p. 129. The doctors thought that Saig
ō
’s corpulence was the cause of his high blood pressure and prescribed strong laxatives, five or six times a day, in order to reduce his weight. It can easily be imagined how this must have weakened him.

41
. Kang,
Seikanron
, pp. 135–36, 150. In later years,
Ō
kuma Shigenobu, describing the reasons that different men advocated
seikan
, said that Saig
ō
was looking for a place to die (Kose and Nakamura,
Motoda
, p. 168).

42
. M
ō
ri Toshihiko,
Meiji rokunen seihen
, pp. 117–18, 127–31.

43
. Saig
ō
’s exalted reputation is difficult for non-Japanese to understand. His personality and appearance and the legends that have grown up around him seem to have induced Japanese to condone both his attitude at this time and his later rebellion against the government, but it is doubtful if many Koreans share this admiration.

44
. Diary entry, September 3, 1873, in Sidney DeVere Brown and Akiko Hirota, trans.,
The Diary of Kido Takayoshi
, 2, pp. 370–71. See also Kang,
Seikanron
, pp. 167–73.

45
. He asked that It
ō
Hirobumi also be made a
sangi
, but It
ō
was an officer of the second rank, and an appointment to
sangi
would have involved jumping over the first rank, which was deemed impossible.
Ō
kubo also asked, as a condition of becoming a
sangi
, that Sanj
ō
and Iwakura swear that once they made up their minds on
seikan
they would not waver! (M
ō
ri,
Meiji rokunen
, p. 166).

46
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, pp. 139–41; Kose and Nakamura,
Motoda
, pp. 164–65. Although Kido was a
sangi
, his absence from the sessions prevented him from voting.

47
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, pp. 143–44, 147–49.

48
. Ibid., 3, p. 150.

49
. Kose and Nakamura state that the four men, concerned about how their resignations would be interpreted abroad, decided they were “somehow or other” ill (
Motoda
, p. 167).

50
. It has been suggested that even those most opposed to intervention in Korea were essentially in favor of it but had special reasons for their opposition at this point. Kido is said to have favored
seikan
but thought it would be too expensive under the stringent financial conditions in Japan at the time (M
ō
ri,
Meiji rokunen
, p. 144).
Ō
kubo is said not to have been unduly worried about sending Saig
ō
as an ambassador (Kang,
Seikanron
, p. 192); he is even said to have told Soejima that he would have agreed to
seikan
if he had first been given fifty days in which to create the Ministry of the Interior (Kose and Nakamura,
Motoda
, p. 167). But it is difficult to reconcile the claim that
Ō
kubo was essentially sympathetic to
seikan
with his detailed statement on why he opposed the Korean expedition (Tsunoda et al., trans.
Sources of Japanese Tradition
, pp. 658–62; original in Kiyozawa Kiyoshi,
Ō
kubo Toshimichi
, pp. 28–31).

Chapter 25

1
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 130.

2
. Ibid., 3, pp. 65–66. Meiji limited the expenditures to not more than 50,000 yen.

3
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 3, p. 70.

4
. Ibid., 3, pp. 57–58.