Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (35 page)

The soldiers approached the prince’s palanquin and tried poking at the door with their bayonets and the butt end of their lances. When the palanquin reached the house where the prince was to rest, there were so many soldiers swarming around the building that the prince’s party took refuge in a temple. They set out once again, but more soldiers were on the road than before, and they were twice as disrespectful as the previous lot. The prince’s retinue had expected to eat lunch at a temple in Hakone, and food for this purpose had been packed that morning, but this temple also proved to be full of soldiers, and they moved on, still hungry. By now it was growing dark, and the rain showed no sign of letting up. A man who had been sent ahead to Mishima came back with word that soldiers were in the house where the prince expected to spend the night, and there was nowhere else to stay. The prince finally found a temple where he could pass the night. The chest containing food and tableware that had been sent to Mishima in anticipation of his staying there had to be sent back. The prince did not eat dinner until cockcrow.
²⁰
His men slept that night in the open, not bothering to remove their traveling clothes.

The prince reached Shizuoka on March 29 after the long, harrowing journey. He was invited to stay at the temple S
ō
ji-in but declined because he had heard that priests of the Shint
ō
shrine near the S
ō
ji-in had formed a band of partisans who were said to have a particular aversion for Rinn
ō
jinomiya. It is puzzling that they should have entertained strong feelings against a man whose life had been spent almost entirely in seclusion, but word may have reached these Shint
ō
priests that the prince was traveling at the behest of the former shogun.

On March 30 Rinn
ō
jinomiya proceeded to Prince Taruhito’s headquarters and was received in audience. He presented Yoshinobu’s petition, stated that the former shogun was now living in retreat in Ueno, and asked that his punishment be lightened. Prince Taruhito replied that it was because of Yoshinobu’s gross acts of treason that an imperial command had been issued to punish him and that there was no way now to alter these plans. Members of his staff asserted that even if it was true that Yoshinobu had professed submission to the court and was living in a monastery, that was not sufficient reason to call off the expedition. They declared that the excuses for past behavior he made in his petition were proof he still had not admitted his guilt.
²¹

Rinn
ō
jinomiya answered that he was pleading not only because he wished to save Yoshinobu but also because he feared it would disturb the emperor’s peace of mind if he knew that the people of Edo were suffering because the city had been attacked by the imperial army. This line of argument seems to have moved the officers, and despite their doubts, they agreed to consider his plea.

Rinn
ō
jinomiya had a second meeting with Prince Taruhito on April 5. He asked what Yoshinobu must do to prove that he was really sincere in his submission. Taruhito referred him to his staff officers; although he was the commander in chief, they apparently made the decisions on military strategy. The officers’ answer was simple: Yoshinobu must surrender his castle and his fleet. This seemed reasonable to the prince, and he informed Prince Taruhito that he would send a messenger to Yoshinobu to report their reply. He would himself continue his journey to Ky
ō
to, as originally planned. Taruhito objected, saying that Rinn
ō
jinomiya’s mission had already been accomplished, and he had no need to go to Ky
ō
to.
²²
He directed the prince to return to Edo and urged him to inform Yoshinobu personally of the conditions of surrender. Rinn
ō
jinomiya left for Edo two days later.

There is no documentary evidence for Rinn
ō
jinomiya’s feelings at this time, but it is likely that as a prince of the blood, he was angered by both the ill treatment he had received at the hands of the Satsuma soldiers and the peremptory tone with which Taruhito had ordered him to return to Edo. Such feelings of bitterness, added to the resentment he already felt over the expedition against Tokugawa Yoshinobu led by Satsuma and Ch
ō
sh
ū
, may explain his subsequent willingness to associate with those who were still resisting the imperial army.
²³

Soon after the prince’s return to Edo, he was approached by leaders of the Sh
ō
gitai, a band of supporters of the Tokugawa family formed on March 4 at the Kan’ei-ji in Ueno, the family temple of the Tokugawas. Kaku
ō
in Gikan was an ardent supporter of the Sh
ō
gitai, and his influence probably induced the prince to cooperate (at least passively) with the organization. Men from many domains eagerly inscribed their names in blood on the roster of the Sh
ō
gitai, vowing to clear Tokugawa Yoshinobu’s reputation and to destroy Satsuma, which they denounced as the embodiment of evil.
²⁴

During the period before the imperial troops occupied the city of Edo, the Sh
ō
gitai was authorized by the former shogunate to patrol the streets and may have in fact helped maintain order; but once the government troops arrived, the Sh
ō
gitai turned to provoking incidents and sometimes to robbery. Prince Taruhito ordered the Sh
ō
gitai to disband, and officers of the former shogunate, including Katsu Kaish
ū
and Yamaoka Tessh
ū
, supported him, saying that the actions of the Sh
ō
gitai in fact imperiled Yoshinobu; but their words had no effect. Gikan snarled at Yamaoka that the order was in the name of the court, but it was the doing of Satsuma and Ch
ō
sh
ū
. He accused Yamaoka of being the dupe of Satsuma and declared that it was entirely natural that Ueno should be defended by men who honored not merely the former shogun but the whole Tokugawa family going back to the time of Ieyasu. He ended by denouncing Yamaoka as an “ingrate of a false retainer.”
²⁵

The presence of Rinn
ō
jinomiya at Ueno made it difficult for the government forces to stage an attack on the stronghold of the Sh
ō
gitai, as it would have been extremely awkward if he were hurt or killed in the fighting. They therefore persuaded the prince’s father to send him a letter asking him to return to Ky
ō
to to pay his respects to the emperor. The members of the Sh
ō
gitai were enraged to learn this, sure that the prince’s departure would be the signal for an all-out attack on the Kan’ei-ji. They sent the prince a message informing him that if he tried to leave Ueno, every single member of the organization would commit
seppuku
before the main temple gate, and the prince would have to step over their dead bodies in order to leave.
²⁶

The citizens of Edo also implored the prince not to go to Ky
ō
to, believing that his presence was the only thing deterring the imperial troops from setting the city on fire. The prince wavered, one day deciding to remain in Ueno, only to change his mind the next. Some of the priests urged him to go to Ky
ō
to where he would be safe, others opposed his going, fearing that once back in Ky
ō
to he would be compelled to return to the laity, a loss to the Tendai sect. The commander in chief ordered the prince to leave Ueno immediately so that the attack on the Sh
ō
gitai could commence, but Gikan intercepted the letter.

Finally Prince Taruhito could wait no longer. At dawn on June 6 the government army opened its attack. The fighting was fierce, but the outnumbered Sh
ō
gitai was compelled to fall back, and early that afternoon Satsuma troops took the temple’s Black Gate. That morning as usual, the prince went to the hall of worship to read the sutras. When the sound of gunfire was heard, the other priests tried to persuade him to leave, but he would not go until he had completed his reading. In the meantime, the priests produced some nondescript clothes they had prepared for an emergency, and the prince put them on in place of his priest’s robes.

Where was he to flee? He and the few priests with him wandered that day from place to place, afraid of capture. It seems not to have occurred to the prince to give himself up to the government troops, preferring (it would seem) any hardship to surrender. At one place a merchant who had long benefited from the patronage of the Kan’ei-ji offered to guide them to safety:

They followed him into a farmhouse. It consisted of one small room, and was not a place where the prince could be asked to stay. When they opened the storeroom they saw agricultural tools, straw, dried grass, all piled up. In one corner there was a board floor, about nine feet square, and in front of it a dirt floor. They installed the prince on the boards, and the priests sat reverently before him on the dirt floor. When the prince said he was cold, they borrowed two dirty and stained quilts. The prince, noticing the hesitance of the priests, told them not to worry. He took the quilts and threw them over his head. It was three in the morning. There were so many mosquitoes that the prince was unable to sleep the whole night long.
²⁷

The next morning an attendant priest made breakfast for the prince. The dishes were dirty and cracked, but he made rice balls and some unpleasant-smelling
miso
soup. “The prince said that were it not for such circumstances, he would never have known the taste of the soup of the common people. He forced himself to drink a mouthful, then put it aside with a smile.”
²⁸

The prince was able to accept with a smile the hardships of his flight, but parties of government troops were searching the area for remnants of the Sh
ō
gitai, and the commander in chief ordered that anyone knowing the whereabouts of Rinn
ō
jinomiya report it immediately. Troops were sent to surround and search the residence of the daimyo of Kish
ū
, for it was thought that the prince might take refuge with his sister, the daimyo’s wife. These actions convinced the priest of the temple where the prince had taken refuge that Prince Taruhito was not to be trusted. He urged the prince to flee by sea to the north and arranged for the prince, in disguise, to be escorted to Shinagawa, where he could board a ship of Enomoto Takeaki’s fleet.
²⁹

Late that night the prince and others in his party were rowed out to the
Ch
ō
gei maru
, where they were courteously received. Enomoto came to the ship from his flagship, the
Kaiy
ō
maru
. Speaking privately to the prince, Enomoto asked if he wished to go to Taruhito’s headquarters. If so, he would send an escort with the prince, men ready to give up their lives. But if the prince was absolutely determined to go to the north, he would obey his command. The prince replied that his temple in Ueno had been destroyed by flames and he had nowhere to go. Everywhere in Edo was dangerous. Even if he took refuge with Taruhito, he would not be safe. For this reason he would prefer to go to the north, where there were branches of his temple that had not been affected by the warfare. There he would wait for the imperial army to pacify the entire country. Enomoto agreed to do as the prince asked, but he asked him to write a declaration affirming that this was indeed his choice.
³⁰
This suggests that Enomoto foresaw that Rinn
ō
jinomiya might become the head of a faction contesting rulership of the country with Emperor Meiji.

According to one unverifiable source, the prince’s declaration was cast in the form of an imperial edict in which he appointed Enomoto and his staff to important positions in his newly created court.
³¹
If this actually happened, it indicates that the prince had taken on the attributes of an emperor.
³²

The documentary evidence gives a confusing impression of Rinn
ō
jinomiya. Afraid of becoming involved in the warfare, he escaped to the north to await the victory of the imperial forces. But the north was the center of shogunate activity, and it is hard to reconcile his seeming innocence with his subsequent cooperation with the rebels. Whether or not he chose to recognize it, the presence of a member of the imperial family enabled the rebels to raise the brocade pennant of legitimacy.
³³

A league of antigovernment domains in the north and northeast had been formed in May, and an oath of allegiance was signed on June 22.
³⁴
When Rinn
ō
jinomiya appeared a month later, he was asked to be the “symbol” of the league. The members hoped he would serve as its military leader, but he, as a priest, declined. On August 5 he was chosen to be the “leader.” At a meeting of the league that day, a seven-point statement defining the prince’s status was drawn up. The first three points were as follows:

1. His Highness will temporarily reside at Shiroishi Castle.

2. His expenses will be met with the income from former shogunate lands in
Ō
u.

3. The Sh
ō
gitai will continue to protect him.

Rinn
ō
jinomiya moved to Shiroishi Castle on August 30. At the gathering of the various domains, he served as the leader of the league in both name and reality.
³⁵
The daimyos of the Sendai and Yonezawa domains were chosen as his viceroys (
s
ō
toku
), and lesser appointments were made, in effect setting up a rival court to the one in Ky
ō
to. According to a document written by Kikuchi Y
ō
sai (1788–1878),
³⁶
the
neng
ō
was changed that day in the north to the first year of Taisei, and Rinn
ō
jinomiya was enthroned as the emperor T
ō
bu.
³⁷
It is not clear how much credence should be given to this document, which is not supported by other evidence, but its existence suggests that such a development seemed plausible.