The narrative of a Japanese; what he has seen and the people he has met in the course of the last forty years./Chapter 3
February 5th. The long-talked-of Japanese Embassey to Europe visited the French frigate Semiramis, to bid good-bye to the Admiral and to thank him on behalf of the Tycoon for placing the Monge at their disposal to convey them to Shanghai. At noon they left the Semiramis and proceeded on board the Monge, receiving a salute of 17 guns, which was answered by the Kanagawa fort, where the French flag was hoisted. This Embassy, which consists of two Senior Envoys Ikeda; Chikugo-no-Kami and Kawadzu, Idzumo-no-Kami, with Shibata Sadanawo as junior, and a suite of 15 or 16 other officers will visit the Courts of Paris, London and Berlin.
February 6th. The Swiss Ambassador, M. Aimé Humbert, left for Yedo accompanied by the Dutch officials who are to aid in making arrangements for the speedy signing of the Treaty with Switzerland. It is announced that the Tycoon has left Yedo for Ōsaka by sea en route for Kiōto, attended by 3,000 armed men and officers. It is
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further stated that his visit is in order to receive a higher rank from the Mikado before be abdicates in favour of Hitotsubashi.
It would seem that hara-kiri is an institution that is not always appreciated by its victims as it should be. For instance, a local custom-house officer detected in aiding and abetting silk-smugglers exhibited the greatest reluctance to quit life by the Happy Despatch some five days ago. In truth, we are given to understand that it needed all the combined eloquence of his household and relatives and friends to induce him to take the step. They surrounded him in his own house, urging and imploring him to thus wash away his guilt, and to preserve the hereditary income and rank of his family, and, at last, after exhibiting the greatest reluctance, the smuggler allowed himself to be persuaded to do the deed. But it was sorely against the grain.
February 9th. The Yedo Government is said to have issued a notice to farmers and merchants to form military companies called Shin-cho-gumi, and to apply to the local authorities for instructions in the use of fire-arms.
February 14th. The Satsuma officials have arrived, and are reported to have made a final settlement of the Namamugi affair with the British authorities. On the following day they
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bought the steamer Fukeen for $55,000 from an English firm.
February 16th. In the afternoon Consul Clarke and I went for a long walk, and on our return I found a Manila cigar-box addressed to me, with P.P.C. card of a certain Ambassador who had come to make a treaty with Japan, and having finished his business was about to return to his own country.
“Here,” said I to Clarke, “M. H--has sent me his promised cigars; they must be fine. We'll enjoy them after dinner.” When I opened the box, I was surprised to find it half-full of ordinary Manila cheroots, with a few dollars wrapped up in an old newspaper, two small old French and English pocket-dictionaries, some pamphlets in German, and old papers to fill it up, but with no note or letter of explanation. So I said to Clarke that M. H--must have sent me the wrong box by mistake, instead of the box of good cigars he had promised me a few days before for the services I had rendered him by translating the explanations of several pictures he had bought and explaining to him what others meant. Clarke, too, said that it must be a mistake as the Ambassador was aware that I knew no French or German, and that I had better send back the box with a note. So I wrote saying that he must have sent
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me this box by mistake instead of the box of good cigars he had kindly promised me, since I had found not only cheroots, but also several other articles in it. M. H--signed the chit-book acknowledging receipt of the box and of my note, but he never condescended to give me any reply.
February 21st. In consequence of friction between the silk-dealers' guild and the Government in Yedo, no silk has arrived in Yokohama for the last few weeks. However, the Government has now informed the dealers that silk may be sent to the Treaty Port subject to the levy of a small tax. This tax is to be accumulated until it can purchase 23,000 bales of rice, which are to be presented to the Mikado. No one seems to be able to give any satisfactory explanation of the meaning of this strange regulation.
February 26th. It is just reported that Yedo has been placarded by some unknown hand with notices forbidding any silk to be sent to Yokohama and threatening anyone sending it with a heavy penalty.
March 2nd. We have just heard from Kiōto that the manufacturers have begun to buy up all the raw silk of the “Ida” class, and that in consequence the price of this kind of silk has advanced to 700 rio per picul. Foreign piece goods are in great demand there, and the holders in Yokohama have raised their prices.
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In the afternoon I was requested by the Governor of Kanagawa to call at his office, since he wished to see me on special business. When I went, he asked me whether I had seem anything in the foreign newspapers, or heard anything from foreigners respecting the Government contract with the U.S. Minister for three war-ships to be built in America. This contract had been made in Nov. 1862, and $600,000 had been paid by the Government in three instalments. “Now,” said the Governor, “what we wish to know is whether these vessels are in the course of construction or not.” I said that I was sorry I could not tell him, and asked him why he did not go direct and ask the gentleman who had made the contract, who is here on the spot. Thereupon I was told that the Governors of Foreign Affairs had asked him time and again and had always been answered that the vessels were being built and would soon be out. This has been the Minister's answer for the last year; he refused to give any information as to where they were being constructed or how far they had progressed. And the Japanese had now learned that there was, as yet, no vessel building for them at all!
March 3rd. We received news that the Shōgun had arrived at Kiōto on the 22nd ult. On his way he stopped 3 days at Uraga, and a like period
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at Shimoda, and at these places had amused himself by hunting and fishing. At Yedo, all amusements are ordered to be suspended during the Shōgun's absence from the Capital.
March 15th. The Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs came from Yedo to congratulate the British Minister on his safe return from England.
March 21st. The previous evening two Gorōjiu came down from Yedo and lodged at Kanagawa. This morning they went to the Governor's residence at Tobé, and there inspected the troops. In the afternoon they visited the British Legation. They were the highest authorities that so for had ever come to Yokohama. Before their arrival, the Governor had ordered the streets of Yokohama to be swept and watered and sandbanks piled here and there along their route from Tobé to the end of the native settlement in accordance with native custom in such cases.
May 25th. This morning the native population of Kanagawa and Yokohama became greatly excited over the appearance in the Bay of a huge three-decked ship with painted ports and a great swarm of men on board. It turned out to be the English transport Conqueror, which brings 530 marines to be stationed in Yokohama. It is reported that the British Minister has requested the Yedo Government to erect accommodation for
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these men within 30 days. The barracks are to be on the Bluff, behind the Settlement.
May 29th. We hear from Kiōto that a new political party has been formed in that city. It is called the To-i party and its professed aim and object is the expulsion of foreigners from the sacred soil of Japan. We also learn that Shimadzu Saburo has been driven from the Western Capital by order of the Mikado, to punish his rude behaviour at his audience with the Emperor. The Prince of Echizen has resigned office and retired to his fief, on account of a difference of opinion with the Mikado's party. Prince Hitotsu-bashi has become quite a favourite with the above party and has been honoured with the appointment of Commander-in-chief of all the forces in Ōsaka.
In the afternoon my friend Dr. S--, physician to the late Gorōjiu Hotta, came in, and in answer to my query as to why the Kiōto authorities were so bent on expelling foreigners from the country, made the following statement:--
“Christianity was introduced into the country in the middle of the 16th Century and during the sway of Nobunaga (the Master of Taikō Hideyoshi) it was favoured by the authorities, and many churches were erected in various parts of the Centre and West of Japan. After the death of Nobunaga in 1582, Hideyoshi became ruler of the
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country. He, too, tolerated Christianity till the ill-advised remark of a Spanish pilot, who said that 'Spain had got possession of many countries by sending the padres to prepare the way for her soldiers,' was reported to him. In consequence, he ordered all the priests to leave Japan, and in 1597, sixteen Christians were crucified at Nagasaki. In Iyeyasu's time there were 1,800,000 Christians in Japan, and as they gave help to Hideyori at Ōsaka in 1614, and were suspected of intriguing to overthrow the Tokugawas a few years later, the priests were again expelled and the native Christians bitterly persecuted. Then under Iyemitsu, the 3rd Tokugawa Shōgun, followed another plot, and in consequence, in 1637, several Daimio, having got orders to stamp out the Great Rebellion which had broken out at Shimabara, did so so effectually that Christianity entirely disappeared. Further in 1640 this Shōgun ordered that henceforth no more foreign vessels should be allowed to come to Japan, with the exception of one Dutch merchantman and two Chinese Junks which were annually allowed to enter the port of Nagasaki only.
“An exception in favour of the Dutch was made, because they have given timely information of the above-mentioned plot and had lent aid to crush the rebellion that followed, while the Chinese junks
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were allowed to come because Japan owed her civilization in great part to China and had continued to trade with China for a long time before. The Dutch sent captains, officers and physicians and quartered them at the Deshima. The authorities soon discovered that the foreign doctors were far superior to the Japanese physicians, and as a consequence Japanese were allowed to learn as much of Dutch medical science as they could, although the native physicians practising Chinese medicine opposed this piece of liberality most bitterly. However certain of the Daimio and their retainers, more enlightened than others, encouraged the Dutch practice and the use of European medicine, and through the foreign literature the native students began to learn something of European laws and customs and civilization. And in turn, even certain of the Daimio had got to learn something of these foreign countries through these students, even before the arrival of Perry in 1853.
“The appearance of the American Squadron in Yedo Bay in that year of 1853 naturally excited a great commotion as to whether the country should be opened to foreigners or not. Those in office were mostly in favour of the measure; those not in office for the most part opposed it. Among the latter was the Prince of Mito, who at once hastened to Kiōto and advised the Mikado 'not to
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allow foreigners to land on the sacred soil of Japan, for if he did so, the country would become subject to other nations.' The Mikado adopted his counsel and from this time the Mikado and his party have been anti-foreign. On the other hand, Hotta Bitchiu-no-kami and his fellows in the Tokugawa Council of State, led by Ii-Kamon-no-kami, held that the time had come when the influx of foreigners could no longer be stayed.
“When Commodore Perry came and left the letter from the President of the United States of America asking for a Treaty of Amity, the Yedo Government at once despatched a member of the Council of State to Kiōto, to obtain the Mikado's consent to a Treaty with the U.S. of America. When this was refused, Hotta Bitchu-no-kami was sent to explain the state of European and American progress and civilization, and to again ask permission to conclude the Treaty. But his mission was utterly unavailing; the Mikado's courtiers were backed by many of the Daimio, who had no objection to the opening of the country and to intercourse with foreigners, but who were bitterly jealous of the power of the Shōgun, and wished to overthrow it, and saw a means of doing so by opposing foreign intercourse. In the Spring of 1854 Commodore Perry's fleet returned for the reply to the President's letter. After consultation
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the Yedo Court decided to make the treaty with the U.S. without any further reference to the Mikado's Government in Kiōto.
“Hayashi Daigaku-no-kami and others were appointed as Plenipotentiaries and the Treaty was signed at Kanagawa in March 1854. The formidable appearance of Perry's squadron was a powerful argument in favour of this step, for the Government saw that a refusal to sign the Treaty of Amity might lead to hostilities with the “Black Ships,” as the American Squadron was called by the natives, in which case the Japanese would indeed be in an evil plight.
“Now, although this action on the part of the Shōgun's Government averted unpleasantness with the Americans, it was the source of nearly all the internal troubles it has since been called upon to cope with. For the Treaty was signed without leave from the Mikado; and the Western Daimio, who had been chafing under the yoke of the Tokugawas for the last two centuries and a half, were quick to take advantage of this usurpation of the Mikado's powers by the Bakufu, and to employ it as a means of withdrawing themselves from dependence on Yedo. About this time the death of the young Shōgun without any direct heir to his office added another to the many difficulties the Bakufu had to contend with.
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“For the question of the succession was an all-important one. The Regent, Ii-Kamon-no-kami, was in favour of the son of the Prince of Kishiu (one of Sanké, or three collateral branches of the Tokugawa House, from which an heir to the Shōgunate was to be chosen in default of direct descendants from the main line), while Hotta and several other members of the Gorōjiu advocated the claims of Prince Hitotsubashi, of the House of Mito, on the ground that he had reached years of discretion, while the other was still a minor. The Regent opposed, and the Court of Kiōto favoured Hitotsubashi, because he was the son of the leader of the anti-foreign faction in the nation, and Ii-Kamon-no-kami's mind was bent on avoiding all conflict with the formidable foreigners who had so unexpectedly appeared in the 'black ships.'
“So finally the Regent on his own responsibility nominated the son of Kishiu, Shōgun, and dismissed all the officials who were partisans of Hitotsubashi. This gave deep umbrage to many, and in 1860 Ii-Kamon-no-kami was assassinated by Mito men. Ever since that period the domains of Mito have been a thorn in the side of the Government, while in the Western Provinces, Chōshiu, Satsuma, and Tosa have combined to overthrow the Tokugawa Shōgunate by urging the Mikado to
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cancel the treaties the Yedo Government has concluded with foreigners.
“However, after his encounter with the English, fleet in 1863, Satsuma became convinced that no Daimio, or combination of Daimios in Japan, could expel the foreigners, and plainly told the Mikado as much. Then followed Chōshiu's plot to kidnap the Mikado and make himself master of the Shōgunate. This plot had been disclosed by one of the parties to it, to Nakagawa-no-miya, the Mikado's uncle, who at once laid the whole affair before His Majesty. The Mikado was exceedingly wroth with Chōshiu and ordered him out of the city of Kiōto, a step which gave rise to the late commotions there. Since then the Mikado has become more reconciled to the Tokugawa party and has commanded the Shōgun to subjugate and punish Chōshiu as a rebel.”
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