The Spell of Japan Part 5

My husband thus describes it: "Aoyama, the 'Champ de Mars' of Tokyo, is a tremendously large parade ground, which was simply walled in by the ma.s.s of plebeians that had turned out to do honour to the occasion. For the foreigners the 'high seats' had been reserved in the diplomatic tent next to the Imperial stand. The Emperor, followed by the Lancers and a gorgeous Staff, made a tour of the field, and then the troops pa.s.sed in review before him. They were about ten thousand in number, and made a really excellent appearance; the marching and order were good, at times very good. The cavalry appeared rather awkward, but this was due to the brutish little horses more than anything else."

"In the evening there was the grand ball at the 'Rok.u.meikan,' given by Count Ok.u.ma, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, in honour of the Emperor's anniversary, which starts the social whirl of the capital for the season. It was an elegant affair, and from the good taste and good management, it might well have been in Paris. The grounds were beautifully decorated with lanterns and coloured lights, and the building was superb inside with bunting and flowers, the national chrysanthemum being used with excellent effect. The uniforms and decorations of the guests added brilliancy and movement. There were almost as many foreigners as j.a.panese, and nearly all the latter were in European dress, only a few ladies wearing the native costume. Those in European gowns carried them off exceedingly well, and danced waltzes and quadrilles in most approved Western manner."

The present Emperor's anniversary, as I have learned from a letter, was celebrated in 1913 in much the same way as his predecessor's more than twenty years ago--with one important exception, the three earthquake shocks were omitted! The day began with the review of the soldiers at Aoyama, after which congratulatory poems were presented to His Majesty by the Empress and the Empress Dowager.[4] The Emperor then received the Imperial Princes and Princesses, and entertained them at luncheon.

[4] The Dowager Empress of j.a.pan died of heart disease at the Imperial Villa Nowazu, April 9th, 1914. She was the widow of Emperor Mutsuhito, who died July 30th, 1912. The Empress Dowager was born May 28th, 1858, and was married to the late Emperor in 1869. She was the daughter of a n.o.bleman, Icliejo-Tadado, and was greatly beloved by the j.a.panese people.

The birthday dinner in the evening was followed by the ball given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron Makino, at his official residence.

Here were princesses of the blood in white gowns and superb jewels, j.a.panese ladies in kimonos, ladies of the Corps Diplomatique in European costume, priests in their varied robes, and diplomats and attaches in gorgeous uniforms. It was a brilliant scene. The rooms were lighted by electricity and decorated with a profusion of chrysanthemums and the Imperial crest in gold. Long cl.u.s.ters of wisteria depending from the ceiling sparkled with electric bulbs, and in the supper-room the guests were seated at tables under the branches of artificial cherry-trees blossoming in the Emperor's honour.

Some account of our previous reception at Court by the late Emperor and Empress may be of interest. It took place when we pa.s.sed through j.a.pan in the company of the American Secretary of War, Mr. d.i.c.kinson, on the way to the Philippines in 1910. At that time we crossed the Pacific to the Land of the Rising Sun.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LATE EMPEROR.]

News had been received while at sea by aerogram from the Emba.s.sy that the Imperial Mikado and the Empress would grant an audience and entertain at luncheon at the palace, but there was much doubt as to what this really meant, for the audience might be only for the Secretary and Mrs. d.i.c.kinson. So the pleasure and surprise were all the greater when, on arrival, it was found that those accompanying the Secretary were to be included in both functions.

The invitations, in j.a.panese characters, were handed to us with many others on our arrival, but had already been formally answered at the American Emba.s.sy. The instructions were the same then as they are to-day as to costume and etiquette. They indicated that the ladies were to wear high-necked dresses with trains and hats, and the men were to be in uniform or full dress. On the morning of the sixteenth (of July), we all met at the Emba.s.sy at eleven o'clock--as the audience was due at noon--and placed ourselves in the hands of the Amba.s.sador.

Two Imperial carriages conveyed the important official members of the party to the palace, and the rest proceeded in vehicles hired for the occasion.

After the men of the party were presented to the Emperor, in the manner already described, they rejoined the ladies, and all were introduced to the lady-in-waiting, Countess Kagawa, and then conducted to Her Majesty's audience hall. Mrs. O'Brien, the wife of the Amba.s.sador, preceded, making low courtesies; the ladies followed.

The Emperor, who was in uniform, appeared older than we had expected.

Her Majesty was several years older than the Emperor, and had charming manners, but she did not smile. Expression, we were informed, is not considered aristocratic. Her hair and dress were in European fashion, and she wore beautiful pearls. She had no children--the present Mikado is the only son of Emperor Meiji by another wife.

Some stories that are told of the late Emperor show how much real strength of character he possessed. A few years ago, it is said, when a plot against His Majesty's life was discovered, the Prime Minister went to him and offered his resignation, saying that as this plot had been brought to light while he was in office (the first plot against any Mikado in the history of j.a.pan), he felt that perhaps his administration had not been good. The Emperor, however, would not accept his resignation, saying that if the people wished to take his life, it must be his fault--it must show that he had not been a good ruler.

Accordingly, he ordered only twelve of the twenty-four offenders to be put to death.

In his last illness, owing to the old belief that his person was too sacred to be touched, even the doctors were not allowed to come in contact with him, his pulse being counted by a silken cord about his wrist. The Empress was at his bedside when he died. The only person who ever entered his apartment, I was told, was Prince Ito, who came on some urgent affair of state in response to a telephone message from the Emperor himself. The Prince was admitted before the Mikado was dressed in the morning. Even on the greatest occasions, however, he was never really well dressed, because no one was permitted to fit his clothes, lest a mere human being should touch his person.

Yet the life of the late Emperor, secluded though he was within his palace walls, was freedom itself in comparison with that of the ancient rulers. In olden times, so Hearn writes, "His (the Mikado's) feet were never permitted to touch the ground out of doors, nor was he allowed to cut his hair, beard or nails, or to expose himself to the rays of the sun." His only excursions outside the walls of his palace were made in a large _norimono_, or palanquin, borne by fourteen men, in which, behind the latticed windows, he was able to catch glimpses of the outer world while himself invisible. Even if he granted an audience, he was never seen, his person being completely hidden by bamboo screens.

The emperors of ancient days were allowed to have three consorts besides the Empress, also nine maids of high rank and twenty-seven maids of lower rank, all of whom were known as wives. In addition to these, he was at liberty to have eighty-one concubines. Only one of the wives ranked as empress, but the twelve next below her had each a palace near that of the Emperor. By way of contrast, it is said that the present Emperor has never loved any woman but the Empress. The Mikado's eldest daughter was in olden times appointed chief priestess of the Temple of the Sun, at Ise.

Somewhat in contrast with my husband's experiences were those of America's first Amba.s.sador to j.a.pan, Mr. Townsend Harris, as he has related them in his journal. After his arrival in j.a.pan and many weary months of waiting at Shimoda, he wrote September 25th, 1857, "I am to go to Yedo (now Tokyo) in the most honourable manner; and after my arrival I am to have an audience of the Shogun, and then present the letter of the President!!"

"The manner in which I am to salute the Shogun," he adds, "is to be the same as in the courts of Europe, that is, three bows. They made a faint request that I would prostrate myself and 'knock-head,' but I told them the mentioning such a thing was offensive to me."

After two months spent in preparation for the journey, Mr. Harris with an imposing retinue started for Yedo, about one hundred miles away.

As a part of the preparation for his journey, "Bridges had been built over every stream," he tells us, "the pathway mended, and all the bushes cut away so as to leave the path clear." At one place the road had actually been _swept_ only a few hours before the procession pa.s.sed over it. All along the way the people stood motionless in front of their houses, and all the shops but the cook shops were closed. The magistrates of each village conducted Mr. Harris to the borders of the next, prostrating themselves in salute as they left. The Government had also ordered that there should be no travel over the Tokaido, the Eastern Sea Road, during his journey.

In Yedo the American Envoy was domiciled in the "Court" section of the city, and eight _daimyos_ were appointed as "Commissioners of the voyage of the American Amba.s.sador to Yedo." Another week was pa.s.sed in receiving and paying visits of ceremony, and in arranging matters of detail. Mr. Harris received as a present from the Shogun seventy pounds of j.a.panese bonbons beautifully arranged in four trays.

On December 7th, at ten o'clock in the morning, our Amba.s.sador set out for his audience of the Shogun. "My dress," he says, "was a coat embroidered with gold after the pattern furnished by the State Department, blue pantaloons with a broad gold band running down each leg, c.o.c.ked hat with gold ta.s.sels, and a pearl-handled dress sword." He was escorted by the same retinue that he had had during the journey. He was carried in his _norimono_ up to the last bridge in front of the audience hall, and before entering this building he put on a new pair of patent leather shoes. The j.a.panese, of course, went in their _tabis_.

After a time he was led to the audience hall, past a number of _daimyos_, seated in j.a.panese fashion, who saluted by touching their foreheads to the mat. The Prince of Shinano, Master of Ceremonies, then threw himself on his hands and knees, and Mr. Harris stood behind him, with Mr. Heusken in the rear bearing the President's letter.

At a given signal, the Prince crawled forward on hands and knees, and as Mr. Harris followed and entered the hall of audience, a chamberlain called out, "Emba.s.sador Merican!" With the prescribed three bows at intervals, he advanced toward the throne, before which the members of the Great Council lay prostrate on their faces. Pausing a few seconds, Mr. Harris then addressed the Tai-kun--as he had been instructed to call the Shogun--expressing the good wishes of the President.

"After a short silence," says Mr. Harris, "the Tai-kun began to jerk his head backward over his left shoulder, at the same time stamping with his right foot. This was repeated three or four times.[5] After this he spoke audibly and in a pleasant and firm voice," expressing his pleasure in the Amba.s.sador's speech, and graciously adding, "Intercourse shall be continued for ever."

[5] I have been told that Mr. Harris _shouted_ in delivering his address to the Shogun, who, perhaps, had never before heard anyone speak above a whisper.

Mr. Harris then presented the President's letter, after which he withdrew, as he had entered, with three bows.

Mr. Harris' description of the Shogun himself is of interest: "The Tai-kun was seated in a chair placed on a platform raised about two feet from the floor, and from the ceiling in front of him a gra.s.s curtain was hung; when unrolled, it would reach the floor, but it was now rolled up, and was kept in its place by large silk cords with heavy ta.s.sels. By an error in their calculation, the curtain was not rolled up high enough to enable me to see his headdress, as the roll formed by the curtain cut through the centre of his forehead, so that I cannot fully describe his 'crown,' as the j.a.panese called it. The dress of the Tai-kun was made of silk, and the material had some little gold wove in with it, but it was as distant from anything like regal splendour as could be conceived; no rich jewels, no elaborate gold ornaments; no diamond-hilted weapon appeared.... The j.a.panese told me his crown is a black lacquered cap, of an inverted bell shape."

Two years later Mr. Heusken, Mr. Harris' secretary, was a.s.sa.s.sinated, and his own house was burned. But Mr. Harris never wavered. Dignified, firm, self-respecting, he was always the kind, patient teacher of the j.a.panese in the ways of the outside world, winning from them the t.i.tle which they love to give him--"the nation's friend." He was a great diplomat, but his was a strikingly human and Christian diplomacy. He laid the foundations for America's subsequent dealings with j.a.pan so deep in the bedrock of justice and mutual forbearance that the superstructure has never yet been shaken. Our own personal experiences were pleasanter because Townsend Harris had led the way.

CHAPTER V

LIFE IN TOKYO

Our diplomatic visits were made within two days of our arrival, as etiquette requires. My first visit was on the Doyenne of the Diplomatic Corps, Marchesa Guiccioli. The French Amba.s.sador was Doyen, but as he was not married the Italian Amba.s.sadress was the first lady of the Corps. When our diplomatic calls had been made and returned, we returned those made by the American colony in Tokyo and Yokohama.

During the winter the ladies of the Diplomatic Corps decided to have a day "at home" each week. The period of second mourning for the late Emperor had begun, and we all dressed in black and white. Dinners and calling among the diplomats continued, but the official dinners between the j.a.panese and the foreigners did not take place on account of the mourning.

The diplomatic dinners were always large affairs of twenty or thirty people, and quite formal, with the host and hostess sitting in foreign fashion at the centre of the table, the ends filled in with young secretaries. There were but few women present, for many of the diplomats in Tokyo were not married. Occasionally we found one or two j.a.panese at these dinners, but not often, owing to the official mourning. They might have been given in Europe or anywhere, except for a touch of the East in the costumes of the servants and the curios about the house.

To show how a j.a.panese lady or gentleman answers an Amba.s.sador's invitation, I give literal translations of two responses which are quite typical.

"WORSHIPFULLY ADDRESSED.

"Having received upon my head the honourable loving invitation of the coming 25th day, I humbly regard it as the extremity of glory. Referring thereto, in the case of the rustic wife there being unavoidably a previous engagement, although with regret, (she) is humbly unable to ascend; consequently the little student one person, humbly accepting, will go to the honourable residence. Rapidly, rapidly, worshipfully bowing.

"Great Justice, 2d year, 2d moon, 19th day.

American Amba.s.sador, Beneath the Mansion.

Honourable Lady, Beneath the Mansion."

"WORSHIPFULLY REPORTING.

"Having received upon my head the honourable loving invitation to the banquet of the honourable holding on the coming 25th day, thankfully, joyfully, humbly shall I worshipfully run.

However, in the matter of ----, although regretting, (he) humbly declines.

The right hand (fact) upon receiving (he) at once wishes humbly to decline. It is honourably thus. Respectfully bowing.

"Second moon, 20th day.

American Amba.s.sador, Mr. Anderson, Beneath the Mansion."

Our first reception was attended by most of the diplomats, some of the American colony, and a few j.a.panese. In American fashion I had the ladies of the Emba.s.sy pour tea at the large table in the dining-room.

There were over a hundred and fifty guests in all, many coming from Yokohama. On another of our days at home a huge shipload of tourists from the _Cleveland_ arrived, which made the afternoon quite gay. They began to arrive half an hour before time, much to their dismay. It seems that they had been put into 'rickshas and their coolies instructed to take them to the Emba.s.sy, but when they got there they could not make the 'ricksha-men understand that they were early and wanted to drive about a bit until three. When my husband came down-stairs they had camped outside in the snow, which had fallen quite heavily the day before; he heard them talking, and, of course, asked them in at once.

One afternoon we entertained some American and English women. I was quite amused when a missionary's wife came up to me, wagging her head and looking very solemn about something.