to us. Shimonoseki and Kagoshima were recent recollections, and we were
eating humble-pie. It is different now. We know your strength and your
weakness and we know also our own strength, and we can magnanimously
condescend to treat you as our equals. At that time the whole nation
dissembled; we hated you and every foreigner, although we treated you
so as to flatter your conceit. It does not raise a people in its own
eyes when it forces itself to discard, even for a time, its national
pride, and pretend to honor those whom it despises and hates. I tell
you, my old friend, I am proud of my country and of my people. We
passed through a fiery ordeal, and came out purified. But I acknowledge
also that the fire has left scars which only time can heal. We are
growing better, not worse. The fact that we two still find pleasure
in each other’s company proves that we are better able to appreciate
each other’s good qualities, and that is a type of the feeling of Japan
toward foreign nations.”
NOTES
_Meanings and Pronunciation of Japanese Words used in the Text._
1. Pron. Day-shee-mah, little island.
2. Pron. Nang-ah-sah-kee.
3. Pron. Shoh-goon. General-in-chief.
4. Pron. Die-mee-yoh. This word means Great Name.
5. Pron. Sah-moo-rye.
6. Pron. Yed-doh, now Tokyo (pron. To-kee-yoh), or Eastern Capital.
Yedo was the capital of Old Japan, from 1600 to 1868.
7. Pron. Kee-yoh-toh, the real capital of Old Japan.
8. Pron. Ten-shee Sah-mah. Lord of Heaven.
9. Pron. Toh-koo-ngah-wah.
10. Pron. Ee-yay-yas.
11. Pron. Say-kee-gah-hah-rah.
12. Pron. Moh-ree.
13. Pron. Cho-shu, in the southwest part of the Island of Hondo,
the mainland of Japan.
14. Pron. yash-kee.
15. Pron. Ee-yay-meets.
16. Pron. Moots′-shtoh.
17. Pron. hah-kah-mah, loose trousers, part of the dress reserved
to knights and nobles.
18. Pron. kah-yah-kee, a hardwood.
19. Pron. show-jee.
20. Pron. ah-may.
21. Pron. hee-bat-chee, a charcoal brazier, to warm the hands or
light the pipe.
22. Pron. keé-moh-noh.
23. Pron. Hie, hie! meaning “yes” or “coming”.
24. I have translated the conversations in intelligible English. To
give the forms of self-abasement of the speaker, and the
titles of honor to the person addressed, would sound
ridiculous to us.
25. Pron. On-nah Die-gah-koo, a book giving the rules for married
women.
26. Pron. sah-kee.
27. Pron. Hat′ toh ree.
28. Pron. mets′ kay, an official spy, appointed by the Shogun
government.
29. Pron. Go-roh-jiu (_u_ the French sound), Hon. Great Council
which issued all orders from the Shogun to the great Daimiyo.
30. Pron. Sah-wah.
31. Pron. noh-ree-moh-noh, a sort of sedan chair.
32. Pron. Ee-toh.
33. Pron. Toh-kie-doh, the great highway running from Tokyo to
Kyoto.
34. Pron. Mee-toh and I-dzoo, two clans belonging to the Tokugawa
family.
35. Pron. Ee-ee Nah-oh-skay, Daimiyo of Hikoni and regent of Japan,
who was afterwards assassinated.
36. Pron. Ee-no-yay.
37. Pron. how-ree, a thin mantlet of crêpe, with the coat of arms
worked on the back and sleeves.
38. Pron. Kee-ee, and Oh-wah-ree, the two estates taken from
Choshiu and given to the sons of Iyeyasu.
39. Pron. Shtah nee eeroo.
40. Pron. Ay-kee-chee.
41. Pron. f′ton.
42. The legacy of Iyeyasu, the law book of Old Japan.
43. The plain, east of the Hakone Mountains which contains Yedo.
44. Pron. Nah-kah-sen-doh, another highway between Yedo and Kyoto.
In the narrowest passes of both roads barriers were placed
which no one could pass, except when provided with passports
from the government.
45. Pron. roh-neen, a samurai who did not belong to a clan. The
Yedo government held the clan responsible for the acts of its
samurai.
46. Pron. Foo-jee, Kano’s chief retainer.
47. Pron. Yah-doh-yah, an inn.
48. Pron. hee-yahk-show, literally peasant.
49. Pron. Kodz′kie.
50. Pron. ee-chee-roh-koo nee-chee, literally one-six-day. Until
1874 every fifth day was a holiday for the samurai; these days
were the 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, etc.
51. O before a name means honorable. Pron. O Kee-chee.
52. Pron. tah-tah-mee, thick rush mats.
53. Pron. ree-yoh, old Japanese coin equal to about $1.00.
54. Pron. neen-zoh-koo, a coolie or day laborer.
55. Pron. yah-shwee moh-noh, the name by which the Roman Catholics
were known.
56. Issued Jan. 27, 1614.
57. Pron. Ty Coon. This is really a Chinese word and means Great
Prince.
58. Pron. O Ee-shah-sahn.
59. Pron. nar-rah foo-doh! which may be translated by; Is that
so?--You don’t say so! and similar expressions.
60. Pron. hat′-to-bah, jetty or landing.
61. Pron. Ay-to.
62. Pron. Tay-rah-jee.
63. Pron. Kah-mee′-shee-moh.
64. Pron. sep′ poo-koo, suicide by disemboweling, commonly called
hara-kiri. Pron. hah-rah′ kee-ree′.
65. Pron. Ee-yay-sah-dah.
66. Pron. Mee-toh. Of the three great Tokugawa families, Mito, Kii,
and Owari, Mito, by a secret clause in Iyeyasu’s will was
debarred from succeeding as Shogun.
67. Pron. Koong-ay, court nobles, descendants from former emperors,
who held the same position at the court as did the
councillors in the clan.
68. The Court of Tenshi sawa.
69. Pron. Son-noh Joe-ee.
70. Saru-me (pron. sah roo may), an approbrious term used to
express contempt and indignation.
71. Pron. Yah-mah-toh Dah-mash-yee.
72. Pron. Kah-ras-soo Mah-roo.
73. A kuge was of much higher rank than a daimiyo, and even of the
Shogun. They did not mention the daimiyo by their estate, but
by their family name.
74. Pron. Mee-yah, families accounted as Princes of the Blood. Most
of them were nurtured like the daimiyo, and wholly unable to
think for themselves.
75. Pron. Nee-joh, one of the leading Kuge families.
76. Pron. kah-kay-moh-noh, hanging scroll.
77. Pron. Shee-mad-zoo, family name of the lord of Satsuma.
78. According to Confucius.
79. This document is quoted in F. O. Adams’ History of Japan.
80. Pron. Shee-moh-noh-say-kee.
81. Pron. Ee-chee-joe, Nee-joe, Hee-gash-ee Koo-zay.
82. Nijo refers to the repulse of the Tartars in A. D. 1281.
83. Pron. Ee-say.
84. Pron. tsoo-boh, a square measure.
85. Pron. ty-foo, our typhoon; lit. great storm.
86. A member of the Imperial family, addressing one of inferior
rank of the same, uses the given name. Iwakura’s given name
was Tomomi.
87. There is a street of that name in Kyoto.
88. Pron. Foo-shee-mee.
89. Pron. Cho-tay-kee, _i. e._, rebel against Tenshi Sama.
90. Pron. Kay-kee.
91. Confucius.
92. Pron. Oh-dah-wah-rah, a town at the foot of the Hakome range.
93. Pron. Oh-sah-shtoh.
94. Pron. Koh-may.
THE END
FOOTNOTES:
[A] It was the American fleet, under Commodore Perry, who was sent by
President Millard Fillmore to make a treaty with Japan.
[B] In the month of September, 1854, a series of earthquakes began
which lasted almost without interruption until the end of December.
Twenty thousand houses and sixteen thousand fire-proof warehouses were
destroyed in Yedo alone. Over 100,000 people were reported killed.
Osaka and Hyozo were destroyed, and Kyoto suffered considerable damage.
[C] The Russian frigate _Diana_.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have beeen corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation and use of diacritical marks have been
retained.
Archaic spelling which may have been in use at the time of original
publication have been retained.
Errors in numbering in the Notes section have been corrected.