HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS
In these days, when princes resign their rank to marry commoners, and
queens elope with tutors, it is probable that most Western minds will
see nothing out of the way in the condescension of the Japanese ruler
in admitting a diplomatic agent to the honor of the imperial
cousinship.
But the dynasty of Japan is the most illustrious in the world,
excepting only that of Great Britain. Like Edward VII., the Mikado
traces his lineage back to pagan gods. From the days of the famous
Empress Jimmu, an unbroken line of sacred sovereigns has filled the
throne of the Realm of the Rising Sun during more than two thousand
years.
Mr. Katahashi was evidently pleased to see that I appreciated to the
full the tremendous honor accorded to me.
"An imperial carriage is waiting to convey you to the Palace," he
said. "But it will not be becoming for you to wear that uniform. I
have brought you a Japanese dress."
An attendant came into the room bearing a gorgeous robe of green silk
embroidered with golden chrysanthemums.
I put it on like one in a dream. The Privy Councillor with his own
hands girt around my waist the two weapons, sacred from time
immemorial to the use of the Japanese noble, the sword with which to
behead his friend, and the dagger with which to disembowel himself.
Needless to say, I had no expectation that I should ever have
occasion to regard these magnificently embellished weapons in any
other light than as ornamental badges of rank.
As we rode to the Palace, I could not forbear contrasting this
splendid treatment with that which I had been accustomed to receive
from some of the European sovereigns to whom I had rendered important
services.
Even the German Kaiser, who trusted me more than the head of his own
police, who talked to me almost on the footing of an intimate friend,
had never offered me so much as the coveted "von" before my name--had
not given me even the pretty Red Eagle which is lavished on
second-rate generals and lords-in-waiting.
I became well-nigh appalled as I contrasted the sluggish
conversation, the hide-bound officialism, the stereotyped and sleepy
methods of the Western Powers with the sleepless energy, the daring
initiative, the desperate industry and courage of this rejuvenated
Eastern race.
What could any of these obsolete European Governments effect against
a nation which was really a vast secret society of forty-five
millions, directed by a sacred chief, and wielding all the mechanical
resources of the West with the almost inhuman subtlety and
ruthlessness of the Orient?
"Anything can be done for money." This maxim, which is forever on the
lips of Russian statesmen, no longer sounded true in the meridian of
Tokio.
The ruler of Japan had not offered me so much as a yen. Nay, it
was clearly expected and intended that I should devote myself
to the service of my new country without pay, and with the same
single-hearted devotion as Mr. Katahashi himself. The Mikado was
going to enroll in his services as an unpaid volunteer the most
highly-paid, in other words, the most trusted and feared, secret
service agent of two hemispheres.
And it was to cost him? An embroidered garment and two sentences
spoken in a private audience!
Such are the methods of Japan!
On our arrival at the Palace we were received by a chamberlain, who
conducted us by the private staircase to the Hall of the Imperial
Family.
The Hall is an imposing room, hung with portraits of deceased
mikados. A single chair, decorated with the emblem of the Rising Sun,
stood at the upper end.
Almost as soon as we had taken our places, a door behind the chair
was thrown up, and a number of the officers of the household, all
wearing the ancient national costume, filed in, and grouped
themselves around the imperial chair.
Then a silver bell sounded, and his imperial and sacred majesty,
Mutsuhito CXXI., Mikado, walked slowly forward into the Hall,
accompanied by his son and heir, the Crown Prince Yoshihito, and an
elderly man, attired with great richness, who was, as my guide
whispered to me, his imperial highness Prince Yorimo, second cousin
to the Emperor, and the man who had consented to be my titular
father.
The ceremony was brief but impressive. I could not but be struck by
the contrast between the two Mikados--the one whom I had seen
yesterday, an alert statesman, wearing Western clothes, and speaking
French with hardly a trace of accent, and the one before me now, a
solemn, pontifical figure, in his immemorial robes, moving, speaking
with the etiquette of a bygone age.
Everything passed in the Japanese language, of which I did not then
know a single word.
Mr. Katahashi did his best to provide a running translation,
whispering in my ear, and prompting me with the Japanese words which
it was necessary for me to pronounce.
As far as I could understand, Prince Yorimo asked permission of the
Emperor to adopt a son, as he was childless and desired to have some
one who would sacrifice to his own spirit and those of his father and
grandfather after he was dead.
The Mikado graciously consenting, I was brought forward, and made to
renounce my own family and ancestors, and promise to sacrifice
exclusively to those of my new father.
Prince Yorimo next brought forward a robe embroidered with the
imperial emblems, the most prominent of which was the Rising Sun. I
was divested of the dress lent me by Katahashi, and my adoptive
father flung the imperial garment over my shoulders.
The girding on of the samurai weapon followed, and my father
addressed me a short exhortation, bidding me hold myself ready at all
times to obey the will of the Divine Emperor, even to the point of
committing _seppuku_ at his command.
_Seppuku_ is the correct name of the rite known in the West by the
vulgar name of _hara-kiri_, or the "happy despatch." It is a form of
voluntary execution permitted by the ancient laws of Japan to men of
noble rank, much as European nobles were allowed to be beheaded
instead of being hanged.
I was then permitted to kiss the hand of Prince Yorimo, who formally
presented me to the Mikado, whose hand also I had to kiss, kneeling.
That was the whole of the ceremony, at the close of which Mr.
Katahashi bade me a temporary farewell, and my princely father
carried me off to a banquet in his own mansion.
Tedious and uninteresting as I fear these details must seem to the
reader, I have thought it right to record them as an illustration of
the spirit of Japan, of that country of which I am proud to be an
adopted son.
The moment we had quitted the Hall of the Imperial Family, Prince
Yorimo began to talk to me in French.
He proved to be a most fascinating companion. Old enough to remember
the feudal age, which was still in full vigor in Japan forty years
ago, he had since mastered most of the knowledge of the West.
I soon found that the Prince was by no means disposed to treat the
adoption as a mere form. It was evident that the old gentleman had
taken a strong fancy to me. He gave me a most affectionate welcome on
the threshold of his house, and immediately calling his servants
around him, introduced me to them as their future master, and bade
them obey me as himself.
I was more touched than I care to say by this kind treatment. My own
parents have long been dead; I know nothing of any other relations,
if I have any; I have long been a wanderer and an adventurer on the
face of the earth, and now, at last, I felt as though I had found a
home.
Something of this I tried to convey to his imperial highness.
"My son," he replied with deep tenderness, "I feel that to me you
will be a son indeed. You shall learn the language of our beautiful
country, you shall grow used to our national ways. Before long you
will let me provide you with a daughter of the Chrysanthemum to be
your wife, and my grandchildren shall be Japanese indeed."
A sound of bells was heard outside.
"My friends are coming to pay the customary congratulation," the aged
prince explained. "As it is necessary that you should have a name
suited to your new rank, I ask you to take that of my father,
Matsukata."
A few words of direction were spoken to the steward of the chambers,
who went out. Immediately afterward he returned, throwing open the
doors widely, and announced:
"The Marquis Yamagata to congratulate his imperial highness Prince
Matsukata!"
And the Prime Minister of Japan came toward me.