HARI-KARI
[Sidenote: 1868. March.]
My fair readers, if I have any, are advised to skip the next twenty
pages, which deal with tragedies upon which I reported officially at
the time.
Mr. Mitford, who was present at the ceremony of Hari-Kari, sent me
the following account. The officer’s name was Taki Zingaburo. The
ceremony took place on March 2, at 10.30 P.M., in the Temple of
Siefukigi, the headquarters of Satsuma’s troops. The courtyard was
filled with soldiers, and lighted by fires and lanterns. The witnesses
were conducted into a room in the temple, where Ito Shunski (formerly
interpreter on board the _Rodney_), the provisional Governor of
Hiogo, came soon after, and, having taken down their names, told them
that himself and another officer, on the part of the Mikado, two of
Satsuma’s officers, two of Choshin’s, and a representative of the
Prince of Bizen, would act as Renshi--sheriffs or witnesses. Seven were
appointed, probably that their numbers might agree with those of the
foreigners.
After a short delay, they were invited to follow the Japanese witnesses
into the principal hall of the temple. On the raised platform,
immediately in front of the high altar, was placed a rug of red felt.
The temple was dimly lighted with tall candles. The Japanese witnesses
took their places on the left, and the foreigners on the right, of the
raised floor. No other persons were present in the hall.
[Sidenote: April.]
After an interval of a few minutes, Taki Zingaburo, a stalwart,
noble-looking fellow, walked into the hall, attired in his dress of
ceremony, accompanied by his Kaishaku and three officers in their
jimbasri, or war surcoat. (Kaishaku is one to whom our word executioner
is no equivalent: the office is that of a gentleman, usually filled by
a friend or kinsman or the condemned. In this instance the Kaishaku was
a pupil of Taki Zingaburo, chosen for his skill in swordsmanship.) He
advanced slowly, with the Kaishaku on his left, towards the Japanese
witnesses and bowed before them; then, drawing near to the foreigners,
he saluted, with perhaps rather more show of respect. In each case the
salutation was ceremoniously returned.
Slowly, and with great dignity, he mounted on the raised floor,
prostrated himself before the high altar, and then seated himself on
the felt carpet with his back to the altar, the Kaishaku crouching on
his left.
One of the three attendant officers then came forward, bearing a
tray, on which, wrapped in paper, lay the dirk. This he handed with a
bow to the condemned man, who received it, reverently raising it to
his head, and placed it in front of himself. After another profound
obeisance, the condemned man, in a voice of some emotion, and with
just so much hesitation as would be natural to a man about to make a
disagreeable confession, but with no sign of fear, said, “I, and I
alone, unwarrantably gave the order to fire on the foreigners at Corvé
as they tried to escape. For this crime I disembowel myself. And I
beg you who are here present to do me the honour of witnessing the
act.” After delivering this speech, he allowed his upper garments to
slip down to his girdle--carefully, according to custom, tucking his
sleeves under his knees, that he might die as a Samarai should, falling
forward. Deliberately, with a steady hand, he took the dirk that lay
before him. For a few seconds he seemed to collect his thoughts, and
then stabbing himself deeply below the waist on the left side, he drew
the dirk slowly to the right. As the dirk reached the right side, he
gave a slight cut upwards, and then lent forwards, stretching out his
head.
An expression of pain for the first time crossed his face, and the
Kaishaku, who had been keenly watching every motion, sprang to his
legs, and poising his sword in the air for a second, with one stroke
severed the head from the body, during a dead silence. The Kaishaku
having wiped his sword, bowed solemnly to the witnesses and removed the
dirk as a proof of the death of Taki Zingaburo, aged thirty-two. Ito
Shumski and the other representatives of the Mikado left their places,
and advancing to where the foreigners sat, called on them to witness
that the execution had been faithfully performed.
The ceremony, to which the place and the hour gave a most solemn
effect, was characterised by that extreme dignity and punctiliousness
which are the distinctive marks of a Japanese gentleman of rank, and it
is not unimportant to note this fact, because it carries with it the
conviction that the dead man was the officer who committed the crime
and not a substitute. I am happy to think that Captain Stanhope did
what he could to save this man’s life, but he was in a minority.
This execution was soon followed by a frightful tragedy. At Hong Kong,
on March 23, I received a letter from Captain Stanhope of the _Ocean_
off Osaka, informing me that on the 8th the French corvette _Dupleix_
had sent her steam launch, accompanied by her whale-boat, to Sakai, a
small town about six miles on the Hiogo side of Osaka, to wait there
for Captain Roy of the _Venus_, and the French Consul. The steam launch
had been lying some time alongside the wharf, and the townspeople had
come down and been very civil to the crew. After a while, at about 5
P.M., the engineer and coxswain of the launch asked the midshipman’s
permission to go up for a stroll.
The lieutenant, who was in the whale-boat, had been up for a walk an
hour or two previous without so much as having seen a two-sworded man.
The mid granted permission, but the engineer and gunner had not gone
far before some two-sworded men seized and tried to secure them; from
these they broke away and made for their boat; as they did so they were
fired on by a number of armed men. The coxswain was shot and fell into
the boat; the engineer jumped overboard and got to the off side; two
more cut the bow and stern fasts; the stoker tried to turn the engines
ahead and was immediately pierced by three bullets; the steam-pipe
was likewise shot through; the mid in charge, with six men, jumped
overboard.
The First Lieutenant in the whale-boat, who was just outside taking
soundings, pulled in and was fired on by some seventy or eighty men.
He had one man shot down, and having no arms, he did not advance
farther; in meantime the steam launch drifted out and was taken hold
of by the whale-boat and towed out of range. Having made sail on the
launch, and leaving the engineer, who was the only person on board
not wounded, to steer, the Lieutenant proceeded to report matters on
board his ship, the _Dupleix_. Out of sixteen men in the launch and
five in the whaleboat only five with them were not hurt. The captain
of the _Dupleix_ sent a petty officer to report matters to Captain
Stanhope; while he proceeded with his remaining boats armed to Sakai to
try if he could find the mid and six men who had jumped overboard, not
being aware of the force the Japanese might have, and not wishing to
compromise the Foreign Ministers residing at Osaka.
It was not the intention of Captain Du Petit Thours to attack the
place, but he requested Captain Stanhope to acquaint the ministers with
the state of affairs. Captain Stanhope immediately sent Lieutenant
Rougemont in his steam launch with a letter to Sir Harry Parkes,
offering to send boats for their embarkation, and the _Cockchafer_
gunboat to cover them. The _Rinaldo_ he sent to Hiogo to protect
foreign subjects in case of an outbreak there.
The Captain of the _Dupleix_ returned from Sakai at about 11 P.M.
without having learnt anything of the missing men, not having been able
to land. He saw many Japanese in the fort, while others were running
down to field-pieces at the landing-stage.
_Ocean’s_ steam launch returned from Osaka at 6 the following morning,
bringing off Captain Roy of the _Venus_ and Captain Creighton of the
U.S. _Oneida_, also a letter from Sir Harry Parkes, declining, with
his usual coolness, to embark immediately, saying that the Japanese
Minister had been to him to express their deep regret at the outrage,
and declared that the Mikado’s Government would give full satisfaction.
On the 9th March the French and American Ministers embarked. The French
Minister having demanded that the officer and missing men should be
given up, whether dead or alive, in twenty-four hours, their bodies
were taken alongside the _Adventure_ in a Japanese boat, which was at
once towed to the _Dupleix_.
On the 10th Sir Harry Parkes embarked on board the _Ocean_, all the
Foreign Ministers being then afloat.
The funeral of the French midshipman and the ten seamen who were killed
by the Japanese took place at the cemetery at Hiogo: all the usual
honours being paid by the officers and ships-of-war present.
A newspaper report goes on to state that the French Minister, Captain,
and officers grasped each other’s hands over the graves, and called on
the Almighty to witness the vows they then made not to rest satisfied
until they had avenged the blood of their murdered countrymen.
The French Minister then took into consideration the ultimate demands
he intended to make, which he would submit to the other Foreign
Ministers before presenting them to the Mikado’s Government. These
demands are not likely to be either mild or pleasant to the young
Mikado’s newly formed Government, and, considering Monsieur Roches’
interest in the Tycoon, and proportionate aversion to his opponents,
unless mitigated and smoothed down by Sir Harry Parkes, the ultimatum
will, I think, be very embarrassing, and who can see the end of it or
the Civil War either. A raw is established, and will be worked.
[Sidenote: _Written on board_ Rodney, _March 29, off Breaker Point_, en
route _to Yokohama_.]
In the meantime, preparations on the part of the Mikado’s Government
still continue for an advance on Yedo, and likewise on the part of
the Tycoon to resist. Then, again, neither Chiefs appear to have much
control over the two-sworded ruffians, their followers. An attack by
both sets united on the foreign settlements at Yokohama would show
little less judgment or recklessness of consequences than the insane
attack on the foreigners at Corvé, or the French boat’s crew at Sakai.