[Illustration: THE SEVEN HERBS OF AUTUMN. _See Page 302._]
[Transcribers note: See the 4th from last paragraph of chapter 21.]
HOME LIFE IN TOKYO
BY
JUKICHI INOUYE
WITH
NUMEROUS
ILLUSTRATIONS
TOKYO
1910
PRINTED BY
THE TOKYO PRINTING COMPANY LTD.
PREFACE.
The object of the present work is to give a concise account of the
life we lead at home in Tokyo. I am aware that there are already many
excellent works on Japan which may be read with great profit; but as
their authors are most of them Europeans or Americans, and naturally
look at Japanese life and civilisation from an occidental point of
view, it occurred to me that notwithstanding the superabundance of
books on Japan, a description of Japanese life by a native of the
country might not be without interest. I believe it is the first time
that such a task has been undertaken by a Japanese, for works in
English which I have so far seen written by my countrymen treat of
abstruse subjects and do not deign to touch upon such homely matters
as are here dealt with.
The information I have endeavoured to convey in these pages is open,
I fear, to the charge of scrappiness. It is unavoidable from the very
nature of the work, the purpose of which is to select from the wealth
of material in hand such matters as are likely to interest the general
reader. I make no pretension to completeness or comprehensiveness of
treatment.
I may also explain that I have confined myself in these pages to the
depiction of life in Tokyo. To attempt to include the various customs
that prevail in other parts of the country would to difficult and
tedious. I felt that it would add materially to clearness and
simplicity if I localised my observations; and it was only natural
that Tokyo the capital should be selected for the purpose.
Finally, I would point out that I have made no distinction in the
grammatical number of the Japanese words used in this book. It may at
times puzzle the reader to find the same words occur, as in Japanese,
in both the singular and the plural; but to the Japanese ear the
addition of the English plural suffix seems to impair the euphony of
Japanese speech.
JUKICHI INOUYE.
Tokyo, Japan,
September. 1910.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Tokyo the Capital.
The youngest of the capitals—Yedo—The feudal government—Prosperity
of Yedo—Its population—The military class—The Restoration—The new
government—National reorganisation—Centralisation—Local
government—Tokyo the leader of other cities—Struggle between Old and
New Japan—The last stronghold of Old Japan.
—_Page 1._
CHAPTER II.
The Streets of Tokyo.
The area and population of Tokyo—Impression of greater
populousness—Street improvements—Narrow streets—Shops and
sidewalks—Road-making—Dusty roads—Lamps and street
repairs—Drainage—Street-names—House-numbers—Incongruities.
—_Page 12._
CHAPTER III.
Houses: Exterior.
Name-plates—Block-buildings—Gates—The exposure of
houses—Fires—House-breaking—Japanese houses in summer and
winter—Storms and earthquakes—House-building—The carpenter—The
garden.
—_Page 24._
CHAPTER IV.
Houses: Interior.
The sizes of rooms—The absence of
furniture—Sliding-doors—Verandahs—Tenement and other small
houses—Middle-sized dwellings—The porch and anteroom—The
parlour—Parlour furniture—The sitting-room—Closets and
cupboards—Bed-rooms—The dining-room—Chests of drawers and
trunks—The toilet-room—The library—The bath-room—Foot-warmers.
—_Page 40._
CHAPTER V.
Meals.
Rice—_Sake_—Wheat and barley—Soy
sauce—_Mirin_—Rice-cooking—Soap—Pickled vegetables—Meal
trays—Chopsticks—Breakfast—Clearing and washing—The kitchen—The
little hearth—Pots and pans—Other utensils—Boxes and
casks—Shelves—The sink and water-supply—The midday meal—The evening
meal—_Sake_-drinking.
—_Page 56._
CHAPTER VI.
Food.
Japanese diet—Vegetables—Sea-weeds and flowers—Fish—Shell-fish—Crabs
and other molluscs—Fowl—Meat—Prepared food—Peculiarities
of food—Fruits—The bever—Baked potatoes and
cracknel—Confectionery—Reasons for its
abundance—Sponge-cake—Glutinous rice and red bean—Kinds of
confectionery—Sugar in Japanese confectionery.
—_Page 71._
CHAPTER VII.
Male Dress.
Japanese and foreign dress—Progress in the latter—Japanese clothes
indispensable—_Kimono_—Cutting out—Making of an unlined dress—Short
measure—Extra-sized dresses—_Yukata_—The lined _kimono_—The wadded
_kimono_—Under-dress—Underwear—_Obi_—_Haori_—The crest—The uncrested
_haori_—_Hakama_—Socks—How to dress Wearing of socks.
—_Page 82._
CHAPTER VIII.
Female Dress.
Attempts at Europeanisation—Difference between Japanese and foreign
dresses—Expense and inconvenience of foreign dresses—Japanese
dresses not to be discarded—How the female dress differs from the
male—Underwear and over-band—_Haori_—_Hakama_—_Obi_—How to tie
it—The dress-_obi_—The formal dress—Home-wear—Working clothes—The
sameness of form—The girl’s dress—Dress and age.
—_Page 94._
CHAPTER IX.
Toilet.
Queues—Hair-cutting—Moustaches and beards—Shaving—Women’s
coiffure—Children’s hair—“Inverted maidenhair”—_Shimada_—“Rounded
chignon”—Other forms—The lightest coiffure—Bars—Combs—Ornaments
round the chignon—Hair-pins—The hair-dresser—The kind of hair
esteemed—Lots of complexion—Girls painted—Women’s paint—Blackening
of teeth—Shaving of eyebrows—Washing the face—Looking-glasses.
—_Page 107._
CHAPTER X.
Outdoor Gear.
Boots and shoes _versus_ clogs and sandals—Inconvenience of
foreign footgear—Shoes and boots at private houses—Clogs and
sandals able to hold their own—How clogs are made—Plain clogs—Matted
clogs—Sandals—Straw sandals—Headgear—Woman’s hood—Overcoats and
overdresses—Common umbrellas—Better descriptions of
umbrellas—Lanterns—Better kinds of lanterns.
—_Page 122._
CHAPTER XI.
Daily Life.
Busy life at home—Discomforts of early morning—Ablutions—Off to
school and office—Smoking—Giving orders—Morning
work—Washing—Needlework—The work-box—Japanese way of
sewing—Ironing—Remaking clothes—Home duties—Bath—Evening—Early
hours.
—_Page 136._
CHAPTER XII.
Servants.
The servant question—Holidays—Hours of rest—Incessant work—Servants
trusted—Relations with their mistresses—Decrease of mutual
confidence—Life in the kitchen—Servants’ character—Whence they are
recruited—Register-offices—The cook—The housemaid—The lady’s
maid—Other female servants—The jinrikisha-man—The student house-boy.
—_Page 150._
CHAPTER XIII.
Manners.
Decline of etiquette—Politeness and
self-restraint—“Swear-words”—Honorifics—Squatting—Kissing—Calls
made and received—Rules for behaviour in company—Inconsiderate
visitors—Woman’s reserve before strangers—Hospitality—Reticence
on family matters.
—_Page 164._
CHAPTER XIV.
Marriage.
Girls and marriage—Young men—The marriage
ceremony—Match-making—Betrothal—The bride’s property—Wedding
decorations—The nuptials—Wedding supper—Congratulations—Post-nuptial
parties—Japanese style of engagement—The advantages of the
go-between system—The go-between as the woman’s deputy—The
go-between as mediator—Marriage a civil contract in Japan—No
honeymoon—The Japanese attitude towards marriage.
—_Page 176._
CHAPTER XV.
Family Relations.
The family the unit of society—Adoption—The wife’s family
relations—The father—Retirement—The retired father—The
mother-in-law—A strong-willed daughter-in-law—Tender
relations—Domestic discord—Sisters-in-law—Brothers-in-law—The
wife usually forewarned—The husband also handicapped—His
burdens—Old Japan’s ideas of wifely duties—The Japanese wife’s
qualities—Petticoat government—The wife’s influence.
—_Page 195._
CHAPTER XVI.
Divorce.
Frequency of divorces—The new Civil Code on marriage
and divorce—Conditions of a valid marriage—Invalid
marriages—Cohabitation—The wife’s legal position—Her
separate property—The rights of the head of the family—Care
of the wife’s property—Forms of divorce—Grounds for divorce—Custody
of children—No damages against the co-respondent—Breaches of
promise of marriage—Few mercenary marriages—Widow-hunting also rare.
—_Page 208._
CHAPTER XVII.
Children.
Child-life—Love of children—Desire for
them—Child-birth—After-birth—Early days—The baby’s food—The
“first-eating”—Superstitions connected with infancy—Carrying of
babies—Teething—Visits to the local shrine—Toddling—Weaning—The
kindergarten and primary school—The girls’ high school—The middle
school—The popularity of middle schools—Hitting—Exercises and
diversions—Collections.
—_Page 219._
CHAPTER XVIII.
Funeral.
Unlucky ages—The Japanese cycle—Celebration of ages—Respect for old
age—Death—Preparations for the funeral—The wake—The coffin and
bier—The funeral procession—The funeral service—Cremation—Gathering
the bones—The grave—Prayers for the dead—Return presents—Memorial
services—The Shinto funeral.
—_Page 235._
CHAPTER XIX.
Accomplishments.
Composition—The writing-table—Odes—Songs—The _haiku_—Chinese
poetry—Tea-ceremony—Its complexity—Its utility to women—The flower
arrangement—The underlying idea—Its extensive application—The
principle of the arrangement—Manipulation of the stalks—Drawing
water—Vases—Tray-landscapes—The _koto_—The _samisen_—Its form—Its
scale—How to play it—The crudity of Japanese music—Its unemotional
character.
—_Page 252._
CHAPTER XX.
Public Amusements.
Pleasures—_No_-performance—Playgoing—The theatre—Japanese
dramas—_Gidayu_-plays—Actors—A new school of
actors—Actresses—Wrestling—Wrestlers—The wrestling booth—The
wrestler’s apparel—The Ekoin matches—The umpire—The rules
of the ring—The match-days—The story-tellers’ hall—Entertainment
at the hall.
—_Page 269._
CHAPTER XXI.
Feasts and Festivities.
Festivities in the old days—The New Year’s Day—The
New Year’s dreams—January—February—The Feast of Dolls—The
Equinoctial day—Plum-blossoms—Cherry-blossoms—The flower
season—Peach-blossoms—Tree-peonies and wistarias—The Feast of
Flags—The Fête of the Yasukuni Shrine—Other fêtes—The Feasts of
Tanabata and Lanterns—The river season—Moon-viewing—The Seven Herbs
of Autumn—October—The Emperor’s Birthday—Chrysanthemums and
maple-leaves—The end of the year.
_Page 287._
CHAPTER XXII.
Sports and Games.
Hunting—Horse-racing—Fishing—Outdoor
games—Billiards—_Sugoroku_—Iroha-cards—Ode-cards—_Ken_—Japanese
chess—The moves—Use of prisoners—The game of _go_—Its
principle—Camps—Counting—“Flowers-cards”—Players—How to
play—Claims for hands—Claims for combinations made—Reckoning.
_Page 305._
ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Seven Herbs of Autumn Frontispiece.
_Page._
A Street in Yedo (From a picture by Settan, 1783–1843) 13
A Shop in Tokyo 18
In the Slums 25
A House and a Gate 27
A Roofed and a Pair Gate 29
Door-fastenings 32
A House without a Gate 36
A Garden 38
A Six-matted Room and Verandah 41
The Porch, open and latticed 45
An Eight-matted Parlour 47
A Visitor 49
A Sitting-room 50
A Chest of Drawers and a Trunk 52
Foot-warmers 55
A Shrine of the Rice-god 57
A Meal-tray 60
How to hold Chopsticks 61
A Meal 63
The Kitchen 65
A Skylight and the Kitchen-god 67
A Well 69
Raw Fish, whole and sliced 72
_Sushi_ and _Soba_ 77
A Box of Sponge-cake 79
The _Kimono_, rear and front view 86
The _Obi_, square and plain 88
The _Haori_ 89
The _Hakama_ 91
Socks 92
The _Obi_ for ordinary wear 98
The Dress-_obi_ 100
A Servant with Tucked Sleeves 102
The Reformed Dress 103
A Young Lady dressed for a Visit 105
Queues 108
The “203-metre Hill” and “Penthouse” 109
Young Girls’ Hair 110
The “Inverted Maidenhair” 111
The _Shimada_ and “Rounded Chignon” 112
Bars, Combs, and Bands 114
Ornamental Hair-pins 116
The Hair-dresser 117
Plain Clogs 124
Matted Clogs 126
Matted Sandals 127
Straw sandals 128
Old Headgear 129
A Hood 130
An Overdress 132
Lanterns 134
The Family in Bed 137
A Woman smoking 141
The Starching-board 143
Needlework 146
The Servant at the Sliding-door 152
Cooking Rice 158
The Housemaid at work 160
The House-boy 162
Bowing 168
Sitting with Crossed Legs 169
Squatting 170
Betrothal Presents (From a picture by Sukenobu, 1678–1751) 178
The Bridal Procession (From a picture by Sukenobu) 180
The Wedding Party (From a picture by Sukenobu) 182
The Exchange of Cups (From a picture by Sukenobu) 184
The Bride’s Cabinets (From a picture by Sukenobu) 186
The First Meeting and Wedding at the Present Time 188
A Daimyo’s Wedding 190
A Lower-class Wedding 192
Husband and Wife 196
A Domestic Quarrel and Reconciliation 199
The First Visit to the Local Shrine (From a picture by Sukenobu) 222
The “First-eating” (From a picture by Sukenobu) 224
Carrying Children 227
Fencing 233
Offerings before a Coffin 238
Coffins and an Urn 241
A Buddhist Funeral Service 242–3
Service at the Temple 245
At the Crematory 246
Graves 247
A Shinto Funeral Procession 249
A Shinto Funeral Service 250
A Writing-table and Book-cases 253
Tea-making 260
Flower-vases 262
A Tray-landscape 264
The _Koto_ 265
The _Samisen_ 267
A _No_-dance 270
The Entrance of a Theatre 272
The Stage and Entrance-passage 273
The Revolving-stage 275
A Wrestling-match 279
The Champion’s Appearance in the Ring 281
The Entrance of a Story-tellers’ Hall 283
A Story-teller on the Platform 285
The Treasure-ship 289
The New Year’s Decorations 290
The Feast of Dolls 293
Cherry-flowers at Mukojima 295
The Feast of Flags 298
The Fête of Sanno 299
The Feast of Lanterns 301
Offerings to the Full Moon 303
Cormorant-fishing 307
Angling-stools 308
_Sugoroku_ 309
_Iroha_ and Ode-Cards 311
Playing Ode-cards 312
The Game of _Ken_ 315
Japanese Chess 317
The Game of _Go_ 318
“Flower-cards” 321
CHAPTER I.
TOKYO THE CAPITAL.
The youngest of the capitals—Yedo—The feudal government—Prosperity
of Yedo—Its population—The military class—The Restoration—The new
government—National reorganisation—Centralisation—Local
government—Tokyo the leader of other cities—Struggle between Old and
New Japan—The last stronghold of Old Japan.
Tokyo is the youngest of the great capitals of the world, for it was
only in 1868 that the present Emperor of Japan left the old city
where his ancestors had for centuries lived in seclusion and made the
Shogun’s stronghold his new home and seat of government. It was a
politic move; because though the Shogun had already resigned his
office and surrendered the absolute authority he had exercised in the
government of the country, there were still many among his followers
who were unwilling to give up their hereditary offices. Had the
Emperor then remained in Kyoto and there established his government,
it would have been comparatively easy for these discontented partisans
of the Shogun to foment an insurrection in the largest city of the
Empire, which might assume serious proportions before it could be
quelled, especially in those days when the means of communication and
transportation were yet very primitive. Hence, it was decided to
remove the central government to the possible hot-bed of disaffection
and, by the strong arm of the newly-constituted administration, to nip
in the bud all signs of rebellion. And so the Emperor and his Court
forsook the city which had been the nominal capital for a thousand
years and took up their abode in the great military centre which was
known as Yedo; but when the Emperor arrived at the old castle of
the Shogun, he gave it the name of Tokyo, or the Eastern Capital, to
distinguish it from the late capital, Kyoto, which is on that account
also spoken of by the people as Saikyo, or the Western Capital.
But Yedo itself was not very old. Towards the close of the fifteenth
century, a renowned warrior, Ota Dokan by name, built a little castle
in the village of Yedo. Not long after his death, his family became
extinct and others succeeded to the lordship of the little castle. A
century later, Tokugawa Iyeyasu, one of the most powerful daimyo, or
territorial lords, at the time, became master of the Eight Provinces
east of the Hakone Mountains and was on the point of establishing his
government at Kamakura, the capital of the first line of Shogun, when
he was persuaded by his suzerain, the Taiko Hideyoshi, who is best
known to history for his invasion of Korea, to set up his headquarters
at Dokan’s castle-town which possessed great strategic advantages over
Kamakura. Accordingly, in 1590, Iyeyasu came to the village of Yedo
and saw that the castle could be developed into a formidable fortress.
At once he set to work rebuilding it on a gigantic scale. Bounded on
the north and west by a low line of hills, on the south by the Bay of
Yedo, and on the east by marshes, it was in those days of bows and
arrows and hand-to-hand fights almost impregnable. Behind the hills
lay the wide plain of Musashino, across which no enemy could approach
unobserved, while it was equally difficult to make a sudden attack
upon the castle from the sea or over the marshes. The castle covered
upwards of five hundred acres within its inner walls. The swamp was
reclaimed, and merchants, artisans, priests, and men of other crafts
and professions were induced by liberal offers to settle in the new
city. The reclaimed land soon became the principal merchant quarter.
In 1603, Iyeyasu became Shogun, or military suzerain of the country.
The Shogun was appointed by the Emperor, who delegated to him the
civil and military government of the land. The Emperor made the
appointment nominally of his own will; but in reality he was compelled
to confer the title on the most powerful of his subjects. It was to
Iyeyasu but a confirmation of the influence he already wielded as
the most formidable of all the territorial barons. And thus fortified
by the Imperial nomination, he began at once to take measures for the
general pacification of the country which had for years been plunged
in a terrible civil war. His first step was to consolidate his power;
and it was done with such success that the Shogunate remained in his
family for two hundred and sixty-five years. This predominance of his
family was in a great measure due to his skill in providing against
those evils which had wrecked former lines of Shogun. All these
dynasties had fallen through coalitions of powerful daimyo in
different parts of the country and the consequent inability to cope
with insurrections which broke out simultaneously in various quarters.
To prevent such coalitions Iyeyasu created small fiefs around the
territories of great daimyo and gave them to his own adherents, who
acted as spies upon these daimyo and frustrated any attempts they
might make at conspiracy. The territories along the great highway
between Yedo and Kyoto he also apportioned among his followers, so
that he had always a ready access to the Emperor’s city and could
without difficulty control every movement of the Imperial Court.
Another plan he formed towards the same end, though it was not
actually carried out until the time of his grandson. This was the
compulsory residence of the daimyo in Yedo for a certain term every
other year; the time for reaching and leaving the city was fixed
for each daimyo by the Shogun’s government. Their wives, with rare
exceptions, remained permanently in Yedo and were practically hostages
at the Shogun’s court.
The effect of this last measure was the increased prosperity of Yedo.
All the daimyo were compelled to keep a house in the city. They built
most of their palaces around the castle, and in the same enclosures
were erected numerous houses for their retainers. Many daimyo had one
or more mansions in the suburbs, not a few of which were noted for
their size and their beautiful grounds. The most celebrated of these
mansions is now the Imperial Arsenal, the garden of which is one of
the sights of Tokyo; and another forms a part of the Palace of the
Crown Prince and is also the place where the Imperial chrysanthemum
party is given every autumn. The building of the daimyo’s mansions,
the number of these lords being at the time about two hundred and
fifty, naturally attracted merchants, artisans, and other classes of
people from all parts of the country. And Yedo rose before long to
be the most flourishing city in Japan. It set the example to all the
other cities of the Empire, for the daimyo copied in their own
castle-towns all that they found to their taste during their forced
sojourn in Yedo. This leading position which the Shogun’s city held in
the feudal days has been retained even in an increased measure by the
capital of New Japan.
Some idea of the prosperity of Yedo may be formed from the fabulous
accounts of its wealth current among the country-people, who believed
that in the main streets of the city land was worth its weight in
gold. But a more definite proof is to be found in the computations
which were made from time to time with respect to its population.
Estimates based upon official records in the early years of the
Shogunate are very incomplete. Thus, we are told that there were in
1634, 35,419 citizen householders and twenty-three years later, as
many as 68,051, which would give a citizen population, at the rate of
4.2 persons per household, of 148,719 and 285,814 respectively, an
increase which is obviously too great for so short an interval. The
first trustworthy computation is probably that for the year 1721, when
the citizens and their families were said to aggregate about half a
million and the military class, with their servants, were put at a
little over a quarter of a million. Priests, street-vendors, and
beggars with whom the city swarmed did not most likely fall much below
fifty thousand, so that we may without any great error take the total
population at eight hundred thousand. More than a century later, in
1843, that is, a few years before the outbreak of the dissensions
which finally broke up the feudal government, the total population was
calculated from similar sources at 1,300,000, of which 300,000 or
nearly one quarter, belonged to the military class. Old European
travellers put the population of Yedo at various figures ranging from
a million and a half to three millions, but the above computation is
probably as near the truth as we can hope to get; and in view of the
fact that Yedo was a dozen years later torn by factions and was
practically in a state of civil war, we may safely conclude that its
population never exceeded that calculated for the year 1843.
In the above-mentioned estimate the military population of Yedo is put
at 300,000. It was computed in the following manner:—There were in the
country two hundred and sixty-seven daimyo, every one of whom had two
or more mansions in Yedo. The total number of their retainers and
servants, with their families, in fact, of all who depended for their
subsistence upon these barons, was calculated at over 137,000. The
immediate feudatories of the Shogun who all lived in Yedo, numbered
22,000; and they, with their families and servants, made up 160,000.
From these figures the great influence wielded by the samurai in Yedo
may be readily inferred.
Though Yedo thus prospered and the Shogun’s rule there seemed firmly
established while thousands of samurai were ready to lay down their
lives for his welfare, contentment was far from universal in the
country. Some of the great daimyo whose ancestors had submitted to
Iyeyasu only because of his overwhelming power, would have gladly
raised the standard against his descendants if they had seen any
chance of success; they knew that two centuries and a half of peace
had enervated the Shogun’s court and luxurious habits corrupted his
government and that it would not be a difficult task to crush him if
they could form a coalition against him. But as yet they did not know
whom to trust among their fellow-daimyo, and discontent smouldered
ready to burst out at the first opportunity.
And that opportunity came in good time. The arrival of Commodore
Perry’s squadron and the subsequent conclusion of treaties by the
Shogun with the foreign powers are matters of history. Centuries of
isolation had lured the nation into the belief that it could for ever
remain free from all contact with the outside world; the treaties,
therefore, came upon it as a rude awakening from its long-cherished
dream, and the possible consequences of the opening of the country
to foreign trade and intercourse naturally aroused all its fears. A
strong agitation arose in denunciation of the Shogun’s act to which
the Emperor’s sanction had not yet been given, and when orders came
from Kyoto to abrogate the new treaties, the enemies of the Yedo
government saw their opportunity; they turned to the sovereign
who lived hidden from public gaze in his palace and knew that the
salvation of their country could be brought only by the Emperor coming
to his own again and assuming the direct government of his people.
Leaders among these loyalists were the clans of Satsuma and Choshu,
two of the most powerful in Japan, which were later joined by those of
Hizen and Tosa, and many others. The Shogun did his utmost to suppress
these risings; but being at length convinced, by his utter failure, of
his own powerlessness, he resigned his office in 1867 and restored the
reins of government into the hands of his sovereign.
The Emperor thereupon made Yedo his capital and to it flocked the men
who had helped to overthrow the Shogun’s government. The small bands
of the latter’s adherents who still offered resistance were soon
overcome. The national government was reorganised by men from the
loyal clans. Though the Shogun had been denounced for his friendly
attitude towards foreigners, the new government was even more
cordially disposed towards them. The truth is that though the Shogun’s
enemies were at first all for the expulsion of foreigners out of the
country, wiser heads among them soon came to understand that it would
not be possible to get rid of these unwelcome visitors and return to
the old state of isolation. This conviction was especially brought
home to the great clans of Satsuma and Choshu when Kagoshima, the
chief town of the former, and Shimonoseki, the seaport of the latter,
were bombarded for outrages upon Europeans, one by a British fleet in
1863 and the other by combined squadrons of Great Britain, France,
Holland, and the United States in the following year; and they saw
that the only way for their country to preserve her independence and
secure a footing in the comity of nations was to be as strong as those
powers and advance in that path of civilisation which had given them
such a commanding position in the world. But so long as the Shogunate
stood, they let the anti-foreign agitation take its course; when,
however, it fell and the way was cleared for a reorganised
government, they set to remodelling it on western lines. Then
commenced that process of national renovation which has astonished the
world.
With the fall of the Shogunate and the reorganisation of the national
government the feudal system was doomed; for such a programme as
Japan had already sketched out for herself was incompatible with that
medieval form of government. This fact was soon recognised by the
daimyo of Satsuma and Choshu, who offered in 1868 to surrender their
fiefs; the generous offer was gladly accepted and their example was
followed by all the other daimyo. But for the time the ex-daimyo were
all appointed governors of their respective fiefs so that they might
aid in bringing their former subjects to a full sense of the new
condition of things. Three years later, in 1871, the clans were
abolished and the whole country was divided into prefectures. The
daimyo and their retainers received government bonds in commutation
of the incomes they had thitherto derived from their fiefs. The
substitution of prefectures for clans was made with the object of
breaking up the clan bias which was prejudicial to national unity and
of giving the central government a more complete control over the
provinces by the appointment to prefectural offices of high officials
from Tokyo. For to prevent disaffection or crush open revolt in the
provinces, it was necessary to centralise as much as possible the
government of the country; and with all its precautions, the new
government had to cope with several little uprisings, culminating in
the Satsuma rebellion which spread over a greater part of the island
of Kyushu and taxed its resources to the utmost. But when this was
quelled, the country enjoyed absolute peace; no internal disorder has
since taken place with the sole exception of a small local trouble in
1884.
The result of this centralisation was that Tokyo became the centre of
the whole national life. Men seeking office hurried to it; students
entered its schools; the trades and professions seemed to thrive only
in the capital. The measures which the government took at the time
tended still further to make Tokyo attractive. For the Restoration and
the consequent national reorganisation were for the most part the
work of the military class, or rather of the samurai of a few clans
under the guidance of a small group of leaders. The country bowed to
the inevitable; but the people had little or no voice in the matter.
Whatever drastic measures the government might take, the nation
at large could not at a word of command throw off the immemorial
traditions in which it had been brought up; it failed to realise the
drift of the new policy its leaders were entering upon. Consequently,
the first and most important duty of the government was to guide its
people in the path it had taken. New laws were published with minute
instructions; schools of all kinds were established on the western
plan, the higher colleges being located in Tokyo; model government
factories were built in the environs of the city; in short, nothing
that a paternal government could do was omitted to take the people
by the leading-strings. The higher schools were soon filled; their
graduates found ready employment. The country was ruled by a huge army
of officials, who, taking as they did the place of the old samurai
in the popular estimation, commanded respect and deference often
out of proportion to the importance of their posts, which, with
the comparatively high salaries they enjoyed in those days, made
government service the most attractive of all occupations. In fact,
in the early days, Tokyo may be said to have derived its enhanced
prosperity from the superabundance of officials. Then too, men of the
legal, medical, and other professions all opened practice in Tokyo;
only in recent years when every rank has been overcrowded in the city,
have they sought fresh fields in the provinces.
It was not long, however, before the evils of excessive centralisation
began to make themselves felt; and when the task of national
reorganisation was fairly complete, steps were taken towards
decentralisation. Prefectural assemblies were opened in 1881 as a
preliminary measure to the establishment of the national assembly. In
1888, local self-government was granted to provincial cities, towns,
and villages, and everything was done to promote local prosperity. The
close of the year 1890 saw the opening of the national diet. The war
with China in 1894–5 and that with Russia ten years later brought
on in either case a sudden activity in all departments of commerce and
industry and gave a great impetus to railway enterprise. Many bogus
companies, it is true, were formed at the same time, and their
collapse was a serious set-back to the national economy. But the
undoubted increase of commercial and industrial enterprises has served
to relieve the pressure of population upon Tokyo. Osaka, for instance,
which has for centuries been a great commercial centre, has within the
last few years become as great a centre of industry, with a population
exceeding a million. Kyoto, the old capital, remains somnolent; but
Nagoya and the trade-ports of Kobe and Yokohama are forging ahead.
In short, though Tokyo, as the capital, will probably remain the
largest city in the Empire, it cannot be denied that it is not now so
far in advance of the rest as it was a few years ago. This rise
of great provincial cities is a necessary result of the growth of
manufacturing industries which are bound, if the country is to
prosper, to take the place of agriculture, which is too limited in its
scope in a country of such a moderate extent as Japan. It is indeed
but a repetition of the rise of the great provincial towns like
Birmingham, Sheffield, and Manchester in England in the last century.
Still Tokyo must take the lead in all that pertains to the adoption
of western civilisation. Osaka and other manufacturing cities will
develop the inevitable but unwelcome phases of western industrialism.
Already the labour problem looms before us, and the government must
before long legislate on the question. There are also signs of
socialistic agitation. But these questions do not affect Tokyo so
seriously as other cities, for the factories on its outskirts are
comparatively few and the land is too valuable for residential
purposes to be occupied by manufactories.
Tokyo will remain what it has always been, the home of the best
classes in every department of national life. It will always indicate
the high-water mark of oriental culture and occidental influence.
Here, as nowhere else, will be seen that antagonism of the two, the
pressure of western customs and ways of life following on the heels of
the sciences and practical knowledge we are eagerly imbibing from the
West and the resistance of oriental traditions and usages, which
refuse to admit a tittle more than is absolutely necessary to bring
the country to a material and intellectual equality with the foremost
nations of the world. To those who look below the surface nothing
is more interesting in viewing the progress of Japan than this
combination of radicalism and conservatism. The Japanese, for
all his apparent love of innovation, still retains that stolid
self-satisfaction usually associated with the oriental mind, though it
is no rarer in the West. He has long recognised that his country must
advance along the lines taken at the Restoration, but he would have
the development take place without the sacrifice of the national
characteristics which have marked his countrymen from time immemorial.
The agitation which was set up some twenty years ago for the
preservation of these characteristics by those who feared the mania
for everything European which was then at its height would result
in the obliteration of the qualities which have kept Japan in full
vitality through the centuries, still finds an echo in his heart. The
threatened sudden metamorphosis of those days was but a passing whim;
the change is now slower and more subtle, and it is hard to mark the
exact line at which the encroaching tide of European civilisation
shall be made to stop. But the Japanese feels that the line must be
drawn somewhere. The problem is certainly difficult to solve. It
appears hardly possible to reap the fruits of the material and
intellectual progress of the West and yet to shut out the moral and
religious sources of that progress; but for all that, it would be
premature to pronounce it impossible. For we have already done what
seemed at first beyond the verge of possibility. Who, for instance, of
the thousands who nightly thronged to the Savoy Theatre to laugh over
the famous Gilbert and Sullivan opera, would have thought at the time
that a few years thence their country would form a treaty of alliance
with the land of Koko, Yum-yum, and Nankipoo? They would have flouted
the very idea; but that alliance is generally regarded as a natural
outcome of the recent course of events in the Ear East. Would it be,
we wonder, a much harder task to discriminate the elements of European
civilisation?
There are of course people who find their account in advocating
the rapid adoption of everything European; but their utmost efforts
notwithstanding, there is one citadel which will long resist their
attacks and remain almost as purely Japanese as in the days of their
forefathers. That impregnable citadel is the home; woman is in Japan
as elsewhere the greatest conservative element of national life, and
within her sphere of influence tradition reigns as supreme as ever.
Globe-trotters who advise their friends to visit this country with as
little delay as possible for fear that in a few years Old Japan would
cease to be, do not reckon with our domestic life. Japanese women are
as a class gentle, pliant, and docile; and these qualities stand them
in good stead at home. Whether it be that they manage with all their
demureness to twist their lords round their little fingers or that the
latter are afraid that any change in home life would develop a new
revolting woman who would refuse to be as submissive as they are at
present, the fact remains that with the mass of the nation there has
been little change in the conditions of domestic life. And what these
conditions are and how little the influx of new ideas has affected the
home of Old Japan, it is the object of the following chapters to relate.