FIRST VISIT TO KIOTO
The next day was taken up with our preparations for Kiôto, including the
purchase of sufficient stores for a fortnight. Saionji Yukiyé of Uwajima
called, and I offered him a passage to Ozaka in the gunboat which was to
convey Willis and myself to the starting-point of our journey. A Satsuma
man named Oyama Yasuké,[9] whom I had known in Yedo, came to announce
himself as commander of our escort. That European surgical skill was
very necessary for the treatment of the wounded can be seen from the
fact I find recorded in one of my letters home, that the Japanese
surgeons had sewn up all the gunshot wounds, and some of their patients
died from this cause. The prospect of visiting the city from which
foreigners had been rigidly excluded ever since the ports were opened in
1859 was enticing, especially as we were now being invited thither by
the very people who, we were told by the Tycoon's officials, had all
along tried to keep us out.
[9] Afterwards Field-Marshal Oyama, Commander-in-chief in
Manchuria in 1904-5 in the Russo-Japanese War.
Sir Harry was now in high spirits and in very good temper. We had no
more of the interviews with Japanese officials at which he used strong
language, and interpreting for him, which used to be a painful duty, was
changed into a labour of love. Success makes a man kind, and certainly
Sir Harry had been successful. By the departure of the French Minister
he became the _doyen_ of the diplomatic body, and the rest of his
colleagues followed his lead with perfect unanimity, for they had begun
to see that his policy was the right one to adopt. It was his influence
that induced his colleagues to join him in issuing declarations of
neutrality in the conflict between the Mikado and the Tycoon, which
among other things prevented the delivery to the latter of the American
iron-clad ram "Stonewall Jackson," bought with Japanese money. These
declarations were subsequent to the departure of M. Roches to Yokohama,
and while his secretary Baron Brin was in charge of the French Legation.
We started about nine o'clock in the morning of February 16 on board the
gunboat "Cockchafer," having in our train Noguchi, a boy-pupil named
Tetsu, one of my Japanese escort named Matsushita, and Willis' servant
the faithful Sahei. Off the Ozaka bar we found the Satsuma steamer
"Keangsoo" and another engaged in disembarking a large body of troops.
On landing at the city we found lodgings had been taken for us at a
Buddhist temple close to a burnt Satsuma _yashiki_ called Takamatsu, and
no sooner had we seated ourselves than a messenger arrived, in the
person of Koba Dennai's secretary, to ask us to stop two or three days
in Ozaka so that Willis might see some men who were ill of fever, and
that boats to convey us up the river were not obtainable. We replied
that Willis had not made any preparations for treating fever patients,
and had brought appliances for wounds only; that we supposed boats were
as numerous at Ozaka as they had been before the recent fighting
up-river, and that we could not understand this delay being interposed,
after we had been so urged and hurried by Iwashita and Terashima, who
had wished us to start even a day earlier than we had found possible.
So the secretary went out, and Yasuké after him. They stayed away a
whole hour, and we came to the conclusion that the permission to bring
us into Kiôto had been revoked, resolving to return to Kôbé rather than
waste our time at Ozaka. At four o'clock Oyama returned, bringing with
him an old, ugly, mis-shapen fellow named Ijichi Shôji, who appeared to
be one of the Satsuma generals. After bestowing on us a vast quantity of
complimentary phrases, this individual brought out in a jerky St Vitus'
dance sort of way the same sort of excuses as had been made by Koba's
secretary. To this we returned the same answer as before, with the
addition that if they found it inconvenient to receive us in Kiôto, we
would go back at once to Kôbé. This decided attitude induced Ijichi to
give orders at once for boats to be got ready, and we then went off to
see the castle ruins. There was a notice at the front gate refusing
entrance to any but Satsuma and Chôshiû men, but as we had one of the
former clan with us we found no difficulty in gaining access. Passing
through the gate we came upon a wide scene of desolation. The
white-plastered towers and wall of the inner moat were gone; all the
barracks and towers of the outer wall to the south likewise; only the
stones of the gateway to the right remained. We passed into the
_hommaru_ or keep, through the gateway constructed with huge blocks of
stone, the largest measuring 42 by 16 feet and 35 by 18 feet. Nothing
was left but the masonry, giving somewhat of the look of the ancient
Greek Cyclopean walls of Tiryns. The magnificent palace itself had
disappeared; all that there was to show where it had once stood was a
level surface covered with half-calcined tiles. The way to the
foundation tower of the _tenshi_ remained clear, and we mounted to the
summit. Here in the exfoliation of the stones were traces of a former
conflagration; a plaster wall built right round had escaped not only the
flames, but also the explosion of the great magazine close underneath.
Four doors in this wall gave on to the outer parapet, from which the
view of the river, with its three great bridges, winding through the
city to the sea, and the hills on the further side of the bay surpassed
anything I had ever seen. In the opposite direction the stream could be
distinguished here and there as it meandered through the fields down
from Fushimi. The interior of the castle had been completely destroyed,
with the exception of a few rows of store-houses, which had escaped
through being situated to windward of the flames. The three concentric
walls of masonry, including the one from which we looked, reminded one
of the appearance that West's Tower of Babel would have presented if
viewed from above. We sounded the well, whence is drawn the famous
_ô-gon-sui_, or golden water, and found the depth to be 140 feet.
Issuing again from the gate at the base of the _tenshi_, we came upon a
quantity of burnt armour and helmets piled up round a store-house which
the flames had spared; some had been melted by the violent heat into an
irregular mass of metal. There were also piles of thousands of matchlock
barrels, with a few rifles among them. Curious to see what had become of
our temporary legation buildings, we took our way out of the ruined
Tamatsukuri gate. The whole place, excepting the houses that had been
occupied by Mitford and myself, was level with the ground, and even they
had been gutted so completely by the rabble as to be quite beyond the
possibility of repair. It was a melancholy sight.
On returning to our lodging we found Godai, who with many profuse
apologies conducted us to a house close by which was better fitted for
inhabitation by human beings. He explained that we could not start for
Kiôto before the following morning. From what he said it appeared that
delay in issuing the permission from the Imperial Court for our entrance
into Kiôto was caused by Ninnaji no Miya's having unexpectedly gone
there himself, but as he, Godai, had at once despatched a messenger, the
pass would be received at Fushimi the next evening before our arrival
there. This arrangement being accepted by us, _saké_ and its
accompaniments were ordered in, and half-a-dozen singing girls attended
to help us pass away the time.
February 17, at ten o'clock in the morning, saw us start in a houseboat
from the stairs below the burnt Satsuma _yashiki_. The party, seven in
number, included our merry friend Oyama, and another officer in command
of a guard for our protection. Although we had only just breakfasted,
_saké_ and various dishes were soon introduced, and the entertainment
was repeated all through the day at short intervals. It was a fine
morning, and the scenery was as beautiful as on the previous occasion in
May, when Willis, Wirgman and I had made the same journey. Conversation
naturally turned for the most part on the incidents of the recent
fighting. The Tokugawa forces had been pressing all day along the Toba
road until four o'clock, when they made an attempt to force the Satsuma
position. The attack was met by a steady fire from a field-piece planted
in the middle of the path (for the so-called road was very little
wider), and from three others in position on the left, while troops
concealed in the brushwood opened on them with musketry. This unexpected
reception threw the Tokugawa men into confusion, and they retired
precipitately leaving numbers of dead and wounded on the ground. The
imperialists at Fushimi, on hearing the sound of firing in the direction
of Toba, from which place they were about a mile distant, attacked the
Tycoon's troops as they formed outside the governor's residence, and the
fighting lasted till the middle of the night. The officers on the
Tycoon's side set the example of flight, and their men could not resist
the temptation, so that the rout became general. After Yodo was passed
no more fighting occurred on the road to Ozaka. At Hirakata the drilled
infantry broke into the storehouses of the townspeople who had run away,
and disguised themselves in the finest garments they could find; other
townspeople pursued the marauders and killed six of them.
We passed Hirakata at four, but did not reach our hotel at Fushimi till
midnight. Tôdô was holding his old post at Yamazaki, and Kaga occupied
Hashimoto. Dear old Yoshii was at our hotel to welcome us, and more
respectably dressed and shaven than I had seen him for a long time past.
A fresh supply of _saké_ was produced, and we kept up the conversation
till past two in the morning. These late hours did not prevent our being
ready to start at ten o'clock, escorted by a company of eighty-eight
men. Large palanquins of the sort called _kiri-bô kago_, that is "with a
Paulownia-wood pole," used by personages of the highest rank, had been
provided for us, but Willis, who was 6 feet 3 high and big in
proportion, was not able to double himself up inside, and preferred to
walk. The route lay through Fushimi for some way, issuing on to the
Takéda road, fifteen feet wide, then ascended to the top of a dyke
constructed to keep the river within bounds, crossed a bridge and so
into the city of Kiôto. At a temple by the roadside we fell in with
Komatsu, who had followed us from Fushimi, and by one o'clock we arrived
at Sô-koku-ji, a Buddhist temple close to the Satsuma _yashiki_ at the
back of the imperial palace. Shiuri no Taiyu, the Prince of Satsuma,
paid us a visit of welcome, accompanied by his confidential adviser
Saigô. After shaking hands with us both, he sat down in a chair placed
at the end of the table by the door, while we occupied chairs behind the
table in a position of greater dignity. All his attendants squatted on
the floor. After the exchange of a few complimentary speeches he took
his leave, and we accompanied him as far as the door. The grounds of
Sô-koku-ji were extensive, and well planted with trees, the temple
itself a fine example of wood architecture, the state apartments divided
off by splendid gold paper screens decorated with landscapes in Indian
ink, the coffered ceilings fifteen feet above the floor. To suit the
convenience of us westerners a table and chairs had been provided, and a
luxurious feast was served immediately after the prince had taken his
leave. In the afternoon Willis went to look after the wounded, while I
took a walk down to the bookshops in Sanjô-dôri, accompanied by an
escort. It was not until I reached this point that the populace seemed
to be certain that I was a foreigner; one little boy asked whether I
were not a native of Loochoo. The Tokugawa Castle of Nijô struck me as
insignificant compared with many a fortress belonging to a small Fudai
_daimiô_. It was then occupied by the troops of Owari; the _yashiki_
which had been the head-quarters of Aidzu as military governor of Kiôto
was tenanted by a few of Tosa's troops. The men who had accompanied me
about the city took the liberty of sitting down with us to dinner, and
showed great want of good manners. It was evident that they took a
departure from the polite social observances characteristic of the
Japanese to be an evidence of what was held to be civilization, i.e. in
their own words _hiraketa_.
Next day I went to ask Saigô about the settlement of the Bizen affair.
He replied that Hiki Tatéwaki, the _karô_ who was riding in the
palanquin, could not be regarded as free from blame, and that he would
be imprisoned in the charge of three clans. The officer who had been
riding on horseback would be executed. The Mikado's inspectors
(_kenshi_) would attend, the sentence would be pronounced, and a copy
would be furnished to the foreign Representatives. Afterwards the
sentence and an account of the proceedings would be circulated
throughout the country for the information and warning of others. Saigô
said the Mikado's government hoped to be able to keep the whole of Japan
in order, so as to prevent the necessity ever arising for foreigners to
take the law into their own hands. I said that this view was shared by
Sir Harry; that in regard of the Bizen outrage he had felt confident
that an envoy would be sent from the Mikado, and he had therefore
resisted the solicitations of those around him, who had urged that a
force should be despatched against the Bizen people at Nishinomiya; he
preferred to leave the opportunity open to the Mikado. Saigô also
explained the reference in the Mikado's proclamation regarding the
observation of the treaties, to the "reform of abuses," to mean that the
new government would propose a revision of those agreements. I mentioned
three points on which changes were desirable, firstly, the residence of
the foreign ministers being fixed at Yedo (for it was naturally supposed
that the government of the country would in future be conducted from
Kiôto); secondly, the confinement of foreigners to a radius of ten _ri_
(245 miles) round treaty ports; and thirdly, the circulation of all
foreign coin throughout the country. While abolishing the ten _ri_
limit, it should be made obligatory on a person travelling about the
country to carry a passport signed either by the Minister or the Consul,
and countersigned by the governor of the port from which he set out.
This last proposal was in fact one made by the Japanese themselves.
In the afternoon we went to return the call of the Prince of Satsuma. As
during his visit yesterday, he scarcely opened his lips, but Willis said
that he had treated Sir Harry in the same way when he went to Kagoshima
in 1866, and that it was supposed he was advised by his councillors not
to talk, lest he should make a fool of himself; a probable though not
very charitable explanation. We spent the afternoon in exploring the
city, which had been little more than half rebuilt after it was burnt in
1864 in the Chôshiû attack on the Palace.
Next day I went with Yoshii to call on Gotô, to whom I spoke about the
Bizen affair. He told me pretty much the same thing as Saigô, but less
decisively. He talked of executing the man who used his spear before the
firing began. Then he discussed the new constitution, and said he
despaired of getting a deliberative assembly, because the majority would
always be stupid and wrong-headed. I advised him to make the experiment
nevertheless; if the members ran their heads against a block of stone,
they would learn reason from the blow. He seemed to favour the idea of
governing by a _junta_ composed of the prime minister and the cleverest
men in the country, in default of one man of heroic mould, who should
rule autocratically. Of course he included himself among "the cleverest
men" (_jinketsu_). During this part of our conversation Gotô had
excluded Yoshii, as well as Saionji of Uwajima, who happened to be
calling on him, and Yoshii expressed his annoyance to me afterwards at
having been treated with so little confidence. I pacified him by saying
that we had been discussing the settlement of the Bizen affair. After
these two were admitted some general conversation ensued among them,
from which I gathered that it was by no means decided as yet who was to
be what, and that the chief men of the different clans found it
difficult to manage each other, that mutual jealousy, and especially
jealousy of Satsuma, prevented their pulling together. I gave them a
hint to use in revising the treaties, namely, the establishment of mixed
courts for trying cases between foreigners and Japanese, instead of
deciding them according to the laws of the defendant's nationality. I
also called on Katsura (Kido), but we did not meet till the next day,
when he came to our lodging in company with a Chôshiû naval captain
named Shinagawa, who for some time past had been living in Kiôto as a
Satsuma man. Yoshii also turned up, but the conversation flagged until
Willis came back from the hospital, and during lunch a heated argument
arose as to the best way of preventing affrays from happening between
Japanese and foreigners. Katsura and I had previously agreed that the
Japanese Government should discuss the procedure with the foreign
representatives; foreigners should be informed that to break through a
procession is an offence in Japanese eyes, and Japanese on the other
hand should be taught that they must not use weapons, but simply arrest
offenders and hand them over to their own authorities; further, that
when a _daimiô's_ train was to pass along a thoroughfare, constables
from a mixed force of westerners and Japanese should be stationed to
keep the road clear. Willis dissented from this view, and maintained
that the only way to preserve the peace between foreign rowdies and
Japanese bullies was to keep them apart, and to carry the high road
round at the back outside Kôbé. My argument against this, in which
Katsura concurred, was that a change of road would give rise to a great
deal more ill-will between the opposite nationalities than the murder of
a few foreigners, and that from what we had hitherto seen in this
country a little fighting would open the eyes of the Japanese and make
us all better friends than before; in fact, we held it was better to
apply caustic at once than to let the disease linger on and attempt to
cure each symptom as it presented itself. We did not settle the
question, but I noted down what precedes as being a Japanese view.
In the evening I went to call on Okubo Ichizô, a Satsuma _karô_, who was
one of the councillors of the Home Department. Last year he and I had
sent presents to each other, but had never met, so I wished to make his
acquaintance. Instead of merely exchanging formalities, we had some
interesting conversation. He said that 7000 infantry were being sent
forward to Hakoné, and 5000 to a pass on the Nakasendô. Satsuma and
Chôshiû were determined to prosecute the war, and perfect unanimity
prevailed among the _sanyo_ (councillors). Even Echizen and Higo, who at
first had been opposed to the employment of force, were now working
hand-in-hand with the other clans. The _daimiô_ of Ogaki, who was a
councillor of the Finance Department, until recently an adherent of the
Tokugawa, had expressed his hope that the expedition against Yedo would
soon be sent on its way. Probably the Mikado would accompany the army in
person, a step which would greatly weaken the rebels. He thought that
the return of M. Roches to France would have the effect of determining
the Tycoon to submit, as he would have no one to rely on for material
assistance. If he submitted, his life might be spared, but Aidzu and
Kuwana must lose their heads. At Ozaka the discovery had been made of
the diary kept by a confidential adviser of Keiki's, in which the false
hopes that had given rise to the expedition against Kiôto at the end of
last month were plainly expressed; the other clans were represented as
getting tired of Satsuma, and even Chôshiû to be divided into two
parties, one for war the other for peace; that Gotô Shôjirô was inclined
towards making terms with the Shôgun, and that the Court desired to see
him back in Kiôto. But, said Okubo, Keiki was in too much of a hurry,
and now the whole situation had completely changed; those who previously
had wavered were now convinced of the _Baku-fu's_ weakness, and were
eager to be first in striking a blow at the Tokugawa. At his request I
explained to him as well as I could the working of our executive
government in combination with the parliamentary system, the existence
of political parties and the election of members of the lower house. The
Bizen affair he said was pretty well settled, and his account agreed in
the main with what Saigô and Gotô had told me. Next day however there
arrived a very peevish letter from the chief, complaining that the Bizen
business did not appear to be nearing a settlement, that sufficient
preparations had not been made at Ozaka for the reception of the Foreign
Representatives, that he doubted whether he would ever go there at all,
and winding up by ordering Willis and myself to rejoin him by the 24th
at latest. This gave me one day more at Kiôto, but it considerably upset
Willis' arrangements, as he had calculated on a fortnight's stay. Okubo
having called to return my visit, and Yoshii also, I took the
opportunity of urging on them the necessity of settling Bizen at once.
They replied that they did not belong to the department concerned, but
undertook to see Gotô and Higashi-Kuzé, and repeat to them what I had
said. I had to go, but left Willis to await further orders. On the 23rd
Saigô came to say good-bye to me, and present me with two large rolls of
red and white crape and two of gold brocade. He said there was no
possibility of my carrying back the final decision of the Bizen affair.
When he was gone, Yoshii came in; he told me Sir Harry perfectly well
understand the cause of the delay, and had consented to wait a week. A
letter had gone from Higashi-Kuzé to him, which had probably crossed his
to me. The final decision would probably be arrived at on the morrow or
the day after. Daté (Uwajima) and Gotô would go down next day to Ozaka,
and Higashi-Kuzé would follow with the sentences of the Bizen men as
soon as they were made out. Both Saigô and Yoshii begged that Willis
would stay five or six days longer.
The war news was that the town and territory of Kuwana had submitted to
the imperial messenger, but the retainers replied that they could not
undertake for their prince, who was in Yedo, having accompanied Keiki
thither. Everyone in Kiôto hoped that the Yedo people would resist
instead of peaceably submitting, for the western men were all "spoiling
for a fight."
At three o'clock in the afternoon I therefore set out alone. It took me
a long time to get through the city to the Gojô bridge, as I completed
my sight-seeing as I went, and I did not reach Fushimi till dark. There
I found Oyama's elder brother, who was Satsuma agent (_rusui_), and from
words dropped by Notsu, the captain of my escort, I learnt that the
orders to march on Yedo were expected to be issued in a day or two. At
nine o'clock we embarked for Ozaka in a fifty _koku_ flat-bottomed boat,
long and narrow, with a roofing of coarse straw mats supported by
rafters resting on a pole laid from one end of the boat to the other,
horribly uncomfortable, and especially so when crowded. We got to our
destination at 6.30 next morning, and I crossed to Hiôgo in the gunboat.
Notsu said that in the recent fighting the heads of all the wounded who
could not escape had been taken off, a proceeding hardly reconcilable
with what we had been told about the resolution to spare the lives of
prisoners; unless, indeed, it was done to put them out of their pain.
The next entry in my journal is of February 29th, when Daté came over
from Ozaka. On arriving he went to the consulate by invitation from the
chief to have lunch, and began to talk about the Foreign Representatives
being presented to the Mikado, who was to be brought down to Ozaka,
perhaps by March 13. We had to stop this interesting communication in
order that he might go to call on the other ministers. In the evening I
went to see him, when he told me M. Roches had asked to see Saigô,
Okubo, Komatsu and Gotô, as he understood they were the leaders of the
Kiôto movement; this had greatly annoyed the dear old man, who resented
being ignored in that fashion, and said he hated Roches and his
interpreter. Roches had sent to say he would call next morning, and it
was with difficulty that I persuaded him to receive the visit, instead
of going on board H.M.S. "Ocean" on Sir Harry's invitation. Inouyé
Bunda, whom I saw that day, told me the French consul at Nagasaki had
refused to pay duties to the provisional government, and had threatened
war, especially against Satsuma and Chôshiû. We had a good laugh over
this exhibition of impotent wrath.