ENOMOTO WITH THE RUNAWAY TOKUGAWA SHIPS SEIZES YEZO
ON December 11 Machida came to me with a report from Hakodaté that the
Tokugawa pirates, as they were styled after their refusal to surrender
and their exodus from Yedo Bay on October 4, had landed at that port
from the Kaiyô-maru and her consorts. The rebels were led by a member of
the French military mission sent out in 1866 who had gone off with them
when they left the bay, and it was very annoying for the French Legation
that this officer should have violated the neutrality proclaimed by the
Minister, and have joined rebels against the authority of a sovereign
with whom France maintained friendly relations. A fight had ensued near
Hakodaté, in which a large number of imperialists were killed or
wounded. The Yokohama foreign press however represented that the
Mikado's men had won the victory at a place about 15 miles from the
port. According to despatches received from the consul the rebels had
had by far the best of it. The foreign residents were in a great state
of alarm. The consul wrote thus: "As the enemy approach we shall retire
towards the hill; if he comes nearer, we shall go up the hill, and
should it come to the last extremity we shall have no resource but to
put our trust in an over-ruling Power." Nakai came on the 13th to talk
about the new paper money, and the difficulties with foreigners to which
it would give rise. Tom Glover's opinion was quoted in favour of a paper
circulation, but he did not himself agree that a merchant, who was
naturally an interested party, should be regarded as an authority on
currency. This paper money had been issued to the troops, who forced the
shop-keepers and the hucksters on the high roads to accept it in
payment. But this could not go on long, for the paper did not pass
current amongst the civilian population. We spoke about the state of
foreign relations. He admitted that the old distrust of foreigners still
existed; the foreign representatives were regarded as a necessary evil,
to be endured, but not to be embraced. Nothing pleased the Mikado's
government so much as to see the diplomatists living at Yokohama, and
the idea of asking their advice upon any matter was never entertained
for a moment. In fact the representatives were looked upon much in the
same light as the agents (_rusui_) of the _daimiôs_, _i.e._ persons sent
to Japan by their respective governments to receive the Mikado's orders,
whenever occasion might arise. The representatives were themselves
partly to blame for this state of things. Fine houses, comfortable
living and whole skins at Yokohama were doubtless preferable to
makeshifts and dangers at Yedo, but for all they knew or could learn of
pending international questions they might just as well be resident at
Hongkong.
Another day was spent with the mayor of Kanasugi and three or four
retainers at the classical theatre Kongo-daiyu in Iigura chô, to see
_Nô_ and _Kiôgen_. Minami Torajirô was also among the audience. This was
a young Aidzu _samurai_, who had come in the previous April to see me,
with his countryman Hirozawa, when I had a great argument with the
latter about Japanese politics and especially about the part our
Legation had taken. It was the first time a foreigner had been present
at this kind of theatrical performance. _Nô_ is a sort of tragedy or
historical play, _Kiôgen_ is low comedy. There is no scenery and the
costumes are all in an ancient style. The stage is about 24 feet square,
and a long passage on the left connects it with the greenroom from which
the actors make their appearance. There are 200 _Nô_, and printed books
of the text, known as _utai_, could be bought for a trifling cost. They
are delivered in slow recitative to the accompaniment of the music, or
rather dissonance, of the fife and small drum. The orchestra, likewise
dressed in antique fashion, were seated on campstools at the back of the
stage. The _Kiôgen_, which pleased me most, were _Suyéhirogari_, in
which a sort of Moses Primrose is sent to Kiôto to buy a fan, and is
cheated by the merchant into paying 500 _riô_ for an umbrella, and _Oba
ga saké_, in which a fellow having tried in vain to persuade his aunt, a
rich old curmudgeon, to give him some _saké_, puts on a devil's mask and
frightens her into submission, while he goes to get drunk at the store
room where the liquor is kept. He threatens to eat her if she looks his
way; her cries,"Oh fearful to behold; spare your retainer's life"; her
anger on discovering in the drunken and sleepy demon her rascally
nephew, were infinitely diverting. The _Nô_ I could not understand until
I borrowed the book from a Japanese lady in the next box, and was
enabled to follow the text. This was _Hachi no ki_. Sano Genzayémon, who
has been deprived of his feudal estate, entertains a Buddhist priest at
night. Having no food to offer him nor fuel to warm the room, he cuts
down his own favourite dwarf plum, cherry and pine trees, and makes a
fire of the branches. In return for this the holy man persuades the Lord
of Kamakura to restore to him his forfeited lands. There were at that
time three other companies of _nô-yakusha_; Kanzé-daiyu, Kôshô-daiyu and
Kompara-daiyu. The audience consisted entirely of the _samurai_ class.
The two Aidzu princes were brought to the suburb of Senji on December
15. Matsudaira Higo (now, like all other rebels, shorn of his title of
_Kami_) was placed in the charge of Inshiû, and Wakasa in that of
Chikuzen. Ninnaji no Miya, the commander-in-chief of the imperialist
forces engaged in Echigo and Oshiu, was expected to arrive in Yedo on
the 17th. And on or about the 16th the foreign representatives were
officially notified of the restoration of peace. The guns and stores of
H.M.S. "Rattler" which had perforce to be left behind at Sôya when the
"Dupleix" brought us away, had been offered to the Mikado's government
and accepted by them. This was the news heard from Okubo and Yoshii,
whom I met at Nakai's on the 16th.
As a measure of protection for British and French subjects at Hakodaté
the "Satellite" and "Vénus" were despatched thither on the 14th, the
former conveying our secretary of legation Adams. His "History of
Japan," vol. ii., gives an account of what he saw and did there. Up to
the 5th of December however that place had not been threatened with an
attack from the fugitive Tokugawa navy.
My old writing master Tédzuka, who came to call, gave me the following
statistics about his clan. The chief's name was Sengoku Sanuki no Kami,
and he ruled over territories assessed at 30,000 _koku_. The actual
yield to the _daimiô_ was 16,000 _koku_ of rice; of this 8000 _koku_
were accounted for by fiefs held by retainers; 4000 _koku_ were required
for the maintenance of the _daimiô's_ personal establishment, and an
equal quantity went in expenses of administration. The latter included
official salaries, cost of journeys to court at Yedo, of soldiers in the
field, arms, etc. The clan numbered no more than 60 _samurai_ families.
Its constitution as regards the offices of _karô_ and _yônin_ was the
same as in the case of other clans. In accordance with orders
promulgated in No. 5 of the Kiôto Gazette the old practice of hereditary
office-holding had been abolished, and a system of promotion by merit
established in its stead. In order to carry out these new arrangements,
the hereditary fiefs of the retainers ought he thought to be equalized.
When I went back to Yokohama on the 18th I found that news had been
received of the capture, which I had anticipated, of Hakodaté by the
runaway Tokugawa ships, and the flight of Shimidzu-dani with all his
staff. The consul was, as one would expect, very seriously alarmed. And
from the "Satellite's" expedition to the spot one could not look for any
results of importance.
On December 21 a great conference was held at the legation in Yokohama
of the chief with Daté, Higashi-Kuzé, Komatsu, Kido, Machida and Ikébé
Goi (of Yanagawa in Kiûshiû). The first thing they wanted was that Sir
Harry would arrange to give Yamaguchi Hanzô a passage on board an
English man-of-war to Hakodaté, in order that he might open negotiations
with the rebel leaders. The chief seemed to me to fear that this would
involve him too much in the opinion of the public as a partizan of the
imperial government, and he advised them instead to despatch a common
messenger across the strait from Awomori bearing written offers to
treat. Seeing that they could not induce him to accede to their request,
they acquiesced in his suggestion, but in such a half-hearted manner as
to make one doubt whether they would follow his advice. A great
discussion took place on the Christian question, in which the Japanese
spoke very reasonably, and Sir Harry likewise, until he unfortunately
lost his temper over the arguments used by Kido, and made use of very
violent language such as I do not care to repeat. The result was that
they promised to write Notes to the Foreign Representatives announcing
the Mikado's intention of showing clemency to the converts. Next day
Ikébé came to me to explain the theory of the imperial paper currency,
but I did not understand much of what he said, and we wandered off into
other subjects, especially Christianity. The old fellow professed to be
not only an admirer of its doctrines, but also a believer. In the
afternoon the chief and I went to return Daté's call at what had
formerly been the governor's official residence at Tobé, a suburb of
Yokohama. They had a long conversation, especially about the Christian
question and the representative system, and Sir Harry tried to pump him
about the future capital. Would it be at Kiôto, Ozaka or Yedo (Tokei,
Tôkiô), for we had of course read what Okubo Ichizô had written on the
subject early in the year. The old prince gave him some very polite
"digs in the ribs" about his violent language of the previous day,
saying that when people became animated in conversation, spectators were
apt to think that a dispute was going on, whereas instead of that being
the case, it was merely that the speakers were in earnest; and naturally
every man desired to express his own views. The chief replied that his
animation was caused by the extreme regret he felt at seeing the
Japanese do things that were prejudicial to themselves. On this Daté
observed that it did them good now and then, to be got angry with (_hara
wo tatté morau_). This set the chief "a-thynkynge," and as we were
driving home he suddenly said: "I think they would never have spoken to
the other representatives about Christianity, had it not been for the
little piece of excitement I got up yesterday." I replied: "Well, it may
be so but I think you hurt Kido's feelings; he shut up at once and
preserved a marked silence." "Did you think so?" says P. "I am sorry to
think he was offended." I then said: "If you will excuse my speaking
freely, I believe that although that sort of thing may have a good
effect in a particular case, it makes the Japanese dread interviews with
you." Upon this the chief declared that he would have Kido to breakfast
the next morning, and begged me to write him as polite a note of
invitation as possible.