Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852’1912 (165 page)

22
. Ishii,
Bakumatsu
, p. 88.

23
. T
ō
yama,
Ishin
, p. 51; Ishii,
Bakumatsu
, p. 77. Because of this position, the prince was referred to as
in no miya
.

24
. The relevant part of the letter sent by K
ō
mei to Nakagawanomiya on January 11, 1864, is in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 4, p. 940. Ishii quotes the section in which the emperor, denouncing the rumor as the work of villains seeking to overturn the changes achieved on September 30, said he was sure the
in no miya
could see into his heart, just as he could see into the
in no miya
’s heart (
Bakumatsu
, p. 77). K
ō
mei concluded with the assertion that he entertained absolutely no suspicions of the prince.

25
. T
ō
yama,
Ishin
, p. 52.

26
. According to Ninagawa Shin, “The emperor Meiji ascended the throne on the ninth day of the first month of the third year of Kei
ō
. On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the previous year his father, K
ō
mei tenn
ō
, was assassinated by Iwakura and others, and on the twentieth day of the ninth month of that year the fourteenth shogun, Iemochi, was killed by an unknown assailant while in
Ō
saka Castle” (
Meiji tenn
ō
, p. 11).

27
. The Ch
ō
sh
ū
men included such outstanding figures as Kido Takayoshi, Takasugi Shinsaku, Inoue Kaoru, and It
ō
Hirobumi (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 429).

28
. For the negotiations at this time, see Marius B. Jansen,
Sakamoto Ry
ō
ma and the Meiji Restoration
, pp. 217–22.

29
. For the six articles of the agreement, see ibid., pp. 220–21.

30
. Iemochi’s illness had begun in May of that year and, after various ups and downs, had become serious at the end of the July while he was in
Ō
saka. For a detailed account of his illness, see Conrad Totman,
The Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu
, p. 516.

31
. The diary of a court lady mentions Princess Chikako’s fears that Kamenosuke was too young to cope with the difficult times (quoted in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 799).

32
.
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 798. The memorial to the throne is dated simply “seventh month” but elsewhere is identified as having been sent on the twenty-ninth day of the seventh month. However, Iemochi died on the twentieth day of the seventh month. It is not clear, therefore, whether Iemochi wrote the memorial at some previous time or whether it was written by someone else.

33
. The text of the proposal is in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, pp. 804–6.

34
. This is the view of Ishii,
Bakumatsu
, p. 95. I have tried without success to imagine Kaiser Wilhelm II listening patiently as a stinging attack was made on his policies.

35
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 442.

36
. The announcement said merely that hostilities were being discontinued “for a while” (
shibaraku
) (
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 832).

Chapter 11

1
.
Ō
kubo Toshiaki,
Iwakura Tomomi
, p. 138.

2
. Ishii Takashi,
Bakumatsu hiun no hitobito
, pp. 97–98.

3
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 445.

4
. Ibid., 1, p. 445.

5
. Ibid., 1, p. 445.

6
. Ibid., 1, p. 454; documentation is in
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 916.

7
. Higashikuze Michitomi,
Ishin zengo
, pp. 41–42. For a citation from Nakayama Tadayasu’s diary in which he mentioned that the emperor was so robust that he never even caught a cold, see also
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 927.

8
. Haraguchi Kiyoshi, “K
ō
mei tenn
ō
wa dokusatsu sareta no ka,” p. 48. See also
K
ō
mei tenn
ō
ki
, 5, p. 918.

9
.
Nakayama Tadayasu nikki
, 3, p. 652.

10
. Tankai’s diary stated that the emperor was well on the way to recovery (Nezu Masashi, “K
ō
mei tenn
ō
wa by
ō
shi ka dokusatsu ka,” p. 33).

11
. Haraguchi, “K
ō
mei,” p. 49. K
ō
mei’s death was officially said to have occurred on the twenty-ninth of the twelfth month, although he actually died on the twenty-fifth. It had been the practice ever since the seventeenth century for the “official” day of an emperor’s death to be later than the day on which he actually died, perhaps to allow more time for preparing the funeral. It was decided in October 1867 to change the day of mourning for Emperor K
ō
mei to the day on which he had actually died (
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 816).

12
. Haraguchi, “K
ō
mei,” p. 57.

13
. Haraguchi discusses the article by Yoshida Tsunekichi, first published in 1949, insisting that smallpox was the cause of K
ō
mei’s death, in ibid., pp. 49–50.

14
. Nezu Masashi, who emerged as the leading exponent of the poison theory, somewhat melodramatically stated that “anyone who, prior to the defeat, expressed the slightest doubt concerning this official fact [that Emperor K
ō
mei died a natural death] was branded as impious or else pursued by the law and thrown into prison. No scholar even considered investigating it. Not one document written in Japanese openly stated that Emperor K
ō
mei had been poisoned, but Satow’s
A Diplomat in Japan
reported it as a rumor. This passage was cut from the Japanese translation of Satow’s book” (“K
ō
mei,” p. 28). But Nezu himself mentions that in July 1940, at a meeting of the Nihon ishi gakkai Kansai shibu (Kansai Division of the Society for the History of Japanese Medicine), Dr. Saeki Riichir
ō
, after examining the diary of a court physician in the possession of Irago Motoyoshi, concluded that the course of the smallpox was normal up until January 22 or 23, when Iwakura Tomomi took advantage of the emperor’s illness to have his niece, a court lady, administer poison. Dr. Saeki said he had heard the facts directly from the woman in question, who subsequently became a nun at the Reikan-ji convent at Shishigatani, to the east of Ky
ō
to (pp. 34–35). Among the problems is the fact that the court lady in question was a sister, not a niece, of Iwakura’s. Ishii, who supported the poison theory, felt compelled to state that the sister, Horikawa Motoko, could not have committed the crime, if only because she was not on duty in the palace at that time (
Bakumatsu
, p. 114).

I also recall hearing from my teacher, Dr. Tsunoda Ry
ū
saku, that about 1910 a neighbor at a bar in Honolulu told him that he had taken part in the assassination of K
ō
mei and for this reason could not remain in Japan. This would be pertinent information if I could be sure that (1) my memory of Professor Tsunoda’s conversation was accurate forty years after hearing it; (2) Professor Tsunoda’s memory of the alleged conversation in Honolulu was accurate forty years later; and (3) the man at the bar was not drunk.

15
. Sir Ernest Satow,
A Diplomat in Japan
, pp. 185–86.
Baku-fu
is used for the shogunate, and Shitotsubashi (Hitotsubashi) for Tokugawa Yoshinobu.

16
. Nezu, “K
ō
mei,” p. 35.

17
. This theory is mentioned by
Ō
ya S
ō
ichi
in
Ō
ya S
ō
ichi zensh
ū
, 23, p. 294.

18
. Ishii gives the names of two court ladies (Takano Fusako and Nakamikado Yo-shiko) who seem to him to be not above suspicion (
Bakumatsu
, p. 113). He also says, without further elucidation, that the culprit probably was a court lady, although a mastermind man was doubtless working behind the scenes. However, Sasaki Suguru suggested that the poisoner may have been
Ō
kubo Toshimichi, working in cahoots with Iwakura, who was hampered in his movements by his exile to Iwakura Village (
Boshin sens
ō
, p. 9). In any case, Sasaki felt sure that somebody working behind the scenes had planned the assassination. However, when his book was reprinted thirteen years later (in 1990), he wrote that he had been persuaded by Haraguchi’s articles that K
ō
mei died of smallpox.

19
. Maruya Saiichi amusingly imagined the performance of kabuki that Emperor Meiji witnessed on April 26, 1887 (
Aoi Amagasa
, pp. 273–74). An addition to the program consisting of the play within the play from
Hamlet
, would be performed in the presence of not only the emperor but also Iwakura Tomomi, whose crime—poisoning the emperor like Claudius—would be enacted as Meiji stared at the guilty man. But as Maruya was fully aware, Iwakura died in 1883.

20
.
Ō
kubo,
Iwakura
, pp. 181–82. A description by Iwakura of his overpowering grief on learning of the illness and death of K
ō
mei is in
Iwakura-k
ō
jikki
, 1, pp. 1135–36.

21
. Haraguchi Kiyoshi, “K
ō
mei tenn
ō
to Iwakura Tomomi.”

22
. Haraguchi Kiyoshi, “K
ō
mei tenn
ō
no shiin ni tsuite,” pp. 2–3.

23
. The art of vaccination had been transmitted to Japan in the 1830s by physicians at the Dutch trading station in Nagasaki. By this time it was being practiced fairly widely among the upper classes.

24
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 459–60.

25
. Ibid., 1, p. 470.

Chapter 12

1
. This is an excerpt from a letter dated February 21, 1867. It is in
Iwakura Tomomi kankei monjo
, 3, p. 277. See also Fujita Satoru,
Bakumatsu no tenn
ō
, pp. 239–40.

2
.
Asahiko Shinn
ō
nikki
, 2, p. 268. Sh
ō
ki (Chung Kuei) was a mythic being of fierce countenance (distinguished by his full beard and big eyes) who was believed to have the power to drive away the god of plague and other demons with the sword he brandishes. He appeared in the dream of the T’ang emperor Hsüan-tsung, who had the painter Wu Tao-tzu draw his portrait.

3
.
Asahiko Shinn
ō
nikki
, 2, p. 272.

4
. T
ō
yama Shigeki, ed.,
Ishin no gunz
ō
, p. 57.

5
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 463, 479. See also Watanabe Ikujir
ō
,
Meiji tenn
ō
, 1, p. 88.

6
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, p. 466.

7
. Ibid., 1, p. 467.

8
. The ancient practice of bestowing on a deceased emperor a posthumous name derived from the Chinese classics and referring to him as
tenn
ō
, which had fallen into desuetude for 955 years, was revived in 1840 for Emperor K
ō
kaku in honor of his long reign (Fujita Satoru,
Bakumatsu no tenn
ō
, pp. 129–33). Before this return to ancient usage, emperors were normally known posthumously by a place-name followed by the word
in
, meaning that the emperor had entered priestly orders before his death. Ichij
ō
-in and Momozono-in are examples. K
ō
mei
tenn
ō
is an example of the new (but also ancient) usage.

9
.
Meiji tenn
ō
ki
, 1, pp. 826–27.

10
. Ibid., 1, pp. 469–70.

11
. Ibid., 1, p. 477. For the complete text of the shogun’s letter, see Tada K
ō
mon, ed.,
Iwakura-k
ō
jikki
, 2, pp. 42–43, and W. G. Beasley, ed. and trans.,
Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy
, pp. 308–10.