Shimonoseki

“ When, therefore, after the second Peace of Shimonoseki, Japan was compelled to relinquish all her possessions on the mainland and to console herself for her shattered hopes with a few million taels, every Japanese knew that the lost booty would at some time or other be demanded from Russia at the point of the sword. With the millions paid by China as war indemnity, Japan procured a new military armament, built an armored fleet and slowly but surely taught the nation to prepare for the hour of revenge. ”

“ One undesigned benefit resulted from the Shimonoseki expedition. Just as the bombardment of Kagoshima had taught the daimyō of Satsuma the folly of resisting western armaments, so now the daimyō of Chōshū had learned by an expensive experience the same bitter lesson. For the future these two powerful clans might therefore be counted on, not only to oppose the moribund government of Yedo, but to withstand the folly of trying to expel the foreigners who by treaty with an unauthorized agent had been admitted into the country. ”

“ Again the shōgun’s administrative competence proved inadequate to exact reparation, and a squadron, composed chiefly of British men-of-war, proceeding to Shimonoseki, demolished Chōshū’s forts, destroyed his ships and scattered his samurai. In the face of the Kagoshima bombardment and the Shimonoseki expedition, no Japanese subject could retain any faith in his country’s ability to oppose Occidentals by force. ”

“ Just at that time the troops of Chosiu, which had been stationed in the neighbourhood of Kioto for some months, fought against the troops under the Shogunate and were defeated. In the meantime, the combined fleets of England, France, the United States, and Holland, made their entry into the straits of Shimonoseki. Before the youthful Ito and Inouyé had succeeded in persuading their Prince and compatriots to adopt pro-foreign policy, Shimonoseki was bombarded. Peace was concluded, which was greatly due to the endeavours of Ito and Inouyé and their bosom friend Takasugi. ”

“ To ignore these events is really to delude the public; for the chapter of Far Eastern politics which begins with the German descent on Kiaochow is little short of meaningless if the story of Shimonoseki is passed over. Indeed the legend of Talien-wan itself belongs to a policy which may easily be traced back half a century. It is, however, not necessary for my purpose that I should go behind the Shimonoseki intervention. What was the object of that transaction? No one who has given any attention to Far Eastern affairs has ever been under the slightest [429] illusion on this point. ”

“ It need not be thought strange that there is an anti-foreign sentiment in China. Was there not an anti-foreign sentiment in Japan forty years ago? The Shimonoseki affair was not unlike the Boxer trouble, except that it was less fatal to life, but it exerted a large influence in the overthrow of the shogun and in the restoration of the emperor. Just as in Japan the old finally gave way to the new, and progress took the place of stagnation, so in China the old must give way to the new.
Advance is inevitable and the world need not fear the result. ”

“ They repaired to the British legation in Yedo and begged that the allied squadron, then about to sail for Shimonoseki to call Chōshū to account, should be delayed that they might have an opportunity of advising the fief to make timely submission. Not only was this request complied with, but a British frigate was detailed to carry the two men to Shimonoseki, and, pending her departure, the British legation assisted them to lie perdu. Their mission proved futile, however, and Inouye was subsequently waylaid by a party of conservative samurai, who left him covered with wounds. ”

“ Ureshino and the baths are some little distance off the main road to Shimonoseki; so, not caring particularly to go there, I continue on to the village of Takio, where rainy weather compels a halt of several hours. Everything is so delightfully superior, as compared with China, that the Japanese village yadoya seems a veritable paradise during these first days of my acquaintance with them. Life at a Chinese village hittim for a week would well-nigh unseat the average Anglo-Saxon's reason, whereas he might spend the same time very pleasantly in a Japanese country inn. ”

“ And the Lamont party found from the moment it left Nagasaki for China until the moment it set foot again in Shimonoseki on its return that there was not a white man nor a yellow man who had a good word to say for Japan. Japan was an isolated country socially,—isolated a thousand times more definitely than she is geographically. ”

“ At the end of that time Shimonoseki surrendered unconditionally, and an indemnity of three million dollars was claimed from the Shogun, and eventually paid.
For the next two years the Shogun’s Government was busy trying conclusions with the Daimio, but as he had raised a large force of the common people, and drilled these in Western fashion, he easily held his own. British and French troops meanwhile were permanently stationed at Yokohama to guard foreign interests. ”

“ Choshu, the bombardment of Shimonoseki in 1864. Evidently the only chance of being able to face Western power would be through the patient study of Western science; and the survival of the Empire depended upon the Europeanization of society. By 1871 the daimiates were abolished; in 1873 the edicts against Christianity were withdrawn; in 1876 the wearing of swords was prohibited. The samurai, as a military body, were suppressed; and all classes were declared thenceforward equal before the law. New codes were compiled; a new army and navy organized; a new police system established ”

“ Entered upon missionary work in Japan in autumn of 1895, residing in Kanazawa from 1895-1898; Fukui, 1898-1905; Shimonoseki, 1905; has been engaged in evangelistic work in difficult fields greater part of time. Address: No. 1667, Meichiyama, Shimonoseki, Japan. ”

“ Early in the morning of the 11th we passed through the Strait of Shimonoseki—the sun shining brightly on the snowy hills and on the crowd of fishing-boats which had been sheltering there from the{4} bad weather—and entered the Inland Sea. After so many days of monotonous gray ocean it was delightful to steam along in sight of land, and wind about among the islets and rocks, so near to many of them that we could see the little villages, the mists of white plum blossoms, the rows of beans and barley growing wherever a level patch could be made on the steep slopes, the people at work in their ”

“ The American minister secured the payment of twelve thousand dollars for alleged losses by the Pembroke, although as we have seen the vessel got off without any damage. Negotiations in regard to freeing the Inland sea from obstructions dragged along for almost a year. The bakufu promised to take measures to reduce to a peaceful attitude the daimyō of Chōshū whose territories bordered on the narrow straits of Shimonoseki. But the growing [pg 348] political disturbances of the nation and the impoverishment of the shōgun's treasury made it impossible to carry out its pacific designs. ”

“ In Bungo, the invading army was swelled by thirty thousand men under the leadership of Kohayakawa and Kikkawa, and the whole force, under the command-in-chief of Hidenaga, Hideyoshi's brother, moved to invest the castle of Takashiro.
It is unnecessary to follow the fighting in all its details. The salient facts are that Hideyoshi left Osaka with the main army of one hundred and thirty thousand men on the 22d of January, 1587, and, travelling by land, reached the Strait of Akamagasaki—now called Shimonoseki—on the 17th of February. ”

“ But Colonel Zanzi said the colors belonged to Arisuga.
"Men get what they win in the army—nothing more, and not less. Here, no honor goes by favor! A man passes for a man until he is proven otherwise, no matter who or what he is, or whether he be five feet or six. In the army there are neither eta nor samurai, only sons of the emperor."
After the peace of Shimenoseki there was dull barrack life for little Arisuga, far from Yoné, until he led the allies in their assault upon the gate of the Hidden City. You will remember that the Japanese were conceded the advance. ”

“ They do not know that since Shimenoseki we have prepared for this. They do not know that they have not a secret from us. They do not know that the whole course of the war is already planned here—here—by Japan. ”

“ Shimono Kani hath given a voice to the wind and added a sorrow to the sea. But when in lighted chambers after feasting there arises the voice of the singer to please the King, then is the soul of that singer crying aloud to his fellows from where he stands chained to earth. And when at the sound of the singing the heart of the King grows sad and his princes lament then they remember, though knowing not that, they remember it, the sad face of Shimono Kani sitting by his dead brethren, the elder gods, playing on the harp of crying heart strings whereby he sent their souls among the worlds. ”

“ Her life work, through no fault or neglect of her own, had been taken from her, but her broken duty she held firmly in her heart; and unflinchingly reaching out—as is the samurai way—she, as long as she lived, faithfully sent each year one of her closest personal possessions to the little granddaughter who was said to resemble her, even to her curly hair, to be worn in a welcome greeting to the spirits of the Inagaki family to whom she could no longer bow, but to whom her duty was due. ”

“ It was from her religions that Japan drew her Knightly Code, Bushido, obedience to which raised the samurai from the mere brutal wielder of swords to the chivalrous warrior. From Shinto he imbibed veneration for his ancestors, the strongest possible sense of duty to his parents, and the most self-sacrificing loyalty to the sovereign. Buddhism gave him a stoical composure in the presence of danger, a contempt for life, and "friendliness with death." It made him calm and self-contained. Finally, the samurai obtained from the teachings of Confucius his principles of action toward his fellow men. ”

“ This the relative considered a piece of great effrontery, and but for the pacification of the theatre people would have carried out his intention. Shibazaki Rinzaemon was good, as might have been expected, in samurai rôles. He lived to a ripe old age, and when he became too infirm to appear as a fighting man, contented himself with old men’s rôles. Before his death he lost his sight, but still his usefulness upon the stage did not cease, for he was accommodating enough to act blind characters. ”

“ Firmly, but not ungently, Shimadzu put her aside, whereupon she fell down at his feet, clasping her arms about his legs, while her lips emitted strange and piteous outcries.
Yet what could the utmost strength of a delicate lady do against that of a samurai man? With one quick movement he freed himself from her clinging hands. The next moment the Lady Evening Glory was quite alone. She suddenly realized that the gods had denied her all succor, and crawled across the room until she stood in front of the small shrine in the place of the tokonona. ”

“ How I envied the long, straight locks of the court ladies in the roll picture hanging in my room!
One time I rebelled and used return words to my nurse, who was trying to comfort me during one of my "gluing-up" experiences. Kind old Ishi forgave me at once, but my mother overheard and called me to her room. I was a little sullen, I remember, as I bowed and seated myself before her cushion, and she looked at me severely as she spoke.
"Etsu-ko," she said, "do you not know that curly hair is like animal's hair? A samurai's daughter should not be willing to resemble a beast." ”

“ Rich, with an income of thirty tawara, a fine property in reversion, and but twenty-five years old. The man therefore must be fit to pose as a samurai; able to read and write, to perform official duty, he must be neither a boy nor a man so old as to be incapable. Come now! Does no one come forward? Rōnin are to be had. A ryō for aid to this Chōbei."—"Too cheap as an offer," was Jinzaémon's retort. "A rōnin is one to be handled with care. Those favoured with acquaintance of the honoured bushi often part with life and company at the same date. ”

“ Sometimes the shimenawa is made of bronze, when the torii itself is of bronze; but according to tradition it should be made of straw, and most commonly is. For it represents the straw rope which the deity Futo-tama-no-mikoto stretched behind the Sun-goddess, Ama-terasu-oho-mi-Kami, after Ame-no-ta-jikara-wo-no-Kami, the Heavenly-hand-strength-god, had pulled her out, as is told in that ancient myth of Shinto which Professor Chamberlain has translated. ”

“ No samurai worthy of the name had a higher ambition [74] than to die such a death; and when Sennoske lived, the spirit that ruled men of his class was not different from what it had been for centuries before, or from what it continued to be up to within the last few decades.
The thoughts, hopes, and expectations thus engendered in the mind of Sennoske had completely occupied it until he met O Tetsu. ”

“ Well argued, Shigenari! What a noble-minded man you are! I admire your wisdom and forbearance. As you say, the war cloud is fast darkening over us and it behoves all loyal samurai to be on their guard and not [176] waste their energies on petty quarrels of their own. Again I ask your pardon for misconstruing your conduct. Though younger in years, dear Shigenari, you are older than I in judgment and forethought. ”