THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF William Starke Rosecrans,H * - t . H.I.M. THE EMPEROR OK JAPAN. (Born Nov. 3, 1X52; acceded Feb. 13, 1867; crowned Oct. 13, 1868.) ADVANCE JAPAN A NATION THOROUGHLY IN EARNEST. BY J. MORRIS, FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, TOKIO ; AUTHOR OF "WAR I\ KOREA," "A SAMURAl's DAUGHTER," ETC., ETC. Illustrations by R. Isayama, Military Artist of l/te Kuzen Clan, Southern Japan. LONDON : W. H. ALLEN & CO., LIMITED, PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 1895- (All rights reserved.} \\YMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, PR INTERS, LONDON AND KKDHILU OS To His IMPERIAL MAJESTY, THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN, UNDER WHOSE ENLIGHTENED AND BENEVOLENT RULE THE EMPIRE HAS ADVANCED TO A POSITION IN THE FRONT RANK AMONG THE POWERS OF THE WORLD, AND HAS ENGRAFTED THE ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THK WEST UPON THAT OLDER CIVILISATION OF THE ORIENT WHICH FOR MANY CENTURIES HAD DISTINGUISHED THE TERRITORY O DAI NI-HON, gil?t volume is most respectful'to? insert beb BY HIS MAJESTY'S FORMER SERVANT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, THE AUTHOR. FIRST LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. His EXCELLENCY T. KATO, Japanese Ambassador to Great Britain. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. T. HAYASHI, Esq., Japanese Consul-General in London. WM. ANDERSON, Esq., M.R.C.S., Chairman of the Japan Society. Y. NAKAI, Esq., Manager of the Yokohama Specie Bank. A. DIOSY, Esq., Hon. Sec. of the Japan Society. R. TAYUI, Esq., Chancellor of the Japanese Consulate-General. DESIGN ON COVER. The Japanese National flags support the ribbon and medal awarded by the Emperor for valour, which takes the place in Japan of our Victoria Cross. There are many recipients of it in connection with the late Chinese War. The five-pointed Star and Cherry-blossom are respec- tively the badges of the Japanese Army and Navy. The Chrysanthemum is the Official Crest of Japan, and the adjoining leaf and flower of the Kiri tree form the private badge of the Japanese Emperor. PREFACE. THE contest just concluded between Japan and China had the effect of directing public atten- tion to the serious side of the Japanese character. A people capable of waging warfare so systematically and successfully cannot fail to occupy a most prominent position in the twentieth century, now so near its dawn. But though they have shown themselves to be well equipped for the fray, the tendency is distinctly towards the re-establishment of peaceful intercourse with China, on that footing of perfect equality which was unattain- able so long as the people of the Middle Kingdom held in derision the efforts of the Japanese nation to excel in the arts of the Occident. Now that the supremacy of Japan in the matter of armaments has been acknowledged by her ancient rival, the way has been paved for a reconciliation which shall have widespreading effects not only upon the future of the two nations more immediately concerned, but upon the policy of the Great Powers of the West. Japan has x PREFACE. taken up a position from which she cannot recede, and, without being aggressive, she will strive not only to maintain that position but to continually improve it. The ambition she cherishes will not attain its fruition until she has constituted herself as powerful a force on the eastern flank of Asia as is the United Kingdom on the north-west edge of Europe. In no way has she sought more diligently to strengthen herself than in the formation of a potent fleet, and the adequate training of her sailors. She has added to her resources by the capture of her enemy's vessels, as did the British in days of old, and she has devoted large sums, in the current estimates, to the supply of gigantic line-of- battle ships which will be in no way inferior to those of highly-organised European navies. The acquisition of Formosa gives Japan a vastly improved strategical position in Far Eastern Waters, and though she has chosen to relinquish her claim to Liao-Tung, she has benefited in no inconsiderable de- gree by her magnanimous renunciation of her right to an increased indemnity. Such treatment of a fallen foe will raise Japan immeasurably in the world's esteem, and is in harmony with the repeated utterances of the Japanese Emperor disclaiming any intention of inflict- ing needless privations upon the Chinese people at large, with whom his Majesty had no quarrel. Such generosity will not be lost upon those at the head of affairs in Peking, and the actual outcome of the mili- tary struggle may not improbably be the revival of PREFACE. xi those cordial relations between the two Powers of the Orient which existed in past centuries. Though the conditions are reversed, and the former pupil has be- come the tutor, it will be none the less advantageous to China in the end that the practical result of the war has been to convince her Government of the utter folly of longer rejecting the lessons of the age. In the last chapter of this book I have sought to indicate the direction in which a mutual understand- ing between the recent combatants may bring about important events bearing upon the future trade of European countries. The way to China now lies through Japan, for unquestionably Japan has made a deeper and more lasting impression upon her neigh- bour than had previously been made by any other nation. The blow has been all the more severely felt by China in that the Power which inflicted it was one which she had previously affected to hold in contempt. The consciousness that the Japanese Emperor has shown moderation in his hour of triumph will not tend to lessen the humiliation of the vanquished, but it may render a return to intimate friendship not only possible, but comparatively speedy of accomplishment. The form which its outward expression may take is a matter in which the Western Powers are keenly inter- ested, but it is likewise one in which they may not be enlightened for some time to come. Negotiations will proceed very leisurely, now that peace has been secured, and the outer circle of nations may have to judge of xii PREFACE. their tenour mainly by results. The future conceals nothing more calculated to amaze the casual observer than the effects which are certain to follow in the train of re-established amity in the East. Everyone admits that the opening-up of China to general intercourse would be fraught with stupendous consequences, though few care to pursue the subject so far as to ascertain in what way the change may be effected. In this necessarily imperfect work I have sought to draw attention to some of those characteristics of the Japanese and their undertakings which have tended to make of them at this hour a nation to be honoured. Their ancient history has been touched upon with a view of showing that they always had in them the materials of a great and powerful people. In many respects it has been found impossible, within ordinary limits, to enumerate even a tithe of the notable qualities and features of their daily existence. Only the salient points have been touched upon, and attention has been invited rather to the practical side of the national dis- position than to the exquisite productions of their fine arts, or to the innate poetry of their nature. Those who would pursue these branches of study have a wealth of material at hand in the admirable works of Sir Edwin Arnold, Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain, Mr. William Anderson, Mr. Josiah Conder, and many other writers eminently qualified to deal with such subjects effectively. Upon ethnological points the massive product of Dr. Rein's investigations will be found to satisfy, in volume PREFACE. xiii form, every demand which the student may make upon it Personally I have revived my recollections of places and incidents, with which I was well acquainted years ago, by the perusal of the publications of the late Mr. J. R, Black, to whom I have alluded in connection with the establishment of newspapers in Japan. I must also express my indebtedness to the columns of the Yoko- hama Press for some of the earlier history of the settle- ment, and to other contemporary works which have enabled me to recall to memory associations with which I was familiar in a long residence in the Japanese Em- pire. My stay in the interior in connection with public works gave me uncommon facilities for acquiring a knowledge of the habits and ideas of the rustic popula- tion, and I was fully prepared to find the raw material of the Army, as gathered by conscription, capable of being worked up into the splendid force which Japan has recently placed in the field, and for the exhibition of that dauntless heroism which has marked its achieve- ments in Korea and Manchuria. The men went into battle singing the praises of their monarch in a verse which is venerable for its antiquity as a musical as well as a literary composition : Kimi ga Yo wa Chi yo ni, Ya chiyo ni, Sazare ishi no Iwa wa to narite, Koke no musu made. Sir Edwin Arnold has very kindly given me his version of this : xiv PREFACE. THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF JAPAN. May our Lord's dominion last Till a thousand years have passed, Twice four thousand times o'ertold ! Firm as changeless rock, earth-rooted, Moss of ages uncomputed Grow upon it, green and old ! Edwin Arnold. I trust that in my endeavour to attract attention to those solid qualities of perseverance and determination to excel which mark the Japanese people, I shall have afforded some inkling of the sturdy mechanical bent which has contributed in no small degree to raise them to the position they now occupy. The practical phases of their character are so interwoven with the romantic and poetical that there has been no little danger of the distinction being altogether lost to Europeans, who have to judge only by what they see of the nation's products. Within the past few months the Japanese have appeared to many in entirely a new light. To me they have ever been an intensely painstaking, hard working, frugal, and thoughtful people, imbued with a resolve to succeed in whatever they undertake, and with the innate conviction that nothing is beyond their powers of attainment. My effort to portray them in this character will go far, I hope, to secure for me, with the general reader, that measure of cordial forbearance in regard to the short- comings of my book of which I stand so palpably in need. J. M. London, May, 1895. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ADMINISTRATION. PAGE The Emperor and Empress Insignia Cabinet Ministers The Present Parliament Pay of Members The Administration in Korea The Leader of the Opposition Provincial Assemblies i CHAPTER II. THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. Geographical Position The Mainland Territorial Divisions Tukaido The Peer- less Mountain Hakone Lake The Ex-Shogun's Retreat Biwa Lake Turbulent Rivers Area and Population Mountains Harbours Climate 13 CHAPTER III. NATURAL HISTORY. Quadrupeds Birds Fishes Trees Fruits Flowers Vines Cereals Land under Cultivation Vegetables The Tea Shrub 49 CHAPTER IV. DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. Table Etiquette The Ordinary Bill of Fare Tea-drinking Dress The Household Washing Day Girlhood in Japan Study and Play Music Arrangement of Flowers 71 CHAPTER V. EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. The Shogun Period Jinmu Tenno Buddhism Introduced Early Writings Heroes of Old Advent of Christianity Causes which led to the Restoration Kublai Khan's Invasion Emigration Prohibited Japanese Wars of the Roses Yoritomo True Relation of Shogun to Mikado Tokugawa Regime Daimio's Revenues ... 91 CHAPTER VI. THE RESTORATION. Foreign Treaties Early Efforts to Trade Prominent Leaders Railways and other Public Works Undertaken Compulsory Education Vaccination Cotton Mills ... 122 CHAPTER VII. EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. Remonstrances from Satsuma Education The Saga Insurrection Formosa Expedi- tion China Alarmed Coast Survey Administration of Justice Relief of the Poor Exhibition ... 162 xvi CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. PAGE Tokio Its Railway Depots The Castle Main Thoroughfares Ueno Park Asa- kusa Government Offices Kioto Kara Nagoya Kochi Onomichi Kuma- moto 188 CHAPTER IX. TREATY PORTS. Yokohama Kobe-Hiogo Osaka Nagasaki 219 CHAPTER X. COMMUNICATIONS. Roads The Jin-riki-sha Excursion Guilds Cheap Hotels Highways Railways- Telegraphs 247 CHAPTER XL LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. Systems of Caligraphy The Press in Japan First Newspaper Illustrated Periodi- cals Chinese and Japanese Lexicons Examples of Printing and Engraving ... 288 CHAPTER XII. MINES AND MINERALS. Gold, Silver, Copper Coal in Abundance Iron, Lead, Tin, and Quicksilver Modern Methods Employed E'ectrical Haulage Wharves at Misumi Coal Production of Higo and other Provinces Branch Railways to Mines 309 CHAPTER XIII. ARMAMENTS. The Organisation of the Forces List of the Fleet, and its Capabilities The Murata Rifle Personnel of the Army, and of the Navy Colleges Hospitals The Red Cross Brigade Field Ambulances Warships built in Japan 325 CHAPTER XIV.-WAR WITH CHINA. The Campaign against Satsuma in 1876 The War with China 1894-5 Valu Naval Fight Assault and Capture of Ping- Yang and Chiu-lien-chfing Port Arthur Wei- hai-Wei The Lessons of the War 33$ CHAPTER XV. COLONISATION AND TRADE. The Progress made in Yeso Prospects in Formosa Opening of New Ports to Com- merce Facilities for Employment of Foreign Capital Banking and Bank-notes ... 376 CHAPTER XVI.-Tiii FUTURE OF JAPAN. Predictions of 1868 not Verified A Policy of Selection Japan will open China- Will urge on Railway Enterprise there The Empires have Something in Common Railway Profits to Pay War Indemnity Drill-Sergeants for China Japan can Supply Arms Her Large Market there Will use her Power Wisely Will Introduce Modern Mechanical Arts Holds the Key to China In Earnest 397 APPENDIX. The TOkaido Route The Ko-shiu Kai-do Route The Nakasendo Route (Central Mountain Road) The Sanyodo Route The San-in-do Route The Tosando (Oshiu-Kai-do) Nan-Kai-do (Island of Shikoku) Sai-Kai-do (Island of Kiu- shiu) Hokkaido (Island of Yeso) Population Trade at Ports: 1894 Meteoro- logical Observations Cotton-Spinning Mines Posts and Telegraphs Tele- phones Electric Lighting Railways in Japan Average Cost of Food, etc., in Japan 4*3 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. H. I. M. The Emperor of Japan Frontispiece. 2. A Red Cross Hospital 3 3. Viscount Mutsu Munemitsu ... ... 6 4. General Saigo Tsugumichi ... ... 7 5. H.I.H. Prince Komatsu 8 6. Provinces and Products (Map) ... ... 15 7. Railway Train Southward Bound from Tokio ... ... 19 8. Fujiyama from Kara, on the Tokaido ... 29 9. Nagoya Castle 36 10. A Japanese Tea-house 39 11. A Dragon Fly 48 12. Carpenter's Tools ... ... ... ... 59 13. The Art of Floral Arrangement ... ... 63 14. Harp, Violin, and Guitar 72 15. An Industrious Sempstress ... 75 16. Hand-ball 81 17. Washing Day 85 1 8. Tobacco-pouch and Pipe-case 89 19. A Dragon Fly ... ... 90 20. Precincts of Asakusa Temple 97 21. The Classic Dance ... ... roi 22. I yeyasu's Castle and Moat at Tokio 108 23. Interior of Buddhist Temple 115 24. The Foreign Office, Tokio 131 25. The Nobles' College, Tokio 137 26. Imperial College of Engineering ... ... 143 27. Medals Awarded at Tokio Exhibition ... 147 28. Before the Police Superintendent 151 b xviii ILL US TRA 770 AS. mat 29. The Cruiser Chiyoda ... ... ... ... ... 163 30. Doctor Ishiguro ... ... ... ... 164 31. General Nodzu ... ... ... ... 171 32. Admiral Ito 172 33. Admiral Kawamuru ... 183 34. Marshal Yamagata ... ... 185 35. H.I.H. Prince Arisugawa ... 186 36. Shinbashi Railway Station ... ... ... 189 37. Where Rest the Dead ... ... ... ... ... 197 38. Poetry amid the Cherry-blossoms ... ... ... 205 39. Homeward from the Picnic ... ... 309 40. Ministry of Communications ... ... ... ... 213 41. The Specie Bank, Yokohama ... ... ... ... 221 42. Fujiyama, from Mishima ... ... ... ... ... 225 43. Kobe Municipal Hall ... ... ... ... ... 229 44. A Bridge at Kameido ... ... ... ... ... 333 45. A Japanese-built Torpedo-boat ... ... ... ... 237 46. Ama-no-Hashidate, near Miyadzu ... ... ... 241 47. The Jin-riki-sha ... ... ... ... ... ... 248 48. Shrine at Nikko 255 49. Pleasure-boat on the Sumida River ... ... ... 265 50. Railways in Japan (Map) ... ... ... ... ... 267 51. Telegraphs in Japan (Map) ... ... ... ... 275 52. Telegraphs at Hamana Inlet ... ... ... ... 281 53. Japanese Printing ... ... ... 289 54. The Japanese Syllabary ... ... ... 295 55. Early Efforts 297 56. Perusing the Morning Newspaper ... 300 57. Example of Japanese Cover to Historical Book ... 305 58. Mining Railway Crossing the Main Line ... ... 311 59. Lighthouses and Harbours ... ... ... ... 317 60. Kumamoto Castle 321 61. Army Department Headquarters ... 327 62. Bringing in the Dead 331 63. Cruiser Takachiho ... ... ... 333 64. Captain of Mat sushi inn ... ... ... 334 65. General Kawakami ... 337 ILL US TRA TIONS. xix PAGE 66. Yalu Battle, Stages i, 2 and 3 345 67. The Gunboat Akagi 348 68. Yalu Battle, Stages 4 and 5 349 69. Port Arthur 359 70. Marshal Oyama ... ... ... 361 71. Admiral Hirai ... ... ... ... ... ... 365 72. General Kodama ... ... 367 73. Wei-hai-Wei Harbour ... ... ... 369 74. Map of Formosa ... ... ... ... ... ... 383 75. Japanese Ten- Yen Bank Note (Face) ... ... ... 393 76. Japanese Ten-Yen Bank Note (Reverse) 394 77. Japanese One-Yen Note (Face) ... ... ... ... 395 78. Japanese One-Yen Note (Reverse) ... ... ... 396 79. The Cruiser Yoshinc ... ... ... 398 80. Chinese Prisoners Guarded by Japanese Infantry ... 403 Si. Watching the Attack near Port Arthur ... ... ... 409 82. The Cruiser Suina (Built in Japan) ... ... ... 411 83. The Cruiser Hashidatk (Built in Japan) ... ... ... 412 84. In Honour of the Slain ... ... ... 415 ADVANCE JAPAN. CHAPTER I. ADMINISTRATION. HE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS. The Emperor Mutsuhito was born on the 3rd November, 1852, and succeeded his father, Komei Tenno, on the I3th February, 1867. His coronation took place on October I3th, 1868. In 1869 he married Haruko, daughter of a noble holding high rank at the Court of Kioto. She is ordinarily known as the Kogo-sama, and her title, taken in conjunction with her own name, may be translated Empress of Spring. The Emperor is rather tall for his race, standing five feet eight inches, of rather dark complexion, but possess- ing fine open features and high forehead, his bearing B 2 ADVANCE JAPAN. being dignified, and his walk alert and active. The general expression of his countenance is benign, though shaded at times by a certain solemnity. His consort is likewise comparatively tall, being about five feet four inches, and possessing the slim figure and oval features of the Japanese aristocracy. She is consulted by the Emperor very generally in State affairs, to the con- sideration of which she brings a cultivated intellect and a vast amount of shrewd common-sense. She takes in- tense personal interest in the welfare of the women of her nation, and is largely occupied in works of charity and benevolence. During the war with China she has actively supervised the proceedings of the Nursing Organisation, of which she is the president, and has personally prepared lint and bandages to be sent to the field hospitals. In the earlier years of his monarchy the Emperor had constant trials, due to the insurrections fomented by rival factions, through which his most trusted Mini- sters were lost to him ; one fell by the sword of the assassin, one died a natural death, and in two cases insubordination was followed in the end by actual rebel- lion.' He was still very young when called from the seclusion of the Kioto Palace to take an active share in the conduct of public affairs, with a realm torn asunder by the violence of contending parties and conflicting interests. But his earnestness of purpose and steadfast solicitude for the ultimate good of his subjects has carried him through all difficulties. By the wisdom ADMINISTRATION. 5 and practical sagacity which he has displayed at crises in the life of the nation, he has won respect, not only from his own people, but in countries far afield. If he has been loyally supported in his efforts by the counsel of able Ministers, it is due to his personal selection, and not to the mere accident of political supremacy that he is surrounded by men of the greatest ability and discretion, men who would have been regarded under any circumstances as possessing the highest qualities of statesmanship and the loftiest patriotism. His children died young, and for a time the Throne was without a direct heir. The actual significance of the term Mikado is Great Place. Other designations of the Emperor are Tenno = King of Heaven; Tens/ii=Son of Heaven ; Kotei= Sublime Ruler; Go-sho = Imperial Place; Kinrisama = Lord of the Palace. Honours conferred by the Tenshi are the highest distinctions which can fall to the lot of any subject. The symbols of Imperial power are the mirror, as an image of the sun-goddess ; the ball of rock crystal, the sword, and the brocaded banner. The Imperial coat of arms is the ^chrysanthemum flower ; at the same time the emblem of the sun. It has 16 rounded petals. The family badge of the Emperors represents three leaves and clusters of flowers of the Kiri (Paulowni Imperialis\ Both emblems are shown in the design which appears on the cover of this book. By the Constitution, which was promulgated in 1 889, ADVANCE JAPAN. the Emperor is the supreme head of the realm, and combines in himself all the rights of sovereignty. He exercises entire executive power, with the advice and as- sistance of his Cabinet Ministers, who are responsible to him alone, and are appointed by himself. In addition, he consults the Privy Council, whose members are directed by him, to deliberate on important affairs of State. His Majesty has absolute authority to declare war, make peace, or conclude treaties with foreign Powers. Cabinet Ministers. The Imperial Cabinet now numbers nine mem- bers ; they are : President of the Cabi- net and Prime Minister, Count Ito Hirobumi. Minister of Justice, M. Yoshikawa Akimasa. Minister for Home Affairs, Count Inouye Kaoru. Minister of Communications, Count Kuroda Kiyotaka. Minister for War, Marshal Yamagata Aritomo. Minister for Agriculture and Commerce, Admiral Yenomoto Buyo. Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Mutsu Mune"mitsu. Minister for Education, M. Inouye K6. VISCOUNT MUTSU (Minister for Foreign Affairs). ADMINISTRA TION. Minister for the Navy, Count Saigo Tsugumichi. Minister of Finance, M. Watanabe Kunitake. Tlie Parliament. The Imperial Diet (Tei-Koku Gi-Kwai), as now constituted, includes the House of Peers and the House of Representatives, and would correspond to our Lords and Commons but that the Jap- anese Legislative Assemblies number only 300 members in each instance. The Jap- anese House of Peers (Kizoku In) has five classes of mem- bers. In the first rank are the males of the Imperial Family who are over 20 years of age ; the second rank includes those of princely houses not directly connected with the Throne, and all nobles of the grade of Marquis, the age qualification being 25 years and upwards. Counts, Viscounts, and Barons rank next, also over 25 years old, who have been elected to the Diet by their respective orders, the stipulation being that the number shall not exceed in any case more than a fifth of the total of each order, which practically limits the representation to 16 Counts, 71 Viscounts, and 6 Barons ; the fourth rank includes persons over 30 years of age whom the Emperor has raised to the House of Peers in recognition of their GENERAL SAIGO TSUGUMICHI (Minister of the Navy). 8 ADVANCE JAPAN. erudition, or of some distinguished service rendered by them to the State. So far the grades of membership are identical with our own, save that the ecclesiastical body is wholly unrepresented in Japan. But there is a fifth class of persons in- cluded in the Tokio House of Peers, for which we have no precise equivalent. In each prefecture of the Em- pire those persons over 30 years of age, to the number of 15, who pay most in the way of direct national taxes on land or industries are nominated by the Emperor to elect one of their number to sit in the House of Peers. Thus there are about 50 of the members in the Upper House who are directly the representatives of the chief landed and industrial in- terests of the nation, elected by the suffrages of the plutocracy. These, as well as the Counts, Viscounts, and Barons of class three, are elected to the Diet for a term of seven years. Membership of the first, second, and fourth ranks is for life. A stipulation is made that the fourth and fifth classes shall together never exceed 150 members, or half of the total roll-call. Pay of JIeml>eri. The House of Representatives H.I.H. PRINCE KOMATSU (Cousin to the Emperor). \ADM1N1STRA TION. 9 (Shugi In) is occupied by 300 members chosen by ballot from the electoral divisions of the realm, a fixed number being returned to serve from each district The pro- portion is as nearly as possible one member for 137,000 inhabitants, and the term is four years. Candidates must be at least 30 years of age, and must pay not less than 1 5 yen for one year in the shape of direct national taxes, or if income tax, must have paid it for three years. They need not actually be resident in the dis- tricts they represent. Salaries are paid at the rate of 800 yen annually, and also travelling allowances, the members not being at liberty to refuse these emolu- ments even were they disposed to do so. In English money, at present rates of exchange, the salary is about equal to 80 per annum, the session lasting three or four months. The elected and nominated members of the House of Peers receive similar stipends, and the pay of the Presi- dents of the two Houses is fixed at 4,000 yen each, that of the Vice-Presidents being 2,000 yen each. Granting that the sums involved are but trifling ac- cording to our calculation, it must be remembered that frugality in Japan is so universal that an income of even .100 a year is sufficient to maintain a small family in comparative comfort and respectability. Japan has, at all events, solved the vexed question of payment of Members of Parliament, in a way which seems to be thoroughly satisfactory. The electors themselves must qualify by an annual io ADVANCE JAPAN. payment of 15 yen in direct national taxes, must be at least 25 years of age, must actually reside permanently in the district to be represented, and have dwelt there during the twelve months preceding an election. The Imperial Diet controls the finances of the Em- pire, and the administration of justice. Voting is carried on by secret ballot, on the system of scrutin de liste, Every enactment must have the consent of both Houses of the Diet, and be ratified by the Emperor, before it passes into law. Either House may initiate projects of legislation, and may make representations thereon, or upon any other subject, to the Cabinet, and may in certain events address the Crown direct. The Em- peror convokes the Diet, opens, closes, and prorogues its sessions, and dissolves the Lower House at his will. Provincial Assemblies. In 1878 a decidedly pro- gressive step was taken in regard to representative institutions by the establishment of Provincial Assem- blies throughout the realm. It is true they were merely local boards, meeting for a month in each year, usually in March, but they have the control of local taxation, subject to the Governor of the Ken, and through him to the Minister for the time being of the Home Depart- ment. This privilege of Home Rule is exercised by ihe selected representatives, who must be qualified by a three years' residence, must pay a land tax of not less than 2 annually, and must be over 25 years old. The ADMINISTRATION. ir election is by ballot, and the electors must qualify by the annual payment of ^i land tax, must be over 20 years old, and must be on the register. The opportunity thus afforded by the local representative body to ex- press its dissatisfaction with the acts of the Ken-rei, or Governor, has been now and then taken advantage of, and the assembly has declined to pass the required regulations for the imposition of local taxes. These district or county councils, as we should call them, have proved in the long run, however, of great utility, and have been the nurseries of the higher legislative bodies more recently brought into operation. The Administration in Korea. Count Inouve Kaoru, at present in Korea, resided for some years in London for the purpose of studying our political and municipal institutions, public works, and finance. He returned to Japan in the " early seventies " in time to take office under the present Prime Minister as head of the Public Works Department, and has filled other high positions with great success. His mission to Korea, where he will probably reside throughout the current year, has for its object the reorganisation of the public service, and generally to advise the King of the Penin- sular Kingdom upon matters relating to the establish- ment of an improved system of government, a task which he is eminently qualified to perform. When the revolutionary troubles were rife in 1867 he was cut down and left for dead by one of the Shogun's 12 ADVANCE JAPAN. adherents. The cold of a winter night staunched the bleeding from his wounds, and he survived, with more than one scar, to tell the dreadful tale. The Leader of the Opposition* Count Okuma Shigenobu, formerly the Finance Minister of the Crown, is now in the cold shade of opposition, being the head of the "Progressive" or Radical Party in Japan, and as such receded from the Cabinet some years ago. Whilst at the Treasury he introduced several important measures, not the least practical of which was a resolu- tion to confine the expenditure of the spending depart- ments of the public service the army, navy, and pub- lic works strictly within the limits of their estimates. Additional outlays, when indispensable, may be sanc- tioned by new credits, and, on the other hand, surpluses are repaid to the Treasury. He pointed out that esti- mates were necessary as a check on irregular expendi- ture, and to induce habits of economy. If the officials were not hedged about with restrictions, it would be certain, in his opinion, to lead to extravagance, and the estimates would become mere waste paper. Though, with characteristic modesty, he admitted that his appre- hensions might not be altogether warranted, the Cabinet agreed with him so far as to issue a decree embodying his suggestions. 1.3 CHAPTER II. THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. OTWITHSTANDING the fact that Japan was known to the intrepid navigators of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and at least one Englishman held high office at the Court of Yedo in the seventeenth century, the Mikado's Empire was veiled in an obscurity of its own creation until comparatively recent years, from which it has only within the last decade finally emerged. The most in- teresting parallels may be drawn between the relative positions of the United Kingdom and Japan to the Continents which they respectively adjoin, and the resemblance between the geographical situation of the British Isles on the fringe of Europe, and that of the Islands of Japan on the extreme eastern edge of Asia, is so striking as to have attracted universal attention. The comparison may be carried much farther, for the population of Japan is now about 41 millions, approximating closely to that of Great Britain and Ireland, whilst the extent of coast-line and combined acreage of the larger islands do not 14 ADVANCE JAPAN. differ in either case to such a degree as to present a dissimilarity fatal to calculations which may be based upon numerical and territorial considerations. In fact, the four largest islands of Japan, viz. : Hondo, Yeso, Kiushiu, and Shikoku, comprise 139,047 square miles, against a total of 121,115 square miles in the British Isles ; but Japan boasts the possession of an almost countless archipelago, studding the innermost channels which separate the larger divisions of the Empire, as well as two straggling chains of islets, extending many leagues north and south of the principal group, on account of which the total area of the Japanese Empire has to be increased by about 7,566 square miles. Whilst the British Isles lie between the 49th and 6ist parallels of north latitude, the islands of the Japanese Empire stretch from the 24th to the 49th, and have, in conse- quence, a far greater range of temperature and climatic variation than prevails with us. It is due to the pre- sence of the Kuro-Shiwo a warm ocean current laving the shores of Japan, just as the Gulf Stream exerts its beneficent influence upon the British coasts that the inhabitants of the Pacific slope in Kiushiu, Shikoku, and Central Hondo are enabled to enjoy those excellent gifts of nature to the existence of which the verdant hill-sides and abundant vegetation afford delightful testimony, as the voyager approaches the eastern coast. But for this Pacific Gulf Stream the Japanese islands would ex- perience some of the rigours which distinguish the winters of Manchuria and Northern Korea, countries -JAPAN - i R.kuchiu RiKuicn 6 lwQ*hiro 10 12 KoJukrf 14 Awa 16 Iff to Shi none 22 Echiu. Note 26 Mine 28 30 Totomi 32 WalcaSa 36 \amato 38 Uzumi 40 SttUu Tanqo 44 Harima 46 Ir . 45 MivnuSaka 50 Hoki Idmmo 54 Naqato 56 2J IS 27 Owari 28 Ise 3l 33 Ya-mathit 35 37 KU 39 KowacVi Tain bo 43 4S 47 Bichiu 43 Bingo 51 Iwami S3 AKi 55 Suyjo I Sauuki t- Awa. 3 Tosa go ChiKuao Hiqo Ofumi PROVINCES AND PRODUCTS. THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 17 very similarly placed as regards their distance from the equator. The northern half of Hondo, indeed, as well as the entire island of Yeso, are visited by frost and snow to an extent only paralleled in North China, so that the Mikado's subjects who dwell in the northern portion of his dominions are accustomed to cope with disadvantages at least as grave as those with which the people of the Chinese province of Liao-Tung are called upon to contend. The >iuinianl. Hondolstho. real name of the largest island of the Japanese group. It usually figures on Euro- pean maps as Niphon, or Nihon, and occasionally as Nippon, although the term Ni-hon, lit. Sun-Origin, applies to the whole Empire. Japan is a Dutch corruption of Ji- pen, by which name the Mikado's dominions are known to the Chinese. In the ideographic signs which form the written and printed characters of both China and Japan, to which a more extended reference will be made in due course, the symbol for " Sun " is read by Japanese as Ni, but by Chinese as //', that for " Origin " being pronounced Hon in Japan, and Pen in China. It is easy to comprehend how the Hollanders, having first heard of the Mikado's territory whilst visiting China, gave to that territory the name by which it was then, and still is, known to the Chinese. To the Mikado's subjects who dwell at a distance from the ports open to foreign trade, the term " Japan " is as unmeaning as it would be to an Ethiopian, for they invariably allude to them- selves as Nihon-jin, i.e., people of Nihon, and this ex- C 18 ADVANCE JAPAN. pression applies not merely to the inhabitants of one island (Hondo), but to the entire group. Hondo is literally " true region," the character Do being used not only in its strict sense of " road," but as including the region traversed by that road. The kingdom of Korea is divided into Do in precisely the same way. The Hondo of the Empire of Nihon is subdivided into, five Imperial coach-roads and several Imperial bye- roads, just as Great Britain possessed its mail-coach routes (some of which, as the " Great North Road," still retain the designations they bore of old) prior to the general introduction of railways. In the Far East the well-known " Tokaido " and other high-roads of its class are destined, in the near future, to be entirely supplanted, as lines of travel, by the modern railroad > and the change has already in great measure been effected along the Tokaido, to the dismay of its inn- keepers and caterers in general, who have shared the fate of the proprietors of famous coaching-houses on the old turnpike-roads leading out of London. Promi- nent among the coach-roads of Japan are the Tokaido,. or East Sea road ; the Tosando, or East Mountain road ; Hoku-riku-do, or Northern Land route, as distinguished from the Hok'kaido, or North Sea region ; the Sanyodo, or Outer Mountain road ; and the Sanindo, or Inner Mountain road. With the exception of Hok'kaido, which is confined to the island of Yeso, these great trunk roads all traverse the principal territory of Hondo, whilst the Mikado's many island possessions THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 21 in the south are grouped under the head of Saikaido, or Western Sea road in Kiushiu, or of the Nankaido, or Southern Sea region in Shikoku. It may not be altogether superfluous to introduce thus briefly some of the elements of an itinerary, in consideration of the circumstance that for a long period subsequent to the opening of Japan to European trade the impres- sion prevailed that there was but one high-road through the country, and that the Tokaido. In the appendix to this volume will be found complete mileage tables of all the important Japanese trade routes, with the cities, towns, and other essential features clearly indi- cated, so that when the Treaty recently entered into between Great Britain and Japan comes into active operation in 1899, and the entire land is thrown open to British commerce, the mercantile community may have had ample opportunity to form an opinion re- garding the value of these several channels by which to reach the heart of the Mikado's Empire with the best prospects of success. Territorial Divisions. Adhering to the native principle of regarding the roads as the main arteries extending to the distant limbs of the Empire, as a recognised nomenclature which bids fair to be per- petuated in spite of other changes, the following table is likely to be serviceable in enabling the reader to recognise the main divisions of the Tenshi's territory. i. The Tokaido, or Eastern Sea Route, embracing fifteen provinces, viz., Ise, Iga, Shima, Owari, Sanshiu 22 ADVANCE JAPAN. (Mikawa), Enshiu (Totomi), Sunshiu (Suruga), Idzu, Sagami, Koshiu (Kai), Bushiu (Musashi), Boshiu (Awa), Kadzusa, Shimosa, and Hitachi. 2. The Tosando, or Eastern Mountain Route, com- prising Goshiu (Omi), Mino, Hida, Shinshiu (Shinano), Joshiu (Kodzuke), Yashiu (Shimodzuke), Iwashiro, Iwaki, Rikuzen, Rikuchiu, Uzen, Ugo, and Mutsu. 3. The Hokurikiido, or Northern Land Route, em- bracing Jakushiu (Wakasa), Echizen, Kaga, Noto, Echiu, Echigo, and the island of Sado. 4. The Sanindo, or Rear Mountain Route, comprising Tamba, Tango, Tajima, Inshiu (Inaba), Hoki, Idzumo, and Iwami, with the group of islands named Oki. 5. The Sanyodo, or Front Mountain Route, compris- ing the eight provinces of Banshiu (Harima), Sakushiu (Mimasaka), Bizen, Bichiu, Bingo, Geishiu (Aki), Suwo, and Choshiu (Nagato). 6. The Nankaido, or Southern Sea Route, including Kishiu (Kii), Ashiu (Awa), Sanuki, lyo, and Tosa (the last four form the island of Shikoku), and the Island of Awaji. 7. The Sai-Kai-do, or Western Sea Route, comprising the nine provinces of Kiushiu, viz., Chikuzen, Chikugo, Buzen, Bungo, Hizen, Higo, Hiuga, Osumi, and Sassbiu (Satsuma). 8. The Hok'kaido, or North Sea Route, embracing the ten divisions of the large Island of Yeso, viz., Oshima, Shiribeshi, Ishikari, Teshiwo, Kitami, Ifuri, Hitaka, Tokachi, Kushiro, and Nemuro, with the chain of Kurile Isles (Chijima). THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 23 In addition to these eight routes or circuits, the Empire includes the Go-ki-nai, or five home provinces, lying immediately around what was formerly the Capital, viz., Kioto just as we speak of the Home Counties adjacent to our Metropolis. These five comprise Yama- shiro, Yamato, Kawachi, Setsu, and Idzumi. The island groups of Tsushima, Goto, and Iki, in the west, the Bon in group to the east, the Loo-choo and Majiko Archipelagoes, with Formosa, to the south, and the straggling chain of Kuriles, stretching to Kams- chatka in the far north, constitute the outposts of Japan. Kuanto was originally a term for the eastern half of the Empire, as Kuansei embraced all the west, but Kuanto is now a collective expression for the territory formerly divided into the eight provinces of Musashi, Sagami, Kodzuke, Shimodzuke, Kadzusa, Shimosa, Awa, and Hitachi, all lying around the modern capital of Tokio, and constituting since 1868 the actual home provinces. Since the Restoration the original titles of the pro- vinces have been abolished as official designations, and the Empire has been divided into Prefectures, two or three provinces being frequently grouped under one Ken. The Ken are to be identified as under : PREFECTURE. PROVINCES INCLUDED. Tokio Fu Kioto Osaka Kanagawa Ken Saitama Chiba The Capital and Environs. Yamashiro, Tango, and Tamba. Kawachi and Idzumi. Sagami and part of Musashi. Part of Musashi. Awa, Kadzusa, and Shimosa. 24 ADVANCE JAPAN. PREFECTURE. PROVINCES INCLUDED. Ibaraki Ken ! Hitachi. Tochigi ... Shimodzuke. Gumma Kodzuke. Nagano Yamanashi Shidzuoka Shinano. Kai. Totomi, Suruga, and Idzu. Aichi ... ... ! Owari and Mikavva. Miye' ... ... ; Ise, Iga, and Shima. Gifu ... ... : Mino and Hida. Shiga Omi. Fukui ... Ishikavva Toyama Niigata Wakasa and Echizen. Kaga and Noto. Echiu. Echigo and Sado Island. Fukushima j Iwashiro and Iwaki. Miyagi ... ... ... Rikuzen. Yamagata Uzen. Akita ! Ugo. Iwate ... : Rikuchiu. Aomori ... ... ... Mutsu. Kara ... Yamato. Wakayama ... Kii. i (Tajima, Harima, Settsu, and H 'S " - I Awaji Island. Okayama ... ... Bichiu, Bizen, and Mimasaka. Hiroshima ... ... Aki and Bingo. Yamaguchi Nagato and Suwo. Shimane ... ... Iwami and Idzumo. Tottori ... Inaba and Hoki. Tokushima Awa. Kagawa Sanuki. Ehime lyo. Kochi ... Tosa. Nagasaki Part of Hizen. Saga" Part of Hizen. Fukuoka ... Chikuzen, Buzen, and Chikugo. Kumamoto Higo. Oita Bungo. Miyasaki Hiuga. Kagoshima Satsuma and Osumi. Okinawa Loochoo Group. Hokkaido ... Island of Yeso. THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 25 The Tokaido. It is with the Tokaido that the reading public of this country are best acquainted, for it was usually by this extremely interesting high-road that visitors to Japan were able to journey when in possession of passports authorising them to prosecute their researches beyond the radius of ten Japanese leagues (equal to 24^ English miles) from either of the Treaty Ports. Without such special authority, the move- ments of foreign residents have always been closely restricted to the limits defined by the treaties. The day is approaching when it will be practicable to pass without let or hindrance from one end of Japan to the other, so long as the traveller may conform to the laws of that country ; and although the railways will by that time have reached many places now only accessible by road, yet it is certain that very little change will be visible in the condition of the great southern and western regions, into which those impulses which stir the central provinces are necessarily somewhat slow to penetrate. The Tokaido may not unfairly be compared in length and general features to the Great North Road joining London and Scotland, save that it follows somewhat more closely the line of the sea-coast. By the Tokaido the Mikado's capital is joined to Kioto and Osaka, which are the Edinburgh and Glasgow of the Far East. There are several large cities along the route, notably Nagoya, Shidzuoka, Yoshida, Okazaki, and Hamamatsu, whilst closely adjacent to this main trade artery are the 26 ADVANCE JAPAN. great tea, silk, and pottery-producing regions of Uji, Gifu, and Banko. In various parts the Tokaido skirts the sea-beach for miles at a stretch, affording magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean, and at other points the route traverses lofty ranges of hills, or winds amid an almost endless succession of fertile cornfields. The beauties of the tall cryptomeria trees, which border the roadside more or less the whole way, save in the towns and villages, have been so often described that it need only be observed that these cedar avenues, as they have been termed, were first planted 260 years ago by the order of the Shogun lyeyasu, and have been renewed from time to time as the trees decayed and fell in the devastating storms of autumn. They still, in places, preserve traces of former grandeur, though it is rare to meet with so noble and perfect an avenue as that met with on the road to Nikko. The motive ascribed to the Sho- gun (who was the founder of that last line of vice- regal administrators in whom it was for long supposed that the supreme power lay invested) in planting these cryptomeria, was an entirely philanthropic one, and originated in a desire to lessen the danger of sunstroke for those wayfarers whose duties or necessities com- pelled them to travel during the noonday heat of summer. That many a panting pedestrian has in- wardly acknowledged his indebtedness to the fore- thought of the dead chieftain as he has crept into the grateful shade cast by the thickly-interlaced branches THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 27 overhead, may well be comprehended by anyone who has even experienced no greater degree of heat than that of an English August afternoon. Tfce Peerless mountain. Japan, without Fuji- yama that noble cone with the truncated summit so conspicuous in every example of native art, ceramic or pictorial would be as deficient as Naples without Vesuvius, and it must be admitted that the Peerless Mountain, as its admirers love to deem it, figures very prominently in the landscape at innumerable resting- places along the celebrated road. The cone really rises from amid a series of mountainous ridges branching off seaward from the great backbone range which traverses longitudinally the central districts of Hondo, and until the crest of any one of these ridges is attained, it is not possible to appreciate the real height and pro- portions of the now extinct volcano. Viewed from seaward, it seems to slope upward directly from the beach, although more than twenty miles inland, and the rise, although gradual, is fully perceptible all the way to Omiya, at which town the ascent may fairly be said to commence. An extent of country measuring not less than fifty miles square may be said to be principally occupied by the gigantic mountain and the lofty ranges which cluster about its base, ere they strike off in various directions. On the eastern side the Pacific Ocean deeply indents the tract of land so defined, but otherwise the majestic cone, and its atten- dant court of serrated peaks, occupy in more or less 28 ADVANCE JAPAN. complete continuity that vast expanse. From number- less elevated passes within a radius of sixty miles, the familiar snow-clad slopes gleam brightly on the horizon during ten months of the year, and when first dis- cerned in the light of the morning sun, a mystic glisten- ing pyramid of rose-pink hue rising abruptly from the ocean, as the vessel approaches the Japanese coast, Fujiyama amply demonstrates its right to be regarded as an object of surpassing splendour. Oyama, one of Fujiyama's satellites, is a peak which attains a height exactly equal to that of Ben Nevis, and the vicinity bristles with ridges and conical protuberances of an elevation roughly equal to Snowdon and Helvellyn. Fujiyama was unpleasantly active in comparatively recent years, and its pumice-covered sides remind the visitor of Vesuvius. The entire neighbourhood affords evidences of the desolation which was wrought in the last great eruption, volcanic ash being present everywhere beneath the thin layer of vegetation over- lying all the hills. Tradition declares that the moun- tain arose in a single night simultaneously with the formation of a deep depression, two hundred miles away, in which were gathered the waters now constitut- ing Lake Biwa. Be that as it may, there is a record within comparatively modern times of the upheaval of the massive excrescence above Mishima, which breaks the slope of the cone, and which appears, when viewed from the village, to have been scooped out of the mountain's flank and turned over to one side bodily, THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 31 as with a ploughshare, to an extent of between two and three square miles. That Fujiyama would be capable of doing a vast amount of mischief to the Capital of Japan eighty miles distant, should it ever happen that seismic disturbances arouse his wrath once more, is undeniable, and volcanoes of less importance in the same chain are still at times remarkably vigorous. Hakone Lake. To this volcanic tendency must be attributed the origin of the sulphur springs, which a bounteous nature has bestowed upon the Hakone district, situated on the northern face of one of Fuji- yama's attendant mountain-ranges. Hakone Lake is formed in the crater of what was itself at one time an active volcano, and the shining slopes of the " peer- less cone" are reflected in the profound depths of this Asiatic Loch Lomond, as it lies unruffled, sheltered by circumjacent grassy peaks, at a height of 2,350 feet above sea-level. The Tokaido railway makes a detour to avoid the pass of Hakone, and surmounts the ridge at a point well to the northward, where the elevation is less than 1,600 feet, dropping down by easy stages to the uplands surrounding the foot of the giant moun- tain, and skirting the coast as it stretches away to the great cities of the south. Hakone hills possess more than common interest for the people of Japan, as in addition to the many historical associations which cluster iround the region, the value of the neighbour- hood as a health resort for the residents in the Mi- kado's Capital and the Treaty Port of Yokohama, can 32 ADVANCE JAPAN. scarcely be overrated. Foreign tourists are all familiar with the evidences presented by the district of the determination of its inhabitants to take high rank among the most enterprising of His Majesty's sub- jects. The natural hot springs of this pleasant region attract immense numbers of Japanese people throughout the year, but more particularly in the spring and summer. The surrounding scenery is so picturesque that foreign residents spend their holidays in the hills, with great advantage to themselves and not a little to the local native innkeepers. The water of the springs is in some instances clear, in others milky with the sulphur it holds in solution. The odour of Ashi-no-yu, in par- ticular, is perceptible a mile away. In a long valley close at hand the ground is soft and yielding, sending up jets of sulphurous steam when pierced at the edge of the footpath, and the vegetation of the neighbourhood is utterly blasted by the vapours which the soil exhales. Sulphur is transported from this and neighbouring re- gions in large quantities to the Capital and Yokohama, whence a certain proportion finds shipment to other countries. The Mikado altered the name of the place from Kojigoku (Little Hell) which it formerly bore to Ko-waki-dani (Little Boiling Valley), when he visited the region in 1877. Ashinoyu Springs have been analysed, with the result that in one litre of the Tekko-Sui water the principal constituents were, in fractions of a gramme, oxide of THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 33 iron, '048 ; chloride of sodium, '039 ; sulphate of lime, 048; silicic acid, '016. In the Sen-Yeki-to bath they were, chloride of sodium, '123 ; sulphate of lime, '308 ; silicic acid, '103. In a third spring, the Daruma-Yu sulphate of lime, "256; chloride of sodium, '150. The analysis affords a clear idea of the extent to which these waters are impregnated with mineral elements, and accounts in a measure for the medicinal properties ascribed to them by native visitors. Out of the picturesque gorges which excoriate the surface at the base of the splendid cone of Fujiyama, countless rivulets tumble and race in their eagerness to reach the verdant valleys, many of them receiving such augmentations of volume in their passage as serve to transform the rippling streams into fierce and uncon- trollable torrents, particularly at those times when the ordinary waters become swollen by aggregation of melt- ing ice and snow pouring down from Fuji's crest. These numerous feeders blend to form the rivers which inter- sect the Tokaido, and not a little engineering skill has been required in the construction of bridges fitted to withstand the enormous energy exhibited every summer and autumn by these floods. Up to within very recent years it was deemed impossible to maintain any struc- ture intact during the prevalence of the annual inunda- tions, and the methods adopted to restrain the impetu- osity of the turgid streams were ludicrously ineffective. Bridge-building, as an art, was fully understood, but the expense involved in the provision of substantial piers D 34 ADVANCE JAPAN. and abutments deterred the landowners from carrying out any such colossal undertakings as have since become necessary in connection with the Japanese railways. Some of the most praiseworthy examples of ingenuity, from the engineer's point of view, will have to be re- corded later on, in proof of the contention that Japan had always possessed latent talent of the highest order, in readiness to meet those heavy drafts upon her mental resources which have in recent years been so satisfac- torily honoured. The deeply-riven hill-sides bear groves of pine and fir, both red and black, nearly all the slopes being clothed to the very tips with timber and brushwood in dense luxuriance. Azaleas cling to the scanty earth, and over- hang the cliffs, as they threaten to cast themselves into the rushing cataracts below. The pathway of the To- kaido often seems rugged enough hereabouts to have been hewn out of the solid rock by the efforts of some stupendous cataclysm. Emerging from the sphere of volcanic influence so palpably impressed upon the Fuji- yama neighbourhood, a less mountainous country is reached which constitutes the centre of a great tea- producing district, though it is not one specially cele- brated for the excellence of its leaf. The tea grown there is mainly sold to native consumers, and is often merely sun-dried. Such as it is, however, it finds a ready demand throughout the province, and possibly would exhibit surprisingly good qualities were it accorded that skilful preparation for the foreign market which is be- THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 35 stowed upon more fashionable brands. The cultivation of tea is a subject to which extraordinary attention is paid in Japan, though little of the produce comes to Europe. Throughout the tea-growing country the soil is largely composed of disintegrated granite, very friable to the touch ; it is easily permeated by moisture, and as easily drained. On the lower levels, where considerable quantities of rice are grown, the soil is heavily saturated by fertilisers, to induce it to yield adequate return for the labour devoted to it. The i-ix-Miioguii. Situated in an open plain fifteen miles from the coast is the city of Shidzuoka, once the seat of the powerful daimio of Suruga, and now remark- able as being the home of the deposed Shdgun Keiki, who retired to this comparatively peaceful spot in the year 1868, when his vice-regal sway, as the last of the " Tycoons," came to an end. Here for 25 years the once potent and highly-honoured ''temporal emperor," as he was erroneously styled, lived the life of a simple country gentleman, spending his time in fishing and hawking, receiving few visitors, and betraying but little interest in the busy world from which he became, in one day, so completely isolated. It was with this gen- tleman, in his capacity of " Tycoon," that the earliest treaties were made, by which Western Powers obtained access to the then unfamiliar ports of the Mikado's Empire. The real Emperor was invisible, dwelling in absolute seclusion at Kioto, and the Shogun, his delegate, carried on the business of State at Yedo as the virtual D 2 36 ADVANCE JAPAN. sovereign. Tai-kun was the honorific expression by which the Shdgun Keiki was alluded to in documentary cor- respondence with the representatives of foreign nations, and as Tai-kun, or Tycoon, he will be remembered for all time. Farther westward, the Tokaido crosses an arm of NAI;OYA CASTLE. of sea, and the usual conveyance is a ferry-boat, but since the completion of the railway the question ot providing a permanent structure for the highway has been vehemently discussed, and the necessity for its early completion strongly urged upon the authorities. The inlet marks the half-way point between the present THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 37 capital of Tokio and the ancient dwelling-place of the Mikado at Kioto, otherwise known, under the old regime, as Miako. The city of Nagoya, with a castle and moat which are well preserved amid the levelling tendencies of the age, constitutes an important landmark on the route taken by high-road and railway. It lies at the head of Owari Gulf, a deep indentation of the eastern coast-line which reduces the width of the mainland of Nihon at this point to about 70 miles. The mountain ridges of the central region and eastern coast here unite into one range which occupies so much of the isthmus that only a narrow strip is left on either slope between the foothills and the sea. Owari Gulf is fully 65 miles wide at its entrance from the Pacific, but narrows down immediately to 20 miles, and is subdivided -into several sounds and inlets, all affording excellent shelter from the typhoons which ravage this coast. In one of these sounds is situated the village famous throughout Japan as holding the revered shrines of Ise, erected on the spot held sacred by all loyal subjects of the Mikado as that where His Majesty's ancestors first set foot upon fche soil of Nihon. The Tens/ti, to give him the title by which he is best known to his people, is directly de- scended, if we are to rely upon the SJdnto tradition, from Ama-ga-terasu, the Sun-god, and that deity, in incarnate shape, came down from the heavens and dwelt for a time in what is now the province of Ise. The Tens/it is thus literally to be regarded as the 3 8 ADVANCE JAPAN. " Son of the Heavens," as his title implies, and the term Nihon, as applied to the whole country, had refer- ence at the outset, it may be supposed, to this assumed relationship of its ruler to the great luminary. Thus viewed, the derivation of the term Nihon becomes less difficult of comprehension, for a people who claimed that their progenitors were actually the people *of the sun might, with equal show of justice, regard their country as having had a "sun-origin," hence Ni t the sun, and Hon, source or origin. Any allusion to Japan as the " Land of Sunrise " is therefore fully justified by an interpretation of its title. Ise is in itself a charm- ing spot in summer, when its umbrageous groves afford their deepest shade and its lovely scenery of hill and dale is seen at its very best. The Uji province, famed for its tea from ancient days, lies between Ise" and Kioto, and comprises a large district throughout which every hill and mound of moderate elevation are terraced and planted with the tea shrub, which at first sight bears no slight resem- blance to the myrtle, and bears a yellow and white flower of the wild camellia type. The soil and climate of Uji are peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of tea, and most of that which is exported to the United States is produced in this district. At present it finds its way in the raw state, having been simply curled up by the sun's rays without artificial heat, to the " firing-houses " of Osaka and Hiogo, where the leaves are subjected to various processes prior to packing for transit across the THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 41 Pacific. Doubtless the bulk of this necessary work will be carried out in future years at the great tea-growing centres, and the cost of transport and transhipment materially reduced. Strictly speaking, the Tokaido proper only skirts the Uji province, and the true high-road passes by way of Ugaki and Otsu to Kioto, so that travellers ordinarily see but little of the Uji tea plantations. It so happened, however, that the first Englishman to make the over- land journey, Sir Rutherford Alcock, passed by the Uji route when travelling overland from Hiogo to Yedo, in 1860, mainly because the Japanese Government of that day deemed it un advisable that a foreigner, not- withstanding his high rank as the British Ambassador, should disturb the tranquillity of the Mikado's head- quarters at Kioto by passing through that place. Times have changed, and now the Mikado himself travels by express train through the environs of the city wherein his youth was passed in the strict seclusion of palace walls. Biwa Lake. At Otsu the high-road touches the southern shore of Lake Biwa, a sheet of water 40 miles in length by three to ten miles broad. Small steamers ply upon it between Otsu and the castle town of Hikone, situated near its northern end. This is the lake which is traditionally reputed to have been formed on the night that Fujiyama suddenly sprang into exist- ence. It is the only lake of large size in Japan, and the dwellers in the central provinces are justly proud 42 ADVANCE JAPAN. of the strikingly beautiful surroundings which are seen reflected in its placid depths. The Tokaido railway follows its margin for some miles, and a branch line connects it with the western coast at Tsuruga. In circumference Lake Biwa measures some 53 Japanese leagues, or 129^ English miles, deriving its name from a fanciful resemblance in outline to the musical instru- ment of that name, a species of guitar. The river which flows from its southern extremity passes through Kioto and Osaka and falls into the bay named after the latter city, 45 miles to the south-west. The Eastern Sea road, of which the general course has thus briefly been traced out, gives its name to the eight provinces bordering the Pacific in Central Japan. In ancient historical works, five of these provinces col- lectively bear the name of Yamato, another designation being Adsuma ; whilst Yamato was likewise applied of old to the entire country, and the title still survives in the expression Yamato-damasJii, the soul of old Japan. Kuan-to was also a modern collective term for the central provinces, but all the original names have been superseded by those of the recently established prefectures, denominated Ken. Thus, the province of Suruga, as it was known to all its inhabitants prior to 1870, has been combined with the provinces of Totomi and Idzu to form Shldzuoka Ken so that the territorial distinctions of the great feudalism which re- ceived its death-blow with the deposition of the last Shogun have all but vanished. The central region THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 43 has been always regarded as the richest and most productive of the Empire. It contains the most populous cities, and is distinguished, in a land where agriculture deservedly ranks high, as the most effec- tively cultivated tract of country under the Mikado's sway. It is the heart of Japan, and the spirit which animates it has more than once, in the history of the country, proved potent in affairs of State. Turbulent Rivers. The rivers of the Tokaido region are not remarkable for length, but for their ex- cessive turbulency in summer. Throughout the winter they are all but dry. The Oigaiva and the Ten-riu-gaiva are both over half-a-mile wide from bank to bank, but it is only during flood-time that they become full, and remain so for not more than three or four days con- secutively. The Ten-riu (Heavenly dragon) River is about 130 miles long, and rises in the central range of the Nakasendo or Middle Mountain road, not far from the thriving town of Uyeda. The Oigawa is only 70 miles long, and rises in Shirane-yama (10,200 feet), while the Fujikawa, a stream noted for its exceeding velocity, 53 miles in length, flows from the base of Fuji- yama. Farther westward the River Kiso crosses the Tokaido, near the important town of Ogaki, and is navigable for large junks for many miles inland, a distinction which cannot be claimed by any other stream in the central region. Several smaller rivers are met with along the route of the East Coast road, but they are of altogether minor importance, taking 44 ADVANCE JAPAN. their rise in the ranges of low hills bordering the coast, and flowing, almost without exception, into the Pacific Ocean. A noticeable feature is the Hamana inlet, which bears in many respects a close resemblance to Plymouth Sound, save that it has a natural sandbar at the en- trance in the position occupied by the breakwater at our Devonshire seaport. There is not sufficient depth of water within the bar to make the harbour valuable, or it would be resorted to during the typhoon season, for the beach is annually strewn with wrecks many leagues to the east and west whilst the autumn storms prevail. There are two small islands off the Tokaido coast which deserve mention, one being occupied by a still active volcano, and marked as Vries Island on the Admiralty charts, though its Japanese name is Oshima. There has been no eruption of a pronounced cha- racter of late years, but the crater constantly gives oft" dense volumes of vapour, and occasionally emits flame. As a landmark leading to the Bay of Yedo, Vries Island is clearly of some value to mariners. The other islet, for Enoshima is nothing more, is chiefly remark- able as a pleasure resort, and seems naturally to form part of the tour which every traveller from Europe or America feels it incumbent upon him to make. Xo one can deny that the locality abounds in charming scenery, and with its shrines, grottoes, innumerable temples and shady groves, the place will repay a visit. Area ami Population. The proportion of the THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 45 population to the mile is 435 in Central Hondo, the area of that section being taken as 36,600 square miles, whilst in Northern Hondo, in 30,204 square miles, it is 207 only, but 452 in West Hondo with an area of 20,681 square miles. Shikoku has 413 to the mile, Kiushiu 376, and Yeso only nine persons, the respective areas being 7,031, 16,840, and 36,299 square miles. This gives a grand total for the Empire of 4 1 ,089,940, in an area of 147,655 square miles, or 278 to the mile. There are at least 36 cities which can claim, according to the latest census, to have a population of more than 30,000 persons, viz. : Tokio, 1,180,569 ; Osaka, 479,546 ; Kioto, 308,266 ; Nagoya, 185,776; Kobe-Hiogo, 148,625 ; Yokohama, 143,754; Kanasawa and Hiroshima, over 90,000 each ; Sendai, Nagasaki, Tokushima, and Hako- date, between 60,000 and 70,000 each ; Kumamoto, Toyama, Fukuoka, Wakayama, Kagoshima, and Oka- yama, below 60,000 each ; Niigata, Sakai, Matsuye, Naha, and Fukui, below 50,000 ; Shidzuoka, Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Kochi, Shimonoseki, Kofu, Utsunomiya, Mayebashi, Gifu, Morioka, Otsu, Hirosaki, and Takaoka, below 40,000 each. ^fountains. There are at least 75 mountains in Japan with a height of over 3,000 feet. Measurements are continually being made as the geographical survey progresses, but the best known are the peerless Fujiyama, which is now considered to be no more than 12,365 feet above high water-mark in the bay at its base ; Asama Yama, 8,500 feet ; Nan-tai-san, in the Nikko range, 8,250 4 6 ADVANCE JAPAN. feet ; Oyama, in the province of Sagami, 5,150 feet ; Tsu- kuba-san, on the Pacific coast, 4,000 feet ; and On-sen-ga take, formerly a volcano, in Hizen, 4,100 feet. Asama- yama still shows occasional signs of activity, the last eruption having taken place in 1870. Harbours. The Japanese islands are particularly rich in harbours, and though these were always known to the fishermen and coasting traders, it is only within the last twenty years that many of them have been used by steamers and other large craft. The development of a trade in coal and other minerals must inevitably bring more of them into prominence, but the number already in constant use as shipping ports for local produce has grown to be very considerable. Some are already well- known to Europeans, and when the country is all opened to foreign trade it is more than likely that they may become ports of call for the mercantile navies of the world. According to Japanese reckoning, there are no fewer than 56 large harbours, but perhaps the best known, after Nagasaki, the fame of which has spread to all the earth, are Shimoda (once a Treaty Port), Shimidzu, Toba, and Matoya, on the Pacific coast, all of them excellent, Mitarai and Takamatsu, in the Inland Sea, where likewise is situated the Naval Station of Kurc, Kagoshima in Satsuma, the ports of Mororan and Hako- date in the far north, and the harbours in the islands on the west coast of Sado, Iki, and Tsushima. In the last- named there is such complete shelter that a navy might lie hidden, and with deep water so close to the shore THE JAPANESE ISLANDS. 47 that the ships might tie up to the trunks of great trees which clothe the banks to the very margin of the channel. Climate. There is a disposition to regard Japan as being somewhat disadvantageously situated as respects its climate. By some it is credited with a degree of heat in summer which becomes practically insupportable, whilst by others the winter is believed to be extremely severe. The truth is that a Japanese summer is but a trifle hotter than an English summer, taking a fair average, and is by no means unbearable. Moreover, the extreme heat is felt at about the same period, viz., in August, and may be looked for with some degree of certainty. All the seasons are regular, and the result is that the inhabitants are able to solve the vexed question of what garments they shall wear, with a degree of satis- faction to themselves to which an Englishman has for some years past been a stranger in his own land. Natu- rally, with so lengthy a chain of islands, there must be a very perceptible variation of average temperature, and the foregoing remarks apply more especially to the central districts, for at Loo-choo and Bonin islands there is almost perpetual summer, whilst in the farthest of the Kuriles the few fishermen who inhabit those barren islets experience the climate of the Arctic Circle. But in the home provinces snow falls not more frequently than in London, and is neither deeper nor mdre lasting. There are two regular rainy seasons, at the end of winter and at the end of summer, the latter being 48 ADVANCE JAPAN. characterised by high winds, often of hurricane force. The monsoons prevail in the extreme south, but not with the regularity they exhibit on the coasts of China. Southerly winds predominate throughout the year on the central and Pacific coasts, and Japan is distinguished for the most part by bright sunny days, with gentle alternating breezes at sunrise and nightfall off sea and land, rendering a residence there peculiarly delightful to those who have experienced the changeable summer and dismal winter of some more northern latitudes. Save during the inevitable rainy season, and the some- what oppressive moist heat of the do-yo, for a fortnight in August, the sunshine is almost perpetual from April to November. Even in December the days are warm and sunny, though the nights become cold. By the middle of March the flower-gardens begin to be gay, and fruit trees are in blossom. From that time forward the " land of sunrise " becomes a land of sunshine, and from April to October people dress in white or other thin summer garb. 49 CHAPTER III. NATURAL HISTORY. * O form a clear impression of any country and its people it is essential that one should be able to frame a mental picture of the animated nature which shares with man the possession of earth, air, and water in that portion of the globe. With not a few regions of the habitable world we have but so little in com- mon that the effort to realise the life of a resident in territory far removed from our British Isles affords no appreciable gratification, for the conditions of existence differ so widely. In the case of Japan, however, there is no such disadvantage, as its geographical situation in the tem- perate zone provides it with a fauna and flora so much akin to our own, that we are able, in Great Britain, to imagine the Mikado's subjects dwelling amid an environ- ment not essentially dissimilar. Their summer is our summer, their winter our winter, although their day is our night. The range of temperature is very nearly the same. As a result, we find that in Japan they have E 50 ADVANCE JAPAN. horses and oxen, cows and pigs, dogs and cats, goats, deer, badgers, and foxes. But they also have bears in the north, and wild boars and monkeys ramble and sport in the mountain ranges of the central and southern provinces, all of which creatures are strangers in these days to Great Britain. On the other hand, sheep are not indigenous, and do not thrive when introduced, as the strong Kaya grass and stunted bamboo, on which they are apt to browse, speedily kill them. The native horse is a diminutive, but extremely hardy, specimen of the equine race, gifted with wonderful powers of endur- ance, and fleet for its size, which never exceeds that of an English cob, but often endowed with the temper of a mustang. These ponies are trained for racing and make good fencers. Oxen and cows are employed in agricul- ture throughout the realm, though in limited numbers, and it is only within the last fifteen years that beef has become an article of food. Swine were regarded, up to the same period, as unclean, and it was a startling in- novation indeed when a restaurant-keeper boldly hung out his advertisement of " buta-nabe"," or, as we might term it, hashed pork. The Chin. Goats are not uncommon, dogs and cats are innumerable. The native dogs are of two kinds, so utterly unlike in species that they are classed as distinct animals. One, the Japanese pug, has been brought to this country in such numbers that it is now tolerably well-known as a lap-dog. In Japan it is termed ckin, and is not regarded as a dog, that appellation being NATURAL HISTORY. 51 reserved for the inu, which is a canine pariah, ready to yelp at the heels of any stranger, and obtaining a scanty sustenance mainly by foraging for himself. In appear- ance he is a domesticated wolf. Cats are most of them tailless in Japan, resembling the Manx breed, though the ordinary long-tailed type is frequently seen. Among wild animals, deer are met with in large numbers of the small species peculiar to the Japanese islands. In several places they arc so tame as to roam freely through the temple grounds and village streets, being sacred from molestation under the aegis of the Buddhist creed. But this special protection applies only to the localities which are venerated as holy ground, and in the mountains deer are hunted freely, the flesh being consumed as food. The fox enjoys a charmed life, being respected, if not feared, by the superstitious farmers of the interior, as the incarnation of Inari, the tutelary deity of agriculture. Shrines are met with all over the country, at which the farming population are prone to do honour to this deity ; the prevailing tint of the woodwork being vermilion, the little edifices are conspicuous objects on the hill-sides. Badgers are regarded as uncanny creatures, and all, save the hunters, give them a wide berth. There is scarcely a fairy tale in Japanese folklore which has not some reference to the exploits of the fox or the badger. Smaller animals of the weasel type are numerous, and rodents everywhere prevail, the rat being one of the signs of the Japanese zodiac. E 2 52 ADVANCE JAPAN. Birdx. Japanese art has made us very familiar with the stork in all attitudes, and it might well be considered the king of birds in the Mikado's dominions, for the eagle of Japan is not by any means so magnificent a creature. The tsuru (Grus leucaucheii) is chiefly to be seen in the tall trees which surmount the old castle walls, or in the parks adjoining the royal palaces, where it is reared. Its body white and glistening, with black tail- feathers and wings, and the head marked prominently by a spot of crimson, the tsuru compels admiration wherever it condescends to alight, and it is not surprising that the artist of the far East loves to portray the grace- ful bird in every conceivable position, circling around the branches of the black pine, or posing in stately splendour amid the grottoes and lakelets of some ancient pleasure-garden. Standing over five feet in height when erect, the tsuru approaches closely in size to the ostrich, and is the largest of Japanese feathered creatures, the next in size being the shirosagi, a pure white heron, and the blue heron, usually a trifle smaller. The bittern is sometimes termed the go-i-sagi, or heron of noble rank. The snowy heron of the rice-fields is smaller still, but of the same graceful family, and very numerous ; in fact, Japan is particularly favoured by nature with varieties of this bird, the flesh of two or three kinds being highly relished as food. Altogether it is computed that at least 325 species of birds inhabit the islands of Japan, about 100 of which are known in Great Britain, and not less than 180 in China. Among the wild birds common NATURAL HISTORY. 53 to our regions as well as to the territory of the Mikado may be mentioned the wild goose, of which there are eight distinct kinds, mallard, widgeon, teal (four varie- ties), wood-pigeon, pheasant (sundry types), woodcock, snipe (very numerous, and of several varieties), plover, partridge, quail, crow, magpie, falcon, cuckoo, woodpec- ker, thrush, lark, nightingale, swallow, owl, and buzzard. The raven is quite common, and well sustains in the East the character for intelligence borne by the illustrious Grip of Chigwell. The swallow comes and goes with that unfailing regularity which we remark in our own visitors, building inside the houses, instead of under the eaves. When telegraph lines were first erected in Japan, the swallows promptly perched on the wires in great numbers, as though they recognised in them familiar objects of more southern latitudes. Widgeon, mallard, and teal are met with in all un- frequented lakes and marshy localities, the villagers capturing them by nets in considerable numbers wherever they can meet with a market for them. The copper pheasant is a bird of gorgeous plumage, peculiar to Japan, and, like the common pheasant and ringed pheasant, flourish exceedingly in the central and south- ern provinces. For woodcock, snipe, or quail shooting, the Japanese islands are a sportsman's paradise. The painted snipe are somewhat rare, but common snipe abound in the low-lying rice-fields, and their erratic flight gives meaning to the expression for a tortuous zig-zag path, chi-dori nic/ii, lit. snipe road. Falconry is 54 ADVANCE JAPAN. as ancient an institution in Japan as with us, dating back to the tenth century. The skylark sings as sweetly in Japanese as she does in English, as she mounts to welcome the morning sun, and people go in parties to the woodland groves to listen to the nightingale. The cuckoo of the East is in disrepute equally with his Western brother on account of his usurpations. A magpie in Japan, however, differs considerably from the European species, principally in the length and breadth of its tail-feathers, which are on so generous a scale that flight, in its case, by no means implies celerity. Finches and linnets are plentiful, as may be inferred from the frequency with which they figure in Japanese drawings. The sparrow-hawk is often seen, starlings abound, owls hoot in the woods, and sparrows are ubiquitous. The last-named brown-feathered mites are quite as spirited in their behaviour out in the East as they are on London housetops, but they do not at present succeed in accumu- lating so much soot on their little bodies in the pure atmosphere of Tokio. Among feathered creatures which we cannot boast of, the Japanese have the mandarin duck, also common in China. The splendid colouring of these birds makes them beautiful objects in the secluded waters where they may occasionally be found, a singular interest attaching to them, as in China, from the widespread belief that when one of a pair dies the other never mates again, but remains widowed to the end of its days, an exemplar of conjugal fidelity. NATURAL HISTORY. 55 The domestic poultry-yard is well stocked in Japan, game-cocks being not unfrequently trained for the arena, and fowls of a great variety being bred for their eggs and for the table. Black Spanish, Dorkings, Ply- mouth Rocks, and some other well-known types are seen the massive Cochin-China breed being as con- spicuous as the Bantam. The latter well sustains the character for pugnacity which it bears with ourselves, and will crow every whit as lustily in a farmyard in Nihon as in Norfolk. The common duck and goose are both extensively reared, and of late years the " bird of seven faces," as they term the turkey, has come into favour with poultry fanciers. Fishes. With so extensive a seaboard, the calling of a fisherman becomes almost naturally the occupation of that large proportion of the inhabitants who dwell near the coast. The trade is remunerative, for fishing cannot be other than successful in waters so well-stocked as those which surround and enrich the Japanese islands. Every fish of importance known to British cooks is found in the markets of Nagasaki and Yokohama, and a great many that do not, and probably will not, at any time appear prominently on our tables. Especially may this be said of whale and shark, both of which are frequently captured and eaten in Japan. Served up as the native cooks are in the habit of serving them, these delicacies not only become tolerable, but relish- able to occidental palates, more especially if the con- sumer has not been apprised beforehand of the nature 56 ADVANCE JAPAN. of the viands. The bonito is likewise greatly esteemed as food in Japan, but it would not be appreciated especially when uncooked on English breakfast-tables. Porpoise is often seen in southern markets, and cuttle- fish are everywhere eaten with zest. The pearl oyster would not be regarded with favour in this country, but when baked in its shell it forms the staple luncheon - dish at one well-known sea-side resort. Items like these on the national bill of fare are introduced from choice and not of necessity, for the Japanese waters contain salmon, cod, soles, plaice, halibut, herring, mul- let, bream, whiting, smelts, ling, carp, trout, and other kinds of fish from which to select an ample and varied supply of food. Lobsters, crabs, the ordinary edible oyster, mussels, crayfish, prawns, and shrimps, are as abundant as they are in Great Britain. The most esteemed of all the captives of the net, however, is the tat (Serf-anus marginalis\ a fish of brilliant pink colour, in shape like an immense roach, without which no banquet in Japan would be complete. The black variety of the tat family, termed Kurodai, is not so valuable. Tat is served in a variety of ways, baked, roasted, and boiled, but it is more particularly relished when uncooked. The visitor to Japan very speedily overcomes any repugnance felt at the outset to raw fish, for we take our oysters in the same way, and medical men declare that there are decided advantages to be gained by doing so. Be this as it may, uncooked fish forms an indispensable adjunct in Nihon to any set NATURAL HISTORY. 57 repast. It is the practice, as far as possible, to bring fish to market whilst still alive. When the place of sale is some distance inland this is effected by carrying them in shallow buckets, fitted with lids, and suspended from a yoke or shoulder-pole. In the suburbs of the Capital, vendors of fish visit their customers daily with live fish transported in this manner to the very doors, and even in mountainous regions the salesman is to be met with rapidly making his way afoot in the direction of remote villages. In the northern island of Yeso fish so abounds on the coasts that it is shipped to China to be used as manure. The herring is mainly used in this way, though salmon and salmon-trout are not uncommonly treated as of no greater value. In recent years a canning industry has sprung up in which, though they are not likely to rival the American trade, a local company has been engaged with considerable success. The sea-slug is taken on all the Japanese shores, cut open, dried, and exported to China and the Straits Settlements. Even the beau- tiful flying-fish, when taken in the net, is brought to table, minus its wings. Throughout the Mikado's realms, the food of the people is mainly fish, flesh being but sparingly eaten. The superabundance of those kinds of fish which we most highly esteem in England would tend to make the cost of living in Japan, it might be supposed, remarkably low, but it happens that the particular dishes which the people of Nihon most relish are not those which are the 58 ADVANCE JAPAN. cheapest. Salmon, for example, is not at all prized as food, whilst mullet and sea-bream, comparatively moderate in price here, are sold at a higher figure in Japan. Oysters and whitebait in Japan are to be had at very economical rates, and sardine, which almost equals river trout in size, is so common and cheap that the equivalent of the expression " not worth a button " is, in Japanese, " not worth the head of a sardine." Mackerel also are extremely plentiful. Trees. At no time of the year do the hills and valleys of Japan seem to be utterly bare of foliage, as so many of the trees are evergreen. The matsu (Pinus syfoestris} flourishes everywhere. Red fir clothe all the slopes, somewhat sparsely in the south, but heavily towards the north. Larch is one of the most valuable and abundant of timber trees, much used for junk masts. The Cryptomeria japonica borders the high-roads and grows luxuriantly throughout Hondo. The Keyaki fur- nishes a wood which is exceptionally prized, taking a high polish, and not unlike mahogany. It is mainly used for ornamental pillars, and in slabs to form the toko-no-ma in dwelling-houses. The camphor-tree is widely known in the south, furnishing the highly- scented wood so much employed in Japanese cabinet work. Among trees which are held in high esteem for their excellent properties apart from their worth as tim- ber are the mulberry (without which Japan could not be a silk-producing country), the vegetable wax tree grown in the southern regions of Chdshiu and Kiushiu, and the giant camellia, from the seeds of which a most ser- NATURAL HISTORY. 59 viceable oil is extracted in large quantities. The maple lends its brilliant colouring, bright green in summer, brownish-red and yellow in the autumn, to the landscape far and wide, and the ilex is likewise a conspicuous orna- CARPENTEKS' TOOLS.* ment. Among flowering shrubs which exist throughout the land in wild exuberance are the azalea, daphne, red and white camellia, and rhododendron. In many parts the hills are ablaze in spring-time with the scarlet, white, and variegated flowers of the azalea, which bloom in such * Among the tools shown are saws which cut towards the sawyer (14 and 15), an ink-box instead of a chalk-line (6), ^and other contrivances different to those of Western carpenters. 60 ADVANCE JAPAN. profusion as to form one magnificent many-hued carpet of Nature's own weaving. Fruits. Fruit trees are plentiful enough, but the yield, excepting in oranges, can hardly be termed abun- dant. The persimmon is among the most generous, there being several varieties. Pears have much the ap- pearance of a large russet apple, and, though juicy, have not much flavour to recommend them. The apple itself grows in the north, but is a mere crab, both in taste and size. Plums, peaches, and apricots are almost as much valued for their blossom as for their fruit, and truth to tell, the dictum of Sir Rutherford Alcock that, as a rule, the fruit of Japan has neither savour nor delicacy, though Nature has been bountiful in nearly all else, is well founded. The vast scale upon which frugiferous trees have been introduced from the United States and Europe during the last two decades, by the Agricul- tural Department, cannot fail to transform Japan into an extensive fruit-growing country, for in the matter of climate a more promising field could scarcely be selected. As far back as 1872 the experiment of planting fruit trees of Californian stock, in gardens within the Capital of Tokio, was tried with great success, and the field of operations was at once extended to the northern island of Yeso, where large farms were laid out near Hakodate and Sapporo. The progress made in this direction is well shown by the condition of the settlers' allotments in the Hokkaido and elsewhere. The de- sire of the Government to improve the condition of NATURAL HISTORY. 61 the farming population has been in no way more clearly proved than by the sale, at purely nominal figures, of excellent imported fruit trees and vegetable seeds ; and the readiness of the people to respond to the offers of assistance thus made is a proof of the progressive spirit which animates all classes. Chestnuts, walnuts, and fig-trees flourish throughout Japan. The sago-palm and banana exist in the South, but the climate is not tropical enough for them to pro- duce good fruit. The pomegranate is often seen, and its fruit is greatly appreciated. In fact it may be said that all fruit, good or indifferent, is welcomed in Japan, and the taste of the inhabitants induces them to gather and consume it before it is fully ripe, in spite of the strongly-worded proclamations of the Government, which ascribe much of the choleraic dysentery that annually pre- vails to the tendency, so universally present, to eat green uncooked plums and other stone fruit. Grape-vines trail over the fronts of cottages in Japan, as in English villages, and are everywhere obtainable. The luscious Californian grapes introduced of late years thrive ex- ceedingly. Flowers. Gardening is an art in Japan which has had its imitators in other countries, and its peculiari- ties give striking originality to the humblest cottage as well as to the palace grounds of the Emperor. The ponds, rockwork, tiny bridges, and dwarf trees are so well known as to need no more definite allusion here, but it may not be so well-known that, in spite of state- 62 ADVANCE JAPAN. ments to the effect that Japanese flowers have no per- fume, the wooded hills are not only blest with a pro- fusion of wild roses, camellias, orchids, violets, lilies, and other general favourites, but that a large proportion of them are pleasantly odorous. The skill of the cultivator is lavished upon the kiku, the world-wide celebrated chrysanthemum, and one of the sights of the Japanese Capital is the Dangozaka Exhibition of these flowers, where the famous horti- culturists annually train the plants upon frames to furnish floral designs which have some special signifi- cance. Last year a representation of certain events of the war in Korea was very cleverly effected in this way. Foremost among displays of the chrysanthemum in its natural state must always rank that in the Emperor's gardens, notably at Akasaka, the palace he occupied during the rebuilding of the new one within the castle grounds. It would be a revelation to our ordinary English gardeners to view the autumnal shows in Tokio, for no one who has not had opportunity of personally witnessing the results would believe that so much can be done with this, until lately, scarcely appre- ciated flower. Vinea. In the neighbourhood of Kofu, in Mid- Hondo, vines have been cultivated for the last fifteen years upon the foreign system, and excellent claret has been produced, which has a reputation throughout Japan. The output has not been sufficiently great as yet to bring Kofu Medoc into serious competition with French NATURAL HISTORY. 65 brands, but it is by no means impossible that the pro- duce of Ninon's vineyards may one day have a vogue beyond the limits of the Mikado's dominions. Vines at the old Kaitakushi plantations near the Capital are also very prolific, and great quantities of grapes are sold for food, in addition to the consumption in the wine-press. Cereals. Being the staple product of the Japa- nese corn-fields, rice holds an unassailable position as the most important cereal grown. Five millions of the people are more or less engaged in its cultivation, and it flourishes luxuriantly south of the 38th parallel. The richest fields are to be met with in the Tokaido and Sanyddo regions, though it is difficult to say which provinces surpass the others in the production of a grain so universally in demand. A very large export trade has sprung up in the last 20 years in this com- modity, the vessels engaged in it loading great quantities at Yokkaichi in the Owari Gulf, and at Mitajiri and Shimonoseki in the Inland Sea. The figures here given afford some idea of the extent to which rice is grown in Japan, and of the annual consumption and quantities sold to other countries. When it is claimed for Japan that it is a self-support- ing country, a certain degree of dependence is placed upon the rice crop, which in ordinary harvests furnishes about five and a tenth bushels per head, taking the entire population. Some years are more fruitful, and at other times the crop falls short, the Government granaries having formerly been employed to store a surplus. Tak- 66 ADVANCE JAPAN. ing the average per head for 365 days, the allotted daily supply to each individual would be not less than one pint of dry rice, which may be regarded, all ages and con- ditions considered, as a liberal allowance. As a matter of fact, a large export trade is now done with that grown in excess of the national requirements, and Japanese rice has attained a popularity abroad which places it on a level with the best grown. Up to 1889 the State con- trolled this export trade, but it has since been in the hands of speculators. Rice grown in Korea and else- where is now often imported into Japan, not from necessity, but from choice, it being possible to sell home-grown rice at a higher figure than the produce of neighbouring States can command, and the common classes being content, so that it can be obtained at a slightly lower price, to eat a mixture of the two varieties. Land under Cultivation. The land is cultivated chiefly by peasant proprietors, tenancy being rare. The total area so far surveyed is 83,820,142 acres, divided as under : PUBLIC LANDS. ACRES. Crown lands 8,957,258 Used for Government purposes .. 194,384 Forests ... 28,866,036 Open fields ... 14,290,094 Miscellaneous 39)95' Only those surveyed are enumerated. Total 5 2 .347,723 Only those taxed are included. NATURAL HISTORY. 67 PRIVATE LANDS. ACRES. Under cultivation ... ... ... 11,705,678 Homesteads ... ... ... ... 874,450 Forests .. ... ... ... 16,263,760 Open fields ... ... ... ... 2,575,442 Miscellaneous ... ... ... 53>89 Total 31,472,419 1893-4. Total production of rice 206,750,000 bushels. Other cereals 79>7 OI ,955 Total exports to foreign lands (Rice) 7, 1 25,645 Other cereals 267,081 It will be observed that whereas Great Britain im- ports immense quantities of grain for her own con- sumption, and grows only a fractional part within her borders of the total needed to feed the people of the British Isles, Japan is able to grow sufficient corn for the support of her entire population. That these figures are pregnant with meaning for students of agricultural statistics will probably be admitted, and they are adduced here as pointing in no uncertain way to the material prosperity which distinguishes the the Meiji era in Japan. Whilst rice is the staple food of the people in five- sixths of the Mikado's Empire, considerable quantities of wheat and barley are also grown for home use, and in the extreme north barley-bread is baked, as in North China. Millet is frequently eaten in lieu of rice, and the peasantry were often, in times past, unable to F 2 68 ADVANCE JAPAN. regale themselves on the rice they cultivated, it being needed to pay the taxes. But so much consideration has been shown by the State in recent years, in its deal- ings with the agriculturists, that their condition has been greatly ameliorated. It is not pretended that the Nihon farmer is the most contented or highly-favoured of his class in creation, but it is undeniable that his lot under the present Government is much better, in many respects, than it was under the old regime. Every en- couragement is held out to him to be industrious, and he very cheerfully responds to the invitation. Among other kinds of grain regularly cultivated in Japan may be mentioned maize, which is often seen in the southern provinces, and oats and vetches, which are grown as cattle provender. Vegetables. In some parts of Japan the people are almost exclusively vegetarians, of necessity. They are too far from the coast for fish to be brought to them, at any price which they could afford to pay. Animal food is equally out of the question. In such districts the bulk of the inhabitants consume rice or millet, with dai-kon, the giant white radish, indigenous to the soil, and other vegetables of various kinds. The climate of Nihon is suitable to many edible plants which do not thrive with us. Yams (Satsuma iino) grow abundantly in the southern island of Kiushiu, for example, and they are found, as the name implies, in greatest perfection in the Satsuma country, lat. 31, so celebrated for its pot- tery. Another esculent unfamiliar outside the tropics NATURAL HISTORY. 69 is the brinjal, or "egg-plant," whose brilliant purple pear-shaped fruit forms, when boiled, a delicate addi- tion to the list of available legumes. Tomatoes and beets grow with almost the rapidity and plenteous- ness of weeds in the warm atmosphere of the south ; melons, cucumbers, and gourds likewise flourish exceed- ingly. The market-gardens of Yokohama and Kobe are specially cultivated to meet the foreign demand, and in them may be observed every vegetable that is commonly met with on European or American dining-tables. Most of these have been grown from time immemorial in Japan, such as beans, peas, turnips, carrots, spinach, cabbage, onions, lettuce, and radishes, but potatoes, of the kinds we grow in such abundance, were until a quarter of a century ago almost unknown to the Japan- ese. A few of these tubers had been brought from Batavia and grown as curiosities, but within more recent times the cultivation of the jagatara imo has progressed apace. The radish previously alluded to attains great size, measuring from 18 inches to 30 inches in length. Tradition assigns to this esculent dimensions which are enormous ; but tradition in Japan is not always to be implicitly relied upon. Over and above all these gifts of Nature the Mikado's people possess a great variety of edible plants, among which may be named a species of fern, the young tops of which are boiled and salted for the table, several grasses, and many varieties of the mushroom and other fungi. 70 ADVANCE JAPAN. Hemp and cotton are extensively grown, so that in many instances the farmer is able to provide the material for his clothing, and his family weave and prepare it for his wear. The sugar-cane is likewise very much cultivated in the warmer regions of the Sanyodo and Saikaido. Without attempting to enumerate all the natural products of the Japanese Empire, it is possible that sufficient data have been adduced to show that not only do the Mikado's people seek to cultivate their land to the best advantage, but are ever ready to experiment and persevere with the acclimatisation of new forms of vegetable and animal life. This willingness has more than once led them into extravagancies of a character which they are not likely to repeat. At one time the craze has been for white rabbits, at another for standard roses ; but these spasmodic passions have speedily sub- sided, and have given place to a steady determination to choose the useful rather than the purely ornamental amone the commodities brought to their notice. CHAPTER IV. DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. RUGALITY has always been a cha- racteristic of the Japanese. When they make a present to anyone, how- ever trifling, the gift is accompanied by a symbol of the dried fish and sea- weed, on which their ancestors, as fishermen, depended mainly for their existence. The modern Japanese gentleman deems it in no way dero- gatory that his forefathers lived on very simple fare, and worked hard to obtain it. Probably in no small degree must the general freedom from disease be ascribed to this old-established inclination towards a temperate life which pervades all classes. Plain boiled rice is the principal article of diet, and is served at the conclusion of every meal, three times a day. All other food and condiments are regarded as so many induce- ments to consume rice. Needless to say, however, all the items on the bill of fare are selected with a judi- cious regard to their value as nourishing food. Stimu- 72 ADVANCE JAPAN. lating viands are, for the most part, avoided. In the Capital food is served in the European style at a great many restaurants, and the larger towns and cities throughout the country all have establishments wherein some pretensions are made, with more or less justice, to cater for guests upon the lines of foreign hotels. Tak- ing the proportion which such hotels bear to the great HARP, VIOLIN, AND (IUITAR. mass of those which still adhere to native customs, it cannot be said that a general movement has yet set in towards an exclusively European diet, and it is infinitely better, in all probability, that this change should be still farther postponed. Table Etiquette. There is considerable attention paid to table etiquette among the people of Nihon, and DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 73 it is as easy to distinguish the boor in that country as elsewhere, by his behaviour when at dinner. Whilst they are quick to notice that a foreigner has taken a little pains, it may be, to accustom himself to native manners, they are singularly free from indulgence in the temptation, which must often be presented to them, to make merry over the stranger's unconscious breaches of decorum. One of the customs to which the average European is slow to reconcile himself is that of taking all wine prior to the advent upon the scene of the boiled rice. The request on the part of the guest to be permitted to take rice is always interpreted as indica- tive of a desire to drink no more, and it is customary for the host to beg that the completion of the meal may be delayed. It seems to be a complete reversal of the practice in vogue with us when we discover that the fruit and sweets are served at the outset, although the strict meal is inaugurated by soups. Cooked fish of various kinds follow, then perhaps an omelette, a fri- cassee of chicken, or a dish of raw mullet or sea- bream. The universal sake a liquor obtained from rice, and of wholesome character is taken indiscrimi- nately with all the plats, up to the moment the staple article of diet appears, when the wine-cup ceases to circulate and the meal quickly terminates with a cup of tea. Europeans are apt to look for the rice earlier in the repast, and to consider that the imbibition of sake on any extensive scale should be deferred until such time as some substantial food has been partaken 74 ADVANCE JAPAN. of. To many the flavour of sake is so much of a novelty that they would gladly forgo the ceremony of quaffing it at all. Others quickly acquire a taste for it, despite the rather searching aroma which is peculiar thereto. It really contains but little alcohol, though its effects on the consumers are often most palpable. It possesses the merit, however, as a national drink, that the intoxi- cation it produces is quickly evanescent. Moreover, it must not be supposed that j^r-drinking is a custom universally followed, or that wine is an accompaniment of every meal. Many people eschew it entirely, others take it only when on a journey, or upon some special occasion. Should an antidote be demanded to its over-exhilarating properties, it is found at hand in the ever-present cup of tea, and this is invariably served on the conclusion of any set feast. The observance of frugality in an ordinary household would not be consistent with a great variety of dishes, and thus it happens that in the vast majority of families the parents and children sit down to a meal, three times a day, which consists of boiled rice, accompanied by nothing more extravagant in the matter of cost than a broiled fish, vegetable soup, the ingredients of which are altogether inexpensive, and pickles of some simple character. The consumption of beef, which threatened at one time to become general, is now on the wane. Poultry is too dear to be ordinarily included in the bill of fare. Pork was introduced, and for some time had a, AN INDUSTRIOUS SEMPSTRESS. DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 77 great vogue among the lower classes, but was repugnant to aristocratic palates. The Ordinary Bill of Fare. Among the national dishes which figure at a banquet may be mentioned a bean-curd soup, stewed chestnuts, pounded fish baked in the form of a ball or roll and cut into slices, lotus roots boiled in soy, the tender shoots of the bamboo similarly treated, the nasu or egg-plant, radishes, and the inevit- able dai-kon, which possesses an odour as powerful in its way as the renowned cheese of Limburg. Each person has a small table, termed zen, for his own separate use, upon which are placed the various articles of food served on minute plates. The liquids are contained in bowls of porcelain or lacquered-wood, red or black. Sets of table equipage may be very costly, and a housewife in Japan prides herself on the elegance with which she can set out her little tables quite as much as the mistress of a cottage in Devonshire may do. The bowls are raised to a level with the lips, and the chopsticks are used as forks, being held between the fingers of the right hand. These chopsticks may resemble slender lacquered-wood pencils, or they may be of plain deal, slightly pointed at one end. Many people carry their own, of silver and ivory, when they travel, but a pretty custom at hotels is to split the deal only a part of the way in fashioning the sticks, so that the guest may break them apart himself when about to use them. Thus he may be certain that the wood has not previously been put to a similar use. The maid of 78 ADVANCE JAPAN. the inn is usually careful to wrap the strips of wood in white paper, and tie them with parti-coloured twine, before laying them on the visitor's zen. Waiting at table consists in kneeling at a little distance, beside the spotless rice-tub, in an attitude of patient expect- ancy, for an opportunity to replenish the guest's bowl. An average trencherman in Japan will afford this oppor- tunity five or six times at a meal, something depending on the size of the table-ware employed. The daiinios of old had every article of such ware emblazoned with the family crest, and the lacquer, in particular, was of exquisite quality. Tea-driiiking. Green tea is universally consumed in Japanese households. It is taken very weak, and without milk or sugar. The infusion is made so quickly as to be scarcely an infusion at all, and tea is never allowed to "stand." It is refreshing and stimulating when taken in this way, and is offered to every way- farer as he passes through towns and villages. Pay- ment is never demanded, but he who would accept the offer without leaving some slight recompense on the tray, however trifling in amount, would be regarded as a churl indeed. When the traveller is disposed to rest awhile the ctiaya landlord will usually invite him through to the verandah at the rear, facing the orna- mental grounds, and will then serve a separate tray of tea and sweetmeats. For such civility it is usual to make an acknowledgment of a small silver coin, which may be as low in value as our threepenny-piece. DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 79 It has been said that European cravings are rarely satisfied by Japanese dishes. A man is prone to feel that he has wasted his time in the effort to appease hunger, and that he must search for the constituents of a " square " meal in some other direction. Doubt- less it takes time to accustom a stomach which craves for the flesh-pots of Europe and America to the sim- plicity of Japanese food, but had the individual no choice between such food and starvation he would dis- cover that after a few days his appetite had become reconciled to the light viands provided, and that he could thrive and do excellent work thereupon. Eggs are extensively eaten, and a present is often made of a box of fifty eggs, neatly packed in sawdust or salt. When hard-boiled they are kept in stock at all wayside refreshment booths, their sustaining qualities on a long march being cordially recognised. Dress. The costume of the Japanese people, taken as a whole, has not greatly changed. The Government having ordered officials to wear European dress when on duty, led to the adoption of foreign costume to a certain extent, but the old-fashioned garments are still worn in private, and the great mass of the inhabitants cling to the habiliments of yore. These consisted, for men, of a muslin loin-cloth, a shirt of cotton or silk, and, in cold weather, an under-waistcoat, also of cotton. Above this comes the kimono, which is a gown hanging straight from the shoulders and confined at the waist by a belt of thick silk. When very cold, one or more 8o ADVANCE JAPAN. wadded gowns are worn in addition, and the costume is not regarded as complete without the hakama, or divided skirt, which is tied over all by cords around the waist, and the haori, or coat. Strictly speaking, the hakama is a dress of ceremony, and is often laid aside when the wearer reaches the privacy of his own apartments. It has in recent years been much worn by female pupils of foreign schools, though originally part of man's attire only. The Jiaori is a coat or cloak, tied in front by a knotted silk cord. Both liakama and Jiaori are usually of excellent quality. Black silk is used for the Jiaori, bearing the wearer's crest on back and sleeves, and striped material for the hakama. On the feet are worn tabi, a low sock just ankle-high, with a compartment like those in gloves for the great toe. These tabi are of blue or white cotton, strength- ened on the sole. Straw sandals are worn about the house, in shape like our slippers, but with a thong to be passed between the toes. In the matted rooms the tabi form the only footgear, and people who do not require to walk far use geta, wooden clogs which fasten on the foot by thongs in the same way as the sandals. On the head it was usual to wear no covering whatever, in former times, the cranium being shielded in summer from the fierce sun by a fan. Sometimes a large straw hat was employed, particularly on long journeys, but now hats or caps of foreign pattern are fashionable. Indoors the kimono is often exchanged for a yukata, or bath-gown, in which the Japanese gentleman sits at his ease before G DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 83 or after his ablutions. These are invariably performed towards the close of the day, in a large tub containing water heated as warm as the hand will bear by a boiler underneath. Whilst in old days, prior to the Meiji era, the Japanese gentleman always wore his two swords when out of doors, laying them beside him, or on a rack, when in the house, he now carries nothing in his belt of a more formidable character than his tobacco- pipe and pouch. Men of the lower classes have a coat which displays at the back an immense ideograph indicative of their occupation, or it may be of their master's name. Car- penters are invariably thus distinguished. The covering for the thighs (momohiki) is tight-fitting, and a gaiter is also worn, usually of dark blue cotton. A hat shaped like an inverted punch-bowl, of straw covered with blue material, and waraji, or straw sandals, which are worn by 80 per cent, of the nation, complete the workmen's dress. The " coolies " wear as little of anything, the greater part of the year, as the police rules will allow. When out of sight of a town and its patrol, they strip off all but the loin-cloth. As for the youngsters, there are no trammels whatever to their perfect enjoyment of a state of nudity. Hand-ball and other games are played in the roadways, even by adults, with the inno- cent delight of children. W T hen it becomes necessary to take the little ones out visiting, the clothing is almost a miniature copy of that of their elders, and it is but just G 2 84 ADVANCE JAP Ah. to say of them that they resist the invitation to wear it as long as they possibly can. It not unfrequently happens, in their wanderings, that they become lost, and then the guardian of the peace has to search them for the metal labels which he knows will be found suspended somewhere or other from their small persons, giving their names and addresses. The women's costume differs in no great degree from that of the men. A couple of aprons or short petticoats are worn beneath the kimono, and a cord round the waist keeps so much of the attire in place. Half-a-dozen kimonos are often worn one over the other in winter, but the shape of all is exactly alike, and the number can only be determined by counting the layers where they are visible at the neck. Out- side all is worn the enormous belt, eighteen inches wide, and thirteen feet long, which winds round and encloses the feminine form so completely that the dimensions of the waist must be left entirely to conjecture. In the hair, the dressing of which is a matter of the utmost solicitude, large metal pins with coral head-pieces, or tortoise-shell combs and skewers, are indispensable. Such ornaments never go out of fashion for long at a stretch, so that they may be regarded as portable property having a tangible value. As to cost, an obi alone will often entail an outlay of ten or fifteen pounds sterling, and a lady of good position, without being at all extravagantly dressed, will carry fifty pounds DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 87 worth of clothing alone, without counting jewellery, upon her somewhat petite figure. But the Japanese husband is proud to see his wife suitably attired, even if he wears shabby garments himself. It is not at all a matter for regret that the wave of fashion, which set in about the year 1886, in favour of Parisian or Berlin modes, has already receded. The ancient dress of Japanese ladies was well suited to their style of beauty and graceful manners. The European dresses could not detract from their personal charms of feature, voice, and gesture, but it hampered their movements, and they endured agonies through the tight shoes which they insisted upon wearing. For years the Empress set her face against the inno- vation, but she relaxed her opposition at last, and ap- peared with her Court ladies habited in M. Worth's creations on a public occasion in 1886. From that time the rage for foreign costume became uncontrollable, and during the next three or four years a Japanese lady was a dowdy unless garbed in the robes of the Occident. The reaction came, and a complete return to the original costume is by no means improbable. The Household. In Japan the marriage relation still partakes more of the nature of a civil contract than a religious one, though of late years the latter phase has entered considerably into the ceremony. Formerly no one was allowed to marry out of his rank. A gentleman of the military class could not ally himself with the daughter of a merchant or trader, nor could the trader 88 ADVANCE JAPA.\'. go a grade lower and marry an Eta maiden, whose rank was the least respected in the social scale. The old feudal chieftains and nobles could not marry without the per- mission of the Court. It would not be fair to judge of the position of a Japanese matron by any standard which we have in Europe. In the old regime she was head of the house- hold, but held a position subordinate, nevertheless, to that of her husband. She was the Oku-saina or honoured mistress of the interior, but, save at the evening meal, she could not sit down, or her children either, with the Shujin, or master. An amelioration has been brought about in the past few years, in which the Empress Haruko has had no small share. She is a sturdy champion of the rights of her country- women. The Japanese wife is now, among all women in the East, the most respected and free. She is always a careful housekeeper, and she excels as a tender, loving mother. Her bright disposition, economical manage- ment of money, and perfect cleanliness and order in her household duties, ensure for her an honoured posi- tion. It has ever been a maxim in Japan that the direction and scope of the wife's duties are altogether internal, while those of the husband are external. As the century draws to a close the position of womankind in Japan is becoming more and more elevated. The high officials of the Empire now constantly appear in society with their wives, and mingle freely in European circles. DIET, DRESS, AND MANNERS. 9 The innate refinement and natural demeanour of Japanese ladies is always a subject of comment by visitors privileged to meet them. Children are re- garded in Japan as a great blessing, but large families are seldom to be found. The average household throughout the country is a trifle over five in number. Tobacco-smoking is very popular in Japan, among all classes, high and low, male and female. The plant was TOBACCO POUCH AND PIPE-CASE. introduced by the Portuguese at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The pipes are from six to ten inches in length, and contain but a very small quantity of the prepared leaf, which is cut very fine, and smokes like Latakia. The bowl is no larger than an acorn-cup. One 90 ADVANCE /A PAN. or two whiffs exhaust its contents, the ashes are knocked out into the brazier, more tobacco is inserted, and the operation of imbibing (the Japanese word is tabako wo nomu, lit. to drink tobacco) is repeated again and again. A guest is at once invited to smoke on paying a visit, and ladies draw up to either side of the fireplace with their little pipes often of silver for an enjoyable after- noon gossip. Cigars are now in fashion among men, and cigarettes are also consumed by millions every month in the larger cities. The light Japanese leaf, which is produced all over the southern provinces, lends itself admirably to cigarette-smoking, but for cigars it is not such a signal success, doubtless owing to the mode of preparation not being so perfectly understood as it is in Havana or Manila. This knowledge will come to the Japanese tobacco-grower in due time. CHAPTER V. EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. VERYWHERE the idea has pre- vailed that down to very recent times the real monarch of Japan lived a life of complete isolation in his palace at Kioto, while the affairs of Government were entirely in the hands of a pseudo-sovereign, termed the Tycoon. It is high time that the general reader should be disabused of so altogether erroneous an idea. From the time the first Mikado commenced his reign, six hundred years before the Christian era, down to the time when Henry the Second sat on the English throne, the Tenshi of Japan was an absolute personal ruler over the people of Nihon. In Yoritomo's day the TensJii consented to take a less active part in matters of State, and deputed the SJibgun (miscalled by Europeans, at a later date, the Tycoon) to perform the principal military duties. Yoritomo, being an ambitious man, conceived the notion of elevating himself and his office of Skogun 92 ADVANCE JAPAN. to a position one stage above that occupied by the terri- torial lords of the provinces. As the right hand of the Emperor he held the key of the position, and in the course of a few years he attained such an ascendancy as to achieve, to a great extent, the object of his ambition. He succeeded in making himself almost as powerful as the true monarch, but he remained a subject, and there- in lay the essential distinction which has at all times been preserved and recognised in Japan between the position of the Shogun and the Tenshi. Yoritomo strengthened his position continually by bold achievement in the field against the enemies of his country, and sturdily held his own against the other daimios from among whom he had risen, and who were naturally not a little jealous of his power. When he died he bequeathed to his successors in the office of Shogun an unquestioned supremacy in the Councils of State, and this was maintained with almost unvarying ability by those who followed him, until, in 1868, the reigning Emperor abolished the office entirely. During those seven centuries which intervened be- tween the creation of the post of Shogun and its aboli- tion, there were periods in which the actual Emperor, from his retired position at Kioto, thought fit to assert himself, and to take a prominent part in the control. Though His Majesty made no public appearance on the scene, his influence was paramount when he chose to exert it. Some of the Emperors were energetic, some were indifferent, and upon the attitude of the real EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 93 Sovereign naturally depended that of his vicegerent. A Tenshi who was disposed to be something more than a mere figure-head, was sure to curtail, for the time being, the arrogance of his chief subject. On the other hand, a monarch who was indisposed to exertion would permit the affairs of his realm to glide along without personal interference with the stately figure at the helm. Once it is comprehended that the Shogun, or " Ty- coon," exercised no control prior to A.D. 1192, and that the office was finally abolished in 1868, it is tolerably easy to follow the course of Japanese history, and to trace the influence which has been exercised upon the people of modern Nihon by the events of their earlier years. There is no doubt that in Japan we have a noteworthy example of the benefit to be derived from acquiescence in the principle of " the divine right of kings." For more than 25 centuries the Japanese have been faithful to the traditions of their ancestors, and have steadfastly acknowledged their allegiance to the lineal representative of their first Emperor. He was named Jinmu Tenno, son of the Heavenly Light-giver Ama Terasu in other words, the Sun Goddess, Tenshiu Daijin, and exercised sway, at the outset, not on the mainland of Hondo, but in the southern island of Kiushiu. He subsequently crossed over to the neighbourhood of Hiroshima, and after suppressing the lawless tribes of that region pushed on to Yamato province, wherein is situated the ancient 94 ADVANCE JAPAN. city of Nara. This is not mere tradition, but authentic history, for there is no doubt that the dynasty, of which Jinmu was the progenitor, dates from the year 663 B.C. This unchallenged claim suffices to warrant the present Emperor's contention, recorded in a procla- mation some years ago, that his house, "from Jinmu Tennd on to the present day, has ruled in Dai-Nippon, according to the will of the gods." As such, moreover, it is indisputably the oldest dynasty on earth, and we need not go so far back as to take into considera- tion a further declaration that " the divine ancestors of Jinmu Tenno laid the foundations of the world." .liiiiim Tenno. Kashiwabara, near Nara, was the spot where Jinmu set up his capital (660 B.C.). It had occupied him three years to voyage from Mimidzu in Hiuga, on the east coast of Kiushiu, to Naniwa, the modern Osaka, for he appears to have been engaged in conquering the aborigines en route. Jinmu is declared to have received from Tensho Daijin a circular mirror and a sword, as symbols of Im- perial power. These he carefully preserved and handed down to his successor. In this way they reached the tenth Emperor, who deposited them in a temple which he built in honour of Tensho Daijin, near the present town of Yamada in Ise". Consequently, the Ise temple has come to be the Mecca of the Japanese nation, and dates from about 35 B.C. Thousands of pilgrims visit Is6 yearly, and in the old days the Emperors did so likewise, more particularly EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 95 upon the eve of great undertakings. The mirror re- mains the symbol of the deity in that form of worship denominated Shinto, which is the state religion of Japan, and, literally translated, means " the law of the gods." Jinmu was a powerful and enlightened monarch, who encouraged agriculture, and gave to his people their cereals, together with hemp, garlic, and ginger. The eleventh Mikado, Sujin Tenno, was contemporaneous with Jesus Christ, and conferred immense benefits on his people, notably the storage of water in reservoirs, to facilitate rice-culture, and the construction of canals. Jingu-K6go, often erroneously declared to have been Japan's only feminine ruler, was really the consort of the fourteenth Mikado, and accompanied him on his warlike expeditions. She urged upon him the conquest of Korea, and after his death undertook it herself, as regent, during her son's minority, and was supported by her counsellor, Takeno-uchi, then an old man of eighty- two. She fitted out a fleet, and, clad in man's armour, commanded it in person. The kings of the peninsula, one after another, made submission, and offered costly presents as an inducement to her to depart. She brought away all the books she could find, among other spoils, and thus gave to her people their earliest literature. Buddhism and Confucianism followed in due course, as also the Chinese written language. Animals and plants were next imported from the Middle Kingdom, and here we have the origin of that close connection be- tween China and Japan which induced people to regard 96 ADVANCE JAPAN. the two peoples as identical. The link established be- tween the Korean peninsula and Japan proved the high- way for the introduction of that civilisation which had its root in Buddhism. Japan became more or less dominated by Chinese arts, industries, medicine, and even political institutions. That old warrior spirit of Yamato-damashi which had animated Japan's people became sicklied o'er with a pale cast of Chinese fashion and effeminacy. The Sovereigns lost their energy and degenerated into dreamers, more than one having ex- changed his throne for the shelter of the Buddhist cloister. Buddhiam Introduced. The early history of Japan, in fact, resembles in many respects that of our own islands, for although the territory of the Tenshi has never been successfully invaded by a hostile force, there was often much internecine strife. The parallel might be drawn very closely, but it will suffice for the present purpose to allude to a few salient points of resemblance which appear to show that the Japanese people have marched to theirexistinghigh position among the civilised peoples of the world by a path in which they encountered many of the difficulties which beset our own ancestors. The period embraced by the Saxon Heptarchy in Britain was a period in which Japan likewise underwent many vital changes. Though they experienced nothing like that Danish invasion which our Saxon forefathers were fated at that epoch to unsuccessfully battle with, the same century witnessed an irruption into Japan, as wq II EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 99 have seen, of the not less potent because peaceful forces of Buddhism, and the Japanese have been subject in great measure to the humanising influences of that faith ever since. Buddha's doctrines have held a certain sway, particularly over the female portion of the population, for over a thousand years, though the religion of the Mikados has always been Shinto. At the time when Catholic missionaries were Christianising the Kingdom of Northumbria, Buddhist missionaries from China and Korea were converting to Buddhism large numbers of the people of Japan. Whilst at the Whitby Council of A.D. 664, it was decided that the priests of the English Church should adopt the Roman tonsure, the priests of Japan, at about the same period, adopted the plan of shaving the head altogether. Just as the influence of King Oswy was thrown into the scale in Northumbria, in favour of the views of the Romish Church, the announced preference of the Empress Gemmei for the rites of the new religion aided very materially to establish, in Japan, the observances of a faith which came, by a roundabout way, from India. Japan was indebted to India at about the same date for the introduction of the cotton-plant, some seeds having been given to the farmers of Mikawa pro- vince by wrecked Hindoo sailors in gratitude for the kindness shown them. This trait in the character of the inhabitants of the Japanese coasts has distinguished them throughout their history. Early Writings. A little later, in the eighth century, H 2 too ADVANCE JAPAN. the system of writing termed the Katakana was invented, as a modification of the cumbrous Chinese system of innumerable ideographs. The Katakana symbols are merely modifications of Chinese square characters, to the number of forty-five only, and in these, with two accents, every syllable of the Japanese tongue can be perfectly expressed. Oranges were introduced from China, and gold and silver were first successfully mined in Japan, in the same century. The influence which Chinese literature exercised at this epoch upon the minds of the Japanese people was immense. The Chinese calendar was adopted in its entirety, and the form of government was largely modelled upon that of the neighbouring Empire. The offices of Dai-jo-dai-jin (Great Council's Chief) with Sa-dai-jin, Udaijin, and Nadaijin (Vice- Presidents of the Left and Right, and of Home Affairs) were then created, and have been retained throughout as the highest positions in the Empire. (The left, in Japan, it will be observed, ranks higher than the right.) China was accustomed for centuries, indeed, to act as preceptor to Japan, the influence so wielded having had its origin in the transplantation of Buddhism. We have a close parallel to this in the effects traceable in Great Britain to the employment of Latin, and the spread of the Christian faith. Chinese words, only slightly modified, form as important a part of Japanese speech as do words derived from the Latin tongue in the English language of the EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 101 day. The technology of science in the Far East is all of Chinese origin ; and it exhibits the antiquity of Chinese philosophy in a strong light when we see that the resources of the language of the Middle Kingdom have proved equal to the modern demand ; there seems to have been no lack of a Chinese term, at any time, by THE CLASSIC DANCE. which to designate a modern European Science, or of expressions by which to convey a fairly accurate idea of its practical application. Not only did Japan obtain her earliest ideas of science and her literature from her gigantic neighbour, but she 102 ADVANCE JAPAN. was inoculated with her passion for art from the same source. Chinese art has left its mark on that of Japan, whether it be in the direction of painting and sculpture, or of those industrial and mechanical channels of its application wherein the pupil has to some extent out- shone the master. Japan has refined and idealised upon a foundation which had its origin in the more robust realisations of the early Chinese masters, and the evidence of her success is clearly marked in the exquisite creations which figure in the collections of connoisseurs. Just as the Japanese acquired a knowledge of various arts and sciences a thousand years ago from the Chinese, and having absorbed all the information obtainable, began to improve upon the methods of application, so we, in times past, have owed much to the civilisation of older nations, and continue to advance in the skilful adaptation of principles which were familiar to the people of ancient Egypt, or of Greece and Rome. In the same way that they became the ready pupils of China in the early days of the Christian era, the Japa- nese have, in later years, become the diligent students of Occidental progress, and already have done their ut- most to better the instruction. In some respects they have succeeded, and the effort, under any circumstances, does credit to their energy and farsightedness. Heroen of Old. Descending to a later period of the history of Nihon we reach the stage when the fine arts languished, and the nation was torn by centuries of war. EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 103 In fact, a remarkable resemblance in their effects might be traced in the continual feuds of the Taira and Mina- moto clans to our own Wars of the Roses. The two Japanese houses thus designated were also known as the Hei and Gen families. In the tenth and eleventh cen- turies they virtually divided the country into two fac- tions, every inhabitant owning allegiance to one or other of these two powerful claimants for the supremacy. In turn they seized the ruling power and completely over- awed the reigning Mikado's Government. The Mikado of their time was himself prone to play off one clan against the other, as a means of preventing either of them from acquiring strength sufficient to overthrow the Throne. Instead of the feuds of the York and Lan caster clans of the Far East terminating, however, in the ascendancy, as with us, of a potentate who united both houses after 30 years of conflict the Japanese warred against each other for more than half a century, and the Taira clan was in the end annihilated. But there was no peace for the survivors, for they were attacked by other clans and succumbed in their turn to superior force. The Mikado of those days, it has been said, was only a puppet in the hands of these factions, but he at all events managed adroitly enough to use one family's power to punish the arrogance of the other, so that if he could not keep peace within his borders he at all events employed the rivals in turn in fighting his battles. Y oritomo. Kiyomori was head of the Taira clan in io 4 ADVANCE JAPAN. the twelfth century, and being a man of great energy and ambition, he perpetually strove to obtain places at Court for his own family and adherents. For three years the clans fought for possession of the Sovereign's person. In 1159 A.D. the Tairas triumphed, and the prominent men of the other side were all put to death, including the head of the clan, Yoshitomo. The chief's son, how- ever who bore the name, afterwards so celebrated in the history of Japan, of Yoritomo was interceded for by Kiyomori's mother, and the lad's life was spared. Yoshitsune, his half-brother, was also spared, and the two eventually 30 years later overthrew the Taira supremacy. In 1181 Kiyomori died, and the Taira power began to wane. Yoritomo mustered the Mina- moto faction, and gathering strength in the Kuanto region they marched westward under the command of Yoshitsune in one grand series of triumphs, culminating at Dan-no-ura, close to the town of Shimonoseki, in a naval battle in which a large proportion of the Tairas and their allies were drowned. Relation of Shoguii to JlftkuUo. Yoritomo's suc- cess, as the leading spirit of the times, was now un- bounded, and he rapidly consolidated his power in the Kuanto, practically making himself master of all the centre and north of Hondo. He set up his headquarters at Kamakura, not far from Yokohama, a place of great attraction to this day by reason of its historical associa- tions. Facing the sea-shore, this town is completely enclosed on the landward side by a semicircle of hills EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 105 through which the roads communicating with the interior are driven in deep artificial cuttings. Close by is the colossal bronze figure of Buddha (Dai-butsu, or the great image), and the region is one which possesses a vast amount of interest for travellers. Yoritomo made Kamakura the capital of Eastern Japan, and trans- formed a mere village into a military depot, with extensive barracks and a palace for himself. But few traces of these now remain, yet the effects of his occu- pancy are still felt, for it was here that the great warrior entered upon a career which had very far-reaching results. He induced the reigning Emperor, as already recorded, to create him Sei-i-tai-shogun literally "bar- barian-subjugating-generalissimo/' and he was thus empowered, as Commander-in-Chief of the forces of the Mikado, to exercise control over the provinces which he had already subjugated. His office was to preserve peace and tranquillity, and he and all his successors in the post, down to Hitotsubashi the last of his line, owned allegiance to the Emperor and was invested with his powers by the Sovereign. This substantial domination of the Shogun over all the dainiios, or here- ditary chieftains of the land, gave rise to the notion that Japan had a dual monarchy. One Sovereign was supposed to be the temporal head, and the other the " spiritual " head of the realm. The impression was altogether erroneous, though the line of Shoguns, from Yoritomo downwards, wielded such vast power as su- preme heads of the military organisation of the Empire, io6 ADVANCE JAPAN. that strangers might well be excused if they arrived at the conclusion that the potentate they alone came in contact with was the actual Sovereign. Yoritomo's sons succeeded him, but with them the Minamoto clan came to the end of its shortlived supremacy, and the Hojo family, which had marched in line with the Minamotos, took the chief position. But they never held the office of Shogun in their grasp, for it was conferred, in default of a direct succession among the Minamotos, upon the house of Fujiwara, the family traditions of which have been maintained with untarnished brilliancy, in the annals of Japan, to the present time. Yoritomo's camp at Kamakura practically ceased to exist after an attack made upon it in A.D. 1333, and the Hojo family established its chief seat at Odawara, a castle town only 37 miles from Yokohama, and actually visited by thousands who probably are unaware that it was for some time the centre of the chief military power of Japan. Yoritomo, the equivalent in prowess of Richard Coeur de Lion, was dealing death to the enemies of Japan in the same year that our enthusiastic monarch was head- ing the Third Crusade. Yoritomo and his half-brother Yoshitsun6 are perhaps the most notable heroes of Japanese history, and their exploits have served to animate the poet and the painter for centuries past. The paper currency of the Japanese Empire, at the present day, is embellished with representations of EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 107 events which are famous in the annals of Dai Nihon, wherein these and other mail-clad warriors performed prodigies of valour. A suit of armour was as much a necessity in those days with the Japanese knight as it was with the followers of our Plantagenets, and one wonders how men were found to wear the weighty and inconvenient panoply of ancient Nihon, for a Japanese helmet even alone was a formidable affair. Yoritomo and his successors well sustained the char- acter, among the neighbouring States, for bold achieve- ment, which even at that period had been acquired by his nation, in virtue of their frequent raids upon adjoin- ing territory, notably upon Korea, and the English can scarcely have been a greater terror to the inhabitants of Normandy than were the Japanese for some centuries, off and on, to the people of Korea and their Celestial allies. The Ashikaga clan held the office of Shogun for 240 years, but it was wrested from them by Ota Nobunaga, another of that long line of mediaeval heroes whom Japanese romantic literature delights to honour. The real monarch temporarily came to the front in the per- son of the Emperor Godaigo, who succeeded for a space of two years, in personally conducting the affairs of his country. In A.D. 1335 the administration again fell into the hands of the Shogun, and so remained during the 533 years which followed, until his deposition in 1868. The most famous among the leaders of the sixteenth century, a time when Japanese prestige ranked very high io8 ADVANCE JAPAN. among the nations of the distant Orient, was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who carved out with his sword an ineffaceable record on the history of the East. Hideyoshi it was who, under the appellation of Taiko-sama, translatable as " Great General," visited Korea, and fought desperately for several years at intervals against the owners of the soil and the Chinese who had gathered there to assist IYEYASU'S CASTLE AND MOAT AT TOKIO. them. Ping-Yang, since so celebrated as the scene of a great Japanese victory, was likewise, in Hideyoshi's time, the battle-ground on several occasions, and it was not until death relieved the Korean King of his indefati- gable enemy that that monarch knew what it was to breathe freely. Hideyoshi bestowed the office of Slidgun which he never held himself, though he attained to EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 109 supreme military power upon Tokugawa lyeyasu, and gave him control of the eight provinces of the Kuanto, directing him to take up his position at Yedo, which has since become a city of such renown, as the Mikado's present Capital. Advent of Christianity* It was during the Ashi- kaga period that the reigning monarch received a visit from the Portuguese Mendez Pinto, who was in due time followed by Dutch and English traders. Christianity was obtaining a firm hold of the Japan- ese people, after its introduction in 1542, and for some decades it bade fair to become the popular religion, for Ota Nobunaga, the Shogun before alluded to, hated Buddhism with a most pronounced hatred, and fostered Christianity as a competitor therewith, until his atten- tion was called to what was believed to be the seditious teaching of the Jesuit missionaries. From that time the fate of Christianity was sealed, for the edicts against it which followed were so severe as to afford it no oppor- tunity of flourishing for nearly three centuries after- wards. It was, however, in the early days of the Tokugawa supremacy that the native Christians were subjected to actual persecution. The Christian faith was proscribed in Japan from A.D. 1614 to 1868. For 23 years the converts were subjected to all kinds of penalties until in 1637 an attack was made on the stronghold of Shimabara, in which they had entrenched themselves, and 30,000 persons were killed or banished. Notwithstanding these no ADVANCE JAPAN. severe measures, there were many who clung to the faith, and it was found still surviving, in the locality of Nagasaki, when the edicts were withdrawn on the pre- sent Emperor's accession, 27 years ago. Emigration Prohibited. It was at the period of these religious conflicts, in 1621 A. D., that the Japanese were forbidden to leave their country, and the building of ships was limited to those of small size in order that the sailors should not be able longer to navigate the ocean. Prior to this, large Japanese vessels had traded to India and the Straits Settlements. In 1624 A.D. all foreigners were expelled from Japan, excepting the Dutch, who were strictly confined to the small tract of land in Nagasaki harbour known as Dcshima. There can be little doubt that the action of the Jesuit missionaries had in no small degree con- tributed to 'bring about this revulsion of feeling. The age was one of religious intolerance, when things were done " to the honour of God " which utterly disgraced the Christian faith. We find a parallel in our own annals in the years 1554-58. That very religious zeal which the Jesuits extolled was calculated to abase Christianity in the eyes of so intelligent a nation as the Japanese. The mutual hostility of the Christian orders excited their wonder, and the evil lives led by foreign visitors to their shores, at Nagasaki and Hirado, could not but fill the Japanese with amazement at the incon- sistencies of professing Christians. The foreign traders EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. in bought Japanese children and sold them again as slaves in Manila and Macao. Human flesh was cheap in those dark days of the Japanese Empire, but the greatest danger to the State, in the eyes of the ruling powers, lay in the fact that obedience to temporal laws was not inculcated by the missionaries, and that, on the contrary, the converts were taught to despise the authority of parents and to set at naught the tenets of their ancestors. The fear lest the native Christians should, through foreign influence, become traitors to their country was the principal cause of their persecution. As lyeyasu said at the time : " If my dynasty perishes in con- sequence of civil wars, this is a disgrace which only falls upon me ; but if only an inch of our country were to fall into foreign hands, the whole nation would have cause to be ashamed." ivuiiai Khan's Invasion. It was during the period when the Hojo clan ranked highest, in the year 1281 A.D., that Kublai Khan, the great Mongol con- queror, sought to overwhelm Japan, and was beaten off just as the Spaniards were driven away from England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth three centuries later. Kublai Khan fitted out his armada on the coast of Fuh-Kien, not far from Foochow, and sought to make a descent upon the Mikado's south-west dominions. His forces numbered 100,000 men, of three nationalities, Chinese, Mongolian, and Korean. Several battles were \ H2 ADVANCE JAP AX. fought, but a storm finally dispersed the fleet, and the Japanese, taking the ships in detail, chased and harassed them so that scarcely any escaped to tell the tale. The Mongols had on several occasions claimed submission from Japan, and Kublai, who had conquered every other nation within reach, felt confident that he could subdue the islanders. He discovered that he had to deal with an unconquered race, and after the destruction of the armada the Mongols deemed it prudent to leave the Japanese to themselves. The Tol&uguwu Regime* If, in the 250 years which followed lyeyasu's tenure of office, Japan had outward peace, she was greatly troubled by internal dissensions and endless intrigues among the han, and small civil wars frequently arose in the provinces touch- ing the succession to the chieftainship of one or other of the clans. Jealousies and private feuds existed among the daimios themselves, and they even fought in the sacred precincts of the Shogun's castle. More and more the great Kokushiu rebelled against their en- forced residence in the Capital for a fixed annual period, and chafed under the restrictions imposed upon them by one whom they regarded as practically no higher in class than themselves. The feudal system became ex- ceedingly burdensome to the peasantry, and a re-action against the military domination set in gradually, the hope of men's hearts being a revival of the ancient regime under which the Mikado was the sole ruler, and before whom every subject, gentle or simple, EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 113 was ready to make obeisance. The supremacy of the Sliogun was doomed, for the Mikado's cause was warmly espoused by the great clans of Satsuma, Tosa, and Chdshiu. The advent of foreigners upon the scene in 1854 had no appreciable effect upon the state of affairs, save, pos- sibly, to hasten the climax, for the revolution would have taken place in any case. The Japanese needed a change. The dual control, as far as it existed, had become most irksome. The treaties of 1858 were un- popular in many quarters, and the Shogun was blamed for entering into them, but they did not cause the up- heaval. Tokio owes the foundation of its present wealth and prosperity to lyeyasu, under whose auspices it became the headquarters of an army of 80,000 Jiatamoto, or bannermen, as they would have been under a Manchu regime, who took up residence in the barracks (yashiki) of the castle precincts. The superior grades of the Iiatamoto were landowners, on a smaller scale than the daimios, though they rarely went to their country seats. The daimios, on the other hand, only visited the Capital at certain stated intervals, residing for the most part in the castle towns of their provinces, though their wives and families remained in Tokio as hostages for their lords' allegiance to the authority of the Shogun. The daimios' territories were called han, and practi- cally they were ruled separately and entirely in accord- ance with the will of the chieftain, who issued his own I ii4 ADVANCE JAPAN. paper currency, negotiable only within his own borders. Even as late as 1872, when one crossed the boundary of a province, it was necessary to get all one's bank-notes exchanged, lest, after the first mile, they became value- less. The currency was purely local. Though the line of Tokugawa Shoguns of which lyeyasu was the founder practically ruled Japan until 1868, neither during their time, nor at any time during the preceding centuries, when the other clans retained the office of Shogun in their grasp, was the real supre- macy of the Mikados even momentarily in doubt. No matter how completely the actual monarch succeeded in effacing himself, and it must be acknowledged that some of them did so to a degree which left their subjects often in doubt of the very name of the Tens/it, the ruler of the Nihon-jin was the descendant of Jinmu Tenno, and no ordinary mortal could fill his place on the throne of Japan. The retention of the office of Shogun for centuries in one family gave to that position greater importance than it would ever have attained, as far as may be judged, had it been conferred upon each favoured individual by the mere will of the Sovereign. Heredity counted for much in those days, and a single clan was as potent for good or evil in the Far East as it formerly was in Scotland. Had such power as that which was exercised by the Shdguns of Japan been wielded for centuries in any other land, the chances are that the true monarch would have been passed over altogether, and the man who EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 117 filled the eye for the time being would have been accepted by the multitude as the actual lord. But the danger of this happening in Japan was non-existent so long as the people were willing to regard the sublime personage at Kioto as entitled to claim descent from Ama-ga-terasu. No subject of the Japanese Emperor would ever have dared to place himself on such a pedestal, and if such a feat had ever been attempted the populace would have been very emphatic in its condemnation of such presumption. The Shogun was powerful by virtue of the commands laid upon him by the unseen Emperor, and if he sometimes exceeded his powers there was no one to say nay. He might exer- cise most of the privileges of sovereignty, but it would have been fatal to his authority to claim absolute power. Thus the Shogun nominally consulted the Em- peror, and it not unnaturally depended very much on the personal characteristics of the two men who for the time being stood in this close relationship, whether the real Mikado took an active interest in the affairs of his people, or merely assented to what was done in his name. Looking through the pages of Japanese history it is not difficult to recognise in certain places the presence of a living ruler in the person of the exalted potentate at Kioto, whilst in other instances it has been plain that the master spirit dwelt not in the Mikado's palace, but in that of the Shogun at Kamakura, or, at a later elate, at Yedo. It was inevitable that there should be ii8 ADVANCE JAPAN. fierce jealousies and conflicts among the haughty princes who enjoyed the possession of wide tracts of country and vast revenues in their own right, and so we find that the daiinios fought very frequently, and that down to very recent times there was a northern faction and a southern faction. The latter would have preferred to furnish the Mikado with a line of Shdguns from their own part of the country, and the northern gentry were quite as determined in their resolve that the Tokugawa dynasty, which had its ramifications in the three families of Mito, Kishiu, and Owari should not be uprooted. The DaimioM* Revenues. It may be that some who have had no opportunity of knowing how very exalted was the position, under the old regime, of the men who rank to-day as the Japanese aristocracy, will be disposed to smile at the apparently servile imitation of European titles which is perceptible under the new Government. The whole thing arose from the necessity of employing some method of indicating rank which should be efficient and expressive without being cum- bersome. The titles now employed, though not literal translations of those borne of old by Japanese grandees, are very much to the purpose, because they convey a correct impression of the relatively high rank which those who bear such titles now were always warranted to assume in times past. The innovation is of alto- gether recent date, though the families and individuals on which the patents were conferred can boast an an- EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 119 tiquity of ancestral origin in no way inferior to that of the aristocracy of the nations of the West. TheDaimz'o of half a million Koku, for example, was a veritable land- owner on a scale equalled only by our senior dukes and earls, and exercised quite as much influence on his own estates. It was only just that when the Government absorbed the landed property of these nobles, and gave them a fixed income in return, the distinction attaching to their rank should be in some manner perpetuated apart from the connection with the land which they relinquished. Thus a few were created marquises, and others counts, in their own right, the custom which prevails throughout Europe of associating a certain eminence of station with a given title being recognised by the Japanese as more convenient than that which had previously obtained in their own country. To say the least of it, the system which accorded rank to a feudal chieftain, mainly in respect of the number of bushels of rice which his land would produce, was one which had its drawbacks when comparisons with the Occident had to be instituted, though at other times it had many advantages. A Koku is 4*96 bushels, and land that would not produce rice was not worth count- ing. The lord of a territory which yielded half a million Koku was thus inevitably the possessor, not only of a considerable extent of arable land for it is only practical to grow a certain fixed quantity of rice annually on a field of a given size but his domain might includ.e, and usually did so include, large tracts 120 ADVANCE JAPAN. of uncultivated country, from which neither rice nor any other crop was obtainable. It conveyed a tolerably good idea to the Japanese of the magnate's territorial possessions to measure his income by actual produce in grain, and to the initiated there is no doubt that the expression, " a daimio of half a million Koku" for example, conveyed a much more definite impression of wealth than is implied by the mere ownership of thousands of acres of almost unproductive soil. The daimio, as a title, was abolished 25 years ago, but the individual so designated will now be found ranking as marquis, count, or viscount, his present status depend- ing to a great extent on his former position in the scale of daimios. It will be seen from this that the assump- tion of titles corresponding to those of the West has had ample warranty, even if a similar standard be ap- plied. No Spanish hidalgo prides himself more upon purity of descent and ancient lineage than does the Japanese Kwazoku. The Koku of rice was formerly worth about 20 shillings, and thus a daimio of 500,000 Koku had an income of about half a million per annum. Many of the more wealthy lords owned territories yielding 300,000 Koku, whilst Kaga, the richest of them, had a revenue of over a million Koku. There were about 300 of these feudal chieftains, the poorest of whom could place the value of 10,000 Koku annually to his account. A few of the more prominent among them are named in the list ap- pended. EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATION. 121 Family Name. Lordship. Residence. Produce in Koku of rice. Mayeda Kaga Noto Echiu Kanazawa ... 1,027,000 Shimadzu Satsuma, Osumi, Hiuga and Loo- choo Is. Kagoshima ... 710,000 Date Sendai (Mutsu) ... Sendai ... 625,000 Matsudaira Echizen ... ... Fukui ...j 320,000 Matsudaira Aidzu(Iwashiro)... Wakamatsu . . . 230,000 Hosokawa Higo Kumamoto ..J 540,000 Kuroda... Chikuzen Fukuoka . . . 5 20,000 Asano Geishiu (Aki) ... Hiroshima ... 426,000 Mori Choshiu and Suwo Hagj ... 369,000 Nabeshima Hizen Saga ... 350,000 Ikeda ... Inaba ; Tottori ... 350,000 Ikeda Bizen Okayama 315,000 Hachisuka Ashiu (Awa) Tokushima ... 257,000 Yamanouchi . . . Tosa Kochi 242,000 Arima ... Chikugo Kurume 210,000 Sataki ... Akita(Ugo) Akita 205,000 Nambu... Nambu (Mutsu) ... Morioka 200,000 Uyesugi Uzen ... ... Yonesawa ... 150,000 122 CHAPTER VI. THE RESTORATION. MONG the southern clans wield- ing most power were Choshiu, Satsuma, Hizen, and Tosa, and the fact is very signifi- cant that, by virtue of their accessibility from the coast of China and Hong Kong, these clans had had opportunities which were denied to the men of the far north, of judging of the value of foreign appliances and inventions. Knowledge was power to the southern men, and with the aid of certain European firms which had no object to gain in depriving people of arms of precision if those people were willing to purchase and pay for such merchandise, the four clans named were speedily placed in possession of the means to drill and equip small armies on the European model. The southern daimios were induced to make these warlike preparations for several weighty reasons, one being ostensibly that the Sh6gun for the time being THE RESTORATION. 123 had been induced to enter into a compact, or series of compacts, with foreign powers, of which they disap- proved. Another incentive to action doubtless was the construction placed upon the then recent operations of the British and French forces in China. If the Shdgun was to be allowed to make treaties with Western nations, giving them free admission for purposes of trade, there was no saying where the troubles would end. They were not desirous of having an European army at the gates of the Emperor's palace in Japan, an event which had only a short time before happened at Peking. The condition of the Tokugawa House, divided as it was against itself at this time, sapped its vitality and contributed in no small degree to its overthrow. A Shdgun had but recently died, and there had been two candidates for his office, one being put forward by that branch of the Tokugawa clan which hailed from Mito, and the other from the Kishiu branch. The arbitrator in this case was the hereditary regent, a personage upon whom devolved by right the duty of acting as Sh6gun in any interregnum, or during the minority of the ap- pointed successor. The Go-Taira, as he was officially styled, selected the young prince of the Kishiu branch, to the great dissatisfaction of the Mito faction, and one day as he was passing by the Sakurada gate of Yedo castle, the Go-Taira was assassinated by emissaries of Mito. The young Shdgun lyemochi was allowed to hold his position, not a very secure one just then, until 12 4 ADVANCE JAPAA. his death in September, 1866, and he was at once suc- ceeded by Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu, the nominee of the Mito clan, whose advent to power was signalised by events of so portentous a character that he tendered his resignation to his master, the Emperor at Kioto, after only a few months' tenure of office. The Mikado requested him, however, to continue to act as Shogun for the time, and Hitotsubashi had no choice but to comply. His subsequent life shows him to have been at all times a person of most peaceable disposition, and though responsible in a certain degree for the bloodshed which occurred at a later date, it is to his credit that he did his utmost to stop it, though unhappily when too late to avert the calamity. Practically, the dynasty of the Shoguns was doomed before Hitotsubashi (who was in more recent years known simply as Mr. Keiki, of Shidzuoka, though no disrespect was thereby conveyed) succeeded to office. Several things had contributed to bring about this con- dition of affairs. The southern earls were tired of the Tokugawa regime, and wished to see the Government administered personally by the Mikado, as had always been the case prior to Yoritomo's day. Among the retainers of these southern clans were certain shizokii^ i.e., men of gentle birth, whose knowledge of affairs beyond the pale of the Japanese Empire was extensive, and had been acquired during a residence for some years in Europe. They reappeared upon the scene in Japan as passengers on the Kaiyo Mani, a ship built THE RESTORATION. 125 for the purposes of naval warfare, and commanded by Admiral Yenomoto. Of the subsequent history of this vessel little need now be said beyond the fact that she was sunk off Yeso, but her passengers have filled the most important rdles, for one was no less a personage than Ito Hirobumi, the present Prime Minister of Japan. Count Ito's history since 1867 is the history of his country, for he has, in one way or another, been identi- fied with every prominent movement in that most enter- prising of nations, Progressive Japan. It has been shown that the power of the Shoguns had become very sensibly diminished prior to the time when the great contest commenced between North and South. Even when Commodore Perry arrived in 1854 with his famous autograph letter, the way had already to some extent been prepared for a change. Komei Tenno was then the Mikado, and he was by no means content to leave the conduct of affairs entirely in the hands of the Shogun. He died in 1867, and was succeeded by the present occupant of the throne, who was then not quite seventeen years of age. It is reasonable to suppose that His Majesty had had full opportunity of observing the changes wrought in the political constitution of the nation during the ten or twelve years prior to his accession. Though resident at the Kioto Palace, and not permitted, as a child, to see anything of the outer world, he nevertheless sought and obtained a considerable amount of information regard- .126 ADVANCE JAPAN. ing its doings from those who constantly acted as his tutors and counsellors. He was thus in no small degree prepared, when he came to the throne, to fall in with the views of his more advanced advisers, and his selec- tion of a motto for his reign, the era of Enlightened Rule, affords a definite indication of the state of mind in which he approached the great questions which were then agitating the people of his dominions. How well he has acted up to the standard he established for himself is matter of recent history, and it is neces- sary for the moment to glance at the period immediately antecedent to his accession. Foreign Treaties. The conclusion of a treaty be- tween the Shdgun then in office, on behalf of the Tenshi, with the President of the United States, which had been negotiated by Commodore Perry, was shortly followed by a similar compact with Great Britain. It was not until 1858, however, that the arrangements were completed, through Lord Elgin, for opening the port of Yokohama to general trade, and for the re- sidence there of foreign merchants. The latter treaty likewise stipulated that in 1863 the two southern ports of Hiogo and Osaka should be also thrown open to commercial intercourse. Certain events contributed to place it practically out of the power of Japan to fulfil this part of the engagement, and in 1862, when it was evident that there must inevitably be some delay, an Embassy was despatched to Europe consisting of several Japanese dignitaries and a numerous suite, to THE RESTORATION. 127 request the Powers to consent to the postponement, until 1868, of the opening of the additional ports named. The request was acceded to, and after nearly two years of travel the members of the Embassy re- turned to Japan, more than astonished by what they had seen in the various countries which they had visited. " It is not the people of the West who are barbarians," they exclaimed on landing ; " we ourselves are the bar- barous people ! " That this enthusiastic commendation of the manners and customs of the Occident was some- what coldly received by their colleagues may well be imagined, and for some time no very palpable result was obtained from the mission by either party. In the meantime several events of great importance took place on Japanese soil. Although the Shogun had entered into treaties which gave to Europeans certain liberty of access for purposes of trade, there was a very powerful anti-foreign party in the nation, which set itself to prove to those who were primarily responsible for the strangers' presence that there was a conspicuous lack, of unanimity on the sub- ject. The methods they adopted tended in no small degree to make existence hazardous for the growing foreign population, and it was small comfort to reflect that" the object the agitators sought to attain was quite as much to embarrass the Shogun's party as to expel the " barbarians." Their antagonism took the form of assassinating not only the Europeans, but those who sympathised with them. Thus the murder of three I2 8 ADVANCE JAPAN. Russians was followed by that of the native interpreter to the British Legation, which had only recently been established at Takanawa, a suburb of Yedo. Subse- quently the Legation itself was attacked, and but for the stout defence made, all within it would have been slain. At another time the French Legation was dis- covered to be on fire, the palace of the Shogun in Yedo was burned, the newly-formed settlement of Yokohama was fired, and as a climax the captains of two Dutch vessels were cut down by two-sworded assassins in the main street of the foreign quarter. When a severe earthquake added its terrors to the evils of the hour, the early settlers of the port of Yokohama realised that they were living in very stirring times. The daimio of Mito, elsewhere alluded to, was popu- larly regarded as the instigator of all these atrocities, and for years the very name of Mito became a bugbear to foreign residents. The Mito faction were antagon- istic to the Shogun's Government, otherwise known as the Bakufu, because a nominee of the other branch of the family tree had been chosen to fill the high office of Shogun instead of Hitotsubashi, who represented Mito. It was not until 1866 that the death of lyemochi gave Hitotsubashi his opportunity, and Mito's opposition to the Bakufu came to an end. Sir Rutherford Alcock, the first British Minister to the Court of Japan, had resolution enough, notwith- standing the risk he ran in travelling so far from his headquarters, to make a pilgrimage in 1860 to the THE RESTORATION. 129 crater of Fujiyama, 80 miles from the Capital. He was the first European to ascend the mountain, and to de- termine its approximate height. The prevailing impres- sion among the leading Japanese at that period was well described when he declared that " free intercourse and trade threatens them with a participation in all the miseries, mutations, and political struggles from which they have continued so long exempt. This is un- doubtedly the feeling of the present Government, and the opinion of daimios generally all, in a word, who have any voice or action in Japan. They see nothing but evil in the conjunction which has brought Western Powers to their shores and opened Japanese ports to foreign trade." Happily the occasion for lack of confidence was finally removed thirty years ago, but unquestionably at the time the situation of individual foreigners was often critical. Lord Elgin had been commissioned in 1858 to pre- sent the Shogun with a steam yacht in the name of the Queen of England, and it is a fact that at this period the Japanese fleet, apart from this yacht, consisted of one little paddle-wheel steamer bought from the Dutch, two large square-rigged sailing vessels, and a three- masted schooner. In another chapter will be found an account of the Imperial Navy of Japan in 1895, and of its recent doings, so that some idea may be gathered of the progress made by Japan in this department alone. K 130 ADVANCE JAPAN. Early Efforts to Trade. In 1862 the Shogun inaugurated a trade with Shanghai, by sending thither a British barque of 385 tons (which had been purchased and renamed the Sen-zai-Maru, or Ship of a Thousand Years), under the command of Captain Richardson, with a party of eight officials from Yedo. It was intended to open up a trade with China, and the incident is well worth recording as perhaps the earliest effort of the Japanese to develop that foreign trade in their own vessels upon which they have so extensively embarked in the last two decades. The bombardment of Kagoshima, and subsequently of Shimonoseki, by foreign men-of-war, were actions brought about to a great extent by the growing in- capacity of the Shogun's Government, then rapidly approaching its final extinction. The Satsuma and Choshiu daimios evinced an utter disregard for the Tokugawa authority, their quarrel being directly with the Sh6gun, and only indirectly with Europeans. It is not necessary here to enter upon a consideration of the long chain of events which culminated, in both cases, in open hostilities, for the ultimate effect was scarcely to interfere with the national progress, though in every way deplorable at the time. How little real animosity was entertained towards Europeans, as a body, was apparent when during the next year the Satsuma chieftain cordially welcomed Sir Harry Parkcs, then British Minister at Yedo, on his visit to the Sat- suma stronghold. THE RESTORATION. 133 Enough has been said to show that though the Northern clans espoused the cause of the Shogun, as they were in duty bound to do, against his enemies in the South, the climax was reached only when the Tenshi was induced, by the condition of anarchy which he then saw to be imminent, to take up the reins of Government in person. Hitotsubashi, though believ- ing that the act of His Majesty had been prompted by his opponents, was ready to disperse his following at the Imperial command, and to resign his position of Shogun there and then. But though the Shogun was willing, his supporters were unwilling, and were deter- mined to prolong the fight. The Emperor declared them rebels, and invested his uncle, Prince Arisugawa, with full powers to suppress them. This was in Jan- uary, 1868, and the end soon came. Supported by the combined forces of Satsuma, Chdshiu, Hizen, and Tosa, the loyalist general gradually drove the adherents of the Shogun northward, until he finally crushed them at Hakodate in the island of Yeso. Peace was made, and some of the most conspicuous of the Shogun's party went abroad, returning after the lapse of years to accept office under the Government which had in the meantime been established and con- solidated. Prominent Leaders. The Emperor Mutsuhito determined in 1868, after the tide of rebellion had been swept northwards, to remove his Court to Yedo. In the Castle there he accordingly established himself, 134 ADVANCE JAJ'AN. the former occupant having retired into private life at Shidzuoka, 125 miles distant. The city of Yedo was renamed Tokio, lit. Eastern Capital ; and now that the party of progress had attained the upper hand, steps were taken to introduce all those adjuncts to civilised life which the Embassy of 1862 had so favourably reported upon in 1864. Prominent among those who fought on the side of the loyalists against the Shogun's party were several officers who have since risen to great distinction. Marshal Yamagata, now Minister for War, for example, rose in the army of Choshiu, from the ranks to the com- mand of a regiment, and has distinguished himself throughout his career, not more by his valour than by his devoted attachment to the Imperial Family. Count Inouye, the Minister upon whom has devolved the task of reorganising the affairs of the Korean Kingdom, obtained his early military experience whilst leading the forces of Chdshiu, to repel the attack of the Shogun's army, at an earlier period. Count Ito Hiro- bumi, who returned from a five years' sojourn abroad in time to take part in the stirring events of the restora- tion period, was likewise a samurai of the Choshiu clan. Count Saigo is a Satsuma man, and after occupying many high posts in the Administration is at present the Minister for the Navy. A more detailed list of the pro- minent members of the Government has been furnished in another chapter, and it is only necessary here to allude to the acts of the Administration as a body. THE RESTORATION. 135 Railway*. Among the first steps taken by the new Government of the Mikado was to arrange for the con- struction of railways. They were at the outset at- tracted by the offer of a prominent financier who under- took to provide the requisite funds at 12 per cent, interest. He failed to carry through his project, how- ever, and the Oriental Banking Corporation stepped into the gap, furnishing the money at 9 per cent The Bank appointed one of its most trusted managers to represent it in Yokohama, and this gentleman was likewise engaged by the Government as Director of the new railways. At a more recent period money has been found by Jardine, Matheson & Company, but at the present day all the ready cash required by the Administration is procurable in Japan itself, which fact affords ample proof that the system of Government is regarded by the nation at large as altogether stable and satisfactory. It was no indication of a scarcity of money in the nation, as a whole, when the Ministry undertook to borrow. It was simply an admission that sufficient time had not elapsed to convince native capitalists of the wisdom and feasi- bility of the Government's novel undertakings. Until the country had settled down to the new order of things, it was obviously unwise to make heavy calls on the national capital, though in order to carry out the Imperial programme of progress and reform money was abso- lutely essential. The Ministers had every confidence in their plans, and the result shows that they were fully justified. They have only now to intimate that money 136 ADVANCE JAPAN. is needful, and the coin flows into the exchequer spon- taneously. How stupendous was the task which the Ministry had set itself to accomplish will be understood when it is explained that the former daimios had to be provided for, as well as their retainers, and that many of the terri- torial chieftains had been accustomed to issue paper money in considerable quantities. The Government could only be carried on by withdrawing all these feudal lords from their domains, and providing for their comfort at the Capital. Some had large estates, some small. Some were rich in the accumulation of specie, and could afford to be no burden to the State ; others had loosened an avalanche of practically irredeemable bank-notes for their successors to grapple with. The retainers of these nobles had all received pensions from their lords, and to withdraw from the lords all their sources of revenue was to ruin the retainers as well. Thus the problem to be solved was not a little com- plicated, and that it was boldly faced, and a satisfactory solution arrived at, reflects everlasting credit upon the courage and ability of those who stood sponsors for the new regime. First, the old territorial boundaries were swept away, and a more manageable partition of the Empire into prefectures was effected, in the course of a few months. Prefects were appointed to collect the Land Tax, which formerly had very often been payable by the farmer to the land agent in kind. It had now to be collected in Q o THE RESTORATION. 139 money, and in some cases unquestionably this was a hardship, against which there were several unimportant outbreaks of feeling from the peasantry. With the revenues so collected the Government had to pension the daimios whose estates had been thus confiscated in the process of centralisation. Then they had to find employment for the retainers, only a small proportion of whom were fitted for sedentary occupations. Some of these gentlemen obtained posts under the local pre- fectures, a great many became policemen, and the Navy was almost entirely recruited from this class. After a few years the pensions were abolished in favour of a capitalisation scheme, under which the recipients were given Government Bonds to the full value of their original incomes, redeemable after a certain term of years. In great part these bonds have already been paid off, and thus the Government stands well to rid itself at no distant date of all its liabilities in this respect. Another of the early enactments of the new Adminis- tration was to declare, in 1870, that vaccination should be compulsory. From ancient times small-pox had been a terrible scourge to the Japanese people. In 1870 the number of heavily-marked or sightless persons who owed their misfortunes to this malady was enormous. In 1895 tne afflicted ones are almost invariably adults, which may at least be accepted as proof that the misery has been alleviated in no trifling degree. Public Works. The Sado gold-mines, situated in 140 ADVANCE JAPAN. an island on the north-west coast, had for years been worked in a very primitive fashion prior to 1870, the quartz having been broken, bit by bit, with iron mallets. In that year the Government Department of Mines in- troduced quartz-crushing machinery, whereby the output could be at least trebled. It was in the year 1871 that the Ministry gave itself free rein, for the affairs of the nation had by that time become tolerably settled upon a good working basis. The Oriental Banking Corporation, through whose agency a vast amount of railway material had been procured from Great Britain, and a staff of engineers engaged to prosecute the work, was further commis- sioned to provide an adequate stock of wire and other suitable apparatus for the construction of lines of tele- graph throughout the country, a start having already been made by an engineer attached to the lighthouse department, in the provision of a line connecting Tokio with Yokohama. The railway between those points had made such progress that a trial trip of an engine and trucks was made in September over four miles of track. In August of that year the great hospital of Shitaya in Tokio was inaugurated, two German doctors who had seen service in the Franco-German War being installed as the leading physicians. The Emperor's birthday in this year was made specially memorable to Europeans by His Majesty's reception, at the palace in Tokio, of the principal THE RESTORATION. 141 foreign employees of the Government. Only three years had then elapsed since he had issued from his retirement at Kioto to administer the affairs of his Empire in person, and no little curiosity was evinced in regard to the personal appearance of the Sovereign on the part of his subjects at large, whose ideas on the subject were, up to that time, of the most vague character. As an additional proof of the resolution to which Japan had arrived that she would eventually, and at no distant date, put forward her claims to be regarded as having joined the Concert of Civilised States, a new Mission to the United States and Europe was deter- mined upon. The Udaijin, or Minister-in-Chief of the Right, Iwakura, was accompanied in this embassy by I to Hirobumi and three other heads of State de- partments, and the party left Japan in December for California on board an American mail steamer. The advance made by his country and the decidedly progressive programme, in the best sense of the term, which had been sanctioned by the Emperor, up to that date, formed the salient topics of an excellent speech delivered by Count Ito whilst passing through San Francisco on that journey. It so perfectly conveys the hopes and aims of the Government party at that early period of the new regime that it is here quoted in full. Speech of his Excellency Ito Hirobumi, delivered at the Lick House, San Francisco, in January, 1872 : " This is perhaps a fitting opportunity to give a brief 142 ADVANCE JAPAN. and reliable outline of many improvements introduced into Japan. Few but native Japanese have any correct knowledge of our country's internal condition. Our Mission, under special instructions from His Majesty the Emperor, while seeking to protect the rights and in- terests of our respective nations, will seek to unite them more closely in the future, convinced that we shall appreciate each other more when we know each other better. . . . To-day it is the earnest wish of both our Government and people to strive for the highest points of civilisation enjoyed by more enlightened coun- tries. Looking to this end, we have adopted their Mili- tary, Naval, Scientific, and Educational Institutions, and knowledge has flowed to us freely in the wake of foreign commerce. Although our improvement has been rapid in material civilisation, the mental improvement of our people has been far greater. . . . While held in absolute obedience by despotic Sovereigns through many thousand years, our people knew no freedom or liberty of thought. With our material improvement they learned to understand their rightful privileges, which for ages had been denied them. Civil war was but a temporary result. . . . Our daimios magnani- mously surrendered their principalities, and their volun- tary action was accepted by a general Government. Within a year a feudal system firmly established many centuries ago has been completely abolished. What country in the middle ages broke down its feudal system without war ? THE RESTORATION. 145 " By educating our women we hope to ensure greater intelligence in future generations . . . our maidens have already commenced their education. Japan cannot claim originality as yet, but will aim to exercise prac- tical wisdom by adopting the advantages, and avoiding the errors, taught her by the history of those enlightened nations whose experience is their teacher. A year ago, I examined minutely the financial system of the United States, and every detail was reported to my Govern- ment. The suggestions then made have been adopted, and some are already in practical operation. " In the Department of Public Works, now under my administration, the progress has been satisfactory. Rail- roads are being built, both in the eastern and western portions of the Empire. Telegraph-wires are stretching over many hundred miles of our territory, and nearly one thousand miles will be completed within a few months. Lighthouses now line our coasts, and our ship- yards are active. All these assist our civilisation, and we fully acknowledge our indebtedness to foreign nations. " As ambassadors, and as men, our hope is to return from this Mission laden with results valuable to our country and calculated to advance permanently her material and intellectual condition. While bound to protect the rights and privileges of our people, we aim to increase our commerce, and by a corresponding in- crease of our productions, hope to create a healthy basis for their greater activity. , I 4 6 ADVANCE JAPAN. " Time, so burdened with precious opportunities, we can ill afford to waste. Japan is anxious to press for- ward. The red disc in the centre of our National flag shall no longer appear like a wafer over a sealed em- pire, but henceforth be in fact, what it is designed to be, the noble emblem of the rising sun, moving on- ward and upward amid the enlightened nations of the world." Educational Progress* It affords remarkable testi- mony to the unwavering perseverance of the leading spirits of the Administration that, amid all the signs of impending strife which were accumulating around them, they found opportunity to introduce improvements in the condition of the Mikado's subjects in all ranks of life, and to stimulate throughout the adoption of genuine reforms. The scheme of national education was re- modelled upon a basis which has afforded universal satisfaction, as alluded to later on. The old system of calculating time and regulating the seasons, which was of Chinese origin, was entirely abandoned in favour of the Gregorian Calendar, which has been in operation since January, 1873. Daily newspapers were started in the Capital and chief towns of the interior. Exhibitions of special products and of priceless treasures of Japanese art were opened at Kioto and at Tokio. The first line of railway was completed between Yoko- hama and the Capital, the State opening by the Emperor having taken place in October, 1872. The northern island of Yeso was opened up to colonisation, under the THE RESTORATION. 147 guidance of the Kattakushi, which department included in its staff several gentlemen from the United States who were experts in agriculture, forestry, and mining. Rice was for the first time shipped from Japan direct to the London market at about this period, and proved the commencement of a trade which has since assumed very large dimensions. At the end of the year 1873, MEDALS AWARDED AT TOKIO EXHIBITION. Iwakura, the Udaijin, returned from Europe with his suite, and resumed his position at the Ministry. The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia paid a visit to Japan during the winter of 1872-3, in the frigate Svet- lana, on which he was serving as a lieutenant. The occasion of his stay in the port of Yokohama was seized by the Mikado to make a State visit on board a foreign man-of-war, which was in itself so extraordinary a depar- ture from the time-honoured usages of the Japanese Court, and so palpable a concession to the spread of Western ideas in the territory of Dai Nilion, that it created no trifling sensation in the minds of both native and foreign observers. His Majesty first went to the Riu- L 2 148 ADVANCE JAPAN. jo-kan his own corvette accompanied by the Duke, and subsequently was entertained on board the Svetlana to a banquet. It is memorable that on this occasion the Japanese monarch wore, for the last time in public, his ancient ceremonial costume of white brocade, with the head-dress peculiar to the Tenshi from the middle ages. He has since that visit, when travelling beyond the limits of his palace, worn the uniform of European design in which he is usually photographed. The adoption of foreign costume, and the European style of wearing the hair cut short, had become much more general by this date, and it was enjoined upon all officials to wear the European dress of ceremony on State occasions. The demand which consequently sprang up for tailors' cutters all over the Empire was so great that the men who could obtain a little practical tuition from a foreign tradesman in the art of habit- making were able to command their own rate of wages in distant cities. In the department of education great progress was made and excellent results were achieved by the Im- perial College of Engineering, established in Tokio in the year 1873. In recent times the various branches of science there taught have been embraced by the lectures delivered at the Imperial University, but for nearly a decade the Engineering College continued to turn out ripe scholars, for whom posts were always to be found promptly in connection with the many public works undertaken by the Government. THE RESTORATION. 149 Sheep -farming was commenced as an experiment, on a tract of land not far from the Capital, and for a time it succeeded ; but the rank indigenous grass of the country must ever prove a serious obstacle to the rear- ing of these animals on a paying scale. Coast Survey. The coasts of Japan have been most carefully surveyed under the direction of the Mikado's hydrographer, an officer who was, in his earlier surveys, indebted in no small degree for practical hints to the staff of H.M.S. Sylvia, and whose work has been car- ried out for twenty years past in a manner securing for him the highest praise from professional critics. The Japanese naval officers have the fullest appreciation of the value of those tasks which are constantly performed by British surveying vessels in Eastern seas. And it is only just to state, on the other hand, that they have in recent years turned out Admiralty Charts for their own Government which, for nicety of execution and perfection of engraving, command general admiration. The Japanese have a natural taste for trigonometrical surveying, and their patience and accuracy find expres- sion in the minutest details. They have recently pub- lished charts of some of the less known harbours, which are to be found in the hands of coasting skippers, whose confidence in them is the best proof of the general exac- titude which characterises the work of this branch of the Japanese naval service. Schools. The system of elementary education is compulsory. Schools, where the tuition is of this 150 ADVANCE JAPAN. elementary class, number throughout the Empire no fewer than 25,374; and, in addition to these there are 1,770 special schools and 145 middle-class schools, with 177 Kindergarten, bringing the total up to 27,466. The Voluntary and Board Schools under inspection in the British Isles, to institute a comparison with Japan, number 31,040. Two years ago the pupils at these schools numbered 2,320,272 boys and 965,122 girls. At the special col- leges for military training, naval construction, agricul- ture, and the arts, there were also 1 1,906 pupils. Japan boasted not more than 24 public libraries in 1892, possessing 327,548 volumes ; but the number has been considerably added to, and the system is of altogether modern growth. Perhaps no department of the Japanese Government Service should possess greater interest for foreign readers in view of the fact that, when the new treaty signed in 1894 comes into full operation, all dwellers in the Mikado's dominions will become subject to the Japanese laws than the bureau which deals with the administra- tion of justice. Administration of Iu*tice. The system now in force has been founded throughout on the principles of modern jurisprudence. The judges of Japan are irre- movable, save in the course of criminal or disciplinary punishment. A Court of Criminal Appeal, as well as that of Civil Appeal, is already in existence in Japan, cases being heard by the Court of Cassation in the THE RESTORATION. 153 Capital. In this respect, at all events, Japan is ahead of Great Britain. There are 49 courts of first instance, one in each Fu and Ken, and from these there in an appeal to seven provincial courts, beyond which in certain cases there is the Tokio Supreme Court. All the lesser crimes are dealt with by the courts of first instance, and these also make preliminary examination in cases of serious crime. Below these courts there are Courts of Peace, 301 in number, in the principal towns and villages of every Fu and Ken, which take cognisance of all petty offences. An approach in form to our Assize Courts is seen in the constitution, every three months, of criminal courts in the provincial courts of appeal and sometimes at courts of first instance which are presided over by a president and four judges, for the purpose of trying serious offences in the provinces. The Emperor himself directly appoints the senior judges, others of less rank being nominated by the Minister of Justice for the Emperor's approval. The statistics of crime show that in 1892 there were 3,249 offences classed as serious, and 166,884 as minor offences, throughout the country. In 1886 the figures were 6,848 and 129,827 respectively. Eight State prisons, 156 local gaols, seven military and three naval prisons, were in existence last year, with a reformatory attached to every Fu and Ken. The prisons and reformatories held a population of about 71,000 males and 5,000 females at the close of the year 1892. 154 ADVANCE JAPAN. As the laws are codified, the administration of justice proceeds on well-defined lines, and it may be accepted as a general rule that no ordinarily well-conducted resi- dent of the British Isles is more likely to come under the lash of the criminal law in Japan than in his own country. Relief of tfce Poor, A remarkable provision is made by the Poor Law of Japan for relief in times of distress, which has been based upon the necessities of the people as exhibited in the rare occurrence of a failure of the rice crop. The Government has a relief reserve fund of nineteen millions of yen, equal to nearly 2,000,000 sterling, the interest of which is devoted to grants in aid, and in twelve months the expenditure, for a period not much above the normal, was about 38,000 for food to in- digent persons, 73,000 for provisional dwellings for poor or burnt-out families, 3,000 for seed grain to farmers, and nearly 4,000 lent to help the payment of Land Tax. The Tokio workhouse, it is worthy of note, contains on an average not more than 600 paupers, a fact which speaks loudly for the general prosperity of the people of the Japanese Capital. Effort* to Reform Korea* While domestic reform engaged the attention of Japanese statesmen they were not unmindful of the position which their country ought to hold in international affairs, and they could not but regard the situation of Korea with intense and peculiar interest. So long as her near peninsular neighbour re- mained isolated from, and defiant to, Western nations, THE RESTORATION. 155 she was likely to place Japan in peril. The Annamese, by persecuting French missionaries and their neophytes, brought themselves under subjection to France. Korea invited attack from her intolerance in the same manner. Besides, she had lately become coterminous with a Western power whose annexing propensities perturb many lands, and as regards other European States they probably feared that a desire for territorial aggrandise- ment might arise in one quarter or be revived in another, and that thus they might be endangered by foreign domination through the temptation which Korea afforded to Western ambition. It is obvious that considerations of this kind induced the Government of Japan to attempt to introduce Korea into the comity of nations. The first step that was taken to bring the sturdy and obstinate peninsulars to terms was to approach them through the Chinese. The task of securing the co-operation of China was entrusted to Mr. Mori, and as China, not less than Japan, was concerned in the integrity of the peninsula which juts down between them for it would constitute a permanent menace to each if possessed by an aggressive power Mr. Mori's mission was successful. The Tsungli Yamen sent a commissioner with despatches to Korea, which fact doubtless assisted the Koreans to acquiesce in the reasonable demands of Japan at the time. What Commodore Perry effected in Japan, the Japanese have in turn accomplished in Korea. That country is now in a fair way to be thoroughly opened to foreign trade and intercourse under Japanese auspices. 156 ADVANCE JAPAN. Chinese and Japanese Statesmen. A native Japanese newspaper gave the following account of an interview between Li Hung Chang and Mr. Mori, when he was Japanese Ambassador at Peking, touch- ing the comparative standard of civilisation in Europe and Asia. Li had asked Mori for his opinion, and Mori answered : " In my humble opinion, all honest writers allow that Asia has made great advances in civilisation. Supposing, however, that the position which Asia holds be fixed at the third degree taking the highest as ten that of Europe cannot be placed lower than the seventh." Li Hung Chang : " A very just comparison. Pray favour me with your views as to the best plan for pro- moting the advancement of my country." Mori : " Your question is a very serious one, to which I would not venture to give a reply. I have just come to this immense country, and am as yet entirely un- acquainted with its internal condition. For the advance- ment, however, of its prosperity, the first thing is to select those persons who by their abilities are best quali- fied to grapple with a subject so important. This will be plain to you. Unless, however, there are thirty more Li Hung Changs in China, this work cannot be carried out." Li Hung Chang (smiling): "Why do you say that ? There are a hundred Li Hung Changs in China." Mori : " There may be, but what use are they when THE RESTORATION, 157 they are not in their proper places in such offices as Governors of the eighteen provinces or Ministers of the Tsung-li-yamen. In my humble opinion those young students who are now being taught in America will, when they arrive at manhood, obtain an influence similar to that which your Excellency now possesses, and will advance high in office." Li Hung Chang: " I quite agree with you. I brought about the despatch of those youths to Europe, and I place great hopes in them for the future." Jiori Ai iuori. Mori Arinori, the Ambassador to China referred to, and subsequently to Great Britain, had a career of more than common interest. He belonged to Satsuma, and was one of twenty-four students selected by the Prince of that province for education in England in the year 1865. He was then nineteen years of age, and studied at London University, as did also several who have since attained to high distinction in Japan. The political condition of his country induced him to return after a period of two years' study. He spent one year, on his way home, in the United States. Reaching Tokio just after the restoration, he was appointed to the Foreign Office, and was elected to the Convention which was called to remodel the institutions of the Empire. He acted as president of that body, and the knowledge acquired in England and America gave him great influence. He was the champion of many re- forms, none of which excited more keen opposition than the proposal to abolish the practice of wearing two swords 158 ADVANCE JAPAN. by the samurai. He eventually carried this measure, but the Conservative Party were so incensed that he barely escaped assassination. After remaining in seclusion at his native city for some time, he was appointed (the first diplomatic post created by the New Japanese Govern- ment) as Charge d' Affaires at Washington. There he continued his political studies, and published a book on " Life and Resources in America," dealing with the various institutions of the United States. He strongly deprecated the bestowal of office solely for political purposes, and, as a fact, the Cabinet of Tokio is appointed directly by the Emperor himself, altogether independently of party. He wrote strongly on religious questions, and it may be no disadvantage to quote some of his arguments, because they show as clearly as possi- ble not only the views he then held, but those which to a very great extent are believed to prevail among his educated countrymen at the present day. Hi Views on Religion and Education. " After his return from Europe some years ago," it was declared, " he was frequently questioned by his countrymen as to his opinion about the Christian religion. He took the ground that, so far as he could understand it, the Bible was a wise and good book. While Christians claimed to have the only true religion, and pretended to be better than other men, they did not, in that particular, differ from the Chinese or Japanese, who assert the same claims for their religions. He thought, therefore, that those who desire to form any opinion on Christianity THE RESTORATION. 159 should acquaint themselves with it by a close and attentive study, and then judge for themselves. What- ever may be his own private ideas, he does not think it proper to advocate them on a matter of such great importance. A large proportion of people who are known by the name of Christians, say and do a great many things, according to his observation, which do not accord with the teaching of their own Bible ; but is not this true of every nation on earth? When men think they know everything and boast of their superior wisdom, the presumption is that they have yet much to learn ; and all human experience, as well as the Bible of the Christians, inculcates the idea that before men can be wise and good, they must be humble. True Christianity may be considered in a general sense as part of a civili- sation in which the good and the bad participate. True philosophy would seem to teach that it should be a leading element in such a civilisation." Whilst in the United States Mr. Mori published a book entitled " Education in Japan," showing its needs, and a summary of his views was reprinted in Japanese, and largely contributed to the remodelling of the Educational Institutions of the Empire. Mr. Mori urged most strongly the abandonment of the custom of wearing swords. One of his sturdiest opponents was the present Viscount Kuroda, and when in the United States, en route to London, that gentle- man made a graceful acknowledgment of his con- version to the Minister's views by handing his sword 160 ADVANCE JAPAN. to Mr. Mori for bestowal upon the Washington Military Museum of Antiquities. Both Mr. Mori and Viscount Kuroda were firm be- lievers in the higher education of their countrywomen. They discovered that the happiness and prosperity of the United States was in no small degree due to the posi- tion of woman in that country, where she was fitted to take her position as the equal of man. On returning to Japan, Mr. Mori became Vice- Minister for Foreign Affairs, and laboured actively for the promotion of knowledge. He established a society to inaugurate and promote social and political reform by the discussion and publication of its papers. The Press Laws compelled this society to cease publishing its proceedings; and there can be no doubt that in Japan, at present, an absolutely unrestricted Press would be a doubtful blessing. Foreigners are not permitted to publish newspapers in the vernacular. Were this restriction abolished now though it may be by and bye native editors could shelter themselves under the names of foreign owners and attack the Government too freely for endurance. After 1899 the case will be altered, and foreign owners of native papers will be amenable to native law. Perhaps it was to Mori that polygamy came to be so frowned upon, for in 1873 he spoke out boldly respect- ing the need of reform in the marriage laws. No finer sentiments are to be found expressed in any language, than are contained in his writings at that period. THE RESTORATION. 161 Mori put his principles into practice, for having met a highly accomplished lady of his own class, he upset all preconceived notions of propriety by paying his ad- dresses to her after the fashion of an Occidental lover. He wooed and won his bride, and they signed and attested a contract of marriage before the Mayor of Tokio, in the presence of a concourse of natives and foreigners, which secured to the lady all the rights and privileges the most advanced legislation of the West has accorded to the sex, and bound the husband to mono- gamy. No wonder the old Conservatives gasped for breath ! Killed toy a Soshi. This enlightened Statesman's career, it is necessary to add, came to a sad conclusion, for he fell a victim to the dagger of a soshi t Nishino Buntaro, whose motives for perpetrating the foul crime appear to have been absolutely inexplicable. M CHAPTER VII. EAKLY YEARS OF MEIJI. Y the time Meiji, as the era of En- lightened Rule, had entered upon its fifth year, the embarrassments of the new Government had become so abundant that pessimistic folk shook their heads and indulged in the most dismal prophecies. In truth there was much to perplex the responsible Ministers of Departments, for China and Korea were even then the cause of much anxiety. The people of the Riu-kiu Islands had held allegiance to Japan for centuries, but had nevertheless been claimed by China as vassals, upon a principle with which the events of more recent times have made us familiar. Some Riu-kiu fishermen had been wrecked on the neighbouring coast of Formosa in September, 1871, and the savage aborigines of the " beautiful isle " had cruelly treated the castaways. Their friends had appealed to the Mikado, as their Sovereign, to punish the evil-doers. As Formosa nomi- nally formed part of the Chinese Empire, the Govern- ment of Japan addressed itself to the Tsung-li-yamen EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. r6 3 at Peking on the subject. Soyeshima, an official of high rank, was despatched to the Chinese Capital with full powers to discuss this and cognate matters with the Chinese authorities, and as a result of his mission the Mikado's Ministers were informed that China gave Japan absolute freedom of action in the matter of chastising- o the savages. Japan was at liberty to send a military force to Formosa for this purpose, and otherwise to take THE CRUISER " CHIYODA." such measures as would convey a salutary warning to the barbarians, whom the Chinese confessed themselves practically unable to control. For the time being there the matter rested, but a large percentage of the southern samurai were keenly desirous of taking part in an expe- dition which should have Formosa for its goal, and re- sented the idea of delay. M 2 164 ADVANCE JAPAN. At this time the Government was organising its Army and Navy upon foreign principles, and was not in any hurry to send troops into the field until they could do justice to their drill and equipment. The French Mili- tary Mission had done excellent work in training the nucleus of an army, and British officers had taken prominent parts in the creation of corps of Artil- lery and Marines. The Navy was in process of formation under the com- petent superintendence of a British naval comman- der and the personnel of a man-of-war, lent for the purpose by the British Admiralty. The peasants in certain districts began to remon- strate loudly against the burden of the Land Tax at this juncture, and formulated their demands in threaten- ing letters to the Prefects. In Bizen and Bingo pro- vinces the farmers gathered in open revolt, and set fire to Government buildings and other State property, ex- pressing a determination to have none of the Western innovations in their part of the country. Their objec- tions took the form, in particular, of uprooting the tele- DOCTOR ISHIGURO (Chief of Medical Staff). EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 165 graph posts as soon as they had been erected, cutting the wires, burning the Jion-jins, or official inns whereat the foreign employee and his guard were lodged, and generally giving as much trouble as was possible short of organised rebellion. In the midst of these minor troubles at home there was a growing quarrel with Korea, which, it was afterwards discovered, was attribut- able in great measure to the machinations of the Chinese Resident at the Court of Seoul. The Govern- ment of the Mikado was understood to have received a most insulting letter from Korea which, if it had not the sanction of authority, had nevertheless emanated from a source which imparted to it a certain weight as voicing the feelings of the anti-Japanese element in the Peninsular Kingdom. The text of this remarkable epistle was pretty much as here given, and when read in the light of subsequent events becomes vastly enter- taining, though it tends to show that at the time in question Korea was distinctly a thorn in the side of the Japanese Government : A LETTER FROM KOREA RECEIVED IN JULY, 18/2. " Our Korea is but a very small country, but yet we Jiave courage to tell you in writing that Western barbarians are beasts. We intend this as a direct insult to you and your barbarous allies. We only wish you would join with them and come here with your great ships of war and your army. Fusan is the nearest port of Korea to Japan. We will send 166 ADVANCK JAPAN. and dear a space t/terc for a battle-ground, and will appoint tlie battle, so as to make the affair as in- expensive to you as possible. Correspondence by letter is useless, and your apologies will not avail you. There is nothing for it but a sanguinary war, ivliich will cost Japan all her warriors. That will bring- you to your senses. Do not attempt to write to us again. This is a fair warning to you to make all your preparations, for if Japan does not invade Korea, then Korea will most certainly invade Japan" The fact that this letter had been received did not leak out at the moment, but presently the Korean insults became matter of common talk, and fresh fuel was thereby added to the flames already kindled in the breasts of the patriotic southern clansmen, who clamoured at once to be led against those who thus dared to deride the armaments of Japan. RenionmtranceH from SatMiima. Shimadzu Sa- buro, the hereditary chieftain of the Satsuma clan, took occasion, at the same period of general uneasiness, to address a remonstratory letter regarding the proceedings of the Government, to His Majesty the Tenshi, the general tone of which, though conveyed in language of the utmost respect, and indicative throughout of patriotic subserviency, was plainly to deplore the rapid advance of the nation on Occidental lines, however progressive in character. The document is remarkable enough to interest the reader throughout, even when shorn of some EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 167 hyperbolical expressions which convey but little to a Western mind. SHIMADZU SABURO TO HIS MAJESTY. <: The August Studies of the most illustrious, the Emperor, are thus summarised by His Majesty's ser- vant, Hisamitsu. " i. The establishment of national principles of action, and the execution of the laws. " 2. The adoption of a system of dress, and strict regulation of the outward man. " 3. The reform of learning. " 4. The careful selection of human talent. " 5. The careful conduct of foreign relations, and the establishment of a clear distinction between the rights of J apanese and foreigners. " 6. The cultivation of a military spirit, and the reform of the army laws. " 7. The establishment of a clear distinction between the rights of noble and mean. " 8. The banishment of greed, the prizing of virtue, the rejection of the deceitful arts, and the reverencing of truthfulness. '9. The strict prohibition of debauchery, and the establishment of a strongly marked line between the sexes. " 10. The right of all to address the Sovereign. " n. The careful judgment of disputes, and rightful apportioning of reward and punishment 168 ADVANCE JAPAN. " 12. The lightening of taxes, and the abatement of burdens. " 13. The careful calculation of income and ex- penditure. " Your Majesty's servant has entertained strong opinions on these points for many years, but at the time of his short visit to the Capital in 1869, finding no convenient opportunity for expressing them, and not being favoured with your Majesty's gracious interroga- tion, he was obliged to be silent. " In this critical moment he can no longer sit by and look on with indifference at passing events, and though he is convinced that your Majesty cannot adopt his retrograde and unenlightened views, still he feels that a convenient season may never offer itself again, and he ventures to make this abrupt representation. He humbly apologises for his audacity, but the fact is that by your Majesty's present system of government the fortunes of this country are daily declining. The pre- sent line, which should last for ever and ever, is in danger of falling into the vice called republicanism, and he can see, as clearly as in a mirror, that Japan will eventually become a dependency of the Western Bar- barians. " Your servant, Hisamitsu, awaits punishment for his audacity and want of reverence in speaking thus freely. " Presented with awe and prostrations." It is not suprising to know that this letter gave much offence to the members of the Government who were EARLY YEARS OF MEIJL 169 striving to direct the course of the nation anywhere but towards republicanism, and certainly entertained no such dread of Japan falling a prey to the voracity of the nations to which the old noble so flatteringly referred. He was invited to visit Tokio to explain himself, but resisted the summons until a man-of-war was sent to Kagoshima to compel his attendance. Then it was that he went on board with a couple of hundred or so of his retainers, all wearing their long and short swords, and dressed in the costume of Old Japan, and was soon landed in the Capital. The Satsuma men still partially shaved their heads, wore their hair in the Japanese queue, carried their two swords in their girdles, twirled iron war-fans in their fingers, refused to be served with food in the inns except in the most antiquated style, and generally behaved themselves more like actors in some historical drama on the theatrical stage, than as inhabitants of modern Japan. When the Emperor's quarters were seen to be ablaze, and the three signal guns were fired from the castle walls to warn the nation that the occupants of the Im- perial Palace were in danger, there was a readiness among the populace to ascribe the mischief, in some way or other, to the handiwork of the strangers from the south. Shimadzu left the Capital shortly afterwards, and took his men back with him to Kagoshima, whence they did not again emerge until they set out in 1877 m rebellion against the Mikado, an occurrence which will claim attention in due course. i;o ADVANCE JAl'AN. The members of the Ministry had done their utmost to conciliate and harmoniously co-operate with the old noble, and he had actually accepted the office of Sa- daijin, that of second subject of the Emperor, and the portfolio of Home Affairs, which had been tendered to him in the endeavour to enlist his sympathies in the new order of things, but the effort proved to be fruit- less. He remained wedded to the prejudices and doc- trines of antiquity. A day was approaching when the ardent tempera- ments of the southern Samurai would no longer suffer them to brook the insults which, in their opinion, had been levelled at Japan by her neighbours, China and Korea. Had the politicians of those two countries sought a more effective plan by which to embarrass the Ministers of the Tenshi. they could scarcely have found it, for the task of controlling a body of men whose ante- cedents had always been more or less of a character to render them quick to resent an affront, was truly her- culean. The enthusiasm with which the young blood of Kiushiu demanded authority to chastise Korea spread to the Capital, for several members of the Government themselves caught the infection, and the counsels of the Ministry became divided. The Udaijin Iwakura was one of those who advocated patience, but the Ministers Saigo Kichi-no-suk, Soyeshima, Goto Shojiro, Itagaki, and Veto Shimpei, were all five of the contrary opinion, and resigned their portfolios in a body as a protest EARLY YEARS OF ME1JL 171 against further delay in administering to Korea, more especially, her deserts. The irreconcilables were speedily replaced by Okubo, Terashima, Ito Hirobumi, and two other prominent leaders whose names are equ- ally honoured in Japan, and the Iwakura Cabinet, as re- constituted, sturdily resisted the pressure put upon it to declare war. But Veto Shimpei, one of the five officials who had re- signed, was imbued with the belief that he could force the hands of his late coadjutors and the efforts he made to gain his object ended very disastrously for himself and all concerned. He appears to have devised a method whereby the disappointed Samurai of his own clan, in the province of Chikugo, might seize the castle of Saga, the principal town, and hold it as a protest against Government inaction. Accordingly he laid siege to the place, with a numerous body of his fellow-clans- men and their sympathisers in that region, and carried the castle by storm, after a stout resistance on the part of the little garrison. The telegraph was in full operation everywhere, and promptly conveyed word to Tokio of Veto's audacious GENERAL NODZU. 172 ADVANCE JAPAN. act of insurrection. The Iwakura Ministry were at once authorised by the Emperor to declare Yeto a rebel, and to take measures for his suppression. Okubo Toshim- itsu was sent south as High Commissioner to execute the Imperial decree, and with him went General Nodzu, who, in recent times, has done wonderful things in Manchuria, and Admiral Ito, the naval commander who so completely outman- oeuvred the Chinese Admiral and annihilated the fleet of the Celestial Empire in the late war. Nuga Insurrection. It was against their own coun- trymen, unhappily, that these now well-known leaders rose to distinction, and the Saga Rebellion, as it was termed, gave them both their opportunity. The castle which Yeto Shimpei was rash enough to occupy was speedily retaken by the loyalists, and he became a fugi- tive ; but not for long, for he was captured, tried before a specially constituted tribunal, and condemned to de- capitation. His execution, together with a large number of his misguided followers, quickly succeeded the death sentence, and his case affords a notable instance of re- tributive justice that deserves to be recorded. During the time Yeto Shimpei held office as a Minister of the ADMIRAL ITO. EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 173 Crown he was mainly concerned with the administration of the law, and among other striking innovations he introduced the practice of photographing prisoners, as a means of identification should they be guilty of further malpractices. After the Saga affair he took to the mountains, and the Ministry of Justice issued broadcast a photographic presentment of the missing culprit, which was directly the means of his apprehension, it being re- cognised by a person who thereupon became interested in the chase. There were many in the land who grieved over the loss of Yeto Shimpei, for his patriotism alone had be- trayed him into crime. He thirsted to punish the Koreans for their insolence, and brought disaster upon himself, almost to his country, too, as the sequel showed, by undue eagerness and lack of self-restraint. The men of the Satsuma province were even then drilling most assiduously under the directions of their leader, Saigo Takamori, as they loved to call him, Saigo the Falconer, as the name might be translated, and he was at that period of his career the absolute idol of the Samurai class throughout the country. What their object was in making such formidable military preparations was not disclosed at the time, but the Government knew that it took place nightly, and could form a fairly accurate idea of the way in which the force might eventually be employed. That they recognised the danger, when Yeto Shimpei's zeal outstepped his discretion, of the torch he applied at Saga, initiating 174 ADVAXCE JAPAN. a far more formidable conflagration in Satsuma, may well be comprehended, from the promptitude with which they set about its extinction. The members of tiic Cabinet undoubtedly breathed more freely when they found that they had been successful in checking the spread of insurrection, if not permanently, at least for .1 certain time, and in reality the impending trouble at Kagoshima did not reach a climax until considerably more than two years had passed. Nevertheless, the existence of a turbulent temper in the old military class was unpleasantly evident, and the need of an outlet, in some direction or other, became too palp- able to be ignored. With that desire to find a safety- valve for the ebullition of popular feeling with which the members of the Cabinet have been credited on a more recent occasion, they at once undertook to send an ex- pedition to Formosa to chastise the aborigines, in con- sonance with the authority given them by China some time before. Expedition to FormoMu. The preparations of the War Department even at this period had attained to a degree of perfection which enabled it to mobilise a power- ful, thoroughly-equipped army at short notice. Count Okuma was Minister, and General Saigo, brother of the famous leader of the Satsuma clan, and now Minister of the Navy Department at Tokio, took command of the expedition. At this period of their career the troops were full of that soldierly attribute of personal courage, but lacked the disposition to descend to the lower details of military life. The men were accompanied by an EARLY YEARS OF MEIJL 175 almost equal number of " coolies " to dig trenches, cook the rations, build huts, and perform other duties which the military class at that time regarded it as beneath their dignity to undertake. Formosa proved to have formidable cliffs to be scaled by the invaders, and mazes of barricades had been con- structed by the savages out of banyan trees and brush- wood, so that the work of reaching the fastnesses of the men whom the expedition had come to punish proved to be one of no small difficulty and exposure to flank attack. When they had surmounted one difficulty they were confronted with another. Finally they had to bivouac in an abattis on the bare rock when they could scrape through to it, without food or water, at the approach of darkness. A correspondent who was with them at the time, Mr. House, was nevertheless able to pass a high encomium upon the Japanese soldiery, from whom not a complaint ever arose, despite their discom- fort. Had they been surrounded by every luxury they could not have been in more cheerful humour. Herein lies their real merit : that they exercise the strictest discipline over their own tempers, an ability to govern themselves enabling them to show high qualities of endurance and fortitude (and this is true of the entire nation, as well as of the Japanese Army) not only in danger, to which they are constitutionally indifferent, but on occasions of personal distress, or of grave anxiety and suspense, such as comparatively few Western people can meet with equanimity. The more recent campaigns have shown very distinctly that these characteristics are as i?6 ADVANCE JAPAN, much those of the Mikado's troops of to-day as they were of the men Count Saigo took to Formosa in 1874. They have advanced rapidly since that time in all that goes to make the finished soldier, and though they have their faults, which have only too often been descried and ex- aggerated by outsiders, the Japanese soldiers exhibit self-denying patience, and a ready, willing, hearty obedience at all times, which tell even farther in their favour than the reputation they have won for reckless, daring heroism. It is memorable, at a time when the Japanese have been stigmatised as guilty of unheard of atrocities in Manchuria, to find that Count Saigo expressed to his men his strong personal desire that in the inevitable encounters with the savages as little blood should be shed as possible ; and it was only after two attacks from the aborigines, who were in ambush, had caused his own ranks to be thinned, that he gave the order for an assault, in which a con- siderable number were slain. He sternly forbade his men to decapitate their foes, though the savages in- variably so treated the Japanese whom they caught. The tribe which had been guilty of the outrage in 1871 on the shipwrecked fishers was sought out and fought, but the other tribes were all but unmolested, and speedily came in to make peace. All was ended in an agreement by the aborigines to deal humanely with any future castaways. It was quite in consonance with the vacillating policy of the Tsung-li-yamen that when they heard of the opera- EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 177 tions of the Japanese forces in Formosa they declared that although the Ambassador, Soyeshima, had correctly interpreted the understanding which had been mutually arrived at, they never supposed that the Japanese " mis- sion " to the Formosa savages would be accompanied by an armed force. Such a quibble would have carried its own contradiction under any circumstances; and when the Chinese Government, in its alarm at the dimensions which the expeditionary labours of Count Saigo's force had assumed, despatched a couple of its ships and Special Commissioners to treat with Count Saigo for the withdrawal of his little army, that general simply referred them to his Government. One of the proposals then made was to the effect that, having come to settle the affairs of the disturbed neighbourhood in conjunction with the Japanese com- mander, they should now co-operate with him in arrange- ments having this end in view. Saigo promptly told them that he could accept no such offer, for he had been directed to punish the authors of the outrage on his countrymen, and had done so. He neither required, nor could submit to, co-operation of any kind. When it is remembered in what almost identical fashion the dispute arose over the condition of affairs in Korea, which led to the war of 1894-5, it 1S the more easy to understand the condition of mind in which the Chinese authorities approached the settle- ment of the Formosan difficulty in 1874. At last, on the 2 5th June, the Chinese visitors from N 178 ADVANCE JAPAN. Peking put certain definite suggestions before Saigo, and it was agreed that active operations should be suspended pending the decision of the respective Governments. The propositions were that (a) the Chinese should re- imburse the Japanese for the cost of the expedition, (b} that the Chinese should guarantee such occupation of the savage territory of Formosa as should prevent the recurrence of outrages on strangers, and (c] these con- ditions being assured the Japanese forces should be withdrawn. The Chinese authorities at Peking subsequently sought to obtain better terms, and affairs had reached such a turn that Okubo was sent to China with full powers. He reached the Chinese Capital in September ; and on the 25th of October, after perpetual discussions, which promised to be utterly futile, he notified his intention of returning to Japan. His language was emphatic. " I am quite hopeless, and about to leave," he wrote. " Our philanthropic action in Tai-Wan has been regarded by you as hos- tile, whilst we merely undertook to punish the savages and to protect our own people. Henceforth we shall continue to clear land, protect those tribes which submit to us, punish those who oppose. We shall complete our plan of action, and permit no molestation on your part. As the case cannot be decided by arguments, each country must go its own way and exercise its own rights of sovereignty." Prince Kung thereupon hastened to the English Lega- EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 179 tion, and begged the British Minister's good offices, which were cordially given. The required agreement was made in writing, as desired by Japan, a half million Chinese taels was agreed upon as the price to be paid down for the evacuation of Formosa, and the proposi- tions made to Saigo were substantially confirmed. Japan proved in this affair her disposition to be a leader in the paths of humanity, and, moreover, abso- lutely fearless, in spite of whatsoever influences may be brought against her, in the execution of any course which she may, after due consideration, mark out for herself. It is well, perhaps, to bear in mind the evidence which recent history affords of this disposition, in view of the possibilities which the future may have in store for the Japanese people. The feeling of the Samurai in general in the year 1874 regarding the expedition to Formosa was that of extreme confidence in the ability of the nation, not only to inflict severe chastisement on the savages, or upon the people of Korea, but, if necessary, to under- take the punishment of China herself, whom they regarded as, to a great extent, the prime instigator of all those insults to the nation of Nihon which had of late been endured. There has been abundant evidence in recent years that this feeling did not subside with the conclusion of hostilities in Formosa. It grew and flourished exceedingly with the increasing vitality of the vernacular Press, and there has always been the conviction in the minds of people of the N 2 i8o ADVANCE JAPAN. unofficial class, who could afford to give free vent to their opinions without in any way jeopardising their positions in life, and without political importance being attached to their statements, that sooner or later Japan would have to try conclusions with China. The Nihon-jin at large have laid at the door of the Chinese a large proportion of the difficulties which have beset the track of Japanese progress from the first ; and though the obstacles met with have been courageously encountered and surmounted by the practised skill of those who have navigated the ship of State, it is more than likely the notion that China agitated the waters on many specific occasions has had not a little foundation in fact. The Rebela March out of KugoMhima. Among the attempts which have been made since 1868 to re- vert to the conditions which existed in great measure prior to the restoration of the Mikado to personal con- trol of his realm, none have been of a really serious character save that which was initiated by the Satsuma clan in the spring of 1877. The avowed object to be achieved by the adherents of Saigo Takamori who had himself been a prominent member of the Govern- ment, and had perhaps more than any other individual strenuously laboured to bring about the fall of the Shogun, and the active supremacy of the Mikado was to obtain from the Emperor in person, then tem- porarily resident at Kioto, redress for certain real or imaginary grievances. They marched out on New Year's eve, according to the old calendar, 12,000 strong, EARLY YEARS OF ME1JI. 181 from the Satsuma capital of Kagoshima, and had reached Kumamoto before they encountered any opposition. Here they demanded the surrender of the garrison, but the commandant defied them, and they sat down before the castle to starve out the loyal troops. The delay in their advance gave time for the Government to send down an army, under the Emperor's uncle, Prince Arisugawa, and slowly but surely they were turned back toward the place from which they came. This was not effected without severe fighting in the provinces of Chikuzen, Hizen, and Higo, and the tide of war ebbed and flowed subsequently in the Hiuga, Osumi, and Sat- suma regions until late in the summer, when the last action took place at Kagoshima, and the rebel leader, with his chief supporters, perished on the field of battle. Saigo TuUumori. It is due to the memory of Saigo Takamori to record the fact that in taking up arms against the lawful authority of his country he was, to a great extent, impelled by his high sense of patriot- ism, mistaken as it was. He fought not against the Emperor but against the Cabinet. When declared by the Tenshi to be in rebellion he was without even this excuse for his conduct, but he had then gone too far to retreat, and had he been even will- ing to lay down his weapons his clansmen would not have submitted longer to his authority. They would have killed him, and would have elected another leader probably his lieutenant, Kirino who would have led them equally to ultimate disaster. The Sat- i8a ADVANCE JAPAN. suma clan, as a body, was at this time directly opposed to the policy of the Mikado's Government. Though Satsuma and Choshiu had been the first to adopt foreign armaments, and to employ these against the S/iogun, whom they alike detested, they were by no means at one on the question of the introduction of Western arts in general. For centuries the prospect of an influx of foreigners had been the great bugbear of the nation, and Satsuma was the last of the clans to acknowledge the wisdom of the course on which the Government embarked with such success. As early as 1858 Saigo Takamori had become prominent in the counsels of the Southern clan, and had associated himself with schemes for the complete overthrow of the Shogun, to an extent which made his temporary retirement a necessity if his feudal chieftain was to avoid an encounter with the Tokugawa O power. For that, especially single-handed, Shimadzu Saburo, the daimio, was scarcely prepared. After a while, Saigo was recalled by his lord, and was the acknowledged leader of the Satsuma forces in the operations they subsequently undertook, in 1867, against the northern forces of the Shogun. He rose to a posi- tion of great eminence in the new Government, and his services were recognised by a pension, with which he is said to have established his so-called military school at Kagoshima. Iv ; \\ .iinni-ii. Oltuho, uiid TeruMhinm* It was to a great extent this school which brought about his fall for in 1870 he and his master Shimadzu left the EARLY YEARS OF MKIJI. 183 Capital not a little dissatisfied that they had not received even higher office than that which had been conferred upon them. Saigo was largely influenced by the daimio, ahaughtyand self-sufficient prince of the old type, but other Satsuma sliizoku who had been also appointed to posts of command in the State were not only content to remain in the Capital, but throughout have ren- dered loyal and efficient service to their Emperor,so much so, that Okubo, Tera- shima, and Kawamura, are names which will for ever remain bright on the pages of Japanese modern his- tory. Of the trio, Admiral Kawamura alone survives. but he still ably fills an important and arduous post. The court noble, Iwakura, was sent to Kagoshima to appease the wounded pride of the clan, and after some little time Saigo again took office as a Councillor of State. He was subsequently appointed Commander- in-Chief of the Imperial Army, in the year 1873, an d it was thought that in this way even his ambition would be at least temporarily allayed. If Saigo was satisfied, ADMIRAL KAWAMURA. 184 ADVANCE JAPAN. however, his old chieftain was not, and his memorandum addressed to the Emperor aptly portrays his state of mind at the time. Just then the trouble with Korea reached an acute stage, and a war seemed inevitable. Saigo was the leader of the "Jingo" party of Japan, and as he could not carry his colleagues in the Govern- ment with him he resigned office, together with Yeto Shimpei, another member of the Government, as already mentioned. Even after the fiasco at Saga, and Yeto had been executed, Saigo resisted all appeals to return to Tokio, and remained at Kagoshima, drilling his military cadets. Notwithstanding this the Government sought to main- tain peace at home by raising Shimadzu Saburo to higher rank still, and by despatching the expedition to Formosa previously alluded to, under the command of Saigo's younger brother. All attempts at conciliation were, however, doomed to failure, for the Satsuma clan remained excessively dis- contented, an additional cause of offence being the edict promulgated about this time forbidding the wearing of swords by any but the regular forces of the State. Shimadzu threw up the office he had been induced to accept, and quitted Tokio on the 5th April, 1876, for Kagoshima, his followers carrying their swords osten- tatiously wrapped in cotton bags. The nation had grown weary, as well as the Government, of the arro- gant irreconcilability of the clan, and it was felt that further concessions would not only be unavailing but EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 185 would be accepted as an indication of weakness. When, therefore, in the middle of February, 1877, the military " school," which Saigo had so diligently drilled, left Kagoshima to accompany him on a proposed overland journey to Kioto, in defiance of every principle of law and order, the Army and Navy of the Mikado's Government was prepared to meet the rebellion with energy and determination. Marshal Yamagata and Admiral Ito. General Yamagata (now Field-Mar- shal) took command of the advanced divisions. Admiral Kawamura kept watch with his fleet, amounting in all to eight or nine vessels, on the Bungo Coast. Admiral Ito operated with three ships on the southern and western shores of Kiushiu, and landed 2,500 troops at Kagoshima in rear of the rebels. Prince Arisugawa-no-miya, uncle of the Mikado, who has only recently died, was given supreme control of the Imperial forces in connection with the suppression of the rebellion. The first check which the Satsumas received was at Minami-no-seki on the ist of March. They never reached a more northerly point, and after repeated disasters at Takase, Kawajiri, and Kumamoto, MARSHAL YAMAGATA. i86 ADVANCE JAPAN. they fell back southwards, the Imperialists entering their province after them, on the 4th of June. One by one the castle towns of Miyako-no-jo, Miyazaki, and No- beoka fell to the assault of Arisugawa's battalions, and at last, in the middle of Sep- tember, Saigo was driven to bay with only 500 picked warriors, on Shiro-yama, in the centre of Kagoshima. He was wounded in the at- tack which ensued, and his faithful lieutenant Hemmi performed the last office to his chief by cutting off his head, after that final act of a defeated samurais life harakiri had been duly performed by the van- Hemmi was likewise slain, with Kirino, Murata, and others of Saigo's subordinates, and it was reserved for Admiral Kawamura who had sat with Saigo at the Council table in Tokio, and had been his friend and comrade throughout the earlier struggles of the Restoration period to find the dead leader's head, to wash it with his own hands, and rev- erently to give it burial with the mutilated corpse. Muigo'M Monument. From that date until quite recently the graves of these misguided but brave men have been marked by plain wooden tablets, but last ILI.H. PRINCE (recently deceased). quished leader himself. EARLY YEARS OF MEIJI. 187 year the Mikado's Government caused a monument specially to be erected in the Capital to the memory of Saigo, in the Cemetery of Aoyama, where lie buried Okubo and others of his colleagues in the early days. Saigo's memory, by command of the Emperor, has been relieved of the stigma which attached to it, and he is now no longer regarded as one who rebelled against his Sovereign, but as a man whose good service and noble character so far outweighed his faults that his crime will hold no place in the annals of his land. In stature, Saigo Takamori was imposing, for he stood over six feet high, and his expression was eminently energetic and intellectual. Somewhat negligent in attire, he was of courtly bearing and yet martial withal. Like his brother, who was warmly attached to him despite their widely differing political views, Taka- mori possessed a happy buoyant temperament which, combined with his great personal courage, endeared him to the samurai throughout the Empire. Fifty thousand of them were ready at one time to do his bidding. He was not inappropriately termed the "heart and sword " of the Mikado's cause. 1 88 CHAPTER VIII. THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. As the capital of the Ten- shi's dominions, Tokio demands the primary attention of those who would study the progress of Japan, and the question of the future of her enterprising people. Formerly known as Yedo (Estuary entrance), possibly on account of its original position, as a fishing village, at the entrance of the River Sumida, it only grew into cele- brity from the time the Shogun lyeyasu made it his headquarters in A.D. 1590. The line of Tokugawa Shdguns, which begun with lyeyasu, ended with Hito- tsubashi Yoshinobu in 1868. With his deposition, the original name of the place and its most prominent in- habitant vanished simultaneously from the pages of Japanese history. The exalted official who had con- ducted all the affairs of State, and had been the practical ruler of Japan during the Mikado's life of seclusion, was himself relegated to a strictly private THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 191 life in the country, as plain Mr. Keiki. The city became Tokio, the eastern capital, to distinguish it from Kioto, otherwise Saikio, the capital of the west. Kioto, though it has ceased to be a Royal residence, is nevertheless regarded as one of the three Fu, or cities of the first order, the others being Tokio and Osaka. We might consider London, Edinburgh, and Dublin as the three Fu of the British Isles. Tokio, Kioto, and Osaka have privileges as cities which are not possessed by places ranking a grade lower in the municipal scale of Japan. In that quarter of a century which has passed since the Emperor took up his residence in Tokio, the city has undergone a complete transformation. There was originally a long street of one and two-storey wooden buildings extending from the suburb of Shinagawa, for nearly seven miles, to Asakusa, constituting the main street of Yedo, from which smaller thoroughfares branched off at frequent intervals, principally on the western side. There were no side-walks or pave- ments, and pedestrians were jostled by bearers of sedan-chairs, or sternly commanded to clear the way for some official on horseback, preceded by a running groom. The only light at night was obtained from hand-lanterns of paper, which nearly everyone carried, and from fixed lamps of a similar description, sus- pended over house-doors. The illuminant was always a tallow candle, with a paper wick. Only those who had business ventured out after dark. Yedo was at that time 192 ADVANCE JAPAN. in something of the condition of London in the last century. One of the first improvements made was to substitute brick buildings for wooden ones in that part of the main street which lay between Shinbashi (the new bridge) and Nihonbashi (the bridge of Japan). This section, named Ginza (silver seat) is the finest commercial thoroughfare in the Capital, and at the pre- sent time it is lighted by electricity, trams and omni- buses glide and rumble along it as in a London street, good paved footpaths have been provided for pedes- trians, the ubiquitous jin-riki-sJias are deftly steered to and fro in the throng and bustle of vehicular traffic, newsboys scream the titles and prominent headlines of their latest editions ; and all is a moving panorama, to the visitor, of teeming life and ceaseless energy. Railway Depot*. The southern railway lines all have their terminus at Shinbashi, and there is another station in the northern part of the city for the lines which communicate with the north and west. The trams to some extent unite the two depots, and omni- buses likewise ply between them, but in addition the belt railway, which almost encircles the city, not only provides a means of reaching the more distant suburbs, but enables passengers to change from the southern system of lines to that of the north, without passing through the city streets at all. Just as distances are calculated from Charing Cross with us, it is the rule in Japan to measure the roads from Nihonbashi, in the central ward, a bridge which dates its existence from THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 153 the year 1603. Yedo was at that period a growing city, and it became necessary to reclaim land on the south and east of the district of Asakusa, so some four square miles were filled in, a part of which tract now constitutes the quarter of Tsukiji (lit. made ground), wherein are resident a large proportion of the European population, and only within the limits of which are foreigners able to hold property in land. The size of the city of Tokio has been variously estimated, but from a fairly accurate measurement it may be taken at the present day as extending not less than ten miles from north to south, by eight from east to west. It has the Bay of Yedo for six miles as its limit on the south side, and it is divided into two unequal portions by the River Sumida, a stream having about the width of the Thames at London Bridge. The population of the city proper is rather under one million, but if we include the whole region embraced by the term Tokio Fu in other words, the Metropolitan district, as understood in London the census gives a total of halt a million more. The area is not far short of 80 square miles. Fires and earthquakes, typhoons and floods, have so devastated the capital at various times within the last two hundred years that practically the entire city has been more than once rebuilt. Earthquakes, particularly, have occasioned immense damage, and much loss of life Early in the last century 37,000 persons were said to have been killed by a succession of shocks, which were O 194 ADVANCE JAPAN. followed by a tidal wave in the bay. A more recent visitation, in 1855, destroyed, it was computed, no fewer than 1 10,000 lives. At present the Capital is divided into fifteen adminis- trative divisions, which have all been connected, for fire brigade purposes, by telephone, for the last 20 years. Japan .was, in fact, one of the first among nations to make use of Edison's invention, and a very well-equipped telephonic exchange has existed in Tokio since the year 1890. In former days the whereabouts of a fire was notified by the number of taps given to the fire-bells, the signals being taken up and repeated by each watch- tower to its neighbour. From its earliest history the city has been famous for the frequency and overwhelm- ing character of its conflagrations, and formerly hardly a night passed without the brigades being called out. The construction of buildings has vastly improved, however, since the first brick houses were erected in 1872, and this has aided very materially to lower the rate of fre- quency. The employment of powerful steam fire-engines of Western design further tends to confine the destruction to comparatively limited areas. The Cantle. The former palace of the Shoguns was centrally situated on elevated ground in the heart of Yedo, and was protected by two deep moats and sub- stantial encircling walls, with towers at the gates. The spot was chosen for. the present Emperor's residence when he removed from Kioto in 1868. The original buildings have been almost completely destroyed by THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 195 fire, and the Imperial Palace is now an edifice in which the foreign and native styles of architecture are quaintly mingled, standing on the same site within the gardens of the ancient Hommaru. Wild-fowl frequent in winter the wide moats which divide the Imperial residence from the business thoroughfares of Tokio, and storks hover over the spreading branches of the pine-trees which overhang the water. In the summer the lotus-nym- phea covers the whole expanse, from bank to wall, with its noble, delicately-tinted flowers. Altogether there could be few more picturesque surroundings anywhere than those which add beauty and distinc- tion to the Japanese Emperor's residence. In the buildings of the palace only artisans of skilled ability have been employed, so that every design on the walls, every foot of the decorated ceilings, bear evi- dence of the touch of masterly hands. The choicest hanging brocades and tapestries were specially planned and woven for the embellishment of the Emperor's Banqueting Hall and Throne Chamber, but the pri- vate apartments are distinguished by their extreme simplicity, plain white woods and neutral tints taking the place of crimson lacquer and costly silks. The British Legation is situated on one of the outer concentric roads within the first moat, so that it is but a short distance from the gate of the Imperial Palace. Several well-built residences of British architectural design were erected in 1874 to house our Minister, his Secretaries, and general staff. Not far away is o 2 196 ADVANCE JAPAN. the elegant building erected in 1877 for the College of Engineering, to which reference has been made in another chapter. Nagata-cho, the fine road ad- joining the moat farther on, contains many handsome residences, and is the most aristocratic of Tokio thoroughfares. In it stand the palaces of the late uncle of the Emperor, Prince Arisugawa, and of Prince Kita Shirakawa, his cousin, and near by is a small public garden containing a stone monument to the memory of Okubo Toshimichi, to whose wise counsels Japan owes much of her present prosperity, and who fell under the swords of fanatical assassins in May, 1878, when on his way, as Home Minister, to a Con- ference at the Emperor's Palace. Prince Nabeshima of Hizen, now Grand Master of Ceremonies at the Imperial Court, has his residence also in this quarter, and a celebrated Shinto temple, the tutelary shrine of the last line of Shoguns, is here embowered in groves of the flowering cherry, so much cultivated for its magnificent blossoms. The Sho-kon-sha, on the top of Kudan Hill, is a shrine erected in 1869 in honour of the dead who fell in the war of the Revolution a year before, and services are constantly held within its precincts to the memory of the victims of the Saga and Satsuma rebellions of 1873 and 1877, and more recently of the war with China. Nothing but the severest simplicity distin- guishes the interior of this State shrine, at which official gatherings take place twice a year, but the WHKKK REST TIIK DEAD. THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 199 entrance is marked by an exceptionally fine bronze archway, of the shape peculiar to the Shinto faith. The crest of the hill is also surmounted by an ancient lighthouse which once served to direct the fishermen of Yedo Bay, and by a remarkable stone erection in the shape of a bayonet, to the memory of those of the Im- perial Guard who fell during the Satsuma Campaign, provided by the soldiers of that corps. A brick build- ing termed the Yu-Shu-Kwan, or Museum of Arms, is daily thronged by sightseers, who are there treated to a display of the various spoils of war sent home by the Japanese armies from Korea and China. All the principal Government Offices are in this part of Tokio, so that it corresponds in some degree to Whitehall in London. The Ministries of Education, of Finance, and of the Interior, with the Government Print- ing Establishment, a noble building wherein the paper currency of the Empire and all the typographical work of the various departments are excellently designed and produced, have all their spacious quarters in the belt lying between the inner and outer moats of the castle precincts. Whilst the Palace was in course of construction His Majesty occupied a less pretentious edifice at Aoyama, in the south-west of the Capital, which has since been appointed as the residence of the Empress Dowager and the Crown Prince. In this vicinity is the Hibiya Parade Ground, on which reviews are annually held on State occasions, notably on the 3rd of November, His 200 ADVANCE JAPAN. Majesty's birthday. Azabu, nearer to the sea, and standing high, overlooking the bay, is regarded as one of the most desirable of residential quarters within the Japanese Capital. A look-out tower has been erected on Atago-Yama, a hill close by, from which views are obtainable of all the country for many miles round. The Main Street. The new General Post Office stands in the main street called Ginza, and the principal fish market is close by, in the district of Nihon-bashi. Crossing Spectacles Bridge, with its two circular arches, a pleasantly-situated building is discerned amid groves of fragrant Osmanthus, now devoted to the purposes of an Educational Museum, but formerly the Temple of Con- fucius, wherein the Asiatic Society of Japan held its earlier meetings. The district of Kanda lies very cen- tral, and contains the Imperial University (Tei-koku Dai-gaku), comprising many handsome edifices built of brick in the modern fashion, standing in grounds which formerly were the property of the powerful daiinio of Kaga, a province justly celebrated for its fine porcelain ware. Koishikawa Arsenal, on the route to Oji, has an exceptional interest at this time for all classes of the Japanese people, for here are manufactured the Murata rifles which have done such execution in the Chino- Japanese War. The mansion which stood on this ground was the residence of the former Prince of Mito, the head of one of those three branches of the Toku- gawa family, Kishiu, Mito, and Owari, from among THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 201 which the Shoguns of the last dynasty were invariably chosen. Mito was responsible in 1861, as we have seen, for the assassination of the Regent then acting as Sho- gun. The Regent's choice had fallen upon a Kishiu prince, and the head of the Mito branch gave point to his wrath by the removal of the person to whom he attributed his disappointment The Mito clan has left a magnificent legacy to the nation, in the shape of that perfect example of landscape gardening which forms the great charm of the Yashiki. Summer-houses and cascades, rivulets and lakes, islands reached by marble bridges, thickets of creepers, groves of maple, plum, and cherry, delight the eye with their picturesque alterna- tions, art and nature here being wedded in the fashion so thoroughly characteristic of Japanese horticulture. In Gokokuji Cemetery, not far away, lies buried Prince Sanjo Saneyoshi, who, like Okubo, was one of the most prominent leaders of the Restoration, and many years the Prime Minister, prior to Count Ito. Sanjo died in 1891. Ueno. Ueno Park lies in the extreme north of Tokio, and is the place where all the exhibitions have been held. The Northern Railway Station is at the base of the hill which forms the centre of the Park. Here all Tokio delights to congregate at the blossoming of the cherry-trees, and here, on the plateau, is the stone monument to those who fell fighting for the last of the Shdguns, when, in 1868, a battle was decided on this spot. The Shinobadzu Pond below is famed for its dis- 202 ADVANCE JAPAN. play in August. of lotus-nymphea. In a little shrine, standing on a peninsula in the lake, is honoured the goddess Benten ; but the old-time associations of the lovely spot receive a rude shock when it is observed that the shore of the lake is now used as a racecourse. High above it is a modern hotel, and also a switchback railway, upon which startling innovations the calm gaze of Buddha, as represented close by in a bronze image twenty-one feet high and over two centuries old, seems to be directed in steadfast disapproval. The Ueno Museum stands close to the buildings of the National Industrial Exhibition, and contains, among other treasures, the ancient State bullock-cart and palanquins of the Emperors, and a model of the old State barge. Valuable collections of antiquities in pot- tery, swords, spearheads, and implements, porcelain and bronze vases, and Christian relics of the seventeenth century, arrest attention on every side. Tokio is not without its Zoological Gardens, contain- ing a representative collection of the fauna of Japan, and in the same part of the magnificent Ueno Park are to be found the Public Library and Reading Room of the Tosho-Kii'an and a School of Art. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of all Tokio's glories are the tombs of the Shoguns, the mausolea in which are buried the princes of the Tokugawa family. The retired Shc'jgun Keiki was the fifteenth prince of the Tokugawa house. The (io Reiya, as the tombs are termed, constitute perfect examples of the archi- THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 203 tectural and decorative art of Japan, and are ablaze with gold and scarlet lacquer, mingled with intricate and priceless wood-carving, and marvellous bronzes. At a little distance eastward of Ueno is found the re- nowned temple of the Goddess of Mercy, K\van-non r to which every traveller is taken by the Tokio guides , as a matter of course, situated as it is at Asakusa, in close proximity to the River Sumida. Asakusa. The Buddhist Sen-so-ji, to give the build- ing its true name, is surrounded by ornamental grounds, a sketch of which is to be found in a previous chapter. They contain splendid trees of almost infinite variety, and numbers of the shapely stone lanterns and quaintly constructed timber bridges which give to Japanese gardening so much of its picturesque character. The temple is the home of innumerable flocks of pigeons, which flutter about the heads of the devotees in that security from molestation which is everywhere associ- ated with the shrines of Buddha. The high altar is a glittering mass of gold and silver vessels, of lamps and flowers, hanging texts, and damask drapery, amid which is placed the sacred shrine of the goddess herself, guarded by gigantic figures. Images innumerable are ranged around the platform, and overhead and on every side are striking scenes depicted in gold and colours on the brass-studded walls and ceilings. One of the little temples in the grounds is much frequented by those who suffer from affections of the eye, the belief being that miraculous cures are effected. In another building is 204 ADVANCE JAPAN. worshipped Jizo, the divinity who specially guards the children of Japan. A revolving library of the Buddhist Scriptures, 6,771 volumes in all, to be turned thrice on its axis by the devotee who has not time to spare for reading, is likewise here displayed, the existence of which is understood to be due to the inventive genius of a Chinese priest who flourished in the sixth cen- tury. Outside the temple grounds proper are the pleasure- gardens for which Asakusa is famous far and wide. A modified form of Eiffel Tower was erected five years ago, which has an electrical elevator by which persons may ascend to the eighth of its twelve storeys, and obtain a wonderful view of the Capital. Tents and booths of all descriptions are scattered about, some for the exhibition of feats of wrestling or juggling, others with animal curiosities, fat women, learned pigs, or peep- shows. Taken as a whole, Asakusa Kwan-non and its surroundings constitute about as striking a contrast to the calm seclusion of the Ueno Tombs, not far away, as it is possible for the imagination of man to conceive. Across the River Sumida are the avenues of cherry- trees at Mukojima, which at their period of full bloom, about Easter, are a sight to be remembered, extending upwards of a mile along the river bank, and each tree and branch a mass of pink and white clustering blossom. Among other pretty customs of the place, poetically-disposed visitors are invited to write verses, on slips of cardboard provided for the purpose at the POETRY AMID TIIF, CHERRY-BLOSSOMS. THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 20? neighbouring refreshment houses, and to suspend their compositions amid the cherry-blossoms, for the benefit of those who may attend afterwards to peruse them. Farther on are the Horikiri gardens where, in June, irises of every hue are shown in the utmost profusion, and at Kameido, on the same side of the Sumida, is a celebrated Shinto temple, where the Wisteria cJiinensis is cultivated over trellis-work with indefatigable care and skill. Hachiman, the Japanese Mars, has a splen- did temple to his honour close to the vast timber-yards which take up a large portion of the south-eastern suburbs of Tokio, and in the estuary is Ishi-kawa Island, the convict prison for the Capital. Altogether Tokio may be said to possess an abundance of show places, and its many interesting sights are so thoroughly characteristic of Far Eastern life that they must be seen to be fully appreciated. Among the many outlying villages to which the residents of Tokio make frequent excursions at all times of the year is Oji, where in autumn the maples are a special attraction. Readers of Mr. Lawrence Oliphant's account of Lord Elgin's Mission to the East will remember his vivid, description of one of the village tea-houses as it existed in his day. The neigh- bourhood has witnessed many changes, and the paper mills and other factories have destroyed the romantic surroundings of Ogi-ya and Ebi-ya, but the little temple and waterfall still have a charm for visitors. To sum up those salient features of the Japanese 208 ADVANCE JAPAN. Capital which go far to constitute its undoubted right to be regarded as the centre of civilisation in the distant Orient, it may be sufficient to say that there are three ex- tensive parks which, for natural beauty and artistic adorn- ment, are nowhere excelled in any Capital in the world ; fine thoroughfares of shops supplied with every article that a cultivated taste could require, both native and foreign ; street conveyances in the shape of trams, omni- buses, and cabs (for \htjin-riki-sha supplies the place of a hansom), a suburban railway connecting all outlying districts with the business centres, electrically-lighted streets and dwelling-houses, magnificent public build- ings, including the Foreign Legations, excellent club- houses, hotels, and restaurants. Three museums and a library provide for scientific or literary recreation. Three theatres and a wrestling arena, and several bazaars, afford enjoyment for sightseers, independently of the attractions of the various parks and public grounds already alluded to. Passenger steamers ply from the Capital to neighbouring places of interest on the coast, and from Yokohama, eighteen miles away, the principal mail steamship lines trading to the East have regular and frequent services joining the Japanese islands with Europe and America. The territory ruled by the Tenshi has become an integral part of that vast nineteenth century community of nations indissolubly linked in one common bond of enlightened progress. The population of Tokio and its suburbs, according to the official census of 1891, was 1,510,841, that of the THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 209 city proper being 1,217,309. The foreign residents in June, 1891, numbered 807, of whom 214 were British 204 American, and 133 German. Many of these resi- dents are in Government or Japanese employ. Government Offices. The principal departments of State are lodged in buildings for the most part of foreign architecture and construction. The Privy Council includes two gentlemen, Counts HOMEWARD FROM THE PICNIC. Matsugata Masayoshi and Higashikuze Michitomi, who were nobles of the old regime, and prominent, like all the members of the Cabinet, at the time of the Restora- tion. 210 ADVANCE JAPAN. There is an Imperial Household Department, having its offices at the Imperial Palace, presided over by a Minister, Viscount Hijikata, and Vice-Minister Hana- busa, formerly Ambassador to Korea. Viscount Yamao Yozo, who studied engineering on the Clyde nearly three decades ago, is Grand Master of the Court of the Emperor's uncle, and similar offices are rendered by various gentlemen to the other relatives of the Emperor, viz. : Their Imperial Highnesses Princes Yamashina, Komatsu, Fushimi, Kuni, Kita-Shirakawa, and Kvvanin. The OkurasJiOy or Finance Department, includes the Custom Services and the Government Printing Office within the sphere of its control. The War Department, Rikii-gun-sJio, covers the Im- perial Guard, with Prince Akihito in command. Prince Taruhito, another of His Majesty's family, is head of the General Staff. The Kai-gun-sJio, or Naval Department, has five prin- cipal bureaux, and controls five colleges, including those of medicine and naval engineering. The Zo/ieis/to, or Arsenal, and the Onohama dockyard, come under its superintendence. The branch establishments at Kur6 and Sasebo, in the provinces of Aki and Hizcn, and at Yokosuka, in Tokio Bay, are also controlled from the Capital, Admirals Nakamuta, Hayashi, and Akamatsu being in command of the three depots in the order named. Perhaps the Mombuslio (Education Department) has a special claim on the attention of those who are stu- THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 211 dents of Japanese progress. It has done marvellous work since its establishment in the first years of the Restoration, and covers a very wide field. Hamao Arata, the Chief Director of scholastic affairs, has held his office from the outset, and has distinguished himself by his urbanity and consummate ability. The Imperial University of Japan confers degrees in sixteen branches of science, having special colleges for the study of Law, Medicine, Engineering, Literature, Agriculture and Science '(including Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Zoology, Astronomy, Geology, Dynamics, Paleontology, Botany, and Anthropology). The Higher Normal Schools at Kanda, male and female, have foreign instructors, as also the Middle School at Hongo. In the interior of Japan the Mombu- sJio has foreign employees at Sendai, Kioto, Kanazawa, Kumamoto, Yamaguchi, and Kagoshima. The Higher Commercial School is well organised, with four foreign tutors. There is a School of Music and of Fine Arts. Last, but of great value, comes the Blind and Dumb School at Koishikawa, in Tokio. The Agricultural and Commercial Department em- braces bureaux for the control of agriculture, forestry, mining, patents, silk factories, and the geological survey. The Department of Communications, Tei-sJiin-Sko, covers the Postal Service, Telegraphs, Marine, Light- house, Money Orders, and Savings Banks, Schools of Navigation and for Telegraphists and the Railway Ser- vice. P 2 212 ADVANCE JAPAN. The Judicial Department includes the Supreme Court, and the Koso-In, or Courts of Appeal, which sit in seven principal cities. The Metropolitan Police is a distinct department of the Public Service. The fact must have struck many minds in the West that a Japanese statesman appears to be able, and with the utmost facility, to lay aside the pen and wield the sword conversely, to resume the pen the moment the sword may be returned to its scabbard. In the recent Chinese War the Minister for War, Count Oyama, tem- porarily laid down his portfolio and undertook the com- mand, in person, of a second expedition, which was directed against Port Arthur. General Yamagata, who is now Minister of War in Oyama's place, was incon- sistent as it may seem to those who cherish ideas of the calm placid dignity which should surround the judicial office not only a statesman, but actually Minister of Justice. From the Woolsack, so to put it, the Lord High Chancellor of Japan stepped into the tented field, and successfully wielded a Marshal's baton, until a temporary failure in health drove him once more into the gilded chamber of the Cabinet, although not to again become the Lord Chancellor of the Empire, but its Secretary of State for War. When one bears in mind, however, the early training of these gentlemen, who like their col- leagues, almost without exception, were born to carry arms, and received the military training in boyhood of a samurai, the seeming incongruity vanishes ; for a THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 215 samurai, though ready at any time for battle, was usually by education a man of letters likewise. He was versed in the arts of peace as well as of war. The term samurai indicated gentle birth, and has of late years been replaced by the classification of shizoku. Kioto. Kioto, the western capital, otherwise known as Sai-kio, to distinguish it still more from Tokio, the eastern capital, ranks next in size to Tokio and Osaka. A little river, the Kamogawa, skirts the eastern boun- dary of the city, with the Katsuragawa on the west, both falling into the larger stream Yodogawa, which is a river of some importance in the region, just outside the grounds of Hongwanji Temple. The eastern section of the city gradually rises to the steep wooded heights of Higashi-Yama, a range of hills running east and west, and the city and its plain are further enclosed on the north and west by Hiyeizan and Atagoyama, which are both more than 2,500 feet high. It possesses over three hundred thousand inhabitants, and considerably over a thousand temples, distributed over 1,700 streets and the environs. The Kamogawa has a reputation for its clear water and pleasant evening breezes in sum- mer. The Japanese painter loves to depict the crowds of people on its banks, cooling themselves after the heat of a summer day. From the year 795 A.D. to 1 868 Kioto was the place of residence of the Mikado, and for all this time it ranked not only as the seat of learning and culture, but as the centre of manufactures. In the principal in- 216 ADVANCE JAPAN. dustries of the country Kioto still holds a leading place, particularly in the art products of silk, metals, and ceramics. Its beautiful thoroughfares are deservedly famed throughout the Empire for their cleanliness and regularity. Its architectural features are distinctly a grade above the average elsewhere. Above all, the his- torical associations of the ancient Capital claim atten- tion, for it was in this neighbourhood, and in a great measure within its boundaries, that some of the most moving scenes in the stirring history of Japan have taken place. The old palace of the Emperors stands in the north- eastern quarter of the town, out of reach of disturbance from the business portions, and was commonly known to the people as the Go-sho, or august residence. It was built of hinoki, a species of larch, and roofed with the bark of this tree, all the appointments of sliding partitions, mats, and verandahs, being strictly in accord with that unassuming good taste which distinguishes the residences of the aristocracy throughout the land. The park which surrounds the palace has more recently been employed to form the grounds of an Arts and Sciences Exhibition. Away to the south-west is the picturesque Nijo, the castle of the Governor who was deputed by the Shogun to administer the laws, for the Mikado, though resident in the palace, was regarded a demi-god, and took no part in mundane affairs outside his own gates. This spacious castle was built by the great Hideyoshi, and in its mas- THE PRINCIPAL CITIES OF JAPAN. 217 sive walls and gates, intricate carvings and decorated woodwork, there are yet evidences of the power and wealth of the famous chieftain. North of the Nijo was the centre of the silk-weaving trade, and in Awata and Kiyomidzu, districts lying across the Kamo river, were formerly located the enamel and earthenware, and the porcelain manufac- tories respectively. Over the Katsuragawa, in Arashi- yama, the cherry-trees present a magnificent sight in early spring, and the avenues are as much thronged then by the people of Kioto as are the Mukojima avenues in Tokio. A new canal conveys the water of Lake Biwa to the precincts of the city, and through it to the navigable end of the River Uji at Fushimi. This important engineer- ing work cost the citizens of Kioto .155,000, and was completed only three years ago under the supervision of Governor Kitagaki. The main trunk of the canal is about seven miles long, and pierces two ranges of moun- tains by three tunnels, one of which is over 8,000 feet long, and another 2,800 feet. The locks, tunnels, shafts, embankments, and viaduct, are all fine examples of engineering skill, wholly executed by Japanese. An inclined railroad of 1,920 feet connects one end of the main section with the lower level of the canal as it flows into the city. A large electric plant near the foot of the incline operates the gear that raises and lowers canal-boats from one level to the other, as well as a powerful electric motor by which the old Capital is 2i8 ADl'ANCE JAPAN. lighted with electricity. The canal is a source of many other advantages to the city, and will in time fully repay the outlay upon its construction. By the Tokaido road the distance from the Capital to Kioto is about 325 miles, and it is 15 miles farther by another road termed the Nakasendo, or middle mountain road. From Tsuruga, on the west coast, it is 74 miles. In the adjoining province of Yamato, an ancient poetical title for the whole of Japan, stands Nara, a town of great historical interest as having been the earliest royal residence, and having a remarkable Bud- dhist temple in which the figure of Amida in bronze, seated as usual on the lotus-flower, towers to a height of 54 feet, and is the largest statue of the Buddha among many in the Empire. It dates from the eighth century. Close by is a deer-park in which deer have been preserved regularly for over a thousand years. Sakai, on the bay of Osaka, is celebrated as having long been the first commercial centre in Japan, but it has entirely been superseded by Osaka, the Japanese Venice, a score of miles distant. Perhaps it will be best remembered in history as the town where the 47 Ronins assembled when on their errand to avenge the death of their feudal chief. 219 CHAPTER IX. TREATY PORTS. S the port which was first opened to foreign trade in the year 1859, prior to which foreigners had been allowed to carry on a restricted commercial inter- course at Nagasaki only, Yo- kohama ranks highest in the estimation of the mercantile population as a place of busi- ness. It has none of the attractions of the Capital for mere travellers, but as the home of by far the most numerous gathering of Europeans and Americans resi- dent on Japanese soil, and as the port from which that mutual trade sprang up which has since attained such formidable dimensions, Yokohama must be regarded from an Occidental point of view as a centre of paramount interest. When Commodore Perry arrived in the Bay of Yedo in 1854, and requested a reply to that autograph letter from the President of the United States which he had delivered the year before, 220 ADVANCE JAPAN. and which expressed to the Japanese Emperor a desire for the establishment of friendly relations, Yokohama was a mere collection of fishermen's cottages. The treaty which virtually opened the country was nego- tiated at Kanagawa, a mile and a half farther up the bay, and by its provisions certain arrangements were made under which the port of Shimoda, facing the Pacific Ocean, 60 miles south-west of Yokohama, be- came a place of residence for Americans, and depot for their commerce. Shimoda proved to be so un- suitable that it was replaced on the ist July, 1859, by Yokohama, and foreign residents soon began to gather in the new settlement. From the autumn of that year a trade was cultivated with the interior through native agents or bantos, and, apart from the rumours of impending conflict which reached their ears occa- sionally, the little community of merchants contrived to pass time cheerfully, and profitably as regards their banking accounts. In 1860 their troubles began, for it became apparent that the Bakufu, or Government of the Shogun, was weakening, and would not be able to carry out its treaty obligations. The public hall, assembly rooms, and theatre comprised in a splendid building of brick at the top of Camp Hill, one of the semicircle of low hills which form collectively " the bluff" of Yokohama, do credit to the enterprise of the oldest of the principal Treaty Ports. The bluff is abjut 150 feet above sea-level, and commands magni- ficent views of the bay, and of the mighty, but now TREATY PORTS. 223 extinct, volcano Fujiyama 75 miles to the westward. The public gardens occupy a commanding position on these heights above the settlement, and have been laid out like the ornamental grounds of some ducal mansion, rich in sub-tropical verdure, and redolent with the odorous blossoms of the Orient. A walk through these gardens in the evening when the people of Yokohama, native and foreign, congregate to listen to music of the town band, is apt to give one the im- pression that the life of an exile in the Far East is far from the dreary, spiritless existence it is often represented to be. Charming villas are dotted about the carriage-roads of the bluff, mostly built in the bungalow style with spacious verandahs and gardens. Land was to be had at a cheap rate when this quarter was planned, and the residents were not driven to cramp their surroundings by considerations of heavy ground rents. The advan- tages conferred upon Yokohama by the possession of this lovely residential region are often overlooked when purely mercantile claims have to be considered. No other community in the East can boast of such oppor- tunities to make itself thoroughly at home, as are at the disposal of the foreign body in this port. Sport is pur-sued in all its branches with that ardour which distinguishes the Anglo-Saxon race wherever met with. An extensive racecourse is situated not far from the public gardens, and a magnificent recreation ground where cricket, tennis, and other games are played with 224 ADVANCE JAPAN. a zest which amazes the native population lies just in the rear of the business thoroughfares. Boating and yachting, rifle-shooting and athletics, further tend to fill the cup of youthful happiness to the brim. Fine buildings in stone and brickwork adorn the prin- cipal streets of the settlement. The town hall, with its clock-to\ver, the custom house, railway station, and local government offices are conspicuous among the sub- stantial erections which line both sides of the thorough- fares, or face the sea on " the Bund." These are tenanted mainly by banking corporations, silk and tea shipping firms, and storekeepers. The chief hotels overlook the bay, and a busy scene is presented to the visitor as vessels enter or leave the harbour with its wide-stretch- ing breakwaters. Far out in the navigable channel rides at anchor the Hominoku lightship, so named as lying off the division of Yokohama which bears this desig- nation. The tug's shrill whistle, or the deep boom of the mail-boat's syren, tell with cheering frequency of the trade which is being carried on afloat. Yokohama's chief anxiety prior to 1887 was centred in her lack of pure drinking water, but since that year an adequate supply has been brought from a safe source situated 20 miles away, and now the service is so good that the dread of choleraic germs no longer haunts the residents. Japan will never be free from an annual visitation of this scourge, but the European population seldom suffer when care is taken to avoid exposure. The death-roll varies in length among the Japanese year by Q TREATY PORTS. 227 year, and they say that it is always longest after a war, but the virulence of the disease is more successfully combated as medical science progresses. Even the natives are no longer scared by its approach. It is intended to provide Yokohama with a pier 2,000 feet long in addition to 12,000 feet of breakwater surface, and a graving dock forms part of the scheme now being carried out to the design and under the cap- able supervision of Major-General Palmer, R.E., con- sulting engineer to the Home Department. Prior to the commencement of these undertakings, Yokohama roadstead was grievously exposed in the typhoon season, and the work of loading and unloading ves- sels was often accomplished only with great danger and delay. Four daily papers (two of which are likewise published in weekly form), the Mail, Gazette, Herald, and Adver- tiser, provide almost a superabundance of reading matter for a normal foreign population of 5,000, of which 3,400 or thereabouts are Chinese. Not a few of these returned to China on the outbreak of hostilities. The native and foreign residents taken together numbered 132,809 at the last census. The Church of England, French Catholic, Union Protestant, and other religious bodies are represented by fitting edifices, and many Japanese attend these places of worship as well as the foreign community. The Yokohama Chamber of Commerce was able to report that the entire trade for 1893 amounted to about Q2 228 ADVANCE JAPAN. 17,600,000 sterling, showing an increase over 1892 of a million and a half. Koiu' and Hiogo. Kobe-Hiogo, the important Treaty Port in the Idzumi Nada, is the grand depdt of foreign trade in Mid-Japan. It rejoices in the posses- sion of a safe harbour, though somewhat exposed to the south, and the associated towns stretch along the sea- coast for about three miles, with picturesque pine-clad mountains, rising to a height of 2,500 feet, one mile in the rear. Kobe, which forms the eastern section of the combined port, has a population of about six hundred Europeans and Americans, with close upon a thousand Chinamen, the war having greatly diminished the num- bers of this class of resident here, as well as at Yoko- hama. The latest census gave the total number of residents in Kobe and Hiogo together as 148,625. The " Model Settlement " as it claims to be has its affairs administered by a Municipal Council, composed of the Japanese Governor of the place and the Foreign Consuls. The police system is admirably organised, and the broad, clean, well-lighted streets testify to the excellence of the sanitary and general supervision exercised. Facing the beach, the dwelling-houses and offices of the foreign merchants afford a pleasing diver- sity of style in their architecture, and have a fresh and wholesome appearance from the proximity of shrub- beries and lawns. The esplanade boasts a fine stretch of turf, and at the eastern end of the settlement are recreation grounds, well laid out, with abundant facili- TREATY PORTS. 231 ties for tennis, and two or three club-houses. The race- course a short distance away, and a good cricket-field provide other forms of amusement, and there is good boating and sea bathing. Although the last of the Treaty Ports to be opened to foreign commerce, its growth was so rapid that it became in its second year a formidable rival to Yoko- hama. It has never attained quite the dimensions of the older port, but it is better laid out, the municipal authorities of the " Concession " having had a free hand to plan the streets thereof to their own liking. The sea-front extends nearly half a mile, and there is ample quay accommodation. The foreign settle- ment is separated from the native town of Hiogo by a narrow creek only, across which there are several bridges, and a considerable number of the foreign mer- chants actually dwell in Hiogo. The principal railway station is in the native town, that nearest to the Kobe settlement being distinguished as San-no-miya, from the proximity of a noted Shinto temple of that name. Perched nearly at the top of the highest peak, behind the town, the temple of the Moon peeps out from groves of deep evergreen foliage, through which the steep and narrow ascent has to be made, but the toil of the journey is well recompensed when the summit is attained. On the way there is a famous waterfall, as much one of the lions of the place as is the waterfall at Penang. Every traveller is urged to visit this spot, and halfway up the hill-side are natural mineral springs sa valuable in their 232 ADVANCE JAPAN. way as those of Arima, twelve miles distant. The attractions of pretty scenery have induced restaurant- keepers and others to spread their nets for the diligent sightseer, who is in duty bound to spend some portion there of the time at disposal whilst the mail-steamer remains at anchor in the roadstead. Altogether Kobe is one of the pleasantest settlements of the Far East to reside in, and will serve as a pattern for the establishment of numerous little colonies, it is to be hoped, in other seaports of Japan which, in 1899, will be opened to foreign trade throughout the realm. It is the centre of a large shipbuilding industry, many vessels both iron and wooden ones being annually launched from the local yards. At the Imperial Ship- yard in Hiogo there is a patent slip, which accommo- dates steamers of 2,000 tons. The total length of the slip is 900 feet 300 of which are above water with a breadth of 38 feet and a slope of one in twenty, hydraulic power being available throughout. A large rice-cleaning mill has been in existence since 1885, and also paper mills. The enterprise of the place is fairly indicated by the support accorded to three foreign daily papers, the Herald, Chronicle, and Hiogo News, and two native journals. Three foreign-owned and conducted hotels exist in the settlement, with many excellent shops. Ecclesiastical bodies are represented by the Union Protestant and French Catholic Churches, and also by a Protestant Church in the Japanese town. TREATY PORTS. 235 Two of the heroes of Japanese mediaeval history are buried in the suburbs of Kobe and Hiogo, and the temples charged with the record of the valorous deeds ascribed to Kiyomori and Masahige Kusunosuke are right well preserved by the faithful. Kobe is the terminus of the Tokaido railway from Yokohama, 376 miles, and the Sanyodo railway, extend- ing at present to Hiroshima, some 240 miles, and shortly to be carried on to Shimonoseki Straits. The depdt in Hiogo is well supplied with engine and carriage sheds, fitting and repairing workshops, and all the customary adjuncts to a large and busy central station. Osaka. Osaka is in Settsu, and commands respect as the second city of Japan. Its position is analogous in many respects to that of Liverpool or Glasgow with us. Unfortunately, its harbour is too shallow to permit large steamers to enter, and they have to lie off the bar at the mouth of the Yodo. Koraibashi, the Korean bridge, is situated in the centre of the town, and from it, as from Nihonbashi in Tokio, all distances are calcu- lated. The castle is a splendid example of the style of architecture which prevailed throughout the Shogun period, and was in existence prior to the time of Hide- yoshi. The Tokugawa dynasty regarded it as one of their main strongholds, and always took care to place a thoroughly trustworthy governor in charge. It now holds an arsenal, and has a large garrison, being the headquarters of one of the six military divisions of the Empire. 236 ADVANCE JAPAN. Osaka boasts a population of 484,342 souls, and has 131,000 houses. A portion of the city bears the name of Tennoji, the temple of the heavenly Kings, from the existence there of one of the most sacred fanes of the Buddhist religion. Another district is Kawaguchi, where a few European residents have dwelt since 1868. The Mint, in the north section of the town, is a Govern- ment department, where not only all the coin for the nation is minted, but gold from Korea is annually re- ceived to be converted into a coinage for the neighbour- ing kingdom. The plant for this Mint came from England, and was previously in use at Hong-Kong. The Japanese Government purchased the whole thing, and engaged Major Kinder and a staff of assayers to ;>tart the work at Osaka in 1869. Owing to the bar at the river's mouth, the foreign trade of Osaka has never risen to importance, large steamers having to load at Kobe, 25 miles distant. The railway has quite supplanted the fleet of small steamers which at one time plied in the bay with passengers. Up to the end of the fifteenth century, Osaka bore the name of Naniwa, an abbreviation of N ami-hay a, the name Jinmu Tenno bestowed on the place when he found the waves so violent (implied by the compound word) as to impede his disembarkation, in 660 B.C. It is now the centre of a large cotton-spinning indus- try, and has extensive shipbuilding yards and flourishing ironworks. The foreign residents, 122 in number, are mostly connected with missionary enterprise. TREATY PORTS. 237 Nagasaki. The first port in the early days to be- come known to the outer world, Nagasaki retains more than ordinary interest for Occidentals, and if it has been out-paced in regard to trade by its more modern rivals, Yokohama and Kobe, it nevertheless has still a large share of the commerce of the country, both ex- ternal and internal. Its dock is a refuge for vessels A JAPANESE-BUILT TORPEDO-BOAT. of large size when needing repair, for it can accommo- date a ship of the largest class, being 438 feet long 375 feet on the blocks and 90 feet in width. At high water, spring tides, there are 27 feet at the entrance, and 22 at neap tides. The Aka-no-ura engine-works facing the town, on the other shore of the magnificent almost land-locked inlet which forms Nagasaki har- bour, so well known to mariners, now belong to the Mitsu Bishi Steamship Company, one of the most suc- cessful of Japanese trading concerns. Formerly the establishment was Government property, and some 238 ADVANCE JAPAN. splendid marine engineering work has been executed by a mixed staff of skilled native and foreign engineers and artificers, who are now engaged by M. Iwasaki Yanosuk6, one of Japan's merchant kings. Nagasaki owes much to the discovery of coal at Takashima, only a few miles distant from the mouth of the harbour, where the mineral has been mined suc- cessfully for 30 years, principally at the instigation of Mr. T. B. Glover, C.E., one of the oldest residents of the port. Takashima and other local mines called Nakanoshima, have been putting out close on half a million tons annually, and the quality is such that it has found a ready sale to steamers all along, though recently the Miike mines, elsewhere alluded to, have proved sturdy competitors for the foreign trade. Compared with Yokohama or Kobe, the settlement is small, but it boasts two clubs, a masonic lodge, and several hotels, with a few good shops, or "stores" as they are universally termed in the East. By-and-bye, Nagasaki may come again into prominence, as the branch railway is being pushed forward to connect the town with the main trunk-line of the Kiushiu rail- way, which traverses the island from north to south, beginning at Shimonoseki Straits. It will then be practicable to leave the mail-steamer, and take train for Yokohama and the Capital, saving several days' sea journey. The climate is exceedingly mild and salubrious, and has attracted many foreign residents to the charming TREATY PORTS. 239 villas, situated in romantic nooks and glens towards the entrance of the inlet. The French Catholic body have always made Nagasaki a stronghold, and the services at their cathedral are well attended by the natives. The Anglican and other religious denominations are likewise well represented. Out in the harbour's mouth stands the isle of Papenberg, and a few miles distant is the village of Mogi, both of which' places possess a melancholy interest from the scenes there enacted at the beginning of the seventeenth century. But the times have changed, and intolerance has been succeeded by the utmost freedom in respect of religious thought and observance. The new waterworks have three filter-beds, and pro- vide a supply of 90 millions of gallons, so that Naga- saki, like Yokohama, may now feel comparatively at ease on the subject of the drinking-water supply for its large population, among which are ordinarily included 356 persons of American, British, Dutch, and other nationalities foreign to Japan, and some 654 Chinamen, a large proportion of whom are temporarily absentees. The Rising Sun newspaper and two native journals keep their subscribers well posted as regards the outer world's affairs. Promising Seaports Tor Future Trade* To Europeans the prospect of free intercourse with the interior of Japan should have immense attractiveness. The ports which are now open to foreign commerce con- stitute by no means the only favourable places for carry- 240 ADVANCE JAPAN. ing on trade. There are numerous points on the coast more conveniently situated as regards their proximity to the great centres of those industries for which Japan is famed, and which form her staple exports. This is particularly true of the west coast, and in Tsu- ruga, in the province of Jakushiu. there is an instance of a conveniently situated port which may one day form the terminus of a line of steamers communicating with the coast of Korea, or with the terminus of the Trans- Siberian Railway, wherever that may ultimately be located. Tsuruga has a branch railway joining it to the main railway system of the Empire, and in point of position should become a great trading centre. Matsuye, in Idzumo, is another harbour which should prove valuable in tapping a district which may not for years to come be adequately served by railways. Miyadzu, also a port on the west coast, may come into promin- ence. It is best known now by its possession of the Ama-no-Hashidat6 (lit. Ladder of Heaven), one of Japan's loveliest landscapes. Kochi. Kochi, the chief town of Tosa province, has long been known to Europeans as an enterprising place, and when full freedom of access can be attained, should provide a place of residence for Europeans and a singularly eligible locality for the profitable investment of foreign capital. Tosa has long enjoyed the reputation of being one of the richest provinces of Japan, and its people are among the most enlightened and energetic. Shi- koku Island has not had a Treaty Port hitherto, and R TREATY PORTS. 243 its trade has all been carried on through Kobe and Osaka. In all probability Kochi should' be the first point to which the attention of enterprising foreign merchants and manufacturers should be early directed, on account of its influence over the interior trade of Shikoku. Yokkaichi. There are several ports to which the coasting steamers of the Yu-sen Kai-sha already trade regularly, and in which a large foreign trade should be developed in the near future. One of these is Yokkaichi, in the Owari Gulf, at which grain steamers already load rice very extensively. There should be an opening at this town for the export of tea, as it lies close to one of the most extensive tea-growing districts. Yokkaichi is the. port for the large castle town of Nagoya, a few miles higher up the gulf, and the district is likewise the centre of silk and porcelain industries. A great deal of the porcelain comes from Kaga, on the other side of the island, and would find its natural outlet at Tsuruga, or Toyama, both harbours on that coast, but the Banko or Owari ware would be shipped from Yokkaichi (Four- day Market) on the southern slope of Hondo. A rail- way has been constructed, joining the port to the main line. Sciitlai. Farther to the north, in the province of Rikuzen, is the large town of Sendai, the former seat of one of the most powerful daimios. Marquis Date's income was fully half a million sterling per annum. In the bay of Sendai, renowned for its beautiful scenery, is Matsushita a, R 2 244 ADVANCE JAPAN. one of the San-kei, or three superlatively lovely places famed in Japanese history. Sendai is the natural seaport for the trade of the northern provinces, and lies midway between Tokio and Aomori, on the great northern rail- way line of Japan. Some missionary families are already resident in the place, and situated as it is in about Lat 38 15' north, the climate is all that could be desired for European residents. Inland Sea. Funai, the chief town of Bungo, in Kiushiu, is a place which should well repay exploitation, lying in a beautiful bay of the Inland Sea, but hitherto out of the track of steamships. Onomichi, on the northern shore of the same sea, is a port possessing a very large native trade, and from time immemorial it has been a harbour for junks. Its position gives it the com- mand of a large inland traffic. Wakayama, at the mouth of Idzumi Nada, has always been the capital of Kiushiu, a region second to none for enterprise, and for its salu- brity. The list might be extended indefinitely, but it may suffice now to point out that the opening of Japanese ports to foreign trade and residence, when the existing treaty comes into operation, should have interest for not a few who have hitherto refrained from embarking in commerce with the Far East. Our Chambers of Com- merce may do well to gather all the data that may be procurable with regard to shipments at these and other ports from which the direct European trade is no longer to be excluded. Increased facilities are certain to bring TREATY PORTS. 245 increase of business, and it may be that foreign capital can be advantageously used to set up machinery on the spot at places where cotton and other products are already cultivated. There must be many towns in the heart of Japan where industrial enterprise would be certain to meet with success. The people are handy and willing, labour is unquestionably cheap, the cost of living low and the climate delightful. Though the date seems far distant when the vital change will come into operation, yet something can be done in the way of preparation, and though it is scarcely likely that any " rush " will ensue, it is tolerably certain that British capitalists at large will take no harm by examining thoroughly the nature of the commerce now carried on with Japan, and gravely considering the prospects in regard to that which may with profit be engrafted thereupon. Other nations will not be slow to seize any advantage there may be to secure by prompt action, and as the time draws near there will be much to arrange. The Japanese Government will be careful to have every- thing cut and dried in readiness for an invasion of Western commerce at all the more likely ports on the coast, and long ere the time actually arrives the new code of laws, under which justice will be adminis- tered, will be available for the inspection of intending settlers. Japan, from being regarded as the play-ground of Europe, should presently become one of the busiest 2 4 6 ADVANCE JAPAN. marts of the world's industries, for, if I mistake not, it is by way of Japan, and through her good offices, that Kurope and America will be able to open up markets upon a hitherto unprecedented scale in China and Korea. 247 CHAPTER X. COMMUNICATIONS. N no department of progress have the people of Nihon made greater strides than in regard to their internal and external lines of communi- cation. Improvement in this respect was greatly needed, and from the outset it was recognised that until ample facilities for travel- ling, and for the interchange of letters, could be secured to the public at large, there could be but compara- tively little headway made against the forces of ignor- ance and superstition. The condition of the high-roads was seldom suited to wheeled vehicles, for prior to 1860 the bullock-drays employed in the transport of merchan- dise were the only conveyances of the kind in existence Japan made one stride from the sedan-chair to the first- class railway car, without any intermediate stage of vehicles drawn by quadrupeds. There is a miniature gig in general use, however, in which draught-bipeds are actively engaged, for which the Japanese may take credit as one of the most remarkable institutions of the East. The Jin-riki-slm. It made its appearance in Yoko- hama in 1871, and like the individual who first made use 248 ADVANCE JAPAN. of an umbrella, he was a bold man who first took a seat in this conveyance, to be whirled through the thorough- fares of the native town behind a half-clothed native runner. From Yokohama the idea rapidly spread, how- ever, and in a short time thousands of these little gigs, termed in the vernacular jin-riki-sha, or man-power- THE carriage, were placed upon the streets of the principal cities for hire. But the scope of the new invention was not limited to the centres of population, for the handy contrivances soon found their way to the outlying vil- lages, and thence to the large towns of the interior. Where it had been customary to hire a sedan-chair, termed COMMUNICATIONS. 249 norimono in Japan, or in its simplest form a kago, for a stage of six or eight English miles, it now became the prac- tice to engage a jin-riki-sha t at very little higher rate of pay. The posting stations, at which pack-horses or kago- bearers were formerly to be hired for the next stage, now took up the novelty and provided gigs for their clients, the draught-bipeds being held responsible for the due delivery of the travellers entrusted to their care. Year by year the jin-riki-sha increased in popularity, and wherever the roads are of moderate gradient the sedan has entirely given place to the more speedy wheeled vehicle, until at the present day it has become the uni- versal mode of transport for individual voyagers and their baggage. Not only has Japan benefited herself by this more convenient system of travelling, but the miniature gigs have been exported to China and Singapore, to the ex- tent that they are almost as familiar objects in the streets of the coast ports of the Yellow Sea, and of the Straits Settlements, as they are on the Bund at Yokohama. An effort has been made to introduce them into London thoroughfares, but the preponderance of wheeled traffic is already such as to preclude the possibility of our ever making room for man-power carriages in this Metropolis. In Hong-Kong and Shanghai the gigs have largely sup- planted the native palanquin, and the Chinese runners, though seldom so fleet as the Japanese, have taken very kindly to the employment. Excursion Guilds. Throughout Japan there is a 250 ADVANCE JAPAN. system in operation by which the licensed victuallers of the nation subscribe to one or other, sometimes to several, travellers' guilds, by which means a twofold object is attained. The guild is able to secure for the guest at any of the hotels the most considerate treat- ment at the hands of the landlord, whilst the innkeeper is at least confident of obtaining his full share of the trade. Few Japanese travel unless under the auspices of the Tsu-un-ko, the Bun-mei-ko, or other of their kindred guilds; and the immunity thereby ensured from risk of overcharge, or loss of property on the journey, is of no small value to both native and foreign pas- sengers. The modus operandi is simple enough. OH setting out from his home the intending tourist receives from the local office of the guild a map and a guide- book, giving all needful particulars regarding the route he purposes to take. Such books are corrected from time to time, and brought up to date by the addition of new material. The distances between the towns are clearly set forth, with directions how to reach objects of interest lying on or near the road to be followed, and a choice of hotels is given in every large village or town to be visited. Japanese inns have signs like those of European countries, and the similarity of objects chosen is often very striking. The commonest signs in Japan are perhaps the Cock, Bull, Eagle, Pine, and Bamboo. Fuji (the Wisteria) and Masu (Salmon- trout) are also very frequently to be met with. Other conspicuous inn-titles, of less appropriate application COMMUNICATIONS. 251 from an English point of view, are those of Nedzumi (Rat) or Mukade (Centipede), but the animal and vegetable kingdom are well represented throughout. Pictorial representations are lacking, but the letters forming the inn-name are engraved in gold or colours so as to attract the eye, and with the exception that royalty is not associated with sign-boards in the Far East, the custom of the trade in this respect is pretty much the same as in Western lands. No innkeeper in Japan has yet tried the effect of hoisting the " Mikado's Head " over his door as an inducement to travellers to enter ; and probably, should ever the experiment be made, it will prove to be too costly for repetition. Cheap Hotels. A landlord is bound by the rules of his guild to affix his seal to the traveller's guide-book, so that should it be necessary at any time to investi- gate a complaint of exorbitant charges, or negligent service, the book may be produced in evidence. A not uncommon practice among old-fashioned travellers is to carry a memorandum-book, in which the innkeeper is invited to enter his own bill on the first vacant page. The book affords indication of the prices which its owner has paid for his accommodation at previous stages of his journey, and by inference those which it will be agreeable to him to pay. The account-book serves as a record of the journey, and it is as well, on setting out, to make sure that the first entry on its pages is founded on strictly economical principles, as it will serve to some extent as an example for other 252 ADVANCE JAPAN. landlords to follow. The Bun-mei-ko has a scale of charges which its adherents are expected 1 to conform to. Under the ordinary rates a traveller has a right to expect his supper, bed, and breakfast to be pro- vided for him at a cost of less than one shilling in a guild hotel. It is usual, however, for a well-to-do guest to order a special dish or two, and to make a small present for " tea-service," which may bring the total expenditure to sixpence more, at present rates of ex- change. These charges cover the supply of hot water for a bath, and entitle the visitors to expect that they will be met at the entrance to the town and escorted to the inn ; likewise that the landlord or his representative will set out with them on the morrow, and, after seeing them well on their way, will wish them bon voyage with the accompaniment of his best bow. There can be few countries under the sun where landlords do so much for the guests on such an extremely low tariff. The rapidity of railway travelling has of course much modified these arrangements on the routes fol- lowed by the lines actually at work, but there are many hundreds of miles of high-road, in remote dis- tricts, where the old customs still prevail, and where it is unlikely any material change will be made for a decade to come. Those who may visit Japan in 1899, on the opening of the entire land to European trade, therefore, are likely to still find traces remaining of that " old Japan " which was not without its special charm. Many people of sedate manners for there are old- COMMUNICATIONS. 253 fashioned folk even in modern Japan still prefer to travel by the high-roads, just as there are English people who have a lingering fondness for the coach and horses of our forefathers, and patronise that mode of convey- ance wherever it is yet to be met with. In Japan they seldom allow their prejudices to prevail with them so far as to reject the modern jin-riki-sJia, in favour of the an- cient norimono, for the era of sedan-chairs seems alto- gether to have passed away since railways became at all popular. Thus it happens that there is consider- able gig traffic along the Tdkaido, for example, in spite of the close proximity of a line of railway and express trains. To the advent of \hzjin-riki-ska, indeed, must be ascribed in great measure the vast improve- ment in the condition of the roads which has been effected during the last 20 years. In 1875 there was a General Assembly of Prefects at the Japanese Capital, and one of the problems presented to the Conference for solution was that relating to the obvious necessity for providing suitable roadways throughout the Pro- vinces for the passage of t\\e jin-riki-sha, which, even at that early stage of its existence, gave promise of a life of great usefulness. It is safe to say that this diminu- tive vehicle has played a most prominent part in the development of the country, and it has not received by any means the credit it deserves. The construction of roads suitable for the heavier type of vehicles ordinarily drawn by horses would have entailed so vast an expen- diture of both time and money that the development of 254 ADVANCE JAPAN. the Empire would have been retarded for several years. Not only would a far higher standard of solidity have been demanded, but considerably greater width, for even the Tokaido was in places narrow and tortuous prior to 1875, an ^ to have widened it, and strengthened its bridges, sufficiently to make it practicable for pair- horse omnibuses throughout its length, would have entailed far greater monetary responsibilities than the provincial authorities were at that time prepared to incur. The Prefects assembled at Tokio recognised the paramount necessity of furnishing enhanced facilities for internal communication, and cordially welcomed the newly-arrived man-power-gig as the most serviceable of instruments for effecting their purpose. With an ex- treme breadth of not more than four feet, including the wheels, each gig is made to serve for the conveyance of two persons, on a push, seated side by side, with a port- manteau on the footboard, and a pair of such vehicles may contrive to pass each other on a road nine feet wide. Many of the by-roads and lanes of the Provinces were at that period of no greater width than this, and could only be classed as bridle-paths. The traffic upon them was purely pedestrian, rarely disturbed even by a passing pack-horse, and as a result, communication with towns and villages only slightly removed from the beaten track was necessarily tedious and toilsome. Visits to notable shrines, situated off the high-road, Nikko for example, were pilgrimages which could only be made on foot. Merchandise could only be transported, in COMMUNICA TIONS. 257 limited quantities, on men's shoulders. The appearance of the jin-riki-sJia upon the scene changed the entire aspect of affairs. Travellers at once became able to accomplish double and treble the distance in a day they had previously attempted when obliged to walk. The outlying temples and places possessing historical asso- ciations were discovered to possess virtues undreamt of whilst journeys to them had compulsorily to be made on foot. The priests and hotel-keepers rejoiced and blessed the wee agents of so much prosperity. A tradesman would load up his wares on one vehicle, and taking his seat in another, would be borne off at a run to a distant town, where he would introduce his goods to a new market. It was palpable that the jin-riki-sha had come to aid the Government in the inauguration of a new regime. The drawing on a pre- vious page will afford a clear idea of the man-power- gig which has done so much for Japan, and for other countries in the Far East. Classification of High-roads. The assembled Prefects came to the conclusion that all the roads of the Japanese Empire should be classified according to the nature of the services they would be thenceforward called upon to render, and definite arrangements made for their due maintenance and repair. With that admir- able devotion to systematic organisation which distin- guishes the proceedings of Government bodies in Japan, the deliberations of the Conference, afterwards approved by the Supreme Council, took definite shape in an S 258 ADVANCE JAPAN. arrangement whereby the National roads, supported entirely out of the Imperial Funds, were distinguished from the Prefecture roads, for the maintenance of which the Imperial Exchequer is saddled with a moiety only the other half of the expenditure being borne by the Local Boards and the village roads, for the up-keep of which contributions are levied in the districts actually served. National roads, which correspond to the great highways of the United Kingdom, are subdivided into three classes, the first of which possess a minimum width of 42 feet, and are the main links of communica- tion between Tokio and the Treaty Ports. This regula- tion involves the provision of a road never less than 14 yards broad from Nagasaki in the far south, to Hako- date in the extreme north, passing through the ports of Kobe, Osaka, and Yokohama on the way, with a branch to Niigata in the north-west. The length of this high- road, which bears various names according to the dis- tricts it traverses, is not less than 1,200 miles, the general shape of the islands of Japan being long and narrow. Such an excellent provision for the wheeled traffic of the country is more than sufficient to meet the demands of horsed vehicles in those sections of the highway where such accommodation exists, and will admit of the general introduction of waggons and carriages drawn by quadrupeds, in supersession of the diminutive jin- riki-s/ia, when that lowly but most advantageous con- veyance shall have outlived its present sphere of use- fulness. COM MU NIC A TIONS. 259 \aiionai ili^liiva.vM. National roads of the second class have a width of 36 feet, and are such as constitute the arteries of travel to the venerated shrines of Ise, or temples of the Sun-god, wherein are reverenced the ancestral tablets of that dynasty of Mikados whose direct descendant occupies the Japanese throne. The pilgrimages to Ise are very numerously attended, large parties annually setting out from the most distant regions of the Empire at about midsummer, just after the rice shoots have been transplanted, when the able- bodied members of the farmers' families can be spared for a brief spell from the otherwise engrossing duties of agriculture. The throngs of worshippers require a fairly wide road by which to reach their destination, and so the Ise roads, where they quit the main route of the Tokaido, are maintained in the second class, and in constant repair. This class of thoroughfare likewise includes the roads communicating with the principal cities throughout the Empire, apart from those actually situated on that main highway of the first class previously described. The second class roads also lead to the various military depots of the War Department, and these depots are further connected with the chief cities of their vicinity by roads of a minimum width of 30 feet. National roads of this third class, i.e., those at least 30 feet wide, join the Capital with all the various prefectures of the interior not otherwise provided for, so that a very com- plete network of road communications is ever at the service of the Government, connecting the Capital with S 2 260 ADVANCE JAPAN. every centre of local authority, from the farthest ex- tremity of the Mikado's territory in Yeso, to the southern limit of Satsuma at Kagoshima. Prefectural Highways. Those high-roads, toward the support of which a call'is made upon the resources of the Provincial Boards of Control, to the extent of one half the total expenditure, are from 24 to 30 feet wide, and join the various prefectures one with another or con- nect military stations with their outposts. This class of highway is also considered sufficient to place the head offices of the prefects, in towns dignified by their per- petual residence, in communication with the outlying branch offices of sub-prefects in adjacent towns of secondary importance. The roads to seaports in the neighbourhood, or to places which have a certain vogue as health resorts, or as specially endowed by nature in the matter of beautiful scenery, must not be less than 24 feet wide. Village Road*. Village roads are those of the Third Section, and are regarded in this category if they merely serve the purposes of land cultivation, or have been constructed as part of some scheme of irrigation, to provide improved facilities for pasturage, or for manu- facturing or mining enterprises. Roadways, laid out in order to benefit Buddhist or Shinto monasteries come under this designation, and it is a suggestive fact that the Government of the country, whilst insisting upon the villagers concerned submitting for approval the plans and estimates framed for these public works, ac- COM Af UN 1C A TIONS. 261 cords to the happy peasantry the privilege of paying the entire cost. The classification of highways thus adopted bears a close resemblance to that in operation in France, and the Japanese Prefectural system has been largely modelled upon that of the French arondissements. It speaks volumes for the good sense of the Government officials that they confined their attention to the duty of im- proving existing roads and channels of intercourse, and rendering them passable for light vehicles of the type already described, when they might have been tempted, with some show of reason, to sink vast sums in laying out highways of an elaborate description, which, how- ever serviceable in years to come, would have been con- siderably in advance of the requirements of the hour. In the making of sound roads thioughout the country the officials have been prompted by considerations of prudence and economy, as much as by a desire to open up the interior. Regarded in combination with their fast-growing railway system, the Japanese people may now be said to possess highways of a character com- mensurate with their needs, and sufficient to serve in the development of the nation's resources for many years to come. Severely Practical. Whatever may be said in the way of praise of those magnificent avenues of crypto- meria with which the Shogun lyeyasu decorated the highways of a bygone age, many of which have survived the typhoons of autumn and the storms of winter to 262 ADVANCE JAPAN. gladden the eye by their noble proportions and sen- sibly to ameliorate the toil of travel, it must be ac- knowledged that the works hitherto undertaken by the present Emperor's Government have been much less ornamental in character. The roads have been ren- dered serviceable, but surely not beautiful. There are often no hedgerows or other form of border, no trees, pales, or palisades to mark the edge of the straight un- deviating track across a succession of rice-fields. But, if not picturesque, the roads are eminently useful ; and the time may come when the question of embellishment may be taken up quite as enthusiastically as any admirer of artistic Japan could desire., Just now it suits the nation to be, above all things, practical and progres- sive. If these expressions have any weight in connection with the improvements which have been effected on the roads, they must apply with even greater force when we investigate the nature of Japan's progress in regard to railways and telegraphs. The Railway to the Capital. The instant that the leading spirits of the Revolution had leisure to turn their attention to the duties of reorganisation, the im- perative necessity of establishing railway communication throughout the Empire was cordially recognised, and steps were taken to forge the first link of the chain by the construction of a line, 18 miles long, from the port of Yokohama to the capital of Tokio. Engineers were engaged from England and India to carry out the CO MM UN 1C A TIONS. 263 requisite surveys and establish the line on the European model. Funds for the great work were procured by floating a loan at nine per cent, interest through the agency of the Oriental Banking Corporation, and the agent of the bank in Japan was installed, in the interests of the bondholders, as European general manager of the Imperial railways. The first engineer-in-chief of the projected line, Mr. Morel, died during its inceptive stage, and was succeeded by Mr. R. Vicars Boyle, C.S.I., who had had considerable experience on British Government railways in India. By the close of 1871, not only were the works in a very advanced stage, but a second line of railway had been laid out, and work commenced upon it in another part of the country, 350 miles to the south- west. By the summer of 1872, trains were running from Yokohama to Shinagawa, a suburb of Tokio, and the Japanese public were beginning to realise some of the advantages which a newly-established system of Govern- ment was designed to confer upon them. But these brilliant results were not achieved without encounter- ing many difficulties, natural and artificial. The natural obstacles were surmounted by the exercise of much patient skill, and were met with principally at the bridg- ing of the rivers, where shifting beds of sand and sud- den floods of irresistible volume demanded, and received, the attention of trained and indefatigable specialists in railway construction. The formation of an embank- ment parallel to the shore of Yedo Bay, by which the line had to be carried forward from Shinagawa to the 264 ADVANCE JAPAN. terminus at Shinbashi, in the Capital itself, a distance of three miles in all, likewise constituted an engineering work of some prominence. But the difficulties artifi- cially created by landowners, and by that section of the Japanese public which secretly viewed the introduction of foreign inventions with disfavour, notwithstanding the progress already made, tended perceptibly to thwart and delay the completion of the undertaking. This section of 18 miles was actually opened for public traffic on the I2th of June, 1872, though the State cere- mony was deferred till the I2th of October. It was then a single road only, but in 1880 it was made a double line throughout. Rokugo river bridge, midway, has 30 spans, and is built of iron. The average cost per mile (34,263) seems extravagant, but this was Japan's first attempt at railway construction. Other lines have been built far more cheaply since. When first the line was established all the rolling stock was procured from Great Britain, but now the whole of it is made in Japan, save the locomotives and some of the ironwork. This is the first and only double line in Japan, but the others will be widened and doubled by degrees. On an average two and a quarter millions of passengers are conveyed yearly, and the earnings are about 120,000, working expenses being, roughly speaking, one third of this amount. Fares are very moderate. The Kobe and O*ak.a Section. The railway from Kobe to Osaka, 22 miles long, was opened next in the year 1874. Tunnels and bridges were costly COMMUNICATIONS. 265 items in the construction, but nevertheless the average rate worked out at 33,970 per mile. A bridge 1,190 feet long spans the Afukogawa y and the culverts and bridges all told number no fewer than 209. The tun- nels, three in number, have a combined length of 750 feet, and carry the track beneath the beds of rivers. In 1880 this section was extended to Otsu, 11^ miles, and opened formally by His Majesty the Mikado on the I4th July. Otsu is situated at the end of Lake Biwa, and a commodious harbour has been constructed, PLEASURE BOAT ON SUMIDA RIVER, TOKIO. and protected by breakwaters, with appliances for load- ing the steamers which ply on the lake. An iron bridge of eight 5o-feet spans carries the line over the Kamo- gawa, near Kito, and a tunnel, 727 yards in length, pierces Osakayama. The locomotives were supplied from Glasgow and Manchester. Steel rails were like- wise obtained from Great Britain. The tunnels which are a feature of the line had been pierced and faced preparatory to the completion of the long and costly embankments necessary to carry the rail- 266 ADVANCE JA I' AN. way across the low-lying rice-fields. The rivers pre- sented some peculiar features, inasmuch as the channels by which they reach the sea, are raised far above the level of the surrounding country. The problem which arose for solution was whether it would be more convenient to cross above, or below, these natural aqueducts. Both systems were tried, tunnels having been driven beneath two of the water-courses, where the height above the adjoining fields admitted of this plan being followed with success, whilst in other cases embankments were constructed to bring the rails up to the level of the aqueducts, and iron bridges were built to carry them across. Such bridges were sent out in sections from the workshops of Great Britain, and put together on the spot, the sinking of the piers requiring great care and vigilance. Httite Opening ol" li;til\\a>*. It was fitting that the occasion of the completion of so valuable and strik- ing a novelty as a line of railway should be marked by the public appearance of the monarch whose existence, as far as the masses were concerned, had been up to that time more a matter of religious belief than of personal knowledge. The TensJd became a living reality when he came down to Yokohama and performed the cere- mony of opening to public traffic the first " iron road," as it is termed by his people. Two years later he opened the Kobe-Osaka-Kioto division, which was possibly, to His Majesty's thinking, more startling as an innovation, in his old ancestral home of Kioto, than it had been to RAILWAYS IN JAPAN. COMMUNICATIONS. 269 the city and port of the North. For it will be remem- bered that only six years had elapsed since he had dwelt in absolute seclusion in this " Western Capital," whilst the Government of his country had been carried on by the so-called Tycoon at Yedo. Both at Yokohama and at Kobe the opening of the railways was distinguished by a ceremonial of surpassing interest and brilliancy, ever to be remembered by those who were privileged to assist at the function. The Empress of Japan was prominent on the occasion of the Kobe display, and like the Tenshi, was clad in European costume, a departure from established custom which surely indicated her willingness to sacrifice even her own comfort in the sacred cause of progress. The ToKaiclo Line. The two lines of railway thus royally established have since been united by the con- struction of the Tokaido railway joining Kioto with Yokohama, which at once placed the capital of Tokio in communication with the great cities of the West. The precise length of this Tokaido line is 376 miles, and it has already been extended in a westerly direction as far as Hiroshima, some 215 miles. Preparations are being made as rapidly as possible to carry it forward to Shimonoseki, the gate of the Inland Sea, and Japan's outpost towards Korea. The accompanying outline chart will afford a tolerably accurate idea of the ex- tent to which railway communication has already been established within the Mikado's dominions. As will be observed, the trunk-line stretching southward 270 ADVANCE JAPAN. from the Capital is not quite continuous to Nagasaki, the Treaty Port of Southern Japan, but is within measur- able distance of attaining this condition. Before another year elapses it is probable that the traveller may leave his vessel at Nagasaki, and rejoin her at Yokohama, travelling by railway through half the entire length of Japan, and having a day or two to spare for sight-seeing in route. Lines in Central and North Japan. Northward of the Capital the completion of the railway to Awomori, along the line of the Oshiu-kai-do, a distance of /j/j/j miles, has brought the island of Yeso, once so remote, within a few hours' journey of Tokio, and with it the Treaty Port of Hakodate, open to foreign trade since 1865. Branch lines connect the populous city of Mito once a seat of the powerful Tokugawa clan, and Mae- bashi, as well as the sacred shrines of Nikko, remark- able for their beauty, with the seat of Government in Tokio. Another trunk line leads through Maebashi and Takasaki to the north-western seaport of Takata. Mid-Japan is excellently served by lines thrown out from the main system at Kioto and Osaka, towards Nara and Sakai, Yokkaichi and Is6, and also to Tsuruga, on the west coast. Far to the southward the coal- mines of Miike have been brought into direct connec- tion with the general railway system by a branch which leads to the pit's mouth, an illustration of which appears in a subsequent chapter. In the map of railways already existing or projected, CO MM UN 1C A TIONS. 27 1 it will be observed that several additions to the system are in an advanced stage, and that as soon as active operations can be resumed, upon the close of the war with China, the mileage of the Japanese railways will be very considerably increased. Viewed only in the light of twenty-five years' work, the vast amount of country already opened up by the " iron roads " cannot fail to impress the European reader with a sense of the energy which the Government of Japan has thrown into this one department of its most extensive opera- tions. The locomotive engines employed on Japanese rail- ways are almost without exception of English manu- facture or built upon English models. Two well-known Lancashire firms were among the earliest to supply the locomotives for the Yokohama and Kobe sections, and the type then sent out seemed to afford such satisfaction that it has been regularly adhered to. The gauge of the Japanese lines is very narrow, being only 3 feet 6 inches, so that when compared with the mighty engines employed on the main lines in Great Britain, a Japanese locomotive appears altogether insignificant. It suffices admirably, however, for the class of work it is called upon at pre- sent to perform, though in the somewhat distant future, when traffic increases in proportion to the facilities afforded for transport of merchandise as well as of pas- sengers, it may become a matter of necessity to widen the gauge to the standard 4 feet 8^ inches, and employ more capacious vehicles, with locomotives of the power 272 ADVANCE JAPAN. and dimensions ordinarily in use in this and other occi- dental countries. In their choice of a 3 feet 6 inch gauge the Japanese have been influenced by considerations which had weight with the engineers of Indian rail- ways, but the development of the country is advancing at such a phenomenal pace that only a few years hence we may expect to find the light rolling stock utterly unfitted to economically carry the traffic. Last year's statistics prove that, apart from the exceptional demands made upon the capabilities of the Japanese railways by the war with China, there was a steady increase in the ordinary traffic and a corresponding rise in the earnings per mile on both the State lines and those which are carried on by private enterprise. On the Tokaido the railway line has been carried parallel to the highway, generally at a distance of some miles on the landward side, but here and there glimpses are obtained of the rolling billows of the broad Pacific. In great part the charm of a journey amid such sylvan surroundings as the old coach-road affords must neces- sarily be altogether lacking, however, in the hurried day- and-night ride in the train, which now replaces the ten or twelve days' trip formerly to be enjoyed by travellers under the old conditions. For those who have time to spare a trip along the Tokaido must always have many attractions, as the geological features to be met with in a journey throughout its length are of more than com- mon interest Nothing could be calculated, indeed, to afford greater satisfaction to a traveller than falls to the COMMUNICA TIONS. 273 lot of a pedestrian setting out from the Capital, and bent upon acquiring a comprehensive view of the country which appears destined to play so important a part in the future history of the Asiatic continent Steady Development. The railway enterprise which has distinguished the past few years is ascribable primarily to the efforts of Count Ito Hirobumi, the present Prime Minister, and Count Okuma, at that time Vice-Minister of Finance, who were successful in estab- lishing the principles underlying the provision of rail- ways as of primary importance to the State. It was from the outset proposed to connect Tokio with Kioto, with branches to Yokohama and Tsuruga on the west coast, but financial reasons dictated the limitation of the project at first to the section between Tokio and Yokohama. Northern Lines. The Tokio and North- Western Railway starts from the suburb of Uyeno, close to the splendid park, and extends 68^ miles to Mayebashi the centre of the silk trade. This was begun in 1882, and finished in August, 1884. Several iron bridges cross rivers of considerable width. The engines were obtained from Glasgow, but all carriages and other rolling stock were made in Tokio. The Government guarantees to the native company, which owns this line, that its divi- dends shall not fall below eight per cent., but as it has paid more than that rate of interest to its shareholders, the State Treasury has not been called upon in respect of its promise. A loop-line in the outskirts of the T 274 ADVANCE JAPAN. Capital connects the undertaking of the "Japan Rail- way Company " with the Government lines to Yoko- hama and the south. The Nakasendo line is in course of construction, and will open up many large towns along its route where silk and other trades are vigorously carried on. The Japan Railway Company owns the line from Tokio to Aomori, passing through Utsunomiya, Shira- kawa, Sendai, and Morioka, about 400 miles. The total length of railway now in operation in Japan is about 1870 English miles. The Diet three years since sanctioned an expenditure of eight and a half millions sterling upon railway con- struction, to be spread over a period of 12 years. It needs but the completion of some 170 miles of line to enable a traveller to pass from Tokio to Nagasaki with- out change of carriage, if a system can be devised of ferrying the entire train across Shimonoseki Straits. This is by no means an impossible feat, nor even would it be wholly impracticable to bridge the channel at Mo- jisaki. Telegraph*. It was quite natural that, in the de- sire to open up the means of rapid communication with the more distant provinces of the Empire, the attention of the Japanese Ministry was from the very outset at- tracted by the vast capabilities of the electric telegraph. They realised immediately that although railways would ultimately prove the means whereby the immense latent TELEGRAPHS IN JAPAN. COMMUNICATIONS, 277 resources of the nation would be brought to light, it would require the labour of many years to establish " iron roads " on a paying scale, and at best the pro- gress made could not be sufficiently rapid to appeal to the senses of the multitude as part of the new machinery of Government. In the telegraph they would possess a wonder-working agent of control capable of speedy penetration to even the outposts of the Mikado's territory, and accordingly, though by no means stint- ing the outlay on that valuable nucleus of a railway system which was already in process of formation, the Government prepared to divert a large proportion of its available funds into a channel certain to be im- mediately productive of results. With characteristic thoroughness, the responsible heads of departments forthwith planned an ideal network of telegraphic inter- communication which should embrace every city and town of importance throughout the Empire, based prin- cipally on the number of inhabitants, though other considerations were by no means overlooked, and sat down to count the cost. In the preparation of this general scheme they were aided by the knowledge they had been able to acquire of British and Continental telegraphic administrations, and though it was pal- pably impossible to commence work in every province simultaneously without an enormous outlay, it was nevertheless practicable to make such a selection of districts wherein operations could be advantageously begun as to yield a perceptible return for the expen- 278 ADVANCE JAPAN. diture within the first year. It is a striking testimony to the care and forethought displayed in the design, that but little deviation has been found necessary in the progress of the work, and that the lines as origi- nally plotted on the map of Japan have since been constructed in all their ramifications, affording every prefect and sub-prefect the means of instantaneously communicating with the central Government at the Capital. It occupied the staff nearly 12 years to fully execute the projected works, but in that comparatively brief period of time Japan was placed in possession of a telegraphic system which, for perfection of organi- sation, despatch, and reliability, combined with a low tariff, is nowhere excelled on the globe. A Relapse Impossible. That these character- istics were not secured without the expenditure of much diligent application by the technical staff goes without saying, and it redounds to the credit of the Japanese officials that, contrary to the practice which prevails among Asiatic peoples in general, they have faithfully adhered in this as in all other branches of engineering, to sound principles. It has too often happened that the professor's injunctions have been disregarded in Eastern countries immediately that the student has been free to pursue the bent of his own inclination, and we have seen some of the deplorable results of this tendency in the deterioration of the Chinese navy. With the Japanese the case was en- tirely different. The students sought to master not COMMUNICA TIONS. 279 only the technicalities, but the minutest details of their professions, and when foreign instruction was with- drawn, they loyally strove, not only to maintain the standard which their work had attained under super- vision, but individually to excel. Thus Japan can boast not only of expert operators, whose skill as tele- graphists would compare very favourably with those of any nation, but in the higher branches of electrical knowledge she possesses men whose inventive genius has already proved equal to the production of more than one serviceable improvement in the apparatus employed, and others whose mathematical talent has enabled them to shed light on some of the most per- plexing of scientific problems. Facts like these suffice to dispose of the theory that the Japanese are a people prone to content themselves with a mere veneer of scientific culture. No one can have come in contact with the Mikado's subjects in any part of the world without recognising in them the quality which Orien- tals are popularly supposed to lack, and which, for want of a more expressive term at the moment, may be defined as mental ballast. Unlike other Asiatic peoples, they preserve their equilibrium under all con- ditions, are thoroughly practical, persevering, and sin- cere. For proof of the persistent energy they have brought to bear in the prosecution of their designs, it is only requisite to turn to the map of the Japanese telegraphs which accompanies this chapter. It will be observed 280 ADVANCE JAPAN. that the stations are plentifully distributed over the entire group of islands, and submarine cables are to be laid to connect even the distant Loo-Choo Islands and Formosa with the system of communication which centres on Tokio. Not a mile of this telegraphic net- work existed a quarter of a century ago, and at the outset every ton of the material required had to be imported from Great Britain or the Continent. Now the whole of it, with scarcely any exception, is manu- factured in Japan ; and the Japanese workshops and factories are able to supply such material to their neighbours. Agrarian Riots. To those who may have had any experience of the reception accorded to novel methods even in our own land, it will not be surprising to know that the inhabitants of the country districts of Japan were at first violently opposed to the innovations which were pressed upon them by the Central Government. They did not hold mass meetings to protest against such tyranny, as they deemed it, but they set fire to anything and everything within their reach that could be regarded as State property, regardless of conse- quences. The prefects often reasoned with them on the folly of their proceedings, and in some instances their good counsels prevailed, but in two provinces, more particularly, there was bloodshed. In Satsuma they would not allow telegraphs to be brought within their borders under any conditions, and for certain reasons which could be appreciated afterwards, the COMMUN1CA TIONS. 283 Government did not then insist upon compliance. But there -was no wavering in the general policy of the Ministry, as the malcontents discovered in good time, and opposition died out when the ringleaders lost their heads by the sword of the executioner. In Saga Pre- fecture the rioters went so far as to tear down the offending wires, and uproot the posts, threatening death to all who came to replace them a course of be- haviour which brought down upon them the strong arm of the law in the shape of a regiment of infantry but there was no real danger to the stability of the Government fabrics in these ebullitions, up to 1877, v.hen a rising of a far more serious character took place, and to which further allusion will presently be made. Telegrams in Japanese. One of the most in- teresting problems in connection with the introduction of the electric telegraph into Japan, and which at once presented itself for solution, was the need of accom- modating the signs of the Morse code to the Japanese language. The inventor of the telegraph apparatus which bears his name, now almost universally em- ployed, arranged an admirable series of " dots and dashes " in other words, of electrical impulses of short or long duration to correspond with an alphabet of 26 letters. But the Japanese alphabet, so to describe it, has nearly double this number of symbols, not counting the accents, and Morse's combinations would only go one half of the way round, when it was sought to apply 284 ADVANCE JAPAN. his code to telegrams in the vernacular. Inasmuch, however, as Morse had not exceeded four elements of dots or dashes in his combinations, it was quite feasible, by allowing groups of not more than five elements to form the additional combinations ; and thus it has come about that a Japanese telegraphist has to be familiar with two telegraphic languages, for the signal which is composed in the Morse code of two long impulses means the letter M in the English language, but it means the syllable Yo in his own. Needless to say, he is able to distinguish, by the signal prefixed to every dispatch, which class of telegram is reaching him over the wires, or he would not know how to interpret the symbols. It should be remarked that, in the Japanese style of writing, words are not spelt out in letters, but in syllables. Ya-ina (a mountain) is not written in four characters, as with us, but in two, as indicated by the position of the hyphen. The caligraphy of the Japanese (for with them penmanship is one of the fine arts) is alluded to elsewhere in this volume, and the methods they adopt in telegraphing their written communica- tions are described here only on account of that great simplicity which is a feature of the Japanese style, as contrasted with the system in operation in China. Owing to the Chinese having no syllabary of the kind existing in Japan, about ten thousand of the ideographs in most common use were catalogued under groups of numbers which run from.oooi to 9999, and when the COMMUNICA TIONS. 285 Chinese telegraphist signals the message lying before him, he does so in the numerical equivalents of the written characters. By this process every telegram has to be translated into the code of figures before it can be despatched, and re-translated at the distant station into Chinese symbols. It is not difficult to comprehend that an error in transmission of even one group of figures must render the telegrams more or less un- intelligible. The possession by the Japanese of a modified Morse code, which enables them to signal telegrams in their own language, would equally avail them in communi- cating by steam whistle between men-of-war or mer- chant vessels in their service, should their commanders ever have occasion to employ a secret code. But very few people, however well versed in the ordinary com- binations of Morse's system, would be able to interpret messages passing in a purely Japanese code. The initial difficulty of accommodating the telegraph to the requirements of the native language having been surmounted, and a tariff framed upon the number of symbols, instead of upon the number of words, the public were invited to make use of the novel means of communication. It proved at once to be a good invest- ment, for the wires were kept busy almost day and night. Section after section was thrown open for the transaction of business as fast as the lines could be completed. The engineers were urged to push forward the works at all hazards. Distant cities began to peti- 286 ADVANCE JAPAN. tion for the extension of the " lightning messenger " in their direction. Offers of buildings for offices, and timber for telegraph posts, literally poured in, and meanwhile the traffic was increasing day by day in a fashion which threatened to overwhelm the clerical staff. From that time to the present hour the tele- graphs of Japan have been of incalculable benefit to the nation, commercially and politically, for whilst affording every facility to the merchant who makes use of the wires in his business, the Government retains absolute right to take precedence for its despatches, and on occasions of exceptional urgency it has happened that the lines have in this way been altogether monopo- lised by affairs of State. The variety of subjects dealt with in telegrams in Japan is as infinite as that which comes under the observation of the British Postmaster-General. The townsfolk of Japan are now as familiar with the tele- graph messenger in uniform and the dempo, in its bag- shaped envelope, of which he is the bearer, as are the people of the United Kingdom ; and year by year the average number of telegrams per head of the population is attaining greater proportions. It is at the present time eleven and a fraction for every hundred of the in- habitants. Field Telegraph*. The employment of the tele- graph in war has been thoroughly understood by the Japanese from the year 1877, when it rendered such services to the loyal army in the civil war with Sat- COMMUNICATIONS. 287 suma as contributed in no small degree to the ease with which that formidable outbreak was suppressed. Prior to that time the advantage conferred by the receipt of prompt intelligence had been experienced in cases where tumultous gatherings had been dispersed in remote districts by the prompt appearance of gen- darmes, brought upon the scene by telegraphic sum- mons ; but it was in Kiushiu that portable field tele- graphs were first brought into operation. The feasibility of keeping open communication between an army on the march and its base was amply demonstrated on that occasion, when the forces commanded by his late Royal Highness Arisugawa-no-Miya were constantly in touch with the Capital as they pressed forward toward Kagoshima. The experience then gained has been of immense advantage in the prosecution of the campaign in Korea and Manchuria, the perfect synchronism of the Japanese commanders' dispositions having been the admiration of military men throughout the world. The lines are built and the instruments worked by a corps of Sappers, as in the British Army, all the apparatus being constructed in Japan, from the jointed bamboo supports down to the batteries and wire. 288 CHAPTER XI. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. AN I FOLD as are the reforms which Japan has in contemplation, they can scarcely include the abolition of the ancient system of writing, so that a short exposition of its origin may not be altogether superfluous. In as many as 608 symbols according to Dr. S. Wells Williams, who has exhaus- tively dealt with the subject in his work on the" Middle Kingdom " a plain resemblance can be traced between the original form and the object represented. These were among the first characters invented, and were engraved by iron styles on tablets of bamboo long before the introduction of pencils, ink, and paper, even in China. In this class are the simple symbols for " mouth," a hollow square ; and " man," a pair of legs with very slender body. A mountain was represented by a figure having three peaks, and this is well preserved in the modern character San (Chinese, Shan}. A circle with a dot in it denoted " the sun." LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 280 Following this class is one containing 107 " symbols indicating thought," which Dr. Williams regards as in- dicating some idea easily deducible from their position or combination, and pointing out some property or relative circumstance belonging to them. A half-visible moon, for example, repre- sents "evening," and "the i ^ d* H Jib denote a copse, whilst three fl> 6 % ^ O. ^ combined have palpable re- ^ 1 ^ 1? ^ ^ ference to a forest. A mouth in a doonvay is the symbol " to inquire." " For- getfulness" is almost pathetically rendered by heart and death. A wife is indicated by the combination woman and broom, which is obviously intended to convey a clear idea of her household duties. The fourth class U 290 ADVANCE JAPAN. is constituted by 372 characters which, by inversion, contraction, or alteration of their parts, acquire differ- ent meanings. The fifth class contains no fewer than 21,810 symbols, which are formed of an imitative sign united to one which merely imparts its sound to the compound. In this category are found nearly all the characters of the language. The birds alone comprise 754 symbols, in which the sign for the feathered tribes is united to a phonogram expressing the particular fowl or species to be indicated. Fish, in the same way, constitute a division, having no fewer than 525 distinctive sym- bols. The sixth and last classification includes 598 charac- ters, in which the meaning is deduced by a somewhat fanciful accommodation. They differ but little from those of the second class. Chinese grammarians have exercised their ingenuity in providing explanations of the origin and etymology of the characters, but the aid which their researches have given towards understanding the language is small, though their writings on the subject find readers and students in Japan. Dr. Wells Williams considers it probable that the total of really different characters in the language sanctioned by good usage does not vary greatly from 25,000, though one commentator placed the number as high as 260,899. But even the sum of 25,000 characters contains LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 291 thousands of unusual ones which are seldom met with, and which, as is the case with old words in English, are not often learned. It may be safely said that a good knowledge of ten thousand characters will enable one to read any work in Chinese and write intelligibly on any subject, while probably a good knowledge of four or five thousand is sufficient for all common purposes, and two-thirds of that number might in fact suffice. But it will be possible, nevertheless, for English readers to extend their sympathy to the Japanese student who is called upon, in these days, not only to master English, French, and German, but to assimilate 4,000 or 5,000 Chinese hieroglyphics in addition to the two syllabaries, hirakana and katakana, peculiar to his own country. In Japanese lexicons, as in those of China, the letters are classified under 214 "radicals," each of which furnishes a key to a distinct group. All characters found under the same radical are placed consecutively, according to the number of strokes of the pencil necessary to write them. The characters selected for the radicals are all common ones, and among the most ancient in the language. As an illustration of the method of grouping, it may be mentioned that the meteorological radicals comprise the symbols for rain, wind, fire, water, icicle, vapour, sound, sun, moon, even- ing, and time. Therefore we should expect to find that the lexicon U 2 292 ADVANCE JAPAN. classes any phenomena connected with rain under the head of that radical, and accordingly we observe that in that page of a Japanese dictionary are ranged the symbols for drizzle, cloud, fog, hail, Iwar-frost, and snow. Japanese modification*. Though English is being taught in all the schools of Japan, and French and German in a large proportion of them, there is no like- lihood of any foreign tongue coming into general use among the native population. The construction of the Japanese language resembles to some extent that of Korean and Chinese, the order of words in a sentence being very similar in Japanese and Korean, and the square Chinese ideograph being common to all three, though differently read or pronounced in each. Both Korea and Japan have forms of writing peculiar to themselves, however, and are in no way dependent upon the Chinese symbols to express their thoughts upon paper. Moreover when the Japanese use these symbols they attach to them their own kana to indicate the case or tense, producing a combination which altogether puzzles a Chinaman. The example on a previous page of the mingled Chinese and Japanese characters is culled haphazard from a page of a Japanese journal, and it shows how extensively Chinese ideographs are employed. In order that the feminine Japanese may comprehend the full meaning of the Chinese symbol the kana letters are added at the side in a few instances, the reason for LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 293 so doing being the unfamiliarity of the average Japanese woman with Chinese symbols, save those that enter into the affairs of her daily life. The effect is much that which would be produced by a large admixture of Latin and Greek into the columns of English newspapers, with marginal or parenthetical notes, in ordinary Anglo-Saxon, explanatory of the classical terms. The Japanese hirakana is that form which is here employed to connect the square ideographs. There are over 200 characters in this hirakana syllabary alone, and it may be asked why it is that they do not confine them- selves strictly to the employment of this form of writing, seeing that it provides ample and more than ample means of expressing every sound. Forty-eight symbols, with certain accents, would suffice, in fact, to accurately represent all the syllables of the language, so that it appears, at first sight, to be inconsistent with common sense to burden the student with as many as two hundred. It cannot be denied that in the complete list of hirakana characters there are often four or five signs for the same sound. There is a similarity in this, how- ever, to the system whereby Old English, Italic, and other forms of one and the same letter are perpetuated in our own varied founts of type. The real difficulty is not in adequately expressing all the Japanese sounds by a limited syllabary, but in the absolute necessity of maintaining a close acquaintance with ancient and contemporary literature, which has for over a thousand 294 ADVANCE JAPAN. years been printed in the Chinese character. Were a Japanese to forego the study of Chinese characters entirely, he would thereby deprive himself of the oppor- tunity of reading the scientific and historical works on his own bookshelves. Simplified Symbol*. Japan is credited with having had a few written characters of her own prior to the in- troduction of Chinese ideographs; but be that as it may, she very early saw the utility of reducing the number of symbols in current use to a reasonable number, and adopted the modified arrangement for her own purposes known as the kana. This term embraces not only the hirakana, but a still more simple form of katakana, in which foreign words are spelt out with some approxi- mation to the actual pronunciation, and telegrams are also transmitted. The katakana, hirakana, and square Chinese symbols which bear, in Japan, the same sound, are here reproduced. This table contains but a minute fraction of the mass of characters employed in the writings of the Japanese, but it may serve to illustrate some of the difficulties which beset the path of literature. A boy commences to handle the pen at a very early age, and can form some of the simpler letters passably well by the time he passes out of babyhood on reach- ing his fifth birthday. Penmanship is an art, and he learns to give a true and elegant shape to his letters by tracing from a copy placed beneath a thin sheet of writing-paper. The brush is used as in painting, and KATA KATA- KANA v; ro Q "^ to /* & zs. i/2 ho ^ /j^ he x^x /~\ to > ch. 3. -^ ri I) I/) m J( tfa ni /t- "2 vro 9- wa *^ jt^j YO 2 J; ^ > f 2 re V n)^ So \) \ lau 7 -9 ne 2- j}g^ na -f- k s ^ lit V f t5 St C. t? t & 7^* ^ W /i $ i/*3 /^ i^- -X ^ -i-4- |i 7 3 T '^ me mi /v. C, #3 II ve 3 HIU u 7. % * > ^ > - /"L "v. THE JAPANESE SYLLABARY. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 297 it is sought by practice to acquire that freedom and pliability of wrist which imparts to the writing the essential characteristics of a " good hand." Pens, Ink, and Paper. There are half a dozen styles of penmanship, viz., the seal character, used only in cutting seals, the engrossing style, for documents, the pattern style, in which every aspirant to literary fame must write neatly and accurately, the running hand, EARLY EFFORTS. which is the common hand, and yet demands a special study, the grass hand, which is a free imitation of the foregoing, with the difference that it is full of exasperat- ing abbreviations in which there is full play for the writer's fancy, and the sixth, QV printing style, in which 298 ADVANCE JAPAN. the wooden blocks used in the press are cut, for print- ing books. It is almost needless to say that a foreigner, when he attempts to acquire a knowledge at all of these hierogly- phics, is content to study one style of penmanship, and to make that suffice for all occasions. The articles used in the library pencils, ink, paper, and inkstone are regarded as the most precious posses- sions of the learned. The ink, usually called India ink, is made from the soot of burning pine, fir, and other substances, mixed with glue or isinglass, and agreeably scented. Most of us are familiar with the odour of it, having at some time or other made use of it in our own country. Pencils should be made of sable bristles, though the cheaper sort are often made from cat or rabbit fur. The hairs are laid carefully and regularly and brought to a tip, the handle being made of the female bamboo. Paper for writing is made in Japan from the species of mulberry, which likewise furnishes, in its blossom, the emblem of the Mikado's private crest, engraved on the cover of this volume. The inkstone is a piece of marble or other stone, often beautifully carved, on which the ink, when to be used, is rubbed with a few drops of water. The manufacture of the ink dates from the seventh century. Printing from blocks followed the discovery of a method of taking impressions from engraved stones in the tenth century. Of late years prkiting has been done in Japan from LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 299 founts of type cast in the same manner as in foreign countries. The principal difficulty with the Japanese "compositor" is to manipulate a. "case" which may contain several thousand different letters. The feat is practically impossible, and so he is assisted by boys who search out his symbols as he shouts for them, and bring them to him to be set up in column. Establishment of Newspapers. To the memory of Mr. Kido it is due that the part he took in the estab- lishment of newspapers in Japan should be distinctly recorded. He it was who originated the Shimbun Zas- s/ti, or Budget of News, the first journal published for sale in Tokio. Its first number brought the youthful Empress of Japan prominently to the front as a lady who had already begun to interest herself in matters calculated to benefit her countrywomen, and which have ever since had the advantage of her fostering care. She first determined to make herself acquainted with silk- worm culture, and sent for four women from the silk districts to instruct her personally in the art. She has throughout evinced the liveliest interest in all projects for the encouragement of industry and education among her sex. Prior to the Sliimbun Zasshi, an attempt had been made by the chaplain of the British Consulate at Yokohama, the Rev. M. B. Bailey, to start a native journal, and it had an ephemeral existence under the name of Bankoku Shimbun, or " News of the World." In his prospectus Mr. Bailey announced his intention to give the current news of the day, home and foreign, and 3co ADVANCE JAPAN. to keep his readers well informed on useful and interest- ing subjects. No one knows exactly how this promising scheme fell through. The " Reliable Daily News." The Press of Japan is as potent as it is universal in every part of the Japan- ese Empire to quote from the work of Mr. John R. Black, to whose memory be it recorded that he was the first to establish a newspaper in the vernacular. Mr. Black died suddenly, and in harness, but his name and the memory of his magnificent voice will live whilst any of the older generation of settlers in Japan, and China too, shall remain. Mr. Black first had a definite PERUSING THE MORNING NEWSPAPER. idea of starting a paper, to be printed in Japanese char- acters, early in 1872, and with the countenance and aid of the Government Education Department, a learned Japanese gentleman, formerly Vice-Governor of Hako- date, undertook to act as editor, the journal being estab- lished in that year under the title of Nisshin Sltinjisshi LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 301 the "Reliable Daily News." As the Chinese char- acters convey a distinct idea or picture, whilst the Japanese kana syllabary conveys words merely, and it becomes necessary to read a long way before the par- ticular meaning to be attached to a given word can be determined, it was necessary to have founts of Chinese ideographs. Mr. Black actually began with 1,200 symbols, but his workmen went on cutting characters in boxwood until the total reached 12,000, and still did not suffice. Blank blocks, type size, were kept in stock, and when a strange symbol came to light in the manuscript which was being " set up," the workman was put on to engrave the required hieroglyph there and then ! After using wooden type for months, Mr. Black discovered a type-founder, who undertook to furnish him with good metal type, and as a quaint incident he relates that he was accustomed to send to the foundry whenever new letters or symbols happened to be wanted, and buy them one, two, or more at a time, at a half- penny each. The contents of the Nisshin Shinjisshi were very much those of an English journal, and it may be said to have formed the model for the great dailies of to- day, as they are published in the Japanese Capital. There were leading articles, foreign intelligence, items of local news, shipping lists, prices-current, and adver- tisements. The gratifying result of a few lines com- mendatory of the police in one of Mr. Black's earlier issues was that a number of police sergeants waited 302 ADVANCE JAPAN. upon him at his offices personally to convey their thanks. The idea of comment upon the acts of public servants was altogether new at that time. Not many years afterwards the habit of indulging in comment took such free and easy shape in native newspapers in general, that it was not uncommon for 15 or 20 per cent, of the Japanese editors to be languishing in gaol at one time Some young samurai, who had barely relinquished the habit of wearing two swords in their girdles, were chosen to act as canvassers for subscribers and advertisements. The idea of a truculent young warrior calling round for orders upon merchants and manufacturers is apt to strike one nowadays as not a little grotesque, but in 1872 the whole business was novel to the people of Japan. How vastly things have changed will best be com- prehended when it is explained that from that first journal, the NissJiin ShinjissJii, have sprung no fewer than 21 daily papers in Tokio alone, whilst the actual number of newspapers published in the vernacular throughout Japan now amounts to 635, besides 124 weeklies, and numerous monthlies. For the first two years, however, although at least 50 papers made their appearance in the Empire, none of them ventured, save the Nisshin Shiujisshi, to publish leading articles or comments on passing events. That came in good time, as we have seen. The Niclii Nicki Sldmbun claims to be the oldest newspaper in Japan, and it was actually in existence, as LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 303 was also the Mai Nichi SJiimbun, prior to the date on which Mr. Black's friends brought out the NissJiin Shinjisshi, but the older organs had no leading articles or comments on news, and could scarcely accord with our European idea of a readable journal. They were advertisement sheets relieved by a certain amount of tittle-tattle. The NissJiin was the first exponent of leading opinion, and though its fairly outspoken essays were a trifle too progressive in tone for the times in which it lived, and none of its rivals ventured to take so independent a stand, the custom of publishing leading articles was gradually formed, and no one can suggest that at the present day the various party organs are not frank even to excess. Nichi Nichi Sliimbun may be interpreted " Day by Day News," and Mai Nichi Shimbun as " Every Day's News." The ' Daily News " of Japan isihefzji Shimpo, an independent journal for which Mr. Fukuzawa, a man celebrated throughout Japan for his scholarly attain- ments and the originality of his opinions, is responsible. Mr. Fukuzawa has done excellent service to his country as a translator of the standard European and American works on political economy, geography, history, and science in general, and to his great learning he adds boundless eloquence. But fortunately he is not an enthusiast in practical politics, choosing to identify him- self with noble but totally unworkable schemes of reform, rather than to attack the problems of the hour. The "Daily Chronicle" of Japan is the Hochi Sliiinbun, the 304 ADVANCE JAPAN. organ of Count Okuma, who, though Minister of Finance in the Cabinet of the first decade of the Meiji era, does not now hold a portfolio. He is the acknowledged leader of the Progressionists, a party which aims at even more rapid progress than Japan is already accus- tomed to. Other Journals of Tokio. The Choya Shimbun is both official and popular, as its title implies, whilst there is a " Daily Telegraph " in Japan under the designation of Tokio Dempo. Public opinion was repre- sented by the Koron Shimpo, an organ which was sup- posed to reflect the views of Counts Itagaki and Goto Shojiro. Mr. Yano, the editor of the HocJii Shimbun is a gentleman well known to Europeans for the past twenty-five years as an active politician. The Jiyu Shimbun is the Radical organ, but the Nichi Nichi Shimbun, the Independent supporter of the Cabinet, the Jiji Shimpo, and the Niroku Shimpo, should be classed as non-party journals. Though the earlier journals were not disposed to com- mit themselves to the expression of opinion in leading articles, they were willing to publish letters from corres- pondents in reply to the leaders in the Nisshin Sliinjisshi. Many of these furnished proof of the abundance of thoughtful writers whose abilities only needed an outlet, men who had been unavoidably shelved for the time being by the centralising policy of the Government. No State could hope to find employment for the hosts of capable men who had served the daimios in various EXAMPLE OF JAPANESE COVER TO HISTORICAL BOOK. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. & literary capacities, but who were necessarily left without occupation when the numerous provincial administra- tions became fused in one organisation at headquarters. From the year 1875 the Government found it necessary to put some restraint upon the Press, and this is not astonishing when we know that one of the new editors thought it no indiscretion to publish the text of a memorial which he had in some way obtained access to, demanding the disgrace and decapitation of the Prime Minister. Still the Press has grown, and has found em- ployment for samurai of all ranks. The compositors were all originally of two-sworded rank, and from the humblest to the highest the staff was composed of Japanese gentlemen. The manager of the Nisskin, for example, had been treasurer of a southern clan, and necessarily a person of responsibility in his former daimio's household. The chief reporter received a high salary to employ an efficient staff, of whom many had been, under the old regime, his armed retainers. The Prison Editor. Just as these men were bold in war, they became bold with printer's ink, and continu- ally ran the risk of imprisonment for their unguarded utterances. But as soon as one editor was incarcerated, another took his place, and pursued the same tactics. There was a general belief that the real editor-in-chief kept a staff of subordinate editors who contracted to take their turns in gaol, whilst he, in reality, administered the affairs of the journal from the shelter of the screen thus afforded him. In more recent years the conductors x 2 3oS ADVANCE JAPAN. of newspapers have found it expedient not to brave the law to the same extent, though the journalism of the hour is still characterised by considerable freedom of expression. 309 CHAPTER XII. MINES AND MINERALS. AP AN was not credited with the possession of much mineral wealth until very recently, and even now the output from her mines is com- paratively small, excepting in the item of coal. But gold and silver are both found, in paying quantities, at Sado and Ikuno ; lead is obtained in the north ; and in other parts of the country de- posits of copper and tin, iron and quicksilver, are all worked with advantage, though on a limited scale. Coal stands prominently forth as Japan's most valu- able underground property, having been known to the people of Miike, in the island of Kiushiu, as far back, it is asserted, as the year 1468. At least 30 years ago coal mining was being systematically pursued in the districts of Hizen, Higo, and Chikugo, and the coal so obtained was, among other uses, employed in the production of salt, at brine-boiling depdts situated on the shores of the Shimabara Gulf, an almost landlocked inlet 50 miles long, in the extreme south of Japan. At that time the coal was obtained from the outcrop on the side of the hill, and even up to 1876 only the most primitive 3io ADVANCE JAPAN. methods and appliances were resorted to. The practice was to follow the seam inwards from the visible outcrop until the flow of water rendered farther progress in the galleries impracticable. Pumping was done by the tread- wheel, of ancient pattern, which is still employed in agriculture for the purposes of irrigation, and this ap- pliance proved totally inadequate to the duty of keeping the workings dry enough to increase the output in a material degree. It seems to have been partly with the object of finding employment for convicts that the Japanese Government first embarked in this enterprise, which, up to that period, had been prosecuted at the risk of private speculators ; but when once the demand for Miike coal became brisk, the Ministry were not slow to turn the circumstance to account. It was thought fit, however, to transfer the management of the mine to the firm of Mitsui & Company, the Rothschilds of Japan, who promptly established the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, a trading company which has coaling stations at the pre- sent time not only in its own land, but as far afield as China, the Straits Settlements, Burmah, and the Philip- pine Islands, with branch establishments in Shanghai, Tientsin, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bombay, and London. It was demonstrated by trial on board ship that the Miike coal possessed excellent qualities for steam pro- duction, being highly bituminous, with but a small per- centage of ash, and it rapidly grew into favour with the engineers of coasting vessels. The output in 1876 was only 300 tons per diem, one-half of which was sold to the MINES AND MINERALS. 313 steamers, and the remainder, being small stuff, was used in the salt works. At the present time the quantity delivered is upwards of 2,000 tons per day, the annual production being close upon three-quarters of a million tons. In 1888 Mitsui & Company bought the entire property from the Government for 4,500,000 dollars, in- cluding machinery of the newest type, on which, together with roads constructed for horse traction, a million dollars had been expended. The Mitsui firm have introduced locomotive engines in lieu of horses for hauling the coal on the surface, and branch railways have been constructed by which the pro- duct of the mines is now conveyed to a port some 50 miles distant, to which steamships can at all times have access, for shipment to depots or sale to vessels on the spot. Stocks of coal are always kept at this port near Kumamoto, called Misumi, for disposal to steamers which may call in to obtain it ; and the Japanese Govern- ment has had most elaborate surveys made, and charts published, showing the passage to Misumi from the Yellow Sea. The area of the Miike Coal Field is 3,758 acres, containing over 85 millions of tons of coal, which is proved to be equal in quality to the best Australian, and excelled only L by the Welsh coal shipped from Cardiff. Three shafts have been sunk at different points in the 1 8 square miles which constitute the Miike field, and another mine is being worked in the old-fashioned way, with an incline and hauling-engine on the surface. This 314 ADVANCE JAPAN. is at the site of the ancient workings, where until quite recently the coal was. brought up in baskets carried on men's shoulders. Coal was struck in the Nanaura shaft at a depth of 240 feet, and it is the principal and most productive mine. A severe earthquake in July, 1889, did much damage to the Kachidachi shaft, occasioning an influx of water which it required two of Hathorn Davey & Company's pumps, raising 6,000 gallons of water per minute, to cope with. Several seams of coal occur in the Miike field, but the first, averaging eight feet in thickness of pure solid coal, free of any inter- stratified bands of shale, and the second, with a thick- ness of six feet, are the only seams capable of being economically worked. The first is often more than 20 feet in its thickest portions, and the mines in this seam are extraordinarily free from explosive gases, so that naked lights are invariably used with impunity. At Nanaura the underground workings cover an area of nearly 500 acres, the coal mined being loaded into tubs which are drawn along the tramway by ponies to the engine incline, and thence hauled up to the foot of the shaft by the engine. Fifty Japanese ponies are engaged continually in drawing the coal underground. Ventilation is perfectly secured by a fan discharging 100,000 cubic feet of air per minute. Drainage is the most important operation at this mine, as the whole of the water from it ^and its neighbours is pumped up at this point, involving the constant use of 21 large boilers on the surface, 20 of Tangyc's special pumps being at MINES AND MINERALS. 315 work. The absence of any shale in the strata over- lying the coal-seams makes it easy for water to percolate through the sandstone, which is more or less coarse, porous, and fissured, so that the mines are very wet. Various improvements have been made by the engi- neer in charge, whose mining experience was chiefly gained in the United States, but who has likewise visited the principal coal-mining centres of Europe. The loco- motives have been imported from England and America, but the waggons and trucks are all made on the premises. Not far away there is a foundry where pumps are cast, and a machine-shop for turning out ordinary mining machinery, and executing repairs. The stone used for building is quarried close at hand, and bricks are made on the property. A town of 20,000 inhabitants has sprung up, where a few years since there was only a small fishing village. A large cotton-spinning mill, with over 10,000 spindles, has been established at the same place. Fully 10,000 men are directly or indirectly employed by the Mitsui Company at the mines or docks. The bulk of the mining labour is performed by the convicts immured in the prison close to the Nanaura shaft. Only those medically certified as fit are sent down the pit, in day and night shifts, and they like the labour, as it gives them opportunity of earning a ticket-of-leave, or, under some conditions, even a free pardon, much more speedily than any other form of labour to which they could be set. A certain task for 316 ADVANCE JAPAN. the day is allotted to each one, and if this is accom- plished the Government takes seven-tenths of the value of such work and sets aside three-tenths for the worker. For all that is done over and above the allotted task, the Government takes only three-tenths, and accords seven-tenths to the labourer. The coal is subjected to all the refinements of systematic sieving, as in the most advanced British collieries. With that determination which characterises the acts of the Japanese authorities to do nothing by halves, the Lighthouse Department of the Public Works Service (the extent of which system is shown in the map here given) have undertaken to provide three lighthouses in suitable positions in the channel which leads from Misumi to the open sea, so that the navigation of the approach may be easy at all times. Owing to the shallowness of the water on the Higo coast, the prefect is endeavour- ing to make Misumi a regular port of shipment for the neighbouring province, and a fine esplanade half a mile long has been laid out, the town being free from all taxation, pro tem. t as an inducement to merchants to settle there. The exceptionally fine climate of this part of the country, combined with its magnificent scenery, would render Misumi an attractive residence under any circumstances, and when to these advantages are added the proximity of large stores of excellent coal, for use in cotton spinning and other manufactures, it is within the bounds of possibility that when the new commercial treaty with Japan comes into operation, and foreigners LIGHTHOUSES AND HARBOURS. MINES AND MINERALS. 319 can be accorded unlimited freedom in their choice of a place of residence and trade, not a few enterprising mer- chants may find it profitable to establish themselves at this southern port. The attention of business men will early be directed to many such places as Misumi, where the prospects of capitalists are undeniably good, in view of that general opening to unrestricted mercan- tile intercourse so soon to be inaugurated. The first in the field will have the finest opportunities of reaping the harvest, and with abundance of water-power through- out the Mikado's dominions, in addition to coal-mines, those who seek a new outlet for their energy ought to find it, very soon, in pleasant Japan. Gold and Silver. Gold has been worked for the last 12 centuries in the provinces of the north, and the island of Sado, off the north-west coast, bears a wide reputation for the extent of its auriferous deposits. More would be thought of the Japanese gold-mines if they were more easily to be worked, and more con- venient of access, for it has been proved by samples shown at various exhibitions since 1874 that the metal unquestionably exists in certain quantities. Whether it is to be found in paying quantities, however, which would warrant the importation of machinery for carry- ing out operations on an extensive scale, is a question which must be left to the Mineralogical Department to answer, for the Government alone possesses the requisite data. The Portuguese, and in their turn the Dutchmen, found the export of bullion from Nagasaki very profit- 320 ADVANCE JAPAN. able. It is computed that the Portuguese shipped the metal to Europe during the 89 years of their stay, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, at the aver- age rate of two-thirds of a million sterling per annum. Altogether the gold despatched by foreign merchants during those two centuries was not less than a hundred millions sterling. No trifling amount was sent away from Yokohama in the early days of the European settlement of that port, the relative value of gold to silver at that time being as six to one only. The Government soon discovered the drain of the precious metal, however, and rectified the standard, gold coinage having of late years been minted exclusively at Osaka, and the- ordi- narily-accepted values adhered to. Auriferous quartz and gravel have been met with in the southern regions as well as in the north, notably in Satsuma and Osumi. Silver ore is worked on a scale of considerable im- portance at Ikuno, and also in the provinces of Joshiu, Sesshiu, and Sekishiu. It was first found in the island of Tsushima, which lies midway between Japan and Korea, and from the specimens then brought to the capital, silver was produced in the year A.D. 674. Three or four hundred years ago the metal was obtained in much greater quantities than it has been within living memory, but the mines still form a very important source of the national wealth. Mixed with lead, it is met with to a large extent in the provinces of Echizen, Echigo, and Rikuchiu in the north, Higo and Hiuga in the south. MINES AND MINERALS. 321 Iron and Steel. Iron is a mineral to which the Japanese may reasonably look for an increase of pros- perity when the country can be thoroughly developed by railway enterprise. There are deposits of magnetic iron ore, forming the basis of an important industry, at many places adjacent to the route of the Tokaido rail- way, more especially in the regions of Totomi, Suruga, KUMAMOTO CASTLE. and Kai. Farther to the westward the mines of Bingo, Bizen, Bichiu,Tajima, and Idzumo are all within reason- able distance of the Sanyodo railway, and branch lines tapping these mineral districts will certainly be in course of construction before long. For how many centuries the people of Japan have worked their iron mines is not Y 322 ADVANCE JAPAN. accurately known, but loadstone was certainly discovered by the inhabitants of Goshiu, in the north, at a period contemporaneous with the reign of our Saxon kings. Undoubtedly the iron mines have been regularly worked in various portions of the Mikado's Empire since the tenth century, and possibly from an earlier date. Iron utensils and ornaments of great antiquity are almost immoderately prized by householders of the old school, and its employment in armour was universal throughout the middle ages, some of the handiwork in this connec- tion, of the artificers in iron of that period, vying with anything of its kind extant. From the date of our earliest acquaintance with Japan the quality of the steel employed for sword-blades has excited universal admiration. To possess a weapon which came from the hand of a celebrated cutler of Osafune" in Harima, or from any of the old Bizen or Kishiu makers, was the ambition of every samurai. If we are to place any reliance upon the early legendary history of the Empire, we may take it that swords were forged in Japan prior to the Christian era. The art is, at all events, of great antiquity, and amid all the changes of the last twenty years the Japanese soldier still clings to the sword of his ancestors, though he has had a modern curved handle fitted to the blade that he may wield it with one hand. For a few years subsequent to the promulgation of the edict against the general wear- ing of swords, weapons of great value were often to be bought of marine store dealers in the interior for a mere MINES AND MINERALS, 323 song, but the military spirit of the people has become intensified rather than diminished by contact with the civilisation of the West, and swords of repute are now valued at almost as high figures as they were in olden days. It has been stated that an Osafune weapon will cut through an ordinary European blade as easily as the latter would slice a carrot. Copper. Beyond question, the most serviceable of minerals to Japan is the copper which she possesses in great abundance. Copper coin has been in use for twelve hundred years, and the acquisition of this metal formed the principal inducement to the settlers at Des- hima to submit to the restraints and humiliations of their secluded life for two centuries and a half. How great the export was during that time can be measured with some approach to accuracy, and, in placing it at not less than 2,600 tons per annum, the calculation may not be far from the mark. Copper is found in all parts of the country, and from the earliest days of its introduction to the arts, somewhere about the year 700 A.D., in Suwo, on the shores of the Inland Sea, this metal has largely entered into the requirements of the daily life of Japan. It is used for household utensils of all kinds, for orna- ments, for the furniture of altars and temples, for bronzes, mirrors, and for many other purposes which it would be vain to seek to particularise. Japanese copper is the purest of its kind, as determined by tests applied to it when experts were seeking the highest Y 2 324 ADVANCE JAPAN. quality of this metal to form wire for submarine tele- graph cables. Its standard was then placed as high as 98 per cent, of pure metal a standard which had previously been thought to be unattainable. Bronze guns were cast in Japan subsequent to the year 1600 A.D., which occasionally are still to be met with in museums, but hundreds were broken up for the sake of the metal, just as were the ancient bells of Buddhist temples, when their owners fell into poverty some 1 5 or 20 years back. 325 CHAPTER XIII. ARMAMENTS. HE defences of the Empire have been, for the last quarter of a century, established on a conscription basis, by which all males of the age of 20 years are liable to serve in the Standing Army for seven years, three of which are spent in active service, and four in the reserve. After this seven years' period, they have to be classified under the equivalent of the German landwehr for another five years, and every male between the ages of 17 and 40 years who is not in the line, the reserve, or the landwehr, must belong to the landstunn, and is called up in cases of national emergency for service. Military Organisation* Nominally, the six divi- sions of the Army, irrespective of the Imperial Guard, comprise 12 brigades, or 24 regiments, of infantry, 8 regiments of artillery, 6 squadrons of cavalry, 6 bat- talions of engineers, and 6 squadrons military train. The militia of Yeso, reserves, and landwehr, all in- cluded, brought the total strength, on a peace foot- 326 ADVANCE JAPAN. ing, to 4,358 officers, and 265,390 men. So far it has not been necessary to call out the landsturm. The increase in the Japanese Army is well shown by the figures for 1873 and the present time. Twenty-two years ago the organisation was as follows ; Peace-footing. War-footing. Household. Infantry ... 26,880 40,320 3,200 Cavalry 360 45 150 Artillery 2,160 2,700 300 Engineers ... I,2OO 1,500 150 Military Train 360 480 80 Marine Artillery 720 900 31,680 46,350 3> 88 It cannot be denied that the officers of the French Military Mission succeeded in producing a fine, soldier- like body of men as the nucleus of the Mikado's Army, and the Japanese officers, being thoroughly imbued with martial ardour, have ably continued the good work. Perhaps the finest corps, in the earlier days of Japanese modern military history, was that of the marines, for whose training Lieutenant Hawes, R.M., was responsible. Captain James, another Englishman, had a large share in bringing the Japanese Navy to the high standard of discipline and efficiency which it has throughout preserved. The Army possesses a Staff College, Military College, Cadet College, Military School, Gunnery School, a school for non-commissioned officers, &c., with a total of over 2,000 students. Tupan'M Rifle. It is to be observed that all the ARMAMENTS. 329 fire-arms, ordnance, and ammunition used in the Army of Japan are manufactured in the country, at the ar- senals of Osaka and Koishikawa, Tokio. The Murata rifle, invented by General Murata, chief of the Ord- nance Department, is exclusively employed by the Japanese forces, and is one of the most efficient weapons extant. Its calibre is 0^31 5, and it carries a bullet weighing 235 grains. The Navy. The Japanese Naval Department is administered from Tokio, and the Minister of Marine ranks as one of the Imperial Cabinet. The coast has been divided into five maritime districts, the head- quarters of which are at Yokosuka, in the Bay of Yedo, near Yokohama ; Kure, in the Inland Sea, near Hiro- shima ; Sasebo, on the coast of Kiushiu ; and in two other places yet to be established, viz., Maidzuru and Mororan (Yeso). The personnel of the Japanese Navy comprises vice- admirals, 5 ; rear-admirals, 3 ; captains, 35; commanders, 56; with 573 lieutenants and midshipmen, 172 engineers and technical officers (naval architect, hydrograph, and ordnance), 123 medical officers and apothecaries, 2,097 accountant, warrant, and petty officers, and 10,932 sea- men and firemen ; total 13,987. It will be remembered that this entire force has been trained in accordance with the traditions of the British Navy. The naval reserve numbers 2,555. Japan boasts the possession of a Navy which, when the ships now building in England can be delivered 33 ADVANCE JAPAN. viz., two first-class line-of-battle ships, 12,000 tons each, will include also 4 armoured cruisers, 9 second-class cruisers, 19 third-class cruisers, with a flotilla of I first- class, 24 second-class, and 16 third-class torpedo-boats. The Fleet. The principal ships are as follows : Launched in Tonnage. I.H.P. Guns. Speed in knots. BATTLESHIPS. Building) H.M.S. Ke- 12,446 13,687 38 i8i 3 nown type. 12,140 14,194 38 i8| CRUISERS. Fuso ~\ 1877 3,787 3,500 II 13 5f Armoured. 1879 1879 2,28 4 2,28 4 2,034 2,227 9 9 12 12 Chiyoda s 1889 2,440 5,600 24 19 Nanivva 1885 3,75 7,650 10 19 Takachiho 1885 3,750 7,650 10 19 Itsukushima Matsushima Hashidate 1890 deck - 189! protected. lg9I 4,277 4,277 4,277 5,400 5,400 5,400 28 28 18 16 16 16 Akitsushima 1892 4,i5o 8,400 1 2 19 Yoshino 1892 4,i5o I5,OOO 34 2.21 Tsukushi 1882 ,350 2,900 6 17" Kaimon ... 1882 ,460 ,250 7 12 Tenrio ... 1883 ,580 ,165 7 12 Takao 1885 ,760 2,300 5 15 Yamato ... 1885 ,680 ,6OO 7 '3 Katsuragi 1885 ,680 ,6dO 7 13 Musashi ... 1886 ,680 ,600 7 13 Yayevama 1889 ,800 5,400 3 20 New building 2,700 8,500 20 2O 2,800 8,500 20 I9i ,, ... i, 800 6,130 8 20 The ItsukusJiima, Matsusliima, (built at La Seyne), and Hasliidate (built at Yokosuka) are sister ships, and are coast-defence protected cruisers of a special class. They n ARMAMENTS. 333 are 295 feet long, with 50^ feet in beam. Each carries a Canet gun of 12*^ inches, and has a powerful arma- ment of quick-firing guns. The protection is a deck of 2-inch steel. The Akitsushima, also built at Yokosuka, is a very similar ship to these three, but has three knots an hour higher speed. The steel cruiser Yoshino is the pride of the Japanese THE CRUISER "TAKACHIHO." Navy in point of speed. She is 350 feet long, beam 46^ feet, with double bottom. For armament she has 4 6-inch guns one on poop, one on forecastle, 270 range of fire with each, and the other two sponsoned out on either bow 8 guns of 47 inches, 22 3-pounders, and 5 torpedo-tubes. The battleships building in England are to have a 334 ADVANCE JAPAN. length of 270 feet ; beam, 73 feet ; draught, 26 feet ; armour, 16 to 18 inches; armament, 4 1 2-inch guns, coupled in barbettes fore and aft, and 10 6-inch guns, with 14 3-pounder and 10 2^3 -pounder quick-firers, and 6 torpedo-tubes. To this formidable fleet must now be added the ships captured from the Chinese, which are being raised at Wei-hai-Wei, or have already come into the possession of the vic- tors, and are being used forecast defence in Japan. The Chinese Navy proved itself, indeed, to be far from effective, and owing to some extent to the direction of the Tsun- gli Yamen at Peking, it had no chance to distinguish itself, but was compelled to remain in home waters. Its seamen were demoralised because their officers were often corrupt and always incompetent ; its divi- sion into provincial squadrons was a constant bar to combined action. The jealousy of its native officials altogether neutralised the good work done by Captain Lang in raising it to a condition of comparative efficiency during the period of his service under the dragon flag. CAPTAIN OK " MATSUSHIMA.' ARMAMENTS. 335 Englishmen have a right to pride themselves upon their early connection with the Navy of Japan, for, in 1600, Will Adams, a native of Gillingham, in Kent, landed near Nagasaki, and remained a not altogether unwilling prisoner at the Court of the Shogun lyeyasu until his death, which took place in 1620. It was by Will Adams' good offices with the Shogun that the foundations of English trade were laid, and he was our first diplomatic agent at the Court of Japan. The Shogun highly valued Will's services, and employed him as Chief Constructor of the Navy. His tomb is to be found close to the Yokosuka arsenal and dockyard, and the Yokosuka railway station is said to cover the site of this first English visitor's house. 336 CHAPTER XIV. WAR WITH CHINA. APAN TAKES ACTION. The main incidents of the conflict which has just been brought to a close in _*> rv China are so well remembered that cAc=--y T Wy?J ."'. -i only a brief recapitulation of the more striking features, in their re- lation to the ultimate status of Japan as a nation, may suffice to indicate the substantial character of her progress in the art of warfare. As already shown, this was the first opportunity afforded to Japan of proving that she had really strengthened her position in the East by adopting Western methods and appliances. The Satsuma troubles attracted so little attention outside the limits of the Empire, that only those who had occasion to follow the course of the campaign attentively were conscious of the growing power then exhibited by Prince Arisugawa's battalions. Though the civil war which raged in Kiushiu was re- markable for the great personal bravery displayed by WAR WITH CHINA. 337 individual combatants on both sides, the organisation of the Imperial Army was but on its trial, and no one could accurately estimate the inherent capabilities of the newly-established fighting' machine until it had proved its efficiency in actual operations in the field. Seventeen years passed by, during which there was leisure for thorough exami- nation of the machine in all its parts, and wherever a weakness could be dis- covered, it was remedied. Thus, when the condition of the adjoining peninsular kingdom had reached the verge of anarchy, and grave apprehensions regarding the s afety of the Japanese sett- lers in the ports open to trade had been engendered by the corruption and weakness of the King's Govern- ment, Japan not only felt herself called upon to in- tervene, but strong enough to insist upon the adoption of such reforms as would ensure a greater degree of security for her subjects. In consonance with the ex- isting Treaty with the Government of China, how- ever, Japan first of all invited the Middle Kingdom's co-operation in a scheme well calculated, from ex- perience, to improve the state of affairs in Korea, should the King be willing to undertake measures for its ful- GENERAL KAWAKAMI (Japan's Strategist). 338 ADVANCE JAPAN. filment. China had bound herself to act thus jointly with Japan, and not to send troops into Korea without notifying the Mikado's Government. It became known, however, that through the machinations of the Chinese Resident at the Court of Seoul, China was fitting out a contingent of men and vessels at Tientsin, which could only be intended for service in Korea, independently of Japan. The Government of Peking had practically ignored the suggestion put forward for combined effort, and this forced the Mikado's Government to take steps to protect its own interests. Japan prepared for an expedition herself, and at the same time notified the Chinese Government that the proposal for joint inter- ference having failed to find favour at Peking, thence- forward Japan would not stand upon ceremony, but would be driven to take her own course in affairs which vitally concerned her own people. At the same time Japan warned China that any independent interference by the Tsungli Yamen, after that time, could only be re- garded as unfriendly. In reality Japan was conscious of a growing disposition on the part of China to exercise an influence at Seoul utterly antagonistic to the views of the Ministry at Tokio, and it was felt that unless Japan at once asserted herself, Korea would drift into the state of semi-dependence on China, and semi-bar- barism, to rescue her from which, as a near neighbour, had been Japan's principal object for a decade or two. Notwithstanding the notification from Tokio, the Chinese persevered with their plan of sending troops to Korea, WAR WITH CHINA. 339 and among other ships engaged as transports was one known as the Kow-shing, which had been chartered by the Viceroy of Pechili. On the morning that this vessel approached the Korean coast there had already been an outbreak of hostilities, three hours before, in which a Chinese man-of-war had fired a torpedo at the Japanese warship Naniwa Kan, and subsequently had made good her escape seaward. The YosJiino had likewise been engaged with the Chinese, for, in fact, the Tsi- Yuen, 2,320 tons, aided by other Chinese vessels, had fought the Yoshiuo, in the course of which a small Chinese cruiser, the Kwang- Yi, had been driven ashore and destroyed. The attempt to sink the Japanese ship had placed it beyond question that China and Japan were at war, apart from the explicit declaration made a week previously by Japan that if the effort to throw more troops into Korea were persisted in, it could only be regarded as a casus belli. When, therefore, the com- mander of the Naniwa Kan observed the K C SaiKto iJiu 5 / / 9 ' Z/ CHiNCSf fLCCT C~ 1 Yano>V(tt T Xn<9 Y "' 2 ClM^YunQ 9 CVih Yue. 3 OM>ii 9 O. Y- 7 -o ..... WAR WITH CHINA. 347 against them the surviving vessels of Admiral Ting's command were able to get away, with the conviction that only a part of the Japanese squadron could chase them. With the approach of night this was practically impossible. The action lasted from about mid-day until past five p.m., and was furiously contested all that time. When sighted in early morning, Admiral Ting was convoying transports to the mouth of the Yalu river, and having a good start of his opponents he was able to see his charges safely into the estuary before the close approach of Ad- miral Ito rendered an action inevitable. The Chinese Commander then put to sea to face his enemy, with his two ironclads in the centre of the line, and his smaller armoured ships forming the right and left wings, four on each side of the ironclads Chen- Yuen and Ting- Yuen. The ten ships moved forward in line abreast, followed by three others at a little distance, and the torpedo- boats hovered on either flank. Admiral Ito adopted tactics of quite another order, and dividing his force into a main squadron and a flying squadron, he launched the latter straight at his rival, but when well within range the four leading Japanese described an arc of ninety degrees, and passed rapidly along the front of one-half of Ting's line, delivering their broadsides as they went,' and circling round the last ship of his line proceeded to execute the same movement in his rear. They actually completed the circuit of the ten Chinese ships in this daring fashion, pouring in a veritable hail of shot and 348 ADVANCE JAPAN. shell as they went by. Admiral Ting's formation ham- pered his movements, and his vessels could only bring half of their guns to bear on the enemy. Meanwhile the other ships of the Japanese fleet had come into action with their heavier metal, the Matsushima, Itsukus/uma, and Has/ridatt* in particular doing great THE GUNBOAT "AKAGI."' execution on the Chinese ironclads with their 66-ton Canet guns. The escape of the Chinese fleet to the shelter of Port Arthur prevented the Japanese Admiral from following up his victory at the moment, and the Japan- ese fleet was also in need of repairs, though the greater portion of these were effected while the vessels were at sea. The immediate consequence of the battle off the Yalu v YALU BATTLE. M\ (;-^\ ! \\ v '"-i : v \ Stage 5. WAR WITH CHINA. 351 was the loss to China of the barbette armour-clad King- Yuen, 2,850 tons, and the cruisers Chili Yuen, 2,300 tons, Chao-Yang, 1,350 tons, Yang Wei, 1,350 tons, and the Kwang Ki, 1,030 tons, all of which were sunk or burned. 'i'ii' Captured Vessels. After this engagement the Chinese Pei-Yang fleet, which has since passed into the hands of the Japanese Naval Department, consisted of the sister armour-clads Chen Yuen and Ting Yuen, 7,280 tons, the Lai Yuen, 2,850 tons, and the Tsi- Yuen, 2,320 tons, with the coast-defence armour-clad Ping Yuen, 2,850 tons, the deck-protected cruisers Ching Yuen, 2,300 tons, and the Foo Citing, 2,500 tons, some smaller gunboats, and the torpedo flotilla. China still possesses the bulk of the Foochow squadron (Nan Yang), to which belonged the Yang Wei and CJiao Yang, sunk at the Yalu battle. It consists wholly of unprotected cruisers, however, none of which are above 2,500 tons, and a few gunboats and old-fashioned craft utterly un- serviceable for modern warfare. The Shanghai and Can- ton flotillas are smaller still. Altogether China's naval strength at the opening of the campaign stood at 2 Second-class Battleships 9 Port-defence Vessels 2 Armoured Cruisers 9 Second-class Cruisers 12 Third-class Cruisers of over 10 knots speed 27 Third-class Cruisers of less than that speed, with 2 first-class, 26 second-class, and 13 third-class 3V ADVANCE JAPAN. torpedo-boats. A large proportion of this no longer exists, as far as the original owners are concerned, and the remainder is by no means formidable. Fung- whang-Cheng. The pause which ensued in hostilities afloat was by no means perceptible in the operations on land, for Marshal Yamagata after his victory at Chiu-lien-cheng continued to hold that place as his headquarters, and thence to direct the campaign in Liao-Tung, which prevailed with intervals of greater or less activity throughout the winter. The important city of Fung-whang-Cheng succumbed to attack in October, and the Marshal's outposts were pushed for- ward to Lien-shan-Kwan, a hamlet of some forty houses situated in a narrow gorge, surrounded on three sides by the peaks of the celebrated Mo-tien-ling ("Heaven-touch- ing Pass "), which forms a natural gateway on the road between Liao-Yang and Fung-whang-Cheng. Mo-tien- ling is renowned in the history of Manchuria as a spot on which there have been numerous encounters, and it forms perhaps the strongest position among many in the highlands which divide Korea from the valley of the Liao and its tributaries. Part of Yamagata's force was successful in penetra- ting these highlands at another point due west of Fung- whang-Cheng, and passing by way of Makiaputsu and To-mu-cheng, reached the valuable strategic post of Hai-cheng, a small walled city on the edge of the mountainous country overlooking the valley of the To-mu-chiang. WAR WITH CHL\A. 353 Still another portion of the Japanese forces were dis- patched towards Siu-yen-cheng, an important point in the southern section of the highlands, through which a road leads from the eastern shore of the Liao-Tung pro- vince to the large city of Kai-ping-chow, situated close to the western coast of the same peninsula. Marshal Yamagata's main body was employed in securing his front towards Saimatsui and Moukden, a very necessary service in view of attack by Chinese troops advancing from the North. It was not until December that the arrival of the long-expected Manchu contingent from the distant banks of the Amoor River threatened Yamagata's right flank, and the foresight he had displayed in taking up a strong position on the line of the Chiu-lien-cheng and Moukden high-road could be fully appreciated. These men from the Amoor were opponents far more worthy of his steel than the bulk of the Chinese regiments which Yamagata had had to con- tend with in previous skirmishes, and he did well to take their effort seriously, although, as the sequel proved, he had no difficulty in resisting their onslaught when it was actually made. From Chiu-lien-cheng to the Mo-tien- ling Pass the distance by road is not less than 89 miles, and he had to defend this line with the 5th Army Corps, the advance division of which was commanded by General Tachimi. Hai-chiig. The 3rd Army Corps was meanwhile actively engaged near Hai-cheng in preventing the inarch eastward of the Chinese forces which, under A A 354 ADVANCE JAPAN. General Sung, had been concentrating in the vicinity of the Liao River, with the hope of being able ultimately to overwhelm Yamagata's battalions and drive him backward into Korea. The command at Hai-cheng de- volved upon General Oseko, and during December the capabilities of his force were fully tested by repeated assaults, always with the result, however, that his men stood firmly on their ground, and the opposing bat- talions hurled against them were shattered as they came. It was not until the winter was half over that the 5th Army Corps could be brought forward to materially support the 3rd, owing to the need of guarding the long line of communications via Fung-whang-Cheng, and the threatened danger from the Manchu regiments, which, despite the defeat inflicted upon them at the hamlet of Ai-yang-pien, still hovered upon its flank. There was all through the winter a strong force of Chinese quar- tered at Moukden, prepared to defend the ancient Capital, and it was at any time possible for the com- mandant of this strangely inactive corps to detach a portion thereof, and by a rather circuitous route via Sai-matsui and Ai-yang-pien, to fall upon the rear- guard of Yamagata's command at or near Tang-shan- cheng, a walled town lying midway between Chiu-lien and Fung-whang, whence a branch road strikes away from the main route and leads in a north-easterly direc- tion to another pass in this exceedingly hilly region. But only on one occasion was the attempt made to thus WAR WITH CHINA. 355 harass the Japanese chain of communications, and it was a characteristic feature of the campaign that whilst the Chinese made little or no effort to interfere with the attenuated line, the Japanese never for one instant relaxed their watchful care, and were at no time be- trayed into that over-confident frame of mind which has ere now induced older practitioners of the art of warfare to hold an enemy too cheap. Possibly the Chinese knew that this vigilance was never abated, and there- fore regarded any effort to surprise their foes as altogether vain. Whatever the cause may have been, nothing is more sure than that a really active defensive army, operating in a territory where its leaders would have the advantage of knowing well the roads, would ordinarily give to any invading force far more cause for apprehension than the Japanese ever experienced through the operations of the defenders of Liao- Tung. Popular opinion in the Occident regarding the Manchu soldier has undergone a great change in the course of the war now nearly at its close. Imagina- tion had pictured him as a dashing horseman of no- madic tendencies, roaming freely, on a fiery steed, over uncultivated steppes, rather predisposed to pillage, but possessing the qualities of high courage and endurance in a marked degree. Regiments recruited exclusively, or even in part, from among the tribesmen would be staunch opponents, it was believed, on the field of battle, and this opinion was to some extent shared by A A 2 356 ADVANCE JAPAN. their foes. But experience of their behaviour in actual warfare against the Japanese has not confirmed the view thus commonly entertained. If they have not of late retired with that precipitancy which marked the earlier stages of the war, there has been no sensible improve- ment in regard to steadiness or in accuracy of firing. The latest series of skirmishes culminated in a stub- born fight at Old Nevvchwang, in which ammunition was squandered for a whole day by the besieged. They fought desperately when hemmed in by the Japanese but lacked the nerve to use their weapons to advan- tage. In this encounter, followed immediately by a day's fighting at Yingkwa, the Treaty Port commonly known as Newchwang, the Chinese were reinforced to some extent by troops from Moukden, their commanders having at last become weary of waiting at the " sacred city " for a foe which gave no sign of an intention to approach. Newchwang and Yingkwa. Newchwang, as a depot of foreign trade, came under the jurisdiction for the time being of the victors, the merchants of various nationalities resident at the port having been notified that they had nothing to fear from the invasion. On the contrary, as no doubt some of the inhabitants fully realised, they were far more safe when guarded by the Japanese troops than they had been when nominally under the care of half-disciplined hordes of Ho-nan and other provincial levies. Those very unreliable battalions WAR WITH CHINA. 357 fled at the first contact with the Mikado's men, and relieved the settlement of an incubus which had rested upon it for many weeks. Marshal Yamagata's health broke down in Chiu- lien-cheng, and he was invalided home, being suc- ceeded in the command of the ist Japanese Army by Lieutenant-General Nodzu, who was subsequently raised to the rank of full general. On his recovery Marshal Yamagata became Minister of War in the Cabinet. Port Arthur. The great strategical importance of Port Arthur, as well as the immense stores of war mate- rial which it was known to possess, had not been lost sight of by the Japanese leaders, and an expedition was despatched from Hiroshima in October, which had for its object the assault and capture of the fortress. The command of this 2nd Japanese Army was undertaken in person by the then Minister for War, Count Oyama, and as Port Arthur was not only a place of which the possession was much to be desired, but was regarded by all good judges as a very strong position, the proceed- ings were from the outset marked by a cautious deter- mination which left nothing to chance. The transports conveying 24,000 men were convoyed by a squadron of the Japanese fleet, lest the Chinese ships should suddenly emerge from their hiding-places and pounce upon unpro- tected vessels. As the event proved, however, the Chinese admiral was out of reach at the time, having just pre- viously made good his escape to the naval station of 358 ADVANCE JAPAN. Wei-hai-Wei, on the other side of the Straits of Pechili. Snugly immured in the harbour there, and sheltered by the island of Liu-kung-tao from observation as well as from rough weather, the Chinese fleet made abso- lutely no effort to defend its northern depot at Port Arthur, on which so many millions of taels had been expended. Count Oyama's expedition had therefore a clear field for landing the 2nd Army, and the transports having brought flat-bottomed boats for the purpose, the disem- barkation was effected without mishap at a spot in Korea Bay, some 50 miles to the north-east of the coveted posi- tion. Subsequently it was found to be feasible to land the heavy siege guns at a point nearer by 20 miles to Port Arthur, but this was only effected after the army had marched thither overland, and with the object of avoiding the excessive labour attendant upon mountain transport. Ta-lien-Wan, about half-way from the place of disembarkation to the fortress, proved to be the quarter in which resistance was first met with, but it was of so excessively feeble a character as to offer scarcely any perceptible obstacle to the progress of the invaders. The Chinese had built forts, and had armed them with Krupp guns ; but after the first discharge the garrisons incontinently fled towards Port Arthur or to the walled town of Kinchow, only four miles distant. Over 30 modern cannon of excellent quality, large quantities of ammunition, and the plans of the torpedo defences by which it had been hoped to repel an attack, all fell into WAR WITH CHINA. 36i the hands of the victors. No equipment could have been more complete in its way than that of the Ta-lien-Wan forts, and they had even been connected together by telephone. But the material organisation had not been supplemented by resolute men, and they proved a snare to their de- signers. For the very com- pleteness with which the ob- structed regions had been mapped out enabled the invaders to lift and appro- priate the mines at their leisure, and the electrical apparatus which formed MARSHAL OYAMA. part of the spoils was not the least valuable of the whole. Needless to say, the Japanese general took an early opportunity of making the walled town of Kinchow temporarily his own Sovereign's property, the remnant of the former garrison not even waiting to risk an en- gagement ; and when all likelihood of interruption had been done away with in that direction, Marshal Oyama devoted his entire energies to the formidable task of cap- turing the fortress upon which the Chinese relied to pre- serve the inviolability of their Capital. The fugitives from Ta-lien-Wan had helped to swell the already numerous garrison to a total of some- 362 ADVANCE JAPAN. thing like 21,000 men, and there must have been fully this force present up to within a few days of the actual assault of the place on the 2Oth and 2ist November. Shortly before the preparations were com- pleted for the attack, however, the Japanese Marshal opened a path for those who were willing to avail them- selves thereof. They were given an opportunity of getting away by sea from the little bay in rear of the fortress called Pigeon Bay, and also by land to the northward ; and it is believed that a large number availed themselves of the chances of escape before the invest- ment had been perfected. Others were, doubtless, taken off by junks from the eastern shores, and when the place was surrendered on the 2ist there were not more than a third left of those who had, until quite a recent date, formed the large army encamped within the lines. The fall of Port Arthur gave to the Japanese most valuable stores of ammunition suitable for all arms, and about 80 guns, most of them Krupps, of the best construction. Large quantities of grain and other pro- visions likewise fell into their hands, and two small steamers which were in dock at the time. For a long time it was supposed that the Chinese Pei-Yang squad- ron was also to be found reposing in the harbour and docks of the depdt, but, as already mentioned, the Admiral had made the best of his way to his southern shelter at Wei-hai-Wei, just 100 miles to the south-east. Even without the men-of-war, the Japanese secured rare booty, and the possession of a naval station in WAR WITH CHINA. 363 those seas, so splendidly provided with all that modern science could suggest and wealth procure, was in itself an immeasurable advantage to a fleet which had still to keep its hold on the Yellow Sea and the two gulfs of Pechili and Liao-Tung. Immediately after its acquisition, the depdt was handed over to the Minister of the Navy, and its affairs have since that date been administered by the officials of his department. The repairing dockyard and basin have been constantly busy of late with the restoration of captured and other vessels to sea-going trim, and the high value set upon the fortress and its adjuncts by the original possessors is quite confirmed by the profound appreciation of their usefulness evinced by their new owners. Figuratively speaking, it would be a work of super- erogation to detail all the incidents of the fighting which led to the capture of the numerous forts and re- doubts which comprised the extensive fortifications of Port Arthur in November. The transport of the siege guns occupied nearly a fortnight, as the route from Ta-lien-Wan lay for the most part over very difficult country. Ridges had to be surmounted, brushwood cut down, trees felled, and on the low-lying sections the road had to be strengthened to an extent practically equal to its entire renewal. As the invading army drew near to the fortress, a sally was attempted on a small scale, but the besieged were driven back, with loss. They succeeded in cap- 364 ADVANCE JAPAN. turing some fifteen Japanese troopers, however, by an ambush, and on the way to the fortress, during their retreat, they put these captives to death with revolting cruelty, leaving their horribly mutilated bodies close to the track. There they were discovered on the morrow, when the main body of Marshal Oyama's army made a general advance. The sight filled the comrades of the murdered men with uncontrollable indignation, and fuel was added to the fire when they discovered, on the fall of the fortress two days later, additional evidence in the streets of the town itself of the barbarities in- flicted by the Chinese upon those who were unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. The anger of Oyama's men prompted them to kill all whom they found in the streets with arms in their hands, for they knew that the Chinese soldiers had disguised themselves in civilian clothing, and that the absence of any uniform was by no means to be accepted as evidence of pacific inten- tions. Weapons were discharged from several of the houses also on the day the Japanese entered the town, and this desultory firing was only repressed by severe measures. Unhappily this gave rise to a report that wholesale slaughter was indulged in, and, as not un- commonly happens in such cases, a profound sympathy for the vanquished induced people at a distance to lend a too ready ear to statements reflecting upon the humanity of the conquerors. That there was some un- necessary bloodshed in connection with the capture of the fortress may well be believed, but that the victims W 'A R WITH CHINA. 365 were more than a score in number, if in reality there were so many, is at least open to question. The most sensational stories were current at the time, and were in some degree ascribable, it is believed, to the extreme view taken of the cir- cumstances by a corre- spondent whose powers of vivid description had been given full rein not long before in an account of the battle of Ping- Yang, purporting to have been written by lantern light on the ramparts of that place, in close touch with the scenes depicted, when, as a matter of fact, the writer was some hun- dreds of miles distant from the Korean coast. That excesses were perpetrated by individuals at the capture of Port Arthur appears to be indisputable, but that they were traced to the soldiers, in more than a few isolated instances, is not so clear. On the question of the humanity of the Japanese, as a people, there can be no two opinions among those persons who have, by actual residence in the country, qualified themselves to act as judges. Throughout the war the treatment of Chinese wounded in the field hospitals, ADMIRAL HIRAI. 366 ADVANCE JAPAN. and, in an equal degree, the prisoners in Japanese camps, has been characterised by a strict adherence to the principles of modern warfare as understood in Western countries. Japan has proved most satisfac- torily that in this regard her methods differ in no per- ceptible degree from the practice of other civilised states, and there was never any room for doubt, in the minds of those who really understand the Japanese disposition, that the national character would emerge triumphant from the ordeal. Wei-lmi-Wei. Marshal Oyama despatched a part of his force northward, after the capture of the fortress, following the track of the fugitives in the direction of Kai-ping-chow, and this force arrived in time to co- operate with General Nodzu's battalions in the capture of that important city early in the new year. The bulk of Oyama's army remained in the neighbourhood of the Lao-tieh-Shan Pfomontory until a further demand was made upon its services to assist in the capture of Wei- hai-Wei. For this purpose a large body of men was transported by steamers to the city of Yung-Cheng, close to Shantung North East Promontory, whence they marched, over a difficult road for artillery, to the attack of the southern naval station. A second force was landed at a point on the coast near Ning-hai, 20 miles westward of the depot, and with the fleet under Admiral Ito to guard the outlet seaward, a complete investment of the place was effected by the 29th of January. Inside the harbour of Wei-hai-Wei were the two Chinese iron- WAR WITH CHINA. 367 clads and several other warships, composing the squadron of Admiral Ting. Liu-kung-tao and several smaller islands at the entrance of the harbour had been well fortified, and each of the hills in the rear of the town had likewise been made to contribute its share in the general scheme of de- fence by the provision upon its sea face of a formidable battery. Nothing had been omitted, by the en- gineers responsible for the design, which could add to the strength of the works, and unques- tionably Wei-hai-Wei was a possession in which the Chinese were entitled to take some pride. Like Port Arthur, the cannon mounted in the forts was throughout of the newest pattern, and for the most part of heavy calibre. The store of ammunition at each point was ample. The vessels in port were capable in themselves of offering enormous resistance to capture. The garrison on shore was amply victualled, and nothing beyond downright pluck and determination were needed, as it seemed, to hold an enemy at bay for an indefinite time. GENERAL KODAMA. 368 ADVANCE JAPAN. To do the Chinese justice, they came out of the affair with far more credit to themselves than could be ac- corded to them at any other stage of the war. The first fort was captured by the assailants without much diffi- culty, and the guns of the second were likewise soon in their hands, prompt advantage being taken of the cir- cumstance by Marshal Oyama's men to aid the assault on the neighbouring positions by an active employment of the captured guns. Thus one fort after another fell to th3 Japanese, and its weapons were turned against the Chinese not only ashore but afloat, for an artillery duel was soon in progress between Admiral Ting's squadron in the harbour and the batteries of which Oyama's men had possessed themselves on the hills. Two days were consumed in the effort to put the defenders on shore to flight, but the evening of the 3ist saw them in full retreat to the south. The captured forts formed a semicircle around the harbour, and could make excellent practice from their elevated positions on the doomed ships in the harbour. Capture of Wei-hai-Wel. All this time Admiral Ting had made no effort to escape from the toils. The fleet of his enemy waited outside, it is true, but the Chinese ironclads were superior in defensive strength, as well as in offensive power, to anything the Japanese Admiral could bring to bear against them. They, at least, could have cut their way through, it might have been supposed, even if less efficiently-protected craft failed to break the cordon. Possibly the danger of being B K WAR WITH CHINA. 371 torpedoed in the narrow navigable channel was sufficient to deter the Chinese commander from making the at- tempt, but whatever may have been the cause, it is certain that the Chinese vessels lay at anchor under the guns of the Liu-kung-tao forts day after day, firing continually in reply to the hill forts held by the invaders, and relying upon the efficacy of a boom across the eastern entrance, and their own electric search-lights, to preserve them from direct attack. Admiral Ito could with difficulty repress the ardour of his subordinate officers, and at last consented to risk his torpedo-boats in a night encounter. Three of them broke through the obstructions on the 4th February, after the moon had set, and steaming straight for the ironclads, launched their missiles in the face of a de- structive fire from the aroused Chinamen. Not one of those boats escaped without serious damage and loss of life, but the experiment had been so far successful that the Ting- Yuen was sunk, and the Citing- Yuen, another armoured ship, quite disabled. A second attempt the next night was even more successful, and two cruisers, the Chih- Yuen and Wei- Yuen, with one gunboat, were sunk, and the second ironclad, Clien- Yuen, so damaged as to be immovable. The weather was so severe at this time that the lieutenant and two seamen of a Japanese torpedo-boat were frozen to death at their posts, as they were retiring out of range after the action. With the loss of the ironclads and three other large vessels, besides gunboats and the entire torpedo flotilla, B B 2 37^ ADVANCE JAPAN. which made a rush when too late to escape, the last hope of the Chinese had flown. Admiral Ting and three of his captains committed suicide, and the remnant of the Pei-Yang fleet surrendered. With that respect for a brave man which cultivated peoples invariably show, the Japanese at once placed a vessel at the service of the Chinamen to convey the remains of the deceased Admiral and his officers home for interment, and their ships half- masted the Japanese ensign, and fired minute-guns, as the gunboat passed through their lines bearing away her dead. The town of Wei-hai-Wei had been delivered up on the 3rd of February, the garrison having dispersed towards the westward, and the gates having been opened by the civilians. Thus disappeared from the arena, not only the Chinese fleet, but her great arsenal and dockyard, with all its valuable stores, and of not less importance the man whose reputation for determination and gallant conduct before the enemy had been fairly upheld at a time when China's fortunes had sunk to their lowest ebb. Admiral Ting received most of his professional training under the supervision of Captain Lang, R.N., and if he failed to achieve success for China with his fleet at sea, the result was due in no small degree to the inferiority in speed and mobility of his ships. Of his reasons for immuring his squadron in the harbour of Wei-hai-Wei, week after week, whilst his enemy was sweeping the seas, it is probable no explanation will ever be forthcoming. Presumably they were comprehended by the Viceroy, Li Hung WAR WI7^H CHINA. 373 Chang, or other measures would have been initiated, and we are not likely to learn the secret now, long after the Admiral's disappearance from the scene. Overtures for Peace. Overtures for peace were made on three separate occasions during the progress of the war. Mr. Detring, Commissioner of Customs at Tientsin, was first of all the bearer of a message to Japan, but he was not received in audience for the reason, apparently, that he was empowered to make enquiries only. He was followed by two Chinese Envoys, who were received at Hiroshima upon the assurance of the Peking Government that they had been armed with full powers. It was discovered, how- ever, that they were not authorised to conclude or sign any arrangement whatever settling the terms of peace, but were instructed to ask the Japanese Government to consent to their referring all proposals to the Tsung-li Ya-men at their own capital. Under such circum- stances there was nothing to be done by the Japanese Ministry but to show the envoys the door, and they were accordingly shipped to Shimonoseki, en route for China, without loss of time. This fruitless mission took place simultaneously with the fall of Wei-hai-Wei, and nothing further was attempted in the nature of a pacific settlement until Li Hung Chang went in person from Tientsin to Shimonoseki, fully accredited by the Chin- ese Emperor to make terms for the conclusion of peace. The aged Viceroy reached Shimonoseki on the igih of March, and was received with full ambassadorial honours, 374 ADVANCE JAPAN. the Prime Minister of Japan, Count Ito Hirobumi, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Viscount Mutsu, having journeyed thither from Hiroshima to meet him. Attempted Assassination of i.i Hung Chang* A sos/it, one of the reckless, senseless ne'er-do-well class which have plagued Japan for the past decade, fired a pistol at the Ambassador on the fifth day after his arrival, as he was returning from a conference, and the incident occasioned the greatest pain and anxiety to his hosts, the Emperor and Empress showing the most intense solicitude for the recovery of the nation's visitor. The soshi imagine that they advance the inter- ests of their country by wholly unexpected and incon- venient displays of " patriotism," when, in reality, they only bring disgrace upon all who may, directly or in- directly, be concerned. The Viceroy's first proposals had reference, it is under- stood, to an armistice, but it was scarcely to be expected, at this stage of the conflict, that the Japanese would consent to stay their hands without adequate concessions being made, and as these would scarcely have fallen short of the occupation of Peking itself by the Tenshi's forces, and the surrender of the port of Shan-hai-Kwan and the railway thence to Tientsin, it is probable the Ambassador found the price to be paid for a cessation of hostilities somewhat higher than he expected. Meanwhile the Japanese fleet transferred its sphere of operations in part to the region of Formosa, and the Pescadores Islands, lying in the channel between Tai- WAR WITH CHINA. 375 Wan to give the place its true name and the Chinese mainland, were occupied on the 2 5th of March, almost without opposition. It had from the first been part of Japan's programme to seize and hold Tai-Wan, if not as a permanent possession, at least temporarily until peace should be declared and an indemnity paid, so that the execution of their design in this particular occasioned no surprise. Apart from their position on China's southern flank, the Pescadores group boast at least two harbours of great value in the typhoon season, and the trade of these and the adjacent large island of Tai-Wan will become of considerable importance in enterprising hands. .176 CHAPTER XV. COLONISATION AND TRADE THE JAPANESE AS COLONISTS. T is clear that Japan is now taking upon herself new responsibilities in regard to colonisation, and it may therefore be instructive to note in what degree her previous efforts in this direction have been successful. The policy she has pursued with regard to the nor- thern island of Yeso, which has always been peopled by a race altogether dis- tinct from that which inhabits the other islands of the Japanese Empire, may be accepted as a criterion which will enable us to judge of the course she is certain to follow in Formosa. The Ainos, as the aborigines of Yeso are termed, are a good-natured but uncivilised people of Mongolian stock, with straight eyes and broad features, wide shoulders and sturdy limbs. The eyelids have the fold inward which is noticeable in the Japanese. The fore- head is flat and slopes backward. Hair and complexion are both dark, the men having a strong growth of beard, COLONISATION AND TRADE. 377 giving to the elders the appearance of Jewish patriarchs. Neither razors nor scissors are used by the men, who are veritable Esaus. The women keep the hair short, and tattoo their upper lips, so that at a little distance they seem to wear moustaches. They are invariably shorter than the men, averaging 4 feet 10 inches to 5 feet i inch, whilst the men probably attain a height of 5 feet to 5 feet 4 inches. Occasionally a man is seen standing six feet high, but the tall ones are rare. Colonisation of Yeso. These people live by hunt- ing and fishing, and were loth to do any agricultural work until the Japanese settlers took them seriously in hand. Their nature was kind and submissive, and induced them readily to fall in with the views of the Government, which has for 20 years past established farms and taught the natives the value of husbandry. The Aino clothing is still conspicuously simple, being little more than a smock frock open in front and con- fined at the waist by a coarse girdle. Men and women dress nearly alike, the only embellishment of their costume being their own quaint embroidery, in which they use a thread made from elm-bark. In their dwell- ings, as in their dress, the utmost simplicity prevails. The hut is sometimes slightly elevated on posts driven into the ground, with a roof of reeds, and the sleeping places are benches, covered with mats, which run around the walls. One hole serves as a door, and another as a window. Needless to say an Aino hut is an extremely unsavoury habitation, and no European can bear its vile odours for any length of time, though Captain Blakiston 378 ADVANCE JAPAN. was not indisposed occasionally to avail himself of the shelter thus afforded when on shooting excursions, and in this way acquired considerable knowledge of the Aino language. In their religious observances, and patriarchal habits and practices, the Ainos are on a level with the aborig- ines of Saghalien and Kamschatka, the sun and moon being regarded as deities, and the bear receiving likewise semi-divine honours. This fact does not prevent the Aino making a feast of his bear, which is reared in the family, partly as a pet, and partly as a creature to be reverenced. There are not more than 20,000 Ainos in Yeso, and it was these people whom in 1870 the Japanese undertook to bring within the pale of civilisation. Prior to that time they were regarded altogether as savages. The virgin soil of the island afforded a splendid material upon which to experiment, and one of the earliest acts of the newly constituted Government of Tokio was to procure the best advice upon matters of scientific agriculture which the United States to whose Minister in Japan the department was indebted for many valuable suggestions could furnish. General Capron, and a staff of able assistants, were deputed to establish a typical Californian fruit farm in the suburbs of Tokio, to begin with, and this was subsequently copied and enlarged at Sapporo, the spot selected in the centre of Yeso as the seat of local government. A road had to be cut through the trackless forest for 70 miles, and posting stations established between Volcano COLONISATION AND TRADE. 379 Bay and Sapporo. Altogether a high road of over 140 miles had to be constructed, as certain portions of the undertaking had to be carried on between Volcano Bay and Hakodate, the treaty port of Yeso open to general foreign trade. The experience which the Government thus acquired in the art of colonising a new country will unquestion- ably serve it in good stead now that the scene of action is to be Tai-Wan. The aborigines of Formosa are not less likely to prove tractable than those of Yeso, under firm and competent rule ; and just as the Ainos are now among the most painstaking of farmers where they are employed upon the State homesteads in Yeso, or upon their own allotments, so we may expect some day to see the semi-civilised Pepahuan and the savage Che-huan tribes of Tai-Wan thoroughly reclaimed and harmoni- ously working side by side, under Japanese tuition and guidance. Sapporo. At the outset, the colonisation of Yeso was entrusted to the kai-taku-shi, a bureau established, as its title implied, in order to " effect the opening up of an unproductive territory." Very large sums were laid out in saw-mills, to cut lumber for the frame houses of Sapporo and other settlements, and quantities of service- able deals have been exported from the island. Bridge- building was, perhaps, the most extravagent item, but experience brought wisdom, and a cheaper form of con- struction was had recourse to which was found sufficiently substantial for all the earlier requirements of the traffic. With its wide and regular thoroughfares, and houses 380 ADVANCE JAPAN. constructed of white pine, with shingle roofs, dominated by its stately Court-house a miniature of the Capitol of Washington in the central square, the city of Sapporo presented in 1873 all the appearance of a typical Far West Settlement. Railways in Ye*o. Railways have been con- structed from Sapporo to its northern coast port, Otarunai, about 22 miles, and to Poronai, where there are extensive coal mines, 34 miles more, with a branch to Ikushunbetsu. South of Sapporo the railway line extends to Shin-moraran, about 90 miles, the latter place being a fine port on Volcano Bay, marked on old charts as Endermo harbour. The telegraph follows the same route, and has been of immense service in opening up the territory, which, in many districts, is remarkable for splendid pastures on which herds of cattle are maintained during the greater part of the year. Three large coal mines are in operation, at Poronai, Sorachi, and Ikushunbetsu, on the Ishikari River coal- field, the deposit being computed at 650 millions of tons. Sapporo has a large grist mill for grinding the corn grown in its vicinity, and thousands of farms now show through the clearings in the woods as the train whirls the traveller through what was, not manyyears ago, the track- less forest. The perseverance of the settlers has been pro- ductive of amazing results. Indian corn, melons, pump- kins, cucumbers, onions, asparagus, and other crops are found in profusion. Fruit trees border every field. The COLONISATION AND TRADE. 381 homesteads shelter horses, cattle, and pigs, and some sheep are bred successfully. The elm, ash, oak, and pine are indigenous, and provide excellent timber, as does also the Yeso fir. a wood obtained in great perfec- tion and of high value. The Sapporo mill saws easily 12,000 feet of lumber a day, and furnishes the settlers with tongued and grooved boarding. Everything that can be grown in the temperate zone can be produced in Yeso, and the marvel is to note what physical force, unaided to any great extent by mechanical means, has been able to accomplish on the farms. The Japanese in Formosa. In Formosa the Japanese Government will have secured an island which is not only fruitful, but which, taken in conjunction with the adjacent group of the Pescadores Isles, is capable of development as a strategical post of high value. In this chapter, however, I am endeavouring to show how the Government will probably find in it a suitable field for the exercise of its colonising proclivities, as already ex- emplified in the island of Yeso. Near Keelung and Tamsui there are coal-fields, for example coal being constantly shipped from the port of Keelung. A shaft was sunk nearly 20 years ago, and a highly bituminous coal, not unlike that mined at Miike, has been found in a three-feet seam. The output has been as high as 50,000 tons, and the Japanese will probably throw more vigour into the work than the Chinese have exhibited. The mine has sufficed, however, to supply the southern navy of China for years. 382 ADVANCE JAPAN. Tea cultivation is capable of considerable extension in Formosa. The Banka district is already favourably known, and Japanese settlers will soon have the hill-sides terraced, for the accommodation of the shrub, as in the central regions of the Hondo. Probably the cultivation of coffee may attract more attention also, and we know that already the Hakka settlers from the Chinese coast have for many years produced large crops of wheat, barley, and maize. Takow has always shipped a good deal of sugar, and indigo is grown extensively. Hemp, jute, and millet are likewise articles of export. The brilliant coral-fish which inhabit the warm waters of the Japanese gulf-stream (Kurosiwo) on the Formosan coast may compare with those of the Great Barrier Reef. The neighbouring seas are as well stocked with edible fish as are those of the Japanese mainland, and the fields and woods of the island abound with game of all kinds, pheasants, ducks, geese, snipe, and deer, boars, wild goats, panthers, bears, monkeys, and wild cats. Like the dyaks of Borneo the Formosan aborigines are head hunters, and the clans war with each other continually. Still the natives are not irreclaimable, as the efforts of the Chinese have already proved, and their physique is good. The men are above the average height of the Japanese, broad of chest and muscular, with extraordinarily large feet and hands, broad noses, good foreheads and large eyes, an extensive tattooing of the skin being a prevalent custom. Probably they are of Malay origin. The con- trol of the head-men of each village is freely recognised, -TAI-WAN - C FainM*) JAPAH'S Ntw POSSUJISH RIU-KIU ISLES FORMOSA : JAPAN'S NEW POSSESSION. COLONISATION AND TRADE. 385 and they elect a council of twelve, to which only those of 40 years of age are admissible. A demand is general among the native women for cotton cloths, and Manchester prints and other European goods have long been in constant use, so that Japan will find in the island a market on a small scale for the pro- ducts of her own looms. Staple Industries of the Empire* Silk bids fair to become more and more the staple of the Japanese export trade. Possibly it already has a monetary value to the country of four millions sterling, and with the introduction of improved machinery the output may considerably increase and advance in quality. As far as the raw material is concerned, nothing better can be expected, but the manipulation may come in time to show fewer imperfections. Already the filatures of some provinces, notably that of Shinano, on the Tdsando cir- cuit, produce white silks of such brilliancy and purity that they have no rival, and the progress which has already been made towards perfect workmanship in the districts near the Capital, such as Kai,Mino,K6dzuke, and Shimot- suke, augurs well for the growing importance to Japan of this industry. The raw silk actually produced, reeled, is scarcely less than 2,500 tons per annum, whilst nearly that quantity of waste silk and other less valuable pro- ducts must be credited to this branch of trade. Hardly any part of Japan is unfavourable to the growth of the mulberry save the extreme northern island of Yeso, but the centre of the industry is in the centre of Hondo. C c 386 ADVANCE JAPAN. Japan will shortly quadruple the number of her spindles, and her manufactured cottons will have a large market in China. The standard of both countries is a silver standard. Wages are paid in silver, an operative receiving not more than 4d. to 7d. per day as an average rate of pay. Coal is cheap, Miike coal being delivered at the existing cotton mills at a price of some- thing under 6s. per ton. All these advantages when combined will presently make it very difficult for Lan- cashire or India to compete with Japan in the Chinese markets. Cotton-spinning is flourishing at a dozen places, particularly in Osaka, that city which has been termed the Venice of Japan, but which might not inappropriately, in regard to its manufactures, be re- garded as the Japanese Manchester. There are 31 cotton-spinning companies in all (vide Appendix). In Osaka, glass is made with economy and success, boots and clothing of all sorts are made for half the nation, woven and knitted garments being among its specialties. Firebricks are also produced on a paying scale. It may surprise some who have not had occasion to look closely into the trade of Japan to find that her exports are now but very slightly below her imports. Roughly speaking, the imports were of a value in 1894 of a little less than i 1,750,000 sterling, whilst the exports were about equal to 1 1,325,000. One-tenth of the imports were duty free. Of the imports 3,480,000 or nearly a third came from Great Britain, whilst the goods despatched to the COLONISATION AND TRADE. 387 United Kingdom had a value of a little over a million sterling. The United States and France both take more merchandise from Japan than does the United Kingdom, but send in considerably less. China ranks next to ourselves, indeed, with regard to the amount of goods she forwards to the people of Japan. Imports and Exports. Perhaps it may serve the purpose of illustration if, in addition to the figures given in Appendix X., a few of the principal features of the export and import trade of Japan are here enumerated, as it will enable the reader to judge of the direction in which the increased facilities which are so soon to be afforded will be likely to lead to expansion of business. Japan exports raw silk and cocoons to the value of about 3^ millions sterling, but imports cotton yarn, calico, and piece goods to the extent of a million and a half, all from the United Kingdom. She sends out tea valued at .800,000, and receives sugar in return worth about ,1,150,000. Her export of coal, valued at half a million sterling, is just about balanced by her import of petroleum, for lamps. Rice she exports to precisely the same value, but re- ceives considerably more in the way of foreign provisions and beverages (principally for the foreign population), the actual amount being computed at 850,000. Silk textiles she exports to the extent of close upon a million sterling, which indicates in some measure the popularity Japanese dress fabrics have attained among the ladies of the West ; but, on the other hand, Japan imports C c 2 388 ADVANCE JAPAN. wool and woollen goods to the value of 650,000, be- cause she can rear no sheep. She sends away a little of her own tobacco, but buys a great deal of Virginia, both being used for cigarettes. She spends large sums (they amounted to over a million and a quarter sterling in 1893) in machinery, ships, and metals ; but she sells copper, bronze, porcelain, and lac- quered goods value half a million annually, and likewise (mainly to China) dried fish, seaweed, mushrooms, and fish oil, value another half million. Miscellaneous exports include a small sum for wheat and other cereals, vegetable wax, fans, camphor, and various drugs, and a host of minor items too numerous to particularise ; and in the same way the imports cover small quantities of glass and leather, and half a million's worth of dyes, paints, and drugs, with some three millions' worth of miscellaneous articles which it would be vain to enumerate. There can be no doubt that the export trade, which has necessarily been crippled by the war with China, will vastly expand as a consequence of the conclusion of peace between the two countries, and that Japan will send a great deal more of her general produce into the Celestial Empire than she has been able to sell there hitherto. Cofton-MpimiiiiK. The cotton-spinning industries have been considerably dislocated of late, not only by the stoppage of the raw supply from the Asiatic con- tinent, but by the loss of a good market for the moment of the manufactured article. COLONISATION AND TRADE. 389 The trade of Japan has been by no means paralysed, however, by her quarrel with China, and the returns, when complete, will in all probability show that she has manufactured silk, cotton, and other textiles during 1894 to the value of five and a half millions sterling, the cotton yarn produced being, moreover, of fully 120,000,000 Ibs. weight. Opium. The Japanese Government prohibits the use opium of entirely, by the Chinese residents in Japan, as well as by its own subjects, and it may be expected that in any future relationship which may exist between the officials of Japan and the bulk of the Chinese people, with whom they may come in contact, the influence of Japan will be altogether thrown into the scale against the pernicious employment of the drug for other than medicinal purposes. In that shape only does it figure in the returns. The Fisheries. Japan's resources are largely de- pendent upon her fisheries. In addition to the fresh fish consumed by her own population, she exports large quantities of the produce of her seas to China and else- where. Some idea of the extent to which this trade is carried on may be gathered from the fact that she salts or dries the fish taken on her coasts to the weight of about 80,000 tons annually. She exports or uses sea- weed as food to the weight of 48,000 tons a year, and she extracts oil from the captured fish, and turns the bones into manure to the extent of close upon 96,000 tons per annum. 390 ADVANCE JAPAN. Needless to say, a very large proportion of the popu- lation of Japan are fishermen, or are engaged wholly or partly in connection with the fisheries. The actual numbers so employed in 1894 cannot have been fewer than two and a half millions out of the total of 41 millions of inhabitants. But though so many of the Mikado's subjects make their living on or from the sea, his agricultural people- are not less busily employed in gathering a harvest, though it be of another kind. CerealH. It is estimated, by competent authorities, based on actual recorded figures in previous years, that the crop of wheat garnered from a little over a million acres so sown, per annum, is fifteen and a quarter millions of bushels. In the United Kingdom we have, of course, a much greater area under wheat cultivation,'but the staple food of the people of Japan is rice. They have six and three- quarter millions of acres bearing a rice crop, yielding an annual return of about 206 millions of bushels. Barley is grown on 1,600,000 acres, with a result to the farmers of 34 million bushels. Japanese barley yields well. Rye is cultivated to precisely the same extent, but yields 30 millions of bushels only. Naturally we should expect to find an immense amount of tea gathered, and this assumption is borne out by the actual figures, which show that in the Mi- kado's realm about 67 millions of pounds of tea were COLONISATION AND TRADE. 391 produced, out of which 36 millions of pounds were sent to the United States. Notwithstanding that sugar is largely imported from abroad, nearly 41 thousand tons were produced in the Japanese islands. The cane flourishes in the southern portion of Hondo and in Kiushiu. It may not be entirely uninteresting to mention that Japan's horses number not more than 1,560,000, while there are, at a rough computation, a little over 1,090,000 head of cattle. Shipping. The trade of Japan has become already so extensive that it needs the constant use of a large number of steam and sailing vessels. It is computed that fully 440 Japanese steam-ships enter or clear from the local custom houses at ports now open to trade, every year, with about 650 sailing vessels. Foreign- owned vessels, mainly flying the British flag, enter or clear in about the proportion of 1,200 steamers and 150 sailing ships every year. These numbers will be doubled or trebled when the commanders may load or discharge anywhere instead of being limited to a half- dozen "treaty ports." The tonnage of foreign vessels entering Japanese ports now averages a little over two million tons in a year, the actual average being about 1,490 tons to each steamer, and 630 tons to each sailing ship. The average measurement of the purely British steamers engaged in the Japan trade, however taking small and large is about 1,700 tons. Japan's mercantile navy actually comprises 643 392 ADVANCE JAPAN, steamers of foreign build or type, aggregating 102,332 tons burthen, or an average of 159 tons; 778 sailing vessels of foreign design, having a total tonnage of 45,944 tons, equal to 59 tons each on the average ; and 829 native junks of more than 50 tons burthen, aggre- gating 63,458 tons, or about 76 tons each. The smaller junks are, of course, simply innumerable. Xew Treaty. The Treaty entered into between Japan and Great Britain last year provides for the opening of the country to unrestricted foreign trade and intercourse in the year 1899. Japan will acquire the right to slightly increase the tariff on all the most important articles of commerce, and to act as she may please in regard to the levies on smaller articles, the increased assessment to be in force for 12 years. By this regulation Japan will practically assume the power eventually to frame her own Customs policy. British traders will be as free to come and go, to enter into business relations with the people of the interior, and otherwise to embark upon commercial speculations as they are in the United Kingdom. Mr. R. Tayui, Chancellor of the Japanese Consulate in London, has just issued a Commercial Guide to the trade of Japan, which deals exhaustively with the prospects opened to British merchants under this new Treaty. Banking. The Yokohama Specie Bank (Nippon Ginko) may be taken as a fair example of Japanese en- terprise in this direction. Its latest balance-sheet shows that a dividend is declared at the rate of 1 5 per cent. Illustrations of Japanese Bank-notes are here appended. 397 CHAPTER XVI. THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. QUARTER of a century ago there was much specula- tion in the minds of people who had business or other relations with the Far East, regarding the probable future of the Japanese Empire. To- day the problem still remains unsolved, and it is as fascinating as ever. A fear was often expressed, at the time when railways and telegraphs were being introduced, that the nation would grow as suddenly tired of its new toys as it had been precipitate in its acquirement of them. It was freely prophesied that, within a decade, Japan would close her gates to Occidentals as resolutely as she had shut and barred them centuries before. The pessimists were found in all ranks, and not only among those who dwelt at a distance, but among people who had already enjoyed the hospitality of the country for years. 398 ADVANCE JAPAN. Happily their predictions were never at any time in the way to be realised, and it has become pretty well understood that the changes which startled Europe in 1867 and 1 868 'were due to the forceful upheaval of a political system which had been undermined by natural agencies of long standing. It may be regarded, indeed, as not less insulting to our own common-sense than it is to the feelings of the Japanese people, to view the THK CRUISER "YOSHINO." vital changes which they have made in the past three decades, as having been undertaken on the spur of the moment. A Policy of Selection. It has been the aim of the writer to show that the transition was by no means so sudden as many have supposed, for the way had been well paved beforehand. Japan, notwithstanding the THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 399 Assertions so often made to that effect, did not put on " Western civilisation " as though it were a mantle. She endeavoured to select for herself those things which were best calculated to advance her interests, and has steadily pursued this policy to the present hour, no matter whether the methods introduced, or principles adopted, have had their origin in the Occident or in the Orient. She is always ready to improve herself, always alive to the world's progress, but, nevertheless, weighs well the question of their suitability or unsuitability before she commits herself to foreign innovations. To attribute her present position among nations ex- clusively to the adoption within her borders of the civilised practices of the West would be ridiculous in the extreme, for though she is an admirer of the arts and sciences which have made the West so powerful, she is by no means unmindful of the fact that the West itself owes much to the East. Japan has a civilisation of her own, with which Europe can often claim but little sympathy, and the high stan- dard to which the nation has attained is the result of a careful admixture of Eastern and Western methods. Japan will never abandon many of the habits and cus- toms to which she has for centuries been so firmly attached, for she regards them as superior to those which she observes to be in vogue with nations claiming to stand higher than herself. The alleged conflict between Oriental conservatism and Western civilisation can scarcely be said to exist in 4oo ADVANCE JAPAli. Japan. It may, and probably does, exist in China. But Japan makes room for Western civilisation by the side of her Oriental civilisation, and binds the two in an indissoluble union so complete that even the line of junction is well-nigh imperceptible. In her readiness to adapt herself to circumstances lies partly the secret of Japan's success, but not a little is due to the thorough- ness with which she enters into an undertaking, and the determination with which she pursues her object to its complete fruition. Europe has scarcely yet realised the position in which Japan and China now stand with regard to each other. Whereas in times past the Japanese people were students of Chinese literature and science, to an extent which has induced China ever since to regard Japan as existing in a state of tutelage, the tables have recently been turned in so palpable a manner as to convince China at last that the pupil is capable of administering a sharp lesson to the master. What will be the result to China, now that this conviction has been borne in upon her states- men ? Will they recognise the fact that Japan is now able to teach them something beneficial ? Nhe will open < liina. I venture to think they will. But I believe that Japan will take measures to bring about a friendly feeling as promptly as possible, on the basis of a common cause against Western aggres- sion. China had always had a dread of Russian in- vasion, and, in a less degree, Japan had felt anxiety on the same score. But China's fear of her neighbours THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 401 on the northern boundary was never so intense as her jealousy of her progressive neighbour and former pupil on the east. China indulged the belief that Japan, in arming herself as she has done of late years, had a desire to settle old scores, and probably the conviction was not altogether without foundation. There were a good many causes for resentment of which the people of Western nations could have little or no conception. Chinese intrigue had, for one thing, been very busy in Korea. Japan will urge Railways on China. And how thoroughly imbued with the danger from the eastward were the foremost Chinese patriots, as far back as 1881, may be comprehended from a study of the memorials addressed to the Dragon Throne by the famous trio Liu Ming Chu'an, Li Hung Chang, and Tso Tsung Tang. It will avail little to quote these in full, but the gist of their argument was that as the " situation of the Chinese Empire was daily becoming more critical, immediate consideration should be given to the question of the introduction of railways" by which to augment the Imperial power. Japan, 'it was pointed out, had already adopted Western mechanical arts, and her ruler, notwith- standing the diminutiveness of his territory, " relies upon the possession of railways to behave arrogantly toward China." Evidently, in the opinion of this triumvirate, the railway system was an indispensable adjunct to suc- cess in war, and their views have been verified to the letter. Japan had assumed the attitude of a mantis, D D 4 02 ADVANCE JAPAN. they said, and, like that insect does occasionally, " had put on an air of defiance, affecting to despise China, and giving no small amount of trouble on the least pre- text." It was urged that if the years were allowed to pass without any steps being taken to strengthen China's position, vain indeed would be that repentance which might come too late ! Poignant must be the regret of the governing body of China that the memorials were practically disregarded, but great will be the activity which will follow the cessation of hostilities, and in no direction will more energy be displayed than in the construction of railways, for Japan has indisputably proved to China's sorrow something which she was half prepared to believe before, that in railways there is strength. They have Something in Common* It may be expected that Japan will turn this fact to distinct advan- tage, and it is open to her to do so, now that peace has been restored, by offering to aid China in the construc- tion of these contemplated railways. It is certain that an ancient bond unites China and Japan in the shape of the written characters common to both countries. A Japanese fully comprehends the meaning of Chinese ideographs, and can read and write, therefore, with ease and fluency. On the other hand, an educated Chinaman can understand what his Eastern neighbour may write. As a consequence, if it were not for their violent an- tagonism, the two peoples would not meet as strangers THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 405 when visiting in each other's countries, and, indeed, the Japanese courts have had a certain jurisdiction over Chinamen in Japan all along, and have regarded them as on altogether a more familiar footing than Europeans for generations past. And if the projects of the aged statesman and his col- leagues should be carried into effect, they would entail not only an immense outlay, but a staff of qualified pro- fessional men to survey and supervise the construction, such as China does not herself possess, though Japan has them in abundance. No fewer than four trunk lines, radiating from Peking, were advocated to begin with, and these would have to be largely supplemented by lines south of the Yang-tsu-Kiang. The scheme em- braced lines to connect : 1. Peking with Chin Kiang via Chihli, Shantung, and Kiang-su provinces, a distance of not less than 620 miles. 2. Peking with Hankow, through Honan and Hupeh provinces, about 670 miles. 3. Peking and Shing-King (Moukden), about 430 miles, a large proportion of which, from Tientsin to Shanhai Kwan, is already in existence and in full work. 4. Peking and Kansu via Shansi and Shensi, about 900 miles. Profit* to Pay Indemnity. The profits to be de- rived from the railways would go far to pay to Japan the indemnity which she now exacts, and it may not improbably be found that the proposed arrangement 406 ADVANCE /A PAN. whereby payment is to be distributed over a lengthy term of years is contingent upon the bonds being issued on the security of railway earnings, and the employment by China of Japanese engineering skill in the con- struction of lines. Li Hung Chang's contention has always been that these profits would suffice to maintain an efficient Army. He wished to see the various provinces united by railways, so that each might furnish its quota of men to the Imperial standard without the fatal loss of time which has hitherto destroyed China's chances of successfully coping with an invasion. Had there been such means of rapid transport and concentration of forces upon a threatened district, one soldier, in Liu Ming Chu'an's opinion, would have been worth ten under the conditions which actually prevailed at the out- break of the last war, and his estimate may not have been overdrawn. But regrets are useless, and China has now to face the problem of paying the indemnity and strengthening her resources to meet the demands of the future. By the establishment of railways she will develop her mines to bring into the market the coal and iron which she un- doubtedly possesses. She will be able to transport the grain tribute to the Capital without the expense and delay entailed by shipment in coasting steamers. Li Hung Chang's advocacy of railways is safe, sooner or later, to bear fruit, and it is by their means that China will be rescued from her present unenviable position. THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 407 He set forth the advantages in detail 14 years ago, and pointed out that it would be necessary to raise money abroad to build the lines, though he insisted that it should be a railway loan, altogether independent of the security of the Maritime Customs for its repay- ment. Japan can step into the breach, and under terms to be arranged, can assist in the establishment of the one thing needful to develop the resources of the Celestial Empire. Her railway engineers have gained experience in their own country which will fit them to act in China as technical efficers ; and there is reason to think that their offer of service, when backed by the prestige their Government has acquired by its undeniable suc- cess, would find more favour in Chinese eyes than would an offer from Europeans at this juncture. Japanese Drill-Sergeants Tor China. The cause of the former antagonism China's patronising attitude, and altogether gratuitous affectation of displeasure at Japan's progress has been removed. The canker has been expelled by cauterisation, and the wound will heal, possibly, without leaving more than a trifling scar. If this prediction should be verified there is little or nothing to prevent China accepting Japan's good offices to aid in the establishment of those very agents which have made Japan so strong. The rough material is not lacking in China to form a defensive army of two millions within a twelvemonth, if competent drill-sergeants and execu- tive officers were procurable. Who so qualified by their course of education, knowledge of the written language, 408 ADVANCE JAPAN. and experience in warfare with foreign weapons to in- struct and drill a Chinese force as the men who have just been arrayed against them? No one who has seen Japanese troops undergoing drill, and has followed the records of their campaign in Korea and Manchuria, can doubt the substantial efficiency of the training. No one doubts that the main source of the weakness of the Chinese armies as at present constituted is the incompetency of the commissioned and non-com- missioned officers. It is even open to Japan to enter into an arrangement with China by which the united forces of the two nations may make common cause against an invader. She may send to China a military and a naval " Mission," just as similar missions were provided at Japan's request by France and Great Britain to organise the nuclei of the existing forces of Japan. Her ancient enemy, but new ally, may thus be strengthened to resist encroachments from the direction of Siberia, for Japan's fleet, and the associated land forces of Japan and China, all combined, would, to use a familiar term, require a lot of beating. Japan can Sii|>pl> Arm*. The project of an alliance between the two Powers of the Far East is not so difficult of accomplishment, or so remote, per- haps, as might be imagined. Japan is certain to secure for herself a market for her industrial products, notably in manufactured cottons, in the Flowery Kingdom, to the partial or complete exclusion of Lancashire and India. She can provide China not only with goods of THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 411 this class, but with rifles, and every appliance, including field-guns, for the ultimate equipment of a vast army. She can take payment in bonds which will make China her debtor, instead of China having recourse to foreign bankers. Japan can be the lever to set the Chinese mass in motion, but her influence will tend towards the consolidation of the Chinese Empire, rather than to its disintegration. She will have a. large Market in China* Japan has very considerably enlarged her boundaries already, and the universal recognition of her standing, as an Eastern Power to be reckoned with, must speedily THE CRUISER " SUMA " (BUILT IN JAPAN). follow. She has wrested from her neighbour the out- lying islands of Formosa and the Pescadores, and has secured the independence of the Kingdom of Korea. These are achievements directly ascribable to the pro- gress she has made as a naval and military Power on the flank of Asia, and one need not peer far into futurity to find the King of Korea owning allegiance to the Mika- do instead of to the Empire of China. The enterprise of the Japanese nation is not to be confined to mere 412 ADVANCE JAPAN. territorial extension, however, for she will endeavour, beyond doubt, to constitute in the Middle Kingdom as well as in Korea a gigantic market for her wares. Much has already been done to stimulate local manufactures in the central provinces of Japan by the introduction of improved machinery. This is particularly noticeable in the case of textile fabrics, and the output can be increased almost indefinitely. Cotton can be grown all THE CRUISER "HASHIDATE" (Bun/r AT YOKOSUKA). over the south of Japan, and the production might be multiplied tenfold if a market were open to it. As matters stand, the crop is limited to the national require- ments, but the present standard of cultivation affords no index to the capacity of the cotton lands. In the peace negotiations carried on between the plenipoten- tiaries the opportunity has not been lost sight of, we may THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 413 be sure, to make arrangements whereby the imports from Japan, at certain of the ports presently to be opened, will command such attention in China as will warrant the Japanese manufacturers in embarking upon an extensive and highly lucrative trade. The looms of Osaka, and other towns where textile industries 'are carried on, will be largely engaged in the near future in supplying that immense Chinese market to which Japan now holds the key. Japan will Use her Power Wisely. China, in other words, is at the mercy of her conqueror, but as the Mikado's principles incline him towards those peaceful triumphs which are to be wrought by the development of his people's commerce, rather than to territorial aggrandisement,his terms are such as pave the way to improved relations of a material character between the two Empires. Hitherto the most sturdy opposition has been offered to Li Hung Chang's schemes by the Tsung-li Ya-men, mainly, as it would seem, on account of that blind belief which the bulk of Chinese statesmen entertained in the invulnerability of their Empire. J'apan has disabused them of this impression, and has relent- lessly pushed her advantage to an extent which has left the ultra-conservative party at Peking not a vestige of excuse for longer ignoring the real facts. Other foreign Powers have at various times had occasion to chastise China, but not one of them has gone the length which Japan has done, and the impression produced has been of comparatively transient character. As Liu Ming 414 ADVANCE JAPAN. Chu'an candidly observed, in regard to Russian aggres- sion, " China has been content to yield to demands, and make compromises, regardless of money, to avert the dangers of war." As soon as the monetary difficulty has been surmounted, China's confidence has returned, and she has invariably relapsed into her old condition of haughty indifference to the world's progress. Japan Fought China in Earnest. But in Japan she found herself confronted by an enemy whose ad- vances could not be stalled off in this simple fashion. Japan had determined to make an impression on China which should be lasting, for her own sake, for it has been a source of perpetual anxiety to her that the representatives of the Celestial Empire have chosen to foment discord on her borders. So long as the Chinese Government was allowed to treat Japan with super- cilious contempt, the Cabinet of Tokio could not hope to preserve peace and contentment within the Mikado's Empire. The Samurai spirit brooks no insult, and for the last two decades the internal difficulties which have beset the Government of Japan have been due more or less directly to the action of China. The Saga insurrection in 1874, and the Satsuma rebellion in 1877, both arose to a certain extent from the unwilling- ness of the Tokio Government to be drawn into a squabble with China at the bidding of the southern clans, and China's arrogance and intrigue continued to emphasise that very trouble in Korea which was at the bottom of the whole affair. The Samurai clamoured to THE FUTURE OF fAPAN. 417 be allowed to avenge the insults levelled at their nation, and chafed under restraint to a degree which culminated in internal disorder, but it was China's be- haviour which fanned the flame, and so long as the Mikado's Government was harassed by external diffi- culties of this description true prosperity could not be looked for. Japan will now make still more Rapid Pro- gress. The cause of this obstacle to Japan's material progress has now been eliminated, and she may con- fidently look forward to an era of unfettered advance- ment. Knowing what she has accomplished under conditions far from being the most favourable, we are justified in looking forward to evidence of even more rapid development within the remaining years of the present century. Hitherto all that she has done has been of a character to enable her to take the field in competition with other nations. She has educated her sons during circumstances of no little adversity, and they have now attained an age when they may repay to some extent the loving care she has bestowed upon them. They will go out into the world and give proof of the soundness and thoroughness of their training. To Japan will belong the credit of having aroused China to a sense of her inability to .withstand invasion, and of the paramount necessity of taking measures to protect herself for the future. What form those meas- ures will take is not so clear, though it is reasonable E E 4i8 ADVANCE JAPAN. to suppose that extensive engineering works will be undertaken in connection with coast defence. If China has learned one lesson from the war, it is that her men can hold out fairly well when placed within fortified positions. The forts of Liu-Kung-tao, at Wei-hai-Wei, made the best stand in the whole struggle. It is no new thing to find the rank and file of the Chinese Army fight with some approach to determination under such conditions, though they are useless in the open. With good training and skilled leadership they might prove efficient for defence, and it is possible that China has by this time realised that her role should strictly be defence and not defiance. Japan will Introduce Mechanical ArtM. To J.ipan will equally belong the opportunity of introduc- ng mechanical arts on a greater scale than anything hitherto attempted. Chinamen arc nothing if not prac- tical, and now that they know what can be accomplished with weapons which they have only disdainfully regarded hitherto, they are as likely as not to apply themselves to a diligent study of the causes which have led to their discomfiture. All that Europe and America have been privileged to accomplish in China hitherto amounts to very little when the immense size of the country and vast population are taken into consideration. Civilisa- tion has penetrated no further than the threshold as yet, and it will need great pressure from without to open wide the still half-closed door. But Japan is apply- ing that pressure, and will be the first to enter freely. THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 419 The Western Powers have lost ground, it is to be feared, with both the combatants in the war now at its close. China owes nothing to the good offices of any particular nation, and has to thank the Emperor of Japan for moderation, rather than to acknowledge indebtedness to any foreign Power for bringing the conflict to an end. China is not unlikely to feel aggrieved, indeed, that her plea for intervention was so lightly regarded by her former friends, and that feeling may induce her to look with favour upon any advances towards a better understanding, for the time to come, which Japan may think fit to make. After all, Japan understands how to deal with China better than any other nation does, for she has not a few things in common with her big neighbour. On the other hand, the Japanese people were prone to look upon even the suggestion of interference by Western Powers in the affair as altogether ill-timed and unwarrantable. The effort, had it really been made, would have been vigor- ously resented, for it was felt in Japan that Occidental commentators often attributed motives to the Mikado's Ministers which were far from being justified by the facts, and very frequently misrepresented historical events. That this was done purposely was not for a moment asserted, though the irritation in the Japanese mind was not less difficult to allay on that account. It was well that they were left to fight out their quarrel with China undisturbed. It would have been more agreeable to Japan if even the allusion to intervention E E 2 420 ADVANCE JAPAN. had never been put forward. A risk was run of wound- ing the susceptibilities of a rising nation, with but the faintest prospect of the suggestion, however well-meant, meeting with success. In the matter of the armistice, Japan again showed that she knew how to deal with the authorities at Peking. No loophole was left by which they could escape the just consequences of the national defeat. Either they must come to terms within three weeks, or submit to an occu- pation of their Capital, the hostilities in the south in the meantime to be prosecuted as fiercely as ever. Total cessation of. the combat would have afforded China time partially to recover, and Japan would have had to com- mence her labours anew. China would have employed the interval solely in bringing up fresh troops from a distance, and at the end of the time would have showed front once more. Mistaken kindness at this crisis would have prolonged the contest indefinitely and disastrously, for Japan's resources are not illimitable, either in money or men. Japan was Resolutely in Earnest. The con- spicuous features of the campaign have been the thoroughly-in-earnest fashion in which Japan set about her rival, the determination to leave nothing to chance, to listen to no plea for breathing-space to spare no effort to thrash her enemy within an inch of her life. Half-measures were known to be of no effect with China. Japan took the risk of meeting with a reverse, and of coming out of the conflict with consequences which would THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 421 have been fatal to herself. But those who knew how well Japan was prepared, knew how infinitesimal was the risk. All the world knows it now, and will be prepared to accept the statement that she will continue to advance to power and influence in the same resolute, irresistible way. 423 APPENDIX I. The Tokaido Route. Mi es from 1 he Capital. Town. Population. Remarks. 18 Yokohama 143,754 55 Odawara 22,000 Ancient seat of Government, thirteenth century. 70 Miyanoshita ... 4,OOO Natural sulphur springs. 72 Hakone 3,OOO Mountain Pass 3,500 feet above sea level. 75 Atami 3,000 Natural springs. Sea bath- ing. 80 Mishima 15,000 120 Shidzuoka 36,343 Seat of former Shogun. 167 Hamamatsu 25,000 Extensive general trade. IQI Toyohashi or Yoshida 18,000 Large junk trade. 209 Okazaki 21,000 Crape and cotton goods. 233 Nagoya 185,776 Pottery, silk, and general large trade. 252 Gifu 32,406 Crape and silk fabrics. 287 Hikone I 7,OOO Old Castle Town. 318 Otsu ... 31,279 Mart for lake-borne mer- chandise. 330 Kioto 308,266 Porcelain, lacquer, and other specialities. Former seat of Imperial Government. 35 2 Osaka 479,546 The Manchester of Japan. Greatest trade. 376 Kobe 148,625 1 Foreign Treaty Port, with extensive trade. 4^4 APPENDIX II. Tin K o-*li i n Iv ; 3oo Coal (2 mines) ......... 14700 Those mines which are in the hands of private companies yieLl annually, on the average, about as follows : Gold... ... ... ... ... 16,500 ounces Silver ............ 1,850,000 Copper ............ 20,750 tons Iron ......... ...... I9>5 > Lead . ...... .. 940 Antimony ... ... 190 Manganese ......... 4,200 ., Sulphur .. ....... 24,500 ., Lignite ............ 18,000 Graphite ... .: ....... 4> IO Coal ............... 4,850,000 F V 2 436 APPENDIX XIV. r<-i- and Telegraph*. Post Offices, 3,169. Postal Telegraph Offices, 535. Telegraph Stations, 96. Road Postal Service, 28,164 English miles. Railway Postal Service, 1,794 English miles. Length of telegraph lines, 8,430 English miles. Length of telegraph wires, 24,204 English miles. Letters carried in 12 months Newspapers and Magazines carried in 12 months Books and Packets Official Telegrams Private Service Average per TOO inhabitants 221,563,619 50,829,700 5,412,424 298,344 4,720,587 216,641 ... 6-66 , ir6i Telephones. Offices. Sub- scribers. Length of Lines. Wires. (English Miles.) Receipts. Expendi- ture. Yen. Yen. Tokio 17 1,032 251 2,332 36,561 17,288 Yokohama 3 257 25 2O2 11,919 5,830 Osaka 2 141 37 278 7,318 5,218 Kobe"-Hiogo 2 74 22 I8 7 8,581 4,623 The lines were opened in Tokio and Yokohama in December, 1890. The lines were opened in Osaka and Kobe"-Hiogo in March, 1893. Electric Lighting. Sta- tions Capital. Public Lamps. Private Houses. Lamps. Receipts. Expendi- ture. Yen. Yen. Yen. Tokio 9 839,444 159 2,423 17.336 196,676 133,656 Kioto I 70,000 19 740 1,716 20,045 11,422 Osaka 2 360,000 I 2,429 7,056 86,796 29,997 Yokohama ... 173,829 150 405 3,593 25,811 26,817 Hakone" i 7,300 5 '3 175 576 408 Hobe"-Hiogo 113,840 54 521 2,690 31,057 H,537 Nagoya 78,800 5 433 1,970 18,927 IO,603 Kumamoto... 31,500 22 169 i, in 8,177 6,327 437 APPENDIX XV. Railways in Japan. Length (English Mik-s). Cost of Cipitxl. Con- Pro- Construction. Open. structing. posed. Yen. State Railways ... 557 ^;, _i 18.007 Nippon Company 20,000,000 593 5 19,809,342 Sanyo Kiushiu Hokkaido I3,OOO,OOO 11,000,000 6,5OO,OOO 136 205 53 153 82 7,125,962 5,854,380 6,598,061 Kwansei 6,5OO,OOO 59 23 2,745,662 Osaka 2,300,000 32 6 4 2,090,643 Riomo 1,500,000 52 1,457,385 Kobu ... 1,350,000 23 4 752,312 Hankai 4OO,OOO 6 358,935 Sanuki 3OO,OOO 10 282,791 lyo 135,000 7 3 78,753 Chikuho 2,5OO,OOO 25 4 1,749,819 Kushiro , ... 200,000 26 1 69,996 Other Companies 7,438,000 1 68 119 Total ... 73,123,000 1,876 266 '358 84,493,038 * A great part has recently been completed and opened for traffic. APPENDIX XVI. Average Coat or Food, etc*, in Japan* s. d. Rice ... 3 3 per bushel. Barley I 6 Wheat 20 Beans 22 Salt o 10 Wine o 8 per gallon. Tea o 4^ per Ib. Sugar (White) o if Sugar (Brown) o i| Tobacco o 3^ Charcoal o i Coal ... 8 6 per ton. 439 INDEX. A. Adams, Will, 335. Administration, 6, 194. Adzuma, 42. Agriculture, 211. Alcock, Rutherford, 41, 128. Alexis, Grand Duke, 147. Ama-ga-Terasu, 37, 93. Ama-no-Hashidate, 240. Animals, 50. Appeal Courts, 150. Apples, 60. Area, 45 ; under cultivation, 67. Arisugawa, Prince, 133, 181, 185, 196. Army, 326. Arsenal, 200. Asakusa, 191, 204. Asama yama, 46. Ashikaga Clan, 107. Ashi-no-yu Springs, 32. Awomori, 270. Azaleas, 59. B. Bamboo, 77. Bank-notes, 393. Banko, 26. Banqueting Hall, 195. Barley, 67. Beef, 74. Bill of Fare, 77. Birds, 52. Biwa Lake, 28, 41. Bluff Yokohama, 223. Bonin Isles, 47. Bookbinding, 305. Bridges, 33, 266. British Legation, 128, 195. Buddhism, 96. Cabinet, 6. Calendar, 146. Camellia, 59. Captured Vessels, 334. Castles, 37, 195. Cereals, 65. Chin, 50. Chinese Science, 101. " Chiyoda," 163. Chopsticks, 77. Choshiu, 122. Christianity, 109. Chrysanthemum, 62. Clans, 117. Climate, 17, 47, 244. Coal, 313. Coast, 14 ; Survey, 149. Colonisation, 146. Communications, 21 1, 247. Constitution, 6. Costume, 83, 84, 148. Cotton, 70 ; Spinning, 388. Crime, 153. Cryptomeria, 26. Cultivation, 66. D. Daimios, 113. Diet and Dress, 78, 79. Diet, The, 7 ; Salaries, 8. Dutch, 319. E. Earthquakes, 193. Editors, 307. Education, 146, 211. Electoral bodies, 9. Elgin, Lord, 129. 440 INDEX. Kmperor Mutsuhito : age, height, I ; coronation, I ; earnest pur- pose, 2 ; selection of able Ministers, 5 ; significance of titles, 5 ; coat of arms, 5 ; rati- fies laws, 10. Empress llaruko: title, descent, I ; influence in State affairs, 2 ; charity, 2 ; president of Nurs- ing Association, 2 ; opens rail- ways, 269. Engineering, 33, 211. Enoshima, 44. Excursion Guilds, 249. Exhibitions, 147. Exports, 65. Ex-Shogun, 35. F. Field telegraphs, 286. Finance, 10, 210. Fires, 194. Fisheries, 390. Fishes, 55. Floods, 33. Flowers, 61. Footwear, 80. Foreign Treaties, 126. Formosa, 175, 381. Frugality, 9, 71. Fruits, 60. Fujiyama, 27. Funai, 244. Future in China, 412. G. Gardening, 62. Gauge of Railway, 271. Ginza, 192. Glover, T. B.,238. Godaigo, 107. Gold, 320. Goto, 23. Government, 209. Grapes, 6 1. II. Hachiman, 207. Hakodate, 270. Hakone, 31. Hata-moto, 113. Head-dress, 84. Hemp, 70. Heroes, 102. Hibiya, 199. Hideyoshi, 108. Highways, 257. llikone, 41. Hiogo, 228. Hirado, no. Hirakana, 291. Hiroshima, 235. Hitotsubashi, 105, 124. Hizen, 122. Hojo, 106. Hokkaido, 22. Hokurikudo, 22. Hominokii Lightship, 224. Hondo, 14. Hotels, 250. Household, 87. Houses of Parliament, 7. I. Iki, 23. Ikuno, 309, 320. Imperial badges, 5 ; family, 7. Imports and Exports, 387. Industrial representatives, 8. Industries, 385. Inouye Kaoru, 6, II, 134. Inouye Ko, 6. !se, 37, 94- Ito, Admiral, 172, 185. Ito Hirobumi, 6, 125 ; speech, 142. Iwakura, 141, 183. lyeyasu, 26, 113. Japan, known to Klizal>ethan navi- gators, 13 ; resemblance to Great Hritain, 13. Jardine, Matheson & Co., 135. Jesuits, 109. Jimmu Tenno, 94. Jingu-Kogo, 95. Jin-riki->ha. 209, 247, 249. Justice, 152. INDEX. 44i K. Kagoshima, 130, 174, 180. Kamakura, 104. Kanda, 211. Katakana, 291. Kawamura, 183. Keiki, 36. Ken, 23. Ken-rei, n. Keyaki, 58. Kioto, 25, 215. Kishiu, 118. Kiso River, 43. Kita Shirakawa, 196. Kiyomori, 103, 235. Kobe, 228. Kochi, 240. Kojigoku, 32. Komatsu, Prince, 8. KomeiTenno, I, 125. Korea, ii.Jio;, 154, 165, 184. Kowshing, 341. Kublai Khan, in. Kumamoto, 321. Kurile Islands, 47. Kuroda, 6, 1 60. Kuroshiwo, 14. Kwansei, 23. Kwanto, 23. L. Law, 212. Lighthouses, 316. Li Hung Chang, 156. Locomotives, 266. Loochoo, 23. M. Majiko Islands, 23. Manchuria, War in, 352. Mandarin Ducks, 54. Maples, 59. Marriage, 161. Matsushima, 243. Matsuye, 240. Medals, 147. Meiji, 162. Mendez Pinto, 109. Miike, 238, 309, 313. Millet, 68. Minamoto, 103. Mint, 236. Mishima, 225. Mission to Europe, 141. Misumi, 313, 319. Mito, II 8, 20 1. Mitsu Bishi, 237. Mitsui, 310. Miyadzu, 240. Modern Titles, 118. Mori Arinori, 155. Morse Code, 283. Mountains, 45. Museum, 202. Mutsu Munemitsu, 6. N. Nagasaki, 237. Nagoya, 37. Nakasendo, 43, 274. Nanaura Coalpit, 314. Naniwa Kan, 339. Nankaido, 21. Navy, 329. Newspapers, 227, 232, 239, 299. Nihonbashi, 192. Niphon, 17. Nobles, 7. Nodzu, General, 172. Northern Railway, 273. O. Odawara, 106. Oigawa, 43. Oji, 207. Okubo, 171, 178. Okuma Shigenobu, 12, 174. Okusama, 88. Oliphant, Laurence, 207. Omiya, 27. Onomichi, 244. Oriental Bank, 140. Osaka, 25, 235, 236, 265. Ota Nobunaga, 107. Otsu, 41. Owari, 1 1 8. Oyama, Marshal, 212. Oyama, Mount, 28. 442 INDEX. V. Palace, 199. Palmer, (General, 227. Parkes, 130. Parliament, 7. Payment of Members, 9. Pears, 60. Pens and Paper, 297. . Perry, 125. Pine, 34. Police, 212. Poor Relief, 154. Population, 13, 45, 209. Port Arthur, 359. Ports, 219. Postal Service, 200. Poultry, 55. Prefectures, 24, 252, 254. Press, 1 60. Provinces, 24. Provincial Assemblies, 10. Public Works, II. R. Radicals, 292. Railways, 140, 192, 262, 271, 401. Restoration. 122. Revenues, 121. Rice, 65, 71. Riots, 280. Riukiu, 162, Roads, 18,251, 256. Sado Gold Mines, 140. Saga, 184. Saigo Takamori, 173, 181, 187. Saigo Tsugumichi, 7, 134, 174. Saikaido, 21, 22. Sake\ 73- Samurai, 158. Sandals, 83- Sanindo, 22. Sanjo Saneyoshi, 2OI. Sanyodo, 22. Sapporo, 380. Satsuma, 166, 169. Schools, 149, 211. Senclai, 243. Seoul, 165. Shikoku, 14. Shimabara, 109. Shimadxu, 167. Shimonoseki, 238. Shinbashi, 192, 264. Shipping, 391. Shizoku, 124. Shogun, 35, 93, 114, 188 ; tombs, 203. Sign -boards, 249. Silk, 216. Silver, 320. Sweetmeats, 73. Swords, 159. T. Taikosama, 108. Taira. 103. Tai \Vaii, 178. Takanawa, 128. Tea, 35, 78. Tei-koku Gi-kwai, 7. Telegraphs, 140, 274, 23o ; field, 286. Telephones, 194. Tenriu River, 43. Terashima, 171, 183. Throne Chamber, 195. Tobacco, 89. Tokaido, 21 ; route of, 26, Tokaido Railway, 31, 272. Tokio, 193. Tokugawa, 109, 112. Tools, 59. Torpedoes, 237. Tosando, 22. Trade, 243. Trees. 58. Tsukiji, 193. Tsushima, 23, 320. " Tycoon," 35, 93. U. Ueno. 202. Tji, 26. Uyeda. 43. INDEX, 443 Vaccination, 139. Vegetables, 68. Villages, 260. Vines, 62. Voting in Diet, IO. Vries Island, 44. W. Wakayama, 244. Watanabe Kunitake, 7. Wei-Hai-Wei, 366. Wheat, 68. Winds, prevailing, 48. Writings, 100, 288 ; styles of, 297. Yalu Battle, 347. Yamagata Aritomo, 6, 134. 185, 212. Yamato, 42, 218. Yamato-damashi, 42, 96. Yedo, 191. Yenomoto Buyo, 6, 125. Yeso, 14, 377. Yeto Shimpei, 171. Yokkaichi, 243, 270. Yokohama, 220. Yoritomo, 91, 103. Yoshikawa Akimasa, 6. Yoshino, 398. Zen, 77. Zoological Gardens, 202. Wi'MAN AtvD fONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, LONDON AXD PEDHILL. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. OCTS N0V Form Li DS 809 Advance Japan M826a UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 000009832 7 DS 809 M826a a