Harakiri—NEGOTIATIONS FOR AUDIENCE OF THE MIKADO AT KIOTO

Next day DatÉ introduced to the Foreign Representatives Sawa MondÔ no Kami, one of the five fugitive court nobles of 1864, who was proceeding to Nagasaki as governor, together with the daimiÔ of Omura, who was to furnish his guard. Sawa wore rather a forbidding expression of countenance, not to say slightly villainous, but for all that had the look of a good companion, and a year or two later, when he was minister for Foreign Affairs, we liked him greatly. Omura Tango no Kami, to give him his full title, was a weak, sickly looking man, who did not utter a word during the interview, and seemed even afraid of speaking to a foreigner. Sawa's son, a dissipated-looking young man, with the white complexion of a woman, was also present. After the compliments were over, these three were turned out of the room, and we learnt that the Bizen affair would be wound up by the decapitation of the responsible officer. Early that morning the chief had been asking my opinion about the advisability of granting a reprieve, or rather a mitigation of the penalty. Mitford learnt from von Brandt that the colleagues knew him to have leanings that way, and that he was believed to have put forward Polsbroek, the Dutch Political Agent, to advocate clemency. Mitford and I had however agreed previously that lenience would be a mistake, and that was the view I maintained in reply to Sir Harry. DatÉ and Sawa came to dinner that evening with the chief, an arrangement which he fancied he had kept secret from his colleagues, but they knew of it as soon as the invitation was accepted. Afterwards there was a long conversation which lasted until midnight, a principal topic being the proposed visit of the Mikado to Ozaka. DatÉ said the object of the excursion was to open the mind of the young sovereign by showing him something of the outer world, and also a big English man-of-war. Of course, he added, if the foreign diplomats were there at the time, they might be presented. Parkes said the Mikado might receive the Diplomatic Body as a whole, but not each minister separately, his object being to secure priority of presentation for himself, as he had already written home for new credentials. DatÉ suggested that the capital might possibly be moved from its present position to Ozaka, as it was situated at a spot hemmed in by mountains, to which all supplies had to be transported by water. My own belief was that Satsuma and ChÔshiÛ wanted to get the person of the Mikado into their own hands in order to make him march with the army, and secondly to have him on the sea-coast in order to be able to cut and run whenever it might become necessary. This was confirmed by the fact that the Mikado had issued an order announcing that he was taking the field in person. In reply to a question as to the fate of the ex-Tycoon, DatÉ said it would depend on circumstances, which no one could foretell. The people of Ozaka, aware of the anti-foreign policy of the late Mikado and the former political opinions of ChÔshiÛ, supposed that since the Court and ChÔshiÛ had come into power, foreigners would be generally obnoxious, not any longer having the Tokugawa power to defend them; that was the reason of the populace having wrecked the various legations. Perhaps the Bizen people had been actuated by the same notions. This last suggestion furnished an additional ground for our refusing to reduce the capital sentence.

By this time M. Roches had come back to KÔbÉ, to the great annoyance of his colleagues, who considered that he had played a trick on them in leaving his secretary here as ChargÉ d' Affaires, in order that he might not be unrepresented, and at the same time playing the part of French Minister in Yedo.

It did not cause us, that is Mitford and myself, much surprise when in the afternoon of the next day Godai and ItÔ came to ask for the life of Taki ZenzaburÔ, the retainer of Hiki TatÉwaki, who had been condemned to perform harakiri as the penalty for ordering his soldiers to fire on foreigners. A long discussion took place between the foreign ministers which lasted for nearly three hours, in which Sir Harry voted for clemency, but the majority were for the sentence being carried out. It was half-past eight o'clock in the evening when Godai and ItÔ were called back into the room and told in a few words that there was no way but to let the law take its course. So we started at nine o'clock, Mitford and myself, with a single representative of each of the other legations. We were guided to the Buddhist temple of Sei-fuku-ji at HiÔgo, arriving there at a quarter to ten. Strong guards were posted in the courtyard and in the ante-chambers. We were shown into a room, where we had to squat on the matted floor for about three-quarters of an hour; during this interval we were asked whether we had any questions to put to the condemned man, and also for a list of our names. At half-past ten we were conducted into the principal hall of the temple, and asked to sit down on the right hand side of the dais in front of the altar. Then the seven Japanese witnesses, ItÔ, Nakashima SakutarÔ, two Satsuma captains of infantry, two ChÔshiÛ captains, and a Bizen o-metsukÉ took their places. After we had sat quietly thus for about ten minutes footsteps were heard approaching along the verandah. The condemned man, a tall Japanese of gentleman-like bearing and aspect, entered on the left side, accompanied by his kai-shaku or best men, and followed by two others, apparently holding the same office. Taki was dressed in blue kami-shimo of hempen cloth; the kai-shaku wore war surcoats (jimbaori). Coming before the Japanese witnesses they prostrated themselves, the bow being returned, and then the same ceremony was exchanged with us. Then the condemned man was led to a red sheet of felt-cloth laid on the dais before the altar; on this he squatted, after performing two bows, one at a distance, the other close to the altar. With the calmest deliberation he took his seat on the red felt, choosing the position which would afford him the greatest convenience for falling forward. A man dressed in black with a light grey hempen mantle then brought in the dirk wrapped in paper on a small unpainted wooden stand, and with a bow placed it in front of him. He took it up in both hands, raised it to his forehead and laid it down again with a bow. This is the ordinary Japanese gesture of thankful reception of a gift. Then in a distinct voice, very much broken, not by fear or emotion, but as it seemed reluctance to acknowledge an act of which he was ashamed—declared that he alone was the person who on the fourth of February had outrageously at KÔbÉ ordered fire to be opened on foreigners as they were trying to escape, that for having committed this offence he was going to rip up his bowels, and requested all present to be witnesses. He next divested himself of his upper garments by withdrawing his arms from the sleeves, the long ends of which he tucked under his legs to prevent his body from falling backward. The body was thus quite naked to below the navel. He then took the dirk in his right hand, grasping it just close to the point, and after stroking down the front of his chest and belly inserted the point as far down as possible and drew it across to the right side, the position of his clothes still fastened by the girth preventing our seeing the wound. Having done this he with great deliberation bent his body forward, throwing the head back so as to render the neck a fair object for the sword. The one kai-shaku who had accompanied him round the two rows of witnesses to make his bows to them, had been crouching on his left hand a little behind him with drawn sword poised in the air from the moment the operation commenced. He now sprang up suddenly and delivered a blow the sound of which was like thunder. The head dropped down on to the matted floor, and the body lurching forward fell prostrate over it, the blood from the arteries pouring out and forming a pool. When the blood vessels had spent themselves all was over. The little wooden stand and the dirk were removed. ItÔ came forward with a bow, asking had we been witnesses; we replied that we had. He was followed by Nakashima, who also made a bow. A few minutes elapsed, and we were asked were we ready to leave. We rose and went out, passing in front of the corpse and through the Japanese witnesses. It was twelve o'clock when we got back to the consulate, where we found Sir Harry waiting up to receive our report.

The newspaper reports which reached England of this execution, and of the subsequent execution by harakiri of eleven Tosa men at Sakai gave a very distorted view of the facts. Charles Rickerby who was the owner and editor of "The Japan Times" of Yokohama was responsible for the attempts to mislead public opinion in both instances. He invented an account of the proceedings witnessed by Mitford and myself which was entirely false, and wound up by saying that it was disgraceful for Christians to have attended the execution, and that he hoped the Japanese, if they took revenge for this "judicial murder" would assassinate gentlemen of the foreign Legations rather than anyone else. As for being ashamed of having been present at a harakiri on the ground that it was a disgusting exhibition, I was proud to feel that I had not shrunk from witnessing a punishment which I did my best to bring about. It was no disgusting exhibition, but a most decent and decorous ceremony, and far more respectable than what our own countrymen were in the habit of producing for the entertainment of the public in the front of Newgate prison. The countrymen of this Bizen man told us that they considered the sentence a just and beneficial one. As regards the case of the Tosa men at Sakai, no punishment was ever more righteously inflicted. These Japanese massacred a boat's crew of inoffensive and unarmed men, who were never alleged to have given the slightest provocation. Twenty were condemned to death, and one could only regret that Captain du Petit Thouars judged it necessary to stop the execution when eleven had suffered, for the twenty were all equally guilty, and requiring a life for life of the eleven Frenchmen looked more like revenge than justice.

A few days afterwards all the ministers returned to Ozaka. We went over on board H.M.S. "Ocean," Captain Stanhope. She was an iron-clad, of 4000 tons, carrying 26 muzzle-loading rifled guns of the Woolwich pattern, enough to blow any vessel on the station into tiny fragments. With us went DatÉ and Polsbroek, and the transport "Adventure" conveyed our baggage. Our former temporary residence having been destroyed by fire, we were accommodated at temples in Naka-dera-machi, and were fortunate enough to light upon some of the furniture stolen by the mob after we decamped in January. The townspeople recognized us as "the foreigners who ran away the other day," but they were very civil, and did not shout after us as they rudely did in the last days of the ex-Tycoon's occupation of the city. From Yedo we heard reports that the feeling among Tokugawa people was that he should be compelled to perform harakiri and that his principal advisers should be beheaded, in order to appease the imperialists. It was difficult not to feel a certain degree of sympathy for him, mingled with resentment, for he had let us believe he would fight at Ozaka, while he had made up his mind to beat a retreat. If he had told us the truth we could have remained there tranquilly, for we were well assured of the friendliness of Satsuma and ChÔshiÛ.

The "Ocean's" steam launch landed us at the foreign settlement, and we marched through the city with our guard of the 2/ix to our new quarters. There had been a great deal of talk about the Mikado being brought down to Ozaka to see some steamers and to meet the foreign ministers, but I hoped this would not happen. If we were to have an audience of His Majesty, we ought to have it at KiÔto, otherwise the ceremony would lose half its significance. In the afternoon Iyo no Kami and Komatsu paid friendly visits to Sir Harry. It was evident that we were in a fair way to regain the diplomatic ascendancy of which we had been deprived by the recall of Sir Rutherford Alcock in 1864. When DatÉ and Higashi-KuzÉ called next day on the foreign representatives they came to us last of all, which was convenient. Sir Harry spoke to them about the proposed audience of the Mikado. They acknowledged the advantages that would result from its taking place at KiÔto instead of at Ozaka, but were evidently not prepared to promise that immediately. The American, Prussian and Italian Representatives had told DatÉ that they wished to leave in three days' time, thus causing some amount of consternation in the minds of the Japanese, who desired to keep them for the audience, while they fully appreciated what the chief told them, namely that the three Representatives who wanted to get away would not stop for an audience which was to be merely incidental to the Mikado's visit to some Japanese steamers. It would be unsuitable to the dignity of the Representatives to be presented to His Majesty while at Ozaka on a visit made ostensibly for a different purpose. I myself greatly hoped that the way in which the chief had put the matter would induce the Japanese to invite the ministers at once to KiÔto. That would be the consummation of the imperialist theory and scheme. Von Brandt had said privately that he would not accept even if asked, but publicly had said he would, while the American Minister was apparently of the same way of thinking. Sir Harry had proposed that the Mikado should receive the whole Diplomatic Body together, on one day, and not accord separate audiences until they could present credentials, and this suggestion had been readily adopted.

On the 7th March an important conference was held between the Foreign Representatives and high Japanese functionaries, DatÉ, Higashi-KuzÉ, Daigo Dainagon a court noble appointed governor of Ozaka, and karÔs of Owari, Echizen, Satsuma, ChÔshiÛ, Tosa, GeishiÛ, Hizen, Higo and InshiÛ, practically all the great territorial nobles of the west. It is a remarkable fact that the princes of Echizen, Bizen and InshiÛ, now ranged among the enemies of the Tokugawa, were descended from the founder of that house. The conference took place in the vast hall of the Buddhist temple of Nishi Hongwanji. After the Japanese Ministers had expressed their good wishes for the extension of friendly intercourse between Japan and foreign countries, and declared that the daimiÔs there represented heartily supported the foreign policy of the Mikado, discussions arose about the ministers going up to KiÔto for an audience of the Mikado, about exchange of foreign coin for Japanese and the sale of land in the foreign settlements at Ozaka and HiÔgo (KÔbÉ). We were told that letters were expected from KiÔto in a day or two fixing a date for the audience, so that the ministers could go up one day, see the Mikado on the next, and come down again, thus being absent only three days from Ozaka. M. Roches was of course deadly opposed to accepting any such arrangement. Van Valkenburg the American, von Brandt and de la Tour the Italian seemed unwilling to commit themselves too deeply with the imperialists. The chief tried hard to conceal his determination to accept the invitation in any case, while Polsbroek put on an appearance of indifference. Roches attempted to get an unconditional refusal conveyed to the Japanese Ministers, but was unsuccessful thanks to the watch I kept over his interpreter Shiwoda, and finally the decision was left to depend on the contents of the letters expected from KiÔto. Yamanouchi YÔdÔ, the older Prince of Tosa, was reported to be very ill at KiÔto, and the services of Willis were asked for on his behalf. This request was readily acceded to by the chief, and Willis started the same evening accompanied by Mitford.

My personal relations with the Awa clan had long been of an intimate character, and it was therefore no surprise when Hayamidzu SukÉyomon, formerly Awa agent at Yedo and now at Ozaka, came to call on me on March 8, bringing a present of silk for Major Crossman in return for the treatises on artillery which the latter had sent to Awa no Kami. It was with great regret that I learnt from him of the death of that friendly and hospitable old gentleman on January 30th. His son and successor, who had been kept at home till the period of mourning expired, was now expected at Ozaka on his way to KiÔto. Hayamidzu brought a budget of Yedo news which mostly proved afterwards to be little better than mere gossip, such as that Itakura was reported to have committed suicide by harakiri because the other ministers of state differed from him in opinion; that the fudai daimiÔs and hatamoto talked of compelling Keiki to disembowel himself; of cutting off the heads of Aidzu and Kuwana in order that those two families might escape destruction. He had not heard of Keiki being allowed to retire into private life (in-kio), and thought it absurd to suggest such a step under existing circumstances. His conduct had been too shabby for him to become entitled to such consideration. On the 7th February Hori Kura no Kami, one of the second council, had performed harakiri, after having vainly endeavoured to persuade Keiki to take that step, and offering to accompany him in the act. All Yedo applauded Kura no Kami and said Keiki ought to follow his example. The Baku-fu, said my friend, had no desire to fight. The Awa clan was now supporting the Mikado and was taking part in the expedition to subjugate Tokugawa, and would like to make a declaration to the foreign representatives such as was made by the other clans on the previous day.

In the afternoon I went to DatÉ to inquire whether he had any news from KiÔto about the invitation of the ministers. He said they would be asked to start on the 11th, but the date of the audience not having been fixed, the invitations could not be sent out. I advised him to go at once to invite each of the ministers and to say that the day after their arrival in KiÔto would be appointed for the audience, because he and Higashi-KuzÉ had written asking for that arrangement to be made, and therefore no doubt existed that it would eventually be done. So off he started, beginning with the French Minister, who kept him to dinner, but declined going to KiÔto until he could perceive actual evidence of the Mikado's supremacy. He was answered that even were the Baku-fu to be restored with all its original powers, the Mikado being undoubtedly the sovereign of Japan, and the ShÔgun only his vicegerent, no offence could possibly be given by being received in audience by the former. From him DatÉ went to the Italian, Prussian, American and Dutch Representatives. The first three refused on the ground of pressing business at Yokohama, but the last said he would act in the same way as the British Minister. And when Iyo no Kami came to our chief, he accepted the invitation.