The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-11-04
THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN.

lHE EMPEKOK UT JAPAN
The Emperor of Japan, whose birth
day is being celebrated, is one Of the
most remarkable men Of his time. Dur
ing his youth, shut in at Kyoto and
never seen outside the palace walls>>he
was a titular divinity. In a sense his
situation was like that of the Pope In
after years. the temporal power which
was once held by his house being ex-
ercised by a secular prince, his own
sphere being ecclesiastical-not that of
a spiritual shepherd, perhaps. but that
OF the nations chief deyotee. The
actual ruler of the empire was the
Tycoon (Shogun), the representative of
an hereditary martial caste The
TycOon's ancestors had taken control
some centuries before when the tenn
poral reign OF the Mikados relaxed, ow-
ing 10 the custom Of the emperors. when
they reached a certain age, of dropping
the affairs of state and going into an
Oriental monastic retirement where
their last days We're spent in the hands
of women and at the call of priests.
one generation ago the Emperor-or
the Mikado, as he was then called, the
title now being obsolete in Japan
wore silk gowns, had a shaver head
and knew nothing of the great world
beyond his garden wall. a. visitor al
Kyoto may see the shrouded palanquin
in which he moved about his grounds,
the latticed and guarded habitation in
which he led his vacuous and perhaps
bewildered life. In Yedo-now Tokyo
lived the fierce Tycoon, a sashed and
girded warrior, ruling with an iron
hand To have seen him go abroad sur
rounded by his twO-sworded retainers.
the head OF a flashing train of half
barbarians must have been a brave
show indeed. But what vast and
startling change the few past years
have wrought. Seven years ago next
spring a carriage stopped on the race
track at Yokohama, containing dig
nified gentleman in middle life, dressed {,
in uniform not unlike that of a French
General. He was the Emperor. Step |
ping from another carriage and going |
to speak with him was a distinguished |
looking japanese. dressed in Prince |
Albert coat and pearl-gray trousers, his /
head surmounIed by a top hat. He was
the man whose right 10 the shogunate, .
to be called Tycoon, would have been |
but for the revolution of
1868. He was then as he is now, the !
Tokogawa-a modern, self
respecting nobleman, undistinguishable /
in spirit and department from the belt
ed Earl of the most Christian kingdom.
Between himself and the Emperor are
the outward relations of well-bred men
Of the world.
What makes the Emperor so remark
able is not alone his romantic past but
the facility with which he, a recluse and
a half-barbarian in early life, should
have accepted the duties and learned
{
The time when he peered through gild-
ID Crevices and saw his Bonded retain
.rs kneeling before his clustered palace,
lushed in awe of his supernatural
is not so far off. Men in early
middle life bark back to it. But here
lie is. today, receiving from his dress
coated ministers reports on railroads,
IN the army and navy, on insane asy-
ums and charities, on agriculture and
he fisheries. He steps to the gray wall
which surrounds his moated park in the
midst of the busy capital of Tokyo, and
ooklng where the archers and swords
men were wont to stand in wait upon
his old master, the Tycoon, he hears
he clang of the electric car or the
whistle of the locomotive at Shimbashi
station. He passes to another angle OF
he wall and sees his splendid troops
upon the parade ground,
heir artillery laundering into line, the
Jun glistening on the bronzed barrels
If breech-loading rifles. Over on the
'ther side are the sumptuous carriages
If the rich, sweeping along a paved
venue, soon 10 be bathed in the glow
If electric lights. And that night he
will sleep in an earthquake-proofp palace
'uilt of American steel and decorated
~ French artists. To him 1t must
ometimes seem that he has led more
han one life, so startling are the con-
rasts his career affords.
Hut withal the Emperor is typical of
lis race. He embodies in his own per-
on the national adaptability; the cour-
Lge which buries the dead past and
caches out for the living future; the
attn, the hope, the zeal, the admins
rative capacity which is making Japan
great modern power. He rules an old
ation which has had a new birth and
5 beginning new and majestic career;
md he rules it with wisdom and
agacity. His people do we'll to honor
lin and one day, looking back upon
lis work the world must acknowledge
hat his place is very high among the /
obstructive statesmen of all ages and
IL creeds.
RECIPROCITY WITH CUBA. Il