The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1904-04-14

OLDEST IN THE WORLD
Is the Dynasty of the Japanese
Empire.
SOVEREIGNS OF THE PAST
The King of Korea Is the Dog
of Japan.

and the japanese warships steam into
battle to the martial strains of KIM &c
| yo''-the briefest of all national anthems
which contains only thirty-one syllables
defy correct translation, and of the many
TRANSACTIONS which have been made no two
are alike.
May our sovereign live for thousands
and ten thousands of years, until the tiny
pebble becomes a moss-covered rock"
The author of the song is unknown, but
it is of great antiquity. 1t first appeared
in japanese literature in the eighth CEN
fury of the Christian era. but is probably
much older. Japanese have fought and
died to its music for over a thousand
years. Their prayer has been granted by
the continuance of the dynasty of the
| MikadO down to the present day. 1t is
the oldest dynasty in the world-indeed.
/ there is no other dynasty even half as
| old-and so far from showing any signs
of decay, it is more powerful and vigor-
Gus today that it has ever been before
According to japanese history-or ira
dition, to be strictly accurate-Jimmu,
the first emperor of Japan, assembled the
! throne in GEO B. c.. about the time
Assyria was in the height of her glory
and the ten tribes OF Israel were being
led into captivity. Before this advent
Japan was a theocratic state. ruled by
the Shinto gods. The transition to human
! government was not unduly abrupt. for
Jimmu Tenno was semi-divine. his
mother according to tradition. being the
| Sun Goddess
! 1t is incorrect, by the way, to speak
of the Emperor Jimmu Tenno" and the
Empress lingo Kongo.' as do many
superficial students of japanese history.
'.Tenno' means emperor and "Kongo"
empress. In keeping with the topsy-
turviness of things Japanese, the title
| is an affix instead of a prefix, as in
/ English.
NAMES OF JAPANESE SOVEREIGNS.
Another popularity of the nomencla-
| ture of Japanese sovereigns is that the
names by which they are known in his
tory were in no case borne by them dur
! ing their lifetime Jimmu, for example
was known to his contemporaries as
Kuma Yamato Iware Bike. The name
to which '-Tenno" is affixed is conferred
/ after death.
! The present emperor, Mutsuhito, will
| probably be given the post norton name
of ''Meiji Tenno. Meiji being the chron-
| illogical title of the restoration era. Even
today he is not generally known in Japan
as Mutsuhito, for that word is rarely ut
| tered or printed there. He is the En-
| peror' to everybody. 1t would be the
greatest dsrespect to mention his pri-
vate name. According to that great
authority on Japan. Professor Basil Hall
| Chamberlain. the vast majority of the
| people do not even know their monarch s
name. or care to know il. To them he
| is an ideal, dignified abstriction-not a
| real man with human weaknesses, as
| King Edward is to the English and En-
! peror William to the Germans.
OF all the monarchs of Japan, none
has taken firmer hold on the popular
fancy than the Empress lingo. who ruled
| from POI to 269 A. D. Good Queen Bess.
Semiramis, Zenobia. and other strenuous
female rulers known to history seem
meek and peaceful by comparison with
! her.
The legend says that four gods used her
| as the medium to inform her husband
| the Mikado of the dag, that there was a
| land across the sea-Korea-whch he
ought to conquer. The Mikado laughed
| at the statement, saying that nothing
| but sea was visible even from the high
est mountain. The gods We're angry at
| his incredulity and punished him by
death, almost before he had finished
speaking
| His empress thereupon got together a
| great fleet, which was carried to Korea
in default of wind, on the backs of the
fishes and on the crest of a miraculous
wave. She was enceinte. but none the
| less she attired herself in the armor of a
| warrior and led her troops to victory in
many bloody battles. until she conquered
the country and wrote over the palace
gate of her vanquished foe, The King
| of Korea is the dog of Japan
| Her son was born after her return to
Japan. He became DIN Tenno. and was
defied as the War God of Japan under
the Chinese name of Hachimah. of which
| the japanese equivalent is Yawata. He
won no distinction as warrior, his claim
20 worship by martial souls being simply
| his prenatal influence on his mother when
she was fighting her great battles.
| The last Mikado who fought hard
against being a mere figurehead was Go
| Daigo Tenno. a monarch famous in Jap
anese history for his misfortunes His
reign lasted from 1919 to 1899. In the early
part of 1t he was defeated by rebels and
banished. Eventually he returned and
regained his power but a wicked concu-
/ bine bribed by his enemies. poisoned his
mind against his best friends and even
persuaded him TO imprison and execute
| his own son on a false charge Of treason.
Too late. he turned from his evil counsel
/ lor and ruled wisely. Then his chief
( enemy Takauji. set up a rival Mikado.
I and bitter civil war snsued, in which
Go Daigo persisted.
/ \ legend is told OF this Mikado which
recalls the familiar story of Blondel and
| Richard of the Lion Heart.
warrior of noble birth, named Kojina
! Takanori. cherished a romantic loyalty
for him When the Inflated monarch
was being carrief into exile. kojima tried
to rescue him on the road. but failed.
Sorely wounded he followed the royal
cavaicade and IFS strong guard OF SOL
diers to roadside inn, but could not
! gain access to the Mikado. At night he
! stole through the ring Of sentries into
the garden. scraped some of the bark
on 4 ChSEtN Tree anu "iott On III ~A'iNe
| Wood the following quotation from an
/ ancient Chinese poem:
Heaven destroy not Kosen.
/ For h. is not without Hanrei.'
The reference was 10 Chinese King
who, after long period Of warfare. was
/ helped 10 victory by a faithful vsssal.
The Mikado saw the message OF hope
and was comforted In his exile. In Japan
| the cherry tree i the emblem OF patriot
! ism and loyalty. SO that its choice as the