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

| w HcH Tire meet III WHICH lie "do poi hc
had been utterly defeated his mother
wanted to save him; but his fierce old
grandmother would not hear of it. She
insisted that the Mikado could not honor
ably survive defeat. so she folded the
poor baby in her arms and jumped into
the sea
The history of Japan is full of TRACED
| les, but there is none more terrible than
that of SUNNI Tenno, the eleventh
emperor. and his traitorous queen. Her
brother wanted TO rule as Mikado, and
she plotted with him to murder her nus
band. But as she stood over his body one
night with a dagger in her hand. ner
heart failed her. and she wept instead
of striking the fatal blow.
Her tears fell on the face of her hus-
band and awoke him. Pale with terror,
he told her he had dreamed that a snake
had coiled itself around his breast ans
was about to sting him. and he Won
dered what the dream meant.
The guilty queen. stricken with terror
and remorse. fed from the palace with
her brother They gathered their parts
ans together and awaited the attack of
the emperor, entrenched behind palisades.
she held up the child in full view of the two
forces. and cried aloud. beseeching the
emperor to take it into his care. He
was deeply moved. for he loved her; and
he told band of his trustiest warriors
to advance to take the child, and also
try to capture the mother.
But she had anticipated his wish. She
had shaved her head and replaced the
severed hair as a wig; she had soaked
her clothes and jewel strings in sake, ="
to make them rotten. When the soldiers
seized her, as she held out the babe n
them, her hair came OFF, her clothes tore,
her jewel strings broke; and so she es-
capped from their clutches and fed back
to the palisades.
During the furious assault that fol-
lowed. while all the defenders were per-
fishing BY fire and sword. the emperor
shouted above the tumult to his guilty
spouse to ask her what name should b.
given to the child and how it should be
brought up. She cried back name. gave
the required directions. and then persisted
with her brother in the massacre.
The throne of Japan is probably the
only in the world which has been
wrestled for Wrestling is the historic
national sport of Japan. In the ninth
century a Mikado died leaving two sons
who disputed the succession. Instead Of
plunging the country into civil war. they
sensibly agreed to accept the arbitrame II
of mimic battle. Each chose a champion.
and the one who proved to be the b.
ter wrestler won the throne for his pa
tron.
The japanese are immensely proud of
the antiquity and continuity of their i'm
perial dynasty but the line would not
be in existence today if European ideas
of royal succession had been followed.
Many of the Mikados were the sons OF
concubines, and others were adopted by
the previous monarch from distant
branches of the imperial family. But
even taking these facts into considera-
ton. the long life of the dynasty is sur
prising.
The student of japanese history is at
first COMPOUNDED by the extraordinary
number of monarchs who fit across the
scene In the traditional period the ages
of the emperors challenged comparison
with those of the patriarcchs Of Scrip
ture Several of them lived to be over
40. and reigned until they died; while
the average age of the first seventeen
was over 100 years. But later on. they
were constantly abdicating, sometimes
after only a years reign. II was quite
common in the middle ages of Japan for
/ three Mfkados TO he alive at the same
! tirne-a be-. on the throne. his father
| or grandfather who had abdicated. and
his grandfather, who had also abdscated
| From A. D. ss. to 9sl there were four
| Mikados alive together, and in the reign
| of Go Milo Tcnno there were five.
/ The Emperor Mutsuhito does ali in his
/ power to strengthen popular belief in the
I authenticity and continuity OF his dyn-
astic history from Jirmu downward
| Under his direction. the japanese govern
ment accepts and pronulgates as genu-
/ Inc history the myths and legends OF
! the pre- Buddhistic era. Several years
ago he set aside February II as pgb
{ lie holiday. OF the suggestion tns'
/ Jimrnu assembled the throne on that Dig
/ in esn 3 G The same day was cf1s =
! by him in 1882 10 proEnulsate ;he Jag
anese constitution.-Hamiito French. in
( " 7 Evening Post.