The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-25

The government of Japan is a con-
stitutiona1 monarchy in which the en-
peror not only claims to rule by di-
vine right but by right of divine birth.
He is described as heaven born, and
according to the accepted history there
has been no break in the family line
Tor $500 years. Among no people on
earth has there ever been more uni
versal respect shown, or implicit Obedi-
ence yielded, to the Teigning family.
There never has been a revolt of any
consequence against the emperor, al
though there have been numerous con-
f1icts between the shOguns. For about
1900 years, from $40 to 1868, the shO-
guns were, however, the actual rulers,
and while they never questioned the
sovereignty of the emperor, they did
not allow him to retain much more
than the empty title.
The shOguns were military rulers,
and a number Of them were men Of
great force and executive ability.
First, the Fujiwara family controlled
the country through the shOgunate for
nearly 400 years; then for a century
the Tara and MinamotO families al
1ernated in the exercise of power; then
came the HoiO family and others OF
less impOrtaune until finally the TOkU-
gawa family became supreme in the
shogunate and continued in power for
something like 800 years. TIE en-
peror lived at Nara until about 1900,
when the capital was moved to KyotO,
where It remained until less than for
~ years ago. Tokyo, on the other
hand, was the scat of the shotgun
power, and there is a very noticeable
difference between the two cities The
shoguns fortified their castles and re-
quired the feudal lords To keep head
quarters in Tokyo One cannot go
through the palace in which the en-
peror lived permanently without no.
ticing how plain il is as compared with
the castle Goth at Kyoto) IN which
the shotgun resided for a few days
during his annual call upon the en-
peror. While it may seem strange
that the real rulers never attempted
to become emperOrs in name, It only
shows their intelligence, for by insist
ing upon the recognition Of the royal
family they were probably more sue
cessful in maintaining the real au-
thority than they would have been had
they questioned the divine right OF
the immemorial rulers.
During the early part of the last
century there began to be q reaction
against the shotgun. and when ne
agreed TO the treaties opening the
country to foreign intercourse his &C
ton was taken advantage or Dy the
friends Of the emperor. When the
AfeudaI lords of ChOshu attacked the
foreign ships at Shimonoseki strait
the shotgun was compelled 20 pay ar
indemnity OF $4,000 900 and attempted
20 chaSriSe the Ch1Shu leaders His
forces were defeated and he died SCOT
afterward The emperor seized upon
this event, and the influential lords
of Choshu and Satsuna encourag ed
him to abolish the shOgunate, which
he did IN 1865. The new Shotgun ac-
cepted the situation without q strug-
gle and those of his followers vEhC
attempted a resistance were sooT
routed
Everything in modern Japan dates
from 1858. which is called the RestO-
ration. While in the Restoration the
emperor was acknowledged as the sole
and absolute ruler in whom all au-
fhority was vested. still il was real
lv the beginning OF constitutional gov
eminent, for the emperor voluntarily