The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-01
FORMER RULER
On A WHEEL
Japan's Last Shotgun Leading
a Pleasant Life in His
Old Capital.
advertiser Correspondence, Copyright
by Frederic J. Haskin.)

TOXIC, April 10.-Any fine after
] noon in Toxic one may see an old gen
| tleman with white hair riding bicycle
about the streets. He is Keiki, the
fifteenth and last O. the Tokugawa
Shoguns, dynasty OF military usurp-
ers which ruled Japan Cor 265 years,
until the restoration of the Mikado to
actual power in 1868 Keiki, whose
official name is Prince Yoshinobu TO-
kugawa, came into power at time
when the Shogunate was already trem-
bling to it's fall, and by his resignation
in 1867 he saved the country long
civil war. For a time he was retired
to a small place in the town of Shid-
| zouka, deprived of rank and wholly
| without influence.
In recent years, however, the Mikado
has honored him by creating him a
prince in his own right, thus giving him
a seat in the House of Peers. He lives
quietly in Toxic, where he and his an
eestors maintained their capital He
takes very little interest in the affairs
of government, devoting himself for
amusement to his bicycle by day and
his photograph by night. Once in
awhile he takes luncheon or dinner with
the Emperor and is always treated with
the honors due to royalty. If he ever
regrets his lost power he conceals his
feelings, for outwardly he is as happy
and eontented as any man of seventy
coula wish to be.
When the fate of the Shogunate be-
came evident and Keiki and his vas
sails knew that they must surrender
their power, one of the Tokugawa
feudal lords came to the Shotgun and
said: eve have lost the fight. There
is nothing left for us to do but COM
NIT hara-kiri. - The daimyo left the
presence of the Shotgun, and with a
deft turn of his sword sent himself
into eternity. But the Shotgun himself
thought it all over and said: 'fNot for
Keiki.' - Thus by his violation of the
ancient Japanese standards of honor
and suicide, Prince Tokugawa is alive
to day to enjoy his bicycle and his
monograph.
The present Emperor of Japan is the
direct descendant of the first Mikado,
Jimmu Tenno, who assembled the throne
$50 wears before Christ His is the
oldest dynasty in the world, and can
claim the longest direct line of rulers
in history. But as matter of fact for
seven or eight hundred years before the
Restoration in 1868, the Mikado was a
ruler in name only. The real power
was vested in the Shotgun, military
captain who kept the Mikado virtually
imprisoned at Kyoto, while the affairs
of state were directed from the Sho-
gunate in Yeddo. The Shoguns origi-
nally were the chiefs of the mightiest
clans, and reached their position by
sheer force of arms in defeating other
clans which aspired to the chief mill
tary rule.
The Tokugawa line of Shoguns, of
which Keiki was the last, was founded
in 1908 by the great Iyeyasu, the most
conspicuous figure in the history of
Japan. 1t was he who made the plans
of a feudal system which would pre-
vent the eternal warfare among the
clans. 1t was Iyeyasu, also, who shut
up Japan from the outside world and
decreed that no foreigner might come
in and that no japanese might go out.
The one exception to this rule was the
tiny concession at Nagasaki granted
to the Dutch traders, but their inter
course with the Japanese was quite
limited
At about the time that John Smith
came to jamestown, Iyeyasu set about
expelling the Jesuit priests from Japan
and prosecuting the native Christians,
of whom there were great punfbers. In
this work of determination he had the
advice of the Protestant Dutch traders
and the Rome hating English pilot,
VIII Adams, who was the first English
man to come to Japan. Adams lived at
the court of the Shotgun. taught the
japanese how to build ships, married a
Japanese woman. and was created a
nobleman. A statue. erected to his
memory testifies that he has not been
forgotten. Iyeyasu s grandson, Iye-
mitsu, perfected the feudal system of
Japan, which permitted the various
lords, or daimyos, to rule as they liked
in their own provinces, provided they
paid certain tribute to the Shotgun and
once year visited the court at Yeddo
IN token OF their loyalty.
In the meantime the Mikado was lit
tie better than a prisoner at Kyoto. He
was regarded as sacred, as the descend
ant of the Sun and Moon, and looked
upon as an actual Deity. TO look upon
his face would blast a mortal man. so
he sat with his head behind a screen,
presenting the hideous face of a dragon
The Shoguns paid nominal obedience
to him, and each was appointed by the
Mikado. But the Emperors often did
not have enough to eat; they were
usually little boys, who were forced to
abdicate by the time they were ap-
preaching manhood, and their only
function was a religious one. The alb
dicating Mikadoa became monks and
went into a life of retirement.
In the hrst half of the last century
some of the saimyos and many of the
samurai, or knights, became FESTIVE I'M
der the rule of the tyrant Shotgun.
Revolution was insidious. and it re-
quired long time for it to ripen, but
when the time came the country was
so thoroughly prepared for it that the
Shogunate fell almost without striking