The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-01

| now Yokohama, were opened to
| foreign trade. The foreign powers
made treaties with the Shotgun. under
| the mistaken impression that he was
/ the real ruler of the country. To fur
| Their this misconception, the Shotgun
| adopted the title of Tycoon. meaning
q the Great Ruler Foreign ideas had
| been seeping into the country through
the little Dutch chink at Nagasaki. and
! the Shoguns had been translating Dutch
books on military affairs into Japanese
! The little taste OF European knowledge
| gained in this way created great ap-
petite for more, so that when the for
eigners came the more progressive OF
| the younger samurai became eager
| students.
| A group of these banded together in
| one way and another, took advanta ge
| of the dissatisfaction of the clans with
! the Shotgun, raised the cry of loyalty
/! to the Mikado and started the revolu-
| ton. There We're a few conflicts, but
| the Tokugawa clan was too weak to
| defend itself, and in 1861 the last OF
| the Shoguns laid aside his title and
estate, and the Shogunate passed into
history. In the next year the present
Mikado assumed actual control of af-
fairs, issued a proclamation promising
the people a voice in the affairs of
government, and received the foreign
delegations at Kyoto. He removed
with his court to Yeddo, and the name
of the city was changed to Toxic, "the
eastern capital thus making the I'M
perial power and the seat of the Sho-
gunate usurpation one. The daimyos
/ LODI n
and the samurai were given govern.
mental work to do so that their nat
ural fighting spirit might not break
out into revolution.
This great change of government is
called 1.-THE Restoration" and from it
dates the history of modern Japan.
The year 1908 is known in Japan as
the forty-first year of Meijf, an era be-
ing coextensive with the reign of an
Emperor. The word ''Meiji" is writ
ten with the two Chinese characters
for ''sun" and MOON and means
THE Reign of Enlightenment In
view of the progress of Japan in it's
forty-one years the japanese think the
selection of the name was good
omen.
The Meiji Era has not been alto
gether peaceful. There was a clan
revolution in 1877 which amounted to
civil war, and at various times there
were signs of serious trouble. But the
Emperor and his advisers, the same
group of men who restored him to the
ancient power of his dynasty, man
aged by granting concessions and by
liberal rule TO unite the country and
form a compact nation in which the
clans still exist SO far as minor mat
tiers are concerned, but in which dis
loyalty to the central government is
unknown. Okubu, KIDD and Saigo
were the men who had charge of the
early reconstruction of the govern
ment, and it was they who deprived
the mighty daimyos of their feudal
powers.
The Mikado gradually increased his
strength by promising a popular form
Of government, often under great pres
sure from the liberal element. In 1880
provincial popular assemblies were or
ganized, and the next year a procla-
nation was issued announcing the es-
tab1ishment of a national parliament
ten years later. In 1890 the first par
lament met under the Constitution
promulgated a year before. In 1899 the
revised treaties went into effect, the
foreign powers resigned the right of
jurisdiction of their grants of territory
in open ports. and foreigners were for
the first time permitted to trade in
all parts of Japan. Hence it is but
nine years since the foreign powers
recognized Japan as a civilized nation
to whom they might entrust the pro-
lection of their citizens.
During all of this period of unrest
and reconstruction, Keiki, the last Of
the Shoguns, has supported the EN-
peror and has passively contributed
much to the peaceful reorganization
of Japan. Had he taken advantage Of
revolutionary sentiment it is possible
that he might many times have raised
his standard and preefpitated a civil
war But he preferred peace and now
he has his reward in a happy old age,
with his American bicycle and his
monograph to console him for the
loss of his mighty power. his noble
fortress and his royal prerogatives.