Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-08-02
...JAPAN'S DEAD RULER.
Mutsuhito Was the Real Builder of
Modern JaDan.
Modern Japan.


Susquehanna, dropped anchor IN the
Bay of Yeddeo to present President
Fillmore's letters asking for the open
ing of some Japanese ports to foreign
trade. The date of Perry's arrival, July
8. 1853, was the birthday Of modern
Japan, and for the half century which
marked the rise to her present position
of eminence among the world powers
Mutsuhito was her mikado, his reign
outlasting that of all but two or three
living monarchs.
He was the 122nd emperor Of the old
est living dynasty founded traditional
ly by Jimmu Tenno in $50 B. c. ana
existing historically since the fourth
century. The japanese hold that JIM
mu was descended from the Sun God
dess. and have, accordingly, revered all
his successors as the direct represen-
tatives Of divinity on earth. This rev.
erence was the chief element In that
loyalty which Mutsuhito's genius and
personality turned into patriotism.
Some have questioned whether Nut
suhito was not rather the result of ia
pans metamorphosis than its moving
spirit, but all japanese and those rev
foreigners who have been vouchsafed
a near view of his imperial invisibility
give him all credit for his master
work, while even his critics admit that
he showed the keenest insight In pick
ing the advisers who were to mold the
new nations destiny. William Elliot
Griffis, one Of the little band Of for
eigners which was called In 1870 to
help reconstruct the Japanese empire
says:
"Mutsuhito is. a master builder,
steady, patient, resourceful. 1t has
been by the power Of the mikado's per-
sonality that out of the ruins Of feu-
dalism has arisen constitutional ia
pan."
Broke With Old Order.
God-descended as they were, all the
mikados were shut off from the touch
and sight Of their subjects. They spent
their lives in the gardens of the walled
palace at Kioto, titular and divine
heads of the nation, while the shogun
held administrative control. Though
Mutsuhito broke away from the old or
der of things, he, too, like his fathers,
held an exalted position in the rever-
ence { his subjects. No one would
menti, the emperor's name, so sacred
is it held. NO true Japanese would
consider him capable of making a
mistake. An ultra-radical might pro-
test violently against the acts of he
government, but such acts would, as
matter Of course, be attributed to mis-
Interpretation of the imperial will The
generals who won for their country
great victories in the war with Russia
ascribed them to the virtue Of the en-
peror, without which, no matter how
carefully they laid their plans, they
must have failed. Nor was this a
piece of hypocrisy on the part Of Oya-
ma and Kuroki and Togo; "by the
virtue Of the emperor" meant no less
to them than "by the grace of God" to
Cromwell.
At the close Of the war Mary Craw-
ford Fraser was discussing with a
prominent Japanese statesman the
proposal to dramatize her play, THE
Stolen Emperor" for the benefit Of the
war widows and orphans fund. The
Japanese at once said that she would
have to change the title, though it re-
ferred to an emperor long dead.
You do not put Christ on the stage" :"
he said.
With the last decade, however, there
has been apparently lessening Of that
feeling of reverence which the people
held for the august Son Of Heaven. In
1910 a plot was discovered among some
of the emperor's subjects to assassi-
nate him. Socialists and anarchists, it
was reported, were behind the plot,
and it's discovery was followed by
many arrests and executions.
Mutsuhito's soyhood.
Mutsuhito's childhood was spent in
the gardens of the palace with few
chosen playmates of the bluest blood.
Among them was the late Prince San
10, for whom h. always felt warm
affection. He studied under imperial
tutors, and was especially interested in
history and geography.
During his boyhood the country was
L.,
granted to foreigners by the Shotgun
lyemochi, who, in 1854, had concluded
a treaty with Commodore Perry open
ing certain ports to foreign trade, thus
breaking Japan's time-honored tradi-
ton of utter isolation from the west.
When the emperor was only II years
old two rival clans, progressive and
conservative, encamped in the city of
Kioto, one Of them actually in the i'm
perial flower garden. In 1864 1900
men attacked the nine-gated palace in
closure and the young prince could
smell the battle smoke
Mutsuhito was crowned emperor at
Osaka, October 81, 1868, when he was
only 16 years old. The next year he
married the Princess Haruko ("Spring
Maiden") Ichiso, two years his senior.
Exit the Shosuns.
The young emperor adopted the epi-
thet of meij or Enlightened Peace
as the title of his reign, but the en-
lightenment was not altogether peace
full Mutsuhito decided at once 10
abolish the shogunate, and eventually
to assume direct personal rule. The
reigning shogun resigned voluntarily
but it took the force Of arms to impose
the new order of things on the coun-
try. The hackers of this fundamental
change in the system of government
were at heart reactionary, and wanted
the old days restored. when the mika-
do was absolute and the foreigner un-
known. To their discontinue. the pow
erful daimios, or barons, of Satsuma
and Choshu suddenly declared them
selves in favor of foreign intercourse.
The mikado himself favored this
policy, and, as a step in the direction
of personal rule, had already transfer
red his capital from Kioto to Yeddo