The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-11-23
PRINCE kE|kI
LAST Of The
SH0GUNS' DEAD
Delnise OF Once Prominent
Jap, Announced In Brief
Cablegran1, Sewers the
C Il sting Link Be
tween the Old and the
New Japan.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS.

New York, Nov. 22-The death OF
Prince Tokugawa, announced in a
brief cablegram from Toxic today
sewers the connecting link between the
old and the new Japan. None of the
contemporaries of the pre- Moiji era or
the days of the Shogunate enjoyed
such distinction as hedged about
Prince keihi, last of the Shoguns."
In these latter days of the era OF
enlightenment in Japan, it is doubtful
| II the average foreign visitor or even
| resident was aware of the unobtrusive
existence of a man who barely fifty
years ago was the de facto ruler of
japan.
In contrast with the unassaiIable
| dignity with which he sat as the lord
of lords in the feudal days-when it
was capital crime for ordinary folk
| to look the Shotgun in the face-and
when he could scarcely stir a step
without the observance of a high bound
code of solemn ceremonial-the Sho-
gun in his modern role of prince
adopted such democratic simplicity
that he rode about the streets of To-
kio almost unnoticed on a bicycle
As Shotgun. or the hereditary COM
mander-in-C chief of the army, he wore
the odd dress of the Samurai with
the wing-Hke projections . over the
shoulders and with two swords, one
long and the other short. Amid twen-
tieth century surroundings, living as a
somewhat retiring old man, he dis
carded all the ponp and even on state
occasions appeared in an ordinary
frock coat.
He held his exalted office as Shogun
for only ten months in the years 1857
1868. During the Shogunate proceed
ing him Japan had enjoyed an un-
broken interval of peace and tran
guilty for nearly three centuries It
was at the time of his coming to power
that Japan found herself subjected to
pressure from without which threat
ened to force her to renounce her
time-honored policy of entire isolation.
The TokugaWa Shogunate had to yield
to the foreign demand and the Kama
gH-a treaty was first signed with the
plenipotentiarv of the United STATES
dore Perry with his black ships" Up
to that time the emperor of Japan was
little more than a pawn in the dan
gerous game played between Yedo
(new Totio) and Kyoto as the rival
centers of the Japanese government.
y In 1868 the imperial authority re-
asserted itself with an edict from E1n-
peror Mutsuhito for the abolition OF
the Shogunate and announcing the
emperor's resumption of the govern
ment" Prince Keilxi continued the
struggle and internecine strife of al
most endless duration threatened to
exhaust the state and expose it as an
easy prey to foreign oppression when
Keiki voluntarily abdicated and re-
stored the powers of government to
the imperial throne. Ke Led a life of
seclusion for many years. but in 1898
he was invited by the emperor to take
up his residence in Toxic and the title
of prince was conferred upon him.
The japan Times in describing the
incident of his appearances as a guest
at a garden party given by Count
Kkuna in 1907, declared that the
prince stood as an emblem of the jap
aneSe genius of civilization, remarL1iTer
the changes that had been effected by
a. revolution without ma adness" since
the days of the Shoeunate