Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-11-22
LAST OF SHOGUNSs
PRINCE KE|KI, DIES
Unobtrusive Lord of Lords"
Was Ruler of Japan Fif-2
ny Years Ago. \

NEW YORK, Nov. 22.--The death
of Prince Keil6i. Tokugawa, an
nounced in a brief cablegram from
Toxic today, sewers a connecting lax
between the old and new Japan. None
of the contemporaries of the pre-
meiji era, the days of the Shogunate,
enjoyed such distinction as hedged
about Prince Keiki. the last of the
Shoguns."
In. these later days of the eraisof
enlightenment in Japan 1t is doubtful
IL the average foreign visitor or even
resident was aware of the unobtru-
sive existence of a man who barely
fifty years ago was the de facto
ruler of Japan. In contrast withthe
unassailable dignity with which he
sat as the Lord of Lords in the fsudal
days-when 1t was a capital crime for
ordinary folk to look the Shotgun in
the face-and when he could scarcely
stir a step without the observance of
hide bound code of solemn cereff1o-
nial-the Shotgun in his modern role
of prince adopted such democratic
simplicity that he rode about the
streets of Toxic almost unnoticed On
bicycle.
AS Shotgun, or the hereditary COM
mander-in-chief of the army, he wore
the odd dress of the Samurai, with
wing like projections over the shout
ders and with two swords, one long
| and the other short. Amid twentieth
century surroundings, living as
| somewhat retiring old man, he dis
carded all the pomp, and even on
state occasions appeared in an orr
binary frock coat
He held his exalted office as Shotgun
for only ten months in the year 1878
During the shogunate preceding him
Japan had enjoyed an unbroken inter-
val of peace and tranquility for near
| ly three centuries. 1t was at the time
| of his coming to power that Japan
| found herself subjected to pressure
| from without which threatened to
force her to renounce the time-hon-
ored policy of entire isolation. The
| Tohugawa shogunate had to yieid to
| the foreign demand, and the Kama
gawa treaty was first signed with the
| plenipotentiary of the United States
as the squel to the visit of Commo-
dore Perry with his "blaclx ships.pJs
Up to that time the Emperor of
Japan was little more than a pawn
in the dangerous game played between
Yedo NOV Tokio) and Kyoto as the
rival centres of the Japanese govern
ment. s,,5
| In 1868 the imperial authority re-
asserted itself with an edict from En-.
peror Mutuhito for the abolition of the
i DuO6 ulidIb dltd di1HOulClnk I1G en-
peror's resumption of the govern
ment." Prince Keiki continued the
struggle and internecine strife of al
most endless duration threatened to
exhaust the state and expose 1t as an
easy prey to foreign Cypress on when
Keil<i voluntarily abdicated and re-
stored the powers of government to
the imperial throne.
He led life of complete seclusion
| for many years, but In 1898 he was in
vited by the emperor to take up his
residence in Toxic and the title of
| prince was conferred upon him. i,4n
The Japan Times in describing the
incident of his appearance as a guest
at a garden party given by Count
| Okuma in 1907 declared that the
prince stood as an emblem of the Jap
anese genius of civilization. remark
ing the changes that had been effected
by a revolution without madness"
since the days of the Shogunate.