Evening star., 1923-09-24
EAST is EAST
BY FRANK FL. HEDGES

spondent to reassure him that tne
new government had assumed Office
and would carry on, The little group
stood in the grounds OF the foEetSn
Office in Toxic 5niy q few hours after
the first great earthquake shock had
begun the destruction of the caDitai
city that the flames were to continue
for two days.
The dispatch that crossed the Pa
cific telling of the prince regents
statement had far greater significance
than the information 1t conveyed.
The highest power in the empire had
spoken, 1t is true, but the highest
power had not issued an Imperial
edict from the seclusion OF the palace,
but had spoken in broken English to
an American newspaper man.
Accustomed as we are to the de-
mocraey of the royal family of Eng
land, it is difficult to grasp the pecul-
lar position in which the imperial
family of Japan Is placed. The power
of the emperor ia not so much tenn
poral as spiritual, Millions of Japa-
nese believe implicitly in his divinity.
He is to them not only ruler on
earth but in heaven, associating on
equal terms with many of the deities
to whom they pray at Shinto shrines.
At his coronation, the gods of nature
are represented as occupying sphere
even lower than that of the emperor,
for the myriad deities of Japan are
not of equal rank. Only few
months ago army and navy officers
who mad been retired following the
Russo Japanese war knelt before the
massive double bridge that gives en-
Toxic and there prayed for interces-
sion in their fight for increased pen
sions. Their prayers were not ad-
dressed to the prince regent to bring
about the increase by virtue of his
earthly power, but rather in his po-
sition as a descendant of the great
sun goddess to influence in some mys-
terious way the actions of the cabinet
and the diet.
For centuries it has been thus in
Japan. When the power of the
Tokugawa shoguns was broken fifty
five years ago. the emperor emerged
from the seclusion of his Kyoto pal
ace. where he had come to occupy
place in the national life predomi-
nantly religious and with virtually no
grasp on the political government.
In searching for new form OF gov
ernment to meet the changed condt-
tions, the Japanese went back
through fourteen centuries to the day
when the emperor had been supreme,
had been the actual leader of his
people.
Political power was again placed in
his hands, but neither Meijt Tenno
nor the present emperor has exer-
cised it save through a little group
of statesmen close to the throne who
have been the real government OF
Japan fer more than a half century.
Under the new regime the throne was
surrounded with a mystic awe and
glamour that removed it even farther
from the people than had previously
been the case. When the emperor
left the triple-moated palace in Toxic
the streets were cleared by soldiers
who drew up as a guard of honor
Shutters were closed in all windows
above the first floor and passengers
on street cars were forced to alight.
for no one might look down from
above on his imperial majesty.
But despite the religious barriers
by which the emperor has been walled
off from his people. his hold on their
affeotionsG Z has steadily increased.
The EmpereF MeijL only a boy when
called to the throne, ruled for more
than forty years. In many respects
he was democratic and his subjects
were often given the opportunity of
seeing his face. The present en-
peror is but little known, due chiefly
to illness that has made him an in
valid for a number of years. which
is the reason for the appointment of
the crown prince to the regency.
1t is Hirohito. a young man who
has journeyed to England and other
nations of Europe, who is knitting
the bond between the reigning house
and the people even closer. He still
commands religious reverence, but in
addition he has become human be-
ing to his millions of subjects.
Time after time he has cast precedent
to the winds and has taken some step
which his ferefathers would have
considered undignified, but which has
resulted in an increased loyalty to
him from the nation.
Guards have been almost entirely
dispensed with when he. rides through
the streets. He has visited practical
ly every spot in the empire in person.
Only a month before the earthquake
he assembled Fujiyama on foot. He
has played golf on public links and
he doffs his hat to cheering crowds
instead of stifiy saluting as was for
merly the practice.
The newspaper men covering the
trip of the Prince of Wales through
Japan were wholly taken off their
guard in the mountains of the Ha-
kone range one misty afternoon. We
were in one of the rooms of the
detached palace that 9verlooks the
beautiful Lake of Reeds, high in the
meuntains--the lake in which. on
clear day, the outlines of Fujiyama
lie refiected-when we were startled
by a call from the window. 1t was
the prince regent. He had walked
around the palace in the rain and
out to take his photograph, standing
there with an umbrella In his hand
while cameras clicked. Until that day
only court photographers had been
allowed to photograph members Of the
allowed to publish their portraits ex-
cept by special permission.
~
1t is little incident In itself, but
considered In the light of the past
and the promise it gives of the future
it has tremendous significance. 1t
has been said. and rightly said. that
even If by some strange freak Japan
were to become a communistic state
the imperial family would still be
retained; the Japanese would in some
way reconcile these two conflicting
institutions before they would allow
their sovereign to be dethroned.
This unbreakable hold of the en-
peror over his subjects has been al
most exclusively spiritual in the past
without losing that grip in the least,
the prince regent Is adding TO it
genuine popularity and humanity
The whole nation rejoiced when the
leader of one of the most powerful
clans failed to break the hatrafhal