JAPAN'S MIKADOS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 189, 12 August 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

JAPAN'S MIKADOS.

FROM PUPPETS TO EMPERORS kise of shogtjnate. WOULD OP PURR FEUDALISM. (By W. P. CASTLE, U.S. Under Secretary of State 1927 to 1933.) It is impossible, of course, even tc touch on tlio fascinating record o! Japanese history, which, after tlie time of Princo Sliotokii, ceased to be legendary. The introduction of Bud dhism was, perhaps, the most important single event in this history because ii brought along with it the ancien! culture of China. Tlio Japanese natior. began to develop its own arts, its owr literature, its own institutions, inspired it must he admitted, by the Chinese originals, but taking on a fully nationa' form and colour as the years went by More and more the Imperial House retired into its magnificent and enervat jug life in Kyoto. The Slioguiiate was established. The Fujiwara families am (lie Taira and the IMinamoto rulec ,h pan, great warriors at first, but degenerating with luxury and losing their power to others. Splendid names stand out, some of them, like Hideyosli being familiar even to Western cars all of them linally yielding to the powei of the Tokugawa family which rulec Japan for nearly three centuries. The records of them all are there, in magnificent temples and'tombs. It was a great, civilisation intellectually and artistically. It was the fin a lowering in this world of pure feudalism. But all through it the puppet Emperors, the succeeding sovereigns ot tlie imperishable Imperial line, maintained their hold on tlie imagination :iuel tho rcverence of tlio people. Lest there develop an Emperor with a wit and a character of his own, thes Shogune put babies on tlie tlirone, made tlieir resign when they grew up, to spend 1 heir lives in prayer, and appointed othet babies in their place. But no Sliogun ever pretended that, his authority came from any source other than that ol the Emperor; no Sliogun ever took office without an Imperial appointment. They ruled Japan, often with rods of iron but they ruled in tlie name of the Emperor, who, perhaps, had nothing more arduous to do than wander in jit beautiful gardens and write poems tc his favourite wife. In Home they kept up tho fiction of tho republic ever though the title imperator, which means generalissimo, actually included fill imperial power. In Japan the title ol Sliogun meant generalissimo also, but he kept up the fiction of the absolute monarchy. In the eyes of the people tlio Sliogun was the representative ol the Emperor. Finally Commodore Perry knocked at tho closed door of the hermit nation He treated with the Sliogun, made agreements witli him without realising tiiat there was an Emperor in the cloistered Court at Kyoto. This was natural enough. To tho outsider Ycdo : now Tokyo, was the capital and Kyoto was only ono of the unknown inland cities. Rise of a New School. Already luxury and almost unrestrained power had profoundly weakened tho Tokugawa line. All over Japan other leaders rose in revolt against a ShOgun who had admitted the hated foreigners. Perhaps, they thought, it was time for'history to repeat itself for -some other great family to take over the power, still, of ceiurse, iindpi the aegis of the Emperor. The tradition of feudalism, was strong; the strength eif tho great families gave free rein tc Iheir ambition; it was a God-given opportunity to turn the hatred of the foreigner to personal -advantage and to ride into power on the -wave of popular f-entiment. Few thought of the Emperor in his Court in Kyoto except as the man .to confirm the authority when it had been seized. But a new and powerful force had risen in Japan. During the years of gradual degeneration of the Tokugawa regime therev liael grown up a powerful school which elevotcd itself to study of F Japanese history and customs. This t-ciiool lauded everything Japanese to the detriment of everything foreign, Japanese poetry and literature as against the classical influence of China, tho Shinto religion as against imported Buddhism. Study of history had inevitably raised in their minds the prestige of the Imperial House, had reemphasised the position of the Emperor as the embodiment of thp spirit of Japan. When tho Daimyos of Satsuma and Choshu, the most powerful of the feudal lords, decided to persuade the Emperor to abolish the Shotgunatc because of the Shogun's truckling to foreigners, it was natural that at the time they should transfer the Imperial Court to Tokyo, as a visible sign that the Emperor was at last in fact as well as in name the ruler of his people. Theoretically, Japan had become once in ore an absolute monarchy. These powerful Daimyos knew well enough that the slogan of Japan for the Japanese, in so far as it meant a further retreat into complete isolation, was just, an impossibility. The foreigners had conic to stay. They foresaw opposition from the Court to tlieir plans of really opening Japan to the outside world because thev knew that the Court had lived in a pleasant land of elreams, of lovely women,-of poetry and art, with no knowledge of the realities of tho modern world. They believed, however, that they coulel control the-Emperor as he hael been controlled for centuries past and, therefore, proceeded with their plans to throw the country open— plans, it must be aelmitted, which were hastened I>3' one or ttwo exhibitions of foreign power when the Japanese hael trampled what foreigners conceived to be their rights. The Emperor Emerges. It must never be forgotten that during all the centuries when tlio Imperial House was in celipse tho position of tlie Emperor as elistinguisheel from his personality hael remained intact. He was the great father of his people. He represented the gods and was descended from them. He might be ignored; he might be ill-treated; but the fact remained that for all important matters his sanction must be obtained. Aside from this, the Shoguns probably considered the personality of the Sovereign only in so far as he was amenable to , tlieir desires or tried to make trouble, for them. He never dared to make I much trouble because if he did he was simply forced to resign and his office devolved on one who would play the game of tho real rulers. It is, therefore, probable that when tho great Daimyos restored the Emperor to his rightful place as head of the nation they counted oil his remaining their puppet.

That was where they made a mistake. They had no knowledge of the character of tho boy of fifteen, Mutsuhito, who ascended the throne in ISG7 and ruled tho country until 1912. It is always the custom to speak of the Emperors by their posthumous names. That given to Mutsuhito was Meijt, which means "tho period of enlightenment," an eminently suitable name since the Emperor Meijir became Emperor in fact as well as in name. He was wise and far-seeing. A man of quick intellect, a man willing to lead his people toward the vision which ho so clearly saw, a keen judge of men, who surrounded himself with real statesmen, tlic Emperor Mciji proved himself one of the great men of tho nineteenth "century. (To be concludcd.)