A JAPANESE “MIDDY.”

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1696, 31 August 1904, Page 86 (Supplement)

A JAPANESE “MIDDY.”

RECOLLECTION 3 OF SERVICE IN THE MIKADO’S NAVY.

By Teiiclii Yamagata, late Ensign in the Japanese Imperial Navy, and Nephew of Marquis Yamagata, Field Marshal of the Japanese Army.

Almost as far back as I can remember, I bad no other ambition than to seek fame as an officer in the Japanese navy. -It may seem rather odd, therefore, that the writer's career afloat began in me Chinese navy and ended practically in the French navy, with a long interim of service under the naval flag of the Mikado. That I would have to take up arms in the Imperial service was a foregone conclusion. for I belonged f:o the Samurai, the old hereditary fighting class of Japan. To have avoided the profession of arms would have been almost equivalent to inviting disgraoe. besides I was aa eager to embrace my inherited calling as any son of the samurai could possibly be; honco all that remained was to make a choice between the army and the navy. While visiting relatives at Nagasaki, early in the winter of IS7B-79, the seaport city was visited by the Yu-yen, the first Chinese waraliii> that ever sailed in Japanese waters. The Yu-yen was making a round of visits to the principal Japanese ports, and Yokohama was to be among the number. Thanks to tne kind offices of my relatives, the position of Japanese interpreter to the Chinese admiral was secured for me, and thus it was that I sailed from Nagasaki in the wardroom of the Yu-yen. The admiral, who was a stout l , red-faced, and very genial man, was, if I mistake not, the same Admiral Ting who was afterwards defeated by the Japanese Admiral Ito. AS LONG AS I LIVE I shall always have very kind recollection of my treatment by the Chinese officers among whom my lot was cast during the next few months. Early in, 1879 the Yu-yen reached Yokohama, * where a protracted stop was made. Here my services as interpreter were to end; blit the Chinese admiral, whose especial protege I had become, urged me to remain with him a month longer, which I did. ' Then came my parting from the Yayen and her officers. From Yokohama I went by rail to Tokio, and there began my new life as a proud aspirant for honours in the royal Japanese navy. Being already a graduate of the public schools, tho first stc-p was now to enter the Hand a Naval Preparatory School, an. institution presided over bv Lieutenant

Hasegawa. It was a private •school, conducted under the sanction of the Government, and was at that time the only naval preparatory school in the empire. This excellent school still exists; but, in addition to it, there are to-day two other naval preparatory schools, both conducted by the Government, one on the grounds of the Naval College at Tokio, and the other at the Yokosuka Naval Yard. If a Japanese boy wishes to become a naval cadet, he must first graduate from the public schools. Then he must pay his own expenses at a naval preparatory school. These expenses are equivalent to about 24s a month. Having graduated from the preparatory school, he forthwith enters the Naval College, and from that time on, his expenses are borne by the Government. Any Japanese boy who has the necessary mental, physical, and financial qualifications can thus become a naval cadet. It was A VERY PROUD MOMENT for the writer, you may be sure, when ho first donned the uniform of the Kanda school and became one of the 400 students there. The uniform was plain, consisting of a simple blue jacket with a single row of brass plain blue trousers, and a naval cap of English pattenu Our arms were not of a kind to strike terror to even the most timid heart, since they were nothing but mock wooden guns. Yet we boys must have fancied that the martial spirit of the old-time samurai dwelt in those harmless make-believe muskets for it would have been difficult indeed to find a fiereer-iooking lot of youthful warriors than we were at drill. What did we study? First of all, the Japanese and Chinese languages, delving a little into the classics of both. Then we were obliged to write compositions m Japanese and Chinese, and disliked Dio tasks just as heartily as British Boys do their French and Latin compositions. We were taught English also, and composition!:; in that language were added to our other tortures. Arithmetic, Algebra, a short course in Japanese history, a short courso in geography and free-hand drawing, including map-work—-surely this was enough tor boys of thirteen or fourteen years of age 1 I feel sure that all my' British readers will agree with me on this point. Elementary drill and instruction in rowing were elective branches; but there were few boys who did not take them up. Five and a half days every week were devoted to these studies. The discipline was not unxiecssnarily strict, and, on the whole, our life was even jollier than British boarding-school life. We were a fun-loving lot of boys, and many were the pranks we played on one another. Even our instructors did not alwaj r s escape. But "hazing,” as the term is understood in your schools is unknown to JAPANESE STUDENTS. Graduating from the preparatory school, I entered' the Naval College in the fall term of 1881. New I was a full-fledg-ed naval cadet, in my first year. With what withering contempt did. my classmates and I look down upon the boys of the preparatory school! We were cadets; they were, as yet, nothing! Perhaps our new attire had muoh to do with our new grandeur. Our cadet uniforms were of navy blue, and jacket of Eton pattern. On our jaunty naval caps were embroidered the imsigna of our cadetship—a design in which two crossed branches enclosed an anchor and cherry blossoms. Still another honour was ours; we were now permitted to wear short swords! A three years' course was before us—three years of downright hard work and study. At tho outset each cadet was allowed to chooso the department for which he preferred to fit himsolf, whether tho navigating, medical, or engineering department. The writer cboso the navigating department. There was an average attendance of about 500 cadets during my time at tho Naval College. Many of my old classmates won fame in the late war between Japan and China. Not a few of them were killed at the naval battle of the Y&lu; others lost tlieir lives at tho bombardment of Wei-hai-wei. Discipline was far more strict here than at the preparatory school, yet wo oadota did not fail to have good times, as I will presently endeavour to show. But first of all let me tell you what we studied. During our first year we devoted our forenoons to plane and solid gometry, trigonometry, history, and especially tho naval history of the woi Id. In this latter study wo read many worus printed in English. Japanese and English composition followed us even into THE NAVAL COLLEGE. In tha afternoon an hour was devoted to military drill, while another hour was spent in mastering the details of a ship’s masts, rigging, and sails. For this latter branch of drill, a barquentine's three masts were rigged up on the grounds of the college, and, at the commands of the instructors, we scampered up and down the masts like so many squirrels. At first we were sent to the top-yards and thoroughly drilled in handling tho ropes and sail 3 there; but gradually, as we became more proficient, wo were "promoted downward,” reaching in time the main-yard. (In most recent years the bavquentinea masts have been replaced by an actual barquentine, moored in the river that flows by one side of tho college grounds J Tho second year’s course comprised lectures and recitations in mathematics, literature, naval tactics, weather observations, ’ map - drawing, mechanical drawing. astronomy, platting from coast-survey notes, naval architecture, chemistry, and explosives. Well do I remember some of the jokes that were perpetrated upon our instructors during that second year. Our LECTURER, ON LITERATE RE; was a civiliau of very effiminate manners. One morning he came into the lecture-room, bowed to the assembled cadets, wished then; a good morning, and then opened his desk. He sprang back again with a cry of dismay, for out jump-

ed some 50 frogs. Frogs were his pet aversion. A dozen cadets less timorous than the professor rushed to his rescue, and, in great glee, soon cleared the room of the little hopping animals. Our professor of mathematics, a naval officer detailed to that duty, was made of sterner stuff. It was a more startling surprise that, on another occasion, we prepared for him. A few of us gathered in the class-rooin one morning some minutes before the time Tor recitation, and placed inside the stove —in which, of course, there was no fire at the time — a huge cannon-cracker around which was wound a long fuse. We had calculated almost to a second the length of time that fuse would bxirn. Lieutenant Takeda entered the room exactly oil time, as he always did, consumed the same number of second's as usual in crossing to his-desk, bowed with his usual deliberativeness, and said, “Ohayo, mina san” ("Good morning, young gentlemen”). Bang! The cannoncracker exploded with great noise and force, overturning the stove and incidentally blowing the bottom out of it. Lieutenant Takeda turned as coolly as if on. parade, glanced at the demolished stove, comprehended the situation, and again faced tlie class of INNOCENT-LOOKING YOUNGSTERS. ‘“The length of that fuse was very well calculated, young gentlemen/' lie remarked. In neither instance, I am glad to say, did the professors make any complaint against the cadets; investigation into either joke might have involved the present writer in unpleasant disciplinary consequences. It was during the summer vacation between the second and third years that we experienced the event to which we had all looked forward —tho practice cruise at sea. There were about 125 in our class on that cruise, on tho training barquentine Junkei, commanded by Captain Jam 63, an officer who had left the English navy to enter the Mikado’s service. The summer cruise was the hardest part of the course, the cadets being obliged to work like common sailors. Our time wais largely spent in scrubbing decks, scouring the metal-work, . making, taking, and furling sail, manning the boats, going through laborious gundrills—in short, applying practically all the theories we had learned at the Naval College, and fitting ourselves thoroughly to command and to instruct sailors as soon as we ourselves should reach the quarter-deck. At the beginning of the cruise most of us experienced to the fullest possible extent the terrors of that peculiar malady known as sea-sickness. What a wretched, miserable lot wo were for a few days! How wo longed to be back in that safe, steady-going old land-craft. The imitation barquentine on the college grounds! On the morning of the third day out from Yokohama, the Junkei was rolling and pitching in what appeared to most of us to be a terrifically VIOLENT SEA. I remember crawling on to the deck and lurching across woebegone as I felt, for none of my superiors had the heart to order me to duty. '‘l will throw myself overboard and end all this misery,” I thought; and, while I hod that purpose in mind, the sea looked actually inviting. Furtively I glanced at tho watch officer, but hia gaze was fixed upon me, and I thought his ishrewd searching eyes penetrated my intention. Two or three sailors. I observed, were also watching me. "It will be useless to jump overboard,” I groaned. "If I do those sailors will jump overboard, too, rescue me against my will, and bring mo back again to endure this horrible illness until it finishes me.” That view of the ease decided me not to attempt Die leap. "After all,” I reflected, "if I am to die of this horrible seasickness, it is better to meet death like a man.” _ And suddenly my seasickness vanished as if by magic.

Amusing and grotesque all this seems to me now; but I assure you that ab the time it was tragically real. The summer cruise over, we came back to the Naval College te enter upon our last year of academic studies. We completed our course, and Die uniter was one of the happy lot of youngsters who, in the spring of 1884, graduated from the Imperial Naval College.