THE FIRST WOMAN IN JAPAN

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4319, 30 March 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE FIRST WOMAN IN JAPAN

What Japan'owes to the strong hand of its Ernporom all the' world knows; what its women J .owe to the enlighten-ment-mid commonsense of its Empress .i«- not .m well imde-rstpod- The old Japan though, little ..of its , Empresses. The list of. them goes, hack for half-a-thousand, years before', Christ, but (says “The King”) the present Empress is. the first who has been Empress in more than name.', Mutsuhitp'is the first Emperor' of. his .line—and there, have, been 120 before him—who lias given his wife a seat at his uahlo and allowed her any voice in the national councils... She was married to’him when, .he was'. 17, the year after his coronation, and together they have raised the. standard., of the Japanese l . Court—as.-they raised the standard .of-national life—-to a. height it has , never reached heforei In the 30 •years since Jier marriage, the Empress Hayuko.has presented the Emperor with one son ,and four -daughters, and the children are all brought up with, western ideas. . The-Empress ..rides well,, and makes good use of -a. gymnasium which has been, constructed for, her benefit in the palace of Tokio.aud .she has satisfied all the'domestic .and. Imperial .requirenients\"of‘her husband so well that Mutsuhito . has, dedicated numberless poems to her. There/ was; a. moment last week when the' .Empress’ must •have thought would be her last, hut .it turned out happily, that the umig which a madman threw into her carriage.was a-simple toy of .wood and not a bomb, as everybody fearjed. It would indeed be ,an irony of fate if the reforming regime in Japan were stained by any foul; attack on the •dynasty, which; has Jed the Way out of ■barbaric darkness into .civilised light. The, Empress, .in, her, own; home and at Court, has used her influence for the development of Japan on -Western lines not less zealously than her husband. It 'is due chiefly to her example that the fashion of stained teeth and shaven eyebrows has •died out. The women’s hospital ’-at' Tokio, conducted on principles which Would fmd favour in England, owes its foundation and success largely to her ’patronage. Empress Harukp has a great admiration for the English Court,. and the Princess of Wales is said 1o he her ideal among Royalties.