NOTES FROM JAPAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1952, 18 April 1889, Page 27

NOTES FROM JAPAN.

Tokio Hotel, Tokio, February 12. All patriotic" Japanese will long remember the 11th of February .1889 aa a most glorious and memorable date in the history of their countryYesterday morning the Hikado, Muts-hito, took his seat on the throne of fitate in the new Royal Palace, and, surrounded by the highest functionaries of the land, the various members of the Foreign Embassies, and the chosen representatives of the people, he first solemnly abdicated the automatic power, possessed by every Emperor of Japan from time immemorial, and then handed to the Prime Minister (Count Kuroda Kiyotaka) the grant containing the "Five Laws" which form the long-promised constitution of Japan. ' These laws are, the "Constitution of the Empire of Japan," the "Imperial Ordinance Concerning the House of Peers," the " Law of the Houses," the " Law of Election of Members of the House of Representatives," and finally the " Law of Finance." Although the Emperor has been shorn of a great deal of his power and glory, he still holds the right to confer titles, rank, and marks of honour, and also retains the supreme command of the army and navy. In case of urgent necessity he can issue ordinances to take the place of laws; auch laws, however, will have, to be submitted to the Diet at the next session, and if they are nos approved of, they become invalid., The sacred and inviolable nature of the Imperial title, and the perpetuity of the Throne, are most strongly asserted. The expenses of the Imperial Housebold remains as at present fixed, and are outside Parliamentary sanction ; as is also all expenditure incurred by the Emperor in the exercise of those powers reserved to him. In an extreme; case the Diet may interfere, but not without the ; concurrence of the Government. The suffrage ! is granted to all men who have attained the age j of 25, and who are. residing in the district in which they vqte,; they mirac,libweyer, have been ia residence, ( a year previous ,w> their registration aa electors'. '" \ v As regards the rights of the subject, he can only be arrested accordiag to law ; his right of property is sacred* and he is entitled to perfect freedom of religion and speech— that is, always provided this freedom is kept within decent bounds, and in no way interferes with his duty as a loyal subject. The Imperial Diet will j be composed of a House of Peers and a j House of Eepresentatives. The tTpper House j will be partly elective, partly hereditary, and partly nominated. The elective portion is to comprise both noblemen and commoners; the hereditary includes members of the Imperial family, prineee, and marquises j and the nominated will be composed of those persons selected i by the Emperor for their distinguished services ' to the State, or who shall be considered deseev-j ing through some other equally good reason. : • ; The nominees will be life members, while the ' other members will sit only for seven years, the period during which the House will last. To be eligible for election in the Lower House a candidate must be fully ffl years of age; he must' have psid not less than 15 yen in taxes (a yen is equivalent to the value of a dollar) during the year before the making out of the electoral list, j and previous to that date, he must algo haye 1 been at least three Years in payment of the in- 1 come tax. The House lasts for four years, j aitting three months annoa-lly, and is to be composed of 300 members, elected by ballot. A j clause provides that in case of necessity the session may b<S prolonged, or an extraordinary one convoked. The' Mikado is invested with the ,i power of nominating the members of the Cabinet', j Each member of the Lower House, and each; elected or'nominated member of the Upper, will i receive all his travelling expenses, and a yearly , allowance of 800 yen. There are of course a great many clauses, in fact 336 in all, but this slight sketch will give a sufficent idea of j the general outline of the constitution.'! 'To the Privy Councillor, Count Ito Hirobumi, all honor is due for the indefatigable manner ,in which he has worked to bring about this great reform. He, it was, who had the framing of the Constitution, and the Emperor- yesterday rewarded hfe services by bestowing upon him the high distinction of the "Order of the Grand Cross of the Rising Sun." All,. through Sunday night the snow fell t»ayHy,tad the morning broke over a city robed in white.. However, the ; fa■olemeney <tt the weather, and-despite tjhe falling ■snow, the crowd began to throng ifcihe streets as; •early as half-past 6 o'clock, and we cached ihe .oaatle grounds at ill .o'olqofy ye

found a tightly packed mass of eapeefcant, j shivering 1 humanity.' ; The prospect looked a little dreary at first, but presently the sun began to bravely struggle > through the grey pall which overhung the town, and its cheering rays, together with the arrival of the carts containing the "sake," 400casks of which were to be distributed gratis among the populace, speedily cheered the hearts' of the shivering crowd. I was told that the police had received orders to make no arrest unless it were some most flagrant case of assault. Certainly, as fair as I could judge, the peopie were well-behaved and orderly to a most won- j derfal degree; good nature is a strong Japanese ■ characteristic, and, is a most useful quality to take with one into a large gathering on a public holiday. I was very sorry to hear to-day that several deaths had , resulted from a too great excess in drinking. As a rule the people are a most sober race, but I suppose they felt that they were neither granted free drinks nor a constitution every day and were' resolved to

make the most of the occasion. , " \'< ' > Another sad event, topk place early yesterday morning. As the Minister of Education (Count Mori) was passing through the hall on the way to his carriage he was set upon and severely btstbbed in the abdomen by a religious fanatic, who was promptly cut down in, turn by the, guard in attendance. I am afraid it will take some . time to make the Japanese mind comprehend the clause which provides for the punishment of- the culprit only by the law. On the body of -the assassin was found a paper exculpating the deed on the grounds that the count had on some occasion defiled a shrine at Ise by entering it without removing his boots. It seems truly a slight cause in these enlightened latter days for taking the life of any man. Count Mori expired to-day; the wound itself would not have been necessarily fatal, but death resulted from loss of blood, no physician being procurable to stanch the flow till three hours after the fatal attack.

The drink called sake, which yesterday produced such baleful effect, is a pale-coloured spirit, distilled from rice, and although it is held in great esteem by the Japanese, is decidely insipid in flavour, and unpalatable to a European taste. As we passed through the town yesterday morning, we were surprised at the beauty and magnitude of the decorations. Everywhere Waved the red and white flag of Japan, and the thousands of lanterns which lined the streets on either side, were coloured to correspond. It was a city painted red and white, the effect being heightened by the snow crowned roofs of the quaint shaped houses. If you take into consideration the fact that Tokio is nine miles long and eight miles wide, and possesses over a million of inhabitants, and that the decoration's and rejoicings yesterday were universal, you will gain some idea of the vastness of such a public holiday in such a city. The ginza, the main street of Tokio, was spanned by monster arches of evergreens, in which were inscribed such appropriate mottoes as v Long live the Emperor," &c. — the lettering of the words being composed in nearly all cases of oranges. In fact the fruit played a conspicuous part in all the decorative art. Toys, sweetmeats, and oranges decorated the pole-heads of the smaller Sags, while all along the line of rope. on which were suspended the lanterns were tied long streamers of notched white paper, offerings, to the Shinto gods. There were also avenues of freshly planted bamboo trees made gay with flags and lamps, but the most beautiful sight of all was the famous Ninon - bashi bridge, which spans the widest canal in Tokio, and' is claimed to be the very centre of the town. It was one of the few exceptions to the general colouring of red and white. Agracefuldoublearch of green, ornamented artistically with bunches of bright red berries, rose at either end of the bridge, while garlands of the same, from which soared dozens'of pennants of green and red, were draped along the sides. Fifteen years ago, at the south end of the old bridge, might have been seen the Government notice boards on which were hung the edicts against Christianity. In the caatle grounds we were entertained while waiting fpr the arrival of the Emperor by an exhibition of, day .fireworks. It is an extraordinary sight to see a little ball about as big' as the round of an ordinary breakfast cup shoot into the air and descend to earth again in the shape of two or more life-sized animals. There were cats and there were birds ; there were dogs who wagged their tails ; there were gay cavaliers , who ambled downwards on highly-mettled steeds; and there were beautiful ladies, draped in graceful kimonos, who nodded' and bowed as they: sailed majestically through the air down to mother earth. As soon' as' 'they came within reach of the crowd below arms were frantically outstretched to grasp them, and a very fejw seconds; sufficed for thejr demolition. Our jinricksha, , man secured a piebe of one of thY figures, and on examination we found it to be yf a thick, tough material, flilken in .texture. Sometimes the :ball in bursting would send forth, instead of figures, pale clouds of pink, or blue, or violet, and the effect of this against the dull, grey- sky was very fine. The guns of the forts and of the steamers in the harbour were meanwhile firing .away their hundred-and-one salutes to let the people know that the ceremony in the palace was, over, and the constitution now unfait accompli. At X o'clock all operations were suspended, and every eye was directed towards the inner castle. gate, from which the procession was now seen to issue. It seems that punctuality ,is one of the. Mikado's many good qualities, and certainly for a Royal personage he was up to time in a most surprising and unusual manner. The procession passed over the inner and the oute? drawbridge, round the castle grounds, and on in through t|je gates out to the parade ground, where a general Keyf/ew of the troops was to be held by the Emperor. Thejre was nothing at all distinctive or Japanese in the character of the procession ; the well-mounted adyance guard of Lancers might have been the pick of any European regiment; the Stajie .carriages, containing the ladies and gentlemen ,of the household, . might have come out of Windsor, and the costumes of the Empress had probably seen the inside of Worth's establishment. It ?s a pity that, as regards costume; and consequently, appearance, the country is losing all individuality, giace my arrival in Tokio I have made the acquaintance of several Japanese gentlemen, and I defy any one to guess from their speech, manners, or appearance, to what nation to ad judge them. One marked in^ novation in Japanese custom took place in yesterday's ceremony. Thjs consisted in the Empress appearing in public in the same carriage and by the side of the Emperor. This jis quite an unprecedented occurrence, and argues well for the future of the women of Japan. The Empress has a sweet face aad a graceful presence, and the Mikado looked very imposing and dignified in his magnificent state uniform. Directly behind the Royal carriage, resplendent in gold lace, and medals, and mounted on a milk-white charger, rode the Mikado's uncle, and com-mander-inrchief ,of the' army, Prince Ansagawa. Then followed more gfcats carriages and another body of Lancers/ and the reap was brought op' ; by ' soldierly . looking oncers in gorgeous uniforms on horseback, iapriyafce carriage^ and i^innckshaa. The jin'rictoshja is' a' jSross' between a bslby's perambulator an&k two.s6ated colonial buggy, and is pulled by a man. instead of a horse.

The crowd seemed very enthusiastic, and the Royalties responded -by smiling and bowing to the right' and to ,the left. In 1 fact,it was just the sort of thing one saw so much of in the jubilee year in London. But; what presently followed was, however, a little outside the ordinary circumstances on similar occasions. No sooner had the Emperor disappeared through the castle gates than the crowd broke in from all sides on the rear of the procession. We' were hurried along with the rest, and a few minute's found us in a narrow gateway, not 30ft in width, mixed up in an apparently inextricable •jumble, with wildly gesticulating' policemen, a remnant of the band, some stray officers' in 'rickshas, some dozen or so of English' and American tourists, and residents and roughs of all descriptions. Into the midst 'of this conf v,1 sion burst suddenly a horde of students, wild with excitement and "sake."- Policemen drew their swords and shouted in vain— it' Was impossible to check their onward rush, and they carried everything* before them. "Jinrickshas were tossed 'into the air and their occupants thrown out into the mud, while the poor 'ricksha coolie in many cases bit the dust; in- fact, more kicks than ha'pence were, the order of the day. And now, to make confusion more confounded, a detachment of mounted police bore down upon us from the rear. I don't quite know how we managed it, bat we presently found ourselves all together again, sheltered in a little spot at the Bide of the wall, away f rdm the ' immediate rush of the students. There, limp, bedraggled, and begrimed with mud, we waited till it was possible to' work our way back to the grounds again, passing the time by detailing to each other our several thrilling adventures and miraculous escapes. It was quite out of the question our attempting to follow the Emperor to the parade ground ; indeed the police forbade our doing so unless we abandoned our 'rickshas, As we should have had to wade through three or four miles of ankle-deep mud, we agreed that the prospect was not sufficiently alluring: So we returned to the castle grounds, consoling ourselves meanwhile with the reflection that one review is very like another, be it in Hyde Park or in Japan.

And now, having with infinite difficulty got back into the grounds again, we found we had placed ouselvesin a state of siege. Both of the other two exits were too tightly packed to admit of our passage through'; indeed it was difficult to move about the grounds at all. However, we managed at intervals to drive from gate to gate, and always with' the same result. " Ike-masen " (no use) ' would be the invariable remark that would meet us on every occasion from disconsolate people also endeavour ing to make their escape. We were' kept prisoners inside the walls for a hour and a-half, but we certainly couldn't grumble at the entertainment provided for us. The motley crowd reminded us of the good old carnival of other days. Here, cheek by jowl, might be seen a Shinta priest and a masked dancer, a Samurai knight in the old winged costume, and a modern Japanese gentleman on horseback in immaculate European evening dress, silk hat, and top boots. Mothers mised in the crowd with babies at their breasts, and fathers carried the older children on their backs; balloons and kites filled the air,* while the beating of drums and piping of pipes made a noise that was perfectly deafening. But the great feature of the day was the Matsuri, or festival 1 car. There were dozens of these gigantic structures among the crowd ; they were drawn by oxen, sometimes supplemented by men, women, and children. They were composed of several tiers of. ornaments! and flags, and contained a band and masked dancers, while high over all towered a gigantic' bird, or some other extraordinary device. Perhaps one may grow used to the Japanese dancing, but at first it is very dJBu appointing. It is neither more nor' less than automatic posturing; They slightly, and slowly, move their head, or their leg, to the rhythm of the music, occasionally marking the time with one hand ; and that is about the' greatest exertion I saw any dancer indulge in yesterday. ; ■ If the city had looked pretty in the daylight, it was 10 times more enchanting at night, and'resembled in some measure pne's long-forgotten childish' ideas of fairyland. A very good display of fireworks was kept up till a late hour. But as we drove baok to the hotel, through the quieter quarter of the town, past the qld moated walls, the calm, cold moon, shining down on the white, dazzling snow, seemed to, laugh to scorn art's puny efforts to imitate her glorious light, and. we came to the conclusion that after all there i^no illumination like that which nature gives. J. O.