FUNERAL OF THE MIKADO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 20, 16 September 1912, Page 3

FUNERAL OF THE MIKADO.

A STRANGE CUSTOM

(By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (United Press Association.) TokiOj September J! ',). General Nogi and his wife committed suicide concurrent with the Emperor's burial. A PAGEANTRY OF THE EAST. MELANCHOLY AND PICTURESQUE CEREMONIES. A NATION MOURNS. NOGFS ACT OF DEVOTION. Tokio, September 15. A car drawn by five oxen carried the Mikado's coffin from the palace to the Aoyama parade grounds. In the evening hundreds of retainers bearing ancient symbols paraded. The streets were ablaze with funeral torches .and lanterns. There was a dense and silent crowd, including 500 British bluejackets. The Empress, with dishevelled hair, saluted the car.

The service culminated at midnight with the Emperor's lamentation, the Empress and members of the Imperial family paying homage to the dead. A gun announced the supreme moment to the nation.

All work was suspended for three minutes. Later the coffin wiais entrained for Kyoto. Nogi occupied a modest home at Akasaki. He cut his throat with a short sword, and his wife similarly stabbed herself in the stomach the moment the gun announced the departure of the funeral procession from the palace. Both were dressed in full Japanese costume and drank a farewell draught of saki from cups presented by the late Emperor, whose draped portrait hung on the wall. A letter addressed to the Emperor was found beside the bodies.

A student resident with. Nogi found both breathing their last. Everywhere the deepest sensation and profoundest grief was expressed. Foreign sailors participated in the procession, which was a mile in length. The hall at Aoyama accommodated ten thousand soldiers, sailors and civilians. The new Emperor was in the uniform of a general. The Duke of Connaught, Prince Henry of Prussia, and other envoys had prominent positions in the hall.

The Empress-Dowager, the Empress and Court ladies wore hemp clothes. The coffin, consisting of several inner and outer caskets, was ten feefc long by five feet, weighing a' ten! and a half. It was, .covered with white cloth.

The car wheels .emitted seven melancholy sounds .a?'.they revolved. When the coffin was. placed on the. car the Imperial sword was laid at the head, torches were lit, and a military guard of 25,000 men and 10,000 naval men escorted it.' ..

There were many attendants bearing white and yellow banners, bows and arrows, shields, halberds, sun and moon banners, musicians playing ancient instrument^,,and eight,(hundred torch bearers. < , .

The decoration, of the streets cost £25,000. w f,|, Through the grounds the procession passed between giant mourning; trees, hung with black and white streamers, with torches between and arc lights every sixty feet. The Venetian masts were swathed with black and, yellow. Every house displayed mourning lanterns, which were distributed to the poorest free.

The pall-bearers included Generals Koroki, Oku, and Togo, Baron Saito, and Admiral Iguin. The fact that Baron Katsura rode in the same carriage ias the Emperor was much commented on.

There was a striking moment in the ceremony hall when the Emperor, kneeling alone, prayed silently and then read an address of lamentation.

The Empress next advanced and offered a prayer and the princes and princesses paid their respects. Then long patriotic addresses were read and all the notabilities' wives paid homage successively.

The members of the Imperial family then retired. The squadron in Tokio Bay saluted the departure of the procession towards Kyoto.

The officials, peers and other notables met the train on its arrival at the Imperial estate at Momontama. General Nogi yesterday had himself and his wife photographed. They attended the ceremony at the palace and viewed the hody lying in state. The general wrote letters explaining their action, including one particularly apologising to the Duke of Cbnnaught. His countrymen regard the suicide as a magnificent act of devotion. THE LAST RITES. NOGI NOT OFFICIALLY DEAD. (Received 8.45 a.m.) Tokio, September 15. At Momogama the coffin was borne by fifty young .farmers, then drawn by a" cable railway to the summit of a steep hill, and interred in the funeral hall in the presence of religious officiators and Imperial representatives. All other mourners remained at the foot of the hill.

Owing to his period of mourning, the Emperor is in seclusion, and it is impossible to confer posthumous honours on General Nogi, who is, consequently, officially not dead.